Low self-esteem and pride is the two sides of a coin. Real confidence is there as it is when one is free from being determined by the flipping coin to be 'I' that is swaying in between low self-esteem upon failure and pride upon success.
There are many different kinds of exploitation that exist in the world.
Particularly during this prolonged pandemic situation in the world that has taken away many people's livelihood.
Many people's life and livelihood are being impacted greatly by the prolonged lockdown in certain countries where the pandemic situation wasn't being handled efficiently.
There are also certain countries run by their government that have been handling the pandemic situation more efficiently that the other countries, where people's everyday life and livelihood aren't being affected too much by the pandemic like the many other people in some other countries.
Some people would have the common sense to be considerate towards other people's financial difficulty and suffering due to the prolonged lockdown in some other countries, even though they themselves might not be affected very much by the pandemic in their own countries.
Meanwhile there are also some people, who are not just don't have the conscience to be considerate towards other people's difficulty, but whether wittingly or unwittingly, in certain dealings, people are taking advantage out of other people's difficult condition to be exploiting other people especially those who are under desperation for survival, not to say, to be making a decent livelihood, under the impact of the prolonged pandemic lockdown in their countries.
This kind of exploitation are existing due to those who are in desperation, they have no other choices but would rather be exploited than to let themselves and/or their family to go hungry or to endure further difficulty.
Similarly, in order to stop encouraging or empowering this kind of exploitation, we ourselves don't take advantage of other people's desperation under difficult condition to be exploiting other people in anyway, regardless of whether out of desperation or out of greed and stinginess, but also, we ourselves don't allow ourselves to be exploited by those who would take advantage of other people's suffering to exploit other people, out of their greed and stinginess, no matter how much difficulty that we need to endure, for not giving in to exploitation by others, and not allowing exploitation to be happening to ourselves done by others and/or to others done by ourselves.
Unfortunately, even among the yoga community, who are supposed to be practicing reflective understanding towards other people's difficulty and suffering, but then either wittingly or unwittingly, out of worldly egoistic habitual behavior pattern, some yoga enthusiasts might be engaging in exploiting other people in certain situations, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Inquire the truth of everything.
Life in this world, can be like forever standing at the outside of a giant forest that is unknown to us, looking at the forest from our point of view of where we are with many wild imaginations towards what could be inside and beyond the forest, and never want to take the risk to be exploring what is inside and beyond the forest, to see and experience what is actually there, or we can choose to be walking into the unknown forest to explore what is there and beyond.
However, some people would be exploring the forest while claiming ownership over the space in the forest, exploiting what is in the forest, as well as transforming the space in the forest into something that they prefer, causing many kinds of damages.
Just as some people try to find a place on earth that they feel they belonged to, where they want to stay for as long as possible, and desire to establish a living space and community of their own in a particular way that they prefer, while exploiting what is there in the name of pursuing higher pleasurable enjoyment of life beyond the basic needs for survival, and causing many damages here and there, either wittingly or unwittingly.
While some people don't need to find or establish a sense of belonging, but just to explore the unknown as much as possible without exploiting anything along the way, and wherever they are, they live life as it is, without taking more than what they need to survive, without claiming ownership towards the space or trying to establish a living space or community of a particular way.
Unfortunately, many people growing up were being told that it's highly important to find and establish a sense of belonging towards a particular place, community, culture, belief, spirituality, and etc, as well as emphasizing on the pursue of higher pleasurable enjoyment in life.
Inquire the truth of everything.
People might relate minimalism with simplicity.
Minimalism does not necessarily mean simplicity.
In fact, there's a huge difference between them.
Minimalism is a form of trendy lifestyle that is linked to 'de-cluttering' from time to time.
In minimalism, people might be continuing buying many different things of the latest trends or products from time to time, as they need to decorate or redecorate their home and their physical appearance with different looks or styles from time to time, and they will need to 'de-clutter' their 'possessions' from time to time, to let go their 'used' things in order to create space for their 'new' things, so that they aren't accumulating too many things in their living space, in order to be qualified as a 'minimalist' who is living a 'minimalism' lifestyle, where people live with very few possessions at one time, which is nothing to do with simplicity at all.
There is no need of 'de-cluttering' in those who truly live a life of simplicity.
In simplicity, people not just don't keep too many things beyond what they need to live everyday life, but they will keep using the same few things for very long time until they are completely worn out, where they don't need to keep buying new things of the latest trends or products to replace the things that they are using, because they don't need to decorate or redecorate their home or their physical appearance with many different looks or styles from time to time, and hence, there's no need to 'de-clutter' their 'possessions' from time to time in order to create space for new things.
Minimalism is very welcomed by the world of capitalism and consumerism.
While the world of capitalism and consumerism might not like simplicity at all.
Inquire the truth of everything.
Being curious and asking about what other people believe and disbelieve is not yoga practice, and it doesn't lead to liberation from ignorance.
What everyone want to believe and disbelieve, is everyone's freedom.
There's neither good nor bad with different people having many different kinds of belief and disbelief.
Meanwhile, for those who want to practice yoga, is about opening the mind by going beyond all kinds of different belief and disbelief in the world, while detaching and dis-identifying from all kinds of belief and disbelief that are already existing in one's mind that have been influencing how this mind analyzes, judges, behaves, acts and reacts, and at the same time, respecting others for their belief and disbelief, or what they practice and don't practice.
What this mind believes and doesn't believe is not important.
What you think you believe and don't believe, or what you think you want or don't want to believe is not important.
What others believe and don't believe is not important.
One allows others to express what they want to express and to give their opinion and advice about this and that, but one shouldn't be influenced or determined by what others think, believe, disbelieve, or their opinion and advice about anything, or what others telling you what you should and shouldn't believe or disbelieve, even if it's coming from one's beloved and respected people in the world.
Those who are truly wise and compassionate wouldn't tell anyone what they should and shouldn't believe or disbelieve, but would be encouraging everyone to inquire the truth of everything. Those who would be offended by others who don't accept or follow their thinking, belief, disbelief, opinion and advice, only indicates that these minds are not free from the influence of ignorance and egoism. And it's everyone's freedom and responsibility for how they react towards everything.
Without blind-believing or blind-disbelieving in anything, but inquiring the truth of everything through self-inquiry.
The truth of things is not a belief. It's what things are, and everything is selfless and impermanent.
Yoga practice is about letting go all kinds of belief and disbelief, freeing the mind from being conditioned by any existing belief or disbelief in one's mind, not to say, being conditioned by any other people's belief or disbelief, but learning how to purify, discipline and quiet the mind to allow the mind to see things as they are.
Inquire the truth of everything.
There are minds grew up being conditioned or told by their elders and the surrounding community about, "We need to keep our head down. In many occasions, we need to keep one eye opens one eye closed. As long as it doesn't affect ourselves and our livelihood directly, we shouldn't bother about the others being threatened and hurt by the existence of discrimination and oppression in our society. Even if it affects us indirectly, we must keep our head down and not getting into troubles. Be obedient, do as they told, give them what they want, and keep them happy, then our life will be a lot easier."
This is the mentality of some, or many people living in the world of corruption, discrimination and oppression.
There is fear towards the so called 'authority', where it shouldn't be. Many minds are being conditioned since very young age to be 'very fearful' towards this and that, to be obedient, and one must believe that 'this' is the truth, instead of learning to be open to inquire the truth of everything.
"The authority" is 'supposed' to be a leader, or a team of 'public servants' that supports or serves the community non-discriminatively, that empowers and supports the enhancement of the overall well-being and prosperity of everyone in the society, for personal, community and environmental growth.
An "authority" that doesn't serve or support all and everyone without discrimination, that aren't looking after and supporting the welfare of everyone equally, but instead, only looking after the welfare of themselves and/or those in their own skin, while enforcing 'force', 'fear', 'threat', 'discrimination' and 'oppression' onto the others that are different from them and disagree with them, that are being disagreeable and dislikable to them due to their particular ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social class, financial status, educational status, culture, belief, values, practice, way of thinking, way of life, food choices, origins, or nationality, is not really an "authority". It's just a very sick mind, or an organization run by a group of 'mentally ill corrupted minds suffering from intense ignorance and egoism, that are prideful and yet, fear of losing power and control, or profit and wealth.'
Unfortunately, the mentality of "As long as it doesn't affect me personally and my livelihood, I still can enjoy my little 'goodies bag' of some limited rights and freedom given by the 'authority' because I am obedient, in which will be taken away from me if I am being disobedient, which I won't, I don't need to bother about the others being 'hurt' by the corruption, discrimination and oppression around me," would only empower such corruption.
Such like, "I'm not any of the LGBT community, I don't need to bother about the authority sanctions discrimination and oppression towards the LGBT community. Even if they are someone that I know personally. That's their problem, not my problem." or "I am privileged to be given certain rights, I am enjoying my little life. I shall not bother about the others whether they have rights and a life, or not." or "I am a man. I enjoy my privilege of being a man. I don't need to bother about women are being discriminated and oppressed by the authority in my community, even if I personally don't want to discriminate or oppress women for anything."
Needn't have any hopes about seeing a 'better' world that has less ignorance, egoism, selfishness, greed, corruption and discrimination, as none can remove the ignorance of others, but just do one's best of what is possible within one's ability, sharing the path of wisdom and compassion, in peace.
When people are learning how to read and write modern languages using Roman Alphabet, one begins with recognizing and pronouncing the letters of A, B, C, and so on. And then one learns about the utilization of the vowels a, e, i, o, u, and some combinations of different vowels, and so on. Then one will be learning how to pronounce and recognize simple words made out of the combination of letters and vowels. Then, one will advance further by pronouncing and recognizing more complicated and challenging words as well as learning about grammars and tenses while making sentences with combination of words utilizing appropriate grammars and tenses, and so on.
People would think and believe that basic or beginner yoga practice means learning and doing some simple and basic physical yoga poses or exercises (Asana), observing some code of conducts of do's and don't do's (Yama and Niyama), as well as doing some basic cleansing and breathing exercises (Kriya and Pranayama) to purify, balance and charge the energy centres and channels, to purify the mind on the gross level as well as rendering the mind calm and quiet, preparing the mind for the practice of withdrawal of the senses, concentration and meditation (Pratyahara, Dharana and Dhyana) that would purify the mind on subtler level.
As the body developed certain degrees of physical strength, flexibility and skill, the yoga practitioners will advance in their yoga asana practice by doing some more complicated and challenging physical yoga poses or exercises that require certain degrees of physical strength, flexibility and skill, as well as doing some advance cleansing and breathing exercises.
While many yoga enthusiasts would think and believe that 'practicing yoga' means doing some form of basic, intermediate and advance yoga poses and exercises, cleansing and breathing exercises, step by step, level by level, as the basic yoga practice that needs to be done for many years before one shall be introduced with the teachings of yoga about the modification of the mind and mind conquest about the annihilation of the mind, after the mind is rendered calm, pure and quiet.
There's nothing wrong with that understanding and procedure.
However, somehow, even after years and years of performing all kinds of 'basic/intermediate/advance' yoga practice regularly, and the body and mind has been gaining some physical and mental benefits as part of the side-effects of performing those yoga practice regularly, but the mind might still be functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism, where it still has intense attachment and identification towards a personal and group identity that built on a particular worldly passionate social, cultural, spiritual, religious, regional, national or political thinking, belief, values, practice, actions and the fruit of actions, and hence, it's not free from the restlessness and suffering deriving from ignorance and egoism.
This is due to the practitioner is performing all kinds of physical and mental yoga exercises regularly getting all kinds of benefits, but without the basic foundation of dispassion, renunciation, desirelessness of non-craving and non-aversion, non-attachment and non-identification, to stop generating 'rubbish' from within the mind itself.
Maybe many yoga enthusiasts might not be aware of, actually in the traditional lineage of yoga, the new students are just living closely to the teacher and doing some daily chores for many years (some are up to 12 years), which is about developing the basic foundation of dispassion, renunciation, desirelessness of non-craving and non-aversion, non-attachment and non-identification, in order to be equipped with the 'mental fitness' before the students are being introduced to the yoga practice of Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Kriya, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, and so on.
This 'mental fitness' or 'prerequisite' before the start of many different types of yoga practice is like the foundation of a house. If the foundation is not good enough, or is completely absent, then there will be many 'problems' with the house, risking those who live in the house and those who are in the surrounding environment as well, no matter how much effort and money has been spent onto decorating the inside and outside of the house with many precious and beautiful things.
This foundation in yoga, is about eliminating egoism and all kinds of worldly passionate egoistic influences in the mind. It's about performing actions and renouncing the fruit of actions.
The practice of dispassion and renunciation (disinterest towards worldly passionate objects and affairs, and moving away from worldly relationships, connections, interactions and activities), the practice of desirelessness of non-craving and non-aversion, and the practice of non-attachment and non-identification towards the qualities of names and forms, particularly towards the selfless impermanent physical body and modification of the mind, which will lead towards detachment and dis-identification towards all the existing 'worldly identities with qualities of names and forms' based on particular thinking, belief, values, practice, actions and the fruit of actions, is indeed the basic yoga practice that would be efficiently reducing or cutting off 'worldly passionate egoistic influences or inputs' in the mind, that would allow the mind to perceive everything as it is, and see things as they are, without being contaminated by any worldly thinking, belief, values and practice deriving from ignorance and egoism to analyze and judge everything, to act and react.
This well-trained mind stops generating 'rubbish' from within the mind. It stops hurting itself and/or others.
There's nothing wrong when the mind is practicing dispassion, renunciation, desirelessness, non-attachment and non-identification, but due to certain reasons and limitations, this mind might not be doing any particular form of yoga practice under particular names and forms.
It would be good also, if the mind is practicing many different types of yoga practice along with the foundation practice of dispassion, renunciation, desirelessness, non-attachment and non-identification.
Meanwhile, just by doing many different types of yoga practice under many different names and forms, but without the practice of dispassion, renunciation, desirelessness, non-attachment and non-identification, it could be something else, and most probably, the mind is still swaying between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, happiness and unhappiness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, joyfulness and painful sorrow, and so on, due to the momentary side-effects of performing the different types of yoga practice. Such as, after a yoga and/or meditation session, the mind says, "Wow! I feel so good." And then, if due to some reasons, there are certain days void of yoga and/or meditation practice, the mind says, "Mmm... I don't feel good."
Just like the knowledge and action of using the letters and vowels to create words and sentences, and expressing many ideas through writing while learning about many things through reading, is neither good nor bad. However, depending on the reasoning power to reason everything that we read, as well as depending on the intention of creating certain words and sentences, we can turn the knowledge and action of reading and writing into something beneficial or harmful. Just like a lawyer or a doctor can be utilizing their particular knowledge, skill and opportunity to be doing something beneficial or harmful to oneself and/or others depending on their reasoning power and intention.
What is determining the reasoning power and intention that influencing whether the minds utilize the knowledge, skill and opportunity to be doing something beneficial or harmful for oneself and/or others, is similar to the presence and absence of the basic foundation of dispassion, renunciation, desirelessness, non-attachment and non-identification that is influencing whether the minds utilize the knowledge, skill and opportunity in yoga to be doing something beneficial or harmful for oneself and/or others. There have been quite some corruptions existing in the world of yoga, even among those who have been practicing and teaching yoga for many years, this is due to these minds were/are functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism. It's not the fault of the teachings or practices.
Some corrupted minds might even use the teachings of selflessness, oneness, non-separateness, non-duality of neither right nor wrong/neither good nor bad, as well as the practice of performing selfless community service of serve, love and give, desirelessness, non-attachment and non-identification to justify their own impure egoistic lustful misconducts of taking advantage, exploiting and hurting other people for satisfying their own lustful desires. Again, there is nothing wrong with the teachings and practice of yoga, but it's coming from these corrupted minds themselves, generating such misconducts out of their own ignorance, egoism and impurities. Even the 'victims' of these corrupted minds, themselves are not free from the influence of ignorance and egoism, because the corrupted minds wouldn't have any opportunity to be taking advantage, exploiting or hurting the minds that are free from ignorance and egoism.
Inquire the truth of everything.
Yearning towards all kinds of freedom and rejection towards any kind of subjugation being imposed onto oneself is part of the basic instinct in all living beings.
All living beings want total or maximum freedom for themselves, however, there are also human beings that don't mind imposing subjugation or restriction onto other beings that they disagree with or dislike, either by themselves or by others. These minds want all kinds of freedom for themselves, but they disagree with or being dissatisfied with some others having their own freedom.
In the teachings and practice of yoga and buddhism, one doesn't impose subjugation or restriction onto any others, but, only through one's own freewill, one imposes subjugation or restriction onto oneself, to discipline oneself, to have self-control, in order to annihilate ignorance, egoism and impurities in oneself, to attain the highest freedom of existence, which is free from the inevitable restless suffering of names and forms that is subject to selflessness and impermanence, of a perceived worldly life existence deriving from the modification of the mind functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism.
Coming from the conscience of this mind itself, yearning to free itself from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, so that the existence of this body and mind, its thoughts, actions and speech wouldn't cause any painful suffering onto the others in the surrounding environment.
Many people would think and believe that 'democracy' or 'power to the people' is 'freedom from being ruled by others', or what people think and believe which will give them 'the power' that gives them 'the freedom' that they desire, where people have the power to choose and elect a group of people that represent them to form an authorization that will 'serve' them and 'give' them what they want, the way that they desire. But, 'democracy' is only 'sort of power and freedom' to a group of people who make up the majority, and not to the other groups of people who aren't the majority, because not everyone has the same interests and desires towards a world run by a particular system that they prefer and don't prefer. Meanwhile, 'the majority' with the similar interests and desires are not necessarily those who are free from the influence of ignorance, egoism, greed, possessiveness and selfishness, as well as those whom 'the majority' chosen and elected to represent them and form the authorization to serve the people, also might not necessarily be free from the influence of ignorance, egoism, greed, possessiveness and selfishness.
A 'system' that is generated and run by a group of corrupted minds that are functioning under the influence of ignorance, egoism, greed, possessiveness and selfishness would be hurting many innocent common people who just want to live a simple honest life and hurting the surrounding living environment more than to be 'protecting' the benefits and welfare of the people non-discriminatively, or to be 'looking after' the welfare of the surrounding living environment.
That's why the teachings and practice of yoga and buddhism emphasized on the attainment of self-realization through self-conscience, self-freewill, self-effort, self-discipline, self-control, self-purification and self-inquiry to free one's mind from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance, allowing a world that is self regulating under the law of nature, where all beings are self-initiated to free oneself from the influence of ignorance and the by-products of ignorance, where all beings don't need to be regulated under a humans generated 'system' to be or not to be in certain way, or 'be so called protected' under the 'system', where liberation from ignorance and egoism in the beings will efficiently contribute to peace and harmony among all beings in the world of diversities. Then, either with or without a 'humans generated system' in the world, it's neither good nor bad, if the world (the people and the authority that serves the people) is free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance.
Liberation from ignorance and egoism can never be achieved by the discrimination, regulation, oppression, disciplinary, control and threat imposed by others, or by receiving so called 'blessing' from 'someone or somewhere', but only through self-initiation and persevered self-effort to discipline, purify and silent one's mind.
It's never about out of self-righteousness based on a particular thinking, belief, practice, values, interests and desires to teach, judge, oppress, control, discipline, change, prosecute and punish the others that are different from oneself, that one disagrees with and dislikes.
It's not about achieving a world that is preferable to a particular group of people of a particular thinking, belief, practice, values, interests and desires, by running the world under a particular humans generated 'system of law and order' to regulate all and everyone to be and not to be in certain way according to a particular thinking, belief, practice, values, interests and desires.
Under the so called 'democratic system regulated under specific law and order' to be regulating and controlling the people in the world to be and not to be in certain way, some really good leaders with good intentions and great ideas that would benefit the overall welfare of the world also can't do much to free the world from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, due to being 'restricted' by the 'system of democracy' itself. It's not that 'democracy' is not good, it's just that real freedom for all and everyone without discrimination doesn't come from 'democracy'.
Above all, 'positive thinking' and 'optimism' also couldn't remove the ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in the world.
Inquire the truth of everything.
Death might be perceived by many people as something sad, bad, dark, inauspicious, negative or terrible, but for those who understand the truth of selflessness and impermanence in all kinds of perceived names and forms, including the existence and function of this body and the modification of the mind, death is just a natural process of impermanent changes of this selfless body and mind.
It's everyone's freedom for what they think and how they feel towards 'death' of oneself and others, especially someone or something that oneself cherishes very much. It's normal and nothing wrong that people would perceive 'death' as something sad, bad, dark, inauspicious, negative or terrible.
There's nothing wrong with the different thinking, beliefs, reactions and emotions towards 'the inevitable natural process of changing, decaying and disintegrating since the moment of birth or the forming of names and forms', where everything is going through a continuous process of changes approaching death/disintegration, even after ceaseless effort of maintenance and enhancement being spent on the impermanent objects of names and forms, depending on how the different states of the minds perceive and understand everything differently from one another.
For some people, it depends very much on the ongoing, prolonged and current condition and situation in one's life existence and in the world, where during certain moments, being alive could be something far more challenging, complicated and painful than 'death' itself.
While for some others, life goes on no matter it's easy or difficult, and maybe, if possible, making good use of this impermanent selfless life existence to be doing something beneficial with this body and mind that will benefit oneself and others in this world of impermanence.
It's not about developing the sense of meaningfulness to be the motivation for continuing living especially under extreme harshness, but it's going beyond the good and bad condition and situation in life and in the world, appreciating what is possible in the present moment and letting go what is impossible in the present moment, without the need of developing the sense of meaningfulness to be the motivation to keep living, respecting all the selfless impermanent changes being what they are, as they are.
For yoga and buddhism practitioners, there's no 'I' existing to be going through the natural process of selfless impermanent changes, but merely the objects of names and forms, or the decaying selfless physical body and the restless modification of the perceptive thinking mind, being what they are, and they are selfless, and impermanent. These minds are able to appreciate all the good condition and situation or relationship that is existing in the present moment without attachment, and be able to let go, when good condition and situation or relationship has changed or is no longer available in the present moment.
Those who understand this, would be able to go and/or live somewhere else without any fear or hesitation when the condition and situation in a particular place is no longer suitable for living.
It's everyone's freedom, if people have very strong sense of belonging (attachment and identification) towards a particular place, as there is where they were born and grew up, and they think and believe that there is where they live and where they die, as well as there is where their family, relatives and friends are, and they feel reluctant to go anywhere else even when the condition and situation is no longer suitable for survival, not to say, for living a life.
Inquire the truth of everything.
Education, information, science and technology are no doubt some of the essential elements for promoting a higher quality of life for many people in the world. Although the attainment of a so called 'higher quality of life' for being able to enjoy all kinds of service, convenience, comfort and enjoyment, doesn't necessarily means freedom from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in the minds and the surrounding living environment.
Many different kinds of innovative invention and creativity, engineering and architecture, informative telecommunication and interactive social media platform, food production and transportation, personal care and medical health care, all kinds of industries, and etc, are existing and constantly upgrading in the world because of the existence of and accessibility to education, information, science and technology.
Education, information, science and technology is neither good nor bad, as it has no intention to be something good or bad, but depending on the intention of the minds that are being given the 'opportunity', 'power', 'authorization' or 'responsibility' to facilitate and utilize education, information, science and technology, where either it can be 'used' to promote all kinds of 'wellness' that would benefit the overall welfare of all and everyone non-discriminatively as well as benefiting the well-being of the surrounding living environment, or it can generate many kinds of 'harmfulness' to the minds and the surrounding living environment.
If education, information, science and technology can be used to generate such huge influence and impact on people's living, thinking and behavior in a good way, it also can be influencing and impacting people's living, thinking and behavior not in a good way, especially if it's being facilitated and utilized by minds with impure intentions under the influence of ignorance and egoism.
And hence, it highly depends on those who have the 'power', 'authorization' or 'responsibility' to make decision and perform action that determining what type of education and what kind of information that is 'delivering' to the people, that are influencing the way of thinking, belief, values, behavior, action and reaction of the people in the world, which also indirectly impacting on the surrounding living environment, because it's the 'responsibility' of everyone for their action and inaction that are 'responsible' to be looking after or damaging the surrounding living environment depending on everyone's way of thinking, belief, values, behavior, action and reaction.
Education, information, science and technology shouldn't be interfered, influenced, manipulated or contaminated by any particular egoistic national, social, ethnical, cultural, religious, spiritual, commercial or political thinking, belief, values and interest. Only then, it will benefit all and everyone non-discriminatively and the surrounding living environment efficiently. Or else, if certain people, particularly people who involved in the world of commercialism and consumerism, influencers, leaders and authority in the world are functioning under the influence of egoism, where they use their 'power', 'authorization' and 'responsibility' to make decision and perform action that don't really aim at benefiting the welfare of all and everyone non-discriminatively, but only benefiting certain group of people, where education, information, science and technology has become their convenient 'tools' that would help them to achieve their particular ambition and desire under their particular national, social, ethnical, cultural, religious, spiritual, commercial or political thinking, belief, values and interest.
Even when there are some people have very good ideas and kind intention who work very hard trying to make the world a better place for all and everyone non-discriminatively, and to protect the surrounding living environment from many unnecessary destruction that could be avoided through activating certain decision and action, and no matter how incredible is science and technology progressing rapidly, it couldn't really help the world to be a better place that is free from all kinds of corruption and the consequences of corruption deriving from impure egoistic human minds, that has less unrest and discrimination but more peace and accommodation among the vast diversities, that doesn't damage the surrounding living environment so much, if the education, information, science and technology is being 'facilitated' and 'utilized' by certain people for accomplishing certain personal or group ambition and desire.
Human beings don't 'need' to 'buy' or 'obtain' so many 'things' or 'enjoyments' that produce so much 'rubbish' and 'other side-effects' into the world, and be able to live in peace and harmony with one another among all kinds of diversities, but because of the minds are easily be influenced by all kinds of inputs, and hence, education, information, science and technology are being 'facilitated' and 'utilized' by those who are under the influence of survival instinct and greed in the way that are harming the people's minds and the surrounding living environment more than to be benefiting them.
The great advice from the past gurus in Yoga and Buddhism for those who are easily be influenced by mind inputs - Staying away from TV, cinema, radio, theater, magazine, politics, and all kinds of social media communication and interaction that are being over-powered by commercialism, consumerism and advertisement, unless the mind has developed a firm foundation of non-attachment and self-inquiry towards the truth of everything.
A knife doesn't has the intention to be useful or harmful, to be a convenient tool that improves quality of life, or to be a 'tool' that hurts oneself and/or others, but depending on the state of the mind of the person who uses the knife, that can turn the knife into something useful or harmful.
The world will be peaceful as it is, when none try to paint the world with any particular colour that they like and desire, when none try to possess and control the world to be 'mine' or 'ours'. Unfortunately, many different groups of people are highly motivated and ambitious to be fighting against one another trying to conquer and control the world, to make the world to be the way that they like and desire.
It's not about, "We need to love and protect our world," even with kind intention, but it's about letting go the idea or desire of "We want 'our' world to be like this and not like that."
Even the existence of the teachings and practice of Yoga and Buddhism also has certain non-intentional influences on people's way of thinking, belief, values, behavior, action and reaction in the world, although the main teaching and practice is about disciplining and preparing the mind for performing self-inquiry to inquire towards the truth of everything, including the teachings and practice of Yoga and Buddhism, to attain self-realization, without blind-believing, blind-following, blind-practicing, or blind-propagating. It's never about trying to 'conquer', 'possess', 'control', 'oppress', 'influence' or 'change' the world to be or not to be in certain way under the influence of survival instinct or greed.
Inquire the truth of everything.
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