“Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.” — Albert Einstein
Over the passage of years in our experience, we have either been that individual who continually saw with their eyes and reacted, or observed those who thought with their minds and responded, creatively, instinctively, introspectively and with purposeful intent of conscious awareness. It is almost instantaneous when we meet those who are alertly active, purposefully involved and consciously present in every moment of their lives. They exist in every walk of life, sometimes in hushed tones of quiet solitude working unobtrusively among their fellow man giving sustained hope, courage, faith, truth, and relevance to our existence. Of course upon closer reflection, Eric Fromm sees it another way . . . “Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.”
How curious it is that man continues to evolve and find his own existence a problem. Not everyone of course, but there are enough of those to make it more than interesting, and a topic of extreme concern. Almost from the very beginning, the orientation, environment and imprinting that took place for mankind served immeasurable purposes. Then as today, given all our technological advances which will continue until the end of time . . . there were always those who just knew, who they were, why they were here and where they were going. They lived with purposeful intent, and a consciousness of being that never had competition with what the world embraced as accomplished, successful, accepted, and celebratory. We’ve met these individuals, but somehow the aura of accomplished celebration became irrelevant. But why? As was mentioned earlier, our indomitable penchant for technological discovery with new frontiers to conquer is palpable, insatiable, unrelenting and unstoppable. There exists a formidable danger regarding this mind-set by those embroiled in the continuum of super-human conveniences no matter where they come from or exist. These words of Eric Fromm give fair warning for all of us, “The danger of the past was that man became slaves; the danger of the future is that man many become robots.” Not all of us will see this of course, but it is coming . . . no on second thought . . . it is already here; Hello Artificial Intelligence, the fusion of man and machine. Convenient perhaps, but to what end? Or, just because we can . . . should we?
Yes, these questions are poignant to be sure, however, when man sees with just his eyes the assimilation of what is possible becomes limitless. Given the opportunity to think with the mind is a gift not many embrace, or the consciousness of being to reason through these questions, is of inordinate proportion for all of us. Taking this one step further with the enlightening words of Buddha, this quote reflects another aspect of our existence: “Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth.” We must each stand in the light of our own truth, and perhaps in this lifetime you are one of the lucky ones, that think with your mind through consciousness. JLR