Cultivating your awareness
In his essay The Search, found in On Becoming a Servant-Leader, Greenleaf recalls a true story about having to pull the emergency cord on a New York subway train in order to save a man's life. The man's arm was caught in the door and he was unable to get loose before the train took off. As the man was being pulled towards his death down the platform the crowd was shouting, "Pull the emergency cord!" The cord hung overhead but none of the 75 or so people closer to the cord than Greenleaf pulled it. Greenleaf realized it was up to him and ran for the cord on the opposite end of the train, reaching it just in time.
Always the seeker, Greenleaf wondered why all those closer to the cord than he did not pull the cord. So he conducted an experiment. He begun describing the story to other New Yorkers who regularly ride the train. They all said they would have pulled the cord; but when he asked where it was on the train they rode every day, no one could tell him with certainty. He began to wonder: What do people think about as they ride along? They aren't always reading or sleeping. Where is their awareness? He goes on to say:
"The trap that sometimes brings failure to otherwise successful people is to substitute routine for awareness. Awareness is a constant reaching out and responding to everything in the environment: the people, the sunset, the sounds of the street, the smell of flowers, the clackity-clack of the subway wheels. It is not tiring or boring. In fact, it is quite the opposite: it is the essence of life. Be able to withdraw into the silence, but do not turn off the current to the antenna so that you miss the signal that will bring you back in a flash.....The effort is always to be aware, always to know that something important is going on all of the time."
Always the seeker, Greenleaf wondered why all those closer to the cord than he did not pull the cord. So he conducted an experiment. He begun describing the story to other New Yorkers who regularly ride the train. They all said they would have pulled the cord; but when he asked where it was on the train they rode every day, no one could tell him with certainty. He began to wonder: What do people think about as they ride along? They aren't always reading or sleeping. Where is their awareness? He goes on to say:
"The trap that sometimes brings failure to otherwise successful people is to substitute routine for awareness. Awareness is a constant reaching out and responding to everything in the environment: the people, the sunset, the sounds of the street, the smell of flowers, the clackity-clack of the subway wheels. It is not tiring or boring. In fact, it is quite the opposite: it is the essence of life. Be able to withdraw into the silence, but do not turn off the current to the antenna so that you miss the signal that will bring you back in a flash.....The effort is always to be aware, always to know that something important is going on all of the time."
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