Wake Up

When I was a child I noticed that I would find more physically attractive girls smarter and more interesting, even if they weren’t. I thought this was bad so I tried to ingrain in myself a mantra/ability. When I was doing this, I would try to imagine opening my eyes even though they were already open. I’d take the glow that surrounded a person, a glow which muddied my vision, and let go of it and see them for who they really are. I called this alternately “opening my eyes” or “waking up” and I’d internally whisper those phrases to myself when I wanted to enter that mental state.

I think we often tend to go through life sleepwalking. Our minds are vast machines, most parts of them incredibly ancient and submerged where we can’t consciously observe them. Your subconscious isn’t some fundamental, inseparable and good part of you that needs to be accepted. It’s a host of instincts and half-remembered behaviors stretching back to spineless things that spent their lives in crushing darkness and mud and water. Many subconscious instincts/patterns are bad and will lead you to act in ways that are counterproductive to what your higher/true self wants. Many of these instincts can be tamed with nothing more than the gentle application of effort over a period of time. I think it’s a shame more people don’t do so.