For human beings, contemplating awareness is like talking to a fish about water. “What water?” the fish would ask. It’s difficult to perceive what is ever-present (and remarkably transparent). Let me try to bring it to life.

On a Sunday evening in late June, I sat with friends in my backyard sipping a beer and watching fireflies. My legs and arms were sore, and my hands and knees were bruised from three days of wrestling with a contraption known as Jacob’s Ladder.

Jacob’s Ladder is a skill-based midway game that looks deceptively easy. It’s a rope ladder placed on an angle attached to a well-greased industrial swivel at each end. It requires a counterintuitive form of balance, hence the three days of torture. 

My reward for mastering this perverse device was the opportunity to perform with Sak Theatre at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival later that summer.

You can read Edition [006] for all the details, both gory and comical. But here’s the part that’s relevant to our exploration of awareness. 

As I sat there in the cool of the evening, I reflected on why it was so challenging to gain this new sense of balance.

I looked back over the past three days. We kept looking for the trick. What’s the secret?

So what happened? How did I go from no balance to balance?

There was a distinct ‘aha’ moment when I realized that every time I fell to the ground, I had been overreacting to the feeling of falling (in the opposite direction). So, I needed to fine-tune my sensitivity and tone down my reactions.

Paying close attention, I learned to recognize when I was about to fall and respond immediately but gently.

Then a lightbulb went on. That’s balance, I realized. Not a trick. Not luck. Balance is simply a keen awareness of falling. 

I shared my insight with my friends.

Blank stares.

Then the second lightbulb flashed. 

“And how do you develop a finely-tuned awareness of falling?” I asked. “By falling!”

My friends thought I was crazy. (And you may, too.)

But this fundamental insight has opened up worlds to me.

When I bring awareness to falling, I get balance.

When I bring awareness to distractions, I get focus.

When I bring awareness to thoughts and emotions flitting through my mind, I get mindfulness and stillness.

When I bring awareness to my judgments, I get kindness and connection.