Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Why should I read this book?
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glimpse of the world of your own Mind. You could now proceed to
discussion below.
If you have not yet completed this exercise, writer strongly
recommends that you go back and complete this exercise before
moving ahead.
Post Exercise Investigation
Let us try to answer following questions and briefly investigate
what took place during last 5 minutes.
Q1 - Were you able to continuously keep your attention with
movement of sounds and sounds alone for 5 complete minutes?
or there were thoughts about your family, your work etc that
kept coming in between?
When we close our eyes and try to be with sounds and sounds
alone, we notice that Thoughts keep coming in between and take
us away from the sound that we are trying to follow.
Now let us investigate what are Thoughts.
Movement of Thought is nothing but movement of our own Mind.
A living Thought is a living piece of Mind in action.
If you could see your Thoughts, you have discovered a way to
witness your Mind live in action. Now, you have a tool in your
hands that you could use to enter the hidden world of Mind.
As we proceed, we would use this tool to investigate the
enormous world of Mind that is living inside and which is
responsible for our lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By observation of our Thoughts, we could enter the unseen
world of our Mind, the hidden world of Human
Consciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During previous experiment, we got a glimpse of a world inside
us that we seldom have observed. It is the world of our own
Mind, the world of our living Consciousness.
How does a child learn a new language? A child first learns
alphabets A, B, C... , and then starts forming words and then
gradually becomes proficient in that language. Similarly, lets
start slowly and discuss the basic infrastructure of Human Mind
and living Human Consciousness.
Let us now investigate fundamental basis on which our Mind, our
Consciousness functions and build a foundation that is
necessary to appreciate the contents of rest of the book.
We all know that we have Memory and it lives with us like our
hands and legs. Let us try to answer following question to briefly
investigate the fundamental nature of Memory.
Q1. Say you are given an empty box and you fill a bunch of nuts
and bolts, some flowers and some thorns in that box. Now, if
someone asks you to take out a tennis ball from that box, can
you take out a tennis ball from that box?
It is a funny request isnt it? You can only take out what you have
filled in that box. As you have not filled tennis ball in that box, you
can not take it out.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Memory is like a box, we can only take out things from
our Memory that we have filled in the past. We can not take
out anything else from our Memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us try to to investigate what is the broad nature of things
that our human memory contains.
Q1. Recall one food item that you ate yesterday? After recalling,
write it down or say it loudly. (Lets call the knowledge that you
recalled Data)
Q2. You could recall what you ate yesterday, does it mean this
information is stored somewhere inside your Memory?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Objects and things that we come in contact with during the
business of living get stored in our Memory. Specifically,
images, sounds, smells, touch and names of objects get
stored in our Memory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, lets go a little deeper. Let us try to answer following
questions to understand, is there any other kind of information
that is stored in our Memory.
Q1. During previous exercise, you could recall what you ate
yesterday. Does it mean you know how to recall stored
information? Does it mean, procedure of how to access that
information is also stored inside your Memory? (Lets call this
procedure Routine )
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whatever Routines or Procedures we use to live our life
are also stored in our Memory. It includes how to talk, how
to walk and how to perform many functions that we perform
either consciously or subconsciously.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now lets try to dig a little more deeper by answering following
questions..
Q1. What made you start the action of recalling what you ate
yesterday? If the question was not asked to you, would you even
try to recall what you ate yesterday? (Lets call what started the
action Trigger)
Q2. Would you have started this exercise if the question (Trigger)
was asked in a language that you do not know?
-So it looks like, in this case, first we came in contact with a
Trigger, the Question, then we recognized the Trigger, then we
used a Routine to fetch the information that was part of the
Memory.
It also looks like, we also need knowledge of how to recognize
the Trigger. That also must be part of our Memory for us to
answer any question.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Human Memory contains Data, Routines and Triggers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You must be wondering, what my Memory has to do with my
living Consciousness or with my Mind. Now let us try to
understand, how our Memory is linked to our Mind by a short
experiment.
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Experiment 1. Close your eyes and recall one food item that you
ate today morning. Do not write it down or say it loudly. Just
close your eyes and recall what you ate today morning.
After you are done with above experiment, move on to the
following question.
Q1. Did a Thought of what you ate in the morning float through
your Mind? Did you also see visual of what you ate as a
Thought?
During previous discussion, we learned that Thought is body of
the Mind. Now, in the previous experiment, we saw that contents
of Thought and contents of Memory that was recalled are the
same.
We have discovered something interesting here. Within human
body, the Mind lives as Memory. Gradually, we would realize how
deep this linkage is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mind lives as Memory. When there is a Trigger, a piece of
Mind gets recalled and comes alive. Thought is that piece
of Mind that has become alive and is living.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us see how our Thoughts are linked to our actions.
Q1. In the previous experiment, the instruction was just to recall
what you ate in the morning and not write it down and say it
loudly.
But, if now, you are asked to write down or say loudly what you
ate in the morning? What would you write or say?
Q2. Would the contents of what you write or say be same as the
contents of your Thought?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before every human Action, there is Thought. Before every
Thought, a piece of your Mind, the Memory is recalled.
Your Memory, your Thought and your Action are very tightly
linked. Their contents are same though in different form
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now we have got a glimpse of how our Consciousness is living.
Let us summarize what we have learned so far.
CONTENT of CONSCIOUSNESS
~~
1. What is living?
a. Consciousness is living
2. What is Consciousness?
3. Consciousness is storehouse of Known (knowledge)
a. Content of
synonymous
Consciousness
and
Known
are
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i. What is Data?
1. Data is knowledge that is stored in Memory
ii. What is Routine?
1. Routine is stored knowledge of ways of performing a
function, achieving an objective
iii. What is Trigger?
1. Trigger is knowledge that invokes a Routine. A
Routine can be triggered by many Triggers.
b. All the knowledge or Known is part of Memory
c. What is Memory?
i. Memory is storehouse of Known
5. Mechanism of action of Consciousness is Thought
6. What is Thought?
a. Thought is movement around a piece of Known that is
alive at the moment
b. How has a piece of Known come alive?
i. It has been recalled and has come alive in response to
a Trigger. After recall it is now an active piece of
Consciousness
c. At the root of every Thought is a piece of Known.
What is Action of a human being?
d. Before every Action, there is a Thought.
e. Content of Action and content of Thought are same.
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Q2. What was the content of your Thoughts? What were all
these Thoughts about?
Q3. What was the piece of Known (content of your Memory) that
was recalled? How is your Memory about Dogs related to what
Thought was thinking? Are they same?
Let us explore what we just discovered during this experiment.
What we just discovered is that all thoughts are closely related to
the recalled piece of Known, the recalled piece of Memory.
In other words, it looks as though the active piece of Known is
the center of Thinking process. It also seems very likely that the
active piece of Known is the driver of Thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When there is a Trigger, a piece of Known comes alive and
starts living.
The piece of Known that is active, is the center of Thinking
process. All Thoughts are around this piece of Memory that
is at the center.
It is very similar to saying, a piece of Known that is living is
the Thinker as it is the one which is driving all thoughts at
that point of time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us now dig a little deeper into the mechanism and content of
actions that we take during our business of living.
Let us investigate what is the nature of action by answering
following question.
Experiment 2. Close your eyes for one minute and think about
Cats in general. While you are thinking with closed eyes, try to
pay attention to the contents of Thoughts.
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After you open your eyes, let us investigate the nature of human
action by answering following questions.
Task 1. Write down two things about Cats or speak aloud two
things about Cats.
Q1. What was the content of your Thoughts? Was it same as
what you know about cats? In other words, was the content of
your Thought same as the content of your Memory about cats?
Q2. What was the content of what you wrote about Cats or
spoke about Cats in Task1? Is it same as the content of your
Thought that you discovered in Q1?
-We saw that the contents of Thoughts are driven by the active
piece of Known that is living at the center. We also saw that the
Action of writing or speaking are also driven by contents of
Thoughts about Cats.
Does it now look like that the active piece of Known (recalled
memory), Thoughts (movement around recalled memory), and
Action (outward action of writing) are same? They may be in
different forms but is their content very tightly linked?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The active piece of Known is the center of Thinking
process. All Thoughts are around this piece of Memory that
is at the center.
Thoughts, Actions and the Piece of Known that is Active at
the center are same, their content is very tightly linked.
They may have different forms but their content is
essentially same.
Thus, the piece of Known that has come alive on Trigger, is
the Thinker and it is also the one that is taking Action.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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What was the Trigger that made you think and act?
2.
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~~
1. What is at the center of Action, what is driving the action?
a. It is the movement of Thought
2. What is at the center of Thought, what is driving the
movement of Thought?
a. Active living piece of Known that is at the center, is the
driver of the Thought
3. Who brought this piece of Known to life?
a. A Trigger brought it to life
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following questions.
Q1. How did you feel during the time when you were sitting with
your eyes closed. Did you feel nice, comfortable? ( Comfortable /
Pleasant)
Q2. Did you feel like eating that food item again? in other words,
did you feel an urge to relive that pleasure again?
Q3. What happens when you go to a shop, where you see the
same Cake or Box of sweet, that made you feel good earlier, in
front of you?
Q4. Now you know how a piece of Memory works. In this
experiment, what was the Trigger? Which piece of Known was
recalled? What was the content of Thought? If there was really
that food item, sweet or cake in front of you right now, what
would your action be?
-It looks like, apart from technical pieces of Known that we
discussed in the last chapter, that contain knowledge about
things and how to do stuff, we also have a section of Known that
contains memory of comfort or pleasure that we experienced
when an event took place in the past.
These pieces of Known, which have memory of Comfort stored
with them, work in the same way as any other piece of Known.
There is a Trigger, a piece of Known wakes up and starts living in
the consciousness space. As this piece also has Memory of
Comfort or Pleasure stored with it, that Pleasure or Comfort also
gets recalled and human starts feeling nice again.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When there is Pleasure or Comfort, a piece of Known
wakes up and lives, the action of this piece is also part of
Memory, part of the known. When it wakes up, it does what
it knows, it says, I want more, it tries extend the present
pleasure, or, it tries to relive the memory of old pleasure
again and again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this chapter, so far we investigated a section of mind which is
a storehouse of memories of pleasure and feeling good. We
explored the nature of thought and action when a piece of
Known from this section of the Mind wakes up and lives.
Now, lets us investigate a section of Mind which is storehouse of
memories of Discomfort and Displeasure. Let us explore the
nature and action of life when there is Discomfort.
Q1. Say last month, I was walking by and someone called me a
Fool. I felt very uncomfortable. Do you also feel very
uncomfortable or angry when someone insults you or shouts at
you in insulting tone?
Q2. Now, what takes place when you again see the person who
has insulted you in the past? What takes place when someone
merely mentions the name of that person? Does the Discomfort
come back again?
Q3. Would you again feel Discomfort, if you see that person
again after 10 years? That person may have completely changed
but does it matter at all?
It looks like, we also have a section of Known that contains
memory of Discomfort or Displeasure that was experienced
when an event took place.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a section of our Mind that has memories of past
Discomforts. When a piece of Known from this section of
the Mind wakes up, Memory of feeling bad gets recalled
and humans feel Uncomfortable again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, lets dig a little deeper and discover the nature of human
Thought and Action when memory of Discomfort is at the center
of thinking process.
Experiment 2:
This experiment will take 6 minutes of time.This is a two part
exercise, take 2 minutes for first part and four minutes for the
second.
It is important to complete this exercise to realize, first hand, the
fact of human action when there is Discomfort.
Following is a simple task you need to do. There are two options,
you could choose any one that you find appropriate.
# First two minutes
Option 1: Close your eyes and recall one real incidence when
someone insulted you or made you feel uncomfortable. Or
someone did something to you that made you feel bad. Try to
recall the entire incident from beginning to end. With closed eyes
imagine that it is happening in front of you right now.
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If you can not recall any such incidence than you could try
following option. Use this option only in case you can not recall
any incidence of the nature described above.
Option 2: Close your eyes, try to recall a real person who you do
NOT like much.
Now with closed eyes, imagine as if the following is taking place
in reality right now,
The person comes to you, seemingly very angry and shouts at
you saying -- You are a FOOL, and you should be ashamed of
yourself. Earth is a better place without foolish people like you
# Next four minutes.
Just close your eyes, and sit. Do nothing. Just let whatever is
taking place take place inside you. Be attentive, observe how
you feel and the network of thoughts that is naturally taking
place.
After completing this exercise, you could move on to the
discussion below.
Q1. During second part of the experiment, when you were sitting
with your eyes closed, what kind Thoughts did you observe?
Were they of the nature of trying to fix that person, to avoid the
person, or, to tell him/her that how bad s/he is?
-During experiments, it has come out that when memory of
Discomfort wakes up, nature of Thought is one of the nature of
hurting or fixing the object of dislike or anger, or of trying to move
away or avoiding that person or even of trying to eliminate that
person from ones life.
In your past experience, have you experienced that when
Anger wakes up, it always acts in a similar way? It always
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wants to hurt or fix the object of anger? And all the thoughts are
also about hurting the object or fixing the object of anger in some
way?
If that person that you imagined in the experiment, was in front of
you right now, what would be the nature of your action? Would
you say the same things (or do same things) that the Thought
was thinking?
Does it mean that possible actions of the piece of Known that
wakes up when there is Discomfort are also Known?
We say that we dislike this thing or that person or we hate this or
that person, but now it seems that Dislike or Hatred for that
person is part of the Known. When this memory wakes up and
lives, action of life is bound by Known action of this piece of
Memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When there is Discomfort, a piece of Known wakes up and
lives. When it wakes up, it does what it knows. It tries to
avoid the object that Triggered Discomfort, or fix the object,
or hurt the object in some way or even eliminate the object
from life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us summarize what we have realized in this chapter.
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other
than
what
this
piece
of
Known
commands?
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8. Men and Women say they are so and so name and so and
so title
a. They are nothing but a piece of Known that is living at a
given moment
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lot of Known has come from direct experience of living
with real things and people. Some of the Known has come
from experiences of others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us investigate one more kind of Known by answering the
following question
Q1. Say you read a book that describes an imaginary monster,
describes a place where this monster lives and also describes
imaginary places where humans can be subjected to
excruciating pain and suffering. After reading this book this
information becomes part of your Known or Memory? What is
the source and nature of such Knowledge?
A lot of our Known has come from imagination of others. It may
have nothing to do with reality of the world but after it becomes
part of the Known, it works in the same way as any other piece
of Known. When there is a Trigger, a piece of Known becomes
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lot of Known has come from imagination of others. The
source may be imagination, but, once it becomes part of
the Known, it works and acts in the same way as any other
piece of Known.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now lets explore another kind of Known that we have not
learned in this life by trying to answer following question
Q1. Does your Memory also contain Known that you have not
learned in this life? For example, did you already know how to
cry when you were born? Did you already know a lot of things
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most of the Known has come from the past of human race,
it has been inherited
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the last chapter, we realized that there is a section of Mind
which also contains memories of past Comfort and Discomfort.
The discussion on sources of Known is not complete until we
also investigate briefly the nature of source of Discomfort and
Comfort.
It is easy to see how real physical Discomfort is created, for
example, when a thorn pricks the body, there is pain. It is simple
to see and understand.
Also there is Discomfort and Comfort created by mechanism of
Senses. For example, for the eyes, whatever is pleasant to see
creates Comfort and unpleasant to see creates Discomfort, for
the ears, whatever is pleasant to hear creates Comfort and
unpleasant to hear creates Discomfort, for the tongue, whatever
is pleasant to taste creates Comfort and unpleasant to taste
creates Discomfort, for the skin, whatever is pleasant creates
Comfort and unpleasant creates Discomfort.
On a little bit of thinking and investigation, it is easy to see the
physical mechanism of Comfort and Discomfort and as we have
seen in previous chapters, this becomes Memory and gets
recalled when there is a Trigger.
We say, something is very beautiful, some music is so cool or
something tastes really good. What we mean is that when life
comes in contact with these things, there is Pleasant Sensation
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or there is Comfort.
When we say, we like this thing or that thing, we basically mean
that there is memory of Comfort associated with these things.
We basically mean that the presence of these things have
created Comfort in the past, purely by the mechanism of Senses.
Similarly, when we say, we dislike this thing or that thing, we
basically mean that there is memory of Discomfort associated
with these things. We basically mean that the presence of these
things have created Discomfort in the past, purely by the
mechanism of Senses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Senses create their own Comfort and Discomfort. Source is
the mechanism of senses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us explore another kind of Discomfort that is purely a
creation of Mind. Let us try to answer following questions to
understand what are we talking about.
Purpose of following questions and examples is not to advise
you about what is proper behaviour or to appreciate some
specific kind of behaviour or put down another kind of behaviour.
These examples are merely a tool to bring out a fact of Mind so
that we can realize how Mind mechanism creates its own
Discomfort.
Q1. Since childhood have you learned a lot of Proper
Behaviour or a lot of What Should Be(s) from your parents and
society? For example, have you learned what should be a
proper way to eat, what should be a proper way to talk, what
should be a proper way to dress, what should be a proper way
to pray to your god, what should be a proper way to do xyz?
Q2. How do you feel, when you notice that someone, who is
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When there is an event, which is not in line with Minds
private idea of What Should Be, there is Discomfort
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have you ever wondered why do you dislike people who behave
differently from your idea of What Should be i.e who do not dress
the same way as you have learned, who do not pray the same
way as you have learned or who do not behave the same way as
your idea of What should be(s) demands?
Are you consciously doing it or it is just taking place?
Let us dig a little deeper into this fact to understand an
interesting side effect of what we just discussed above.
Purpose of following questions and examples is not to advise
you about what is proper behaviour or to appreciate some
specific kind of behaviour or put down another kind of behaviour.
These examples are merely a tool to bring out a fact of Mind so
that we can realize how Mind mechanism works inside us.
Q1. Say there is a man who has learned that his wife should
wear a particular kind of dress, it is part of his stored memory of
What Should Be that he has learned from society. When this
man observes his wife not wearing that kind of dress, there is
Discomfort, he feels Uncomfortable.
What is the source of his Discomfort? Is the real source the wife
or the real source of Discomfort is the idea of What Should be
that is part of the memory of the person? In other words, would
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am busy fixing this person or that person, thinking s/he is
the reason of my Discomfort, but the real source of
Discomfort is my private idea of What Should Be(s)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us now try to understand what is the automatic action of
Mind or what do humans do when there is such Discomfort.
Q1. When humans encounter events that are not in line with their
idea private idea of What Should Be, is their nature of action
one of Trying to fix the other?, or Trying to avoid the other? or
Trying to hurt the other in some way?
Q2. What do you do, when you observe something that does not
match your idea of What Should Be(s) and there is Discomfort?
Is your action of similar nature?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When there is Discomfort, the nature of action of Mind is to
violate the other in some way. Similarly, when there is
Comfort, the action is of opposite nature to that of
Discomfort.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As we can see, these experiences become the part of our
Memory and later they get recalled on Trigger ( whenever we see
or hear about that person again) and we again feel Discomfort or
Comfort.
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~~
1. How has Known come into existence?
a. Some Known came from past experience of living with
Actual Things
b. Some Known came from the factual Known of others
c. Some Known came from imagination of others
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Consolidation Questions
Q1. During business of living become aware of instances when
you feel Uncomfortable. Notice if it is because what other person
is doing is not in line with your idea of What Should Be(s)?
What is your action during such events? If your idea of What
Should Be were to be different, would you still feel
uncomfortable?
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3. Pick any sound and with great attention, try to follow the
sound until it ends.
a. You may notice that you are not able to stay with chosen
Sound until that ends completely and you may find that
your attention naturally moves away to another sound
b. If that is the case, just move on the new Sound and follow
that sound with a smile until that ends.
4. After a sound ends, try to stay with the interval that follows
the sound. Then when a new sound starts, move on to the
new sound. Try to keep attention continuously at one or
another sound.
5. Soon you would discover that movement of thought has
taken your attention away from the Sound.
6. When you discover that Thought has come into being, try to
think, what was the Trigger that started this Thought?
7. Trigger could be anything, for example it could be a sound
you recognized and that started a thought or it could be a
sensation that you felt in body that started a thought. A
Trigger could also be something that previous Thought was
thinking.
8. Think and trace backwards, and try to find, when you were
following the Sound and then what took place, that started
this Thought?
9. After you have identified the Trigger, again, go back to
paying attention to sounds that are playing around you.
Soon, you would discover that Thought has moved away
again. Remember your primary aim is to follow the sounds
and not to get busy with Analysis.
10.Repeat point 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 until your decided time is
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When life pays attention to unknown, as soon as there is
recognition of something Known, a Thought starts around
this recognized Known. Then something in the first
Thought starts the second Thought and it goes on. Mind
keeps the life busy in a network of Thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Let us now dig a little deeper into the world of Thoughts that we
just experienced.
Q1. Did you discover that there is kind of series of Thoughts that
are taking place? Are they all related to things that you know?
Your family, your job, your work, your goals, your problems, your
projects etc?
Q2. Is it fair to say that phenomena of Network of Thoughts
keeps the life busy in the field of Known? Is it fair to say that
even when we consciously try to stay with the Present Moment
(the movement of sound around you), at first opportunity,
Thought takes us to its Known world, the world of our past?
Q3. This was the experience when you were consciously trying
to pay keen Attention to what was going on around you in the
Present Moment. What do you think would be happening in
normal life hours when Thought is left on its own?
Are we generally even aware, what is going on in the Present
Moment? or Thought is busy with itself?
-Let us explore what are we just discovered here.
The Thoughts that we experience are all related to things that we
Know. They are related to our known lives, our known problems,
our work, our interests, our goals, our desires, our envies, our
hatreds, our fears etc
We experience that our Thoughts are deeply rooted in our
Known that is our past, our Memory.
Life is busy with Known, we generally dont cares about what is
going on outside our small circle of Known.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Network of Thoughts keeps the life busy in the field of
Known. As the Known is result of our past, Network of
Thoughts, keeps our lives tightly tied to pole of our past
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us look at something interesting that we discovered
during observation of Sounds.
Q1. During whatever little time you were able to pay keen
Attention to the movement of sound, was any Thought present
during those rare moments of great Attention?
During the observation of Sounds, did you notice that when there
is keen Attention to Sound there is no Thought and when there is
Thought, there is no Attention to what is going on around us?
The Network of Thoughts stops during rare moments of great
Attention.
We have discovered something phenomenal here. We have
discovered that either there is movement of Thought or there is
Attention to what is going on.
There are times in life when Thought bothers us a lot. For
example, when you are worried about something, the movement
of thought simply refuses to stop, sometimes it even does not let
you sleep.
Thought does not know how to stop, so just try to pay keen
Attention to Sound that is naturally going on and movement of
Thought would naturally come to an end for that moment. In that
moment, when movement of thought is silent there is experience
of quiet and peace.
Fear is a movement of mind, so are anger, anxiety, aversions &
all other pieces of Known. So, when life seems completely out of
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Consciousness space, either there is Thought or there is
Attention to what is going on. Thought does not know how
to stop. Paying attention to what is going on stops the
incessant flow of Thought and life connects with peace
unknown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us investigate what is the power of Thought and what is
its limitation.
Q1. Close your eyes and try to think any one thing, anything.
Just one thing that is NOT related to things that you already
know. Just one thing that is NOT related to anything that is part
of your Known or that is not a modification of something that is
part of your Known. Is it possible?
-You can only think around a piece of Known, combine two or
more pieces of Known in different ways, but your thinking would
always be tied to the pole of your Known.
For example, I know that birds fly, and I have a wish to fly so I
can imagine myself flying. So this seemingly new imagination is
also related to things that I know
You can not imagine and think anything that is absolutely new.
We can see the power of Thought in that it could use our past
knowledge, combine two pieces of Known, stretch the Known a
bit to find solutions for our living problems based on our past
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Human Thought is tied to pole of human past. It can not
think anything absolutely new. It can incrementally innovate
on top of old Knowledge but Thought can never radically
break from the box of the past.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you try to solve a problem, are you aware that thinking can
not take you beyond certain limit? Put it simply, are you aware
that all solutions that thinking can ever discover would be of the
Known, thinking can not discover anything absolutely new.
One must now investigate, if Thinking is tied to our Known, how
does life connect to Unknown? How do humans discover things
that are absolutely new?
Let us try to explore this interesting question by a small
experiment. In order to really appreciate what are we talking
about, it is very important that you actually do it (it is very
simple).
Q1. Look at a Thing (anything) that is in front of you right now.
Is that Thing part of your Known, is it part of your Memory?
Q2. Now look at that Thing (that you looked in above question)
again with great Attention, try to notice those little dots that you
did not notice earlier. Go ahead touch it, feel it, may be smell it.
Now, does your Known have more knowledge about the Thing
than it had earlier? Has something that was Unknown about that
thing earlier now become Known?
Q3. After this new observation, is your Known about that thing
complete? Or if you pay more attention, and investigate, more
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thought is tied to Known and Attention connects to
Unknown. When Thought is silent, with energy of Attention,
Unknown can be seen, heard, felt and discovered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us summarize what we have realized in this chapter.
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~~
1. A living Consciousness, works with both of Known and
Unknown
a. Consciousness works with Known in a Known way
b. Consciousness works with Unknown also in a Known
way
2. Attention and Thought
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person B did?
Q2. What prevents from your being able to Listen to real thing
and then take care of real thing?
For example, what prevents you from patiently listening to A,
then realizing that A looks Angry, and then attempting to take
care of Real Thing by asking What makes him Angry in a calm
voice, and then like a wise person take care of the real Thing
with a smile?
Q3. Is it fair to say that Known that wakes up lives? Is it fair to
say that Known, when it wakes up and lives, has no ability to see
the real Thing or take care of real thing? That piece of Known
that I am at the moment, can see only what it wants to see, does
only what it wants to do?
Q4. Now can you observe the world and try to Listen to the
Thing, that is living inside you, and that is also living inside other
people? Is it possible to not just react to the words, but really try
to listen to the real Thing, and then take care of the real Thing
that is behind the words?
-Let us summarize what are we talking about and try to use it as a
tool of observation as we live our lives.
Listen to the Thing - Do Not get busy with words
~~
1. Every moment of life is an opportunity to Discover the Known
a. Known is living inside and Known is living outside
2. When you hear other talk something, ask
a. Which is the piece of Known that is talking?
b. What has Triggered it?
c. What is the action of this piece of Known?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a Known force, namely Reaction to Discomfort,
that lives inside all humans. It gets Triggered whenever
there is Discomfort. Like any other piece of Known, it can
only do what it Knows. It tries to change the other, or, avoid
the other, or, hurt the other in some way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us investigate an interesting side effect of this phenomena.
Q1. When there is Anger or Irritation, do humans realize that real
source Discomfort that triggered Anger or Irritation can be an
ideal of What Should Be that is living inside? Or all the fury of
the force of Anger and Irritation is directed towards the person or
object that is seen outside?
Q2. Are humans consciously doing it or it is just taking place
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reaction to Discomfort is born blind, it only can see outside
to find who or what is the reason of Discomfort. As it can
only see outside, its fury is always directed towards the
people and things outside, and outside only. The true
source of Discomfort may continue to live undetected
inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~~
1. There is force that is Known that moves life away from
Discomfort
2. What is Discomfort?
a. Discomfort is unpleasant Sensation
3. What is the cause of Comfort and Discomfort?
a. It is the basic nature of Life
b. As long as there is Life there would be Comfort and
Discomfort
c. For the Eyes, Ears, Tongue, Skin, Nose and the body,
whatever is pleasant creates Comfort and whatever is
unpleasant Discomfort.
d. The cause is the Routine of Senses and body Sensations
2. Apart from physical reasons, Mind can create its own
Discomfort
a. Whenever life comes in contact with something that is
different from its private Memory of What Should Be,
there is Discomfort
3. Feeling of Discomfort is temporary. It comes and goes away
when the Sensation is gone. It is the Reaction to
Discomfort that is a greater force
4. What is Reaction to Discomfort?
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~~
1. What is Aversion?
a. Aversion is a stored memory that the Trigger has caused
Discomfort
b. Memory of Discomfort is also part of this Memory
c. After it has been created, it lives as an independent piece
of Known
i. It lives as a part of Content of Consciousness
2. What is the Trigger for the Aversion? What brings it alive the
next time?
a. Image of the Object that is stored as a perceived cause
of past Discomfort, is stored as Trigger.
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9. Men and Women are busy fixing this person or that person,
this thing or that thing. They are busy running away from
the trigger, they are busy killing this or that, thinking it is the
solution to their resident sorrow of Aversions.
a. Aversion lives on creating more Discomfort on the run
10. Men and Women work hard to increase their sorrow, yes
they work hard whole life to increase their Sorrow
11. What can Men and Women do, it is the Known that lives?
a. Whenever
there
is
Discomfort
you
would
feel
uncomfortable
i. Let there be awareness that all Discomfort are
temporary, they all go away
12. In this awareness, let men and women sit with Discomfort
and do nothing.
a. Do Nothing does not mean doing nothing
i. It means doing nothing that blind Reaction to
Discomfort demands you to do
ii. It means not running away, not causing harm to other,
not shouting, not killing
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The Known action of Desire is either try and own the object of
pleasure or try and extend the contact with object of pleasure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a Known force, namely Desire, that lives inside
all humans. It gets triggered whenever there is Comfort or
when human is feeling good. When it wakes up, it can only
do what it knows. The action is either to try to extend the
pleasure or try to own the object of pleasure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We now understand that whenever life feels good or there is
sensation of Comfort, a piece of Known that is integral part of our
being, our content of Consciousness, gets Triggered and comes
into being. We have called that piece of Known as Desire.
Let us now investigate how does it affect our life.
Q1. Can you name couple of your goals that are of nature of
acquiring some future state of pleasure? [These goals could be
achieving some position, achieving some title, achieving certain
amount of wealth, achieving certain body type, acquiring a
beautiful house, vacation etc, they could also be achieving
some imaginary pleasurable state in afterlife.]
Q2. For each of the goals that you have listed above, try to
investigate how these goals came into being? Why did you start,
or what made you start on a particular goal of Desire?
The reason Desire came into being was that life felt good at
some point of time.
Several things can make life feel good, it could be a real object
that gave pleasure or it could very well be an imaginary
description of a place filled with Known pleasures, it could also
be imaginary idea of Pleasure that a thing or object would give if
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was Comfort or life felt good at some point of time,
Desire came into being and a Goal was created to achieve
the object of Desire. Now the Goal lives and occupies
whole life energy to achieve its objective.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us now see an interesting aspect of achievement of Goals of
Desire.
Q1. Do you remember last time when you achieved one of your
Goals? How did you feel that time? How long did the happiness
last? Did the new goal replace an old one?
Have you ever wondered why the pleasure of achievement
seldom matches up with the effort you have put in to achieve
something? Why it does not last for more than a limited time?
Desire is born blind. It does not Know that the object of Desire
may or may not give comfort or Pleasure. The fact was that there
was Comfort and then the Desire was born.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Desire thinks that achieving or acquiring the Object will
give pleasure, it does not Know, it was born because there
was pleasure. Pleasure was the Trigger that made the
Desire come into being.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can now see that Desire can never be fulfilled. Why?
Because it is of the nature of Memory, it is in the content of
Human Consciousness.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Desire can never be fulfilled as it is of the nature of
Memory. Even if human is able to achieve a Goal of Desire,
next time, there is Comfort, Desire would wake up and
create a new goal of Desire. This time for a new Object and
life would again get busy in a race to acquire that new
Object.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us move on to another interesting fact of Pleasure or
Comfort when it becomes Memory.
In part I, we have seen that the pleasures that we experience
become memories. When life comes in contact with image of
object that gave us pleasure in the past, there is an urge to relive
the pleasure again.
We have seen, during earlier experiments, that when we see a
box of sweet or cake that we really like, we feel like buying it
again, we feel like eating the thing again that gave us pleasure in
the past.
Is it fair to say that nature of these memories is like a Craving to
relive the past pleasure?
As it is of the nature of Memory, whenever there is associated
Trigger, it wakes up and there is Comfort again. As there is
Comfort, Desire wakes up and want to live that pleasure again.
The Craving for perceived object of pleasure becomes an
integral part of contents of Human Consciousness.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Memory of Pleasure gives rise to Cravings. On a Trigger,
whenever a Craving wakes up, it recalls Comfort that was
felt the last time. The feeling of Comfort wakes up Desire to
relive the old pleasure again. Human craves for old
pleasure again and again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us look, how the fundamental forces of Desire and
Cravings have been used by the ones who know to exploit
human beings since time immemorial.
Let us try to understand how it works by an example.
When I was young, I saw a billboard showing beautiful Women
and Men having fun. It was carefully designed to make me feel
good and yes, there was feeling of Comfort (Contact with any
beautiful scene, voice, or imagination of pleasure can do that).
As there was Comfort, it triggered Desire. Desire woke up,
looked out and saw the billboard. It displayed Men and Women
were smoking and there was a packet of Cigarette boldly
displayed and a message that suggested that smoking that
brand of Cigarette is the reason why there is pleasure.
Force of Desire pushed the life and I started smoking. Gradually,
it became Craving that we call addiction.
There is also a fact of physical dependence that narcotic
substances create that make it extremely difficult to quit an
addiction. Now there are two forces that work to keep me
addicted, one that of Craving and another that of physical
dependence.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blind force of Desire pushes human beings to be led
like robots to chase things that may not be the real reason
why they felt comfortable in the first place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Human life energy is engaged in either reliving old memories of
pleasures (Cravings) or busy chasing things that are imagined to
give pleasure in future.
The problem is not that it is taking place, the problem is that one
is not even aware of this.
Let us summarize what we have realized in this chapter.
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COMFORT - DESIRE
~~
1. There is force that is Known that moves life towards Comfort
2. What is Comfort?
a. Comfort is pleasant Sensation
3. What is the cause of Comfort?
a. It is the basic nature of Life. As long as there is Life there
would be Comfort and Discomfort
b. For the Eyes, Ears, Tongue, Skin, Nose and the body,
whatever is pleasant creates Comfort and whatever is
unpleasant Discomfort.
4. Mind mechanism can also create its own Comfort
a. Human has memory of past Comforts or Pleasures, that are
associated with words, sounds and images that act as
Triggers to these memories of old Comfort.
i. Whenever
there
is
related
Trigger,
human
feels
comfortable again
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1. What is Craving?
a. Craving is a memory that there was Pleasure.
2. How a Craving gets created?
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Q1. How did you come to know that you are so and so religion,
so and so nation, so and so group or title etc...? How did you
come to know, you should be respected and people should treat
you in such and such manner?
Gradually, every time the image wakes up on Trigger, the image
learns from society who it is and how it should be treated and
greeted, what it should do etc
The image gathers a lot of What Should Be(s) about itself, from
society, as it grows up. Next time, it wakes up on Trigger, it
wakes up with all it knows. It wakes up with memory of all it has
learned from society about Who am I, how should I behave,
how should I be treated and what kind of behaviour I should
indulge in.
Now let us look at an Interesting phenomena that life of this
Image gives rise to.
Q1. Say it is nice afternoon and sun is shining bright. Would you
be upset or angry if someone comes along and says It is not
day, it is night? Would you feel excited when someone says It is
afternoon?
Q2. Do you feel excited and really good if someone calls you
good, intelligent and smart? Do you feel angry and upset when
someone calls you a FOOL? Why do you think it is so?
-In Part-I of the book, we have learned that, when a piece of
Known, a piece of the Mind, comes in contact with something
that is not in line with its private ideal of What Should Be(s), Mind
mechanism creates Discomfort. We have also learned that
whenever there is Discomfort, fundamental force of Reaction to
Discomfort wakes up.
Could it be that when someone calls me a Fool, first the Image-I
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~~
1. Which piece of Known comes into being when someone
calls you by your name?
a. Name is a Trigger and piece of Known is the Image-I,
the Ego
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~~
1. What is an Attachment to Ego, the Image-I?
a. Image I is hollow as it only exists as an Image
b. It only knows itself through the things it thinks it owns
c. So it seeks its identity through things, that it thinks are
mine
a. Any thing it calls Mine or My, it creates an Attachment
to that thing
b. Attachment, after it is created, takes an independent life
as a piece of Known
i. After that it lives in Memory, as part of Content of
Consciousness
c. Ego works hard to create Attachments to hide the hollow
d. It is afraid to lose Attachments as it is nothing without the
Attachments
6. When Attachment comes into being (Becomes active on
Trigger), the Action is Known, it is one of the following
a. Attachment cares for the object it is attached to
b. Attachment feels proud when someone praises the object
of attachment
c. Attachment is anxious and afraid for the safety of the
object of attachment
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most of human life energy is invested in Goals of the
Known. I think I am living, but it seems, it is the Goals of
the Known that are living. They are using my body and all
of my life energy to achieve their objectives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us explore an interesting side effect of life of Goals.
Q1. When you work to achieve a goal, do you dislike when other
people come in the way of achieving your goals? Have you
created Aversions to these people, who you think have come in
the way of your goals? [Aversions can be Dislike, Hatred etc]
Q2. What happens, how do you feel, when you notice that one of
your peers has achieved the goal you always wanted to achieve,
specially when you are not able to achieve that goal?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Goals create more Known as they live their lives. All
pieces of Known once created behave in the same way,
they wait for a Trigger to wake up. They are of the nature of
force, they force life in a Known direction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~~
1. What is a Goal
a. When a piece of Known lives, it has a Goal to achieve.
i. The piece of Known creates a permanent memory of
this Goal
1. Goal is a continuous living mechanism of objective
of a Piece of Known
ii. It is a child of another Piece of Known
b. Goal is also a piece of Known that lives independently as
part of Content of Consciousness
2. How was the Goal created? How did it come into being?
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suffering of others
i. A living blind goal can destroy whatever comes in its
way
1. It has led to destruction of nature, and has caused
great violence
e. When it gets what it wanted, it dissolves, there is
happiness
i. But it is temporary as all Comforts are
ii. Comfort triggers Desire
1. And the men and women want more and more of it
2. The life of a new Goal starts all over again
iii. If the Goal was a child of Egos Desire,
1. Achievement creates Arrogance
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10.What men and women can do, it is the Known that is living?
a. Goals may be necessary in the business of living. Yet,
they are what they are.
b. In this realization, let it work towards a goal but not create
sorrow of anxiety, fear, envy, aversion and attachments
i. Let it not violate the other and create real Discomfort
for others
Consolidation Questions:
Q1. While you live your everyday life, investigate which one of
your actions are for achieving a Goal.
Q2. Does it cause anxiety that you may not achieve your goal?
Q3. Do you dislike anyone who has come in the way of your
Goal?
Q4. Do you envy someone who has achieved, what your goal
wants?
Q5. Do you fear losing what you have got as a result of your past
goals?
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Chapter 13 - Consciousness is
Programmable
Conditioning acts as a force that keeps human life within a
limited prescription of conditioned behaviour.
As mechanism of What Should Be(s) is fundamental basis of
conditioning, let us briefly revisit the mechanism of What Should
Be(s).
Since childhood, we learn a lot of Proper Behaviour or a lot of
What Should Be(s) from our parents and society.
For example, you have learned what should be a proper way to
eat, what should be a proper way to talk, what should be a
proper way to dress, what should be a proper way to pray to
your god etc...
In previous chapters, we have learned that the mechanism of
Mind creates its own Discomfort when we come in contact with a
behaviour that is not in line with our private ideal of What Should
Be. We have also explored the nature of human action when this
takes place.
Let us now explore how mechanism of conditioning uses this
inbuilt mechanism of Mind.
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~~
1. What is Conditioning?
a. Conditioning
is
social
process
that
uses
inbuilt
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Pursuits,
Ways
of
life.
All
is
Content
of
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Consciousness.
c. Thus Civilization lives in the Content of Consciousness
7. Humans, for a million years by this mechanisms have created
Civilizations
a. Earlier, there were ancient Greeks with their own ideas of
God, Rituals, Ideas of afterlife, Ideals and their own set of
What Should Be(s), now there are new avatars.
8. At the root of it is the mechanism of Conditioned Content,
which is integral part of Content of Human Consciousness
9. Ignorance of the fact is also in the Content of Human
Consciousness
10.The problem is not that there are What Should Be(s). The
problem is that one is not aware of it. As one is not aware,
one merely works as a blind robot pushed in certain direction
by the force of What Should Be(s).
a. When What should be(s) are rooted in facts of life, they
may help humans lead a healthy and conflict free life.
b. When What should be(s) are rooted in fiction, they can
bind human energy in something that is not a fact.
c. In either case, unless human is aware of its mechanism,
human remains vulnerable to this blind mechanism of Mind.
11.What should a human do, s/he is but
Consciousness?
Content of
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ii. It merely means not violating the other just because blind
force of Mind demands it
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our senses act like measurement instruments. They
measure the world around us and create experiences that
we call visual, sound, taste, touch and smell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now let us conduct a small experiment. It will take just two
minutes of your time, but it is very important that you do this to
appreciate what we are trying to discuss.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we pay Attention, Senses actively connect us with
what is happening right now in the Present Moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us dig a little deeper into this subject. Lets call what is taking
place, at this moment, right now in front of you, around you and
inside you as Things and movement of Things.
So, Sounds that are playing are Things, Objects that are
stationary or moving are Things, Living things that are moving
or stationary (human, animals, birds, insects etc) are also
Things.
Q1. Do you realize that there is a World of Things around you?
Q2. Is this World of Things around you part of your Known,
your Memory? Or the World of Things exists independent of
your Known, your Memory?
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you are meeting for the first time, can the voice of this person,
that you heard, be part of your Known tomorrow?
Q2. Does it mean paying Attention and Observation is a way to
connect to an Unknown which is knowable? And may be a way
to make it a part of your Known for later?
Let us summarize what we have realized in this chapter.
The Present Moment
~~
1. What is the Present Moment?
a. The Present Moment is live world of things, moving or
unmoving, visible or invisible, knowable or unknowable
b. Nothing lives outside the Present Moment
c. It s always live, fresh and new, always changing
d. The Present Moment is not Known and can never be
Known
i. Memory or Known is of the past. The Present Moment is
living right now. It is present continuous.
2. What are Senses?
a. Senses connect with Things and movement of Things in the
Present Moment and create Sensations according to the
mechanism of Senses.
i. What is Sensation?
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Consolidation Questions
Q1 Whatever is taking place right now, inside and outside you, is
either movement of Known, or movement of Unknown. Does this
statement completely represent state of the world?
Q2. Try to continuously pay Attention to what is going on, you
would realize that even before a minute is over, Thought will take
you away from the Present Moment. Why do you think life is
busy with Known? Why cannot it stay with the Present Moment
even for a minute?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a resident Known force, that is afraid of
Discomfort. During business of living, human gathers
memory that such and such objects, situations (real or
imaginary) can cause Discomfort. These objects become
Triggers for the resident Fear of Known
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us investigate what takes place in a human being in which
Fear has come into being.
Q1. What happens to you when some Trigger has invoked Fear?
Do you feel uncomfortable, restless? Does it interfere with your
body and breath?
Q2. What is the nature of your Thought and Action when you are
Fear?
We have all witnessed what takes place when Fear comes into
being. It makes us feel very uncomfortable, there is great
Discomfort and restlessness. We witness a strong urge to avoid
the object that has Triggered the Fear. There is strong urge or
force to just run somewhere else. When Discomfort is severe,
the action could also be violent to the Trigger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Fear wakes up, life feels great Discomfort and
helplessness. There is an urge to move away from the
Trigger or to avoid the Trigger or to even eliminate the
Trigger that has invoked this Fear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Do you see that when Fear comes into being, it just takes over
your entire being? Are you consciously doing it or it is just taking
place?
Let us summarize what we have realized from this chapter.
Fear of Known
~~
1. What is Fear of Known?
a. There is a force Known that is afraid of known Discomfort
b. It is part of Content of Consciousness, it lives with all
human beings
2. What is the Trigger to this force?
a. Any Images (Sight, Sounds, Situations), that are linked to
Known real situations of Discomfort in the past can
Trigger this force
b. Any images that trigger memory of imaginary situations of
Discomfort can also Trigger this force.
3. What is the Action of this force?
a. The action of this force is to make human run away from
Trigger, avoid the Trigger or even eliminate the Trigger
that invokes Fear
4. So human is busy running away from objects, people and
situations real and imaginary
a. It may look like that blind action of Fear may save life, but
it, in fact, can endanger it
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127
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is force which is part of Content of Consciousness,
which moves life away from Unknown, the Present
Moment. This force is Fear of Unknown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us investigate this further to explore the nature of human
Thought and Action when life comes in contact with things
Unknown.
Q1. List things that you do from morning to evening. How many
of these things are Known? How many of these things are
completely new or Unknown to you?
Q2. Is it fair to say that your Schedule is part of your Known and
you keep doing the same things every day. (May be slightly
differently, but broadly same things everyday at approximately
same time.)
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This force of Fear of Unknown constantly looks out and
tries to keep life tightly in the field of Known. It does not let
the life stay with Unknown even for a moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now lets explore something immensely interesting that most of
us have experienced in our lives. Let us explore what happens
when accidentally Unknown forces its way into the field of
Consciousness, and when Fear of Unknown has no opportunity
to resolve that something to Known.
Q1. Anytime in your life, has it ever happened that You were
busy and something unexpectedly touched or poked you from
behind? or when you were busy and someone made a loud
sound from behind?
What takes place during those moments? Is there a complete
shock? Why do you think that happens?
Now you see why Author has named this force Fear of
Unknown.
This force is continuously busy recognizing things and busy with
keeping the life experience tightly within the field of Known.
Now, if an event takes place around you, that this force is unable
to recognize, or has no time to resolve as it has come in contact
completely unexpectedly. What does this force do?
It is so mortally afraid of Unknown that there is almost complete
paralysis.
Do you realize that something extraordinary has taken place at
130
FEAR of UNKNOWN
~~
1. Why is life busy with Known? Why is Thought always active?
2. There lives a piece of Content of Consciousness that is Fear
of Unknown
a. Fear of Unknown is always active, it is always looking out
b. World of things and lives is always there
i.
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Consolidation Questions
Q1. During business of living, take time to observe your
thoughts. Try to observe your thoughts, what is thought busy
with? What thought is trying to do all the time? Pay special
attention when some Unknown makes you Uncomfortable.
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136
Option #4. You could also try the same exercise with flying birds,
falling leaves, floating objects in the current of a river. The idea is
to witness a real phenomena taking birth, living and ending. The
idea is to feel how it feels as you witness the ending and try to
stay with the Present Moment for some time after the
phenomena as ended.
Questions and Investigations
Q1. How did you feel when you tried to stay with end of the
phenomena and tried to stay with the Present Moment after the
phenomena has ended?
Q2. Did you feel Discomfort? Did you find that your psyche was
trying to move away from the scene of ending? Did you feel an
urge to just start looking some where else, may be at a new thing
when the thing you were observing was coming to an end?
Fear of Ending
~~
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Chapter 18 - Ignorance
Ignorance is inability to see a fact that is taking place. Ignorance
of the fact of mechanism of Known, the human Mind, is
responsible for sustenance of the blind structure of Known. It is
responsible for most of the human conflict and sorrow.
Let's try to understand this ignorance through an ancient story.
Say there is a room that has 5 people in it. If you ask one of
them (say Person A), who is ignorant, to count how many
people are there. Person A would look out and count 4. He
wouldnt realize that there are 5 people in the room unless
someone tells him, the one who is looking out and counting is
also there in the room. And YOU are that 5th person.
A piece of Known is similarly born ignorant.
When on a Trigger, a piece of Known comes into being, becomes
active and when it looks at the world, it can only look outside. It
does not realize, it is the one who is looking out, listening,
seeing, feeling, thinking and taking action etc...
It thinks that by looking out, it is looking at the Whole, but it
misses itself, which is also part of the Whole.
It is not merely ignorant that I am a piece of Known, who is
looking out, it is completely ignorant about the fact that there is
a whole world of Known which is living inside. This is primary
ignorance of the Known. Ignorance is a fundamental fact of
Human Consciousness.
Let us explore the subject of Ignorance by answering following
questions.
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IGNORANCE
~~
1. What is Ignorance?
a. A living piece of Known doesnt know there is a world of
Known inside
b. A living piece of Known doesnt know that it is the one
who is living
c. A living piece of Known doesnt know that it is the one
who looks out
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~~
1. What is Self Interest?
2. The piece of Known that is living at a moment is Self
a. It is born with an Objective or a Goal
b. It only knows its Goal, it is blind to everything else
c. For a piece of Known, only its goal exists, Other does not
exist
3. All Actions of Known (Self) are Self Interest
a. When What Should Be wakes up and lives
i. It only wants to enforce itself
1. It is blind to suffering of other, Other does not exist
b. When Craving lives, it only wants to relive the pleasure
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Known
b. Let the Known Realize - There is life which is living, which
is an everlasting movement of the Present Moment
c. Let the Known Realize - It is but a part of that one Life
which is living
d. Let the Known Realize - Nothing exists unless the Life
that is living is kept livable
6. In this Realization of its Ignorance, Let the Known sacrifice
its urge to violate the Other, as Other is Life
a. Let Reaction to Discomfort wait with patience knowing
all Discomforts are temporary, it does not need to violate
the other
b. Let What Should Be, Craving, Aversion, Ego, Interest,
Envy, Anger, Fear, Desire, Goal realize they are but
pieces of Known
i. Let them live life, but let them not Violate the other
7. End of Ignorance leads to end of Human Suffering
a. It is the Known that suffers when it thinks that its
Objective is under threat
b. When the Known realizes it is Known - It no longer takes
itself seriously
c. When there is no sufferer - who is there to suffer?
d. Life lives on with perpetual peace and joy - yes perpetual
peace and joy!
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Consolidation Questions
Q1. Try to identify one goal that you have that is not of Self
Interest? One Goal that does not have objective to earn Money,
Fame, Power or some imaginary good state in Afterlife or that is
not to protect your Attachments, fulfill the objectives of your
Desires, Cravings and Aversions?
Q2. Try to run through all the actions that you are engaged in
from Morning to Evening, can you identify one action, just one
action that is not related to achieving limited objective of some or
other piece of Known?
Q3. Is there any action in the human world that is not of Self
Interest? In other words, is there any action in human world, that
is not of the Known, of the Content of Human Consciousness?
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Chapter 20 Who am I?
You have now learned how the blind forces of Content of Human
Consciousness are responsible for shaping the human world.
Fundamental forces are the pillars. On top of these fundamental
forces, Mind creates an enormous structure of Known, though
unseen, it lives with us like our right or left hand lives with us.
We have seen that at the root of it is a blind reaction to Comfort
or Discomfort that life has evolved over a million years or more of
evolution.
Then there is social conditioning driven structure and force of the
Image-I and What Should Be(s). We have also seen that Fear of
Unknown and Ending keeps the life tightly in the field of Known.
Let us now summarize an interesting outcome of this situation,
let us explore what a human being really is.
Human is like an ocean of Known forces and his/her life gets
pushed blindly in a direction of a command of a piece of Known
that wakes up and lives.
So, when Fear wakes up, human starts shivering and starts
running in no particular direction. When Aversion wakes up, s/he
gets busy shouting, attempting to fix the other, killing the other.
When a Craving wakes up, s/he starts running to chase the
shadow of an old pleasure. And then there are What Should
Be(s), gripping the human race in blind conformance of a code
of behaviour that may or may not make sense.
Owing to Ignorance of the fact, it looks as though, Memory,
which is supposed to be a useful tool of life has become master
of life. It would be appropriate to say that it is the Memory, the
Known, that lives.
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Actions of Known are Automatic, Limited and Blind
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Now let us explore an interesting aspect of this kind of action.
Q1. Do you know what is a Robot? Do you know a robot is a
machine, which is programmed to take action in certain limited
ways and certain limited ways only, when a known trigger is
encountered? [Robot is human programmed machine]
Q2. Known is a result of past, it has learned to take actions in
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Nature of Actions of Known are a result of the past. It is
very similar to a programmed Robot .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This doesn't sound pretty, does it? As one has explored over the
book, unfortunately it is a fact of human consciousness.
As long as there is Ignorance of the fact, the nature of human
action is robotic.
Let us now explore what takes place when Ignorance ends and
human becomes aware of the existence and working of the
Known.
Q1. Say by some mechanism, one suddenly becomes aware
that Known has woken up inside. For example, when anger
wakes up, at that moment, there is awareness that I am Anger.
Now one is aware of the great force that this Known has brought
up with it, which is trying to force life to hurt the other.
Now, in that awareness, can one take an action that is not of this
Known, meaning an action that is independent of the
programmed behaviour of Anger, that is hurting the other?
Q2. In this Awareness, that I am a piece of Known that has come
into being. In that awareness, that I am anger, is doing nothing,
nothing at all, an action of Known? Doing Nothing is like holding
on to the great force of Anger and not letting it move in the
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~~
1. What is the nature of action of a piece of Known?
a. Its action is programmed by the past of life
i. Learned in this life by past experience
ii. Also learned by a million years or more of evolution of
life
2. When a piece of Known takes action, it is an Automatic,
Limited and Blind action.
3. Why is it an Automatic Action?
a. Brain is programmed in such a way. On a Known trigger, a
piece of Known wakes up and takes action automatically
b. Life seems to have no control on what takes place
c. It is, as if a machine has been programmed to work in
certain ways
4. Why is it a Limited Action?
a. Whatever action Known takes is limited by its programmed
Known.
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Known helps
i. When Known realizes it is limited known, it loses its force
b. Practice to tame the force of Reaction to Discomfort helps
i. When Known is comfortable with sitting with Discomfort,
it is not looking to run away at first opportunity
c. Practice to tame the force of Fear of Unknown helps
i. Only when Known is comfortable with Unknown, can it let
the Unknown come into being.
d. Awareness is essentially a living Unknown inside human
beings, all the above are essential practices
i. Awareness can not be reached by effort, it only appears
when all efforts, all goals, all desires of Known fall silent
12. Awareness is Freedom from Known, it is Freedom from
robotic existence
a. Awareness is True intelligence
i. Until Awareness comes into being, life has intelligence
but limited robotic intelligence of Known
13. Awareness is as if Sun has dawned and in its light now life
can see beyond the limitations of the Known
a. Life can now negotiate both Unknown and Known with a
smile
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Chapter 22 A Glimpse of
Awareness
To appreciate what the life of Awareness may actually mean, we
first need to get a glimpse of the world of Awareness.
As we have always done during the course of the book, let us
experience, first hand, the peace and joy unknown, that comes
into being when there is Awareness by a short observation
experiment.
We are going to use an observation tool that can assist you in
naturally reaching state of awareness for a brief moment or so.
We have realized that in front of us and inside our bodies, there
is something that is taking place all the time. This something is of
the nature of What is going on.
We have observed and experienced that the Mind looks at What
is going on and automatically compares it with its private ideal of
What should be going on, which is part of its Memory.
We have observed that after the comparison, life gets busy with
trying to change what is to what should be or it tries to run
away from what is into its own security, which is the world of
Known.
Let us now try to experience first hand, what takes place when
Mind, even for a brief moment, gives up its strong urge to
change What is to What Should Be.
Let us try to experience first hand, what takes place when, even
for a brief moment, the Mind, sits in complete acceptance of the
fact of existence.
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Consciously say in your mind that there is existence of the
Body and that you have no problem with what ever is
taking place in your body. If there is any sensation, or pain
etc..., let it come, let it go, let it flow at its own pace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Following above steps, you have consciously become aware of
first part of the existence, that is your body and you have
consciously decided to let go of your natural urge to change what
is taking place in your body.
Now let's move on to second part of the existence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Consciously say in mind that there is existence of the
Present Moment that is taking place and that you have no
problem with that.
If there is any sounds or any events occur around you, let
them come, let them go, let them flow at their own pace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now you have consciously become aware of second part of the
existence, the Present Moment, and you have consciously
decided to let go of your natural urge to change what is taking
place in that part of the existence. Now let's move on to third part
of the existence.
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Consciously say - There is existence of the Mind that is
taking place and that you have no problem with that.
There will be Thoughts, let them come, let them go, let
them flow at their own pace.
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Following previous steps, you have now consciously become
aware of the third part of the existence, the Mind, and you have
decided to let go of your urge to change what is taking place in
that part of the existence.
# Now, keeping your eyes closed, just sit with natural acceptance
of the whole existence, the Body, the Mind and the Present
Moment.
# Your job is not to modify anything that is taking place, or not to
pay attention to anything particular. Just let the existence around
you, and inside you, take place and let there be natural
observation in an attentive yet relaxed manner.
# Continue natural observation of the fact of existence for 10
minutes or more (You can sit as long as you like).
# After the session is over. Gently open your eyes. After every
session, you would have touched something beautiful that life
has never touched so far.
Let us explore, what you have just experienced.
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Only when, you let go of all efforts, all desires, including that of
reaching Awareness, it comes into being.
When there is Awareness, your consciousness is above the field
of Known. When there is Awareness, Mind becomes part of the
scene, it is no more a blind controller of life.
Awareness is the Seer, that can see the Whole, including the
field of Mind.
Life of awareness is true intelligence. Now life can use memory
but it is not a blind slave of that.
If you make this observation session a part of your everyday
schedule, gradually, your would notice that as your being
observes and realizes the facts of existence first hand, there
would be unknown realizations, unknown peace and joy in your
life.
Initially, Awareness may require you sitting with closed eyes,
gradually, there would be effortless Awareness as you live your
normal life.
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now.
J. Krishnamurti also says, if you are able to sit with it and stay
with ending long enough, which is very hard for a human to do,
but just stay with it and observe what takes place. Something
beautiful may take place that may end your sufferings for ever.
Following is description of how to use this tool
Experience of the writer says, it is hard to sit with the Discomfort
of Known, when it wakes up in the business of living. For
example, when Anger or Irritation wakes up in live settings, it
is hard to do nothing and sit with it until it is gone.
But, as every piece of Known is part of your being, you should be
able to bring it alive any time using the same Trigger that brought
it alive in the first place.
Sitting at home comfortably, when you have all the time in the
world to sit with it till it ends, you can create the same Trigger by
recalling the incident that brought up anger, fear etc.
When you recall images of Trigger again and again, the same
piece of Known comes into being again.
Once it wakes-up, it will bring all the Discomfort that is stored
with it. You would feel uncomfortable again. Now hold onto this
Discomfort until it ends on its own. Just sit with it, holding the
force of it, doing Nothing, not running away, not drinking water, or
not chanting some mantra.
When this piece of Known Sorrow ends on its own, you feel very
light, as if a huge burden has been taken away from the pile of
Consciousness for ever.
The art and science is to stay with it until it ends on its own. Its
not easy, it requires practice.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What we know is part of our Memory. Actual things dont
live in our Memory but it is the Knowledge about things that
we have acquired in the past that lives in our Memory.
Things exist independently of our Knowledge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us dig a little deeper into the nature of Knowledge that we
have about things.
Q1. Say, you have read everything, heard everything possible
that other humans know about Trees. After you have acquired all
Known that humans know about Trees, how can you further
know more about Trees? How can you increase your Known
about Trees?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By paying Attention and Observation of an Actual Thing,
we can bring more Unknown about that thing to our Known.
However hard we try, there generally would always be
more Unknown that is yet undiscovered about any Actual
Thing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us explore is it really obvious to human beings that Known
about a thing is never complete.
Q1. Say two people together are trying to explore and get to
know a Real Thing first hand,
Person A has some knowledge of Real Thing, person B also
has some knowledge about Real Thing. Which of the following
format of conversation is most useful in getting to know the Real
Thing better.
A> Debate style - A conversation where both A and B try to prove
that his/her knowledge is better than the knowledge of the other
person. Both A and B try to put other down by proving why
he/she is wrong. The purpose of questioning is to win the debate
by questioning other person and his/her knowledge.
B> Listening Style - A format where first A speaks and describes
what he knows and then B describes what he knows about the
thing. At the end of it, A asks questions to B about the
description that B has given, and B asks Questions to A
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1. There are Actual Things and then there is Known
2. World of Known and world of Actual Things is different
3. Known is Memory and Things dont live in Memory
a. Word for a Thing may be Known but the Thing is not the
word
b. Description of a Thing may be Known but the Thing is not
the description
c. Smell of a Thing may be Known but the Thing is Thing
and Known is Known
d. Taste of a Thing may be Known but the Thing is Thing
and Known is Known
e. Touch of a Thing may be Known but the Thing is Thing
and Known is Known
f. Sound of a Thing may be Known but the Thing is Thing
and Known is Known
g. Past behaviour of a Thing may be Known but the Thing is
Thing and Known is Known
h. Thing is all of it but None of it
4. Only way to connect to Actual Thing beyond Known is to
pay Attention and to Observe
a. When Attention looks at Unknown (not known), it
becomes part of Known.
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Consolidation Questions
Q1. Let us assume, you are listening to a speaker. The speaker
has been working with an Actual Thing, which is phenomena
of Gravity for several years. Speaker has first hand experience
of working with that Thing and he understands that thing really
well.
But, speakers communication skills are NOT good at all. S/he is
using bad grammar and sometimes bad pronunciation to
describe The Thing.
Now as you carefully listen to the speaker, which of the following
kind of the questions will help you understand The Thing that
speaker is talking about?
A> You should simply be disturbed by his/her language skills,
how s/he looks or dresses etc... and start laughing and not really
listen to what he/she is saying.
B> You should ask questions that try to tell speaker what you
know and prove how good your knowledge is about the Thing.
C> Questions that try to prove that speaker does not know much
English.
D> As you listen to the speaker, you try to understand and reach
to The Thing speaker is trying to describe. After listening
carefully, you ask questions that would help you reach first hand
understanding of the Thing, phenomena of Gravity, that is being
described.
Q2. You meet a lot of people in the world everyday. When in
group conversation, or talking to another person, which of the
following is the best way to increase your understanding about
the Things, People and the World?
A> You should talk too much, keep interrupting other person
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actively trying to tell what you know and prove how good you
are. Listening should be limited so that you can ask questions
aimed at proving your point or disproving others point.
B> You should ignore others or if listen at all, sit silently as
nobody really cares about you. Or if you feel very uncomfortable
talking to others it is best to avoid others.
C> Realize that different people live in different places and
conditions. They have knowledge of different kind of Real
Things of the world. Somebody may know agriculture, other
may know law, some other nature of human life, and some
other the world of cooking
So when you meet another person, you listen actively to what
person is saying and then actively ask questions about The
Thing person is talking about. At the end of the conversation,
you would not have proved how good you are, but in fact, you
would be far richer in terms of the knowledge of Real Things
and the world in general.
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The human body comes from food that human eats
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Food comes from plants and the plants come from
elements of nature and energy of the Sun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where does the body go after we die?
Humans either bury the dead either in soil/water, or burn them.
Some leave it for the vultures to eat. Body finally decomposes
and merges into the same elements it has come from.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Body comes from elements of the Nature and after death
merges into the elements of the Nature
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Body is a machine that helps us live
With the help of body we are able to live. We are able to talk,
walk and perform functions of life. Without body life is not
possible.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Body is an instrument of life. It is a machine that we
use to live life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is a measurement Instrument?
Let us investigate what is a measurement Instrument and what
does it do. Let us investigate what makes our body a
measurement instrument.
Q1. When you stand on a weighing scale, what does it show
you? Does it show you your weight or it shows you a number?
Q2. Is your weight a number, or the number you see is only
measurement of how heavy you are? Is it more like, how heavy
you are is a fact of the world and the number you see is
measurement of the weighing scale of this fact of the world?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A measurement instrument measures a real fact of the
world. What we see or experience is not the direct fact but
measurement of the Instrument.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What does our body measure for us? Let us investigate how
body measures what is taking place around us and inside us in
terms of sight, sound, taste, smell, touch and other body
sensations.
What is the Sound that we experience?
We experience Sound all the time. Sound of things, of vehicles of
people and many other things while we live our lives. Let us
investigate what is this thing called Sound that we experience.
Q1. When you drop a metal object on the floor (you can drop and
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So we realize that the body brain instrument measures
vibrations in the world and creates experience of Sound.
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Do we see the world or we measure light?
Let us now investigate what is visual experience that we call the
world that we see.
Q1. Close your eyes, do you still see the world? (Try closing your
eyes and verify this)
By closing your eyes, you have only blocked light from entering
into your body. Just by blocking light from entering your body, the
world that you could see earlier disappeared.
Does it mean that what you see is merely is measurement of the
light that falls on your eyes? So are you looking at the world or
you are looking at what light contains?
Q2. You can see a very complex world around you, up to the
moons and the stars. Does it mean that the light that enters your
eyes already has all the world that you see?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What we look at is not the world but the experience our
body brain creates by measuring contents of light. The
light, that enters our body, has touched the world that we
see. Hence our brain is able to create the experience of the
world from what light contains.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is Taste, Smell, Touch, Feeling of Hot and Cold?
Q1. What is taste? Is it merely the measurement of chemical
properties of food that is on the tongue?
Q2. What is smell? Is it merely the measurement of chemical
properties of the air that enters our nose?
Q3. What is the experience of touch, weight, hot and cold? Is it
merely some measurement of the world around us?
Q4. What is experience of pain, itching etc? Is it merely some
measurement of the state of our body?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Human Body continuously measures the world around,
similar to a measurement instrument. The world we
experience is what our body creates for us to experience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summary of realizations about the Body
We realized that body comes from matter and merges into the
matter after death.
We also realized that body is an instrument of life, it is a machine
that we use to live life. Secondly, body acts as a measurement
instrument and creates an experience that we call the world
around us. These are primary realizations about the Body.
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