Grokking at a Cusp: Choices and Consequences

I love reading books that give you something new every time you revisit them.  Stranger in a Strange Land has continued to do this for me. About two thirds of the way through my most recent perusal, a single event stuck out in a refreshing new way.

The Man from Mars had been attempting to grok the meaning and consequences of a recent action he took at a cusp. A cusp is a moment that requires grokking followed by action. At a cusp, you must carpe some diem in however you have grokked necessary. Even inaction, to do nothing, would be a choice at a cusp.

He had chosen to discorporate , to banish from existence, what he had grokked to be a great wrongness. The only problem? The great wrongnes was a person, who happened to be quite important. This normally wouldn’t trouble him, but he had been forbidden to commit such an act by his water brother who was both guide and teacher.

Such a disobedience was against the core of his beliefs: water brothers cannot be wrong, although the meaning of their actions and words are subject to interpretation (grokking).

Grokking a Cusp

Can you guess what conclusions he grokked? It is beautiful, as all grokking is.

The solitary loneliness of predestined free will was then his and with it the Martian serenity to embrace it, cherish it, savour its bitterness, and accept its consequences. With tragic joy he knew that this cusp was his, not Jill’s [his water brother]. [...] choice at a cusp was not shared. Here was “ownership” beyond any possible sale, gift, hypothecation; owner and owned grokked fully, inseparable. He eternally was the action he had taken at cusp.

[...] Self’s integrity was and is and ever has been.

- Valentine Michael Smith (Man from Mars) in Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

He grokked that his actions were completely his own. He grokked his own utterly inescapable responsibility for his actions. The use of the words, “tragic joy,” are gorgeous and fulfilling. In taking total responsibility for our own actions, we are subject to every consequence that comes from them, the good and the bad. Taking such committed responsibility compels us to become our choice and to live it fully.

In grokking this Truth so completely, we are not burdened by the weight of choices. We are instead opened to the full possibility of our lives. When you can grok and knowingly take responsibility for your actions, you are unlimited in your potential. There is no need to fear the consequences of an action. They simply are. You own the grokking, the choice and the action that you take.

There is no distribution of responsibility at cusp. Only you are responsible for your being. The Man from Mars attempted to bring the concept of grokking from Martian to English. The closest translation he ever arrived at was, “Thou art God, and all that groks is God.” If we are all God, then we cannot claim the experience, responsibility and consequences of others; nor can we share our own.

Power in Responsibility

“Self’s integrity was and is and ever had been.” This observation is an homage to Catholicism’s profound prayer, the Glory Be, applied to our lives. The integrity of the self is inviolable when you take responsibility for your choices at cusps. The Man from Mars took complete and total acceptance of responsibility for all of his actions.

The immediate aftermath of this grokking resulted in his transition from timidity and obedience into utter self confidence. When we take responsibility, we are taking our lives into our own control.

Will you take control of your life?

Tagged as: cusp, Goals, grokking, growth, Heinlein, motivation, responsibility, stranger in a strange land, water brother