Becoming Hanuman 7
We are not in our interest.
I have learnt that the human condition is such that the mind just yet always goes for the most opposite route in life. Humans seem to be wired to take the most diametrically opposite stance than they should be taking in any situation.
We speak when it would be best to be silent and let things flow and unfurl themselves.
We act when we should wait and watch.
We remain silent and inactive when we should intervene and stop malefactors…… etc etc etc.
I give 2 instances how we promote erroneous thinking.
1) I invited family to lunch. My granddaughter asked me what is this (her mother is nearby)? I reply it is something that I have specially made. Try it. If you like it or not does not matter but I’ll tell you later.
The mother immediately comes over. I whisper: Don’t tell her!
The mother tells her and tells me: How will she know if I don’t tell her.
The child never even touched the dish.
Conclusion we are promoting predetermined conclusions instead of exploration.
2) There are a few grilled sandwiches on the plate. Some are a little over done. The child goes for an overdone one. The mother has to immediately intervene by saying “No you won’t like that one. It is overdone. Take this one. This is ok.”
What is she really finally teaching the child? – or making sure that she remains a pet plaything of the mother and mentally a baby.
Intuition and the child.
We talk about it but don’t really understand the importance of Intuition. The intuitive mind is open to the entire THOUGHT WORLD directly without the intervening human mind which is basically only an advanced computer with our emotions acting as a bug to derail it.
People who have not glimpsed it would not really understand but most would get some hang of it by the term GUT-Feeling. But the gut feeling phenomenon is basically an emotional affair of feelings.
In the domain of the Intuitive Mind, the connection to the world of mental knowledge is direct and without limits. Suddenly you know. You just know. You see the answer like a picture on the movie screen. A little energy has to be spent to manifest/materialise the “SEEING/KNOWING” into the material world.
This is not given to humans as yet unless they have bothered to develop and educate their minds and learnt to silence it enough so that other worlds can get in touch.
Most people who are called brilliant and excellent in their work domain and lead a creative life are basically in connect with the Intuitive Mind.
But alas this is not a subject of common understanding and not taught.
This is what is needed to raise children with a broad mind a broader more tolerant heart center. This is what gives children the desire to be greater than what is already known and excel.
For the now this comes as a gift to individuals from Mother Nature and the Cosmos as part of their natural bent. I believe this is so because these souls have worked hard in their preparation for a better life in their past lives.
My whole life has been an exercise in Applied Physics. All my inventions or the products I developed were not based on deductions but on a need to resolve an irritation and intuitively a solution or the possibility of one would show itself. ^Then I would start exploring the possibility of giving shape to the solution by deducting with my knowledge of physics/chemistry a manufacturing process how it could be done. But the first step was always totally intuitive.
The human persona is 99% subconscious which is a doorway to many entities and forces that have had opportunities to be established and use us as instruments. That is where the change is required. We should become “KINDNESS” so that the other forces cannot find a doorway to enter our consciousness and influence our behavior. Certain actions, Activities, Feelings and Responses should become impossible thru our persona.
How will you know where you are in your personal spiritual emancipation? The world will throw you in some cauldron and then you can see for yourself the responses that come out forth from you.
Do you think your prayers will reduce the sugar in the sweet?
Do you think that your “yagnas” will change the position of the planets and thereby change the outcome of your actions?
You think that there is someone up there listening but he is the one that has created it all and put you where you are! If you ascribe the events to the planets then if they change for you won’t they also change for others? So how does it change anything?
So where is the answer?
The serious, real answer is in your nucleus. You harbour the entire gamut of vibes of the Universe in you. If you can change that and “this” is within your power you can influence the world around you.
Deep within our talk with ourselves gives to us the foundation of our self-centredness but as others cannot hear it we are happy to live with our pretend image.
The saga of Goddess DURGA is to bring this to the fore with an aim to destroy any vestige of arrogance.
When we talk of the lower class of propensities what are we referring to?
For me it means a certain class of habits that keep us down on the ladder of human emancipation. The consciousness is not broad or wide enough to understand how actions and reactions have a wider, world circling effect.
For instance here are some characteristics observed in people who could be classed as the lower class.
– liars and deniers; will never agree to be at fault and blame others and never acknowledge something they have said or done if it proves them to be at fault.
– accusers and criticisers
– never consider the repercussion of their actions; they’ll dig holes and throw things out that will come in the way of others and then wonder when there is an accident why people are not careful.
– know best; it never occurs to them to not interfere or ask permission but they make changes to suit them and think that what they prefer is the best anyway.
– any hint that they are in error raises their hackles.
– other characteristics are like loud, never let things be, avenging spirit, hurt others willfully to show that they are better and should be acknowledged as such.
– very little regard and respect for Earth, other living things, anything except their own personas; wastage and litter comes easily to them. Very irresponsible and negligent of their duties. But very conscious of their rights even when there aren’t any.
NOW IMAGINE THESE PEOPLE RAISING CHILDREN! (In their image? God forbid!)
I have lived through one mother, 3 aunts, sisters, cousins, 6 lady friends, guardians in hostels, teachers, 3 women bosses and workers, friends, associates of all hues alongside men of all hues too in every kind of situations in greater numbers in position of father, bosses, teachers and business associates, service providers and some friends.
In all this I realized one thing specifically. Anger develops where the mental maturity of an educated, well-travelled & widely experienced “MIND” is lacking.
I am often seething with anger but I control my thoughts and emotional responses and use my knowledge of human nature to manipulate rather than let loose my quarrelsome side which with my acting ability, control on words and understanding of reverse psychology can be rather daunting.
I have realized that I cannot reach these minds. The minds are set. The motions and notions are set. The subconscious is in absolute control and repeats itself.
If try to reach them with words, nothing will happen. It is back to square one when we meet next. Advice, orders all go down the drain; even when medically important. Nothing registers. No effort to change or understand is made. If too much of an insistence is applied you get back “argumentative backlashes”.
It is frustrating, exasperating and that is how it is.
You can only back off if you can afford it.
The truth is emotional dependency makes us want to be together and mental disconnect separates us like a huge stone wall. Humans need to find a solution to this.
One of the ways that things could change is if children are taught about it from the beginning so that they understand in what kind of waters they will be swimming in life.
I am trying to relate a thought experience but the words are not coming to me easily.
I have felt many times that in certain relationships that as and when closeness starts to grow, I can feel an opposite atmosphere also starts to develop. Soon a nearly deliberate situation is allowed to happen and evolve which blasts out like an angry argument that takes the relationship back to YOU & ME as separate beings.
My explanation is that the Spirits behind our characters are often too selfish to let go and merge in love and friendship.
In many cases I have myself stayed away from relationships because the ties of gratefulness would trap me in a long silk string that would curb my own independence to follow my route. The more friendly contacts we have the more compromises we have to make.
In Indian Tantric philosophy we believe to make the Human being at the general worldly level 3 beings get together. The physical, the Emotional (vital) and Mental. These are controlled mainly by a master being in general cosmological terms by the parent Vital being. This shows itself in humans as the ego.
Enlightenment happens when the mind after all the experiences in life, mostly the bad ones, realises that there has to be more to life than this and starts looking for answers in the and from the Universe. This opens the mind to the Intuitive mind where Truth can be learnt more easily.
Humanity accepts this as a Fait Accompli.
People who wish to go into the higher consciousness realms have to break this chain of old pattern of thoughts that comprise of platitudes, confirmed truths, accepted norms and such. We are using every old quote as authority to continue with our old ways.
Where will the change come from?
Otherwise we condemn ourselves to remain stuck in the old way.
We have to find the way to live in friendliness, without compromising, without diluting the concentration of our yoga/sadhana( spiritual pursuit).
Of course humanity is not ready for it yet. It may even be another few thousand years.
There is a deliberate tendency in people to avoid being conscious. All the effort goes in avoiding reality because that would demand looking for answers.
They won’t even acknowledge that they are in pain.
The need to prove that they are bigger than their weakness is very big.
What have we done to ourselves?
We have connected our egos to our sense of virtue…….
Slogging is respectable – taking it easy or in short steps is not.
Obeying is the right thing – questioning is being obnoxious.
Putting up an image of infallibility is essential – show of inability makes you a pariah. etc and so forth.
What did it prove? Teach? Achieve?
When we wish to take over the lives of others with a very set agenda of imposing our wishes on them, what do we start as a wave?
Can any good ever come out of this thinking?
Accepting others have different ideas is not difficult. It is when the others insist that they have to be taken as the only valid ones.
Like for example their views on God and how he works and how humans should behave in response.
I admit some viewpoints valid or not may be too far distanced to have anything common.
Opening rigidly shut minds to new thought patterns is not that easy. In such case distancing and maintaining a functional contact alone is best – if at all.
There aren’t enough knowledgeable adults to teach the kids. This is what keeps IGNORANCE alive and kicking in perpetuity.
- Who is listening
Yes. I have much to say on this, but who is listening?
We can only re-say what we all already know. You particularly know it well and do not need to be told more.
The others couldn’t care. The ones who really need to become aware of the pushes and pulls in our conscious and sub-conscious planes couldn’t care less – they are so smug in their little worlds.
Humans started communicating with sign language and then words came in and then writing and more complex languages. To this was added printing that made long dissertations to be disseminated at long distances in long passages. People had the time and inclination to want to know more because they had this urge to find more about their world and how they could take advantage of it.
Today it is VISUALS. Everything comes to you as videos. Small and big clips that you can repeat as often as you wish – something unprecedented in human history. There is nothing to absorb or retain.
Remembering and integrating any information and use to further oneself is not really that necessary.
We have happily, very comfortably allowed ourselves to think that we know, we have heard and that we have understood even before the point has been made.
The mind is an instrument. WE have to learn to use it. It has to be trained by rigorous methods. But our education system, the social system, our behavior and responses system have been re-calibrated by the focus on “LIVE WITHOUT EFFORT”.
Digital technology has put stupidity into our hands literally and we are wallowing in it.
See how and what we have done with life in comparison with the life in 1920s. We have a commercially engineered answer to every wish…… You want to impress; go for the most impressive expensive car as alluded to by the media…..you need money; the banks are so ready to give you credit cards….. You need to be seen in a good light your Jeans and tee-shirt or jacket will do it……excitement is wanted in life: highly organised “safe” adventures are organised and waiting; you have to only pay a frightful small sum…….being knowledgeable; you need Google and an instrument……books? What a waste of good time….. etc etc and so forth…..and with a click you can let the whole world know.
We have actually sold ourselves out. Whatever little science of application and training of the mind we had learnt in the past 5000 years has been washed away in the last 50 years. Only pride and arrogance has overgrown and nobody is mowing the lawns.
I am afraid if I go on too long on this subject for surely somebody will come and say “So you think you are superior and can tell us what is wrong with us as if you are without faults – what an arrogant brute”…..and that is that.
When it is never “THEIR” fault, there isn’t much left to say. What we don’t like we can easily avoid today both in people and experiences. Wonderful; isn’t it?
- Parent-child time
It has more to do with the journey than any specific situation. Parent-child time is just a situation. The parent’s job is to prepare the child for the life that is coming. Parents are not required to be soft or harsh but firm and educative but most parents treat children as an extension of themselves and personal property. Unconscious parents are passing on their lack of conscious awareness and instinctive hereditary memories. This cycle needs to break but HOW has always been the question. We can have aware parents only if their curriculum of family influences and education is changed when they were children growing up. A vicious circle that is difficult to break.
There is also this question: a drastically changed curriculum of bringing up can make the child unfit for the life & social circle he is born in.
In the coming “Future” of this Earth this cannot go on. It has to change. The more unprepared you go into it the more difficult it is for everybody and you can leave a huge sticky mucky trail (like snails) behind you for generations.
Now just imagine when everyone is doing it. How much muck is being produced and the “waste” being secretly dumped in the subconscious? We can’t let the demons win, can we?
Difficult or not humanity has to wake up to this fact of the wastage and pollution we leave behind for a moment’s fun on this earth because we are in a position to do so.
This has been the problem since always and now it can be seen as a “physical” aspect in the deforestation, radiation, monster-medical practices, plastic and nuclear waste being secretly dumped that is insidiously spreading and affecting lives and the very existence on earth.
The need of the moment is a rise in consciousness levels.
Humans have learnt to live upon certain glorified images of what is good and bad and they are content and satisfied when they have managed to ape and incorporate these images in their puny lives.
As individuals we live we very self-contained tiny lives; moving within some very limited parameters. All our energies are focussed on creating the right images for others so that we are appreciated and accepted in the society we move in.
As an aside I give this example: It was found in the 1950s that being seen on TV with dogs and babies increased the chances of being elected to office. So this became part of the orchestrated projection of the persona of the candidate. So much so that soon having a dog became the virtuous thing to do. Now people think of themselves as pet-parents. And human children are not having it half as good dogs are in many households.
This has been the problem of humanity since the time the mind woke up and began developing separately as an intellectual spirit. Religions came out with lists of good and bad “IMAGES”. In the present state of things most people have only one goal – to be seen as “good” and this they do by fitting themselves into frames that have been already prepared for them.
The vibrations, the words and the images are being pumped into a person right from the moment of inception.
The big question therefore is how to break this vicious circle and raise the level of consciousness and change the images to be living for.
The climate issue is not yet hurting the individual in the city where most of the activities of humans is now centered. Where and what is the problem? Water comes in taps, electricity runs everything; for travelling there is the car and food can be ordered by telephone.
What crisis are you talking of?
As mostly history has taught, humans need crisis to get out of their stupor. And the earth is definitely moving towards one. Everything will happen in good time. It is a natural cycle that cannot be hurried without a raise of consciousness and the raise of consciousness will not happen without the crisis. The pity is that one crisis may not be enough. With each crisis humanity moves up one tiny microscopic notch. So we have a lot of generations still to go.
As individuals let us do the best we can.
(Although my feeling is that these few drops simply merge into the ocean only serve to delay the inevitable crisis.)
But I am seeing the mind now sticking itself on other fixations. This scientific understanding of the Creation is creating another shift in mentalising our world.
I will call it a change only when the nature of the mind itself sees a change where it stops being a tool of the “emotional center” and will stop seeing itself as the center of the world.
- On the art of looking within into oneself.
Why are you depressed? Even unhappy?
There is no reason really to be unhappy. The world is here. We are all here and all moving about with chin up.
If you are asking yourself this question then look deeper and wonder what started it. We usually feel unhappy when anticipated outcomes do not happen to our wishes and/or we are not getting to make the world move as we want it to.
This is a trait that we are all given as part of our nature by the Cosmos and Mother Nature. Normally hardships and good tough parenting strengthens our outlook to understand that this life is not a bed of roses.
But a tendency to depression can be increased by too much coddling picked up from bad parenting. We as parents need to teach our children that everything is not available in life on a silver platter by not overdoing the “kind and loving” thing to ensure that the child does not feel deprived or neglected. Another reason is that the parent has no idea how to deal with the child and just lets the child have his way because he is not psychologically ready to take the responsibility of “parenting”.
But this happens specially with parents who had that kind of a life and try to ensure that their child does not go thru the same. They tend overdo it to compensate their own lack.
A good reason often is also the fact that parents can over-praise the child, making him feel superior. Parents should aim to give the child the confidence that he can do it and show that his parents have his back but honesty is also the policy in the household. In pursuance of this policy, live it also otherwise the consequences of a character built upon basic dishonesty will always be negative and attract trouble or failure and psychologically a lot of self-hurting thoughts and emotions.
Making money should not be considered as success. Two elements go into its making. 1) Your ability to give what the people require along with your ability to gauge their stupidity 2) luck.
Most humans are not generous enough to share their abilities so selfishness has to be curtailed by law because otherwise the money power in the hands of humans can become very destructive. (The government unfortunately is also made of the same humans).
Accumulation of money and beating others down has been made the platform of considering “Success” (one of the many thought patterns that rule humanity) so we have war-minded people who mentally organise and make money and others who use their strength and the sword to go to war and grab what they want.
But what people conveniently forget to see is the luck part. Destiny/fate or luck puts you in a place where this can be done from. Opportunity plays a big role.
In short and simple language this means that when we find errors and faults in others we are seeing what our mind is showing us and what it sees is what is embedded and imprinted in it and the subconscious behind it ( it is following your wishes). That is all it knows.
“We are seeing what we are”.
We appreciate what makes us content and makes us satisfied.
What we are not liking is what we are insidiously unknowingly/subconsciously not liking about us but cannot accept it to maintain the façade that life/society requires. What our outer nature brings out forth is contradictions and arguments trying to hide it all (I think the modern word is gas-lighting). Spiritually in philosophical language this is what we call insincerity of our Being that is generally the foundation of human nature.
Think this over.
We don’t need expositions of higher living philosophies for now. At the stage humanity is we simply need to learn to live wisely and kindly. Let us first arrive here. We have not even been able to arrive at the level of the 10 commandments but we talk of The Kingdom of heaven and spend valuable hours and energy in writing/discussing of consciousness levels that are way beyond our immediate need for the next step.
One of the things in the human ethos is our need to remain silent about disagreements or/and bullying for the consideration that “It will displease” and invite further ill-willed reactions.
There is no such thing as irrational. The rational may not be obvious. This is what we are expected to explore using a quiet mind without getting caught in the storm.
Let things happen in their natural flow. Some things will certainly offend some. Some do it on purpose to make a point. Do we have a right to offend?…. Though if truth and exposition of fact offends then so be it. The act of offending deliberately is war mongering.
The constitution of your country may give you rights but the consequences have rights too. Let us never forget that Mother Nature doesn’t give any rights.
We are also easily swayed by gossip.
This is true; we are emotional babies and we are easily displeased, insulted, influenced and shamed. And these are attitudes that we promote religiously as indicative of our sensitive humanness. I see them as weaknesses.
The MIND is a world in itself….. Unlimited possibilities to imagine. It is a universe within the Universe…..endless & and no boundaries.
YOU dear sir, are in a mental public place. Shoulder to shoulder with a throbbing voluble crowd that is jostling you around. There is a commonness of thinking and beliefs so you are quite comfortable. You are all picking up some thoughts here and some thoughts there; exchanging them at the drop of a hat. It is a lively and an engaging scene.
But you are not one of the crowd even. You are THE Crowd with the great pride of being an individual just because you can see your shoulder separately from that of others. But at the mental level there is no intellectuality; whatever little there is gets submerged in the sea of thoughts around you.
One day you are Mr Goldegad, the next day it will be Mr Merton and some days later your mind will be Mr Osaka and some days later it will be again Mr Merton if not Dr Crook.
Who are you today?
And come to think of it you are one day patient and generous and the other day tired and irritable – now what initiated that? A bad digestion or the arrival of unwelcome news? Did the honking by the neighbor disturb you?
You have heard of SAD? You all accept that the weather has a great influence on your moods? Then why is it so difficult to accept that thought patterns from the world around you are influencing even more deeply?
So coming back to the question of “who are you?” It seems that you are basically all the people around you (and the more there are the worse it gets) that have been and are+ your ego who “simply cannot be wrong and cannot be faulted”.
Why can’t we be open, frank and honest?…. take things with a pinch of salt and humorously. It would cut short the duration of misunderstandings and pave the way for real development, action and development – stronger deeper friendships.
If you allow your intuitive mind to grow and spread, you will see that although our stories are as varied as the number of people on earth, there is an extremely common thread running through it all.
We all have the same elements powering us. For a moment let me digress and compare it to cars – like whatever be the brand, shape or color and comforts added to a car the basic is an engine on 4 wheels with a gear system, brakes and steering wheel.
To elaborate further we humans have the same components as a body, a mind and set of emotions with lots of ‘amour-propre’; the mind has a way of functioning which is quite similar in all of us and our actions and reactions are basically quite common. To mention a few to make my point clear: The art of listening and not paying attention, the art of looking but not seeing what is of no interest to us, the art of bluffing, the capacity to lie and forget, the capacity to create from imagination, to love intensely, to be kind and giving and forgiving and cruel at the same time, the way we suffer anxieties, fear and are affected by Nature, the way we desire and seek appreciation and approbation…….all these are the same and we all die. Yet we all believe in our exclusivity….hope keeps us alive and going. Shibumi is the art of rising above all our frailties by acknowledging them first, then honing the use of our minds, our talents, controlling our emotions and essentially become master of ourselves where every second is lived with purpose.
How we fritter away our precious lives:
1) Most people are just babbling; going in circles with their thoughts without thinking.
Once the qwords are out of their mouth they are openly stuck with it and then they then need to justify it. So long useless and discussions and arguments ensue. But all this is considered “involved living” and rarely accepted as a waste of the time given to us on earth in this life-time. Humanity has not come to this point of purpose yet.
“Whiling away time” is humanity’s greatest sport. For thinking beings this attitude is so astonishing.
Why not challenge yourself to do something like a new hobby in which your capabilities are put to the test? Even a small safe activity like paining or photography would be a start. The joy and exultation one feels when we are praised for our work can do wonders to our spirit. It also helps become a little more introspective, quieter and less critical.
For me what is sad as we now float thru 2023, is the way people are becoming anti-people, subjective and distancing themselves from pulsating life by depending on technology and tech-products. On the matter of toxic I tend to agree. As technology renders “need-for-help” less imperative, the tendency to become selfish and ARROGANT is acutely visible. Have you looked at yourself? Friends and group activities are important for receiving feedback. By avoiding people we have only encapsulated ourselves in our arrogance and our narcissistic view of ourselves.
The corporates are subtly influencing thinking by harping on the frailties of humankind and building the foundation that without (their) help the human would be lost and sick; quietly they are adding poisons into our lives for profit and we are colluding with them as non-thinking isolates which suits them perfectly.
Since the beginning of the so called pandemic 3 years ago I am surprised at the insistence of some friends (from USA mainly) to advise me and insist on following their pattern of thinking. They seem to know what is best for me. Their thinking pattern is so corporate led that I am totally surprised. Besides being so totally influenced, from my writings they all have concluded that I am disturbed and need help and as good friends insist on helping me! Who needs enemies when we have such great friends?!!!
Steve Haag
We’re among a mess of mixed messages. What are people trying to make you think?
PK to Steve Haag
Yes. Thru the TV, journals, fashion statements, medical pronouncements and advertising they are modulating and shaping the thinking of their clientele and social acceptances.
It is blatant and shameless misuse of the lazy factor in humans that philosophically would be called inconscient, indolent and irresponsibly ignorant. Everything goes straight into the subconscious bank and comes out thru their minds as knowledge.
Think this over.
We don’t need expositions of higher living philosophies for now. At the stage humanity is we simply need to learn to live wisely and kindly. Let us first arrive here. We have not even been able to arrive at the level of the 10 commandments but we talk of The Kingdom of heaven and spend valuable hours and energy in writing/discussing of consciousness levels that are way beyond our immediate need for the next step.
One of the things in the human ethos is our need to remain silent about disagreements or/and bullying for the consideration that “It will displease” and invite further ill-willed reactions.
There is no such thing as irrational. The rational may not be obvious. This is what we are expected to explore using a quiet mind without getting caught in the storm.
Let things happen in their natural flow. Some things will certainly offend some. Some do it on purpose to make a point. Do we have a right to offend?…. Though if truth and exposition of fact offends then so be it. The act of offending deliberately is war mongering.
The constitution of your country may give you rights but the consequences have rights too. Let us never forget that Mother Nature doesn’t give any rights.
We are also easily swayed by gossip.
This is true; we are emotional babies and we are easily displeased, insulted, influenced and shamed. And these are attitudes that we promote religiously as indicative of our sensitive humanness. I see them as weaknesses..
The MIND is a world in itself….. Unlimited possibilities to imagine. It is a universe within the Universe…..endless & and no boundaries.
YOU dear sir, are in a mental public place. Shoulder to shoulder with a throbbing voluble crowd that is jostling you around. There is a commonness of thinking and beliefs so you are quite comfortable. You are all picking up some thoughts here and some thoughts there; exchanging them at the drop of a hat. It is a lively and an engaging scene.
But you are not one of the crowd even. You are THE Crowd with the great pride of being an individual just because you can see your shoulder separately from that of others. But at the mental level there is no intellectuality; whatever little there is gets submerged in the sea of thoughts around you.
One day you are Mr Goldegad, the next day it will be Mr Merton and some days later your mind will be Mrs Osaka and some days later it will be again Mr Merton if not Dr Crook.
Who are you today?
And come to think of it you are one day patient and generous and the other day tired and irritable – now what initiated that? A bad digestion or the arrival of unwelcome news? Did the honking by the neighbor disturb you?
You have heard of SAD? You all accept that the weather has a great influence on your moods? Then why is it so difficult to accept that thought patterns from the world around you are influencing even more deeply?
So coming back to the question of “who are you?” It seems that you are basically all the people around you (and the more there are the worse it gets) that have been and are+ your ego who “simply cannot be wrong and cannot be faulted”.
Why can’t we be open, frank and honest?…. take things with a pinch of salt and humorously. It would cut short the duration of misunderstandings and pave the way for real development, action and development – stronger deeper friendships.
If you allow your intuitive mind to grow and spread, you will see that although our stories are as varied as the number of people on earth, there is an extremely common thread running through it all.
We all have the same elements powering us. For a moment let me digress and compare it to cars – like whatever be the brand, shape or color and comforts added to a car the basic is an engine on 4 wheels with a gear system, brakes and steering wheel.
To elaborate further we humans have the same components as a body, a mind and set of emotions with lots of ‘amour-propre’; the mind has a way of functioning which is quite similar in all of us and our actions and reactions are basically quite common. To mention a few to make my point clear: The art of listening and not paying attention, the art of looking but not seeing what is of no interest to us, the art of bluffing, the capacity to lie and forget, the capacity to create from imagination, to love intensely, to be kind and giving and forgiving and cruel at the same time, the way we suffer anxieties, fear and are affected by Nature, the way we desire and seek appreciation and approbation…….all these are the same and we all die. Yet we all believe in our exclusivity….hope keeps us alive and going. Shibumi is the art of rising above all our frailties by acknowledging them first, then honing the use of our minds, our talents, controlling our emotions and essentially become master of ourselves where every second is lived with purpose.
Until humanity agrees to look at itself, we shall only perpetuate a bad situation thru our children.
Brad Hercina
Life on Life’s terms. Life will do as Life will do, arguing with it is futile, not to mention a little foolish. Hence, it is best to be totally unprepared – that way anything can happen!
PK:
One of the biggest issues that we adopt to complicate and destroy our lives are 1) Predetermined notions 2) The list of good and bad.
To explain further…
We rarely examine the notions that make the foundation of our reason, logic and behavioral patterns. These can be very simple to the very complicated. For example it is generally assumed that rabbits like carrots above all and cats like wool balls and dogs like it when throw a stick. On the complicated side we talk of God has said this and god’s will is that. Or to be more precise the notions like “Honesty is the best policy”, “Obey your parents” and that All service providers like doctors and priests have our best interests at heart. (Here I may add that they may have the best interest at heart if they knew exactly what is in our best interest). Our entire life is spent in justifying ourselves – our ego demands its justification to exist; mainly our anger when you see others are NOT doing things the way you think it should be “correctly” done.
So what is stopping you from stopping your mind and wondering if its thinking pattern corresponds to the life you have had. Compare your past with your notions and if you are not comfortable then decide to change your patterns of thinking and reasoning. – this is not as easy it sounds and can be very disturbing to the psyche as it will to a big extent shake up our world.
This is also why we need to be very careful about what all we are passing down to our children.
Some of the worst notions are based on religious texts of all communities and religions. The beginning of all arrogance and misbehaviors as license to be so is provided
The notion is right but in practice until you have really walked the entire route of the prophet and established Heaven’s Truth in you, you will only use it as a shield to misbehave or an excuse to cover for your tendencies.
Watch out for these tendencies and learn to recognize and annul in oneself and don’t let it come out into your behavior in any way. Usually we take our ire out on the most vulnerable like children spouses and employees. In the case of children the most harm is perpetrated.
Jose Remacle
I see around me many women taking the initiatives, control and authority. With age, they behave more and more with the animus character. It looks like the motherly role being over, the place is open for the animus. Is it a correct observation and is there any work on the change in animus expression with age in woman?
Debra Hollander
Some women become that way due to necessity. They may find there is not a man in their life at all or one that gets things done. Someone has to get things done. Therefore, they end up in that role. Not necessarily a bad thing. That independence and new found courage can be wonderful.
Pradeep Pk Maheshwari
Agree. Sometimes or more often than not women have a very difficult job of making a home with not so capable or responsible men. And then often the women are really better educated and capable than the men that society backs as the lord of the family. But in my view the raising of children and running a difficult household brings out the basic arrogance of being capable and over confidence can come easily.
The permutations and combinations of the situation are countless.
The Art of withdrawal is an important one to learn. Instead of getting more and more “animus” and try to control the lives of children or things around us, we should aim at relinquishing hold and let things flow without forgetting to take care of one’s own life and do whatever it takes to protect one’s own life-path and interests.
We need to really change our basic thought process and patterns. We have been indulging in double-cross and talking with a forked tongue all this while. In most cases when we look at life from non-enlightened apparent cause and effect mind that has not learnt to see the world with detachment and intuitively, we see one the biggest falsities totally accepted and promoted by the influencers of spiritual attitudes that the ego has to be done away with. NO. Without the ego we would be non-entities.
The Ego is the primal force that gives color to our otherwise bland persona. It is the motive force and the source of our vitality. It is an energy that has been under the influence of demonic forces and used by them to further their ends. The poor humans are their tools.
The good news is that humans can use their discrimination using their reason and education and goodwill to put a stop to this by simply using their will. They can impose on the ego to do well and positively and lovingly by espousing only kind and compassionate feelings and transform the ego-energy in to something Divine.
What is needed is Transformation – not annihilation.
Educating the children with this mindset can bring in the change that has eluded mankind till now.
See how we promote the negative side of the emotions thru the ego:
– Success is in accumulating wealth and the power it brings in life. To achieve this end, dishonesty, cruelty and impartiality is tacitly acceptable as along as it does not become too obvious.
– All those who are not with us are our enemies. Enemies are to be destroyed. War is therefore acceptable.
– Women are a lesser species because they have to bear children and are basically kinder so not practical to the pursuit of wealth and war.
It is a fact that we act by habit.
– We deal with people more by habit than understanding. The habits develop from the conditioning we have received and known. Once our habits are set…….some cases of mistaken responses are bound to happen but if we are aware then this can be avoided. It is imperative that our children understand about this.
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About the author: From Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.
Consumer products Design Consultant. Internationally exposed to Teaching & Counselling, Marketing, Technical Joint ventures, Travel Trade. Speak: French and English. Hindi.
Management of French Academy, Delhi, CEO Sep Overseas P ltd, Country manager for European companies, Teacher in various institutions doing speciality programs etc
Hobbies – Writing, photography, painting, product development
