I’ve used this line for a few years now: people are like the planets. What do I mean by comparing people to planets? They are mysterious, complex, choatic, following their own orbits, atttractive yet can be dangerous to themselves and sso much more. I often think of this after a difficult break up.
Imagine this if you will: A space captain on a slick, sliver craft enters this beautiful, blue atmosphere with cotton candy colored clouds. He sees a terrain below that looks like paradise. The captain messages back to headquarters that he has arrived to the planet and will be making his descent any moment. However, that’s when the turblence begins. Alarms start going off in his ship and lights start flashing like a sale at the old K-Mart blue light specials. He doesn’t understand why the alarms are all triggered. The turblence is indeed rough, but why so many alarms? As the ship makes a sudden drop, the entire scene before his eyes change. The bright sun and blue skies are replaced by gray, stormy clouds. The beautiful lush terrain with soft hills are now replaced with barren rocky land and jagged, spiky mountain peeks. The captain quickly has to steer his craft away from one of the spikes before his craft is sliced in two. Pressing hard against the wheel, the captain fights against the air turblence and the speed of the craft. He barely makes the turn away from the rocky, jagged mountain side, but does so. Taking a breath, he realizes he has been deceived. This was not the planet of paradise he had been shown afterall.
Has that been like any of your relationships? Where you uncovered a side of someone you didn’t even imagine was there and you were stuck in this person’s atmosphere and had to make an escape? Maybe you crashed into the mountain side! Or maybe you tried to work it out and they didn’t want to? They just wanted you to die on the jagged rocks.
Relationships with people can be both beautiful and difficult–mostly the latter because more and more we don’t seem to want to invest in them. People are hiding behind distractions and binge watching shows on their streaming devices. Nevertheless, everyone is different. I was working in the old Cobo Hall here in Detroit for a month long event and there was a engineer workshop/fair for a week, so it gave me time to do my favorite thing–people watch.
Some people came together in huge work crowds. At least 15 or so people. Some came with less than 5. Others came with 2 and still others came by themselves. How like our planets! Some have several moons. Some have one moon. Some have none. Some have rings, and some don’t. Who were happier in these crowds at the old Cobo Hall, now called Huntington Place? I tried to tell by their mannerisms, facial expressions, and interactions with their peers. Having a minor in Communications and taking many workshops on it, I know what to look for. In the bigger crowds, not everyone was expressing total happiness because someone was always left out. The most happiest were the smaller groups. A group of 4 more often a pair of 2. This made sense because it provided more intimacy and each person had someone to talk to. Rarely did someone seem all that happy coming in by themself but not unhappy either I will add. They seemed often more lost and more focused on where they needed to go than the others did.
Not everyone has the same journey or “orbit”. Now, you can see others in another “orbit” and not understand why you aren’t in that “orbit”. “Why am I here and they are over there?”, you may find yourself asking yourself. There are two things in life I’ve always wanted that have always eluded me in their lack of permancy. That is, having my own set of “peeps” and a husband. When I see people who this seems easy for, in that they have had this for years and years, I wonder why I’m not in the same orbit. Don’t I deserve it just the same? Will I have these in a committed sense like others I see do?
Instead for me, my relationships with people have been up and down and not as long lasting as I want them to be except for one or two. So I tend to look at relationships as being more difficult. If you do too, may description on how people are like planets may help you see why it isn’t so easy to be in relationship with others.
People Have Atmospheres
People have different moods. You can be attracted to them because generally they are like a sunny day. You may not like that though. You may like people who show both light and dark. Some people who are always sunshine and rainbows come off as fake and flakes. Yet, if they are always gloomy or stormy that is no good either. Others may just be gray or those blank skies all the time. Just no fun to be around. They bring you down at every turn. There’s always have a problem in their pocket.
People change over time too and so too can their pre-dominant atmosphere. By and large though, I find this one doesn’t change but sometimes it can. Usually, the older the person gets the more set in their ways they are. This is a problem if you don’t jive with their atmosphere or their atmosphere is particuarly turblent, stormy or gloomy a majority of the time.
People Have Biospheres
People have different bodies. There are all sorts of shapes, sizes, colors, etcs. Within those biospheres are smells that are given off, and hormones that generate them. These hormones, whether you be male, female, trans, or non-binary, affect how we relate to the self and one another. Our understanding and/or lack there of also affects how we relate to each other and the judgements we make. The history of abuses around women, minorities, trans and people of color as well as people saying unhealthy people deserve to die during the Covid epidemic are examples that humanity hasn’t been all that understanding with one another in regards to one another’s biology.
People Have Their Own Terrain
People have their stories and history that from outside, as they tell it, can look like a movie trailer. Maybe the mountain tops similar to those shot in New Zealand where they filmed Lord of Rings. Or the busy streets of India where they filmed Slumdog Millionaire. “From a distance…” as Bette Middler once a sang, you may want to traverse and journey with them.
However, all things are not as they appear on the surface. The closer you get and the longer you stay, you may find the terrain wasn’t what it appeared. Maybe you got caught in some quick-sand or a venus fly trap. The person weaved a victim story but all the while was really a raving a narcissist and you didn’t catch on until it was too late.
It is a delight though when you discover what you thought was a plain terrain to have riches untold. A person who has a journey you never expected to impacted you so deeply. To meet someone who gets you like no one else because their terrain went through the same storms or draughts.
People Have Viruses
People have viruses. No matter what relationship you enter into, there is a honeymoon phase. I’ve learned after many years to prepare myself for the first big bump in the road of a relationship. When dark shadow meets dark shadow. We all show our best selves in a relationship we want and that can last only so long. When we settle in, “slippage” occurs, and our shadows come up. Whatever internal virus has affected us from past trauma, sin, growing up we need to do, shadow work we need to do..whatever you want to call it…it’s going to happen in community with others.
We need relationships. Even the Bible says, “It is not good that {man} should be alone”–Genesis. Even though we all want alone time, most of us at the very least want that one good friend, even if it is an animal. Even so, everything has a virus within. Even an animal will have something of a wild quirk—whether it’s pooping in the house or keeping you up at night. The thing to determine is how bad it is and if the virus is bad enough to infect you. In other words, enough that it brings your life down. Can you deal with their viruses–keeping in mind that you have your own too? Yes, you have yours too, so don’t judge to harshly or you may find yourself very lonely and wonder why.
People Have Beasts of The Field, Sea and Sky
This is a multi-fold analogy. People will act like beasts at times. Being part of this Earth, sometimes they use their baser instincts and do terrible things and say terrible things that hurt themselves, others and the planet. This is why education on self love is so important, so that humans rise about their baer animal instincts. We are more than just animals alone.
People often also own animals or use and abuse animals in certain ways. This can affect your relationship with them depending on what you uncover. Some people truly prefer animals over people and will treat people with a god awful attitude. You may find someone who loves cats and you are allergic to ats also and that becomes a problem. Others are obessed with way too many pets and you have to decide if you can take that on.
What is great about animals are they are closest communicators with nature next to us and often treat us with unconditional love and respect much more than we treat them. We are enamored with animals because they are mediator between us and the mysteries and nature. What a great thing that is.
People Are Planets With
Other People
You are not just signing up to one person when you enter into a relationship with a person. It is usually another friend or their family. If not, you are going to hear about it on a consistent basis. They have their own circle other than you just like you have a circle other than this person. How will the two circles meet? Or will they at all? Sometimes people all get along and other times conflicts arise.
Be careful when a person is putting other people over you or putting you on the backburner a lot. This is a big sign that you are being used. But, make no mistake about it we all want someone in our life who cares about us and who we can care for.
People Have A Core
Some people would debate this but people do have a core essence within them that is beyond their physical body. I truly believe this. It involves their physical body at present but isn’t confined by it. I can say this because I’ve experienced this presence and energy even as a small child, and I know many others who have. A power that reveals both the past, the future and that is beyond us but also with us.
It is this core that we are drawn to one another to know. The promise of a person of light and love that we are familiar with because that same flame (just like the flame of earth’s core) burns inside of us. Unfortunately, terrain covers a lot of this core and many use it as a mask and defense to where they have forgotten who they are or don’t even believe they have a core. So, when you get drawn in to know a person at their core who is like this, they throw up their terrain in your face and you never get there. It hurts and like that space traveler story, you find yourself almost crashing into a wall or feeling deceived.
The core of who we are is the essence of who we are. No matter what is going on outside that core: storms, sun, wild life, low population or high, growth or lack of for a season, we are who we are. It is up to us on how much of who we are that we are going to tap into, draw out and let shine. It is up to us on how much of that core we will let be expressed in this world. I hope you shine.
To conclude, as you travel the universe called life, you will come across galaxies full of planets–full of people. They are complex beings. It is best you just don’t assume by some sing song vibe you feel on a whim or even a month long vibe that it will be anything less than a complex deal. Each and every person is like a planet with all the levels I just described to you. The only real simple person is the one that carries a mask of denial to their own life experience. Make no mistake about it. They could be most the dangerous of all. So, travel wisely and have your laser guns set to stun 🙂
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