Skip to main content

Clarity to Confusion to greater Clarity

A dear friend discussed the post "Conflicts in a decision matrix". Was there any confusion in the mind of Rama when he made a decision to go to the forest or when he decided to find out Sita? Definitely not. There was no confusion in the mind of Rama and he took whatever was possible on Earth to find out Sita and to bring her back even if it required risking his life fighting against Ravana in Lanka. However, the same Rama when he came back from Lanka sent the same Sita to the forest just because one of his countrymen raised a suspicion on Sita. It was probably because it was Truth and Love that was the center of Rama's life and not Sita. When Ravana kidnaps Sita, Rama knows that if Ravana is not killed, he will make life on earth hell for all human beings. It was his love for fellow human beings that made him fight the battle of Lanka. Had Sita been the center of his life, he would have asked Hanumana to bring Sita back. Similarly, when he sent Sita to the forest, it was his love for his subjects and he knew that people are not mature enough to understand and appreciate. He loved the people of his kingdom like his kids and that is the reason why Rama and Sita made that sacrifice.

This is one extreme where the framework of life is aligned with the highest of truth and love for everyone. On the other end of the spectrum, we have people whose life is centered around fears of different kinds. They are so afraid that they undertake violence against the people whom they consider to be weak just in order to allay their fears of survival. On the other hand, as soon as they find someone stronger than them, they start sycophantic behavior and behave quite weirdly. These people have very low self-esteem and may fall to any extent to protect their self-interest.

In between the two ends of the spectrum, we have people of different types. Moving upwards, we have people who just wish to live a life of comforts and pleasures, social networking, social validation, powers, and knowledge. People center their lives around different things. some people center their lives around different relationships such as family or friends.

There is a huge difference between someone who has centered his framework of life around truth and universal love and someone who has centered his life around fears. The framework of life of a self-centered fearful person would be quite narrow. His worldview would be very limited and therefore he would be quite sure while making the decisions. However, if due to situations, or otherwise, his framework of life is challenged and he decides to open up to life, that opening up will bring confusion initially. Whatever defense mechanisms he has made would cease to exist. For example, suppose he accumulated money in self-defense. He was very sure that in the moments of difficulties, money would be the best defense. However, as he opens up to life, he becomes aware of the limited utility of money in moments of crisis, and in that state, there is great confusion and insecurity till he connects to the larger framework of life. 

That uncertainty of the process of evolution of consciousness is not easy to bear and that is the reason why most of the people in this world fall into the trap of "confirmation bias". They just keep mentally confirming their limited worldview and make friends with people who have similar worldviews. They all keep confirming the worldview of each other and live a life of certainty. They keep managing the situations together till the time truth knocks on their doors in the form of some unforeseen situations.

However, the journey from Ravana to Rama is not easy since it is the nature of the human mind to cling to one or the other security. It clings to money, social validation, powers, knowledge, moral values, rituals, religions, friends, relatives, and so many other things in order to feel secure. However, truth demands observing the relativity of all these things. During the process of aligning our framework of life to truth and universal love, there come many stages. In each of these stages, we have to pass through a period of confusion and chaos till we completely align the framework of our life to truth and universal love. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why life is so stressful?

The present-day society is the most comfortable in the entire history of humanity. We have invented machines to carry out work at home, have built highways, can fly conveniently across countries, have comfortable homes, have information of almost every kind at our fingertips, and also have AI to help us make use of the information. Advances in robotics have made many apparently impossible tasks quite easy to perform. Yet, so many countries are at war, people are suffering from psychological disorders, depression, there are broken relationships everywhere, and people are under tremendous stress. What has gone wrong in the process? Why is development not bringing happiness? Because we have chosen "comforts" over "growth". Because we have chosen "fear" over "love". Doesn't that sound strange? Why would somebody choose "fear" over "love"? Probably, we are not aware of it while making these choices. Our unconscious mind process...

Adding a Third Dimension to Life

 We face various conflicts in our lives. Whether to play with friends or concentrate on studies is one of the most common conflicts of the students which has now been replaced with a conflict between the concentration on studies and spending time on social media and mobile. Adults often have trouble establishing a work-life balance. These conflicts are the reflection of the ongoing struggle between comforts and ambitions. We get some comfort due to the stars in our horoscope, we are born with, or our past efforts. Some choose to enjoy these comforts and pleasures while some delay gratification, constantly move along the X-axis, and have a very linear view of life. Others choose to work hard for their ambitions and give away the pleasures and comforts, move along the Y-axis, and have a "two-dimensional view of life". They grow in worldly terms and that is the reason why they occupy the best of positions, become industrialists and intellectuals, and develop the capacity to look...

A Comfortable Life full of Fears

 Why did Buddha reject the offer of a comfortable life as a prince from his father? Why do most people grab such an opportunity? Why do most people struggle all through their lives to get such a comfortable life? It is because most people can't see what Buddha could see. That is exactly why Buddha wanted to tell the secret to the entire world.  Buddha asked questions to his charioteer about disease and death. He could have closed his eyes to the suffering of the people and sat happily inside his palace. But he enquired into the nature of death and diseases, the old age and pains thereof. He asked whether anyone can avoid suffering, and came to know that it is not possible to avoid the sufferings of old age, diseases, and death. He was determined to find a solution and therefore delved deeper and deeper into the nature of suffering and its source. His inner journey revealed the secrets that he shared with the whole world. The real cause of suffering is ignorance.  We form ...