“Like a flash of lightening between the clouds, we live in the flicker.” — Joseph Conrad
Our lives become so encompassing, involved, entwined, protracted and obliterated by what we believe to be necessary priorities, that we become completely blind to who we are and what we have become. Do we ever stop, and just think, understand or evaluate what we are doing in the moment and why? We program ourselves to react and not respond to our choices, events, conditions and positions. What’s the difference you might ask between a knee jerk reaction and response? When alert and awake the simple answer is consciousness, and that is the dilemma when it smacks you right between the eyes having no recourse but to inaudibly say “huh?” In the words of Stephen Covey . . . “The way we see the problem is the problem.”
Changing the manner in which you think, evaluate, distill, believe and discern can be beyond daunting thereby shifting your perception and perspective. So how do you get there? It is very much like anything else . . . first realize the problem exists within your purview, then begin to slowly shift how you respond to your own life by adopting those actions necessary for growth toward conscious awareness. It is not impossible or improbable . . . the variable is you and the desire, willingness and courage to take the initiative toward wholeness through enlightenment by giving up the ego to the reward of understanding the landscape of who you really are . . . without the mask. Edmund Burke suggests these encouraging words, “You can never plan the future by the past.”
As an educator I felt it an honor, privilege and profound responsibility to work with hundreds of young minds on a daily basis, by guiding them through the maze of learning the subject material in a manner that made sense to them, and enhance the experience by feeling respect for themselves and each other. The above quote by Joseph Conrad, I took literally early on and never looked back. I knew instinctively that I was in their midst for a flicker of time, and lived the words of Stephen Covey consciously . . . “Accountability breeds response-ability.”
Looking back on that experience as an educator, I have come to understand, know and believe that those young minds that were entrusted to me for such a short time imparted a treasure to my life’s journey that I carry every day . . . consciously without dilemma. As I observe the educational process objectively and subjectively in this moment, I understand the words of Galileo more profoundly than ever before . . . “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.” JLR