The self is a story told across linear time.
So what is linear time? How can we move out of this linearity? Linearity meaning connection between two points. I think we can say that this connection is from past to future, from concerns to expectations, from the things we know to the things we think we know, from the image we make of ourselves to the confirmation of this image, form the known to the predictable.
I dare to say that this linearity depends on the views and values we share with the society and on the path we choose to follow.
We have opportunities and choices every moment of our lives, but we usually choose the more familiar or easier ones. I´ve read once that each time we choose a less familiar one, time branches out inviting openness. So I wonder if this openness could lead to new nonlinear connections and branches
Monkey noises and throwing bananas are used the world over as a racist gesture at football matches. Recently, a fan, not happy with the game, threw a banana against a colored footballer calling him a monkey. The player took the banana and ate it prior to taking the kick. His playful attitude made a lot of people play with him letting racism aside.
It was said in the news phrases like: “If you can’t beat racism, eat it†, “We are all monkeysâ€, etc.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-27191333
Can the self, glued in its stories, be more flexible? Can its stories have alternative ends opening  to multidimensional fields of opportunities?
Every time I feel like a victim I can remember the banana story. Perhaps I can move away from linear time bringing a more creative meaning to my life.
Hi Eliana,
I enjoy how you relate TSK to life as we live it. Where else can we put wise teachings into practice than in lives already underway. Your invokation of how a soccer player defused racist anamosity directed toward him–from a spectatore who threw a banana at him,thereby implying that he was of the monkey side of the human family–is a wonderful example of how to defuse narrow prejudice through a wider perspective. It reminded me of a Zen story called, “Eating the Blame” that goes something like this:
A monk with kitchen duty was cutting vegetables from the garden for soup. He accidentally cut off the head of a garter snake and it found its way into the soup pot. At lunch, as bad luck would have it, the snake head ended up in the master’s bowl. Holding it up for all to see, the master called the monk over and asked, “What is this?” The young monk immediately grabbed the snake head, popped it into his mouth, and exclaimed, “Oh, thank you Master!”