Does a candle concern itself with how much of its body and substance remains as it burns? Is the wick bothered with its lifespan, ever shortening as it turns to ash, smoke, and light?
Are we really that much different? Aleister Crowley among many other things, some much more cohesive and comprehensible than others, once said that if you love life, you mustn’t waste time – as that was the only true measure we had for it. But is that true? Our bodies certainly keep track of time we spend asleep and often use that aggregate sum against us. But do we actually have a way of counting the hours and minutes we spend not sleeping through this life? And further, when we break down the hours we spend with eyes open, do we have meaningful subtotals for the time we consciously are paying attention to the details of what is happening around us?
Are we in fact “woke” whenever we are awake? Merriam-Webster defines “awake” simply as “not being asleep.” But we slip into other territory when we consider that it also suggests as synonyms being “alive, aware, cognizant, conscious, and sensible.” These words per MW mean “having knowledge of something,” but awake implies that one has become alive to something, right? And if you’re alive to the injustice happening around you, to social prejudices and inequities, to wrongs committed in the name of right and might that should otherwise be left to history’s sad chapters of hiccups or roadblocks to evolution, then what exactly is the opposite? To be “dead”? In a way, yes. Or if not dead, then at least very, very dull and lifeless, unable to be aroused from the slumber of convenience, custom, or culture.
Krishnamurti suggested that if one is stupid, it is meaningless to run around thinking or saying, “I’m going to become smart, I’m going to gain wisdom.” That is tantamount to repeatedly running your head into a brick wall. It’s impossible, according to the Dunning-Kruger effect, to recognize that you are not intelligent or knowledgeable about a subject without knowing something about the subject in the first place. In other words, you may know that you are dumb, but exactly how dumb, and about what? You have no basis for knowing.
The only way, Krishnamurti suggests, is not by working harder or studying more diligently or even drilling yourself with subject matter – unless you start with the right subject. And that’s the tricky part, right? To become smart, you need to examine the areas and ways in which you are stupid. To truly understand your limitations, Dirty Harry-style. Until you know, really Know, how and why you think the way you do, it’s impossible to even consider the possibility of changing that. You can walk around with your eyes open, but unless you understand what you’re looking at, and why it draws your attention, you’re not really awake, are you?
For that reason, being mindful of what’s going on around is usually of limited value. You’re not awake, you’re attending a wake, reading a Kaddish for someone you don’t even really know, observing that you are observing without really knowing what you’re looking at.
There are a lot of self-help “gurus” out there giving advice on the best place to start this “journey to awakening.” Let’s be honest. Most of their suggestions are always a little obtuse. They suggest that lighting your inner candle is like switching on a lightbulb by flipping a switch. The wiring that supports such an activity is hidden in the walls, in the same way a candle’s wick is concealed within a pillar of wax. You can get yourself out of the dark with a flick of a finger or the striking of a match, but you’re only opening your eyes. You still need to get out of bed and walk to the library that is life all around you. You have to actually connect – and by doing so, let go of the idea of self and recognize that anything you know is possibly by being known, anything that can happen does happen, and everything that is, is really part of a much larger nothing.
I read this morning a quote, “Don’t judge someone because they sin differently than you.” Never mind that some “sins” are considered much worse than others. Pedophilia is more wicked than simply cheating on your mate, right? Murder is higher on the heinous scale than letting your dog do their business on your neighbor’s lawn. Right? Never mind that the first step in even considering this proposition at all is becoming aware of, recognizing, measuring, and taking full responsibility for, your own sins – however you define that word (and we all apply varying definitions and names for it). That’s what being truly “woke” is actually about. Not being able to see and articulate what’s wrong with other people, or the world, but being able to accept your part in that. Imagining that if there is something wrong with the way the universe operates (or freely exists, if you don’t believe in anything so grandiose and engineered as operation), that it is completely due to the way you are. Being awake is a willingness to explore that error and correct it. And by doing so, saving the world.
07 APR 2025