Hello and welcome to this glorious August 7, 2020! Today is a rare and precious day that will never come again. Are you awake for it?
On any given day, I can scroll through pretty much any social media platform and read where someone somewhere is calling on humanity, an identified group of people, or even an individual to, “Wake Up.” Hmmmm, have I ever said that? Yes, more times than I care to count.
What do we mean here, to Wake Up? When I have the belief that someone needs to Wake Up, it is as though I am suggesting that they are not living in the now, they need to be educated, open their eyes, and get in touch with reality. I mean seriously, “how could anyone be so blind?” Even though I still catch myself thinking “people” need to Wake Up meow and then, I find this idea quite comical. In all my wokeness I have access to some greater reality more than anyone else? There are 7.8 Billion people on this planet and my ego is somehow convinced that I have it all figured out. On one level, my consciousness is typically convinced that I’m seeing clearly, “I am Awake!”
So, what does it mean to Wake Up? I honestly don’t know anymore. I can say that I certainly know what it’s like to be asleep though. The most obvious are times of mindlessness. For example, driving down the road and snapping out of wherever I was and asking myself, “How did I get here already?” Or how about these: walk into a room and forgot why you went in there; finish reading a chapter and come to the realization that you don’t remember a single thing you read; while in the middle of a conversation stop and wonder what it was that you were talking about. When we “come to” in these situations, it is often hard to remember where we were. We were somewhere. One thing is for sure, we were not present.
I feel like another possible example of asleepness is that of not being educated. Maybe this has nothing to do with being awake. Maybe it does. Here is my experience: Despite egoistically believing that I had a pretty good grasp on how the world worked, I was humbled when I returned to school. In being educated, I learned that there is always more that one can learn. But more important, I learned that I really didn’t know much at all. In essence, I became teachable.
I am also discovering that I am laden with pre-judgement and “Dan” bias. Just when I think that I really know someone, they do something to the contrary thereby smashing my perception of who they are.
In becoming teachable, I think I learned that one of the greatest obstacles to wisdom, or in this case waking up, is intellect - knowledge. We tend to believe that because we have an education, whether it was obtained academically or in the school of hard knocks, that we know something. Maybe it is this knowing something – this certainty – that actually keeps or puts us to sleep? My past would suggest that when I think I know something already; I have little desire to explore any alternative truth. Usually, I later discover that I am wrong.
Maybe a more important question to ask is, “how would you know if you were awake?” Is it possible to be wholly enlightened? Some say it is. But how would you know for sure? Maybe waking up is the realization that we don’t know everything? Maybe waking up is becoming curious?
I certainly don’t have any definitive answers here. Nevertheless, I have discovered that when I’m thinking that someone needs to “Wake Up,” that someone is, invariably, me.
I love you, and there is nothing that you can do about it!
Oh, and yes, we did get a new puss kitten :)
Waking Up,
Dan
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