Self-proximity...

What happens when the psyche goes unrecognized? For example, can you ask someone who exhibits "old school" behavior, that is, someone who acts out of tradition, rationality, duty, and a fixed playbook, what the real motivation is behind their actions? Do they even know or care? Is there any benefit in having them confront themselves from another angle?

People who spend a lot of time wallowing in the pond of their consciousness might believe that they are privvy to some kind of enlightenment. But what kind of enlightenment leaves you speechless and dismissive when confronted with so-called unenlightened beings?

Consciousness is a mine field dressed up as a secret walled garden. Either you do the work - you enter into it, you find and detonate the mines - or you admire its beauty (and inherent danger) from the relative safety of an overlooking balcony. Can one person help locate and detonate another person's mines and escort them from the balcony into their garden? It's either the greatest thing we can do for one another, or a damned awful idea.

("Secret Garden" photo by Manikantan Ramadas)