Is the story of a lost paradise a memory of what I knew and experienced as a baby? That was a time when there seemed to be no separation between me and the world. It was a simple time when I first learned to live in my senses, my awareness was only on the sensory level.
Then my rationality began to develop, and I gradually learned to step back from my senses and know that I existed, a separate, human boy. The sense of deep intimacy with my world faded. My attention shifted more inward and I began to flex and train my mind to step back from my senses. I knew that I existed. The higher power that comes with rationality gradually grew. I began to wield the mental strength that is my inheritance.
In the process, I lost that intimate connection with the world, simple as it was. Rationality has a price. I am grateful now to be using that same rationality to experience and “see” the world in a more exciting way. I am learning to connect with the world in a real way that still relies on my senses. Now, however, it is as an observer, a watcher of what my senses tell me.
I still rely on my senses to tell me about the world, but I have a heart that is telling me how to interpret those sense messages in a new way. I think I see the gates to paradise in the distance.