Another Way To Look At The Same Problem
To, again, quote Ben Franklin, “Many people die at twenty-five and aren’t buried until they are seventy-five.”
I’ve used this quote in the last two newsletters. Let's try it a third time. Let me start this way.
YAWN!
Yes, (pardon, while I finish yawning), Yawn! What our buddy Ben is talking about can be thought of differently, too. We are all asleep. Oh, we are running around, extremely busy, holding up umbrellas to stay dry, avoiding all the water (that will only make complete sense if you read the previous newsletter), and “busy” requires effort but not awareness.
When we sleep at night, most of us lose awareness of what is going on around us. We recognize that. But when our bodies are awake, and our attention is distracted from who we are by what we are doing, we also have reduced awareness. We spend the day just going through the motions and bring limited (or no) awareness to what we are doing. That is why many of the great spiritual leaders are telling us we need to “wake up” and that we are “asleep.” Our awareness is not appropriately engaged with what our bodies and intellect are involved in, just as if we are asleep.
The title of this issue is “Another Way To Look At The Same Problem.” For me, I view a lack of awareness as, most definitely, a problem. Indeed, I tend to look at all the challenges I have in my life as being grounded in a lack of awareness. Surely, it isn’t a surprise if you are driving down the highway and fall asleep at the wheel that what happens next is not going to be a good thing. For me, it follows that when something happens that is not a “good thing,” it is because I was asleep. This is undoubtedly a deeper way of viewing one's experiences, but the shift in perspective is useful.
By the way, I am not insisting that my way of thinking about this is the only way or that my way is somehow “better” than other viewpoints. But I do find this way of thinking useful. I’ve shared some of these ideas before with others, and those I am thinking of have tended to resist. They adopt an approach to their interaction with me that is a bit combative, and they tend to defend how they look at things, to the degree they stand in conflict with what I’ve shared. For instance, they revolt against the idea that they might be “asleep”. If that applies to you, please stop reading now, because you are probably going to like what is coming even less!
When the combative spirit appears, I now (didn’t always approach it this way) tend to remind myself of the saying attributed to Robert Heinlein, “Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig." I have learned that people don’t like it if you awaken them from a deep sleep! So, when the combative spirit appears, I make a mental note and do my best to disengage!
For me, though, this whole idea is freeing and stimulating. If I am asleep, perhaps much of what I am experiencing (perhaps all of it), is can be thought of as a very real feeling dream. Wow! That adjusts my perspective, my perception, and my priorities. It also activates my awareness! (Ooooh, that is the start of waking up!)
Only awareness can expand awareness. You can’t make yourself wake up when you are asleep. You can set an alarm clock before you go away for the night to help you, but if you and I are already asleep, we can’t do that! So, what can we do? And if only awareness can expand awareness, how does that work?
As I said in Issue 6, I have a metaphor I love to help explain this. You are standing at the bottom of Niagara Falls with an umbrella. The water is pouring down all around you, constantly. It never stops. All you need to do to get wet is move the umbrella. The great thing about this metaphor is that if you are standing at the bottom of Niagara Falls with an umbrella, it is a massive effort to stay dry, to keep the umbrella upright, because of the power of the water. Most humans unintentionally work very hard trying to avoid the introspection needed for awareness to expand.
We may understand we are at the bottom of Nigra Falls holding the umbrella. We may agree we need to move it. But, gee, how do you do that?
First, there is a whole “thing” that humans have set up and put in place for us, designed to teach us this very thing. It's called religion. But being involved in a religious tradition is no guarantee of coming awake. For some, it appears that it is just another way to go through the motions of life without appropriate awareness. Since the whole topic of religion is so sensitive for so many, I’m going to skip past it, except to say this. If you can not see how your religious tradition massively enriches your life, it's probably because it doesn’t. And, in my view, that is probably because you are, well, asleep!! (And to be clear, regardless of the tradition you are involved in, some people have used it successfully to come fully awake. So, the “problem” is not your tradition.) So, let's tackle this differently.
I don’t think you can force yourself to wake up. But I think you can act in ways that make awakening and expanding awareness more likely. (And you can also act in ways that reduce the likelihood of those things occurring, too.) Let’s focus on those things we can do to help the process along. One more point as we start to dive into this: For most, awakening and the expansion of awareness is a gradual process that happens over time. It is rarely a single ah-ha moment where you go from wherever you are to maximum awareness.
The first step is to want it. Waking up is not a passive process; it is something you must engage in. The second step, literally (on a metaphorical level), is to “howl”. Yes, Howl! “When the baby is playing quietly, the Mother stays away, but when the baby cries, the Mother comes.” -Ramakrishna. On a practical basis, the Mother can’t not come. (Ask any mother!). Third, look (or listen) for it. When you demand help, help will appear. It may come in words in a newsletter, in a casual conversation with a spouse, friend, or coworker, or it may come as a flash of insight. But you have to listen for it.
There is a terrific book on the subject of awareness written years ago by Anthony de Mello titled “Awareness,” which you can get here.
These three steps I’ve suggested are foundational. In the next issue, we are going to explore a major barrier to this process. So, want it, ask for it, and then look/listen for it. It is coming!
If you found this issue helpful and want to hear more from Greg, be sure to subscribe to his podcast, Pants Around Ankles Prevention, where each episode delivers a punch of truth to help you wake up, gain perspective, and live with greater clarity and purpose. Listen and subscribe now on Apple Podcasts or YouTube.