Saturday, December 17, 2022

I Grok Spock

"Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed — to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science — and it means as little to us (because of our Earthly assumptions) as color means to a blind man." Wikipedia quoting Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land.
Michael, the hero of Stranger in a Strange Land, was born on Mars where grokking was taken for granted. So he was unencumbered by the barriers to intuition many humans encounter. As an example, he grokked grass before walking on it to ensure he was not causing another creature pain.

Grokking seems such a natural concept and so appropriate to any conversation about presence
one can't logically explain exactly how to do it, but I think we're all capable of envisioning a connection so deep we are both one and all. I like Fred Lamotte's definition of grokking because it's more trusting of humankind's ability than Heinlein's suggestion that it means as little to us as color to a blind man:

‘To grok' is . . . the best Western term I have ever encountered for what in Sanskrit is called ritam bara pragyam: that subtlest level of energy that ripples on the verge of transcendental silence where all things are grasped as a whole before they become manifest in the multiplicity of the material world.

I've always considered the Vulcan mind meld to be a form of grokking - again, we must leave the Earth to find beings for whom such a deep connection comes naturally. So, I was delighted to find there's still a craze for "I Grok Spock" t-shirts. Why is that I wonder? Possibly because we are the strangers in our own land, longing to be able to grok, to meld.

What a combination--a deep mental understanding (which also requires physical contact) aligned with a complete emotional-intuitive awareness of another: body, mind and heart attuned.

Imagine! 

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