Awareness should be the norm in this society. Then why, on the contrary, is there widespread unawareness? When the whole of society is unaware, it becomes quite normal to fall into the trap of unawareness. Especially when our interaction with the rest of the world is limited. Every religion has its own concept of God, and all these concepts co-exist. These concepts are quite contradictory. While the God of one religion may have a form, the God of the other religion may not have a form. While one religion may believe in the rebirth, the other does not. Ideally, there should be a dialogue across religions to find out the reality. But we hold our beliefs so tightly that any effort to examine the same is quite painful to us.
We want to avoid pain at any cost and have more and more pleasure. We have been told since our childhood that maximization of pleasure and minimization of pain is the purpose of life, and we have accepted that maxim without ever being aware of the meaning of pain and pleasure. If my tongue has tasted the aloo-parantha since childhood, and I feel happy having eaten that parantha, can that pleasure be a purpose of life? Some other person has different eating habits, and their senses get satiated by a different taste. But both of us are just trying to repeat what we learnt during our childhood. Where is awareness in this process?
Similarly, we have been told different things since our childhood. We have to be a good boy or girl. When a kid sings a rhyme, people clap, and he is made to feel happy. Parents encourage him to sing more. There is clapping by the entire school when you get the first position in the class. People celebrate the victory of the Indian team in the World Cup tournament. We enjoy social validation. We celebrate victory, and that's why social validation becomes one of our greatest sources of pleasure. We want to impress everybody. We give the command of our lives into the hands of others and act like puppets. People can just show little disdain for our actions and steer our lives in a different direction. Everybody likes to sit in the seat of judgment because they feel in control of the lives of others. We just want to prove that we are winners. We want to win the race of getting the "likes". In the process, we just play to the gallery and forget what role we are supposed to perform.
When we play to the gallery and get disconnected from our inner selves, there is a constant discomfort. We are not at ease with ourselves. That's why we feel more and more tired. In some cases, people get so disconnected from their inner selves that their inner voice almost dies, and they make "playing to the gallery" the sole purpose of life till the time the audience gets bored with their performance and leaves them to watch some more interesting performance. At that time, there is no going back because by that time, they have already become so firm in their beliefs and worldview that they have to undergo depression. The facade of falsity they have made around themselves is too grand to be moved by weak awareness. Some maintain little awareness of their inner voice, and that's why they are never at peace. However, as a part of their winning strategy, they will not admit this inner discomfort to their competitors. Acceptance of that discomfort would mean that their choice is not correct. They do not want to prove to be fools, but in the process, they remain so throughout their lives because there is no occasion for course correction.
Constant awareness of what's happening inside is the key. An awareness without judgments and conclusions. Observation in a witness mode. Looking at the fabric of reality with the microscope of observation. When the smoothness of fabric disappears and we can notice the gaps, the threads, and the roughness. When we are able to notice that what looks solid is actually made of tiny molecules having huge spaces within them. Not a theory of reality but an observation of reality within us. When we feel that space within, the obsession with matter ends. We feel free to explore many other forms of the same reality. We do not remain confined to our beliefs and conditioning. We are no longer certain of anything. We get down from our mount, stupid, and enter into the valley of despair to soon experience a flow.
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