There are many seeds in me, many not put there by my own choice. These are all the bits of information put there through my experience since I first became aware. That was some time around when I was born. I am human, and I have the ability to put these seeds in me to help me make sense of the world. Some seeds are from my deliberate experiences, some are there with little deliberate action by me.
The seeds are pieces of a giant puzzle that offer me my personal view of the world. They are offered out of my subconscious whenever I experience something new, suggesting interpretations to help me make sense out of my new experience.
These seeds are little pre-judgments, interpretations that, because I am a highly developed human, help me to navigate the world. Relying on these seeds have helped my ancestors rise above other beings and achieve such a dominant place in the world.
All the messages I have heard about the right kind of cereal to eat, the beer that will allow me to have a good time, the clothes that will project competence or conformity are all locked up in these seeds stored in my subconscious.
Since the time around when I was born, I have been methodically collecting the seeds of experience, and they have been tucked away in my subconscious, waiting to be put to use. All the comments about black people who steal, who don’t work, who abandon their children are all part of my seed store of information. The young boys who walk by my yard speaking a language I hardly understand except for the frequent crude and vulgar expressions are all part of the experience I have of black boys.
The collection of these seeds is not something I am typically aware of. I have some control over what I will experience, which politicians I will listen to, which books I will read. Most of the time, my seed gathering happens automatically just because I am human. When my subconscious offers these seeds as an explanation of what is going on, I can have a choice of whether to use that information or not. Unless I am choosing to be attentive and aware, that decision can also be almost automatic and without effort.
It is the way that my human brain works. When I experience something new, all the seeds of my past experience spring to life to give meaning to that new encounter. It is simply natural that when the electrical cord is stolen from my back yard, my subconscious instantly offers the image of a young black male to explain what has happened. That is the image I have most often experienced in the past. That kind of seed dominates my subconscious, not by my choice but by my exposure.
It is beneficial to my seed storage when I listen to an articulate, insightful black man or woman speak. It is a helpful seed to place among all the contrary seeds I have gathered over the years.
I am a little surprised to realize how my brain works, and now I want to gain the insight to see people just as they are. I want not to rely on my storehouse of past experiences to explain who they are. I want to have the insight I need in order to be critical of what my seeds tell me about the world, especially about my fellow humans.
I realize that I am struggling against a dominant, very successful feature of my human nature. My ability to store and use seeds of experience to allow me to be dominant and in charge, is not likely to make me the kind of human I choose to be. I am more critical of what my seeds tell me. Also, I now know I can choose experiences that are likely to form seeds that can be of good use.