I know nothing ..
Sep 19, 2016‘Do you wanna go to Starbucks?’ Susan asked me.
‘Sure, let’s go!’ I said and we jumped in the car and sped off.
About 2 miles from home I slowed down to go past the little village school. Once we’d passed it, I accelerated back up to about 40mph, which was the speed limit for that particular stretch.
We were chatting casually as we approached a mild bend in the road, then suddenly, a car came around the corner, but instead of turning with the bend, it was going straight on. Straight into us! He was looking down and texting instead of turning the steering wheel to make the turn.
It all happened in a blink of eye. ‘Mind out!!’ Susan screamed.
I slammed on the brakes, but it was too late, he was too close.
Then I turned the steering wheel and bumped up on to the walkway at the side of the road. We just made it out of the way in time. Then I dropped back on to the road and carried on driving.
‘Oh my goodness,’ Susan said, ‘you’ve got such great reactions, I would have definitely just driven straight into him!’
It was the oddest feeling, but I knew that it wasn’t really me! It all happened too fast for me to be able to think and then react .. it just happened. As strange as it sounds, my body drove the car out of the way on its own!
I had a very similar feeling many years ago in Spain when I was around 12 years old. I was sitting on some rocks on the beach with 4 other English boys who were of a similar age and staying at the same hotel. It was dark and there were no lights down by the beach. The only illumination came from the moon reflecting off of the water.
There were a handful of other people on the beach.
‘Look at this guy!’ Stephen said, as he pointed to a man who looked to be in his twenties, stealing across the sand with his eyes locked on me.
‘Maybe we’ve upset the locals with the fireworks!’ I said laughing. I turned round to my friends, and they were gone! They had left me, sitting on the rocks on my own.
There was something very unnerving about his approach, but I thought I’d just talk my way out of it.
I went to get up, just as he reached the rocks where I was sitting. As I stood up and turned towards him to say sorry, he bounded up the rocks and lunged at me.
His right hand pushed into my chest and something he was holding banged against my sternum. He was gesturing with the fingers of his left hand and said something in Spanish I didn’t understand.
I looked down and saw the barrel of a handgun pushed into my chest.
‘Oh no, please, don’t shoot!’ I said.
My first thought was, oh that’s funny, that’s what they say on the films!
It was a complete out of body experience. I was aware that I was the witness of the body, and the body was doing this on its own! It happened too quickly for me to think and react. It happened on its own.
With both the recent car experience and this experience, there was the smallest of gaps in time between me responding to the event and me realising I had responded to the event. The body did it on its own.
It made me wonder, how many times this same thing happens, but I don’t realise it?
How many times am I taking credit for something and declaring that ‘I’ did it, when actually it was done before I realised it?
And when I say, before I realised it, what part of me am I referring to?
If there is a part of me that can be the observer of my own thinking, is that the real me?
Or is it the body?
Or maybe the feelings?
Or is it the thoughts?
I saw an article the other day that said for every one of our cells, we have 1.8 cells of bacteria! So nearly 2/3rds of what we often think of as us, when we think of the body, is actually bacteria!!
I am not saying that I understand what all this means and how it fits together. In fact, completely the opposite! I’m saying I really don’t understand, and that's ok.
Maybe that’s what Socrates meant when he said, the only true wisdom lies in knowing we know nothing!
‘Sure, let’s go!’ I said and we jumped in the car and sped off.
About 2 miles from home I slowed down to go past the little village school. Once we’d passed it, I accelerated back up to about 40mph, which was the speed limit for that particular stretch.
We were chatting casually as we approached a mild bend in the road, then suddenly, a car came around the corner, but instead of turning with the bend, it was going straight on. Straight into us! He was looking down and texting instead of turning the steering wheel to make the turn.
It all happened in a blink of eye. ‘Mind out!!’ Susan screamed.
I slammed on the brakes, but it was too late, he was too close.
Then I turned the steering wheel and bumped up on to the walkway at the side of the road. We just made it out of the way in time. Then I dropped back on to the road and carried on driving.
‘Oh my goodness,’ Susan said, ‘you’ve got such great reactions, I would have definitely just driven straight into him!’
It was the oddest feeling, but I knew that it wasn’t really me! It all happened too fast for me to be able to think and then react .. it just happened. As strange as it sounds, my body drove the car out of the way on its own!
I had a very similar feeling many years ago in Spain when I was around 12 years old. I was sitting on some rocks on the beach with 4 other English boys who were of a similar age and staying at the same hotel. It was dark and there were no lights down by the beach. The only illumination came from the moon reflecting off of the water.
There were a handful of other people on the beach.
‘Look at this guy!’ Stephen said, as he pointed to a man who looked to be in his twenties, stealing across the sand with his eyes locked on me.
‘Maybe we’ve upset the locals with the fireworks!’ I said laughing. I turned round to my friends, and they were gone! They had left me, sitting on the rocks on my own.
There was something very unnerving about his approach, but I thought I’d just talk my way out of it.
I went to get up, just as he reached the rocks where I was sitting. As I stood up and turned towards him to say sorry, he bounded up the rocks and lunged at me.
His right hand pushed into my chest and something he was holding banged against my sternum. He was gesturing with the fingers of his left hand and said something in Spanish I didn’t understand.
I looked down and saw the barrel of a handgun pushed into my chest.
‘Oh no, please, don’t shoot!’ I said.
My first thought was, oh that’s funny, that’s what they say on the films!
It was a complete out of body experience. I was aware that I was the witness of the body, and the body was doing this on its own! It happened too quickly for me to think and react. It happened on its own.
With both the recent car experience and this experience, there was the smallest of gaps in time between me responding to the event and me realising I had responded to the event. The body did it on its own.
It made me wonder, how many times this same thing happens, but I don’t realise it?
How many times am I taking credit for something and declaring that ‘I’ did it, when actually it was done before I realised it?
And when I say, before I realised it, what part of me am I referring to?
If there is a part of me that can be the observer of my own thinking, is that the real me?
Or is it the body?
Or maybe the feelings?
Or is it the thoughts?
I saw an article the other day that said for every one of our cells, we have 1.8 cells of bacteria! So nearly 2/3rds of what we often think of as us, when we think of the body, is actually bacteria!!
I am not saying that I understand what all this means and how it fits together. In fact, completely the opposite! I’m saying I really don’t understand, and that's ok.
Maybe that’s what Socrates meant when he said, the only true wisdom lies in knowing we know nothing!
Until next time ..
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