It's heartbreaking to see what human ignorance is doing in this world. Political and social solutions, while necessary, do not really provide long term, overall change. Maybe there is another, more fundamental way to approach this. The horrors perpetuated by overall human ignorance—the greed, fear, avarice, lust for power, etc.—are stunning. Ignorance simply means—ignorance of your essential free being, and fully believing in the idea of a separate self, which needs to be protected, self-accumulating and dominant at all cost. This separate self is not only the personal self, but the larger societal, cultural, national and religious self as well—all of which are in your mind.
The more I see the horrors of that the more I see the value in the results of genuine inquiry work. Even in a small way, in our relationships and the people around us, this has benefit. It is a much more benign way of being human than the malignancy that belief in ego/self, with its fear, sense of lack, desire for control, envy, greed and all of that, causes. It is much more congruent with overall natural life in general. It is the natural human condition. (Although apparently not the normal human condition.)
When you authentically do inquiry work it is beneficial. You can't change anyone else, but here in your own laboratory of body and mind you can come to know something that is essentially true, and in that knowing, resolve a lot of the pathology and malignancy that is both latent and dormant within your mind. The value of that is obvious.
If real inquiry means anything, it should have benefit. Not just for yourself, but for those around you as well—your family and friend relations, your work relations, etc. If not, who cares? It has very little value otherwise. Once you have come to know your own essential nature of health you realize that this has never really been about you only. You see in your own self, at the micro level, the non-beneficial aspects of your own pathologies, not just for yourself but towards others as well, and realize it is the same, at the macro level, for all of humanity. You are the world, the world is you. And so you see the benefit not only for yourself, but for others as well in resolving the self-based ignorance within you.
This is not a grandiose concept, like we are going to change the world; we can only see what is true in ourselves. I have no idea when, or even if, human ignorance-based malignancy will end. Many people these days claim that there is a general shift of consciousness in that direction. I can't honestly make that claim. There may or may not be more healthy consciousness than before, it is not something that is provable or even, considering the continuing madness going on in the world, apparent. But, we can only deal with ourselves, here and now, by inquiring genuinely in our own minds and discovering that essentially we are healthy and not lacking, and to be finished with the separating and self-aggrandizing belief that cultural ignorance has inculcated in us and that we have simply taken for granted as the way it is.
Know what’s true and truth shall set you free. And in your own freedom you will be more of a space for yourself and others, instead of a battering ram of beliefs, opinions, comparisons, control, fear and need, including the need to be ‘right’—all of which separate and cause both interpersonal and world-wide war.
This is not about dogma, like 'thou shall do this' and 'thou shall not do that'. Nor is it about right behavior or morality. This is not about how to live. I would never suggest how anyone should live; I have no idea. But, in coming to know your free essential being, and in doing so resolve the ignorance in your own mind, the result is naturally a more benign consciousness. Or as I like to say, the natural human condition of health.
Being a human being—and not just ‘awareness’ or some spiritual silliness like that—it is natural to care. The best way to care for the world is to take care of yourself.
The more I see the horrors of that the more I see the value in the results of genuine inquiry work. Even in a small way, in our relationships and the people around us, this has benefit. It is a much more benign way of being human than the malignancy that belief in ego/self, with its fear, sense of lack, desire for control, envy, greed and all of that, causes. It is much more congruent with overall natural life in general. It is the natural human condition. (Although apparently not the normal human condition.)
When you authentically do inquiry work it is beneficial. You can't change anyone else, but here in your own laboratory of body and mind you can come to know something that is essentially true, and in that knowing, resolve a lot of the pathology and malignancy that is both latent and dormant within your mind. The value of that is obvious.
If real inquiry means anything, it should have benefit. Not just for yourself, but for those around you as well—your family and friend relations, your work relations, etc. If not, who cares? It has very little value otherwise. Once you have come to know your own essential nature of health you realize that this has never really been about you only. You see in your own self, at the micro level, the non-beneficial aspects of your own pathologies, not just for yourself but towards others as well, and realize it is the same, at the macro level, for all of humanity. You are the world, the world is you. And so you see the benefit not only for yourself, but for others as well in resolving the self-based ignorance within you.
This is not a grandiose concept, like we are going to change the world; we can only see what is true in ourselves. I have no idea when, or even if, human ignorance-based malignancy will end. Many people these days claim that there is a general shift of consciousness in that direction. I can't honestly make that claim. There may or may not be more healthy consciousness than before, it is not something that is provable or even, considering the continuing madness going on in the world, apparent. But, we can only deal with ourselves, here and now, by inquiring genuinely in our own minds and discovering that essentially we are healthy and not lacking, and to be finished with the separating and self-aggrandizing belief that cultural ignorance has inculcated in us and that we have simply taken for granted as the way it is.
Know what’s true and truth shall set you free. And in your own freedom you will be more of a space for yourself and others, instead of a battering ram of beliefs, opinions, comparisons, control, fear and need, including the need to be ‘right’—all of which separate and cause both interpersonal and world-wide war.
This is not about dogma, like 'thou shall do this' and 'thou shall not do that'. Nor is it about right behavior or morality. This is not about how to live. I would never suggest how anyone should live; I have no idea. But, in coming to know your free essential being, and in doing so resolve the ignorance in your own mind, the result is naturally a more benign consciousness. Or as I like to say, the natural human condition of health.
Being a human being—and not just ‘awareness’ or some spiritual silliness like that—it is natural to care. The best way to care for the world is to take care of yourself.
