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Curtis wrote:
Unknown, I think the idea of “awake” includes opening one’s eyes – but I like the story of DarkJedi’s son.
It’s a good reminder that we often say things that seem simple to us but can be complicated for the person with whom we are communicating – and vice-versa. Some things that seem complicated to us seem simple to others.
I always just wondered if it was an oversight because the rest of the endowment is sort of like Simon says, it’s the only thing, that I can think of, that we are supposed to do but are not told to do with explicit instructions.
This is surely a stretch, more of a personal interpretation, but you could say that Adam, mankind, never did actually awake and we are all “walking in darkness at noonday” as we go through this dream that is mortality, thinking we are awake but never having opened our eyes.
Yeah, I think it’s good to contemplate if we really have awakened and risen in regard to specific things – or if we simply have turned our closed eyes in a different direction. I think everyone here wants to live with eyes wide open, even though sometimes we wish we could have kept our eyes closed, but I know the tendency at first for lots of people who suddenly find themselves in crisis mode is not to look around fully but rather to shift complete and obsessive focus in a different direction. It takes a while, sometimes, to find the right prescription, and things can look or feel out of whack until the proper prescription is discovered. That can be disorienting, but when everything starts to clear up (either visually or internally) and a new, healthier balance / increased strength is reached, it is a wonderful feeling. “No pain, no gain” sounds like a trite platitude sometimes, but it actually is true.
One more analogy:
Closed eyes never get dust in them, and they never get poked in quite the same way as eyes that are open. Trusted friends and family can lead the blind by the hand and keep them from tripping and falling – again, ensuring that they don’t experience the type of pain that those who walk on their own regularly feel. Wearing blinders allows horsed to move toward their destination without distraction, but those horses also never get to enjoy the view along the way – or notice other horses lying sick and in need of help along the sides of the road. The benefits of blindness, either total or partial, are not worth avoiding the pain associated with being able to see more fully.
We all know that, deep down, but it’s hard in the emotional pain of the moment to remember.
Curtis wrote:Yeah, I think it’s good to contemplate if we really have awakened and risen in regard to specific things – or if we simply have turned our closed eyes in a different direction. I think everyone here wants to live with eyes wide open, even though sometimes we wish we could have kept our eyes closed, but I know the tendency at first for lots of people who suddenly find themselves in crisis mode is not to look around fully but rather to shift complete and obsessive focus in a different direction.
This reminds me of the tendency to go anti after the faith crisis. Whereas your eyes were closed to the fact that the church is not perfect or even what it claims to be, during crisis, your eyes close again and you suddenly become blind to the positive things about the church and certain truths that do come out of it. Both seem to be stage 3 actually. Normally I would think of anti attitudes to be stage 4 but really it’s just closing your eyes in the other direction, as you’ve stated. Stage 4 is a humble state of mind that comes from this new, uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty. Stage 3 is absolutes. The Church is absolutely true v.s. the church is absolutely false. I would say then, that stage 5 retains that uncertainty but is now embraced rather than feared as it is in stage 4.
Unknown wrote:I would say then, that stage 5 retains that uncertainty but is now embraced rather than feared as it is in stage 4.
well said. I think stage 3 also fears that uncertainty and tries hard to be certain of their own view. Stage 4 fears the uncertainty and the thought there may not be anything to be certain about. Stage 5 can embrace uncertainty, and see good things for what they are, while being open to new or alternate views, because we don’t have to be certain to value something.
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