pushing the limits of definition
Everything is changing all the time. We emerge from the soup, and by the time we’ve learned enough to identify ourselves as floating in it, we think ourselves to be separate from it.
A side effect of this illusion of separateness seems to be the ability/compulsion to identify/demarcate/categorize. A resulting happenstance of this is the development of a self-identity that is completely dependent on some sort of external feedback to validate ones self/to feel like (I) exist.
I’m not saying it’s wrong or that you absolutely should not place some gravity on how other people may be perceiving you or how you may be affecting them. On the contrary — I think a big part of being a conscientious and mindful person is exactly that: being aware of how your behavior impacts others.
What Bubu Future wants to promote, however, goes a step beyond simply being aware of the fact that others are aware of you. We all play a multitude of roles at various points in our lives. Some roles are “permanent”, others are situational. From the moment that we are conceived, we are our parents’ child. We are siblings, classmates, best friends, worst enemies, bosses, employees, perpetrators, victims, soulmates, strangers.
But remember these roles that we play in others’ lives does not define who we are. These roles we play add the colors of rules, responsibilities, challenges, failures, and successes to our lives. But in the Bubu Future, we believe that even when completely and totally added up, all of the seconds of your life do not and cannot define YOU.
Lately Mrs. Future and I have been taking time to read and discuss the Tao te Ching over morning coffee.
The thing I like most about the Tao te Ching is the way it “feels” true. I guess the word I’m looking for is “profound”. Daoism has an emphasis on “Oneness” and “not forcing” which are two principles I totally jive with.
We read the following chapter and the line that reads “He who defines himself can’t know who he really is” really stood out to us.
Excerpt from the Tao te Ching (translated by Stephen Mitchell)
He who defines himself can’t know who he really is.
When we were discussing it, one conclusion we came to is that defining yourself seems like a fairly fundamental step in any direction, but in some sense, there’s an unintended, equal and opposite effect of limiting yourself that happens as well.
Like I was saying before, we all play many roles, but we are not defined completely by any one. The role is the container, and we are stuff filling the container. Like Bruce Lee said, “Be Like Water” - know that you are not defined by the container, but are instead made of the same stuff as the rest of the universe. Definitions or judgements can be placed upon you by others, but those are simply others’ opinions (which are more or less worthless than mine) or ephemeral approximations that do not stand the test of time.
The closest thing we can get to an “identity” is the awareness or consciousness we house in each of us. And in the Bubu Future, we have a strong hunch that it’s all the same stuff. And who knows what this common spark that lives in each of us is going to experience next?
To say that you can define “yourself” is to say that you can answer that!
And to that I say phooey! We’re all finding out together, all perspectives at the same time. To define yourself is to limit your possibilities.
and now to break the rules: Then what is the Bubu Future?
The Bubu Future is a vehicle for our mission: to promote self-love by spreading awareness of the interconnectedness of it all. The mission is fueled through the wares we sell online: we offer a wide variety of quality men’s and women’s clothing for sale on eBay, Poshmark, intermittently on other marketplaces, and (coming soon!!) on our website. These items are each handpicked for their quality, style, value and “it” factor. If you have any interest at all in anything, you know what I’m talking about when I say “it”. That impossible-to-define thing that makes a thing stand out from the rest. Sometimes it’s a story, a pop-culture reference, a super functional detail, a super egregious one. You get it.
We also offer a number of other unique goods for sale ranging from tech (we’ve been selling a good number of digital cameras on eBay), furniture, home decor, motorycle parts, and art.
What we are not is a “vintage store”, “reseller”, or a “second hand store”. These are all labels which could be applied to what we do, but they do not define Bubu Future.
Bubu Future is a movement in the direction of love.
Join us in the Bubu Future!
P.S. - If you have any questions or want more details about anything that’s discussed in the blogs, shoot us a text or leave us a voicemail on the…
BUBU HOTLINE: (405) 355-BUBU (2828)
We’ll post questions/answers on our socials/youtube for fun so send ‘em.
