Lessons from GoT, Ep 2: This is about survival.

There will be no spoilers. I think. But if you haven't seen the latest episode and plan on it, take no chances.

The story line of episode two the final season from Game of Thrones was a strong thread of reconciling of differences and moving forward, moving on with life - even if it will lead to a probable death. Death is inevitable for us all of course - but should we kill ourselves a thousand times?

People talk of living in the moment yet fail to recognize that their life right now is not theirs at all but instead, the sum of all of their experience and memory that they carry into each of the moments they visit. As many put it, the baggage - the emotional scars of the past that affect our movement in the present yet, we do not need to carry all of them with. What is the point if what we carry slows us, pains us, makes us suffer? Why not just learn the lessons and move on?

“I know death. He’s got many faces. I look forward to seeing this one.” – Arya

We die each moment and live again in the next with a little more experience and if we are smart, a little more wisdom. We can choose what we carry with, what we utilize and in so doing, affect our behaviors and by extension, the results in our future. Too often though, we hold on to the useless and discard the useful, we hold on to grudges between families for a thousand years, and of those against those we might have once loved a lifetime.

We use our experience to create harmful prejudice that limits us, instead of knowledgeable discernment that empowers us to choose well. We become insensitive to the moment because habits form to repeat rather than knowledge to evolve to find solution. And because we have such attachment, we feel correct, justified, even as we continue to suffer unnecessarily.

“The things we do for love.” – Bran Stark

We protect our past because we think that our experience is us rather than recognizing it is just circumstances we found ourselves in - we identify with it and we protect our identity because we believe our ego is who we are. Yet, we fail to see that who we are is changing constantly, changing under every experience, every breath of air. We think we live in the moment but believe we have an consistent identity even as it changes, as we age, as we learn? Conflict.

Conflict is where the suffering originates, conflict between warring tribes, families, nations, religions, sexes, races... but, the root of the conflict is in our desires, met or unmet. Our expectations for a result that does not manifest, a manifestation of something we did not want. We take it personally, an affront to who we are and there has to be someone to blame, because it can't be us as it is outside of our control.

Is it? Is it really outside of our control to lose the baggage of the past, to enter into the next moment wiser but unburdened by the emotional stance before we knew more? Is it our parent's fault for the way they raised us? If we know that, why aren't we changing ourselves as adults? Once we are no longer ignorant, we are no longer innocent. It becomes our responsibility.

So, are you ignorant?

“You always knew exactly what she was, and you loved her anyway.” – Tyrion

Do you know this, do you recognize the pain of the past carried into your present moments? Are you affected by what happened? Do you love her anyway, knowing the suffering she causes? At what point do you wake up and decide to let go of the ghosts of the past and enter into the world of the living?

“I promised to fight for the living. I intend to keep that promise. This goes beyond loyalty. This is about survival.” – Jaime Lannister

Or, do you choose to live with the dead?

The dead you.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]