“Let’s pray that the human race never escapes Earth to spread its inequity elsewhere.” —— C. S. Lewis
In addressing conscious dilemma, the term conscious is defined as awareness of one’s own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings memories and feelings. Looking to the definition of dilemma, is stated as a situation in which a difficult choice has to made between two or more alternatives. Navigating conscious dilemma then becomes an evolving continuum of our personal experiences, with regard to specific instances interjecting consciousness. In a perfect universe, the ability to be conscious in all things is ideal, desired and practical. Unfortunately, all to often we select another path of denial thereby side-stepping any possibility of present awareness. Gian Carlo Menotti put it another way, “A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate death of his ignorance.”
In our day to day activities, schedules and over-programmed lives excuses are bountiful and convenient. Make no mistake we create them more than we know, simply because we believe it’s easier and perhaps more expedient . . . or so we think. Ultimately, this is the long, winding, circuitous route of postponing, delaying and avoiding the inevitable . . . facing yourself with all the limitations, failures, lies and lack of honesty established over a lifetime. How do you deconstruct a lifetime of deception? Don’t make it so complicated. Start where you are, recognizing your part in your existence . . . from there it’s one moment and one step at a time. Or you could take the advice of James Joyce, “The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.” Good advice . . . stop talking and start doing with intentional truth.
Life is whether we acknowledge it or not, one type of dilemma after another . . . some pleasant and others beyond challenging. There’s no escaping the inevitable due to how life is structured for all of us. The journey can become one of illumination, personal truth, courage and hope not just for you but for all whose lives you touch. You have the capability of not only changing your life but countless others. You have the power to change the direction of your life almost instantaneously, by surrendering the ego to present awareness consciousness and thinking you have control over a great percentage of your life. Understanding that you really don’t have control over that much in your life, is not a conscious dilemma but freedom from the shackles of denial, disillusion and personal dishonesty. Once you take that leap, let the words of T.S. Eliot resonate, “Oh my soul . . . be prepared for him who knows how to ask questions.” JLR