Years ago, I wrote an article that tried to raise awareness of situations that influence our thoughts, limit our freedom of thought and behavior, develop a kind of ‘involuntary self-control mechanism’, shape our social judgments, and so on. I also tried to explain this phenomenon through an experiment.
Since situations like these remain relevant today, I believe it would be useful to revisit this experiment, well known among social scientists, as a way of reflecting on our awareness as a society and even questioning my own personal ‘awareness’ once again.
The flea experiment:
In a laboratory, scientists place a flea inside a glass jar 20 cm high and cover it with a glass lid. Knowing what the flea will do when the temperature is high, the scientists begin heating the bottom of the jar. As the jar warms up, the flea jumps upward, and each time, for some reason it cannot understand, it hits something above and falls back down. The flea cannot get out of the jar!
Because the flea thinks there is nothing above it; it is not even aware of the transparent glass that makes the jar seem open to it! After some time, the scientists lift the glass lid off the jar. They continue heating it from below and begin observing: the flea keeps jumping, but it cannot get out!
Because the flea still thinks there is an invisible barrier above it, preventing it from getting out, and so each time it jumps 20 cm.
But the flea has the ability and capacity to get out of the jar with ease; its earlier experiences, however, make it feel that doing so is pointless and cause it to forget its abilities…
Whenever I think of this experiment, I picture young people who are eager to do something but whom we hold back by building invisible walls around them: You know, those young people we frighten and hinder; those we don’t want to think!
Our young people, tired of being held back; made to focus their views on certain points, with their interests restricted; lost in certain vicious cycles, now seriously ‘on intimate terms’ with the word ‘impossible’; pushed into life ‘without being aware of their abilities’, left without love and, most importantly, without respect…
You know, the young people we prepare for exams; whose lives we confine to certain corners; whose room to move we restrict; ‘who, despite still having hot blood, we buy the latest-model cars for’, and then we grieve over traffic accidents involving them; the young people we deny the right to speak, and then complain that “our young people aren’t interested in anything”…
…
They came to mind; I remembered them once again… Then I thought about how difficult it actually is to become aware, and how changing what we are used to has to do with ‘being aware’…
I realized how judgments that have been formed can get in the way of thinking; their capacity to blunt people’s abilities frightened me!
Despite everything, I asked myself, “I wonder if there are any who are aware?”...
I thought there must be, and felt glad for those who are aware, for no reason!
Really, I wonder if any of them are aware?
That question is why I wrote these words!
Because I thought, “Perhaps someone will read this and realize that their abilities are greater than they think”…
I hope to meet you in a society that is aware of its abilities…
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be respectful in traffic!
Note: The answer to the question “Who put the glass lid on?” is yours to give! Ask yourself, “Who doesn’t want me to think and become aware of my abilities?”