The concept of I doing things is how we perceive ourselves interacting in this world. I wake up in the morning do my morning chores, go to work, eat , go to sleep , etc etc. Now think of this from a different perspective. Consider all the actions that you did today. What are actions?. Some movement of muscles and bones and so on. How did they work?. By brain signals to the muscles. How did the brain send signals?. By the electrical-chemical conditions that existed there in the brain . right?. Each and every action required certain muscle commands which had to precisely worked up by the brain in order that it was there. How did you control all those conditions in the brain?. Isn't it safe to say that it just happened by some conditioning. If so where is the need of an "I" here. An I who is intentionally doing all these actions. Even if you imagine a hypothetical I , how can the I open up the brain and put those neural wiring there. Isn't it correct to say that it is all happening out there and you are becoming aware of those happenings?. By imagining an I, we are actually falsifying the automated way in which our brain and every part of our body works.
So you might ask. Am i a robot?. The answer is no. There is a big thing that makes you a being. That is your consciousness about these actions. All the actions are becoming known to you. But this is not the doer of all of these actions. It is just the knower of everything. You have neglected this knower , and embraced the false doer. The mind is a thinking automaton, while the consciousness is the all pervasive knower. Abandon the notion of the doer and embrace the notion of the knower.
Suppose i ask you to think of who is your most favorite person . What would you think?. Now you started thinking about person A suppose. But how did that thought come? Why didn't person B get the credit?. Did you intend to think about person A before i asked you the question. Obviously the thought just came up stimulated by my question. Only thing is you became conscious of the thought about A. It is forced on you. By all previous experience , your own previous thoughts and so many prior causes.You can see that you had no choice except to think about A. Understand that the thought of person A is a bubble that comes up due to so many prior causes of which you have no control.
Most of us think we are doing things because of this apparent illusion of control of our minds. The fact that our mind is in control gives us the illusion of a subjective experience about the thoughts it produces. This leads to the illusion of doership in us. This leads to suffering in life. Instead of all this think of yourself as the knower of all the happenings. All things are just happening and you are the knower of them.
Now just as you understand your own actions as just happening in your knower-ship, you should also see other people actions in the same way. If a person acts in a way that you dont like ask yourself this question. Did she have a choice about it ?. Isnt it a culmination of so many happenings. The way in which she perceived the world , the way in which she understood things, so many so many conditions determine the action that she is doing now. So is this action happening without a cause?. So many prior conditions determined her current conditions in her brain to stimulate a thought and an action that you dont like. Who is to be blamed?. Isnt it perfectly correct according the laws of the universe to act the way she is acting now.You act according to the laws, so is everyone. All you can see is the knowledge about them all. So just as you are thinking something is not right , the other person is doing something precisely by the same laws, so many conditions that exist at the current moment.
Does it make sense to believe that when a person who seemingly does a wrong thing is completely responsible for where he was born, where he accumulated his beliefs, his orientation towards desires and aversions and so on and so forth. Isnt he just a result of so many coincidences that has torn away from the seemingly right things that we believe?. Where does he choose his conditions that precipitate his thoughts?
There are so many thought processes going on in our brain that we are not aware of most of them. Only a small surface of them is coming to view. It is a result of so much deliberation and conditioning that it is too limiting to say that i have a choice in the matter.A nice way to understand this is to think of whether you are making red blood cells right now. Suppose your body stopped doing that what would you feel?. You would feel that you are a victim of the change, rather than feel sorry about that.
However there is a small thing we can do to narrow down the happenings . That is what spiritual conditioning can do to us. It is a lucky thing that we are into a conditioning process that purifies our inner world . This could result in a better set of choices in the future. It is not a control of the present moment that happens but like an investment into the future. To view the world as an unfolding and to purify our own inner world is a great gift which we need to utilize.
When we understand that we are the knower of all these happenings, we begin to appreciate the purity of the moment in its unfolding like watching a movie where we never have any expectations of the outcome of the story and never feel the person responsible for the events in it. Then it is pure joy to know the events. It is only when we start believing about the doership does the problems arise in life.
So you might ask. Am i a robot?. The answer is no. There is a big thing that makes you a being. That is your consciousness about these actions. All the actions are becoming known to you. But this is not the doer of all of these actions. It is just the knower of everything. You have neglected this knower , and embraced the false doer. The mind is a thinking automaton, while the consciousness is the all pervasive knower. Abandon the notion of the doer and embrace the notion of the knower.
Suppose i ask you to think of who is your most favorite person . What would you think?. Now you started thinking about person A suppose. But how did that thought come? Why didn't person B get the credit?. Did you intend to think about person A before i asked you the question. Obviously the thought just came up stimulated by my question. Only thing is you became conscious of the thought about A. It is forced on you. By all previous experience , your own previous thoughts and so many prior causes.You can see that you had no choice except to think about A. Understand that the thought of person A is a bubble that comes up due to so many prior causes of which you have no control.
Most of us think we are doing things because of this apparent illusion of control of our minds. The fact that our mind is in control gives us the illusion of a subjective experience about the thoughts it produces. This leads to the illusion of doership in us. This leads to suffering in life. Instead of all this think of yourself as the knower of all the happenings. All things are just happening and you are the knower of them.
Now just as you understand your own actions as just happening in your knower-ship, you should also see other people actions in the same way. If a person acts in a way that you dont like ask yourself this question. Did she have a choice about it ?. Isnt it a culmination of so many happenings. The way in which she perceived the world , the way in which she understood things, so many so many conditions determine the action that she is doing now. So is this action happening without a cause?. So many prior conditions determined her current conditions in her brain to stimulate a thought and an action that you dont like. Who is to be blamed?. Isnt it perfectly correct according the laws of the universe to act the way she is acting now.You act according to the laws, so is everyone. All you can see is the knowledge about them all. So just as you are thinking something is not right , the other person is doing something precisely by the same laws, so many conditions that exist at the current moment.
Does it make sense to believe that when a person who seemingly does a wrong thing is completely responsible for where he was born, where he accumulated his beliefs, his orientation towards desires and aversions and so on and so forth. Isnt he just a result of so many coincidences that has torn away from the seemingly right things that we believe?. Where does he choose his conditions that precipitate his thoughts?
There are so many thought processes going on in our brain that we are not aware of most of them. Only a small surface of them is coming to view. It is a result of so much deliberation and conditioning that it is too limiting to say that i have a choice in the matter.A nice way to understand this is to think of whether you are making red blood cells right now. Suppose your body stopped doing that what would you feel?. You would feel that you are a victim of the change, rather than feel sorry about that.
However there is a small thing we can do to narrow down the happenings . That is what spiritual conditioning can do to us. It is a lucky thing that we are into a conditioning process that purifies our inner world . This could result in a better set of choices in the future. It is not a control of the present moment that happens but like an investment into the future. To view the world as an unfolding and to purify our own inner world is a great gift which we need to utilize.
When we understand that we are the knower of all these happenings, we begin to appreciate the purity of the moment in its unfolding like watching a movie where we never have any expectations of the outcome of the story and never feel the person responsible for the events in it. Then it is pure joy to know the events. It is only when we start believing about the doership does the problems arise in life.
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