For this article I will use a recent experience in New Zealand which is a very strong example. I am certain you will find other examples in any country. Although this is a very typical NZ attitude, it fits very well as an opportunity for anyones self-reflection.
I was observing a nurse explaining to a newly diagnosed patient with diabetes how to inject herself.
The nurse explained that she needed to pinch her flesh to raise the fat off the muscle so the injection only goes into the fat. She continued to say that the modern needles are so thin and short that there is no need to pinch your flesh because the needle will not reach into the muscle.
However, she continued, we still do it the old way in New Zealand because that is the way we have always done it.
Imagine that, not only is she admitting that the New Zealand medical system, not just a simple thing like how to tie your shoe laces, does not update their methods to the modern technology along with the rest of the world, and uses new technology with old outdated methods.
What is more shocking; that New Zealand culture does not update their methods, or that a nurse can admit it and continue doing it the old way without doing anything to bring the country up to the current methods, even though they are using the current technology.
The point of your personal learning from this is to observe how many things you do because you have always done it that way, or your family or your country has always done it that way. We must all reevaluate if what we do is still the best method, on a daily basis.
Are you living in old habits that keep you stuck in your current state, or are you breaking patterns and habits and progressing with the natural flow of evolution into conscious awareness. This is not just about medicine, or things you may do, it is also about your attitudes and simple things in your everyday life.
The most important point, and one which one would never even think about on their own, is to even think of examining what one does. The problem is that one already thinks one is doing it the right and best way, so why think about it.
Humans are a scary species, and they let you drive a car and have babies!
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Especially in the USA the word “freedom” has become such a mantra since WWW II it has lost its true meaning like your NZ nurse’s example of pinching the flesh prior to injection. In my observations and comparisons of people in other less complicated cultures still connected to simple principals of nature and family, it becomes obvious Americans and people of many ” developed” nations are in reality are the most enslaved cultures to their automatic “belief systems” in the world. Perhaps it is a bit extreme to say, but the American culture is so enslaved by their “pinch the flesh” syndrome they will even kill you to make you “free”. As your teaching implore observation and questioning of our individual thinking and actions, I begin to understand the fight for “freedom” is not an outside job but the responsibility to a personal inside job.