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“All is mechanical in you – anger, lust, greed, jealousy – all is mechanical. It simply is there whenever somebody pushes a button.” – Osho
The human robot can never understand what it is, or where it is, until it has detached itself from the system in which it functions. Or, to put it more succinctly, until it has been persuaded to detach itself from the system in which it functions – whether through reasoned argument, spiritual incentives, or the sheer weight of suffering that is inherent to a mechanical existence. Certainly, there are no external agencies who are likely to intervene on our behalf. Even the greatest of masters have demonstrated no ability to liberate minds directly. And even if they could, there would be little value in doing so. For just like the butterfly, it is our struggle – from the chrysalis of fear and limitation – which ensures that, once free, our newly formed wings actually have the strength to carry us beyond our temporal and mundane existence.
For some, this detachment comes about through daily meditation, mindfulness, and similar techniques. Others may feel the need to remove themselves, quite literally, from the system. It is said that after an extended period of solitude, one returns to the world “as if a visitor from another planet.” For its ways and, indeed, its inhabitants, are as alien to the unconditioned mind as extraterrestrials and their customs would likely be to human beings.
Jay knows all about this phenomenon, of course, having spent most of his life in self-imposed isolation – a method which he prescribes to those who are able, in a practical sense, to abandon their daily lives and responsibilities. Such advice can make the journey home seem very arduous. But the Truth is, above all else, hilarious. And we need to maintain our sense of humour, according to Jay, if we are to counter the misanthropy which can arise when we see, with total clarity, how far Man has fallen.
I have personally never laughed so much as I have since joining the Academy, and even during the most heated of debates, the humourous is never very far way. Once, as Jay was trying to explain how our sense of free will was actually an illusion, one student became quite offended. Apparently it had been drummed into him since childhood that he was entirely responsible for – and in control of – his own life. “If I am not responsible,” he argued, “then what does any of this matter? Why am I even bothering to deny my impulses?” He then stood up and threw a glass of water in Jay’s face. “There, I am not responsible,” he said, “and so I have nothing to apologise for.”
Well, I almost wet myself!
The young man obviously felt that his angry demonstration had destroyed Jay’s argument – when, in truth, he had actually made the very point that Jay was trying to get across. In any case, Jay’s reaction to the assault, or lack of one, was comical in of itself (although I did seem to find it more amusing than anyone else!)
Jay waited until everyone had settled down, and then explained to the group that if, through argument alone, he could persuade someone that they were not responsible for their actions; or, at least, if he could cause a person to act out in a manner contrary to their inherent sense of responsibility (which he clearly had done)… Then in what sense were they demonstrating free will and control? They were, on the contrary, having their buttons pushed by an external influence, and simply reacting accordingly. Such is life.
“Most people live in the delusion that they make decisions out of free will. In reality their actions are completely determined by their past. How you think, what you want and what you consider important are all determined by your upbringing, your culture, your religion – in short, by your concepts. As long as you still think you are your mind, you have no free will. Spiritually you are unconscious. You may think you know what you want, but you don’t. It is only the conditioning of your mind that says: ‘This is what you need to have’. That’s not a choice, it’s mechanical.” – Eckhart Tolle.
“All actions are determined except the ability to inquire into one’s true nature.” – Ramana Maharshi
“You do not choose, you do not decide, when you see things very clearly. Only the unintelligent mind exercises choice in life. A spiritually advanced or truly intelligent mind simply cannot have choice, because it can only choose the path of truth. Only the unintelligent mind has free will.” – J Krishnamurti
“All of our thoughts are conditioned. We all are thinking exactly along the lines we are conditioned to think. Programmed like a computer. Anybody who thinks they are actually choosing of their own free will the line of thinking that they have is completely deluded by their thinking.” – Adyashanti
What we are influenced by, of course, depends entirely upon our own conditioning, and level of consciousness. But let’s be clear: Even relatively minor changes to an individual’s past would radically alter the person they are in the present. Political views could be changed, belief systems overturned, and personal ethics altered beyond all recognition. Place that same ‘person’ into a controlled reality, from birth, and anything is possible. Indeed, they could be influenced to worship what they formerly despised, and to despise what they formerly worshipped. Over the course of a single lifetime, in fact, we are buffeted by influences of such magnitude that we may recognise these reversals in ourselves.
The trump card, in this incredible game of life, is consciousness itself. For consciousness is inherently unconditioned, and so it acts, not in harmony with its environment, but in accordance with its own nature. This is not free will, as such, but rather our own authentic will – the will of God. And through its interaction with the illusion of darkness, and various unconscious forces, infinite possibility comes into manifestation within a matrix of apparent duality. This is the process which will lead, and has led, to infinite experience – the knowledge of God.
“You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth.” – Morpheus
Few people are actually aware enough to accept what they see. Rather, they react to what they see, because they are in either an unconscious or semi-conscious state; their sense of self, their sense of reality, and possibility, merely the result of a conditioning process within the matrix (as I have just described).
The truth of this became abundantly clear during a group exercise in the City of Truro. Jay said that the difference between “us and them” was that we knew ourselves to be acting, whereas they were lost in the role; we were writing our own script, whereas they were effectively reading from one. And so, over a period of seven days, we quite literally played various different characters, and competed among ourselves to elicit the greatest public reaction. …It was a blast!
Some of our most daring and successful characters were: The religious fundamentalist, the naturist, the escaped convicts, the philanthropist, ‘Harold and Maude’, the pornographer and his model, the homeless person, and the child bride.
By the end of the week we had been applauded, spat upon, blessed, cursed, verbally abused, cheered, physically assaulted, offered money… and, perhaps inevitably, arrested. I myself switched roles occasionally, and so sometimes the very same person who was vilifying me on one day, was actually singing my praises on another. I – River – had not changed, of course, but their perception of me had. And so their reaction – all of the reactions that we elicited, in fact – said nothing at all about us, as a group, or as individuals, but everything about those who reacted.
Undoubtedly the most surprising and, indeed, disturbing fact to emerge from the whole experiment came from the incident which led to one of our number being taken into custody. For it was neither nudity, obscenity, escaped prisoners, nor the threat of terrorism which caused the most public outrage, and reports to the police, but rather a passionate snog between an adult and a child (the ten-year-old niece of one of our members, who volunteered to take part in the exercise). No further action was taken, of course, when it became clear what we were doing…. But still! I mean, WTF?
Jay rolled his eyes to the heavens when I told him what had happened. I already knew that it might be an emotive issue for him, because of what he had experienced as a teenager, and spoke about in one of his interviews. What I didn’t realise at the time, however, was that he’d actually had a relationship with a woman, at the age of twelve. A relationship which he describes as “beautiful,” but one which was subsequently torn apart by an “intolerant and ignorant society.”
Clearly, this was not a wound that had healed. And when I finally persuaded him to discuss the matter further, I began to sense a rage in him, of similar ground-shaking magnitude to the love that I had become so intoxicated by. “I am a product too,” he confessed, with tears in his eyes.
“Don’t say that,” I told him, “you’re nothing like the zombies and robots that we live among. I’ve never known anyone with so little reaction to things.”
“No, I don’t react in the heat of the moment. Instead, I spend almost twenty years of my life in solitude, studying my enemy, understanding its nature, and coldly plotting its destruction. Is that what this whole thing is about, Riv… Revenge? Is that what I have been conditioned to seek?”
“No, Jay. Your enemy is my enemy, our enemy, the enemy of the human race. The enemy which God himself speaks of annihilating. And you engage it, not out of hatred, or malice, but because of the love that you have for yourself, for God, and for those it has enslaved. You know that, right?”
“Sometimes I wish that I didn’t know anything. It’s the knowing, after all, that most of us have come here to escape.”
“Yes, and look at the result of that fear, our only true enemy, and what it has done to us. Come on, Jay, the Truth is hilarious, remember?”
“Yeah, it is… sometimes.”
http://introfinity.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/confessions-of-a-wannabe-misfit-part-9/
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