Paradigm-Shattering Experiences: Mind=Blown

(Image Credit llreadll)

One time, my friend had what I like to call “a moment of clarity.” That is, a moment of awakening, a moment in which she was at peace, a moment in which her thinking mind had stopped trying to figure out ALL THE THINGS, and paradoxically, it all made sense.

How do I know this? Because for about 60 seconds, she had a look of wonder on her face. And then panic.

Then she said something to the effect of, “But how do you hold on to this?”

Which is nothing but the hallmark of a fleeting experience of awakening. And it’s frequently those very words, thought or verbalized, which bring it to an end.

I could never forget being there when this happened for my friend. My friend, on the other hand, had completely forgotten about it two years later.

How could that be?

I like to think of our minds as containing a vast maze of filing cabinets. All incoming data is processed through the dependable-yet-conventional filing lady, Mildred. Mildred always wears sensible shoes. She is very kindly, and she isn’t taking any chances with our well-being. She does not want to expose us to disorientation and confusion. Thus, anything that does not logically fit into an existing file is sent by dear Mildred to be burned in a giant dump of filtered information, and consequently, does not compute for us. 

Unless! Unless Jada Jade the Renegade sneaks in through the air vents, rappels down from the ceiling and snags the incoming data’s paperwork right out of Mildred’s hands, swinging from ceiling rafters into a file room and rapidly creating a new file! 

My friend’s experience was burned with the other garbage of useless/unnecessary/threatening/frightening information by Mildred.

When I brought it up two years later, my friend was able to recall what happened, and she promptly felt a wave of disorienting panic.

Because when metaphorical unsorted paperwork is allowed into our minds, it pretty much feels like floating in empty space. Nothing to hold onto.

***

One such paradigm-shattering experience for me came when I was an undergraduate in college. I was just having a normal conversation with a professor when suddenly, he began to tell me about my own past and present experiences from the inside out. That is, as only I would be able to tell, including details he could not possibly know. Only he did.

This did not fit into my current, classical-science-ish paradigm at all.

I was so shocked I walked around in freezing gale-force wind for a couple hours without taking any mind of the cold.

Since then, I’ve seen and heard so many strange, impossible things that I like to think nothing surprises me anymore. But no, I too have a Mildred up in my mind, filing and burning away.

I wonder what information I’m filtering? What am I still blind to?

***

Okay friends, your turn! What paradigm-shattering experiences have you had? What are times that Jada Jade the Renegade intervened and let a new worldview/shocking information/strange experiences to be filed for you?

Also, do you like the rather dramatic image I found for this post? Having your mind blown is no small deal, people.