But Baby, Are You Experienced Enough?

I was walking for exercise one September afternoon, when a philosophical question flashed before my eyes: “But baby, are you experienced enough?” OK, it didn’t exactly flash before my eyes like lightning. Actually, it was etched into the concrete sidewalk at University Avenue and 54th Street, near the University of Chicago; probably scribbled by a freshman in heat.

I understood the sexual implications and initially laughed to myself, but then I realized it was really a great question. It could be applied to anything in life! “But baby, are you experienced enough…” in finger-painting a portrait of your life; in spending evenings at the opera; in chasing afternoons across cityscapes; in smelling rain in the air; in dancing through fields of daisies; in truly tasting the peanut butter in a gelato; in dreaming under the moon and stars; in being vulnerable before God and others?

This one question begs us to ask: “Are we living life or simply existing?” Are we fully awake, creating authentic lives for ourselves, or are we just making a living? Are we being busy, or are we designing beautiful tomorrows? It’s a given that many of us function daily on automatic pilot. Instead of making conscious, informed choices and acting on them, we experience life in a trance-like series of reactions to everyone, everything and every event we encounter.

Want to be experienced enough, baby? Then wake up to reality and the real you! Cut-up your zombie membership card. Jump! Reach for the blueness of the sky! Breathe! Hit the high notes of life by loving who you are! Seek joy by doing something you’ve never done! Live the passions in your heart! Believe in the mystery of life! Hug a friend! Grab hold of someone’s hand and dance like Astaire and Rogers! Consciously skip to the wonderment of life’s journey instead of rushing toward its climax. Let every moment be an epiphany. After all, the climax is the ending. And the ending is just that: It means finished-- and finished is meaningless unless you’ve cherished every step.                                                                                                        

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