Yesterday I read a very distressing post from a friend on facebook regarding a bad situation that had happened here in India. Unfortnately on the world stage all kinds of atrocities are being committed and everyone is entirely fed up with the world that we live in. We are looking to hold someone responsible. We need to be told that some action is taking place. We need politicians to be accountable. We need, need, need. But all this need is on the outside of us. I wanted to comment but then I knew my comments would anger some people - well most people - because it is far easier to be in a rage, and mad angry. Ask me, I know all about rage!!! I have gotten into many a rage and still do sometimes when my frustration levels are up, but the difference is now I KNOW better - maybe not in that moment of rage, but definitely in a day or two because I immediately sit down to do my process of self inquiry. But that is not good enough. I need to be totally conscious and aware IN the moment of rage to fully comprehend my insanity and madness in that moment. And so, I thought I would blog about it so that I can shed a little light from my personal experience on how one can use the pain and suffering that we experience into opening up an entirely new way of thinking about one's life. I'm not an expert and truly no one in this world is. Each learns from his/her own experiences and tries to help another to lift themselves up for starters. The rest one has to find one's own way.
BUT THE FIRST PLACE TO START IS WITH ONE'S SELF. If rage and anger could change the world, it would have been paradise by now!! Nothing has changed judging by the history of all the wars, conflicts and atrocities we have heaped upon each other for millions of years and continue to do so. But clearly aggression is not the answer. So, then what is??
The Mind. Beginning to understand the workings of the mind is the very first step. I am responsible for all that I see in my world. I have contributed to the making of this world. The dynamics are unique for each one, but only I can begin to change the world when I start a change within ME. Every thought is an energy that expands and expands with intentional focus. If I am angry, I am sending the energy of fear into the universe and I will be gathering unto me all such like minded individuals and situations to match my energetic vibration. If I am at ease and remember that I am Love, similar experiences will be drawn to me. What we focus on expands. Like I said, since we don't know the dynamics of things in another's soul, it would best be to focus on one's own healing first. As one starts, one will begin to understand why the world is the way it is, what is the role of the individual soul, how can perceptions be changed, etc. etc. but one has to have a DESIRE - burning desire, for change for change to begin to take place.
"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you
off.” ~ Gloria Steinem.
I can assure you, when you begin to realize that the world you see has been created by your own thoughts, which is why each individual sees the world differently, it will really anger and piss you off. You will be unable to accept the fact that all of the happenings in your life took shape because of the way you THOUGHT about Life. The choices you made according to your thoughts and perceptions. I went through different emotions when it finally dawned on me that this was true, because I could literally remember what my thoughts were about a person or situation before it exploded into a huge war of words and conflicts. God has nothing to do with it. God gets a bad rap for everything. My mother is unable to accept her old age. She is 83 and is still resisting everything about old age and everyday she curses God!!! What a miserable way to spend one's golden years. And so, right before my eyes, I can see how thoughts have shaped her reality. I can see how my thoughts have shaped my reality. I don't need to be a rocket scientist to begin to comprehend this.
When I started digging deeper into my own life, I found that I was profoundly and deeply sad. I found that I needed to cry my heart out and release the immense pain in my being but I didnt understand why I held that pain, till I began to comprehend the magnitude of that pain. That pain was there lodged in my heart not for any human being to make me happy, but that pain was there because this small 'me' felt estranged from God, from The Source. Love is my true nature and it was missing because I, the Higher Self was missing from my equation. Everything else that happens to make me believe in my sadness and pain are like passing clouds in a clear blue eternally vast sky. Once I saw the root of my problem, I realised how I managed to stay in my miserable place of pain by getting myself hooked up with everyone else's pain in my world. My misery kept needing to be fed and what better way than to hook on to another's misery? I can be of no help to anyone if my own life condition is low and weak. To save the world, one has to transcend the world.
In order to seek, you must first have an idea, ideal, or an
image, what it is you are seeking. That idea may not even be very conscious or
clear but it must be there in order for you to seek. Being an idea it cannot be
real. That’s why Seng-ts’an says “only cease to cherish opinions.” By opinions
he means ideas, ideals, beliefs, and images, as well as personal opinions. This
sounds easy but it is rarely as easy as it seems. Seng-ts’an is not saying you
should never have a thought in your head, he is saying not to cherish the
thoughts in your head. To cherish implies an emotional attachment and holding
on to. When you cherish something, you place value on it because you think that
it is real or because it defines who you think you are. This cherishing of
thoughts and opinions is what the false self thrives on. It is what the false
self is made of. When you realize that none of your ideas about truth are real,
it is quite a shock to your system. It is an unexpected blow to the seeker and
the seeking.
The task of any useful spiritual practice is therefore to
dismantle cherishing the thoughts, opinions, and ideas that make up the false
self, the self that is seeking. This is the true task of both meditation and inquiry.
Through meditation we can come to see that the only thing that makes us suffer
is our own mind. Sitting quietly reveals the mind to be nothing but conditioned
thinking spontaneously arising within awareness. Through cherishing this
thinking, through taking it to be real and relevant, we create internal images
of self and others and the world. Then we live in these images as if they were
real. To be caught within these images is to live in an illusory virtual
reality.
Through observing the illusory nature of thought without
resisting it, we can begin to question and inquire into the underlying belief
structures that support it. These belief structures are what form our emotional
attachments to the false self and the world our minds create.
This is why I sometimes ask people, “Are you ready to lose
your world?” Because true awakening will not fit into the world as you imagine
it or the self you imagine yourself to be. Reality is not something that you
integrate into your personal view of things. Reality is life without your
distorting stories, ideas, and beliefs. It is perfect unity free of all
reference points, with nowhere to stand and nothing to grab hold of. It has
never been spoken, never been written, never been imagined. It is not hidden,
but in plain view. Cease to cherish opinions and it stands before your very
eyes.
© Adyashanti 2007
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