ON TOP OF THE MAST

Contrary to perhaps popular belief this finger indicates, "I am the important one. I am number one". That permits you to look down at everyone else and of course, in your silly little mind you may conceive the idea that they will be looking up to you.

No matter how pleased you may be with your auto-evaluation inside, there is a hurt, because really you can't belong to anything or anybody... Dharma tells us that one must associate with like-minded people, but you can't find anyone because you have no idea what Buddha was really talking about... Your Blind Dharma has the idea that the world is full of Samsaric morons and there are few interested in Dharma like you.

It is time to examine your Dharma. The error is that you judge people by their behaviour... That is normal in a stained society. That is normal if you are chained to religious blindness, but the real Dharma does not judge people, it simply reflects upon their behaviour.

You see, if we are really all one as the Dharma and Dao suggest if we decide that the person in flesh is bad then part of us is bad. That seems like self-flagellation. But if you recognise that part of the collective behaviour of all human creatures is not so beneficial then you can work to change it. Notice that I said work to change it. That means that you must proceed without any expectations that Dharma will actually succeed.

It is time that you came down from the tree... started sharing your nectar, even if it is not really so pure, with all those unfortunate people in the ship of fools that suffer and play the game of happiness.

Whether we experience confusion, frustration, or enjoyment, such experiences take place through the mind. Thus, whether our interests are psychological, scientific, or religious in nature, it would seem important for us to understand the workings of the brain. If the ego or "self" (interchangeable words in Buddhist philosophy) plays a role in these experiences as well as abnormal development, as some psychologies would propose, we should more carefully examine what part they play in our psychological well-being. An examination of some basic tenets concerning the ego, "self," or "I" from a Buddhist perspective reveals a very different view from traditional Western personality theories. 

The importance of your "self"  is an idea of Western psychology and you have bought the idea and paid for it by believing in that self. It is yours.

Ego Psychology, typified by Freud, emphasizes the development of the capabilities of the ego, while Cognitive-behavioral therapy deals, in part, with inappropriate self-ideas and fosters changes in attitudes we hold about that "self." What is more, the psychologist Allport believed that a strong ego identity was a descriptor of maturity. Still another psychologist, Erikson, adds ego-integrity to to the stages of the life cycle (Goleman, 1981).

But no Identity whatsoever is necessary for normal human functioning if we understand that the identity concept is just a tool without reality.

But there you are up the mast, believing that your self is real and giving credence to the selves down there in the ship of fools. Are you so different?

Dharma says that we are best served by putting an end to the idea of a real "self".  Yet there are hundreds of psychological theories and therapy practices that believe that the Identity “self” strengthens the person, making them more capable of bearing suffering.

What absolute folly, but it keeps the "sufferers" coming.

Look! The exaggeration of your own importance inflates your Identity and calls for your separation from others, especially if you cannot control them.

You like to see yourself as steady and valuable, but really your mind and body is like a river that is constantly changing its form and sometimes radically its direction... But it still remains a river... You like that idea... You like being that river, even though you have no idea of the form or the subtlety of yourself nor can you accept for a moment that your Identity is false.

You want to escape from the world of people for your own frailty and call it a strength. Alright, let us see what Blind Dharma can do for you.

Buddhism is not an escape from the world but simply a refusal to extend or exaggerate the importance of conventional reality. In so doing, the mind becomes empty of struggle, allowing us to see things as they are in an ultimate sense. Thus, in Buddhist psychology, the empty quality of the mind is regarded as the true nature of a person. To continue to ignore such propositions in the West, however, can have far-reaching and possibly deleterious effects. 

One basic difficulty is the inevitable insecurity you experience as long as you are convinced that you are separate, self-existing, or autonomous. Indeed separation subconsciously is an insecure position.

False self-esteem, depression, fragmentation, worthlessness, and loneliness, are all part of the problem of having this "self." The result is far beyond your consciousness; cognitive dissonance builds solutions.

You have lost the true essence of being and so one Dharma trick is to realize your “self” apart from others within something spiritual... Well done. You can go to temples and churches to realize yourself, but without real zeal it is difficult to maintain the pace especially if there is an insistence upon the Sangha togetherness... the Sangha... Ah, another ship of fools.

Perhaps you can see now that the attempt to get away from “them” is disguised as an attempt to "get to somewhere."  You really want to make that Identity real by accomplishing something alone.

One Blind Dharma answer is to teach something quasi-spiritual, a means to generate a patch that people can apply rapidly instead of working on something that makes a real difference to their lives. You can then be separate and superior looking down while controlling the situation... Examine yourself perhaps you have already established that Blind Dharma position.

One can only develop excessive attachments or the need to reject or cling to things and people if one has misinterpreted their own nature. Thus knowledge of one's true nature would serve as an antidote.

But your true nature is difficult and you are really externally at least happy with your continual criticism of others... It would be fine if you were only to be critical of human behavior but you target the human personal Identity.

Blind Dharma suggests Mindfulness meditation, which is simply a continuous attempt to retrain attention, call it conditioning of you will. But that is only a half measure. But it allows you that certain aloofness once more... No, what the real solution is, is to take an Avalokiteshvara stance and go down there in the Ship of Fools and listen to that suffering, knowing it to be your own... But you won’t do that.

The true Dharma position is not a withdrawal from that “self”. It is an understanding of it as a tool and the immediate recognition of your own erroneous interpretation.  

Blind Dharma can use the illusory mystical self that is spoken about in Dharma. Sure you can hide behind the delusion of a mystical "self," but Buddha declared that to be a clinging to non-existence.

So the choice is up to you. 

Continued...