So you and I are the problem, and not the world, because the world
is the projection of ourselves and to understand the world we must
understand ourselves. The world is not separate from us; we are
the world, and our problems are the world's problems. This cannot
be repeated too often, because we are so sluggish in our mentality
that we think the world's problems are not our business, that they
have to be resolved by the United Nations or by substituting new
leaders for the old. It is a very dull mentality that thinks like
that, because we are responsible for this frightful misery and
confusion in the world, this ever-impending war. To transform the
world, we must begin with ourselves; and what is important in
beginning with ourselves is the intention. The intention must be
to understand ourselves and not to leave it to others to transform
themselves or to bring about a modified change through revolution,
either of the left or of the right. It is important to understand
that this is our responsibility, yours and mine; because, however
small may be the world we live in, if we can transform ourselves,
bring about a radically different point of view in our daily
existence, then perhaps we shall affect the world at large, the
extended relationship with others.
The transformation of the world is brought about by the
transformation of oneself, because the self is the product and a
part of the total process of human existence. To transform
oneself, self- knowledge is essential; without knowing what you
are, there is no basis for right thought, and without knowing
yourself there cannot be transformation. One must know oneself as
one is, not as one wishes to be which is merely an ideal and
therefore fictitious, unreal; it is only that which is that can be
transformed, not that which you wish to be. To know oneself as one
is requires an extraordinary alertness of mind, because what is is
constantly undergoing transformation, change, and to follow it
swiftly the mind must not be tethered to any particular dogma or
belief, to any particular pattern of action. If you would follow
anything it is no good being tethered. To know yourself, there
must be the awareness, the alertness of mind in which there is
freedom from all beliefs, from all idealization because beliefs
and ideals only give you a colour, perverting true perception. If
you want to know what you are you cannot imagine or have belief in
something which you are not. If I am greedy, envious, violent,
merely having an ideal of non-violence, of non-greed, is of little
value. But to know that one is greedy or violent, to know and
understand it, requires an extraordinary perception, does it not?
It demands honesty, clarity of thought, whereas to pursue an ideal
away from what is is an escape; it prevents you from discovering
and acting directly upon what you are.
Most of us believe conflict raging throughout the world is somehow separate
from our inner selves. we believe the world has become too complicated and
the only thing we can really do is to work within the system as it currently
stands. "watch 'the leader'"--"such authorities are the only ones who
actually have the kind of power needed to `solve' the ever-increasing
current crises"--this kind of thinking is a manifestation of the sort of
pervasive ingrained conditioning we are all so deeply distracted by to
whatever degree. and just what is it we being distracted from? from keenly
and factually being aware of ourselves, of the way we are--not the way we
think we are or wud like to believe we are, but the way we actually are
existing in fact.
Of late, i have been observing my own being more consciously. i begin to see
more and more instances of deep-seated conflict within myself that are so
ubiquitous, it's clear why they "normally" go unobserved--it is an indicator
of my own personal degree of conditioning. i am seeing forms of violence i
practice daily that i don't give a second thought to--they are "normal" and
virtually automatic. driving in a car during traffic, there is treMENdous
violent mental energy being given form by drivers everywhere on the road.
how quick i am to willingly--nay eager--to become engaged in this energy.
competition to get into a check-out line ahead of the other person
approaching is second-nature. how harsh are my own subliminal expectations
directed at myself about what i shud be doing, how much i need to be
accomplishing, how there is sooo much i'm not satisfied with! how stern and
inflexible is my judging mind when looking at someone and arriving at ALL
KINDS of [more often than not negative] conclusions about who they are,
without necessarily having ever even seen them before! how instantaneous is
my objectification of women i see, especially women i've never seen before--
sexual energy and desire within projected onto women not as human beings but
as sexual objects ravenously desired for my own purposes which is in raging
conflict with that which yearns for direct, deep emotional communication and
sharing. i see my suffocating fear when i am going to bed and think i hear
something/one in the house--"did i really lock the back door?"--so afraid of
being attacked, of someone "getting" me. i see my selfishness laid bare as i
walk into a CD store while a sunburned, dazed homeless person on the
sidewalk stares right through me. i am even having moments, virtually
anywhere, when deep choking sadness wells up in my throat and i can actually
let it float for more than a fleeting moment before my intellectual censor
can "regain control...."
These states of being comprise me--in the moments when they arise, i AM the
sadness, the violence, the competition, the fear, the disapproval, the
confusion, the desire, the conflict. these states are not separate from me.
such inner conflict is what i project out onto the world i relate to and
interact with. it is both astonishing and revealing to glimpse the
actualized state of my conditioning in the following enquiry about just what
are the "demands" of this society? JK
is the projection of ourselves and to understand the world we must
understand ourselves. The world is not separate from us; we are
the world, and our problems are the world's problems. This cannot
be repeated too often, because we are so sluggish in our mentality
that we think the world's problems are not our business, that they
have to be resolved by the United Nations or by substituting new
leaders for the old. It is a very dull mentality that thinks like
that, because we are responsible for this frightful misery and
confusion in the world, this ever-impending war. To transform the
world, we must begin with ourselves; and what is important in
beginning with ourselves is the intention. The intention must be
to understand ourselves and not to leave it to others to transform
themselves or to bring about a modified change through revolution,
either of the left or of the right. It is important to understand
that this is our responsibility, yours and mine; because, however
small may be the world we live in, if we can transform ourselves,
bring about a radically different point of view in our daily
existence, then perhaps we shall affect the world at large, the
extended relationship with others.
The transformation of the world is brought about by the
transformation of oneself, because the self is the product and a
part of the total process of human existence. To transform
oneself, self- knowledge is essential; without knowing what you
are, there is no basis for right thought, and without knowing
yourself there cannot be transformation. One must know oneself as
one is, not as one wishes to be which is merely an ideal and
therefore fictitious, unreal; it is only that which is that can be
transformed, not that which you wish to be. To know oneself as one
is requires an extraordinary alertness of mind, because what is is
constantly undergoing transformation, change, and to follow it
swiftly the mind must not be tethered to any particular dogma or
belief, to any particular pattern of action. If you would follow
anything it is no good being tethered. To know yourself, there
must be the awareness, the alertness of mind in which there is
freedom from all beliefs, from all idealization because beliefs
and ideals only give you a colour, perverting true perception. If
you want to know what you are you cannot imagine or have belief in
something which you are not. If I am greedy, envious, violent,
merely having an ideal of non-violence, of non-greed, is of little
value. But to know that one is greedy or violent, to know and
understand it, requires an extraordinary perception, does it not?
It demands honesty, clarity of thought, whereas to pursue an ideal
away from what is is an escape; it prevents you from discovering
and acting directly upon what you are.
Most of us believe conflict raging throughout the world is somehow separate
from our inner selves. we believe the world has become too complicated and
the only thing we can really do is to work within the system as it currently
stands. "watch 'the leader'"--"such authorities are the only ones who
actually have the kind of power needed to `solve' the ever-increasing
current crises"--this kind of thinking is a manifestation of the sort of
pervasive ingrained conditioning we are all so deeply distracted by to
whatever degree. and just what is it we being distracted from? from keenly
and factually being aware of ourselves, of the way we are--not the way we
think we are or wud like to believe we are, but the way we actually are
existing in fact.
Of late, i have been observing my own being more consciously. i begin to see
more and more instances of deep-seated conflict within myself that are so
ubiquitous, it's clear why they "normally" go unobserved--it is an indicator
of my own personal degree of conditioning. i am seeing forms of violence i
practice daily that i don't give a second thought to--they are "normal" and
virtually automatic. driving in a car during traffic, there is treMENdous
violent mental energy being given form by drivers everywhere on the road.
how quick i am to willingly--nay eager--to become engaged in this energy.
competition to get into a check-out line ahead of the other person
approaching is second-nature. how harsh are my own subliminal expectations
directed at myself about what i shud be doing, how much i need to be
accomplishing, how there is sooo much i'm not satisfied with! how stern and
inflexible is my judging mind when looking at someone and arriving at ALL
KINDS of [more often than not negative] conclusions about who they are,
without necessarily having ever even seen them before! how instantaneous is
my objectification of women i see, especially women i've never seen before--
sexual energy and desire within projected onto women not as human beings but
as sexual objects ravenously desired for my own purposes which is in raging
conflict with that which yearns for direct, deep emotional communication and
sharing. i see my suffocating fear when i am going to bed and think i hear
something/one in the house--"did i really lock the back door?"--so afraid of
being attacked, of someone "getting" me. i see my selfishness laid bare as i
walk into a CD store while a sunburned, dazed homeless person on the
sidewalk stares right through me. i am even having moments, virtually
anywhere, when deep choking sadness wells up in my throat and i can actually
let it float for more than a fleeting moment before my intellectual censor
can "regain control...."
These states of being comprise me--in the moments when they arise, i AM the
sadness, the violence, the competition, the fear, the disapproval, the
confusion, the desire, the conflict. these states are not separate from me.
such inner conflict is what i project out onto the world i relate to and
interact with. it is both astonishing and revealing to glimpse the
actualized state of my conditioning in the following enquiry about just what
are the "demands" of this society? JK
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