A Philosophical Wild Camp With Me: Halls Of Mirrors, Daydreams & Reflections Of Self

perceptualflaws (66) in wildcampwithme • 5 years ago (edited)

Reflections Of Self

As I continue on my walk it becomes an analogy of life, once more I retreat into the inner recesses of my mind. I stand at the precipice of perception, staring into the abyss and highlighting the fallacies and malfeasance that have woven themselves into every sphere of our society. As the abyss stares back at me, I understand it is both real but that which I focus upon are equally a reflection of my inner hopes, fears, successes and failures.

When I first faced the darkness and stared into its silent night, I understood that I was also here to slay my own demons, to let go of all that I held onto, all I had allowed to define me. Whilst we stumble through life seeking external answers to our internal conundrums, ultimately this journey is a discovery of self. But, by understanding the true essence of self we can begin to glimpse the power and validity of selflessness.

Where am I? I've become so lost in my dreams I almost forgot I was on a walk. As the path snakes from left to right, and as I'm drawn back into the immediacy of the moment, through the trees I glimpse a house! No path, no drive, and after a cursory check of the map, seemingly (officially) no house. Of course, being investigative in spirit I have to take a closer look.

The house looks pretty old and comes complete with cellar! Later that day I'm reunited with some friends of a similar mindset and invite them to take a look around this strange house, miles from anywhere, hidden and slowly being reclaimed by the ancient forest in which it stands.

So after a nights camping I continue on my journey, and once more and left at one with my thoughts. Whilst it is my belief that the concept of ego dissolution is oft overemphasised and misunderstood; in my quest to discover the true all-encompassing nature of love I have found its purest expression in the act letting go, both internally and externally. What we hold onto becomes a reflection of our own insecurity, the tighter our grip the more we drain the life from what we seek and desire.

The transient dreams and nightmares that become one with the decaying vestiges of my false ego, are illusionary, for there is no time, there is only now, and now is the time to liberate ourselves from our enslavement to the clock, to be at one with the moment, the mind, body and soul. By letting go of yourself and allowing those who we love to be themselves, we emancipate ourselves from the ties that bind us, the words of negativity that come to define us, and (if we allow them to) the fears and insecurities that become us.

We scour the four corners of the earth, absorb the words, opinions and beliefs of others and then relay them as our own. We lose ourselves in the regrets of yesterday and the fears of what tomorrow may bring, we look everywhere and to everyone but ourselves. Ultimately, we fail to acknowledge that what we seek we already have, but to know thyself you must first lose the inherent fallacies of myself, surrender yourself to the now, for now is the only moment in which you can claim dominion. Rise above the wasteland of false hopes, dreams and externally manufactured nightmares.

Because you know, when all is said and done, what we are left with is a reflection of self, a mirror image of our fractured souls. Will you embrace the heart of the person that stares back at you? Or will you recoil in horror at the self-realisation of what you've allowed yourself to become?

When our palaces of pleasure
give fall to the sea
the sands of time reveal the illusions of me
don't search for I through your
tears of sorrow
I'll be at the dawn of a
brighter tomorrow
at the dying gasps of a
blood kissed sunset
not the obfuscated dance of a
perceptual Marionette
find me in the punchline of a killer joke
in the shade and comfort
of a sun-speckled oak.

As light cascades through the trees, as my thoughts become amplified by the resplendent resonance of the summer sun, I slowly awaken from my slumber. I begin to ponder, where the dream ends and reality begins? But that's a thought for another day.

Thank you for joining me; until next time, I will leave you to ponder who has the perceptualflaws.

Written by perceptualflaws
Original pictures by perceptualflaws
Banner Gifs courtesy of @justcallmemyth

wildcampwithme walkwithme philosophy spirituality pictures palnet creativecoin

5 years ago by perceptualflaws (66)

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ljungbuske (54) · 5 years ago

It's always healthy with a walk in the countryside to get a perspective on life and sort your thoughts!

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3 votes

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thank you @ljungbuske .. glad you enjoyed the post/walk :)

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tremendospercy (65) · 5 years ago

Beautifully written as always my friend.
How you doing? It’s been too long.

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3 votes

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Hey TP .. great to hear from you, long time no speak! Like you say too long!! How the hell are you? You're often in my thoughts my friend .. we shall have to have a good catch up soon! :D

Thank you for the kind words dude .. I'm really good thanks, taken a bit of time out of the driver's seat and have come back re-energised, hope that life has been treating you well?

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1 vote

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tremendospercy (65) · 5 years ago

I’m great thanks dude.
I’ve put an my email address on our Discord thread in case this place and Discord go down
👊😎

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2 votes

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thanks mate,

I keep getting locked out of discord as there is breakdown in communication between the platform and my email, hence I'm not receiving their verification email to log back in .. happened several times, I've emailed discord to sort it out so should be back on there soon. :)

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tremendospercy (65) · 5 years ago

👊😎

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2 votes

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sunlit7 (59) · 5 years ago

Very thought provoking and inspiring words, beautifully written.

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1 vote

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thank you @sunlit .. I really appreciate the kind words, and I'm equally glad you enjoyed the post. :)

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steemclub-uk (53) · 5 years ago

This post has been selected for today's Brits League - five posts of the day from UK Steemians.

This has earned the author one point in this month's Brits League.

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thank you @steemclub-uk .. been offline a fair bit recently, so I'm a bit out of the loop .. but it sounds like a great initiative!

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naturalmedicine (72) · 5 years ago

You’ve been visited by @nateonsteemit on behalf of Natural Medicine!

Woah, mama! So much awesome in one post! How cool you got to explore an old house on your adventure! And oh my gosh, your words! So applicable right now. Thank you 💚🍄💚 @riverflows, thanks for sharing this one in the NM discord server.

Did you know that Natural Medicine now has it's own token, rewarding natural healing and health wisdoms? You can check out our front end, www.naturalmedicine.io! If you've been involved in our community over the last year, check your wallets for tokens and stake them on Steem Engine to start curating with Lotuscoin!

Oh, and you still have a chance to win Steem by entering this challenge!) - last posts due Sep 5! Sponsored by Curie!

Discord green_heart Delegate Here

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Hey @nateonsteemit thank you for the kind words my friend, I really appreciate it .. sorry for the late reply but I've been away for a long weekend with lots of walking .. trying to enjoy the fading vestiges of our summer sun. lol Really glad you enjoyed the post and a big thank you to @riverflows :) for drawing your attention towards it. Fantastic initiative that you have with @naturalmedicine .. I'm a big fan of the information and ethos and hope to drop a post or two over your way in the coming months. ;) Thanks again!!

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ocd (77) · 5 years ago

Congratulations, your post was discovered and featured by @OCD in its daily compilation #402!

If you give @ocd a follow – you can find other Gems!

With this nomination you will be able to use @ocdb - a non-profit distribution bot for whitelisted Steemians. We usually add everyone nominated at the end of the week. :) Check our website for the whitelist, queue and delegation info. Join our Discord channel for more information

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thank you @ocd .. really appreciate the support :)

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riverflows (72) · 5 years ago

This is so beautiful and gosh did it make me hanker for the wild spaces of England. We have been looking forward to a trip home together for so long and hope to get some wild camping in. Beautifully written. I love how nature just calls forth the poetry of the soul.

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thank you for the kind word @riverflows .. "nature just calls forth the poetry of the soul" exactly, I couldn't agree more .. in many ways, when I enter that mind space it writes itself. There are so many surprisingly wild places left hidden away in these crowded islands .. you'll have to let me know when you're coming over! :)

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trucklife-family (72) · 5 years ago

I love this, the journey that you took me on, of self realization ad finally acceptance. Embracing the dark so that we can fully walk in the light . So so beautiful and then the pictures which fit so well and add to this beautifully written piece
It is so great to read your words, I really needed them right now. Thank you for this.
In the future use the creativecoin tag when you write posts like this of share photographs that way you can earn some tokens as well.

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thank you for the kind words my friend, I posted this and then read your post and thought it might possibly have some parallels for you. So glad my words and pictures spoke to you, you're a beautiful lady, a beautiful soul and an amazing mother.. stay true and all will reveal itself to you.

Thank you for the creativecoin tip (I have changed one tag to include it) .. I haven't been around very much over the summer so I'm a bit out of the loop with all these new communities.

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riverflows (72) · 5 years ago

A good one for The Nurtury as well!! This is the England I was crying for the other day!

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abigail-dantes (67) · 5 years ago (edited)

What a most beautiful collection of photographs @perceptualflaws. Also, that is quite a reflection you shared with us all here. Insightful. Your introduction reminded me of the works of Nietzsche: "staring into the abyss" and "slaying demons".

An inspiration and invitation for each of us to engage in self-reflection :)

All the best to you.
Abigail.

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thank you for the kind words and support Abigail .. I really appreciate it. And yes, very few take the time to pause and ponder the relevance of the reflection indeed shadow that we all cast. Equally, by drawing our shadows into the light and reflecting upon them has the potential to liberate us from ourselves. ;) Thanks again, my friend!

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c-squared (60) · 5 years ago

This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here

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perceptualflaws (66) · 5 years ago

Thank you @c-squared .. much appreciated!

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