Some people say that gaining awareness is like flicking on a lightbulb. In an instant, we go from darkness to light, from blindness to sight. And while that’s an apt metaphor, we seldom consider the effort that is required to allow our hand to reach for that light-switch. Or, I believe, light-switches.
The process of gaining awareness takes a lifetime to accumulate. As we grow, physically, mentally and spiritually, we can reach the various light-switches that illuminate different areas of understanding and appreciation. Some switches are in darkness that only another light can illuminate, and some are higher up on the wall than we can initially reach, but if we continue to grow, we will eventually be able to hit them.
We are born with limited awareness - nearly none. We hold no memories, even our vision is blurred and unfocused. We spend these early months cultivating an awareness of our own bodies: learning that those wavy-wiggly bits are attached to us, and that we can control them. Discovering tastes and smells and sounds and feels. We are not really even aware of ourselves.
Throughout childhood, we become aware of the physical world, and to test our bodies against it. We discover that we have minds and can use them to solve problems, generally get what we want. We become aware of basic emotions, though not always how to regulate them. We are introduced to other people outside our families, but they merely exists to serve a function in our lives: to play, to teach, to heal, even to harm. Our awareness is limited to our own bodies and its desires, and ensuring the people/things around us can fulfill our needs and wants.
As teens and young adults, we become aware of society and social order. We start to recognize patterns in the ways people behave. Some accept it, some reject it, some struggle to find any place at all. Belonging is what’s important - to a social or recreational group, family, subculture, maybe to one other special person. We become clannish, willing to fight for the well-being of our chosen group or reward it. At the same time, we’re developing our adult bodies and learning what it’s capable of, and what others can do for it. Our awareness remains focused largely on ourselves, but has expanded to also includes those we identify closely with: family and friends.
Many people never grow beyond this level of awareness. They limit themselves to what their own bodies and minds tell them, and what their communities confirm for them. But for those who have the opportunity and passion to keep reaching for those hidden and high-up light-switches, greater awareness is there to be opened up.
With continued effort, we can start to recognize the value of views of those outside our immediate communities, to learn of other cultures and social structures, to see issues from many angles and perspectives, took look objectively at our own minds, to be aware of the need of others as well as our own. There are always things to learn, opinions to consider, philosophies to ponder, experiences to absorb, and it’s these things that drive us towards the kind of higher awareness that make us people with compassion, kindness, and tolerance. And those with those things, we can bring harmony to the world around us.
Nobody can be omniscient, but I believe it’s our duty as Jedi to cultivate as much awareness as we possible can - to switch on as many lights as possible to illuminate our lives, and, when appropriate, to help others reach their switches. It may be easy and comfortable to sit in the dark, ignorant of what’s happening around us, but we must ask ourselves if we’re willing to sacrifice the bliss of ignorance for the harmony of awareness.
