How Can We Apply Spiritual Concepts in Our Lives?
The whole problem with the world is that a lot of people have become insane. In this insane world, the sane are instead taken as insane by the majority. “Money” is used as a ruler to measure a person’s worth instead of happiness. The “money” is not even real money which is convertible to gold; the so-called “money” is just a number entered into the bank accounts. Strictly speaking, this kind of “money” is just credit; it can be written-off with a snap of the finger by “Thanos”.
Another insanity of the people is they want to have all kinds of sensual pleasure under the sun but not peace and happiness which are free-of-charge and can be found in the heart of everyone. Insane people don’t know that they are sick. They keep chasing the wrong things. They feel so much suffering of grief, lamentation and despair when they don’t get what they desire. Even if they get certain things which they desire, they still feel suffering due to fear of separation from the “loved one”. Most of the time, they get what they dislike (such as illnesses and bad relationships) and they again suffer for not being able to undo what they did.
The mental health issues may be due to academic pressure, peer pressure, economic pressure, relationship problems, and some people blame it on the ascendance of smartphones. Did the addiction to smartphones cause depression, or joyless living cause addiction to smartphones? That is the question, and the answer is probably the latter. Many “successful” individuals were unhappy with their “lives” too. At the moment before they die, they would probably say: “I have come to the pinnacle of success in business. In the eyes of others, my life has been the symbol of success. However, apart from work, I have little joy. Finally, my wealth is simply a fact to which I am accustomed. At this time, lying on the hospital bed and remembering all my life, I realize that all the accolades and riches of which I was once so proud, have become insignificant with my imminent death. In the dark, when I look at green lights, of the equipment for artificial respiration and feel the buzz of their mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of my approaching death looming over me. Only now do I understand that once you accumulate enough money for the rest of your life, you have to pursue objectives that are not related to wealth. For example, stories of love, art, dreams of my childhood. No, stop pursuing wealth, it can only make a person into a twisted being, just like me.” – These aren’t Steve Jobs’s last words, but it still managed to inspire many people. “Successful” people become addicted to work because of joyless lives, the same way teens become addicted to smartphones. They did look forward to waking up every morning to go to work or play with smartphones, until they don’t. Yet many people say love-your-work is right but love-your-smartphone is wrong. In reality, both are not right and both are not wrong. What is right and what is wrong, actually?
Some people know that they are going insane and they seek refuge in a certain religion. The lucky ones found the right spiritual teacher and “medicine” to heal themselves. Unfortunately, many found the wrong teachers. They receive “poison” which heals their original insanity but the side effects cause them to have another kind of insanity. It may not be the fault of the religion but solely due to the incompetence of the preachers.
“People who believe they are good have morals, values and ethics. They hang on to this right and wrong, this morality and value systems because they give them a false sense of superiority. People who believe they are good are always looking down at the world. It is a sure way to miss the world. Even the most beautiful woman will not look very beautiful when you look from the top. Because you are continuously looking down, everything looks ugly and black – unless they are bald and shiny. Good people are everywhere. They have their values, they have their principles, they are very ethical, but they could live here for years being completely untouched by what is happening here. It doesn’t matter what you do, they remain untouched in their goodness. They live with the hope that good people go to Heaven.” – Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Right and wrong are in the “box” (方内), but the problem is there are many “boxes” everywhere. If you subscribe to one “box”, you have one set of right and wrong. If you subscribe to a few “boxes”, you find that the different sets of right and wrong are conflicting with one another. You are thinking out-of-the-box (方外) when you start to question whether there are absolute right and absolute wrong. You will have freedom of thoughts (思想解放).
To believe in right and wrong is very stressful. Not believing in right and wrong is bewildering. Right and wrong are like proton and electron; they are opposite but attracted to each other, and both are indispensable (正反相依，对立相存). The universe cannot exist with too much proton (Yang) or too much electron (Yin). It is a matter of maintaining the balance in time and space. There will be imbalances from time to time and from one place to another place, but that’s OK. Wanting to be right and hate to be wrong all the time will be very stressful, whether you are imposing on yourself or other people. Other people imposing a set of right and wrong on you will also make you stressful. More often than not, you may think you are right but other people think you are wrong. That is why we see people committing suicide, quarrelling in a family, engaging in racial/religious disputes, and wars between nations.
Right and wrong will continue to exist, like proton and electron, regardless of whether we believe in the “box” or not. The definitions of right and wrong within the “box” are useful in each society, like laws in each country. But for our happiness and well-being, we must keep reminding ourselves not to be confined by the “box” but transcend it. We must not insist on always being right and hate being wrong; we must love and forgive ourselves. Don’t love proton (阳) and don’t hate electron (阴). There are values in everything. We must not insist on imposing high moral standard on other people; we must love and forgive other people, and in so doing we love and forgive ourselves (because we don’t feel angry, we don’t inflict pain to our hearts, we don’t whip ourselves with unnecessary responsibility of educating the public or being an unofficial policeman for social cause). Instead, we strive to be not-right but not-wrong. I am not right, nobody is right. Why should I be right? How can I insist other people do the right thing? Acceptance of diversity, knowing that we need each other (相依相存), is better than being tolerant (兼容并蓄).
Most people choose to see the negative sides of things; therefore they lose sight of the positive sides of everything. Many people are afraid to say politically-incorrect words, because saying them is not popular; but politically-incorrect doesn’t necessarily mean it is wrong. There are many politically-incorrect ideas in this article; including wanting to be not right. Wanting to be right is arrogant; this is probably the biggest desire of humans, and desire is the cause of all sufferings. Many people will loathe me for telling people to choose being not right. However, since I don’t want to be right, criticizing me for being not right has no effect on me, as long as I am not breaking any laws of the land. It is like confirming that I am practising what I preach. I am not right, and that’s OK, because that’s what I want to be. No words can hurt me; I am equanimous and unmoved like a mountain. It is so liberating when you choose to be not right.
Let them judge you. Let them misunderstand you. Let them gossip about you. Their opinions are not your problems. No matter what they do or say, don’t doubt your worth and the beauty of your truth. Just keep shining as you do.
The Buddha said life is suffering because nothing is permanent. There are 4 kinds of pain or suffering, due to: 1) sensual organs, 2) existence, 3) ignorance, 4) views. These are also called the 4 floods to cross in order to reach Nirvana or the island of perpetual happiness. One must strive to abandon clinging to sensual pleasures, desire for existence or self-identity, clinging to rules and rituals, and clinging to views (hence zeal to judge right and wrong). You must let go of ego and greed if you are serious about finding happiness, or letting happiness find you.
Don’t ask what the meaning of life is; life is meaningless if you are not happy. There is no path to happiness; happiness is the path. There are many things that you can be happy about in your life; don’t focus on the unhappy things. There are many white spaces on the whiteboard; don’t focus on the black ink. That is why you need to be resilient; so that you can continue to enjoy the happy moments of life even if there are difficult situations from time to time. What is the purpose of life? The answer is out there, and it’s looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to. That person in the mirror is your savior.
Spirituality should make you happier and equanimous which is unmoved by the outer world. Spirituality must give you wisdom. If you feel more suffering due to grief, lamentation and despair, that must mean you are going in the wrong direction.
RESILIENT KID 