Sometimes, interacting with people gives great insights into the human psyche. In fact, it surprised me to see the people at the top positions with huge wealth be aggressive in their behavior. I always feel that aggression is a sign of insecurity. Why would people with huge wealth and high positions be insecure? On the other hand, people with no means are sometimes so loving and you feel the warmth while talking to such people. That is where I realized that "understanding of life" is fundamental to our existence.
The people who grow up with an "understanding of life" that they are "empty" and they have to become someone or acquire wealth to be "complete", tend to spend their entire lives under an illusion. They feel "complete" with the money they have acquired and the positions they hold but ironically, they feel absolutely "empty" without these because there is no "self-worth". That is the reason why they become so attached to these positions and wealth. That is why the stronger positions they acquire the more wealth they earn and the more insecure they become. They are always afraid of their "emptiness" inside and are always afraid of the loss of these positions and wealth. The greater the position and greater the fear. That is why these people are always in a mode to "grab" and even the entire wealth of the world is not sufficient.
On the other hand, the people who work on their "self" have a very different "understanding of life". They know that it is one consciousness manifesting in different forms. They consider life as a tool to explore the possibilities. That is why they connect quickly to their fellow beings. That is why love and compassion are the foundation of their lives. With awareness of that "eternal reality", they do not get obsessed with the "toys" and do remember that everything in this world including wealth and positions is transient.
This society keeps reinforcing the value of money and positions in different forms. In fact, it is such a big trap that unless somebody is absolutely aware, he gets caught in the trap quite easily. Once somebody becomes comfortable in a position, workplace, or home, it is quite difficult to think of leaving the comfort. More and more time and energy is spent to protect and increase these comforts rather than examining the reality of life. Not so that the inner voice is dead but it is easy to take a peg at the end of the day and go to bed rather than contemplating on the reality of life. I have generally felt that such people are very uncomfortable talking about death and the wider realities of life. Whenever they are caught in discussions, they try to demean these discussions by calling them philosophical post-retirement activities. It's quite uncomfortable for them to encounter these discussions. They somehow want to live in their own limited world surrounded by the "fools" who have never understood the reality of life and also the "liars" who tell deliberate lies to be in the good books of these people to get some favors.
The world will always have both kinds of people: those with a narrow "understanding of life" and those with a wider "understanding of life." All of us live in the same society yet make different choices. On one hand, Buddha left all the comforts imposed upon him to understand the reality of life. On the other hand, Hitler killed millions due to his obsession with his limited understanding of life and being surrounded by "fools" and "liars." The world will always be like that. It is up to each individual to make a choice. Each choice carries a consequence. When we become fixated, we fail to see that our insecurities create restlessness within us and we often lose control over our behavior. We fail to notice that we are constantly in a begging mode. Our best positions and wealth make us so poor that we always calculate the gain in every interaction with fellow human beings. There are no traces of love and compassion left in our lives. We fail to see how limited our worldview has become. Both possibilities: of being "empty" and "complete" exist within us at all times. We choose to connect with one of these, and that choice shapes the broad contours of our lives.
Comments