“An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.” — Albert Camus
In listening to individuals involved with a myriad of groups on various topics, it is always fascinating to me how people are impressed with what they believe is an intellectual, on whatever level they perceive it to be true. At the same time I also find it curious . . . because in my experience so few so called intellectuals are personifying consciousness on any level. Sometimes they elicit extreme charm, and Camus suggests simply this regarding that observation, “You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer ‘yes’ without having asked a clear question.”
At times, it takes a great amount of courage to acknowledge one’s consciousness, albeit you have to embrace the challenge and become the champion of your own life with humility, vulnerability and grace. Yes, all that and perhaps without being an intellectual . . . just imagine. Anais Nin expresses it this way, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
All of us have been guilty of procrastination at one time or another in our lives, this is far from being an exclusive club. We always believe we have so much time to accomplish whatever it is we feel is our life’s calling, passion, and yes, raison d’etre or reason to be. We like to think that if something doesn’t work out, we’ll just try something else . . . we delude ourselves into thinking . . . there is plenty of time. We can intellectualize our circumstances thereby side-stepping the real issues . . . and consciousness slips through the cracks once again. In a way, we watch ourselves but not consciously.
Recently, I read a few words that crystallize the idea of time and thinking we have an abundance of it for the asking, when in reality it is quite something else. Jonathan Cahn in his book The Harbinger, is quite succinct as to the idea of time in presenting this thought, ”Eternity begins . . . after the next heart beat.” JLR