1/12/12
Bits and pieces of information come to
me through various channels, and I hold onto some of these shards of
thought because they immediately speak truth to me. For most of
them, I have no way to verify their truthfulness, no way of knowing
whether or not what I am learning is actuality, but I have learned to
trust my instincts, as well as judge whether a source is authentic or
phony. I generally trust articles published in peer-reviewed
scientific journals, as well the the news articles written to help
laypeople understand what these studies have discovered. But once in
a while, I will simply read a quote or hear a theory that makes me
think, “of course that's right!”
One of these ideas that was passed onto
me by someone several years ago is that there is a great store of
shared human knowledge accessible to everyone through our own
consciousness. In this store of knowledge lies all of the truth of
humanity. Every time I hear the results of some carefully designed
study which concludes, “and in conclusion, humans like to have sex
and feel a sense of purpose; they love their families and are less
healthy when they sit around doing not much.” I think to myself,
um...isn't that obvious? But sometimes it isn't. Sometimes, just a
little insight, a well spoken thought, or a quote from a wise master
opens up a whole new channel of awareness which makes me look at the
way I had previously been thinking and go, “wow, I can't believe I
didn't recognize this before! It's so incredibly clear that this is
the truth!” In espousing such utterly clear and truthful
statements, the “store of knowledge” theory goes, humans are
tapping into this shared consciousness, pulling from it tidbits of
information, and sharing them with the rest of us who haven't been
able to tap into the same information, due mostly to business with
the rest of life. When I hear people who are tapping into the
greater consciousness speak, it makes me say, “oOOooooh...thats
why.” Part of this theory includes the idea that the great
thinkers and philosophers, mystics and spiritual leaders of human
history became so great by finding a way to tap into this
consciousness with more regularity that the average person. The
reason they spoke with such wisdom and clarity is that they were
pulling their information from a great store of truth, without the
need the have to really even think about it themselves.
Recently, I have started to combine
some of the knowledge and wisdom of this greater consciousness
(brought to me in books and quotes, through the words of other
humans) with the knowledge and wisdom that I am gaining first-hand
through travel and interaction with humans of all stripes. It is
being a challenging and fruitful mental and spriritual journey.
It is morning in Tallahassee, and I've
just made myself a cup of tea. The quote on the tag of the teabag
says, “May you have love, kindness and compassion for all living
things.” Beautiful, simple, and to me, so completely obvious.
That statement embodies the message that I would love for all of
humanity to embrace. How to encourage this to happen is my mission.
I have been struggling to come up with a plan.
I find myself quoting and striving to
live by the principles of a book I read several years ago, The
Four Agreements by Don Miguel
Ruiz. It is a small book, but has made a major impression on the way
I see things. The agreement which I find most useful is “Don't
make assumptions.” Simply put, but very difficult in practice.
This agreement, along with the others, makes immediate, subconscious
sense to me in a way that makes me believe that these agreements are
part of that vast store of human truth.
Though
the book talks about using this agreement mostly in regards to social
life and interactions with other people, I find myself using it about
all “knowledge” that comes my way. By realizing that many of the
beliefs I have held in the past were simply held because others told
me, “that's the way it is,” or “that's human instinct,” I
have freed myself of the need to abide by unsubstantiated principles.
I am coming to recognize that TONS
of the principles and knowledge that people use to guide their
everyday lives are based purely on assumptions. Many of these
assumptions have been passed down through generations, taught to
children and grandchildren for so long that they seem
like instinct, but are not. Most stereotypes are a perfect example.
Through education
in psychology, I have learned that the “nature vs nurture” debate
is far from conclusive. We don't really know exactly what human
instinct is, and it is incredibly difficult to differentiate what is
learned from what is innate. The point that is being established
with greater strength every day is that the human brain is
marvelously trainable. There really is very little that is built
into our behaviors, thought patterns, and ways of living at birth,
and most of how we act and what we do is determined by our
environment, our training and our education. Now, this environment
does start in the womb, and some very important human behaviors and
characteristics can be tied to chemical influences inside of the
mother, but once a child is born, the possibilities seem almost
infinite. A few genetic factors can sway a person toward one
behavior or another, but these are far from being deterministic.
This means that we have the power to change the way our brains work,
as individuals as well as whole societies, and indeed, even as a
species. We can decide what we want our world to look like, how we
want to think, who we want to be, and why. Our potential as a
species is staggering.
A few quotes that I
always took for granted, which I now realize have no basis other than
common assumption:
“History is doomed to repeat itself.”
“Humans are
selfish, and that's the motivation that makes capitalism work.”
These ideas have no
basis in reality, they are simply created and supported in people's
minds. The human species, because we are so changeable, is not tied
to any particular destiny. We can teach each other and ourselves to
believe what we want to believe, to act how we want to act, and to
create a world the way we want it to be.
Thanks
to a friend's prompting, I have begun reading some of the great
philosophy of history. For thousands of years, humans with time on
their hands have been attempting to answer some of the same questions
I am now asking myself. It only makes sense that I should take into
account their thoughts and conclusions, since they have influenced
all of humanity. I started reading, Socrates, Buddha,
Confucius, Jesus by Karl
Jaspers. It is a very short, succinct summary of the lives and basic
ideas of these 4 incredibly influential thinkers. In the first few
pages, I encountered this quote from Socrates:
The
untruth of the present state of affairs, regardless of whether the
form of government is democratic, aristocratic or tyrannical, cannot
be remedied by great political actions. No improvement is possible
unless the individual is educated by educating himself, unless his
hidden being is awakened to reality through an insight which is at
the same time inner action, a knowledge which is at the same time
virtue.
This quote embodies
perhaps the greatest challenge of our times. Our political system is
ineffective, impotent and paralyzed. Even war, a tremendous
undertaking of great proportions, seems to make little difference in
the long-term fate of our world. Education is critical, but even
more important is instilling the desire to learn, the thirst for
truth, inspiring that insight which prompts people to awaken to
reality. The reality that, as my Dad's cousin Kathe says, we are one
Earth, one people.
Conveniently,
Socrates philosophy of continuously questioning until true knowledge
or perplexity were reached fits perfectly with Ruiz's philosophy of
never making assumptions. With these well-fitting ideas in hand, I
am motivated to find a way to help people to change their thinking
and find that spark within themselves to educate themselves about the
reality of the human situation. Is it true that people will not know
and care about the fate of our species unless they find in
themselves the desire to know and care? Or is there something I
can do to help them see that they are a part of something much
greater than themselves already? I continue the search.
A few other tidbits
of information that have stuck with me from the store of greater
consciousness:
If you want to
solve a problem, concentrate on it intensely, and then relax. Our
most creative and productive solutions always come to us when our
brain is relaxed, flexible, and at ease. This is why we often find
ourselves with great ideas when we are on the verge of either falling
asleep or waking up.
There is no way of
life to which man cannot become accustomed. Even the most vile of
evils can be taken for granted if we are taught, “this is the way
it is, the way it has always been, the way it has to be.” The reality is that there is no "way it has to be." We have the power to make it what we want.
1/13/12
Tallahassee to Cross City, FL: 93 miles
My visit with Mike
and Amelia in Tallahassee was perhaps the most relaxing visit I have
had on the trip to date. It helps that they are both simply relaxed,
comfortable people, at ease with themselves and their place in the
world.
Amelia and I
worked together for Naturalists At Large for a couple of years. We
canoed rivers, hiked canyons, taught kids how to tell a pine tree
from a granola bar, and hung out on the weekends with the same good
people who we worked with. Amelia was originally the only person I
knew I was going to visit between leaving Minnesota and arriving in
Washington, DC. Thankfully, several others have filled in along the
way. Still, it felt great to arrive at such a distant destination
and rekindle some of the California culture that we all know and
love.
Mike, Amelia and I
ate some good pizza, filled their new apartment with second-hand
furniture and dishware, and had a great sushi party on the night
before I left. They both cooked for me, and I ate. Amelia and I did
some wondering through the Florida History museum, ate at a great
Vegetarian Soul Food restaurant, and ran some small errands. Mike
and I had burritos while waiting for Amelia to arrive at the airport.
It was nice to experience their calm, somewhat settled lifestyle
amidst my go-go-go journey. They had such good energy!
1/17/12
Long days and good
weather. In Tallahassee, I sent much of my little-used gear to North
Carolina, and some of my warm clothes to Jacksonville, FL to pick up
on the way back. I figured that south Florida will be warm, no
matter what time of year it is. Normally, I'd be right, but upon
leaving Tallahassee, I experienced the 2 coldest nights in Florida so
far this year. Though it just barely dropped below freezing, I was
cursing myself for sending away my bib-tights, which I had been using
almost every day from St. Louis to New Orleans. Turns out, however,
that I can make do with a lot less and still be just fine. I ended
up riding with my Dickies on over my bike shorts for a couple of
mornings, which was not uncomfortable or annoying in the slightest.
Perhaps I'll abandon the bib-tights after all! I was smart enough to
keep my gloves and balaclava, which came in handy. The last several
days, the weather has been beautiful, and I even got my first slight
sunburn of the winter today.
In the last few
days of riding, I hit 2 long bike paths which used to be railroad
tracks, and have been converted to bike paths through the Rails to
Trails Conservency, with funding from the State of Florida. The
first was the Nature Coast bike trail, and the second was the 46 mile
Withlacoochee trail. This second trail runs through a series of
small towns in central Florida, crossing lakes and forests, with
restrooms and water stops at regular intervals. Florida's biking
infrastructure continues to impress me, in stark contrast to the
bike-unfriendliness of many of the drivers here. I was nearly run
off the road earlier tonight while riding through some road
construction that had closed the road down to one narrow lane in
which cars were having trouble getting past me. Most of the time,
this is no issue due to wide, smooth shoulders on all the highways.
I finally saw my
first Orange groves today, and was able to pick up some good oranges
off the side of the road, where they had fallen from trucks, but were
still in fine condition. I also enjoyed seeing abandoned, old orange
groves, with twisted, rotting trees covered in vines and with tall
weeds on all sides, but still producing TONS of oranges. I was
tempted to wander into one of these clearly dilapidated plantations
and fill my panniers, but I really don't need the extra weight.
Every biking day
this past week has been over 70 miles, most approaching 100. I had a
great tail-wind until I arrived in Lakeland, and today, the wind blew
hard straight at my face. Thankfully, I got an early start this
morning and managed to put in 92 miles anyway. In Lakeland, I stayed
with couch-surfer Jim Wellman. Jim was in the Navy for 6 years,
lived in Japan and San Diego, and spent lots of time on ships. He is
an outdoor enthusiast as well, especially fond of fishing and
boating, and we got along like brothers. He showed me some of the
local sights, including a beautiful nature preserve where I saw my
second wild alligator of the trip.
In Lakeland, I went
to the dentist for the first time in 2 years, due to some tenderness
I had been feeling above my upper molars. Turns out, those teeth are
just fine, but I did have some deteriorating bone in another part of
my mouth, so they brought me back that afternoon to scrape out some
bacteria, inject some antibiotics, and give me some fancy mouthwash.
I guess it was a good thing I went, because it sounds like I caught
the problem in time to fix everything up without issue.
