FINDING SAFETY AND BALANCE IN LIFE

Animals have two ways of using their senses, focused and panoramic. The senses which they can use panoramically are seeing, listening, and smelling.

Panoramic perception evolved because it was the most direct method of being receptive to and aware of sudden movements and changes in the immediate environment. Animals use this to guard against danger; it makes life safe.

Focused sensing evolved to do things. It involves something animals need or want.

For animals, survival depends on their ability to coordinate their panorama mode with all their focused activities. This is a balance.

Our modern human culture is preoccupied with developing our focusing abilities. To give children a good start in life, we encourage focused sensing, drawing, reading, writing, and thinking, from an increasingly early age –, and by doing this we actively, but inadvertently suppress our panoramic abilities, before they have even started to develop.

Focusing and panoramic sensing are different ways of relating to the world, connecting with and being in the world. Both are fundamental and vital to life. We can't expect to find any realistic sense of safety and balance, without periodically sensing in the panoramic way.

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