Be alert. Your country needs more lerts

Being "awake" to me is:

Being alert.

Being aware of what is going on around you AND comprehending it.

Paying attention. Basically living the saying, "Wherever you are, BE there."

Daydreams. That was a recurring comment written on my school report cards. As if that is MY problem and not the problem of the teacher, who obviously wasn't teaching in such a way that kept me interested.

Maybe it was also a sign of a mind that had difficulty accepting the "programing" of the system. A sign of a mind that thrived more in an environment of Creative Learning instead of Rote learning. If you have read "7 Steps To Freedom" you will understand this concept of "intelligence."

Most people do walk around - and drive around - in a mental fog. A trip to the nearest shopping mall reveals them in all their glory...

They take one step off the escalator and stop dead - oblivious to the throngs of people behind.

They block supermarket lanes with their trolley while they try to decide which brand of cereal, shampoo, or alphabet spagetti they will buy.

They sit behind their wheel while the light is green until someone beeps their horn.

They drive in the middle of the lane while looking left and right for the street they are looking for. Sometimes even stopping dead.

They pull out into traffic as if there is no traffic. Usually wearing some kind of broad-brim hat. The kind people wore in the '50s.

They park on the side of the road and open their car doors as wide as possible while traffic whizzes by, narrowly missing taking their door off.

Thomas Harris - the author of Silence of The Lambs - also wrote a book called Black Sunday. Black Sunday was a story about a terrorist whose plan was to load a bunch of explosive onto a blimp, lower it into a sports stadium during the game while The President was there, and blow it up - killing the Pres as well as thousands of people. Hot on the trail of these terrorists were two members of the Musad - Israel's version of the CIA. The terrorists were looking at this duo through a pair of binoculars and remarked that one of them (The good guys) was VERY dangerous and was to be watched because... he was a big man who moved with ease (was light on his feet and moved without apparent effort). Thus indicating he was constantly ready to react and was aware of his surroundings - taking everything in.

Watch an animal in the wild as it walks through its environment. Every few steps it will stop and listen. Listen for furtive movement of predators and other things which could be a danger. Because it is hard to hear all the noise when your footsteps make half of it.

Humans, on the other hand, walk constantly through all environments - wild and urban. Not pausing to listen. Wild animals hear this un-natural constant sound and flee.

Some analysts say the only way we can function within an urban environment is to switch off, to avoid sensory overload.

I disagree based on experience. I move and act in a state of awareness. My brisk walk through a crowded shopping mall is similar to driving - I check over my should for faster walkers before making sudden directional changes. I move out of the flow of traffic in the shopping lanes while I make my product decisions. And I hear the sounds of a world in motion.

How many people listen to the world? It is a cacophony of sounds. Even in the city the bird noise is everywhere - do you even notice the birds.

Let me ask you... how many small black (or green or even grey) boxes or small pillars are sticking up on the sidewalk near your house? You know... the things that house the phone hubs.

They are everywhere... if you bother looking for them.

When you check your mail box do you scan your eyes up and down the street, taking notice of the world in which you live? Or do you put blinkers on and go through mail-checking motions while your MIND is in suspend mode?

It was said movie ticket sales were UP during The Great Depression because people wanted to ESCAPE the reality of the world.

Today. We have more escape than every before. We have play-station, nintendo, and so on. Hundreds of TV chanels to choose from. Videos and DVDs to rent from Blockbuster. A myriad of books and magazines to read. And online forums, such as this one, to while away the time in seeming productivity.

We bombard ourselves with stuff that aids in our escape of the real world. As long as we do not have to THINK. THINKING might reveal to us things we wish to avoid. Like the question of "What am I doing with my life?" "Where am I going?" THINKING might show your religious belief system is in error of some kind. Might reveal you have become an automoton droid. Going through the motiions of life but not living. THINKING might reveal a way out of your misery. Might make you realise how un-individual you are. And God forbid all that.

Listen to two people having a conversation. One may mention some kind of injury. Then the conversation will be about how hurt and injured each person is and how much suffering they have suffered. As if they define their reality by their misery.

Do you look at another person when talking to them? Or do you look at them when they talk, but dance your eyes around when you talk? Most people dance their eyes around when talking and seldom look at the person they are talking to. Watch the human theater to see it. (I told you I was aware of what went on around me.)

When talking to someone do you laugh even though what they said was not funny? This is such an unconscious habit most people are not aware they do it all the time.

What was this thread about again?

WAKE UP!

Wherever you are, BE there.

Yoda did't like Luke's roaming mind... never his mind on where he was.

Watch people watching TV. You will see them switching off before your eyes. They lose all facial expression and you can see their mind turning off. They will then sit and stare while stupid ads play on the screen in front of them.

To learn to THINK you have to stop submerging yourself in the escape elements. You need to sit and talk - in depth - with your companion - about meaningful things, not dumb things like what happened on Days of Our Lives yesterday. You have to face the reality of your situation - financial and other. Get a dose of reality, so to speak. Even listen to arguments that might go against your belief system (even though ignorance is bliss).

Michael Ross


Survive the really real world