Failing to look from within

Many people kept saying that they think they are losing themselves or maybe the quintessence of their being. We hear this all the time. “I don’t know who I am anymore” “What have I become?” “I think I am losing myself”… I guess to lose the self is to suddenly realize that we are something other than what we thought we were. People start to question about their self usually or most often than not, when they are upset, unhappy or depressed. We must agree that pleasant experiences make life delightful but few know that painful experiences lead to growth. Suffering points up an area where we have not yet grown, where you need to grow and be transformed and change. There is a lesson to be learned but do we recognise that? Many people suffer from a state of delusion, where they see things not as they are but as what they want them to be. It is sad but true. Many do not realise that when one clings on their perception of things, life is destroyed. When one holds on to anything, one ceases to live.

External events do not have the power to hurt us. People do not have the power to hurt us. They really don't. It's ourselves that give this supremacy to them to hurt us. So why then do we even allow it in the first place? Did we do it unconsciously or subconsciously? In order to get awareness, we have got to see, which brings us to the importance of clarity of perception. One cannot see if one is prejudiced. Almost everything and every person we look at, we look at in a prejudiced way. We need to open up our perceptions. Without the clarity of perceptions, we will definitely fail to respond accurately, which will lead to misunderstandings and situations where people will get hurt.

People say love is blind. Are they? I know that addiction and attachments are blind. Clinging, craving, and desire are blind. But not true love. The root of sorrow is craving. Craving distorts and destroys perception. Fears and desires haunt us. We were brought up to need people, for acceptance, approval and appreciation. With these, we will then deem ourselves as happy and successful. However, they are conventions, things that are invented, but we don't realise that they don't correspond to reality. When we were young, we were conditioned for unhappiness. We are inured to believe that in order to be happy you need money, a flashy car, a big house, success, a good career, you name it. Unless we get these things, we are not going to be happy. Now, that is what is called an attachment. An attachment is a belief that without something you are not going to be happy. Sadly, many people are enslaved by their attachments, very much tangible. Listen to the conversations around you when you can, you hear people talking about their attachments with such pride that they make me sick. Listen to yourselves, people.. Does that pair of limited edition Nike trainers or that Summer collection Gucci bag or that maharishi top or that new set of Bose speakers really define who you really are? To me, they are just aesthetically pleasing conventions and attachments that bound…