Wouldn’t Life Be Blissful Without Our Stories?
“Who would you be without your story?” – Byron Katie
As I was relaxing in the hot tub in silence, watching the evening light fade … I had such a fabulous, liberating idea …
For months now, I have been sitting in the unknown, absolutely and totally dissatisfied with “life as we know it.” Today I even recorded a video that went like this: “Even though I’ve done too much healing, I should have stopped years ago, now I can’t relate to anyone or anything in this world anymore …” Lol :)
You know, inspirational figure Byron Katie has been asking the question for years: “Who would you be without your story?”
And then as I sat there in quiet solitude, soaking, it came to me.
A new kind of social event. A totally different kind of party than you have ever experienced before.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, is allowed to bring their story. You come to this party naked. And I don’t mean clothing naked, though without your story, who knows what would happen? I mean you come to us totally clean, naked of the stories you’ve been telling about yourself your whole life.
Think how radical an idea this is …
Without your story, we do not want to hear about your family or your children or your partner.
Without your story, there can be ZERO rules or restrictions or preconceived notions about “your” partner and what he or she can or can’t do with anyone else.
We don’t want to hear the “story” of how you met. In fact, we don’t even want to hear any “titles” used. The terms husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, lover, and so forth … all nixed. That is ALL part of your story.
We don’t want to hear about “what you do” for a living. It doesn’t matter. We don’t want to hear about your illnesses and problems. We don’t want to hear about your sexual preferences. That’s all part of your story.
We don’t want to hear about your past and we don’t want to hear about your future. All of that is story.
We don’t want to hear about astrology. We don’t want to hear your spiritual cliches. We don’t want to know how you got here, all we care about is you’re here now.
So what’s left?
Being. Communion. Togetherness.
And I’d be willing to bet a lot of money it would feel far more connected than anyone has ever felt with their story.
Who would you be without your story? How would a social event or party be for you without your story?
Who wants to try it? :)
Love,
Erika Awakening
An interesting point of view. There are parts of peoples stories everyone could do without. But there are parts that make us who we are. I’ll be keeping my clothes on by the way, LOL.
LOL :)
That is an interesting concept. Course the no-clothes thing would be a bonus. ;)
LOL … thanks for stopping by … yea who would we be without all these superficial “trappings”?
And no cell phones! :D
I'M IN!!! THIS is EXACTLY the kind of party I MYSELF have been wanting to throw for YEARS!!! As evidenced in my blog of the last three years. Check it out, one of the posts that enthusiastically strokes ('touches on' just doesn't capture the right emotion) this fantasmagorical 'issue' ;-): waverider1.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/its-time/
I hear ecstatic dancing is like this – I believe groups are popping up in many cities :)
‘I’ (cleansed of all stories) ‘Am’ (are we? that is our greatest fear, above all: do I exist?) (al-ready) in :) Superb idea, dear Erika!
Thanks Alex :)
Start again……Naked to core……And just be who you really are…..Great Idea….:)
The clothes you wear are part of your story. You better provide monk robes. Show up naked, and your body will still tell your story. Shave your head, your hair style tells a story. Perhaps it is our experience that is what brings us identently, knowlege and connect us. When we are attached to an experience it becomes a story that we define ourselves by. Experience is what is important. The lesson is to not define ourselves by any one or any collection in the form of a story.
Hi Matthew, thanks for commenting. Yes every detail would be an opportunity for us to become conscious of and let go of story. It is true that we have stories behind pretty much everything we do, wear, eat, and so forth … Knowing this, we would attempt to find ways to help everyone involved let go of more and more story with each choice and experience …
Brilliant! I have been thinking along similar lines for a long time. I support you in this 100%.
I do! I do! (But it will be best to keep my clothes on… :) )
Sonya, hooray for joining us! The party has already begun in the place that really matters, which is our minds and hearts.
Yea the clothes thing … whether we keep them on or take them off, it’s filled with stories – I wonder who we’d even be without those stories? :-O
that’s kind of the point isn it :) I experienced this…but ironically everybody has to be silent and not communicate even with eyes, if they are not Connected within (truly Still inside).
Well I dunno Iztok, I agree with you there would be a lot more silence. I wonder if we could find new ways with words. Cuz I am done with the stories.
It also occurred to me though that values need to remain, and now I’m playing with that in my mind. How do we keep values without stories?
This is absolutely brilliant. In fact – make it clothing naked too. Strip us even of the unspoken social status brought about by clothing. Just us. just being there. no story, connect with everybody with a fresh start. But some ground rules may still be in order..
yep Andy I’ve already been thinking about ground rules which is a fascinating thought experiment cuz they are all based on stories
Brilliant! I have been thinking along similar lines for a long time. I support you in this 100%.
then the ‘levels of love’ will have to go cuz such models are not consistent with presence
I'm in :) thank you very much for the invitation.