Curiosity is certainly compatible with life-affirming discoveries in the quest to understand what makes you tick, how you operate, and your real core values. Oftentimes we go through life without questioning those things until we get stuck in a rut and need help getting out of it. It’s a natural process or at least one that most folks go through at some point in their lives. Questioning authority or the nature of something is a self-empowering act.
Self-awareness is an ongoing process that lasts lifetimes if you ascribe to the notion of reincarnation. There seems to be enough evidence to support it. Curiosity about life, your immediate surroundings, and the world in general, is lacking in nearly every aspect of society today. My wife and I are both teachers, insatiably curious about each other, the world, how we operate, and how we succeed and thrive in the world.
We’ve noticed that we’re rare in the population base. It isn’t an ego thing, just an observation. Few parents are curious, let alone insatiably so, which results in children having less curiosity about life. We’re concerned about the apparent downward spiral in the desire to learn. The distractions, especially for children today, come in cell phones and computer games. No exploration of the neighborhood, let alone Nature, is happening. How can we grow to be better neighbors if we don’t even know the neighborhood?
In the current times, curiosity is being punished, or so it seems. What doesn’t feel or seem right is being questioned, but not openly and with tenacity to get answers. Experts in very integral fields are asking questions and sharing their findings, though it’s all being censored as another agenda seems to be in place. The mere thought of, “Oh, my god, even the government doesn’t know what is going on,” strikes a certain funny bone to the curious and observant.
We cannot think our way through a system built on vibrations. We have to feel our way through it.
~ZB
How We Use Our Brains
Most of us live in our heads. Our curiosity doesn’t go much further. We imagine all kinds of things and then react to stimuli that supports our fears or self-deprecation in life. How often do you think of what you don’t want rather than what you do. We’re familiar with the adage of how fast bad news travels or that we hear negative remarks before positive. The One-Minute Manager routine sought to change that in the workplace, and had a lot of success in doing so.
Still, there’s that head thing. We are completely out of touch with our bodies. It’s often been said Westerners live from the shoulders up, out of touch with their body or what is happening with it. The only time we truly pay attention to the body is when it is in pain and is screaming for attention. We’re bereft of perceiving the subtle side, the nuances of the sensations we sometimes feel, and immediately dismiss with some kind of denial.
There’s a view long held by aborigines and is quite likely our way back into a world that makes sense. They say that we have three brains; the gut, the heart and the head. They consider the gut to be the first brain, where everything is connected and reveals ‘what is’ through the impressions of vibrations around us. It’s then sifted through the heart, where compassion and unconditional love are held naturally. Finally, the qualified sensation arrives in the brain for analysis and synthesis into a prudent action or thought that is consistent with the reality.
Westerners (and others) process from the head down, often interpreting reality in dissociative terms, compartmentalizing and separating oneself from the experience. Does that seem holistic or inclusive of the entire sensory devices we have at our disposal? The body is a transceiver. We’ve known that for decades through science, some other practices for millennia. What would happen if we let ourselves just FEEL without bias or prejudice? What we feel are sensations, not emotions. Emotions come after the interpretation, whether from the head down or gut up is optional.
Insatiable Awareness
Probably the challenge for most who exhibit a deeper curiosity is to manage the sensitivity that comes with awareness of the body. Empaths or sensitives have long struggled with the seeming insanity that comes with feeling deeply because it isn’t limited to their own. The sensations can feel really mixed, confusing to those who are just beginning to understand that we do have an auric field and it is perceptible. From experience, it’s enough to cause anthropophobia (fear of people). The unconsciousness of humans is depressing to the sensitive, aware of so much, and unable to talk openly because of the fear of criticism most share.
It’s possible that many have had such experiences, a sensitivity beyond what they perceive as normal. Our society certain downplays being sensitive to the point of calling it a disorder or psychosis. We’re in the 21st century, not the middle ages. We have technology that put us on the Moon and Mars, but we cannot understand how our bodies and minds work yet? How do we learn the ropes of the sensory array that is part of our natural being? Folks like me have a little experience with the insanity, figured out ways to incorporate and integrate sensory perceptions, and making sense common that imbues our lives with joy and happiness. We don’t deny senses, we learn how to use them better.
Feynman does have a point – The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
