The 3 Doors

The 3 Doors

At various times in our life we find ourselves facing three doors. We must choose one of them to continue along our life’s journey.

                          1) Behind door number one is more of the same. We recede into the "shadows" lacking the courage to face the "unknown".

                          2) Behind door number two is another "knock in the head" to remind us that we chose the wrong door ... again!

                          3) Behind door number three we find our place in the world and experience a joy and excitement beyond our wildest dreams.

ronrolheiser.com/taking-our-righ … CKBM9J96M9

I don’t get it. :confused:

If you don’t know what’s behind the doors before opening them, then the result of your selection is just a random event beyond your control. Unavoidable shit happens. There is no logically “wrong door”.

If you know what’s behind the doors, then you pick door 3.

Phyllo

IMO you get it … intuitively.

The confusion you intimated may result from your impulse to argue against the allegory.

In my simple allegory, I provided a summary of what type of experience lies beyond each door. You are correct in pointing out that I did not make it clear that the individual faced with the choice had no prior knowledge of the type of experience behind each door.

I mostly accept your first argument if I could change the word “random” to something more ‘specific’ … a word meaning an experience tailored to fit each individual’s life journey.

I absolutely agree with your second argument. In fact, I believe we learn more … and more quickly … from the “shitty” experiences.

I also absolutely agree with your third argument. While one might find it uncomfortable/frustrating to continually find themselves behind door numbers one and two … it is essential to their personal growth … the expansion of their personal consciousness … eventually leading to the experience behind door number three … may require several lifetimes though :slight_smile:

Believe me, I really don’t.

Doors #1 and #2 seem to be essentially the same except that #1 contains the possibility of action -receding. But what does that mean if you continually have to open more doors? What are you actually doing there?

If you open door #3, do you stop opening doors? If you keep opening doors, then you will get #1 and #2 in the future. Do you get more of the same joy or something nasty? What does ‘receding’ mean in that case?
:-k

I think that joy and excitement are achievable in one lifetime.

Phyllo … thank you for your thoughtful response … your comments help me to better understand what it is I was trying to say with this OP.

Many would argue that I should have thought it through more thoroughly before posting it. I obviously disagree … I subscribe to the school of thought that wisdom emerges from friendly collective interaction/thought … even when only two people are actively engaged in the exchange.

In my silly allegory, the 3 doors symbolize ‘choice’ … we all make choices every day and will continue to until our last breath. Many argue the last words uttered by a person before death are significant … the selection of these words are choices.

Some days the choice we make has a significant impact on the future of our personal life’s journey. It is these choices I’m referring to in my allegory.

The difference between door number one and door number two … ???

I am suggesting a large community of people prefer their lives to be predictable … prefer to believe they are in control of their life … for example … the “American Dream” people.

A much smaller community of people prefer the “unknown” … the mystery of life. I feel some people … in time … migrate from the one community to the other … from Door 1 type to Door 2 type.

The perception that one has opened door number 3 is common … but IMO it’s an illusion … a falsehood. Those few people who actually possess the consciousness required for door number 3 still experience the 'nasty" … yet they are somehow able to absorb the ‘nasty’ and transmute it into “LOVE”.

I agree that that joy and excitement are achievable in one lifetime … though the level of joy and excitement I’m talking about … “beyond your wildest dreams” … is only achieved during the lifetime that follows a very long string of lifetimes. :smiley:

Okay.

What makes you believe that #3 is an illusion?

The idea that one should strive to attain an “everlasting bliss” or “pure joy” has come up in several threads. I always ask why one needs such a thing as “bliss” or “joy beyond your wildest dreams”.
Why not be satisfied with the joy of ordinary existence?

And since I don’t believe in reincarnation, anything beyond this one lifetime is out of reach.

Seems to me the US citizens who achieved the ‘American Dream’ … the house and white picket fence. Of that community, so many people subsequently lost what they worked so hard to achieve … some argue this to be a factor in the recent US election.

If my comments suggested the pursuit of “everlasting bliss” or “pure joy” … I erred! … again.

Behind door number three is not “everlasting bliss” or “pure joy”.

As I mentioned in my last post … the few who get there still experience the ‘nasty’. IMO it’s a noble human pursuit … if for no other reason than a growing community of people capable of absorbing and transmuting the “nasty”.

Matter has a finite lifespan … we observe this everywhere in our physical world … our physical bodies included. On the other hand … spirit has … ???

No, you didn’t say that but you suggested something similarly extreme - joy beyond wildest dreams. I wonder why people want such things.

Unknown. Reincarnation seems even more unlikely than an afterlife in heaven which in itself already seems unlikely.

Phyllo

I used the expression “beyond our wildest dreams” for effect.

As you rightly pointed out, using cliches/expressions are often misleading. You seem like such a practical person whereas my head spends too much time in the clouds. :smiley:

I don’t buy the afterlife in heaven story either nor the common understanding of the word reincarnation … although … I believe both point to the same “something”. What is that “something”? I have no idea.

About the word “unknown” … I prefer to believe the word “unknown” points to a “known” that has not yet been revealed … to almost all people. The ‘knowing’ is in our brain or in some space/time location accessible by our brain (with the right password :slight_smile: ) For example … all the “new to humanity science” for the past 500 years is not new at all as in … the science never existed before some person(s) discovered it.

I feel notions such as synchronicity, noosphere, global consciousness, telepathy and so on are indicators that the human species is in a very active phase of transformation/evolution.

The word ‘spirit/soul’ is another one of those misused and misunderstood words. Trying to define it … describe it … is useless … it’s like chasing the wind. On the other hand, I do believe ‘spirit’ can find us and if/when it does … at that point we come to know and understand it … but … still cannot share our ‘knowing/understanding’ with others in any meaningful way.

What does that mean? ‘Spirit’ is separate from the individual? Can someone be without ‘spirit’?

Phyllo

My short answer is … I don’t know! :slight_smile: I take some comfort from the following metaphor.

Progress/evolution in the computer domain … the old computer network of main frame computer and “dumb” nodes (terminals) to main frame computer and not so dumb nodes (the PC) … still hard wired to the main frame computer and now relatively smart nodes with wireless conduits connecting them to a network of main frame computers.

Many people argue that the revolution in communications(aka global consciousness) is in large part attributed to the blossoming of technology. I disagree … I feel some form of collective consciousness of the few preceded the technology break through … conjecture on my part. It’s as though the human mind is recreating itself in our physical reality.

A personal example … I’m Catholic and I struggle with several components of Catholic dogma/doctrine. I’m not defiant … simply having difficulty reconciling some elements of Catholic doctrine/dogma with my current state of consciousness. For example … the notion of original sin and baptism. I don’t think I ever really completely accepted the story … at the same time I never had any conception of an alternative … until very recently.

My alternative … if it’s true that we inherit the history of our entire genetic lineage … than it seems logical that at birth we are seriously stained/contaminated by not only the direct guilt of our ancestors … but as well their guilt by association … as members of tribes, clans, religions and so on. This suggests at birth we are in serious need of healing … though not conscious of it.

Perhaps the story of original sin and baptism points to this potentially very real truth. Who knows eh!

But this is the thing. If we choose Door 3 and walk through it, is it possible that what we see will not be understood at all and that we would have no idea how to go about accepting what’s before us? Unless we’ve walked through and experienced and come to understand what’s in the landscape behind those other two doors first, how can we embrace what door 3 has to offer us?

I think that in the real world, we go from 1 to 2 to 3, they are intermingled, they flow and recede and perhaps there are other doors between each.

No 3 is kind of a utopian world. We need a little dystopia, hard work and struggle, before we come to utopia. But who would even want unending utopia?
How can we experience No 3 without its opposite?

Too perfect for real life. More probable is that with time and experience what is behind three
is an acceptance of all that cannot be changed and a willingness to change what actually can