Deconstructing the false self (Part 4)

In order for one to move inward towards multi-dimensional consciousness, you must first deconstruct the false self.  Admitting that you are a victim of mistaken identity, no longer choosing to drink of the three poisons that have infected your life, and suppressed your true being.

When we begin to deconstruct the false self, a side effect of the toxic poisons that we have immersed ourselves in begin to surface.  Much like when a person detoxes from a drug or alcohol addiction, withdrawals begin to surface.  The person needs to struggle and fight through this.  Giving in to the withdrawal means defeat.

This side effect of the withdrawal from the effects of the poisons of the ego that surfaces is called doubt. During this process, you will often experience self doubt (can I really do this?), self defeat (I am not capable of this), self judgement (I don't deserve this), etc. You however are stronger than the symptom.  You have the divine within you! Notice that every single one of these side effects are of the "self".  It is a last ditch effort of the false self  trying to cling on and maintain its lies. But by now, you have recognized that the false self is nothing more than a creation of the ego by the three poisons of I am what I have, I am what I do, and I am what others say I am.   Knowing this, let go of the doubt.  You let go of the doubt by realizing that the very nature of doubt is always about something positive.  For instance doubting your GOODNESS, or doubting your CAPABILITIES.  Never does doubt point toward the negative.  The Ego will always use doubt by trying to deceive you into believing the positive in yourself is not true.

It is the paramatman, the primordial being, the multi-dimensional consciousness that you are will always point toward the positive.  It points you toward the light that is breaking up the darkness.  With every nail, board, window, and wall you remove from the false contextual framework that you have been programmed to build around yourself that you rear down, the light of the positive, the light of love, the light of God, the light of the divine, begins to shine in and illuminate the lies that surround you, chasing them away., leaving you to feel the warmth of the sunlight, and all its healing properties upon your skin, entering each cell for the first time.

The light allows you to see the dust upon the mirror that you have been peering into for so long, thinking that "this is who I am", and realizing that you are so much more.  You see the detail and beauty of your true being.  Oh how the walls of that framework we lived in for so long has deceived us!

Let the deconstruction begin!

Meditation is the hammer that begins to deconstruct that framework we have been discussing.  As one first begins the deconstruction of the false self, one of the first things one realizes is that there isn't much room to swing that hammer.  There is so much clutter within the framework we have built around ourselves that it is even often hard to get to the walls.  We have to begin removing one piece of debris one piece at a time.  To do this, first begin the process of detoxing yourself of the three poisons.

Make a list of labels that you have created to define yourself based off of the three poisons. For example;

1) I am what I have. (making me "Wealthy")

a) my house

b) my car

c) money

d) etc.

2) I am what I do (Making me "better or worse"  then those around me")

a) unemployed

b) a boss

c) a server

d) etc.

3) I am what others say I am (Making me "important or less important" than others)

a)Pretty

b) uglee

c)nerdy

d)etc.

Do this for all three poisons. When we write our thoughts, we bring them into the tangible realm. We can then deal with them tangibly and face the facts.  Everything we experience begins with a thought. The very words you are reading are the creation, and manifestation of a thought. This is what you actually believe if we do this honestly (it only works when we are honest with ourselves).  This is most challenging to those who think they have it all together.  They have the best of everything in life.  Deconstructing the false self for them might reveal some very real scars that they did not want to deal with.  When all the comforts are gone, who are you really?  When all the discomforts are gone, who are you really?  This puts us on EQUAL ground.  We are not all that different when the labels and framework is removed.


Next, ask yourself WHY DO I BELIEVE that I am those labels?  Be honest with yourself.  Have you been told that to be successful, you must have the big house, 4 children and white picket fence?  Have you been told to believe that you will go to hell if you dont believe this specific way?  have you been told to believe that of you dont go to college and have a degree you are a failure and will never get anywhere?  Why do you believe you are those labels?

Thinking upon these things is what is called meditation,  Meditation comes from the same root word for medication.  While medication is medicine for the body, meditation is medicine for the mind.  Meditate upon why you believe you are these labels.  You are ridding yourself of the poisons that have plagued your life for so long, intoxicating you, causing you to believe that which is not real. Meditation upon these things is the medication to defeat the toxicity of the poisons

Realize the doubts you are feeling are a lie.  Let go and reject these titles, labels, or whatever else you would like to call them. Burn them, Flush them as the "crap" they are, burry them, rid them however you feel you need to do.  Deconstructing the false self can be a painful process for some as it may feel as though you are experiencing the death of someone close to you. This is ok. In fact, you are experiencing a death. You are experiencing the death of the false self.  Sometimes, this process means we need time to grieve.

I worked in a hospital some years ago and made daily trips into the cancer unit as part of my duties. It was in the cancer center that I learned one of the greatest lessons in the grieving process. As I had just brought in some supplies into the unit, I overheard a conversation from a patient that was just told they did not have much longer. Their loved one was sitting next to them and with tear filled eyes, and a crack in her voice asked "are you ok?" The patient, assumingly not wanting to upset the loved one just shook her head as to say "yes." The loved one then took the hand of the patient who was just told they did not have long to live and stated, "it's ok to not be ok." The patient smiled and let out a sigh of relief. The two hugged and cried consoling one another. I left, walking around the corner with water filled eyes myself, and learning a valuable lesson in grief. It was ok to step out of your comfort zone and to not be ok! I do not know what happened to that patient ultimately, but wherever they are, they impacted my life in one moment. What was unknown to the world is that I myself was going through a very traumatizing time, and was trying to hide my grief. It was this experience that taught me that grieving was part of the process of growing.

It is in this grief that we may feel anger.  Channel this anger to begin to pound those walls of the contextual framework that you are confined in.  see the light of the divine begin to shine upon your natural being, and feel it sprout as it takes its first peak outside of the seed it was once encased in.

As stated in the beginning, if we as natural beings contain all of nature's knowledge, and in the primordial self are part of this infinite divine nature, we can step out of and tear down this constricted, contaminated, and tainted contextual framework of walls that block the primordial self from being discovered and cultivated into full maturity.  Now that the seedling has sprung forth, we begin the journey of nurturing it into maturity, and living as the true you.

Seeing the cracks in the contextual framework of the false self. (Part 3)

PROGRAMMED BELIEF
We move through our lives with this belief system that has really been built by others. We never stop to question what we believe because we trust those we have learned it from. Having been taught by our parents and grandparents. Religious teachers such as priests, pastors, or gurus. Political leaders, educators, and many others, there seems to be no reason to question what they have taught us.

How many people do you know that go to church on Sunday, listen to a sermon, then go home and never open their bible to check the facts of what was taught? After all, the preacher is just as human as the rest of us and therefore can also make mistakes. While I mean no attack on Christianity, I use this as an example that many people can relate to.

To further demonstrate this point, I remember hearing a story of a young couple, newly married. The new wife decided to make a nice ham dinner for her husband. As the husband watched the wife prepare the ham, he noticed she cut off the ends of the ham and threw them out. The husband asked the wife, "Why did you cut off the ends and throw them out?" To which the young wife replied, "I don't know. That's the way mom always done it."

It sparked a curiosity in the young wife who asked her mother the same question. "Mom, why do you cut the ends of the ham off and throw them out?" To which the mother replied. "That's the way your grandmother always done it."

So the young wife phoned her grandmother to ask her the same question. Grandma, why when you made a ham, did you always cut off the ends and throw them away? The grandmother answered, "Because it would not fit in the only pan I had. Seeing we were so poor I could not buy a bigger one."

If the young husband had not asked the question as to why this was done, the wife would have never been persistent in finding out the answer. Thus, their children would have probably been raised to continue to do the same thing, wasting perfectly good food generation after generation. But with one question, the answer found may have stopped generations to come in wasting much food.

Looking into your own belief systems, built from a programmed knowledge that has been handed down to you, have you ever taken the time to question why? "Why do I believe in this religion?" "Why do I believe in these set of politics?" "Why do I believe I have to have a career to be successful?" Why do I believe that I have to be taller, smarter, skinnier, heavier, more muscular, more wealthy, and every other belief that you have been taught? In asking these questions you can change generations to come. It only starts with one person, asking one question to make a significant change, just as in the story of the newlywed couple.

So this leads us back to the original question. Who are you? Removing the contextual framework of the Three poisons one by one will lead you to this answer. You are not what you have. You are not what you do, and you are not what others say you are.

It takes real courage to move out of your comfort zone and into new unexplored territory.
It is in this feeling of being uncomfortable that you can use to begin your journey to seek out new comforts. Comforts that are everlasting, without limits, based on truth, without contextual frameworks, and cannot be taken from you.

Understanding the Contextual Framework we have built. (Part 2)

PRIMORDIAL SELF

We begin this process by awakening what some call the original nature. I prefer the term primordial self. The primordial self is our truest self, completely natural, un-programmed by influences around us, thus void of ego and judgment. It is immutable, yet asleep in most of us, yearning to be awakened.

Just like the bamboo we discussed in the previous post, and everything else in nature, we as natural beings contain all of nature's knowledge, yet nothing more, nothing less. It is the untainted, uncontaminated nature within everything that exists. To what affect does this knowledge have on our lives? If it truly is the un tainted, uncontaminated nature within everything, everything also encompasses the infinite divine. This implies that we to possess the divine within us, and thus all that it is capable of. It also implies that it is available to anyone without regard to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or social status, giving us all equal footing next to one another, instead of opposed to one another.

It resides within the deepest recesses of your being as an embryonic form with all that is needed to awaken your primordial self. This embryonic form is obscured by illusions that you unconsciously and falsely recognize as truths for your life. The moment that these false realities are seen as illusions, the embryonic form of your primordial self begins to mature. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR AWAKENING!

SEEING THE ILLUSIONS OF THE CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORKS IN YOUR LIFE

Take a look around the room or space in which you are in right now. You notice that there is an up, down, left, and right. You recognize this as such because of the contextual framework of that room or space. For instance, the ceiling is up, the floor is down. That which is on your right side such as the book shelf is on the "right", and that which is on your left side such as the window is on the "left". This is the false reality that you are experiencing by the given contextual concept of the direction you are facing at this very moment. Now, turn around 180 degrees to your rear. Suddenly, that which was at your rear has become your front, and previously that which was on your right side, like the bookshelf mentioned previously, is now on your "left" and vise versa. Just a simple change of position, a change in the point of view alters what we first perceived as reality. So was the bookshelf on the right or the left? It was dependent upon the contextual framework you are presented with. So was it on both sides? There could be no title of the front without the rear, or no left without the right. These "titles" are illusions

Let us take this a step further and imagine that we are floating in deep space, the infinite space of the cosmos. Being infinite, it has no direction without having a reference point to work from (contextual framework). Remember, we said you were floating in deep space. you have no reference point. Which way is up, down, left, or right? We could have no absolute as we no longer have the contextual framework to create our reference from.

Much like the previous situations, the primordial self is obscured by the illusions of the titles we have placed upon ourselves. If I were to ask you "Who are you?" You would probably reply with things like, I am Bob, I am a son, I am a sister, a mother, a Christian, a plumber, a dancer, a manager. Or maybe some of you might reply, I am fat, I am ugly, skinny, emotional, angry, lazy, good for nothing. While some will even say, I am amazing, I am loving, kind, a good friend, a lover, beautiful, and honest.

In actuality, we all suffer from a case of mistaken identity.  We even have physical I.D. cards to "prove" who we are.  We have certificates to "prove" we were born and where we were born.  I often laugh thinking about this as we can simply change our name to become someone else, and even put it back on that I.D. card, and replacing the given name on out birth certificate, this making these 'proofs" not actually proof at all.  They simply show who you are at the time"  But if the "you" can change, then is it really "you"?

Each one of these replies are nothing more than titles built from the contextual frameworks that we have been programmed to believe. Every single one of these replies stems from three false beliefs that we have been taught defines who we are. I call these three beliefs the Three Poisons.

The Three Poisons

1. I am what I have.

2. I am what I do.

3. I am what others say I am.

The Three poisons are conceptual contaminants that infect every fiber of our being.  they are highly contagious, and those that recognize that you are infection often run away, leaving us with broken lives, yet grasping onto all three poisons firmly.

The first poison is the false belief that "I am what I have." Society has taught us that success is measured by what we have. How many of us remember our parents, friends or loved ones talking to us at one time or another about getting married, having a nice house, a nice car, or even as I have heard many times from my mother expressing the desire for me to "have better than she had". How many women have you heard tell the story about how as a little girl they dreamed of having a fairy tale wedding, a beautiful house with the white picket fence, yet when they are in their 30s and it has not yet came to fruition they feel disillusioned by those thoughts. I also think of the homeless person who often lives a very hard life of addiction to numb the feeling of being a nobody because he / she does not have anything. It is truly a heartbreaking thought, and as demonstrated, ingrained into our minds from a very early age that we are what we have. But if you are in fact what you have, what happens when it is all gone? Do you disappear with it? Much like the homeless person who far too many times turns to alcohol or drugs will take on the new title, new identity of alcoholic or drug addict rather than a nobody, so too will we need to search for a new identity. Clearly what you have cannot be who you are when it can be taken or lost at any given moment. This poison leads one to attachment and addiction.

The second poison is the false belief that "I am what I do." This poison is usually mixed with the first, making it double deadly. You can't have more if you do not have the means to retain it. So we do more to have more. We spend so much time "doing" just trying to be somebody, because this we believe is what makes us who we are. Some spend their lives in institutional religions doing their part, going to every service, every function, every meeting, yet this is no guarantee. I am reminded of a scripture in the Holy Bible that says “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" Matthew 7:21-23[1]

We learn from the words of one of the greatest enlightened Masters of all time, Jesus Christ, that what we do does not make us who we are.

All too often we have been taught that one who does not have a career but works simple "jobs" to get by is not successful. We are told we have to "work hard", "get to the top" to really be somebody. The fast food worker, or gas attendant is often looked down upon by those in the corporate institution. This is a product of our programming to believe the poison that I am what I do. This poison clearly leads to social prejudice and persecution.

In the combination of these two poisons, we can spend so much of our lives "doing" to appear successful, to retain the titles that we falsely attribute to ourselves, to appear and feel like we are somebody, and to "have more" and feed the greed of the ego, that the we tend to lose touch of those we love.

In this endless cycle, we lose precious time. Precious time to live the life we are truly meant to live. Precious time to be with the ones we love, and precious time to demonstrate love to those who need it! The combination of these two poisons leads us to many levels of abandonment.

Yet, what happens when you lose your job, your status in your religious institution, or whatever it is that you are "doing" to retain the lie of your false identity? Do you disappear? This identity ceases to exist. This cannot be who you are.

The third poison is the false belief that "I am what others say I am." This poison to begins to seep into our systems at a very early age. Think back to a time when you were in school and if you did not keep up and conform with the latest fashions, music, slang, etc. you were considered to be part of the outcasts, the unpopular crowd. The belief that "I am what others say I am" does not allow for the freedom of expression, individual personality, and promotes the thought that one has to be like everyone else to be a somebody. This poison is spreading more rapidly today than ever before.

Current statistics have shown that "7 percent of all students being bullied verbally in some way or another including mental bullying or even verbal abuse. These types of bullying can also include spreading rumors, yelling obscenities or other derogatory terms based on an individual's race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. Out of the 77 percent of those bullied, 14 percent have a severe or bad reaction to the abuse, according to recent school bullying statistics. These numbers make up the students that experience poor self-esteem, depression, anxiety about going to school and even suicidal thoughts (bullycide) as a result of being bullied by their peers. Also as part of this study, about one in five students admitted they are responsible for bullying their peers. Almost half of all students fear harassment or bullying in the bathroom at school, according to these school bullying statistics. As a result of this fear and anxiety of being bullied, many students will make excuses or find ways around going to school. School bullying statistics also reveal that teens ages 12-17 believe they have seen violence increase at their schools. In fact, these numbers also show that most violent altercations between students are more likely to occur on school grounds than on the way to school for many teens."[2]

Children are being taught at a very early age to conform or risk being persecuted. This thought process begins to shape the persons quality of life in the future as an adult, driving them to hold on to the three poisons, believing that these three poisons dictate what it takes to be considered successful. This is then taught to the generations that come after, into the vicious cycle of the ego. This idea is also false. The body regenerates itself every seven years. Not a single atom is left. Every fiber of your body has been regenerated. This means that a person who is 35 has received a new body 5 times already in their lifetime. With this being the case, holding on to the second poison of the false belief that I am what others say I am is a deception. You are not who you were 7 years ago! If "I am what others say I am", what happens to me when I don't fit that mold? As seen in the statistics above, it can be very tragic.


Looking out of the window of the frame that you have built around yourself.

This framework that we built around ourselves dictates directly how we experience the world around us. In fact, it dictates how we experience everything, even that which we cannot see. I am reminded of something written in the Talmud[3];"We see things not as they are, but we see things as we are."

The Buddha also said something very similar; "All existence is conditioned."

Everything we experience around us is directly impacted by the framework we build around ourselves. How we experience life is completely conditional upon how we define our lives.

If we build the framework of our lives around any of the Three Poisons that we have previously talked about, we begin to see things out of that window pane, distorting how they really look.

Imagine building a home from scratch, and having tinted windows installed to keep others from peering inside. While we may accomplish our objective, we keep the benefit of the sunlight out, it distorts the vibrant colors of nature from being seen in their beauty and full glory. It makes us depend upon false, manmade created light to see throughout the house.

We do the very same thing today. We build this framework around ourselves based off of the Three Poisons of "I am what I have, I am what I do, I am what others say I am", which in turn lead us into the illusion that this is the self, or "who I am.". We put on this costume of lies and walk into the world playing a part in the grand play of programmed society without ever giving thought to what things really look like, how they truly feel, or what they really are like outside of that comfortable, false security blanket that we have been told is the "safe place" that we often call the self. Leaving its warmth, and softness is too much to consider. Even with its holes and stuffing hanging out for the world to see, we choose to remain complacent simply because of the comfort it offers us. We never question if there is anything better, warmer, or more comfortable. Our attachment to this impedes any other possibility in our minds. What is this contextual framework, comfort zone, security blanket that makes up this false self as defined by the Three Poisons? A programmed belief system

How can "you" be who you truly are when "you" are so busy being the false self that your I.D.card shows?  To become your true self, your primordial self and tap into the multi-dimensional conscious being that you are, you must first let go of being preoccupied with building up the false self (the ego).   We will discuss this further in out next post.


FOOTNOTES

[1] The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

[2] http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/school-bullying-statistics.html

[3] The body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law and legend comprising the Mishnah and the Gemara. There are two versions of the Talmud: the Babylonian Talmud (which dates from the 5th century AD but includes earlier material) and the earlier Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud.

It is what it is! (Part 1)

There is a story that I was taught by Shanjian Dashi, one of my most cherished teachers, and I would like to begin by sharing it with you. It is called "The Old Farmer."

There once was an old farmer who owned a beautiful mare (female horse) that was used to work the land. One day, that horse ran away. On that day, the people of the village came to him offering him their sympathies yet commenting how unfortunate he was! The old farmer replied, "what makes you think this is unfortunate?" and walked away.

A few months later, the old farmer's mare returned, but with a young, healthy, strong, wild stallion on her side. Seeing this, the village people came again. This time saying how fortunate he was to have lost one horse, get his horse back, and also a stronger horse along with it! The old farmer replied, "What makes you think this is fortunate?" and walked away.

The very next day, the old farmer's son began to train the young stallion so that he too may be used to work on the farm. With a fight, he placed his saddle upon the horse and jumped on his back. The young stallion, having never been ridden bucked the young man off throwing him on the hard ground. The old farmer's son suffered a broken leg and would be immobilized for months. The village people heard about what happened an immediately came to offer their sympathies and saying how unfortunate this was to have happened. The old farmer replied, "What makes you think this is unfortunate?" and walked away.

One month later, a great war began. Every young able bodied male was drafted into battle. As the military came through the village selecting the young men for battle, they came upon the old farmer's son. Seeing that he could not fight with a broken leg, they passed him over and moved on through the rest of the village. As the battle ensued, the opposing force was superior in skill and every young man drafted from the village was killed. All except the old farmer's son. The village people were amazed at the old farmer's good fortune, as he was the only one to not suffer the loss of his son. The old farmer replied, "What makes you think this is so fortunate?" and walked away.

After hearing this story for the first time, Shanjian Dashi asked me what I learn from this story. The pondering of this parable began the beginning of a journey that I am still on today, and one that I hope will never end.

I struggled with answering his question as everything I could come up with seemed to simple. I wanted to really impress him with a profound and brilliant answer. I thought "Surely this enlightened man was testing my own level of enlightenment!" How egotistical of me.

Noticing my struggle with his question, Shanjian said to me these profound words. "It is what it is." I remember thinking to myself, is this man really enlightened? All that he can come up with is "It is what it is." What kind of explanation was that? I had thought of one hundred other lessons more profound then that! Being the amazing teacher he was, Shanjian let me ponder this new information a while longer.

Shanjian was known for his unorthodox answers to questions that people asked him. During this time of meditating upon the parable and Shanjian's reply, a man asked Shanjian what his lineage was that qualified him as a teacher. I was expecting Shanjian to explain to this man his training with many of the top scholars and teachers that would make any educational resume standout such as Narada Mahathera[1] and Nyanaponika Mahathera[2], or his secular education as a biologist and psychologist, yet Shanjian answered this man in a manner that sparked the answers to the very questions I have been meditating on about the parable I was told. Shanjian looked at the man and pointed to the piece of bamboo that he would often use as a cane. Perplexed, the man asked Shanjian "How can that piece of bamboo be your lineage?" to which Shanjian answered "It is what it is." The man walked away frustrated.

Immediately, I felt something rise up inside of me that felt as though I had gained some hidden knowledge. A epiphany of sorts, my "ah ha" moment. I began to understand what the parable really meant, and what master Shanjian was so wisely and patiently waiting to see awakened within me. Shanjian was simply stating to the man that the bamboo cane simply is only what it is. Nothing more, nothing less. But to me, it was so much more.

While we ourselves may see it as a cane because of its use as a cane, it still is of its original nature, bamboo! Every bit of nature's knowledge resides within that piece of bamboo. It holds the very same essence or primordial nature that every piece of bamboo before and after it holds. I realized that if that was true of that was true of the bamboo, it must also be true of ourselves. For we too have this nature! It is this very nature that master Shanjian was validating his lineage by.

Noticing that I have felt some epiphany, he asked me, "Now what have you learned from the parable?" My reply, "It is what it is!" Satisfied by my answer, master Shanjian walked away with a smile and said, "Indeed."

"It is what it is" is in fact exactly what this parable teaches us. We begin to realize that how we view the things that happen around us are completely based off of the contextual framework that they are viewed from. Looking back at the parable, the old farmer was wise enough to realize this. While the villagers would see the loss of the horse as unfortunate, the old farmer realized that their perception of the event as unfortunate was based out of the contextual framework in which they were seeing. Their focus was under the contextual framework that farming will be very difficult without the horse that does much of the heavy work. The farmer however realized that this was neither unfortunate nor fortunate. It was just the nature of the situation.

Likewise, as the string of events unfolded, we begin to see that the so called unfortunate brought forth the fortunate by bringing back another horse which was stronger than the first, allowing the old farmer to double his profits. This however brought forth a so called unfortunate event, breaking the leg of the son, which in turn brought forth a so called fortunate event of saving the life of the son.

We learn from this that there is no fortunate, nor unfortunate. The duality is illusionary. For once could not have existed without the other. They each appear as one half of the whole. Yet in reality, there is only the whole. Yet, we have been programmed by society, our upbringing, institutionalized religions, etc. to see this duality as a reality.

The Chinese have a fantastic representation of this very process. It is called the Tai Chi Tu, or what most people would recognize it as, the Yin Yang .

The Tai Chi Tu is one complete whole, a complete circle. Because of the contextual framework that you have been programmed with by the influences that surround you, you see two parts that make up a whole. Yet, if one half of this circle where to be removed from the whole, the whole model would collapse. Each half pushes the other into existence, thus maintaining their existence. Each so called half contains part of one another as well (as represented by the dots) demonstrating that one could not exist without the other. This negates the illusion of halves.

Think back to a time when you looked at another person, painting, animal, or whatever object or being you can recall that you yourself thought was "ugly". Yet this is a lie that you are telling yourself. Somewhere another person will look at the same object or being and see the beauty in it. So which one is it? Ugly or beautiful? The answer is determined by the contextual framework that you have been programmed to believe is reality. This duality of right or wrong, good or bad, ugly or beautiful, and so on is a daily aspect of our lives that shapes how we navigate through this life, progressing from one stage to the next. So if we are shaping our lives with a lie, can we ever really live in truth? This is the journey that I mentioned in the beginning of this writing that I said "I hope will never end". I want nothing more than humanity to live in truth, and I do believe that like the bamboo, we too all naturally have everything we need within us to be what and who we are truly meant to be.

We will talk a little more about the contextual frameworks that we build around ourselves in the next post.


FOOTNOTES

[1] Narada Mahathera (14 July 1898 – 2 October 1983). A leading scholar and Theravadan Buddhist monk who popularized Buddhist teachings and their implementation of them into the day to day lives of those in the western civilization. He was the author of 13 of the most well known books known to western Buddhists.

[2] Nyanaponika Mahathera (July 21, 1901 – 19 October 1994) was a contemporary author of numerous seminal Theravada books, and teacher of contemporary Western Buddhist leaders such as Bhikkhu Bodhi