Post by enigma on Apr 18, 2013 13:39:59 GMT -8
From the time we were children, we've been collecting ideas that are designed specifically to make us feel good, though we can't allow ourselves to recognize that this is the reason. They're easy to believe because everybody else is doing the same thing for the same reason, and so these ideas are actively promoted, encouraged and taught.
The idea that we have free will, a purpose, that we have rights and that life should be fair and just, that there is life after death and that a creator who loves us is taking care of us and rewards us for our goodness, etc. These ideas all originate from the idea that we are separate persons, as without the idea of separation, none of these other ideas would be necessary.
All of them are just ideas. As such, they have no fundamental truth to them, and since they don't, they don't fundamentally work. They are illusions and illusions require continual care and feeding in order to survive in the face of our actual experience, which often tells us we don't really have free will or inalienable rights, and that life isn't fair at all.
What does work, what does set us free, is the truth, but the difficulty is that what the truth primarily consists of is the negation of all of those ideas that we came to believe because they make us feel better, and there is typically a tremendous amount of resistance in seeing through them as it feels like we're going the wrong way. After all, what we're looking for is still to feel better, and yet the first thing we have to do is to let go of all the things we collected to help make us feel better. This is where virtually every seeker fails, and then starts collecting more beliefs that make him feel better.
What must be realized and understood is that freedom is not found in believing one lie (separation) and then believing in a lot of other lies that compensate for the suffering caused by the first lie. Freedom is about getting rid of all the lies and living the truth; life as it actually is. This may require a bit of courage, patience and dedication.
The idea that we have free will, a purpose, that we have rights and that life should be fair and just, that there is life after death and that a creator who loves us is taking care of us and rewards us for our goodness, etc. These ideas all originate from the idea that we are separate persons, as without the idea of separation, none of these other ideas would be necessary.
All of them are just ideas. As such, they have no fundamental truth to them, and since they don't, they don't fundamentally work. They are illusions and illusions require continual care and feeding in order to survive in the face of our actual experience, which often tells us we don't really have free will or inalienable rights, and that life isn't fair at all.
What does work, what does set us free, is the truth, but the difficulty is that what the truth primarily consists of is the negation of all of those ideas that we came to believe because they make us feel better, and there is typically a tremendous amount of resistance in seeing through them as it feels like we're going the wrong way. After all, what we're looking for is still to feel better, and yet the first thing we have to do is to let go of all the things we collected to help make us feel better. This is where virtually every seeker fails, and then starts collecting more beliefs that make him feel better.
What must be realized and understood is that freedom is not found in believing one lie (separation) and then believing in a lot of other lies that compensate for the suffering caused by the first lie. Freedom is about getting rid of all the lies and living the truth; life as it actually is. This may require a bit of courage, patience and dedication.
