If serendipity were a charity organisation, I would bequeath my entire property to it!! :-D
I was running between psychological states like one does between signal lights in a busy city roadway and it was threatening to consume me in a way life does death (no typo). I was busy mentoring people in my organisation and without and it was getting very troubling to watch so many people frustrated with life. Like most human emotions, this rubbed on and a few things ensured that the pseudo-frustration stayed on for a while. With no one around to tackle it with me (or for me) it kept getting worse like a festering wound. After spending sufficient time in meditation (which is not conducted under some fashionable tree with me under it wearing a top-knot and yellow robes! Why yellow? Yuck!) I came out of it but the coals of discontent were smouldering with an ash-cloaked redness. The night gave me a good sleep with interesting dreams (in technicolour) and I woke up to be reminded of my earlier confusion and unrest. I sat back to wonder whether such dissatisfaction ever had a way out (btw, this post and the previous aren't even remotely related. Again serendipity). Is there a solution? I had a few emails come in from people I knew (and didn't) asking me to help them with planning their career move or their domestic problems. Feels nice to be of use, but what remains is the question: Will we always be dissatisfied about something or the other? Is this inevitable?
Today I was surfing for some stuff (no, not THAT) and saw an icon on my desktop. It was a tree (something that Windows supplies) and it was for launching JK's Book of Life. You could download the source from Sourceforge. It generates a snippet of JK's views on a daily basis. I had a book for this earlier but hardly read it. This was something nifty and I had installed it, but, again, rarely launched it.
I told myself: Let's see what JK has to say today. And here is what I found:
What is it that we are discontented with? Surely with what is. The what is may be the social order, the what is may be the relationship, the what is may be what we are, the thing we are essentially- which is, the ugly, the wandering thoughts, the ambitions, the frustrations, the innumerable fears; that is what we are. In going away from that, we think we shall find an answer to our discontent. So we are always seeking a way, a means to change the what is- that is what our mind is concerned with. If I am discontent and if I want to find a way, the means to contentment, my mind is occupied with the means, the way and the practicing of the way in order to arrive at contentment. So I am no longer concerned with discontent, with the embers, the flame that is burning, which we call discontent. We do not find out what is behind that discontent. We are only concerned with going away from that flame, from that burning anxiety. This is enormously difficult because our mind is never satisfied, never content in the examination of what is. It always wants to transform what is into something else- which is the process of condemnation, justification or comparison. If you observe your own mind you will see that when it comes face to face with what is, then it condemns, then it compares it with "what it should be," or it justifies it and so on, and thereby pushes away what is, setting aside the thing which is causing the disturbance, the pain, the anxiety.
Neat!
What a time for me to click on the link which leads to your blog from mine? Serendipity. Its just that I had been thinking on similar lines but I wrote up something else in my blog. But coming to your work which closely relates to what I had been thinking ...
ReplyDelete"If you observe your own mind you will see that when it comes face to face with what is, then it condemns, then it compares it with "what it should be," or it justifies it and so on, and thereby pushes away what is, setting aside the thing which is causing the disturbance, the pain, the anxiety."
How long is it going to take man to understand that the more he justifies, compares or condemns that which is - he does not (as many think) push away or set aside the thing which is causing the disturbance, pain and axiety - but instead he IS IN IT. He himself IS the PAIN.
Heavy???
Here's one more - the previous post - I loved it.
Is happiness, then, watching these lives merge and become one or is happiness in dreaming a livable life?
Contentment. More importantly - What do I do when I get the life I want? How do I explain that feeling when my eyes open and I realize it was all but a dream? Should I be content knowing I can dream? Should I be content having got what I want - but knowing there's no where else to go, no other objective, no more dreams to realize ...??? Wicked vicious circle, ay?
What is it that would make me happy, no keep me happy?If only I knew it;I'd know God.
What is it that would make you or a third person happy, keep you happy? if only mortal man was privy to that knowledge - he'd know both God and the Devil.
Makes sense? Hmm... to me it does :-) By the way, drop into my web *wicked grin* Click here O yea change of name change of id - complete extreme make over :-) C ya
PS : Hope u still like getting long comments *wink*
ReplyDeleteWow! Welcome back!!! I keep talking to DV about you, but I have been talking to DV less!! Of course I love long comments!! :-D I was wondering who's this?
ReplyDeleteI can trust you to capture the true drift in some of my works. In my previous post, the measure was basically between contentment and continuously setting out to do something. Bravo!!
But are Devil and God different, milady? ;-) One sees it in the a drop that quenches and a drop too much which drowns... :-)
"But are Devil and God different, milady? ;-) One sees it in the a drop that quenches and a drop too much which drowns... :-)"
ReplyDeleteWell dear sir, they are different. The drop has to have a source which regulates the power. Both God and the Devil know just how much to turn on the power to make it a drop or make it a flood. Good God is intoxicated with doing good. Sadistic Devil is intoxicated with the pain caused. Then again - both might know to mix and match. Or maybe there's just one who likes to do it all. Or it could be two friends having a ball of a time ... how good a fight are we putting up drinking up the drop or lapping it up / swimming against the force or drowning...???
Any more ... waitin'...
love JK. Is it just mind that makes us what we are or is there something else that knows better than a human mind and tells us how to use the mind?
ReplyDeleteIs it just mind that makes us what we are or is there something else that knows better than a human mind and tells us how to use the mind?
ReplyDeleteIt's the mind. No body, nothing can dictate the human mind unless the mind allows somebody or something to do so. I firmly believe so. When one takes full accountability of ones mind - One can find peace within oneself.
When one does not take full accountability of ones mind one shifts blame - It or He or She told me to do so. I did this because he she it that made me ... etc etc etc ... shift blame and make everybody else miserable including oneself and all the guilt within.
When one says - I did so because I thought that was right - but it seems I am wrong - I'm sorry I'm such an ass. Forgive me. *peace* ..... Ok, I can go on and on but I really ought to catch some sleep. But I loved that question Wookie :-)
When I said ' Is there something else...', I meant within one self not the ourside world.
ReplyDeleteLoveena, the devil and the god could be, for all you know, creations of the mind! And that which stems from one cannot be dual!
ReplyDeleteI think Wookie is talking about a meta-mind. Sorry, wooks, I really don't know. One really needs to look deep and I am not that good at it... :-)
Ah - the meta mind or whatever ... Ignorant me. Lay man's language - a mind within a mind?
ReplyDeleteHmmm... laying the ground for a 'Split personality' probe? Have any of you guys / gals read "Tell me your dreams", Sydney Sheldon. I lapped it up :-)
Slicing and dicing the mind into layers - a mind within a mind ... or two minds or a hundred ...??? Aren't they all in Mantal hospitals - But aren't many out too???
God and Devil within ... Eroteme, shall let you know - soon *mischievous grin*
Loveena,
ReplyDeleteMPD(mutiple personality disorder) is not about dicing/slicing the mind. Its a mental state where a person assumes many personalities and loses control of self (like you would have read) and I wasn't talking about mental syndromes. I think Eroteme kinda knows what I am talking about. The question was for him and also for myself, based on my previous conversation with Eroteme in which he had said "Please recognise the voice of the mind and learn to ignore it. The voice is very powerful and very very clever."
Sorry for not having given the background earlier.
Also split personality=schizophrenia which is different from MPD. "Tell me your dreams" is about MPD.One of the subjects I studied at college was psychology :D
Hey you must watch this movie about MPD and John Cussack is one of the personalities. John Cussack is awesome. I dont rem the name of the movie :(
Hey isn't it a concidence that the title of the post is "Serendipity" and John Cussack was the actor in the movie and the movie I am talking abt is also John Cussack's. Maybe I am losing it :P Am outta here.
ReplyDeleteWookie,
ReplyDeleteThe movie is "The Identity"....I loved it !!! Very nicely made !!!
Wookie,
ReplyDeleteYou might want to dwell deeper into vedic teachings and way of life.....You might get an answer for this...
Have you read Stephen Knapp ...
I guess the people here, Wookie, Eroteme, Loveena all would interested to read him. Check out his website....
I read him in leisure....Also, how does it feel to think (inspired by him) that somewhere arnd India was the birth of civilization as opposed to Mesapatomia and all the races were derived from there as against Aryans coming and occupying India.....There is a lot you can learn abt vedas, there are a lot of comparsion with Chiristianity....a lot to generally read from him !!!
I guess I'm away from the topic discussed here.
Hey Loveena,
ReplyDeleteI didnt mean that the question was just for Eroteme and myself. I meant that it was a continuation of one of our previous conversations and in light of our previous conversation, it means slightly different from what it would mean to a person who was not aware of our particular conversation.( uff that was a long sentence). Ofcourse, its open for interpretation as it is and I appreciate your comments, truly.
Okkeee This is the 2nd time I am trying to post a comment. :-(
ReplyDelete--------------
Heeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaa!!! :-))
Don't I just luhhhhhv a nice discussion!!
Thanks guys. Really nice comments from each of you.
I loved the perspective that Loveena brought to this and the insight that Wooks shared (which she says stemmed from a long discussion which was terminated by the loss of charge in her mobile battery!!). Two very interesting sides. I read all of this together and I enjoyed the flow. Thanks once again.
Loveena, what you present (along with MPD and other fashionables) is the perceived aspect of the complexity of the mind. Wooks, what you present is the subtle and rarely disclosed aspect of the mind. I am glad that we have both aspects here in front of us! :-)
Phantom, hi, long time. Thanks for sharing that link with us. Will check it asap (actually the page is loading currently as I type). I am not too fond of comparisons, but hey! you never know!! :-)
What you mention about the Vedas is true, but the Upanishads, IMHO, are more accessible. The Vedas are more appropriate for those who are clear (and might not even need the Vedas) or those who wish to immerse thmeselves in the rituals specified. By "way of life" do you mean the Tao Te Ching? :-D
Loveena, a recent conversation between 2 ladies made me think about the God-Devil duality. This lady (in the bus) was talking to her neighbour about her son and she goes: "Its all because of that Rohit. He is already spoilt and he goes about spoiling others. Rahul is not like that. I know, I am his mother and I have seen him for so many years. That Rohit is spoiling everyone. You know, just because he is not from a good family he thinks all children are like him." and she proceeded to elaborate about his family!
Sometimes, people who aren't able to accept that THIS (e.g. Aushwitz though I am sure I got the spelling wrong, or bomb blasts, or earthquakes, tsunamis) is the work of god, blame it on the Devil. Well, if God created everything then he also created the Devil (else someone else created the Devil, and s/he/it should/could be god! because s/he/it did what the god couldn't). Since the Devil is able to do things which the god is unable to stop or undo (in many cases) then they should be on par. But god wouldn't create entities on par (else, those entities would go about creating/managing and then Godliness wouldn't be exclusive!!), hence, God might not have created the Devil!! However you look at it, there is sufficient sophistry on the other side of the table to present a tongue-in-the-cheek response!
I tend to nod my head to "God and Devil are but offsprings of a fertile mind."
My take? I believe that by watching the mind it will quieten. I agree that is too simply said but I have been oft accused of complicating things and hence I shall remain succint on this matter!;-)
The One is not of human attributes (kindness, hatred, punishing, etc.) nor of human physique (strong, graceful, dark skinned etc.) and idiosyncrasies (poking fun, enjoying while one struggles, etc.)... It is for everyone to delve into realising the One. The One does give rise to so many and yet nothing comes out of the One!
" The One does give rise to so many and yet nothing comes out of the One" Beautiful! You complicate things and yet come out with such profound lines in such simple words. :)
ReplyDeleteCall me wierd - but to me there's nothing like a good conversation (comments in this case) to actually 'relax' - the unfortunate part is - Thre's this load of thoughts - but hte hand is too tired and the stupid brain is also reminding me of the nagging ... its no longer a 'pain' its an 'irritation' - my post tooth extraction blues. Be sure - assured you'll here from me this week end when I'm in 'pink' health Insha Allah :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm not commenting on the recent post - cause I'll not do justice to it at the moment *sigh*
Why is it that almost always I disagree with JK? Because I think that he almost always misses the point - he is so caught up in demeaning, discarding and rejecting all that has to do with mind, thought, that he makes sweeping conclusions that say that the mind and its capacities of observation, analysis, drawing conclusions, its capability to see what is missing , what is wrong, what can be transformed to betterment - that all these things pertaining to mind and the mind itself are the major evil in man and life on earth.
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing that he speaks so, that he writes so.
Pain and misery and imperfection existed on earth before man came into the scene. Physical pain is intrinsic of the body of animals / man any organism that lives.
Look at the Sahara desert, look at Dubai - what the mind has done to transform a desert into a beautiful city - where is the sin in it? Where is the discontent? One sees what needs to be done, and does it. And sky is the limit to establishing perfection and manifesting perfection.
JK is too obsessed with the middle terms that are usually in lesser characters, in the process of observing that something can be improved, and accomplishing the improvement. He thinks this process can only be motivated by the fire of discontent. Not at all so.
The process of transformation is usually done with a clear and calm mind that has the intelligence to execute its decisions.
And pray why was the JK school started? Why was it conceived to be a very different school than the normal schools? What was the process involved? He saw the present education system was faulty , decided it has to be transformed and the first step to that was to start a new school.
And dont ALL OF US see the mind here, doing every thing needed for the school to be built. He observed the present reality with his mind, his mind saw the vision of a better school, the mind of the architects built the school, of educators chalked out the charters of the school.
It is MIND MIND all the way dear darlings. So lets stop always berating our beautiful mind and look somewhere else for scape goats..