Learning to Be!
Frank M. Wanderer, Ph.D., Contributor
Waking Times
If we take a look at the events of our world, we will easily realize that we live in revolutionary times. The revolution of our days is, however, entirely different from any other revolutions in human history. This revolution is not launched in order to rearrange the domain of forms and shapes, so as to replace old and outdated forms and shapes with new, dynamic and vivid ones. This revolution is able to take humanity beyond forms and shapes.
If one day every woman woke up and was happy with her self, the cosmetic industry would go out of business.
Not just women, but men too. Why do we obsess over our looks so much to the extent that we put on a mask every day to project out to the world? Sometimes we put on a physical mask; sometimes we don our psychological mask. This is our ego, our self-image. Some people identify more as their body, usually just the thin outer layer called the skin.
“The door to the soul is unlocked; you do not need to please the doorkeeper, the door in front of you is yours, intended for you, and the doorkeeper obeys when spoken to.” -Robert Bly
What if you found out there was a key that would enable you to open and close your doors of perception at will, void of psychedelics? What if you found out you not only held the key, but you were the key? Would you unlock the doors, or keep them shut?
Everything Changes
“Become totally empty. Let your heart be at peace. Amidst the rest of the world’s comings and goings, observe how endings become beginnings.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer
STOP WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW. JUST OBSERVE. Observe everything around you. You might be at home, on a bus, travelling, on holidays, in a park, it doesn’t matter. Just notice the things around you. Everything, I mean EVERYTHING. From the light, the smells, the movement of people, the sound of the traffic, the breeze, plants, insects…Nothing will ever be the same again as that moment you just experienced.
There appears to be much conflict, suffering and violence occurring in the world at the moment.
1. Let Go Of The Ego And Just Be Yourself
“Take time to be an impartial observer of life particularly when an ending is causing despair.” Lao Tzu
We don’t need to be anything or anyone. We need to impress no one. As a society we have become concerned with having the latest fashions, how we look and impressing others. What for? Who cares? We are trying to fulfil other people’s expectations of us. That doesn’t really make any sense. It just drives us to distraction, always trying to prove ourselves to others.
No-Self
In Buddhism one of the ‘Three Characteristics’ is No-Self (the other two are impermanence and suffering which are closely associated with this). This refers to the illusion of reality having a permanent and separate self.
There is this notion that there is a permanent “I” or “me,” which is a separate entity that can be found. The obvious assumption of we are our body sounds good until we look at it and say “this is my body,” which implies at that moment that whatever owns the body wasn’t the body.
Emotion is what makes man feel alive. His ability to feel deeply, to have empathy and compassion, and to be sensitive to both internal and external factors by exercising present moment awareness frequently are the actions that enable him to execute his passions in a manner filled with truth so deep that it possesses the power to connect him with others and with the universe as a whole. Without feeling, he is merely existing, not living.