Now I am going to take up a topic which is very close to my heart. Not because, I claim any understanding of it but, because I feel it is the most important factor for right and proper living. So, what does this word mean ? If you browse through the web you will find different definitions of the word. Some of which are good but many are confusing and inaccurate. I would define the word as "that quality which enables a human being to act and live in the world with internal joy and happiness amidst all circumstances however difficult". So, wisdom is that quality which helps us maintain a joyful mind in the midst of all the vicissitudes of life like loss, defeat, sickness, old age , death. Wisdom is a factor which enables one to live in a state of internal freedom from the circumstances of the life. In other words, it is the proper art of living. A wise person should be free from worries, anxieties, fears and should have found lasting joy and satisfaction in life.
Now, I am sure all of us would find that state very desirable. We might say if only I had that my life would be great. In fact this is what most of us lack in our lives. The question is how is wisdom to come about ? Can it be taught by others in school ? Can we receive it from the religious or spiritual teachers ? Is wisdom accumulated knowledge of the past ? Is wisdom something akin to the art of swimming - something which can be perfected with practice ? Can we get wisdom by reading books or participating in debates ? Is wisdom to be acquired by analysis of our thoughts and feelings ? Is it to be gained by practice of various disciplines which promise a reward if only we practice hard enough ?
To understand this let's look into the question. Wisdom we have defined as the ability to live one's life with joy and freedom in all circumstances. Let's assume for the time being that wisdom is knowledge acquired in the mind either by reading of books and scriptures, imparted by a teacher or guru, learned from past experiences, from various forms of exercise or by analyzing the experiences of our life with our thoughts. In all these cases wisdom is a form of thought or a conditioned response to life. Now can an action based upon past thought or conditioning be a wise or skillful action ? Don't our thoughts and conditioning's basically give us a colored perspective of any situation, isn't all the fighting in the world a result of having different perspectives or thoughts based on different conditionings? This being so, how can any action based upon thought be a wise action ? How can wisdom be a product of thought ? Isn't it the thought which creates all the dangers and mischiefs in the world ? Any thought however noble can be contradicted by another thought. Thus if man were to rely on thought alone there will be no end to problems in the world.
Thus it is clear that wisdom cannot be acquired by any of these means. All acquired things are product of thought which color and interfere with our direct perception of the situation we are in. Therefore, wisdom must be a radically different way of living which is free from all the conditioning of the past and is based upon the direct perception of the situation in the present.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
On Thought
We all have thoughts. In fact without thoughts and ideas we will cease to function. All the knowledge of our civilization constitutes of thoughts. It is thoughts that have occurred to us and our forefathers define our civilization. What is now an airplane was at some time a thought in someone's head. All the arts and sciences we have acquired are results of our thinking. If humans would not have thought we would not have houses, agriculture, social institutions, music, literature, various arts and sciences. So, it is safe to say that who we are is a product of what we have thought. Even in our lives, a person becomes what he or she thinks. Those who value money most have their thoughts turned towards money and concern themselves with it. For them the end of life becomes money. For the scientist his aim becomes the exploration of physical laws and his mind is turned towards that. For the musician it is music and so on. Now if you were to put a scientist and average person on the street together chances are that they won't be able to relate to each other's preoccupations. They live in their own separate mental worlds each with their peculiar concerns. Thus thought plays a crucial role in our lives.
This being the case it is necessary for us to inquire whether thought has any limitations. Does it constitute an inviolable basis for action? Does action based on thought the right way to act? To understand this let's take an example. Suppose I am walking alone in a forest and have heard that there are wild animals in the forest. Now as soon as I start walking the thought of a tiger flashes in my mind. The leaves rustle a bit and immediately I get alarmed. I look all around and see nothing. The thought of the tiger has made me fearful and I cannot enjoy my walk anymore even though I haven't seen a tiger. To take another example, I go to write an exam and my mind starts thinking that the paper is very tough I might fail, and as a result I get tensed and am not able to focus on the exam thus I fail to perform well. These are common scenarios where thought creates imaginary dangers. Thus it is clear that thought breeds fear.
To go deeper our thoughts about an object is never the object itself. It is just a model or representation of the object. However very commonly we mistake the thought to be the object itself. For example we have thoughts about people. Some people we think as nice and some people not nice. However, many times a nice person speaks or acts in a harmful way or a not so nice person does something really beautiful. How do we account for such situations? Thus it is clear that our thought about the person don't describe the person accurately. Any thought or description of a person or object however useful cannot describe the object fully or accurately. There will always be different perspectives. However, more often than not we take our thoughts to be the real description of the object and our perspectives to be final. Thought is just a convenient representation of an object colored by our conditionings, prejudices, biases or in short our knowledge. Many times the same physical object or situation evokes different thoughts or reactions in different people. Seeing a snake will make an ordinary person fearful but to the snake charmer it is a sign of luck. The communist thinks something as great and the capitalist thinks it to be bad. So, based upon their thought they are in conflict with each other. All the hatred and the violence in the world can be attributed to the process of thought.
This being so the question arises, what is the real place of thought in our lives? On the one hand we see that our civilization and we ourselves couldn't function without thought. On the other hand, thought alone breeds fear, insecurity, conflict and one sided view of things. Is there a different basis for action when we realize the limitations of thought? When we see that our thoughts about a situation are merely a product of our mind and may not have any real correspondence with the situation itself, we won’t be tied to our thoughts. Perhaps, there is an action based upon the direct perception of the situation rather than on the basis of thought?
This being the case it is necessary for us to inquire whether thought has any limitations. Does it constitute an inviolable basis for action? Does action based on thought the right way to act? To understand this let's take an example. Suppose I am walking alone in a forest and have heard that there are wild animals in the forest. Now as soon as I start walking the thought of a tiger flashes in my mind. The leaves rustle a bit and immediately I get alarmed. I look all around and see nothing. The thought of the tiger has made me fearful and I cannot enjoy my walk anymore even though I haven't seen a tiger. To take another example, I go to write an exam and my mind starts thinking that the paper is very tough I might fail, and as a result I get tensed and am not able to focus on the exam thus I fail to perform well. These are common scenarios where thought creates imaginary dangers. Thus it is clear that thought breeds fear.
To go deeper our thoughts about an object is never the object itself. It is just a model or representation of the object. However very commonly we mistake the thought to be the object itself. For example we have thoughts about people. Some people we think as nice and some people not nice. However, many times a nice person speaks or acts in a harmful way or a not so nice person does something really beautiful. How do we account for such situations? Thus it is clear that our thought about the person don't describe the person accurately. Any thought or description of a person or object however useful cannot describe the object fully or accurately. There will always be different perspectives. However, more often than not we take our thoughts to be the real description of the object and our perspectives to be final. Thought is just a convenient representation of an object colored by our conditionings, prejudices, biases or in short our knowledge. Many times the same physical object or situation evokes different thoughts or reactions in different people. Seeing a snake will make an ordinary person fearful but to the snake charmer it is a sign of luck. The communist thinks something as great and the capitalist thinks it to be bad. So, based upon their thought they are in conflict with each other. All the hatred and the violence in the world can be attributed to the process of thought.
This being so the question arises, what is the real place of thought in our lives? On the one hand we see that our civilization and we ourselves couldn't function without thought. On the other hand, thought alone breeds fear, insecurity, conflict and one sided view of things. Is there a different basis for action when we realize the limitations of thought? When we see that our thoughts about a situation are merely a product of our mind and may not have any real correspondence with the situation itself, we won’t be tied to our thoughts. Perhaps, there is an action based upon the direct perception of the situation rather than on the basis of thought?
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Leisure
Leisure is a very important component of our lives. We need it to refresh and re-energize ourselves. Regular routine work generally puts our mind in a groove. Thus we need to escape from it from time to time . Vacations, outings etc help us in this respect and they make the ennui of the regular life more bearable. However, the real place of leisure in human life goes much deeper.
Usually we are occupied in purposeful productive work. This is of course important. Our complex society has wide variety of demands and needs which need to be fulfilled for us to live comfortably. Thus we need to do purposeful work towards this end. However, I must say this is just one aspect of life. Nature on the other hand is not governed by our human needs and desires. It flows with its own rhythm. Hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes come, global temperature rises, people have diseases and die, epidemics spread all against human desire.
So, it is clear that the universe is not governed according to the human desires and fantasies. Our purposeful mind might ask to what purpose is all this ? Why is nature the way it is ? Why is there diseases and death ? Why do we have natural calamities ? All these phenomena are terrible and bad looked at from the human perspective. But, nature doesn't seem to care about all this. What to us is heat and cold to nature it is just the play of seasons. What to us is birth and old age and death, to nature it is the drama of life. Looking at this any intelligent observer would discern that all our human struggles and frustrations seem to serve no purpose if they eventually result in loss and death. Whatever we have health, beauty, money, sex is eventually lost and we die with empty hands. So, to what end is all our purposeful activity in which we seem to have lost ourselves ?
What is a terrible tragedy for us is just a law of nature. So, the question is have we gone wrong somewhere in our thinking ? Why doesn't our thinking align with the nature ? What purpose does the natural world have ? Or is purpose just a product of human mind divorced from nature ? It may be that we humans are imposing our own purpose driven thinking on the natural way of things. Nature doesn't seem to care about our losses and gains. What is a loss to one person is gain to another. The victory of one nation is a defeat for another. What is a disease to one is a business for another. When humans die insects and vultures flourish. When insects die they make the land fertile. So, it is clear that gain and loss are the facets of the same coin.
This being the case lesiure from purposeful activities becomes all the more important for us. What I mean by purposeful activity is all those enterprises which are underetaken with an object or agenda in mind. This leisure gives us an opportunity to look at nature and its ways more clearly. Normally in our purpose driven world we operate with an agenda to accomplish something, to conquer nature. The rest from purposeful activities is big rest for us. For here there is a possibility for us to cease our struggles and to familiarise ourselves with the ways of the nature.
Usually we are occupied in purposeful productive work. This is of course important. Our complex society has wide variety of demands and needs which need to be fulfilled for us to live comfortably. Thus we need to do purposeful work towards this end. However, I must say this is just one aspect of life. Nature on the other hand is not governed by our human needs and desires. It flows with its own rhythm. Hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes come, global temperature rises, people have diseases and die, epidemics spread all against human desire.
So, it is clear that the universe is not governed according to the human desires and fantasies. Our purposeful mind might ask to what purpose is all this ? Why is nature the way it is ? Why is there diseases and death ? Why do we have natural calamities ? All these phenomena are terrible and bad looked at from the human perspective. But, nature doesn't seem to care about all this. What to us is heat and cold to nature it is just the play of seasons. What to us is birth and old age and death, to nature it is the drama of life. Looking at this any intelligent observer would discern that all our human struggles and frustrations seem to serve no purpose if they eventually result in loss and death. Whatever we have health, beauty, money, sex is eventually lost and we die with empty hands. So, to what end is all our purposeful activity in which we seem to have lost ourselves ?
What is a terrible tragedy for us is just a law of nature. So, the question is have we gone wrong somewhere in our thinking ? Why doesn't our thinking align with the nature ? What purpose does the natural world have ? Or is purpose just a product of human mind divorced from nature ? It may be that we humans are imposing our own purpose driven thinking on the natural way of things. Nature doesn't seem to care about our losses and gains. What is a loss to one person is gain to another. The victory of one nation is a defeat for another. What is a disease to one is a business for another. When humans die insects and vultures flourish. When insects die they make the land fertile. So, it is clear that gain and loss are the facets of the same coin.
This being the case lesiure from purposeful activities becomes all the more important for us. What I mean by purposeful activity is all those enterprises which are underetaken with an object or agenda in mind. This leisure gives us an opportunity to look at nature and its ways more clearly. Normally in our purpose driven world we operate with an agenda to accomplish something, to conquer nature. The rest from purposeful activities is big rest for us. For here there is a possibility for us to cease our struggles and to familiarise ourselves with the ways of the nature.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Work
Work is one of the important activities of our life. For most of us it is a necessity. Either because we need to earn money to support ourselves and our dependents or because we like to occupy ourselves with some productive work to keep us from boredom and feel useful . A rare few work simply for the love of it. It is to this class the highest kind of men belong. They are generally men of genius for whom work is the expression of their lives. In the following lines I do not wish to address such men and women , they know better and will mind their own business. What I am concerned here is with the majority of us for whom work is for the most part drudgery and struggle with occasional sparks of quality and beauty in it. Overall the kind of people who constitute the great majority of our workforce.
We are generally frustrated and stressed about our work. We always seek external authorities for the approval of the quality of our work and are not sure about it ourselves. As a result we are fearful of the authorities and lack independence of mind. Needless to say we are discontented in the depth of their hearts. The question now is why is this so ? Why can't we enjoy what we do ? Why do we always have to seek other's opinions to assure ourselves of the quality of our work ? Why can't we do our work to the best of our ability and forget it ? In any case that's our best bet. Why can't we stand on our own feet ?
I undestand that some of us are more talented than others. So naturally some of us will do higher quality work. But nobody stops us from doing the best we can. And once we have done that why do we worry about the consequences ? What can be gained from this ? Our part in the play is done. Why do we seek approval ? If we go deeper we will find that reason for this attitude in us is fear of the consequences we might have to face. Generally we work to make a change according to the perceived metric. We fear that if we don't accomplish that we will be in trouble. We assume that somehow we are responsible for the consequences of our effort. But, except in the most routine cases the consequences are generally unpredictable. We won't know in advance what may happen. So, why do we worry about consequences? The answer is simple. We think we are the doer of our actions, we imagine that I am the one who is doing the work , and we feel that I must bring about that change. Once the job is done we own it and shout at anyone who might disapprove of it. What we don't generally see that we are but one of pieces in the universal design of creation. The wind blows because it must not because of its will. It blows because that is its role and function. So, do we work because we must. We have no choice. It is not according to our will. Our thoughts are not our own they are the thoughts of the world or the nature. We are but the players in this universal drama the script is not our own. It is scripted by nature.
It is only when mind starts to realize after careful observation of our experience that we are not actors but action is done through us then, this perception of the doer will gradually begin to fall away and so will our worries and anxieties towards work.
We are generally frustrated and stressed about our work. We always seek external authorities for the approval of the quality of our work and are not sure about it ourselves. As a result we are fearful of the authorities and lack independence of mind. Needless to say we are discontented in the depth of their hearts. The question now is why is this so ? Why can't we enjoy what we do ? Why do we always have to seek other's opinions to assure ourselves of the quality of our work ? Why can't we do our work to the best of our ability and forget it ? In any case that's our best bet. Why can't we stand on our own feet ?
I undestand that some of us are more talented than others. So naturally some of us will do higher quality work. But nobody stops us from doing the best we can. And once we have done that why do we worry about the consequences ? What can be gained from this ? Our part in the play is done. Why do we seek approval ? If we go deeper we will find that reason for this attitude in us is fear of the consequences we might have to face. Generally we work to make a change according to the perceived metric. We fear that if we don't accomplish that we will be in trouble. We assume that somehow we are responsible for the consequences of our effort. But, except in the most routine cases the consequences are generally unpredictable. We won't know in advance what may happen. So, why do we worry about consequences? The answer is simple. We think we are the doer of our actions, we imagine that I am the one who is doing the work , and we feel that I must bring about that change. Once the job is done we own it and shout at anyone who might disapprove of it. What we don't generally see that we are but one of pieces in the universal design of creation. The wind blows because it must not because of its will. It blows because that is its role and function. So, do we work because we must. We have no choice. It is not according to our will. Our thoughts are not our own they are the thoughts of the world or the nature. We are but the players in this universal drama the script is not our own. It is scripted by nature.
It is only when mind starts to realize after careful observation of our experience that we are not actors but action is done through us then, this perception of the doer will gradually begin to fall away and so will our worries and anxieties towards work.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The important thing in life
The important thing in life is to live well. To enjoy the process of living. For he who can embrace all the aspects of life and enjoy it has surely mastered the art of living. Life has joys and sorrows in all its myriad forms. One moment we can be exceedingly happy and at another time exceedingly distressed. This constant play of changing circumstances is what we call life. So, the question is how should we live and act in this uncertain world ?
A quick glance at our lives and those of the people we know reveals that more often than not we are burdened and distressed by this process of living. Generally we spend our lives complaining of our lot and the various situations we encounter. Many around the world are physically hungry and do not have basic needs of life. The materially more fortunate ones still suffer. They suffer because they want more of money, fame, sex, comfort, diversion, emotional closenss, friendship, leisure and many other things. The poor are physically hungry and the rich mentally and emotionally distressed. Humanity overall is struggling through life. We struggle to get admitted to good schools, to get jobs, to find love, to make money, to have comfortable life, to be famous, to be successful and so on. The list is endless. Some of these are necessary to life. However, we have made everything in life a struggle. There is little or no joy in our lives. We are constanly hungry and dissatisfied seeking for more goodies to come. Our present life is burdened with the expectations of the future, with the memories of the past and the demands of our animal nature. We are bored and grieving. The endless diversions that we seek in work, family, sex, money, comforts, vacations, sports, literature, music, movies, religion without ever getting fulfilled with these indicates the poverty of our being. A closer look at ourselves reveals that we are constantly trying to get away from ourselves in various guises. The present life is unendurable to most of us. We always need some escape in some form or another.
In fact we are so acustomed to these diversions that we take it as the normal routine of life. This being the case surely we have failed to live properly.
The question now is the follwing, is this the only possibility for living or is there a different way of living altogether ? Is it possible for us for the humanity to put and end to our constant hunger which keeps us forever dissatisfied and wanting ? Untimately what are we hungry for ? Whatever we seem to want and get it loses our interest, yet the search for goodies is never over. What is it then we seek ? Is it possible for man (also the woman) to live a life of satisfaction and not of wanting and hunger ? Is it possible to live a life of dignity and not of a beggar who is forever hungry for things ? Deny as we might, it is a fact that most of us are living a life of beggars, not necessarily of the material things of life but of different kinds of goodies. This is a burning question for us. Can we put an end to our wantings and live a life of joy and freedom ?
A quick glance at our lives and those of the people we know reveals that more often than not we are burdened and distressed by this process of living. Generally we spend our lives complaining of our lot and the various situations we encounter. Many around the world are physically hungry and do not have basic needs of life. The materially more fortunate ones still suffer. They suffer because they want more of money, fame, sex, comfort, diversion, emotional closenss, friendship, leisure and many other things. The poor are physically hungry and the rich mentally and emotionally distressed. Humanity overall is struggling through life. We struggle to get admitted to good schools, to get jobs, to find love, to make money, to have comfortable life, to be famous, to be successful and so on. The list is endless. Some of these are necessary to life. However, we have made everything in life a struggle. There is little or no joy in our lives. We are constanly hungry and dissatisfied seeking for more goodies to come. Our present life is burdened with the expectations of the future, with the memories of the past and the demands of our animal nature. We are bored and grieving. The endless diversions that we seek in work, family, sex, money, comforts, vacations, sports, literature, music, movies, religion without ever getting fulfilled with these indicates the poverty of our being. A closer look at ourselves reveals that we are constantly trying to get away from ourselves in various guises. The present life is unendurable to most of us. We always need some escape in some form or another.
In fact we are so acustomed to these diversions that we take it as the normal routine of life. This being the case surely we have failed to live properly.
The question now is the follwing, is this the only possibility for living or is there a different way of living altogether ? Is it possible for us for the humanity to put and end to our constant hunger which keeps us forever dissatisfied and wanting ? Untimately what are we hungry for ? Whatever we seem to want and get it loses our interest, yet the search for goodies is never over. What is it then we seek ? Is it possible for man (also the woman) to live a life of satisfaction and not of wanting and hunger ? Is it possible to live a life of dignity and not of a beggar who is forever hungry for things ? Deny as we might, it is a fact that most of us are living a life of beggars, not necessarily of the material things of life but of different kinds of goodies. This is a burning question for us. Can we put an end to our wantings and live a life of joy and freedom ?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)