No matter where we are on our own particular paths, whether we are seeking balance, a bit of peace, a touch of self-awareness, or aspiring to lama-hood in the next go-around, we’re all confronted by this dynamic on a regular basis. Those things which we need to hear in order to make profound change tend to be the things that challenge our paradigms and worldviews the most. When we encounter these (to borrow a phrase) inconvenient truths, we are faced with a choice: face it or deny it.
For many people, the choice to deny some truths about the world we live in has become so habitual that it isn’t even a conscious choice anymore; they are on auto-denial, and it takes a serous catalyst to re-ignite the cognitive process. Others are committed to keeping an eye open though, seeking if you like, peeling back the layers with a skeptical disposition and, hopefully, a measure of scientific objectivity.
When I grow up I hope to be one of latter…
So here’s the question: When we think that we are keeping our eyes open, to whatever degree that is comfortable to us, we start to see stuff that many around us don’t see and it’s very, very easy to get smug, or indignant, or even angry about all of this new knowledge we’re taking in, about our new perspective on the world, and about all of the ‘enlightenment’ that we’re moving towards. How should we respond to the changes we start to go through? What are our responsibilities when we begin to think we’re seeing the world through clearer eyes?
(P.S. I noticed yesterday evening that the Comments link wasn’t working. I won’t flatter myself and assume that there were no comments to yesterday’s quote because of that error, but if you had noticed, I fixed it. And I think I’m done tinkering with the template for a while too… is it readable?)
