Points to Ponder: December 1, 2017
We saw in the last post that we love our ego more than our self. In the typical case where someone is saying something to me that I think is wrong, I tend to take offense and react to it. Let us today explore, what is the risk of continuing to react the way we do? And also whether there is a way to respond to the situation differently? Let us begin by understanding the difference between reaction and response. A reaction is a reflex action in accordance with the stimulus. A response is an action in accordance with my nature. A reaction stems from ego while a response has its origin in our pure self. Let us take the example of a tree laden with fruit. Even if one throws a stone at the tree, the tree doesn’t give back the stone. It instead gives fruit which is what it has. Similarly, in life, we are faced with someone’s ego or criticism or anger or jealousy. But what emerges in me, in such a situation is what I have inside. Since my own inner world is full of the same energy, my anger, ego, jealousy and criticism crops us.
One has to ask oneself deeply, do we gain by thus reacting to a phenomenon? We have to assess how many situations and people have I been able to change by reacting? If we assess well, the answer is not even one. The next question we have to ask ourselves is do we lose something by reacting? A little reflection will tell us that with time, our state of physical, emotional, mental and social health and the environment has been depleting because of the way we are conducting ourselves in response to situations and people. Today we have to really think hard about how we are continuously engaging in self annihilation in this state of unaware existence. Tomorrow we will understand the process of awakening.