I thought basilisks are the stuff of legends! When I came upon this lizard, I was stoked that I am actually seeing a real basilisk! Plumed basilisk are also called green basilisk, or better known as the “Jesus Christ lizard” because of its amazing ability to walk on water. Not only that, it is also an excellent swimmer and can stay under water for up to half an hour.

If you look around you on the streets, you will find many serious faces. It is not common to see people smiling and laughing for no reason. Actually people might even think you are crazy if you are laughing on the streets; if you put on a serious face, maybe even a little depressed, it will seem more natural to others. Life has become a state of seriousness, defense and repetitiveness. People live in a way that it seemed that they have seen all that life have to offer. All these happens because of experiences, or more accurately, what you understand from the word “experience”.

Experience is a double-edged sword and there are two ways to look at it. One is based upon your past experiences and accumulates to what you have learned so far in life. The other is what you are experiencing right now, in each moment. Most people understanding of experience is what one have gained from the past. This past experience is valued and respected because of the idea that one knows more.

The question is, do past experience really mean anything?

If you are a person of the mind, it will mean a lot. The mind is all about collecting past experiences, it is the encyclopedia of past experiences. A person who depends heavily on the mind will need past experiences to serve as his guidance. He needs to search his vault of knowledge to deal with current situations, for without he becomes lost. If he doesn’t haven’t the required experiences, he starts to search for similar resolutions based upon the experiences of others.

This dependence on the knowledge of the mind becomes a vicious cycle because the mind cannot know more than what it already does from the past. It is a regurgitation of the past and the one that depends on it keeps returning back to the old again and again.

If you look at life with intent, you will realize the truth that nothing is ever the same. Every moment, every challenge, every situation and circumstances are fresh and new. Nature gives a hint of this truth that it never produces the same thing twice. Every snowflake is unique and different. Each river that you step in is a new river. Every baby that is born has a different thumbprint.

How then can anything of the old deal with the unforeseeable circumstances of the new?

The other way of looking at experience is not at the experience but through the experience itself. Since every moments are fresh and new, you accept them for what they are and guide yourself through your intuitive response. It is like how if you are covered in mud and lost in the jungle, you decide to take a rinse in the river naked. You spot a hungry and approaching crocodile, immediately you just run out of the river naked. You cannot depend on any knowledge or teachings that say you must search for your clothes first if your life is in danger. It is intuitive. If you draw from the knowledge of your mind and think about whether you should clothed yourself first before you jump out, it might be too late. The crocodile doesn’t care about your morality.

If you live with awareness, there is no time to think. People who are not aware are usually thinking too much, so much so that they are not even aware of their surroundings. Be the person experiencing and not one that just looks at experiences.

It will make all the difference.