Hello my wondrous ones.
The following verse is incredibly important and refers straight back to my discussion of verse one and the liberation that comes from accepting that all our decisions are our own. I expect that therefore I will repeat myself a bit, as the ideas are overlapping, so please bear with me.
Verse 12 - Choices
Colours can make us blind!
Music can make us deaf!
Flavours can destroy our taste!
Possessions can close our options!
Racing can drive us mad
and its rewards obstruct our peace!
Thus, the wise
fill the inner gut
rather than the eyes,
always sacrificing the superficial
for the essential. (Translation Ralph Alan Dale)
So, as I have said before, we have complete responsibility over the choices we make in our lives. There is always a choice even if the choice we make is to do nothing.
The world we live in in the first part of the 21st Century is a veritable melee of sights, sounds and smells. We are bombarded by sensations from every side and have become inured to them. There is little we are shocked by when violence, rape and murder is piped into our houses every day and we accept that this is normal behaviour when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.
I took part in a discussion about a year ago with some teenagers about the film ‘Thelma and Louise’. We were discussing the infamous rape scene where Louise ends up shooting Thelma’s would-be rapist. Although I do not advocate shooting anybody I was shocked to hear some of the teenage girls saying ‘but it was only rape’! They had seen so many films/programmes in their short lives where rape occurred that they had become blind to the horror of it. I pray and wish with all my heart that they never have to find out otherwise.
We have access to so much stimuli now compared to even 50 years ago that we are becoming deaf and blind to the hideousness that some of it represents.
I think that the internet is a wonderful thing. It means that for the first time knowledge is available to everyone, not just the mobile and monied elite. However, as discussed before in this blog every good action has to be balanced by its reaction and therefore we are also given access to all that which desensitizes us. What once would have been considered outrageous behaviour we now see performed time and time again on the net, or at the cinema, or on Sky and so it doesn’t seem nearly so outrageous.
It is important therefore to trust our instinct - ‘to fill the inner gut rather than the eyes’. To trust ourselves when we feel over-stimulated and to choose to walk away from it, whatever pressure anyone may put on you. It is your choice not anyone else’s. You are the only person who has to look at yourself in the bathroom mirror in the morning; the only one who knows how an action truly makes you feel.
We have ultimate choice and consequently ultimate responsibility. We cannot wait for someone else to sort things out, it is up to us to make the choices that do just that. To decide what it is in our lives that is essential, rather than what will make us feel accepted and part of the gang. There is a passage by the Zen Master Osho that I would like to share with you: ‘Unless you drop your personality you will not be able to find your individuality. Individuality is given by existence; personality is imposed by the society. Personality is social convenience. Society cannot tolerate individuality, because individuality will not follow like a sheep. Individuality has the quality of the lion; the lion moves alone. The sheep are always in the crowd, hoping that being in the crowd will feel cosy. Being in the crowd one feels more protected, secure. If someone attacks, there is every possibility in a crowd to save yourself. But alone? – only the lions move alone. And every one of you is born a lion, but the society goes on conditioning you, programming your mind as a sheep. It gives you a personality, a cosy personality, nice, very convenient – very obedient. Society wants slaves, not people who are absolutely dedicated to freedom. Society wants slaves because all the vested interest want obedience.’ This is a quote that I keep on my wall and is one that I try to live by every day. I personally think that this is why we should all take ultimate responsibility in our lives. We all need to be lions and not sheep. The powers that be manipulate our lives constantly to ensure that we remain sheep, but we have the choice to be lions. Every single one of us can make a difference if we are so inclined, or we can just wait for someone to come along and tell us what to do. The latter is far easier, but it condemns not just us to a life of oppression, but also the generations which follow us.
Make the choice today to look past the brought colours and loud music, past the GM enhanced food and see, hear and taste life for yourself.
The following verse is incredibly important and refers straight back to my discussion of verse one and the liberation that comes from accepting that all our decisions are our own. I expect that therefore I will repeat myself a bit, as the ideas are overlapping, so please bear with me.
Verse 12 - Choices
Colours can make us blind!
Music can make us deaf!
Flavours can destroy our taste!
Possessions can close our options!
Racing can drive us mad
and its rewards obstruct our peace!
Thus, the wise
fill the inner gut
rather than the eyes,
always sacrificing the superficial
for the essential. (Translation Ralph Alan Dale)
So, as I have said before, we have complete responsibility over the choices we make in our lives. There is always a choice even if the choice we make is to do nothing.
The world we live in in the first part of the 21st Century is a veritable melee of sights, sounds and smells. We are bombarded by sensations from every side and have become inured to them. There is little we are shocked by when violence, rape and murder is piped into our houses every day and we accept that this is normal behaviour when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.
I took part in a discussion about a year ago with some teenagers about the film ‘Thelma and Louise’. We were discussing the infamous rape scene where Louise ends up shooting Thelma’s would-be rapist. Although I do not advocate shooting anybody I was shocked to hear some of the teenage girls saying ‘but it was only rape’! They had seen so many films/programmes in their short lives where rape occurred that they had become blind to the horror of it. I pray and wish with all my heart that they never have to find out otherwise.
We have access to so much stimuli now compared to even 50 years ago that we are becoming deaf and blind to the hideousness that some of it represents.
I think that the internet is a wonderful thing. It means that for the first time knowledge is available to everyone, not just the mobile and monied elite. However, as discussed before in this blog every good action has to be balanced by its reaction and therefore we are also given access to all that which desensitizes us. What once would have been considered outrageous behaviour we now see performed time and time again on the net, or at the cinema, or on Sky and so it doesn’t seem nearly so outrageous.
It is important therefore to trust our instinct - ‘to fill the inner gut rather than the eyes’. To trust ourselves when we feel over-stimulated and to choose to walk away from it, whatever pressure anyone may put on you. It is your choice not anyone else’s. You are the only person who has to look at yourself in the bathroom mirror in the morning; the only one who knows how an action truly makes you feel.
We have ultimate choice and consequently ultimate responsibility. We cannot wait for someone else to sort things out, it is up to us to make the choices that do just that. To decide what it is in our lives that is essential, rather than what will make us feel accepted and part of the gang. There is a passage by the Zen Master Osho that I would like to share with you: ‘Unless you drop your personality you will not be able to find your individuality. Individuality is given by existence; personality is imposed by the society. Personality is social convenience. Society cannot tolerate individuality, because individuality will not follow like a sheep. Individuality has the quality of the lion; the lion moves alone. The sheep are always in the crowd, hoping that being in the crowd will feel cosy. Being in the crowd one feels more protected, secure. If someone attacks, there is every possibility in a crowd to save yourself. But alone? – only the lions move alone. And every one of you is born a lion, but the society goes on conditioning you, programming your mind as a sheep. It gives you a personality, a cosy personality, nice, very convenient – very obedient. Society wants slaves, not people who are absolutely dedicated to freedom. Society wants slaves because all the vested interest want obedience.’ This is a quote that I keep on my wall and is one that I try to live by every day. I personally think that this is why we should all take ultimate responsibility in our lives. We all need to be lions and not sheep. The powers that be manipulate our lives constantly to ensure that we remain sheep, but we have the choice to be lions. Every single one of us can make a difference if we are so inclined, or we can just wait for someone to come along and tell us what to do. The latter is far easier, but it condemns not just us to a life of oppression, but also the generations which follow us.
Make the choice today to look past the brought colours and loud music, past the GM enhanced food and see, hear and taste life for yourself.
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