Ever since I began this class, one idea out of the many presented has stuck with me; fascinated me to a certain degree to where I often use it in explanations of other ideas and philosophies presented. This is the idea of "falling asleep" as shown in Pema Chodron's book The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness. What Chodron is talking about here is not literally falling asleep, but rather losing control of one's awareness and ability to have control over one's actions. Ideally, we should always be aware of our surroundings, and be able to rationally make decisions. So basically, "falling asleep" as presented by Chodron is like an altered state of consciousness. Drugs are a very common method of falling asleep, as is anger, and often love or infatuation.
             People can fall asleep for many different reasons. Sometimes, during a stressful period in their life, a person may turn to drugs as an escape from the harsh reality that they are living, i.e., security (albeit a false sense of security).
             Ask almost anyone and they will tell you that at one point or another in their life they have become so angry that they struck someone or did something that they were not conscious of at the time, and later regretted. I myself have had this experience. When I was young, I had a terrible temper, and would throw tantrums when I could not have my way. Often I would become so enraged that I was barely aware of what I was doing, and in the process I did a lot of things like slammed doors and threw things that I later regretted when I "woke up." Fortunately I learned to control my temper before breaking toys became getting in fights, and so on. But my situation when I was a child is not unlike that of countless others. We become "blinded" by rage. Unlike drugs, this is very often unintentional, but nonetheless harmful.
             Less frowned upon, and indeed less harmful...