Thursday, April 17, 2025
Recently, my father had a mini-stroke. My mother heard his hearing aids squealing and asked, “Where are your hearing aids?” He replied, “I don’t wear hearing aids.” My dad has worn hearing aids for years. Mother figured something wasn’t right. He was acting unlike himself, and the funny thing was, he knew it. He asked my mom before the paramedics arrived, “Why am I like this?”
That struck me, that my father knew that he was behaving unlike himself. Even in a mini-stroke, my father was aware that his behavior was “off.” What a strange knowledge – that your behavior is “off.” Genesis calls this phenomenon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. About the forbidden fruit the serpent says to Eve, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Why wouldn’t we want an eye-opening revelation? Should we remain in the dark forever?
“Your eyes will be opened” is a metaphor for awareness of awareness – knowing that you know. It’s a way of seeing above duality. It’s a way of introducing you to omniscience. Good makes evil possible; evil makes good possible; being aware of those so-called opposing forces, makes both possible, simultaneously. It’s either/or; either; or; either/and; or just and. It’s all of it and any combo of it!
This could go right over your head if you don’t think deeply. If it’s unlike you, it still is you. My dad behaved strangely, but that stranger was still my dad. “Right mind” or not, his voice uttered the lie, and his voice questioned the stranger. My mom noticed his “unlikeness” first, and he recognized it too! But it was him all along. Is this what it’s like to be like God?
Why am I like this? Is this unlike me?