The Path to Awareness - Part 1
Sep. 24th, 2006 09:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kokopelleSeveral years ago I did a class on “The Path To Awareness”. As the overall paper is long, I will present it in parts here.
You live your life with assumptions about what can make you happy. Some popular beliefs are:
Beliefs do not develop in a vacuum. These beliefs are handed to you by your social group or determined by yourself through trial and error.
I will begin and end these notes on the subject of children. The first child I will introduce will the child who is unhappy with life. The story goes like this:
Bob is not any different from yourself. The analogy is that we are all children with broken toys and unhappy lives. Bob was grown and still asleep. Are you grown and asleep? Wake up and stop playing with toys. Toys are a wonderful analogy to the life most people have. People say "I am awake", but they still mend the broken toys of their lives. During their apparent nightmare of living, life hands them disappointment. They say "give me back my job, my loved one, my reputation, my success." People who are asleep want their pains relieved, and their broken toys replaced. A cure is resisted. The cure is waking up. Waking up is unpleasant. The bed of our life is so comfortable. It is irritating to awake and step onto the cold floor, to step away from the warm covers.
You live your life with assumptions about what can make you happy. Some popular beliefs are:
1) Happiness is the same as excitement and thrills
2) Living a desire(s) fulfills life
3) Someone else can make you aware/wise
4) It is important to be respected, loved, appreciated and to be important
5) Other people have the power to make you feel good and to hurt you
6) You are defined by the lifestyle you have
Beliefs do not develop in a vacuum. These beliefs are handed to you by your social group or determined by yourself through trial and error.
I will begin and end these notes on the subject of children. The first child I will introduce will the child who is unhappy with life. The story goes like this:
A mother knocks on her son's door. "Bob", she says, "wake up!" Bob answers, "I don't want to get up Mom." The mother insists, "Get up, you have to go to school." Bob says, "I don't want to go to school." "Why not?" asks the mother. "Three reasons," says Bob. "First, because it's so dull; second, the kids tease me; and third, I hate school." And the mother says, "Well, I am going to give you three reasons why you must go to school. First, because it is your duty; second, because you are forty-five years old, and third, because you are the principle."
Bob is not any different from yourself. The analogy is that we are all children with broken toys and unhappy lives. Bob was grown and still asleep. Are you grown and asleep? Wake up and stop playing with toys. Toys are a wonderful analogy to the life most people have. People say "I am awake", but they still mend the broken toys of their lives. During their apparent nightmare of living, life hands them disappointment. They say "give me back my job, my loved one, my reputation, my success." People who are asleep want their pains relieved, and their broken toys replaced. A cure is resisted. The cure is waking up. Waking up is unpleasant. The bed of our life is so comfortable. It is irritating to awake and step onto the cold floor, to step away from the warm covers.
