What are spiritual teachers on about when they talk about how we are limited beings, about seeking freedom, and waking up? We are all being boxed in by imagining ourselves victims of the world and how we somehow have to figure out where we fit in, how we can get our needs met, how we can experience joy. Most of this whole thing is determined by how we perceive other people. We are looking at a world where other people are going to give us a job, pay us a wage, bring us joy, and keep us not-alone . This is all because the biggest fear of the ego is of meaninglessness and being alone and ultimately of not existing at all. So the ego has created this vast network to make us completely convinced that A. We are not alone B. That we are at the mercy of external forces and C. We are limited by external forces and have little control over our lives.
Fear is the glue that holds this big network together. We have to be willing to completely reverse our attitudes about the world and our place within it. We all get to a point of being fed up with how things are working in our lives and we seek things to try to cope. But these coping strategies are really just ways that we waste our time. Addictions and things that distract us from looking directly at the truth are common (drugs, internet, TV, porn, etc.) Also practicing a particular spirituality is also likely to be a distraction. Let's all meditate, find peace, look up to a guru, blah blah blah. These are all ways that we can keep the ego safe and warm and in its comfortable home. Looking outside instead of inside. Looking at the world as a place where other people and circumstances control us is exactly how ego thrives. If you want to make a change, this is where you begin, by looking at how your ego is working to create exactly the conditions that you want rid of.
If I have characterized fear as something that we should fight against, resist, etc., then I apologize. Resistance is futile. Resistance is exactly what the ego would have us do. J. Krishnamurti hits the nail on the head talking about the best way to approach the issue of fear:
"It is not that you must be free from fear. The moment you try to free yourself from fear, you create resistance. Resistance in any form doesn't end fear. What is needed rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance is understanding fear; that means to watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it"
If you want to change you have to make it the number one focus of your life. What could be more important? Recognize how you avoid fear. How do you distract yourself? How do you resist? All of this is knowable if we stop and look. Look at how you have enabled the ego. How you have enabled the outside world to determine the course of your life?
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