DAY 82 – RAISING CONSCIOUSNESS AND A GESTATION PERIOD FOR IT

My twenty two year old son who works across the country is home for the holidays. When I asked him how his job is and how does he like the city he is working in he told his father and me that most of the time it is okay but there are certain difficult situations that he has to deal with. He thanked us for what we did when he was growing up that helped prepare him for those difficult moments in his life.

His answer surprised us. I asked him what did we do that helped him and he mentioned the times we would give him insights into life and how to handle different situations. I was surprised by this since so often when he was younger the advice we had given him didn’t seem to register. I now understand that our efforts did have a positive impact upon his life in ways that weren’t readily visible before.

We often see the inability of children to grasp a concept they hear for the first time. Parents have to repeat certain things over and over again to their children and it may seem they are talking to a wall. It takes a period of time until children have a new set of silent words that takes over in their minds that creates the desired beneficial behavior commonplace.

Adults are similar to children in how they do not automatically change their ways of thinking and behaving at the first exposure to something new. Adults can dismiss the new and validate their own contrary beliefs based upon certain long held concepts. Human beings often seem rigid and unwilling to contemplate that the new may have certain benefits that the old does not.

In the modern world over the last few decades polling about major issues can give us an understanding into how people change their views about those issues. At the beginning there are fewer people who favor a new concept or way of living life. The people who want to keep the old are very adamant about their position. As time goes on the polls show more support for the new position. The common denominator to anything new that was once frowned upon and is now accepted by more human beings is exposure to the new.

Exposure to the new allows it to filter into a person’s mindset. With the passage of time, which could be a few months or decades, new ideas, concepts or ways of living life no longer appear odd, dangerous or out of step. A realization develops that the old is so much inferior to the new and at that point a change in consciousness develops on a personal level. When enough human beings change their consciousness for a new and better way of living life and actively conduct their lives based upon the new, it then creates a collectively better world on a societal and global scale.

During my son’s visit with his father and me we talked about life and he related to us some of the most impactful ideas he learned from us and other people. He told us how he has changed and I now realize that to raise consciousness to a level where human beings do not have the problems that exist today we need a gestation period where people can get used to new ideas and concepts. Eventually, the new is accepted and a change in behavior then occurs that brings about the desired personally better life and a collectively better world.