Though
not everyone, but most people feel that we are born to be powerless,
limited and not free, because by having this conditional impermanent
physical body with the ignorant impure mind functioning in this world,
experiencing dualism that comes along under the mind perception of names and forms, having craving
and aversion towards the pleasant and unpleasant experiences, going
through many encountering and situations which are not what we like and
want, nor what we can agree with and are acceptable. And thus, we feel
frustrated, depressed, suffered and unhappy being conditioned and
limited by many things that are not in our control as what we think how it
should be or what we would like it to be.
That's
why many of us (the ego) wanted to rebel. We (the ego) resist to be
limited and conditioned by "things" that are not in our control and
"things" that we don't like and don't want. We want everything to be the
way as what we want them to be, or else we are not satisfied, not
happy, not peaceful whenever we see, or hear, or smell, or taste, or
touch, or think about names and forms that we don't agree with, don't
like and don't want...
In fact, we think that if we want to be
free from being controlled by "things", then what we have to do is, to
be able to control "things" to be the way that we like them to be. To
be the one who is in power and in charge of "things", instead of
"things" being out of our control, which makes us (the ego) feel weak,
defeated and insecure.
That's why some people tried to practice
some sort of "psychic power" in order to "make" all their wishes come
true (good or evil), and they (the ego) will feel - "Yes! We are the
one who are in control of everything as what we want them to be..."
We
think that if we can "make" other people to be agree with us, to like
us and love us, then we will be happy. If some people who we want them
to like us, but they don't, we will try to "make" them to like us, or
else we are not satisfied. There is nothing wrong with other people to
like us, but it should be coming naturally from their own free will, not
because we want them to like us, and we'll try to "make" them to like
us...
We think that if we
don't want to be the loser (the weak one), we have to be the winner
(the strong one). We think that we will be free from being "controlled",
if we can control "things" to be the way that we like them to be. We
want to fight against the law of nature, to stop impermanence. We think
that if we don't want to be "bullied" by somebody, we have to "bully"
that somebody. But this is incorrect thinking that brings us more
tensions, frustration, disappointment, depression, guilt, fear and
worry.
Some people tried
many ways to fight against the law of nature (impermanence). They wanted
to avoid the "suffering" of having a conditional and limited life
existence with the function of a mortal physical body that is
conditioned by growth, changes, pain, discomforts, injuries, old age,
decay, sickness and death... They tried to retain youth, strength and
health, and if possible to become "disease-less", "non-decay", and
"deathless"...
Even some yogis also tried to "make" this limited
adjunct (the mortal physical body that depends on elements and energy to
be exist) to become a super human being that can go against the law of
nature, to stop aging, to prevent decaying and death...
The
result is, we'll get so frustrated and disappointed, because the more
we try to control "things" to be the way that we want them to be, and
yet "things" are seem to be out of our control... It's because we can't
control "things" to be the way that we want them to be. Even enlightened
being like Buddha, also didn't want to control anything. If he wanted,
or if he could, he would have removed everyone's unhappiness and
diseases, and made every beings be enlightened and there would be no
more ignorance in everyone, and there would be no more unhappiness and
suffering to be existing in the world.
In
yoga and meditation, we wanted to attain spiritual enlightenment in
order to be free from all the conditions that derived from having a life
existence (a physical body being conditioned by birth and death, or impermanent changes). This
actually means, "To attain Samadhi (the complete annihilation of the
mind, the intellect and the ego) through deep meditation in order to
transcend the restless wheel of birth and death, and not coming into life
existence again of having another impure body with the mind being "occupying" by
ignorance and egoism, which is the cause of all suffering. And this "freedom" is
nothing to do with challenging the physical body to go beyond its
limitations and to become a super human being that can fly, or float, or
having psychic power, or can be forever youthful and beautiful, doesn't get old and
decay...
All the practices are there for us to be prepared (purifying the mind) to
meditate and to enter Samadhi (The void of ignorance,
impurities, qualities, dualities, names and forms. Synonymous with the
annihilation of the modification of the mind, the intellect and the ego). But
some yogis had attached so much toward this physical body and this life
existence, and tried to challenge their physical body to go beyond its
limitations and conditions, by doing lots of "yoga practices" to try to
make the physical body immortal, to go against the law of nature, to
become the strongest, the most flexible super human being, and to attain
psychic power to manipulate other people to be in their control...
But
how is the world going to be like, if everyone practice yoga and
meditation, and becomes physically immortal and have psychic power to
have all our wishes (whether good or bad) to be materialized?
It
will be a complete disaster... We'll have to be very careful of all our
thoughts, because every single thought will be materialized (especially
coming from an impure mind). It'll be so exhausting and what a huge
responsibility...
There
are also some people who don't want to fight, or to evolve, or to make
any effort to transcend "suffering" or "birth and death". They prefer to
indulge in pleasurable sensual enjoyments as much as they can while
still living in this world... They don't mind if the world ends now or
will end later...
While
some other people chose to be depressed and unhappy about everything and
have no will power to try to evolve or to transcend "suffering" or
"unhappiness"...
There is
nothing wrong at all with people who want to transcend "suffering", or
people who just want to enjoy life as much as possible, or people who
just want to be depressed and unhappy and do nothing about it...
Everyone
has the freedom and choice to do what we want to do with our life, our
body and mind, our life existence... At least this is one of the things
that we think that we are capable to be in control, to make decision, to
decide what we want to do and what we want to "be"...
But why do we want to control things? Why do we want to "be" something?
It
requires so much effort to try to control "things" and to "be"
something... But it doesn't require any effort at all to let go and not
to control anything, nor to "be" something.
We
ourselves are so unhappy being controlled by other people or being
conditioned by "things", but why didn't we think that the people and
"things" that we want them to be in our control, will reject to be
controlled and be conditioned as well?
We
think that if we want to get rid of unhappiness, we need to have
happiness. We also think that to have happiness or to be happy means,
"things" should be the way that we like them to be, or else we will not
be happy or there won't be happiness...
That's
why we (the ego) are very unhappy when "things" don't turn out the way
as what we like them to be... And thus, we started to think of any ways
to "make" all our wishes come true including try to practice psychic
power or black magic to control "things" to be what we want them to
be... For example, when our lover doesn't love us anymore, but we
couldn't accept that the people that used to love us have stopped loving
us and are going to leave us, and we'll get so unhappy and will try
some "hypnotism" or "black magic" to "make" our lover to "like" and
"love" us again by "external force"...
What's the meaning when we
want to "possess" somebody who doesn't want to love us, by using
hypnotism or black magic to "force" or "make" them "love" us, not out of
their own free will, and to "keep" them in our life, doesn't want them to
leave us or doesn't want them to love somebody else (we'll get so
jealous and angry if somebody who we want them to love us but they don't
love us and they love somebody else instead)? It's such an ignorant and
crazy idea...
This is
one of the plays of the ignorant selfish egoistic mind... And if there is identification with this ignorant selfish egoistic mind (action and reaction being performed under the control and influence of ignorance and egoism),
we have no idea how ignorant we can be when "things" are not what we
like them to be, and when we want "things" to be the way that we want
them to be...
Even somebody who is very smart and intelligent,
and well-educated, will still be over-powered by this selfish egoistic
mind, being the slave of the mind that is full of lustful desires and
cravings, and will do things that are so ignorant and selfish in order
to please this selfish ego, to get what it wants, to get rid of what it
doesn't want, to make the ego feels superior, satisfy, to be in power,
to be in control, to feel strong, good and happy...
We
want to be free to go wherever we wanted to go, to do whatever we
wanted to do, to say whatever we wanted to say, and etc... We don't like
to be controlled by other people or be controlled by "rules and
regulations"... If we ourselves don't want to be controlled by other
people of how we should think and feel, how we should live our life, how
we should behave, to think, to feel, to express, to walk, to sit, to
stand, to talk, to eat, to play, to sleep and etc, then how does other
people would feel when we try to control or to change them to be the way
that we like them to be?
We
think that we are the "good" people that are the one who is
contributing to the world, and all other people who are "bad" are the
one who is destroying the world...
And we think we have the right
to be what we think we should be (to be "good") and other people have
no right to be what they want to be (to be "bad")... And we want to
change these "bad" people to be as "good" as we are... We think we are
the "heroes" that are saving the world from getting worst...
Well,
at least we tried to be good and do good. That's nothing wrong with
that. But the problem is that we wanted to "change" or to "control"
other people who are not the same as us to "be" like us... We think that
we are right and they are wrong... But how true is that?
We
think that if there is no more "bad" and "evil" people in the world by
killing them or locking them in jails or "reprogramming" their behaviors,
and there will be no more suffering and unhappiness in the world and
this will make the world to be peaceful and happy... But how true is
that?
The world will still be the same "dissatisfying and
imperfect" place for us even when there are no more "bad and evil"
people out there, because we (the ignorant egoistic impure minds) have incorrect thinking
even though we try to be good and do good... Ignorance and selfishness
are still there in our mind... Anger, hatred, jealousy, greed,
agitation, depression, disappointment, dissatisfaction, fear, worry,
craving, aversion, attachment are still there in our mind...
It is the mind not at peace, it's not the world being unpeaceful...
We
are not peaceful, and we try to make the world peaceful, but we'll be
so disappointed because we can't attain peacefulness by making the world
"peaceful", because it is our mind not peaceful, not contented and not
free...
Wherever we go,
we bring along this discontented, selfish, unpeaceful, disturbed,
confused, impure mind with us. And we will be unpeaceful being anywhere
even at a place where there is not any external disturbance... We (the
mind) will be complaining that it is too quiet, too calm, too bored, and
we need to have some happenings, excitement, interactions or debates...
The point is, we don't have to control "things" at all...
"Things" never have the intention to control anything. "Things" didn't want to control us at all...
It is us who attached to "things" and hence, be controlled by "things" that are merely being what they are, being selfless and impermanent...
Nature
or God doesn't even bother to control anything... Or else it will be so
exhausting, isn't it? There is no rest day at all, every moment have to
be governing everybody's "business", or else many unwanted "accidents"
will be happening everywhere at the same time...
If
nature or God is controlling everything, then maybe one day, nature or
God, is so tired of governing the universe and to control everything as
what they should be, and wants to take a holiday, and appoints one of
us, the "super human being" who is the mightiest, smartest and possibly
immortal in the world, to be in charge of governing and controlling the
entire universe, what will that be like?
It will be a disaster!
We
thought it will be so great if we are being given the duty and power to
rule the world to be the way that we want it to be... But with an
impure ceaseless thinking egoistic mind, we can't even make a small
decision without any selfishness, doubts, guilt, fear and worry, not to say to
control the world to be what we want it to be...
Then
we will start to think that maybe it is not a good idea at all to be in
charge and be able to control everything to be the way that we want
them to be...
We think
that if the human beings can go against the law of nature and
impermanence, and become perfectly the way that we desire in life existence, that there will be
no decay, no growth, no old age, no sickness, no unpleasant experiences,
no pain, no hunger, no thirst, no war, no killings, no unwanted natural
disasters, no accidents, no injuries, and no death, and everyone will
be living in peace and harmony... But it's not.
Imagine if everyone is immortal and keeps multiplying in population, what will happen to this world?
This
universe needs the law of impermanence to function smoothly... Old hair
need to go, in order for new hair to come out... Finger nails can keep
growing if we don't cut them, but they will become very troublesome if
we let them continue to grow longer and longer... Old cells dying and
disappearing, and new cells being born and growing...
We
think that if we have the power to control or to change the world to be
the way that we think it should be, and if we can eliminate (by killing
or jailing) all the evil minded and bad behavior people in the world,
and the world will be in peace and everyone will be happy and
peaceful... But it's not.
Imagine if we are the one who is
controlling our heart beats and breathing all the time since we were
born into this world, we'll be so exhausted and we have to be awake
every moment, or else the heart stops beating and the lungs stop
breathing...
The world is not "unpeaceful"... It is in our own mind, that we are not at peace...
The world is not "suffering"... It is in our own mind, that we are suffering...
We
don't like to be conditioned by the law of nature, of course the nature
will not "like" to be conditioned or to be "reconditioned" by us (which
we human beings did try to reconditioning everything if possible)...
We
think that we are so smart and intelligent to be smarter than the law
of nature or what many people believe as "God", and interfere with the law of nature and impermanence,
but we actually had created great disturbance and disharmony in the
universal natural energy fields. The world is getting "sicker" when the
human beings had invented so many high-tech conveniences for our worldly
living conveniences and life enjoyment that come along with lots of
side effects damaging the Eco system of the world...
We
thought the world is not in "good form", and we are being so
compassionate, we wanted to heal the world to prevent it from getting
"worst", and we invented lots of "medicines" or "methods" trying to make
the world a better place, but instead the world is getting more "sick",
because we are actually interfering with its natural cycle of
self-healing process and the law of nature...
Take a look at our own physical body. It has its own natural healing process, if we allow it to be as "natural" as it is... But
we don't. We want to interfere with its natural healing process and
natural aging process, and try to put in many external artificial
"things" into it, with the intention to make it healthier, stronger,
younger, better looking, and "age-less" if possible...
Sometimes
the physical body feels upset, in pain, having cramps, soreness, fever,
cold, coughing, sneezing, vomiting and diarrhea, we thought that our
body is "sick" ("somebody" told us that we are sick) and we need to feed
it with some "medicine" to cure the sickness. But actually all these
symptoms are its own natural healing process to combat diseases. And we
purposely fighting with this natural healing process of the body by
feeding it with "medicine" that "kills" this natural healing process,
and we still think that we are so "smart" and are so kind to take care
of the body...
We don't
have to control anything, but to let everything to be the way that they
naturally should be like... And allow ourselves to be the way that we
naturally should be like...
Just be what we are at the present
moment now as it is, and not trying to "become" someone or something
that we are not at this present moment now. And "this", what we are now,
it is also impermanent and is constantly changing, and allow that
impermanence and changes to happen naturally...
No fear of old age, decay, sickness or death...
When this body needs to "go", we'll be grateful and let it go in peace...
The
moment that we let go of trying to control "things" to be the way that
we want them to be (even when we have the good intention of wanting
everything to be good), we are free!
It's because even "good"
things are also impermanent, and will be gone... We cannot attach to
"good" things, or else we will be unhappy, unpeaceful and disappointed
by our own attachment towards "good" things, craving for the "good"
things, clinging onto the "good" things...
The
nature will take care of everything in its own way, performing their
duties without attachment, intention, judgment, or expectation... That's
why nature is the mother or the source of everything in the universe...
It
is the ego that wants to have the power to control "things" to be what
it likes them to be... But our true nature doesn't need to control
anything...
The mind is the projector of the world, and the destroyer of the world. When there is no mind, there is no world...
An impure world was born out of an impure mind.
A suffering world was born out of a suffering mind.
A peaceful world was born out of a peaceful mind.
Have
control of our own mind by not being controlled by it, and persistently
purifying and quieting our own mind, eradicate the ego, eliminate the veil of ignorance, and annihilate the modification of the mind, is the real
freedom. It is not by trying to control "things" or to change the world
to be the way that we want them to be...
Tame this mind, and the "world" will be tamed...
This is what the enlightened saints and sages had been trying to teach us...
Om shanti.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Want to be able to control or to change everything to be the way that we like it to be? Think again...
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U have come a happy long way since Seri Petaling aerobic/yoga, teacher....well done. Adrienne
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