I Grok In Fullness
“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 as a color means to a blind man.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
One must tread carefully when taking on words that grow in popularity without any good explanation of their origins. Generally speaking, trends tend to be the nonsense generally provided for us via mass marketing in the form of magazines, TV ads hawking soap and fashion, and even the programming itself is becoming the platform for whatever the trendy socialites think should be the societal norms. It’s a difficult balance to strike between industry, greed, and the benefits to mankind and we are wise to keep our eyes wide open should we want to keep from blowing everything up before our grandkids get their turn to endure the madhouse we leave them.
Hence you’re wise to ask about the word “grok” in my pen name given it’s increasing popularity. One could read the above quote and think we’re all supposed to become these bland copies of one another. Should you be interested in a better understanding of its definition and use, it’s worth consuming the 100k+ words that make up Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, the story of a human raised on Mars by Martians who then returned to earth trying to figure out humanity. It’s not exactly light reading from the early days of the 60s and the author is worthy of some slack, but “grokking” is among the book’s key points. I’ll attempt to paraphrase.
We can only more fully understand one another when we’re prepared to see the world from each other’s perspective with minds completely wide open, particularly when we have opposing viewpoints. It requires extensive control of our emotions, taking nothing personally, and a willingness to throw out absolutely everything we ever thought we understood to be the “truth.” It doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily wrong in our thinking, but willful ignorance is to crumble as individuals in a world increasingly interested in painting everything with the same paint brush no matter how colorful we might pretend to look on TikTok, Instagram, or whatever other soapbox eventually replaces them. Only after we agree that we’re all just looking for some acceptance and peace in the world can we truly recognize how our differences are just the variety of life that makes it all interesting and rather fun to explore. It’s hard work, and worth every minute when we’re truly engaged.
It’s also why character is really the only source of my own judgements versus the idiocy of arguing superior skin colors, country of origin, or who we choose to sleep with at night. We can live very different lives and still enjoy one another when our actions are backed with respect even when we don’t necessarily agree. Such viewpoints seem to be losing popularity these days, but it’s still the one I choose even if it keeps me more alone than my naturally introverted ways might suggest. All that stated, you’ll also understand why children should be allowed their innocence for as long as possible.
Living by such beliefs has allowed me to build lists of wonderful clients both in my writing and the years of trades work I’ve accumulated. Perhaps it sounds backwards, but it’s also my marketing has long been designed to scare off as many people as possible. It allows the ones that share similar principles to automatically move themselves to the front of the line while the lesser informed wonder why I don’t return their emails: I’m just not interested in educating people on what should have been taught by the time they entered kindergarten.
It’s also possible I’m just crotchety.
Either way, I hold myself to some pretty high standards in how I conduct myself and expect the same from the people I work with. There just isn’t enough time left in a day for anything less.
I look forward to grokking you and your projects in fullness.
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