Fencing Master

The Choice

If you had the choice, would you rather be smarter than you are or more aware?  Go a step further. If a wizard came to you and said you could be either the smartest person in the world or the most aware, which would you choose?

It’s a symptom of the times, I think, that most people would choose to be smarter. We live in a  world based on technology, wealth, and entrepreneurship. You have to be smart to succeed in those areas, and if you feel you are only average in intelligence, you are not likely to expect enormous success. The argument for being more aware is rarely made, yet by far choosing to be more aware is the better choice—and unlike IQ, you can increase your awareness.

What awareness brings is freedom from fixed beliefs and habits. You don’t think through what’s wrong with your life as if a formula can be applied from the outside. The core message of Metahuman is that you are consciousness.  You don’t have awareness the way you have blue eyes, curly hair, a short temper, or a flair for cooking. You are the awareness from which everything is made.

Once you have this insight, a radical shift occurs inside. You find yourself wanting to intensify the qualities of awareness that are the most valuable. It is undeniable that these qualities are essential to being human, and they include love, compassion, curiosity, creativity, and personal evolution.  Everything we value comes from the inside, including science. Everything we do comes from the inside.

So how do we intensify those qualities we value most? We pay attention to them. This is the heart of what Buddhism calls non-doing. Instead of applying an idea, even a brilliant idea, you feel your way along, letting awareness guide you to the goal. Einstein made explicit reference to this when he said that a sense of wonder was essential to any great scientific discovery. Wonder isn’t a thought. Wonder is a quality of awareness, the opposite of taking things for granted.

To be unaware leads to taking far too much for granted, such as who you are, what you are capable of, and what the future holds. It is far too easy to lock things down in mental boxes and throw away the key, and this has happened in everyone’s life to some degree or other. Take any label you apply to yourself, and it is a box. “I am X” should be a mystery. We should all be saying “I am infinite consciousness and all the possibilities it contains.”

To realize and become aware of “I am infinite consciousness and all the possibilities it contains.”- isn’t like a blank sheet of paper. Awareness brings you close to the source of the most valued things. But more importantly, being aware aligns you with the creative impulse in Nature.

For all these reasons, it is much better to be more aware than smarter. Being more aware will also make you smarter in the bargain, because a conscious person makes better choices than an unconscious person.