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awareness
July 2009 
Are we truly an observing species?
Posted on Jun 16th, 2009
by 
casspoe
casspoe
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for April 23, 2009:
If we "know that we know", are we aware of WHAT we know? Feeling something, knowing that something is there, is different from having the wisdom to recognize it or understand it or utilize it. We "know" many things, but do not understand them.
When babies enter the world, they learn through observation. They "know" an adult is doing something, but do not understand the compexity. So they observe and mimic until understanding comes.
We are still in an infancy stage- and have kept ourselves from entering childhood and gaining more understanding because we refuse to incorporate and utilize what we observe. We refuse to believe what we observe.
A baby may observe an adult touching a hot plate. The baby watches as the adult recoils from the pain of touching it. The baby tries to touch the plate, finds that it is hot, and understands why the adult reacted the way he/she did. The baby has observed the situation, incorporated it, and now has the wisdom to not touch the plate again.
We can observe, we can "know", but we keep ourselves from transmuting what we know into wisdom.
Do we know that certain foods poison the body and lead to disease? Haven't we observed this again and again? Yet disease rates continue to climb- cancer, diabetes, obesity.
We observe that our school systems are not providing youth what they need. We observe teen violence and dropout rates. And we "know" that our media has shown more violence and stereotypes, and that we continue to pass on outdated traditions to our children- but we refuse to admit that their unhappiness is linked to us.
Do we observe our issues with money? We "know" that we buy impulsively, and we "know" that advertisers use psychological devises to get us to buy more. We know the patterns and results- and our debt continues to grow.
We can continue to "know" certain things, and observe how the world is- but when will we decide it is time to grow up and function on a level where we actually utilize what we observe?
We know this, too. We know that it only takes a small shift in action to stop our self-destructive tendencies. But nothing changes. We are fearful to make this shift because we continue to refuse to let ourselves have understanding. We are like infants who refuse to learn how to speak.
We lack understanding because in our preoccupation with what others are doing, we have forgotten to observe ourselves.
When babies enter the world, they learn through observation. They "know" an adult is doing something, but do not understand the compexity. So they observe and mimic until understanding comes.
We are still in an infancy stage- and have kept ourselves from entering childhood and gaining more understanding because we refuse to incorporate and utilize what we observe. We refuse to believe what we observe.
A baby may observe an adult touching a hot plate. The baby watches as the adult recoils from the pain of touching it. The baby tries to touch the plate, finds that it is hot, and understands why the adult reacted the way he/she did. The baby has observed the situation, incorporated it, and now has the wisdom to not touch the plate again.
We can observe, we can "know", but we keep ourselves from transmuting what we know into wisdom.
Do we know that certain foods poison the body and lead to disease? Haven't we observed this again and again? Yet disease rates continue to climb- cancer, diabetes, obesity.
We observe that our school systems are not providing youth what they need. We observe teen violence and dropout rates. And we "know" that our media has shown more violence and stereotypes, and that we continue to pass on outdated traditions to our children- but we refuse to admit that their unhappiness is linked to us.
Do we observe our issues with money? We "know" that we buy impulsively, and we "know" that advertisers use psychological devises to get us to buy more. We know the patterns and results- and our debt continues to grow.
We can continue to "know" certain things, and observe how the world is- but when will we decide it is time to grow up and function on a level where we actually utilize what we observe?
We know this, too. We know that it only takes a small shift in action to stop our self-destructive tendencies. But nothing changes. We are fearful to make this shift because we continue to refuse to let ourselves have understanding. We are like infants who refuse to learn how to speak.
We lack understanding because in our preoccupation with what others are doing, we have forgotten to observe ourselves.
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