Focus on Life™

Talking with David McMillan about silence and humility.

 

 Episode 7 [22:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Always concentrate on your state of being-ness, never on the
mode of being.

Don’t try, genuinely be.

Understand you can never be too humble.

Appreciate and be grateful for everything and every single
occasion and situation you’re facing and living through.

Be patient. Always.

Forgive and be kind to yourself. You can never be too graceful.

Never monitor your progress or try to achieve something—
they lead to becoming.

Always acknowledge and be aware of your consciousness. As
long as there is something that sees, hears, thinks, feels, or
senses, there is still something to learn—the quest is not over.

Do not fixate on anything. There are no excuses. Always be
ready to sacrifice everything you have, are, or believe in.
Humbleness and honesty with yourself helps.

Always verify your actions and thoughts by your ethical and
moral standards. Be honest and watch for half-truths and
excuses. Sloppiness is never acceptable.

Only the truth survives.

Way to see,
hear,
taste,
feel,
know,
and live the world;
With good intentions,
limited knowledge,
poor perception,
lacking observation
but still trying.

Without shame,
or humbleness,
knowing,
acting,
and behaving
with certainty,
rightness,
a sense of pride,
and justification,
no shadow of doubt,
or sign of imperfectness.

The wise will know,
acknowledge,
and let go.
Help with patience,
love,
and kindness.

We will learn,
and see the world,
in a way of perfectness,
with no trace of selfishness.

We are used to living surrounded by information. Our schools
teach us the value of knowledge and details. TV is full of
quizzes and competitions to test for cleverness. Education is
emphasized everywhere we go. Each morning and evening,
people learn the latest news. It is important to know what’s
happening and the topics of the day. But what do we really
know?

Do we know what we know? Often we behave like we are
very knowledgeable and have all the facts. Most of us are very
keen on presenting our own points of view. We have opinions.
Seldom do we consider whose opinions we are really repeat-
ing. Have we considered the items thoroughly and find argu-
ments for and against the issue? Are we sure that our sources
of information are objective and provide the complete pic-
ture? On what grounds is our thinking based?

Usually, we come to the conclusion that the more we
investigate and study a subject, the less we know about it. Our
thinking is based on a structure that needs to categorize and
polarize items. We need straight and simple answers that are
based on comparing and contrasting. We call this “putting
things in relation to.” There is a need to prefer and value
something over something else. Otherwise we are said to be
undecided. What happens when we are urged to set things
into a relationship but we have limited knowledge and infor-
mation?

Our ignorance results from our limited perception and
understanding of issues. Also the need to value things (i.e.,
being able to “decide”) creates a lot of confusion and misinter-
pretations. Therefore, what we know is less important than
what we do not know. Unfortunately, most of the time our
knowledge does not expand enough for us to realize that we
do not know what we do not know. In other words, we may
act with the best of intentions, but what is more arrogant than
claiming to know something that we do not have a clue
about?

What can we do so that we know as much as Socrates? Be
humble. Humbleness rises from the knowledge and insight
that we are not omnipotent and, therefore, cannot know very
much of anything. We have to be sensitive and open-minded
to realize this. The greatest minds in the world have claimed
to know very little—how about us? What do we know?