Who Were You When You Were Born?
You were born into this world as a “bundle of joy.” Your mind was free of stories, and you were happy — without even knowing what happiness was. You had no opinions, no fears, no expectations, and no judgments. There was no distorting light stored in your channels of perception. You had no words yet for colors, sounds, objects, or Mom's bad hair day. You had no concept of good and bad or right and wrong.
You simply existed, in a sea of stimulations and events that you experienced directly, just as they were. Your mind had no experience with naming, categorizing, or separating any of this incoming light. You were simply present, in each moment, without self-awareness. You did not even know you had been given a name or gender identity.
The Infant Guru
You were actually like a little Toltec master or guru, present in each and every moment, living in the bliss of love and acceptance. If you could have talked and described your experience, spiritual seekers would have come from miles around to sit at your feet and learn from you.
In those first few months of your life, you lived in the bliss of the oneness that gurus teach and to which spiritual seekers aspire. Because you had not yet learned the fears and judgments of the adult world, your nature was openness and love. Your innocence was like that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Hooking Attention
As your body began to mature, so did your nervous system. You began to focus your eyes on objects, and recognize interesting shapes. Sounds and images of people began to have meaning, and you remembered the meaning from one time to the next. None of this evolution was conscious or intended, of course; it was simply the wisdom of life, maturing your body and awareness.
At first you did not know that your hand was an object separate from your mother's hand. A day came when you realized that by willing your arm to move, you could reach out and grasp an object. Later you tried to move your mother's hand with that same focus of your attention, and it didn't work. You began to learn that your hand and your mother's hand were different, and the one you could control was “yours.” Little by little you discovered which parts of the world were you and yours, and which were not.
By the time an infant is a month old, she has learned to focus her eyes on objects eight to twelve inches away (a parent's face during feeding). By the end of her second month, she has learned to track moving objects with her eyes and recognize voices and other sounds.
Sounds, colors, movement, and touch hooked your attention. The more your body and nervous system matured, the more you were able to direct your attention. At the same time, you were learning to hook the attention of your caregivers. You had simple needs for food, comfort, touch, and relating, and they filled those needs. You also needed their attention, which became the primary food for your maturing body and nervous system.
A channel of attention was opened between you and your caregivers. You learned to hook their attention so your needs could be met, and they began to hook your attention so they could teach you their dream.
