Nowadays many people are fans of brownies with ice cream. Brownies are quite rich in fat and add to that the sugar and milk powder of the ice cream makes it a deadly combination. Just like brownies, we relish our ignorance. We don't need to do anything to remain ignorant except pretend that we know everything. That's the easiest of the options. If we decide to remain ignorant, even all the wise people of the world put together can not wake us up from our ignorance. If such a brownie gets a topping of ice cream for social validation, the temptation is almost impossible to resist. On the one hand, we can choose an easy path to remain ignorant and on the other hand, we get a medal from society for being good as well. What more is needed in life.
We keep eating such brownies with ice cream without realizing that what looks quite harmless slowly and gradually makes our life hell. We keep consuming so much fat every day and slowly gain weight of fixations and slowly become obese and over a period become unable to walk. We are not able to participate with an open mind in any of the discussions. Our mind is so close and we are so certain that we do not realize that we start repelling all the fresh ideas out of our stubbornness to live in our own mental world. In the process, we keep suffering our entire life. Soon, the well-wishers also give up. The frogs who have seen the open sky come to the well to take us along but we are so happy inside our well that we not only refuse to go with them but also insult them again and again. What can they do? They just move on their path. Some of them take sannyasa and some choose isolation in some Math or Ashram.
We have gotten so used to instant sugar in different forms such as ice cream, brownies, candies, and chocolates that we have forgotten the value of a balanced meal. That is the reason why the homes are full of medicines. Almost every one of us is taking some or the other pill. There is so much of a rush in the hospitals that we feel obliged if we get a bed in the hospital. Doctors are flooded with patients and there are queues of hundreds of patients in almost each OPD. We take antibiotics and painkillers at the blink of an eye. We are suffering from so many mental disorders. So many patients died of the fear during the COVID-19 times. I know one of my colleagues who drank acid when diagnosed with COVID and died to save his family from COVID.
We fail to realize that fear is the other side of instant gratification. The moment we start enjoying our ignorance like a brownie, and more so if the same is validated by the ice cream of the social validation, fixation is a natural result like obesity. The more we eat such brownies the more obese we will be. Imagine if we are eating such brownies almost every moment in our lives. We will not only develop obesity of fixations but also diabetes of intolerance. We will not be able to digest any new idea like the body is not able to digest the sugar. This is because the body has stopped producing the insulin of openness and we have become closed. Soon, we run short of energy and become short-tempered. How can a society that has become closed be tolerant?
The way out is not simple. It is like an obese man trying to walk. In the beginning, there will be a lot of resistance by the body. When we are fixated and try to open up, initially, there is a lot of resistance. The more we are fixated on the ideas the greater the resistance. However, we need to do two things at the same time. First, whenever we notice the brownies and ice cream, we just need to contemplate how these brownies and ice creams have made our lives hell. That awareness does something magical and we get a natural repulsion to have these. Similarly, whenever we feel comfortable in our ignorance and the same is validated by our relatives and friends, we just need to stay aware to appreciate how much harm it is doing to our lives. Second, we just need to walk. Initially walking will be painful but soon the body gets used to the same. Similarly, when we participate in open discussions, read books, and listen to a wise man, initially our past conditioning makes us feel uncomfortable but soon we start getting interested. Even if there is the slightest openness in our minds to the truth, the truth starts taking its roots and grows naturally. It is not easy, but there seems to be no other way out. If we do not make effort to be aware, we are for sure proceeding towards a life full of suffering due to obesity of ignorance, mental diseases due to fixation, limited worldview, fears, and anxieties.
Comments