Conditioning

I must repeat an important insight that is true for every human being: The ego is the psychological imprint of the helplessness of infancy.

In order to survive, we conform to the social system. We accept its norms and values in exchange for physical security.

Add in our early experiences, our likes and dislikes, our education, our explorations of the world and our social interactions with our peers, and our minds become a conditioned response to outside stimuli.

This false personality is the social mask that psychologists refer to as the ego. It is not your true self.

I am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of me, which, as it were, is not a part of me, but spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is no more I than it is you.

Thoreau was aware that the ego is a delusion covering our true nature.

Nobody can escape this process of socialization, but all can learn to undo it. Until we learn how to "de-institutionalize" our brains and discover the reality within us, we will never be truly happy.

Capitalism

Our social system exacerbates the problem and then attempts to sell us its products and services as the cure.

We would do well to cultivate a certain mistrust of the claims of Capitalism. After all, we do not want to have to dig ourselves out of a deeper hole than the one we were born into.

Reminder

The innocent faces of children, like great art, remind us of the truth that is within all human beings.

Ode to Incompetence

Most people want to be competent. We want to be good at something. We want to be successful professionals, talented cooks, and skillful artisans. We want to be recognized as an expert in a particular field of study.

Conversely, we fear being incompetent. We see failure as proof of our inferiority.

It is a strange truth that my early incompetence discouraged me from seeking success and social recognition.

Instead, I found myself searching for something more, for a different way home, for a happiness that up to that point in my life had completely escaped me.

It may have been my incompetence that saved me.

Happiness

"Misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous."--Frankenstein's Creature

Unlike the Hollywood movie version, the story of Frankenstein is a literary classic that sheds much light on the human condition.

Truly happy individuals never mistreat those around them while those who are miserable cannot for long stand the sight of others enjoying a full and satisfactory existence.

It is in humanity's best interest that every man, woman, and child be instructed on how to find happiness.

Such an education would be religious in the true sense of the word:

Good will toward all beings is the true religion--Buddha

The Will of God

In many people's mind, to do the will of God means to surrender your personal initiative and to slavishly worship an all-powerful Tyrant. Nothing can be further from the truth.

What God wills is your freedom. But this idea of freedom is too easily confused with licentiousness--a kind of do-as-you-please attitude with little or no regard for the consequences of your behavior.

To do the will of God means to learn how to act without fear and with full responsibility for your actions. It does not mean to suppress fear. It means to awaken to the fact that you are not separate from reality. When we act as part of one reality, we have no fear.

In an ancient Chinese story, there was a person who liked dragons very much. He talked about dragons, he painted dragons, and he bought various kinds of dragons.

So there was a dragon who thought, "If a real dragon like me visited him, he would be very happy."

One day the real dragon sneaked into his room, and the man didn't know what to do!

As Shunryu Suzuki points out, "we should not just be the dragon's friend or admirer; we should be the dragon itself. Then we will not be afraid of any dragon."

Fame

The desire for fame is the bastardized offspring of the desire for glory.