Blind by choice

Have we come on this earth simply to eat, sleep reproduce and die ? If that were so then there are several living beings who’re doing that job far more efficiently and without fuss. Most of man’s misery , is a result of being endowed with the faculty of choice. Animals don’t have this faculty. Hence they eat, sleep, reproduce and die with their sanity intact and in complete synchronization with nature. They don’t seem to suffer a “why me” syndrome when they don’t get something they want. They simply accept what they cannot change without judging and move on with grace. They don’t pander to endless desires or brood over their past but live fully in the present whether defending themselves or making a kill for survival, or just enjoying nature at the same time alert that death may be lurking round the corner anytime.

At an ignorant level, a consistent awareness of the self is the only way one can realize ultimately, about the impermanence of the body and the immortal self residing within. Once this level is reached, albeit with a lot of fear, trepidation and ALONE on this path, from here on a different kind of learning begins. This new learning begins with a feeling of being boundless, fearless and connected with the whole, hitherto unknown. It is not that you work logically to attain this. You simply “slip into” this new realm and then realize you have always been boundless and connected with the whole. It was just that for a brief period you were covered with too much of rubble and gave into the cacophony around you. From here on it is IMPOSSIBLE to think in terms of i-me-myself. Whatever you do is always in terms of the whole even though you may be functioning at an individual level. That is why you observe all enlightened beings speak of universal love, forgiveness and giving. Mother Earth has enough resources to feed, clothe and shelter its creation. It is ironical that man has the dubious distinction of being the most intelligent animal on Earth and also the only one responsible for its systematic destruction. “Systematic” because most of the destruction is happening in the name of goodness and or because the rich want to become richer without an understanding of what is really “rich”.

But with the mind operating overtime in giving sanctity to the duplicate self and in complete control of the superimposition, this master key that is self-awareness, is lost in the delusion.

In a way animals are lucky that having been denied the faculty of choice they’ve saved themselves the ills of man’s delusion of not using this choice to realize his dormant potential within, to transcend the remote-controlling mind and get liberated, but rather choosing to become a victim of his identification with the mind. So this faculty of choice endowed on man can be a boon or a bane depending on how he uses it. And on that, man is given complete freedom irrespective of what events he faces in life. In fact more the setbacks more are the indicators to “jump” out of his “slumber”. What’s more, if he continues to miss out the hints to “wake up” from his “sleep”, there’s no telling how many times he’ll be thrown back into existence with the SAME mind and conditioning but in different forms.

On the other hand, animals are not as lucky as humans to avail of this choice of being liberated. They still have to evolve to being humans. But paradoxically if man chooses to be blinded about his powerful potential then his life his worse than an animal’s. At least in their ignorance, animals are blissful.

Love and wishes,
Rekha