Punch-Buggy — by Elazar Aslan

By Elazar Aslan

My girlfriend taught me a game she used to play when she was a kid. Since I didn’t spend my early childhood in America, there was always another game, story or tradition that I would need to learn. I don’t know how prevalent this game in particular is in America, though it’s definitely popular in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. Oddly enough, the game—Punch-Buggy—is about Volkswagen Beetles. I say oddly since the Amish don’t drive punch buggies, they drive real buggies, with horses and all. In any case, the game goes like this: each time you spot at VW Bug, you punch your partner and call out the car’s color. If you spot it first, not only do you get to do the punching, but you get a point. It seemed pretty innocuous at first; I could see why children were amused by it, especially on those long vacation rides. I took to the game quickly and enjoyed it; I’m not sure if it was the sanctioned punching or sanctioned spontaneous interrupting that did it for me. There were penalties for false sightings so you needed to stay alert to get your points (or punches). And curiously enough, I learned to gauge the state of our relationship by the amount of force behind my girlfriend’s punches. (But that’s another story for another time).

To increase the excitement and turn up the intensity, whoever got to twenty points first would win a trip to Paris, courtesy of the loser. Now a trip for two to Paris was no pocket change for either of us, so the game developed a rather serious side. There were many rules and variations to keep the game fair and fresh, but the bottom line was still spotting those punch-buggies. Keep in mind that the game continued whether we were in New York, LA or anywhere in between. Consequently, we were both incessantly alert in spotting the punch-buggies at all times. If there was a punch-buggy anywhere in sight, you could be sure one of us was going to claim it. We were especially excited to play in LA—seemingly the Land of Punch-Buggies (among other things)—where dozens of points were won and lost within hours. It wasn’t just LA, though—we saw punch-buggies everywhere we went. In the end, though, if you were to ask us if there were a lot of punch-buggies anywhere, we would say yes, quite a lot. If you asked us if there were a lot of say Camry’s, we would say no; even though there are probably three times as many of them. But we don’t really see any of them around. We do see quite a few VW Bugs though, in our world there’s lots of them.

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In the end, we find what we look for; it’s really that simple. It’s not a function of frequency or population, It’s a matter of intention. What do you seek? That is what you will find.

Throughout most of my life, I believed there was a reality. My parents spoke of one without doubt, they taught me the rules, the conditions and the best path through that reality. They spoke so clearly of it and their friends and families validated it so naturally, that it never occurred to me that it was merely an opinion.

After many different paths including deep meditation and 100 day silent retreats, I was able to see in slow motion what String Theory in Physics or key teachings in Buddhism or even psychedelic drugs were pointing to: Reality is our creation. I don’t believe it is completely made up as we like, but I believe that we choose to connect the dots as we want and in those connections draw pictures that make sense to us—pictures that validate what we were looking for to begin with. The dots are as infinite as the amount of stimuli reaching our mind. Which stimuli we choose to pay attention to and what story we give their connection will define our reality for that moment. Despite our very varied experiences in life we tend to connect those experiences with our Uber-story in mind, choosing the ones that fit and dismissing the ones that don’t, and hence create “our reality.” This is not to say that those stimuli or moments or experiences aren’t real—to a large extend they are very real. However, we do choose to focus on specific stimuli and create certain moments and then remember those particular moments to create experiences and then choose to connect these experiences so they can tell our individual story. This whole convoluted process is our creation.

It’s a little like a children’s drawing books where you connect the dots in order of the numbers and you end up with a picture, say a horse. When you’re done connecting the dots the way you did, you can show everyone the picture and they’ll all agree that you drew a horse. Now imagine the same exact thing, but on that page there are a lot of other dots. You still choose to connect the same ones, make them much bolder and ignore the other dots. When you show your picture everyone still agrees that it’s a horse. Over time you learn to not only ignore those other dots, but you actually look for—and eventually always find—the horse dots. You connect them and show it around and everyone says yes, it’s definitely a horse. Add to that variations to the game like, who can find the horse the fastest or who can draw the horse the best and tend to have a consensus among the judges and voila everyone will agree—what is a horse and who has the best horse. Very few people can see the dots any more.

Look up at the sky some clear night. See those three stars aligned in a slight angle, connected to the four stars in a rectangular shape? That’s the Big Dipper. It exists and has characteristics that can be predicted—least of which is its ability to be recognized as The Big Dipper. It is real. We all can point to it and say, “there’s the Big Dipper.” We can also take some of those same stars and connect them to some other nearby stars and call it the Big Horse—it is as valid a reality since there is no Big Dipper or Big Horse, just some stars. In sum, reality is the space contained by the dots you choose to connect. You will find the dots that you are looking for and you can connect them to describe the reality you are trying to create. It is not the other way around. There is no reality that you need to see and match. There are an infinite number of realities that are equally valid as long as the dots exist and they can be connected.

It can be a bit overwhelming to think that there is no one reality, especially after devoting so much of our lives trying to live well in the one that so many have pointed to so confidently. But frankly, it’s quite empowering to fully realize that you can create your reality. It all starts with what dots you are looking for from all the almost infinite choices. It all starts with intention, which directs your attention; and you will find what you pay attention to. Believe me, there are more punch-buggies out there than any other car—especially in LA.