Imagine a situation where I am unsure whether to speak or not to speak, to share or not to share, or to keep quiet totally. What would be the cause of action that will bring me to make the right choice? And even if the “right” choice is made, I may find myself landing in a situation where I am being ridiculed or judged for what I have said, misquoted out of context or even accused of lying. What then would be the next cause of action that will bring me out from that embarrassment or guilt? And if I am brought out from that situation of embarrassment or hurt safely, what then would be the next cause that will make me review what has happened in which I could learn from it?
In normal sense, we are taught to plan our next course of action, like a game of chess, anticipating the next move our opponent will take, so as to prepare ourselves for an attack or a defence. It is pretty stressful working out life this way as it is about getting approval from others to live our lives or, planning our moves so that we will not be hurt by life. It is a continuous damned game of trying to make others happy so that we can be happy. In short, we live the life of others to make our lives live. It is a constant battle between living our integrity and living our conscience for others.
This living is about putting fear in the forefront, using fear as a yardstick for learning. An experience of hurt brings us to make a conclusion or judgment of what happened is “bad” and that it should not be repeated again in the future to avoid that pain. It is a constant interaction of what is out there which hurts us rather than what is it inside here that caused the hurt. It is using the effects of the world to make an assumption or a conclusion instead of looking at the cause of the mind which is the source of our suffering.
Yet there is another way of living – looking into our cause of action, instead of planning the next course of action. To look into the cause is to mean recognizing what motivates us to respond or react in the next moment. It is no longer about defending or attacking what is out there but rather a choice we consciously choose to come into peace with ourselves; by making peace with the mind instead of succumbing to its insanity of adhering to the world – by clinging, holding on, blame – practically everything on the belt.
One is working at the root cause; the other, at the symptom. Most of us are wise to discern the difference – in fact most of our lives’ successes are attributed to working on the cause – water dripping from the tap – the tap is the problem and not the water; business not running well – we look into the setup of the company instead of complaining about the business; the plant is not growing well – we work on the soil instead of seeing there is something wrong with the plant. The mind already knows the relationship between the cause and effect of what is going on.
But strangely, when it comes to the “I” and the world, meaning the cause is the mind and the world as the effect – as my perception of the world makes the world it is – the ball game changes. From being wise, there is a dumb side in each and every one of us that still see the effect as the problem – the world. How can the effect be the problem since the effect is a derivative of the cause? Effect is just churning out its result of what the cause is producing. The unhealthy plant is just the effect of what is being put into its surroundings.
Our spouse is the problem to our peace, my boss is the problem to my stress, my parents made me who I am today, the country is making me poorer, traffic jams, food, money, petrol, water, rivers – everything – not even sparing God, as if God has a damn in what our problem is – there is always something out there to complaint about, get what I mean? We may not see the obvious when we are not complaining – but aren’t we doing it every moment – planning how to sweet talk someone, manipulating our strategy to get what we want, acting superior to control – they are all unseen, unspoken, acted out subtly, yet terribly insidious – proliferating in the mind. If one were to care to watch the mind, moment to moment, you will get what I mean.
Indeed a serious diseased mind, operating in all of us. After all being said, I am not implying that we are all “bad” but rather propelling the questioning of why the need to let this form of programming run in our system that is costing us our freedom and peace – not the freedom or peace that is gotten from someone or something, but rather the true freedom and peace that is already inherent in us – when we recognize the inner blocks that is disallowing Truth to reveals itself. It is time we go home, so to speak, for us to turn the radar of responsibility inward to all the pain, and misery that we have unconsciously built within us. What we have sowed we have to own. Not easy, but it is a sure and safe journey home to Truth.