Examples? From an early age to now...
Meditation. Running. Bike-riding. Sam Shepard's one-act plays. The Who's "Tommy." The Beatles on TV. Frozen-yogurt, Everything Bagels. David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest," Melville's "Moby Dick," Wes Anderson's "Rushmore," all of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, Dylan's "Highway 61," and every other Dylan album too. Sigur Ros' beautiful music, Roberto Bolano's novels, Patti Smith's "Horses," acting, writing, directing plays, playing guitar, playing in a band, writing songs, singing, etc.
Experiencing/doing/taking in all those things altered me forever. Changed the trajectory of my life, my thinking, my understanding of my self. I am still on the hunt for life-changing influences every day. Yesterday it was a series of sentences that I found on this post from Brain-Pickings, about reason & emotion.
I had a series of "aha" moments reading this post.
"We ourselves are events in history. Things do not merely happen to us, they happen through us."
Well... right... exactly... and...
Holy Shite! As read all of this I kept thinking: OF COURSE! I mean, I suggest you read the whole thing too. Yikes. Feeling super-organic this morning. We don't just reason the world, we experience it with all our emotions on high. It's not easy. It's a hard thing to be so open and sensitive to all phenomena. But that is what living is about. We are living history, and Universe is flowing and actualizing thru us. We must remain sensitive to everything, even if it seems that the hardness of life will crush us. It's the only way to live: heart/head/soul as one. Open-hearted, open-headed, arms held wide, ready to embrace everything. And what we experience is unique to us, but is not unique. We are just being human, we are the instruments that the Universe uses in which to play and to manifest.
Reading that post yesterday, well, I mean, fire-works went off in my head, my doors of perception blew wide open. Yes. For sure. Changed my life! Amen Brothers & Sisters!