We could say that all of the greatest works of art and culture and science, the contents of museums and libraries throughout the world, and what unfolds in concert halls and between the covers of great works of literature and poetry, stem from the human mind that knows itself to one degree or another or that is at least interested in exploring the interface between knowing and not-knowing.
On the other hand, throughout human history, all of the most horrific atrocities and horrors that one person or group or nation or tribe has perpetrated on another or on itself also stems from that same human mind when it does not know itself, when it refuses to look at itself in relationship to the whole, and actively (and often cynically) chooses narrowly defined self-interest, greed, animosity, delusion, violence, and mindlessness over awareness, mindfulness, and the sense of interconnectedness, cooperativity, and kindness that naturally unfolds from a more mindful and heartful way of seeing, knowing, and being in the world.
As we have seen, we have countless opportunities to step out of the well-worn story-line of our thinking and of getting hijacked by our emotions and our ideas and opinions, our likes and dislikes, and instead, to rest in awareness.
Our own awareness has the capacity to free us, at least for one timeless moment, from the toxic elements of thought and emotion and the habit-driven suffering that usually arises from them when they are unmet, unexamined, and unwelcomed in awareness.