I remember way back when actor-comedian Chevy Chase was the original anchor for Saturday Night Live News and he would always begin his news with “Good evening, I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not.” It sounded then and still sounds funny today because I see a fundamental truth behind it that has to to with the shadow of “I’m Awake and You’re Not.” During interactions with people who seem to be responding to me like some preprogrammed automaton, its hard for me to notice that my reaction to their behavior might just be as automatic as they appear to me. My reaction is activated or reactivated, as the case might be, to think that the person to whom I’m reacting appears to be a barrier to getting what I want and therefore can’t or won’t listen to me and to the degree I am committed to getting what I want in the way I want to get it, the person across from me will appear to be exactly as committed to an equal degree to thwarting my intention. After an exasperated exchange between myself and the other, I tell myself that interacting with this person is like interacting with a brick wall and this person,(bless their heart, it’s really not their fault,) is simply acting like a mindless robot because they are not awake, like me.
The truth is that I have moments when I am simply not present to myself or present to others around me. In those moments I am as much the automaton that I accuse others of behaving as I try to reclaim myself by making others wrong. This is the essence of the slumber I am constantly lulled into by my own thoughts and feelings, when I forget that the truth is I can stop the world around me, if and when I choose, and simply notice that I am noticing that I am noticing. It may sound strange to describe this phenomenon in this way, and it is what is so about being awake and present to the moment. What about those times when I am in the throes of my automatic thinking and behavior and I am unable to even begin to become present to myself? Is it possible to simply stop myself in the middle of the whirlwind and become one with it, and in so doing, simply become present, to find myself awake? I can’t answer for anyone else, and for myself I can say that it is always possible, when I remember.
The truth is that I have moments when I am simply not present to myself or present to others around me. In those moments I am as much the automaton that I accuse others of behaving as I try to reclaim myself by making others wrong. This is the essence of the slumber I am constantly lulled into by my own thoughts and feelings, when I forget that the truth is I can stop the world around me, if and when I choose, and simply notice that I am noticing that I am noticing. It may sound strange to describe this phenomenon in this way, and it is what is so about being awake and present to the moment. What about those times when I am in the throes of my automatic thinking and behavior and I am unable to even begin to become present to myself? Is it possible to simply stop myself in the middle of the whirlwind and become one with it, and in so doing, simply become present, to find myself awake? I can’t answer for anyone else, and for myself I can say that it is always possible, when I remember.
