Thursday, January 9, 2014

Embrace the Awe

There seem to be two kinds of people in the world, those who admit that know very little and those who lie about how much they know. Even the most brilliant thinkers can't excel in every avenue of collection and assimilation of information. In today's technological world, people are becoming very specialized in their own areas of knowledge, yet we still insist on following those who speak with the most commanding voices. We 
very seldom need tribal chiefs to lead us in battle.Why do we hide behind those who bully us with instilling fear so that we will then see them as our saviors?

Those that convince others that they have inside knowledge of the great mysteries of life continue to be honored by us as if they were themselves gods. We seek their guidance on many things about which they actually know nothing, rather face our own fears of the unknown. The issue seems to me that we've been taught to fear rather than embrace our own unknowns. Every unknown is an opportunity to seek out another to enlighten one in a particular area of expertise. To know everything would diminish the reasons to reach out to others.

Why do we want to have all the world's knowledge? What would we do with it, if we had it? There are only so many hours in any given life, and each of us is tasked with developing only so many talents. Yet, we are pushed to feel that we never know enough, never do enough, never share enough of ourselves. Why don't we simply push back?

People seem to look for ways to upset themselves, rather than simply embracing what is right in front of them. We seek out gurus to teach us how to regain what we were born with, wonder and mystery at everything around us, beginning with our own bodies and their functions. We are then carefully taught that we should stop simply enjoying and start fearing ourselves and everything we encounter until someone "in control" can "help" us understand ourselves and the rest of our experiences.

Babies are delighted when they fill their diapers until we tell them how much we dislike what came out of them. How much better it would be if we could congratulate them for turning their food into themselves and into new life as fertilizer! Instead we want to sanitize everything to standards that have been developed by those who fear the natural cycles of life and death and have institutionalized fear of ourselves and all around us. Nothing is good unless "they" say it is good.

We are born with awe, wonder, and delight. We have been taught to turn these feelings into fear. The "fear of God" is simply foolishness. The wonder at the great mysteries that we call life is worth living for. People often wonder how a group can get together and celebrate during a hurricane. Theses are people embracing awe.