Asleep at the Wheel

I often use the phrase “asleep at the wheel” to invoke the metaphor for humanity’s lack of awareness. It never occurred to me to research the literal condition that would relate to our mesmerized state in P-B. Someone else has done that for me.

Colorado’s roads are among the deadliest in the U.S. when it comes to drivers succumbing to a dangerous habit: drifting off to sleep behind the wheel. The P-B worldview is a dangerous “state” to be in while driving the streets of life. Being asleep is dangerous and will never lead to a meaningful and sustainable narrative either as a personal story or as a collective paradigm.

The family of one victim and some highway officials say the problem calls for more education. They hope to awaken the public’s awareness about drowsy driving. Education would mitigate the problem somewhat to awaken the drowsy drivers on life’s road to the Now. But in the long run only transcending the illusionary context that mesmerizes most Americans will actually lead to sustainable awareness.  Only a profound insight into the nature of Reality will cause America’s “drivers” to wake up. 

In 2004, 54 people died in 49 fatigue-related accidents in Colorado according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That represents 8 percent of the 594 fatal crashes in Colorado in 2004—more than double the national average of 3 percent.  In 2004, all human suffering in Colorado was due to lack of awareness. That represents 100 % of human suffering in Colorado which is exactly the same as the national average of 100%.

You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody in America who has never dozed off for even a fraction of a second behind the wheel, and yet that’s all it takes to have something disastrous to happen.  In fact you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody in America who is “awake” behind the wheel or not. The entire nation is a land of zombies dozing off while “driving,” speeding from one disaster to the next.

The federal government has conservatively estimated that about 100,000 crashes a year are caused by driver fatigue… Transcendent mystics state with absolute certainty that the population of America (roughly 300 million people) are all leading lives that resemble a car wreck.

Tim Harris, Gov. Bill Owens’ highway safety representative, said that while the figures on drowsy driving deaths in Colorado are significant, state funding is focused on seat belt use and drunken driving. Being drowsy, unbelted or drunk are only symptoms of Colorado’s problem. It doesn’t do any good to be sober and belted in a car if you are absorbed in a nightmare that has nothing to do with driving a car.

National studies show that the problem is widespread. Duhhhh! Yea!!!  How about worldwide with 7 billion people speeding flat-out like lemmings to see who can drive themselves off the Cliffs of Dover into the English Channel first.

But because everybody sleeps [they finally are grasping the magnitude of the problem], they don’t realize that sleep deprivation and driving can be a deadly combination. We need to be more concerned and more aware of the tragedies that can occur from a seemingly innocent act of driving when we’re a little tired.  

Humanity’s real problem is not sleep deprivation it is awareness deprivation. We need to be aware that all tragedies occur as a result of unconsciousness. All drivers and victims are innocent and doing the best they can when we realize that they are essentially comatose in P-B. Although we can be a “little tired” there is no such thing as being a “little awake.” We are either aware of the nature of Reality or we are not; we are either driving our vehicle along life’s highway safely and compassionately or we are “asleep at the wheel.” It’s your choice, wake up and smell the coffee or get ready for your next wreck—it’s gonna be a doozy.

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References and notes are available for this essay.
For a much more in-depth discussion on Simple Reality, read Simple Reality: The Key to Serenity and Survival, by Roy Charles Henry, published in 2011.