Why would I choose this image of an eagle, gliding over a vast landscape? I think the image depicts a good representation of the kind of vision, and awareness, we should have for our life - and just like the eagle, I think we should focus that vision when we need to. But we should also maintain a state of steady balance in our lives, just as the eagle maintains its flight while looking down for prey, potential things it needs to build a nest, its own orientation in relation to its home, what is close by and what is far away, what is far ahead, and what it leaves behind, and even its impact on other animals around it. Then there is an extra type of awareness that I think humans can have that none of the animals share, and it is tied to our awareness of self - and that is our faith awareness, or spiritual awareness; awareness of our connection to the Creator.
First, let's look at the other types of awareness I mentioned, that fit the eagle analogy.
Spatial Awareness - This type of awareness doesn't only apply to safety, or self-defense. If we are aware of what is in our immediate vicinity, that is one thing. But I also want to have good awareness of how to get around my living space, my work space, and how to navigate the road when I travel, whether I am walking or driving. Having a good sense of direction is a more specific type of spatial awareness, because it involves moving around in our space, from point A to point B, and back again. If I develop a practice of looking far ahead when I travel, I can also see potential problems in my path. Perhaps because of already being aware of alternate routes, I can even by-pass those problems. Then, of course, there is my immediate vicinity; I should be aware of what is around me. Is there anything dangerous? Does someone nearby look suspicious? How close do I want to let them get to me? What is my terrain like? Is the floor slippery? Am I on hard ground or concrete? Am I in a crowded place? Are there ways to get away or out of the place I find myself? Think about our friend, the eagle, again. Look at the picture. He has a great point of view to have an understanding or big picture sense of all of these things (and he is up in the air, so his situation is different from ours).
Situational Awareness - Like the eagle, we must be aware of our given situation. But situational awareness also pertains to our experience, and our planning. This is another thing that makes us a bit different than animals. Although animals of higher intelligence than most, such as dolphins or monkeys, have shown propensity to use tools and think ahead a few moves, developing a brief plan of sorts, they still cannot strategize like us. And so, if I am aware of a situation going on around me in the present, I can use my past experience with similar situations to help me in a present situation. I can also adapt to future situations, or a situation changing around me, especially if I remember what works in given situations, and what doesn't. Situational awareness helps me with problem solving. Situational awareness helps me with planning. Situational awareness helps me with self-management, around others. And situational awareness can help me in times of urgency.
Social Awareness - Just like situational awareness, my ability to learn can help me with plans for social interaction, solving problems that occur in socialization, and can even help me in urgent situations with interactions with others in urgent matters, such as helping others who are in danger, or protecting others or myself, from other people who mean to do harm. The more we understand about human behavior, the more aware we can be of what kinds of things create peaceful situations in social interaction, and what kinds of things escalate human behavior, creating a higher chance for violence, or a potential urgent situation. Social awareness also includes another fascinating human trait, that even though some animals display a portion of these traits, still do not come close to the variety of human emotions. Think about the eagle, once again. Although the eagle may not experience all of the human emotions, one thing it will experience is fear. If a rival bird of prey attacks the eagle, the eagle might know that it is best to try to fly away, or it might know from experience that it can fight off such a threat. At the same time, the eagle is also aware of its prey's fear; the eagle expects its prey to flee out of fear of the eagle. Therefore, the eagle has to pick the right time to strike, based on its experience with past hunting situations. We humans can adopt this to our own lives, even in our experience with human behavior, and how we hunt down other humans who are a known threat to others. Don't believe me? Ask a U.S. Marshal, or special forces soldiers. But we can take this on a much more microcosmic level. We can learn how to better socialize with specific individuals based on what we have learned from past interactions with that person, or even other peope similar to that person, depending on - you guessed it, our past situation.
Self-Awareness - If the eagle isn't even aware of itself, would it attempt to fly? Instead of getting too philosophical on that point, let us just apply that same question to ourselves. People are aware of themselves with more than just the innate quality of instinct. If we have no concept of ourself, why even bother to try to live life day to day? And yet, we all do it. Therefore, we all have some degree of self-awareness. But if we are very self-aware, then we know what we are good at; we know our own weaknesses. We know our own fears. We know our own strengths. We know what skills we possess. More than anything else, we humans know our own desires; we know what we want. But we also know what makes us angry, what makes us sad, what disappoints us, what makes us happy. If we have good self-awareness, we know how we will react to - wait for it - given situations... and even given situations with others! Self-awareness is also very helpful for preparation for various situations. For social events - self-awareness can help me know what to expect regarding potential reactions to said social event, according to past experience with social interaction with others. For self-defense - self-awareness can help me know my limits, and know what I can handle, and what I cannot handle; what I am trained to handle, and what I am not. For the truly self-aware, it is easy to know your own reactions to future situations based on the way similar situations have made you feel. If I am aware of how something made me feel, I can prevent myself from overreacting at times, or predetermine my own reactions based on what I learned from the last interaction. The problem occurs, when I focus too much on myself. But we will talk about the problem of being hyperaware at the end of this fine post.
4b. But the concept of self, and what truly matters to oneself, if we are being honest - is your understanding and awareness of your place in this universe. If you do not have an opinion on this matter now, there may come a time when you really wish you had, but by then it will be too late. But most people, at some point on their timeline, come to a belief, or even a true faith, in their concept of their purpose and place in this world. Although I would argue, since I am a Christian, that Jesus Christ Himself, tells us that soul purpose, I still think there are spiritually aware individuals who have stronger mental health because of their established position on this. The biggest difference there is their final destination in existence, but I digress. The truth of the matter is, if one has a deep belief in their reason to exist, they can structure their lives around that concept. This sense of purpose will at least provide motivation behind the way they live their lives, and how they conduct themselves in society. I also posit that, when followed with genuine faith, one who finds their purpose in this world to be glorifying God, and following the two greatest commandments of their Creator - those people will contribute the most to society, in a wholesome way that benefits society the most. Of course, further evidence that Jesus Christ and the Scriptures are true, is the fact that even the most honest, humble, trustworthy Christians are capable of falling short, because of sin's presence in this world. But regardless of where one places their faith, attempting to live out your life in some meaningless void without purpose, will soon leave anyone left wanting. It is inevitable; even your staunchest atheists believe in something, even if that something is the fact that they will stake their lives on something like Darwinism and random existence of life in the universe. But there is plenty of evidence that some of the most successful people, as far as living a long and healthy life, have not been Christian, but still believed in something. Nevertheless, one can easily see that this is probably the one point where the eagle cannot relate to the human.
Even if we know all of these types of awareness are important, where do we run into problems? The term is hyperaware. And this is why balanced awareness is so key. If I focus too much on situational awareness, and what is happening all around me, and what is happening everywhere, I can become cynical and paranoid. When we focus too much on the environment, our surrounding world, we tend to develop a sense of dread for the most fearful situations, and because of the way our minds were created to work, we will pay much more attention to the dreadful circumstances and fears, and less on all of the positive and happy events and occasions that happen around us every day. I must confess, I have allowed myself to become hyperaware of situations. From assuming the worst based on training and experience in law enforcement, to assuming the worst based on the known sinful nature of man, it is easy to become cynical, and have less faith in the actions and decisions of mankind. As I have grown in my Christian faith, I realize, this is a worldly form of thinking, and the Apostle Paul told us not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, so that we can prove God's perfect will in our lives (Romans 12:2, NASB). Instead, it is good to be aware of the larger picture of what is happening around the world, around your local community, and in our own lives. But we must keep our awareness of others on par with our awareness of our faith, and awareness of self. Observe what happens when we show too much focus on almost any one aspect of awareness.
If I am hyperaware of my space and environment, not only can I become paranoid, but I can become very indecisive, especially in a moment of urgency. I liken this to a squirrel attempting to cross the road. If you have ever seen this, perhaps you can see how this could be a problem in an emergency situation. Notice, many times, the squirrel still makes it across the road unscathed. But that is because the small animal's reflexes and speed of movement can often be faster than the human eye can detect (and God also just happens to let that squirrel live another day). However, that moment where the squirrel stops, and shows such twitchy movement of its head, and eyes, and tail, and sometimes its feet - that is a small picture of what happens to the human mind when it considers all fearful and dangerous situations, and looks for any and all threats in every corner of their surrounding environment. Obviously, this is what can lead someone to hesitate and freeze in the moment. And most humans, unfortunately, do not have the reflexes and speed of a squirrel to overcome our lapse in realization of time, and our moment of inaction.
If I am hyperaware of others, once again, I can develop a sense of social paranoia. Much like stage fright, I can be afraid of all social interactions, and I can find all social activity too overwhelming and stressful. Also, if I become too aware of what other people need or want, and too aware of how things make them feel - but lose touch with my own wants, desires, and needs, then I can become a people pleaser. And the inevitable mental disappointment will arrive when I finally disappoint that one person, and then the next, and then the next, until I only have a negative concept of myself, because I set the bar too high for myself for meeting the needs and wants and desires of others. If we care too much about what others do and say, we stop taking care of ourselves. Hygiene can suffer, unless we are hyper-focused on pleasing a significant other or love interest. But even psychiatrists and marriage counselors, both Christian and non-Christian, will tell you that a spouse must take care of themselves and have some of their own desires and needs met by the other, or the relationship is doomed to fail. This not to say we cannot put the needs of others before ours. But we must not forget ourselves altogether. Once again, we must seek balance; for just as we can ignore ourselves if we focus too much on pleasing and meeting the needs of others, we can also focus too much on ourselves.
There is a term we can use for one who is so focused on oneself and their own desires, that they are completely oblivious to their own effect and presence on others, as well as the needs and wants of others. Perhaps you have heard of the ever-popular term narcissist? This is generally defined as a person overly involved with themselves; there is even a psychological disorder where a narcissist has delusions of grandeur and adoration from others. This is what happens when one is so aware of their own needs and wants, they completely ignore the needs and wants of others. Their needs and wants supersede all things outside of themselves. They can even lose track of their own impact and effect on others. This is where real selfishness leads. The irony in the level of self-awareness of this type of person, is they are not even aware of just how hyperaware of themselves they are. The true narcissist is rarely aware that they are a narcissist at all.
In another bit of irony, it turns out that there is a worldview, the Christian worldview, that helps a person find that balance of awareness. It is also ironic, that the one thing in this life on which we cannot place too much focus, is the awareness of the presence of Jesus Christ in this world and in our lives. If we focus on Jesus, and renew our minds and thoughts in alignment with what we find to be God's will on all of our lives, then it is easier to follow the two greatest commandments; love the Lord your God with all of your heart and mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV). As far as situational awareness in the Christian faith, we should be aware of the current events in this world, so that we can navigate our way in how to spread the Gospel to others. Regarding our spatial awareness and our Christian faith, we should be aware of how and when we encounter others, and how we can either share the Gospel message with them, or how we can love them as Christ showed us how to love others, and meet the needs of those less fortunate than us. We can love our neighbors, and even our enemies. And we can take care of ourselves, because if we do believe in Christ, then our bodies and minds are a temple for the Holy Spirit.
Yes, we should avoid being hyperaware. And we do this by having balance in all the aspects of awareness we can have in this world.
But in the end, one can never be too aware of Christ. And just like the prophet Isaiah said, we can soar on wings as eagles, when we find our hope in the Lord (Isaiah 40:31, NIV). And if we are truly living for Jesus, then we can really grasp the real big picture - and that is when we can make the biggest difference.
Food for thought on this Winter Monday.
In Christ,
JEF
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