Do you want to be free?

Hell is a state of mind. It may be a real place as well. People in war zones would say so. I don’t know. And I sure as hell don’t want to find out.

I don’t think I have ever been to hell. But, as a human being, I have definitely been to other realms. And I can vouch for the fact that they are real – real states of mind, that is.

Do you know any hungry ghosts? Have you ever been one? I have.

Hungry ghosts roam around searching in vain for food and drink to satisfy their endless hunger. And even when they find it, it does not satisfy, it only brings more craving… This is the addict or alcoholic. Or the person addicted to something – to their body image, another person, social status, excitement. Or the most common of all – shopping.

Some people live like animals. They only care about their bodily needs, protection, shelter, comfort, food. They’re nice to their family and friends – but so are animals. They don’t see beyond their immediate gratification. They exist from hand to mouth without any appetite for higher self-realisation.

We live in the human realm. That’s because we are human beings!

You didn’t need me to tell you that – or did you?

Speaking for myself, if I’m honest, I would have to admit that sometimes I forget I’m a human being. I forget what it really means to be a human being.

I get up, walk the dog, go to work, kiss my wife. But sometimes I’m asleep. I am not really conscious of what it means – what the true meaning of being a human being is. What my true potential is. It’s like sleep walking.

I try to remain conscious, grateful. Remembering that this human life is short and precious. That it’s going to end and I don’t know when. That I could do a great, great deal with it, if I set my mind to it. But often I don’t bother. Which is a waste.

I’m in a human existence, but not truly living a human life to the full. Another state of mind – or should I say ‘mindlessness’?

Next realm up – the demi-gods.  And there’s plenty of them where I work, I can tell you. They seem to have it pretty good. They have power and prestige. People look up to them, run around doing their will.

But are they happy? Perhaps political scheming, watching their back, looking for the one-upmanship opportunity make them happy, but I doubt it. They promote themselves too hard for someone who’s happy with them self.

If I was a movie star, a celebrity, living in a mansion with twenty cars, never having to work – then I’d be happy, for sure. Apart from the fear of losing my looks, of getting old. The stress of constantly checking my image. Having my relationships dissected in the newspapers.  And the trips to the Betty Ford Clinic – I’m sure it’d be absolutely blissful!

The fundamental wish of all living beings is to be free from suffering. Yet all these realms – all these states of mind – entail a certain amount of suffering.

So we need to go beyond them to find a place free from suffering. And we can only do that from the human realm.

It is slightly ironic that the real meaning of human life is to cease to exist as merely human but to realise our divine potential to escape suffering.

With a pure intention and sincere practice it is definitely possible escape the cycle of suffering  and move beyond it to a realm of pure peace, happiness and freedom.

To be truly human is wish to be free, to  be divine.

I have created some personal decision-making tools, one of which is based on the Buddhist Wheel of Life, where these realms are described. They are free at www.thelifeeditor.com 

The contact mistake

The lens in our eye turns the image of the world upside down. It delivers an inverted image of the world onto our retina, with the floor up there and the ceiling down below. Our mind immediately interprets this image and says, “No, I say the floor is down there and the ceiling is up above”. See how our mind creates a false impression of reality?

When we receive an image of the world in our brain, we don’t immediately say “oh, there is a mistaken image of the world appearing in my mind”. For some strange reason our first thought is “there’s a real world out there and it exists in the way it appears to my mind”. This is when the mistake occurs.

The catastrophic mistake which causes us so many problems. Not only we do we think “there’s a real world out there”, we also think “there’s a real me in here and I’m separate from the rest of the world.”

And then we proceed to develop all sorts of confused thinking about how we should deal with that situation.

We develop feelings about what we see, some of which we like, some of which we don’t. We think that what we desire resides in the things that give us nice feelings and we crave after them. Little do we realise that the feeling we like is being created in our mind and doesn’t come from the object.

And then we perform all sorts of unhelpful actions that compound the situation. Like putting time and energy into obtaining those things that seems to give us what we want, instead of into the things that really would.

I went to a Dharma course yesterday called Constant Craving and the teacher asked us “How much do you believe that you are stuck with craving? And how much do you believe that pure perfect peace is really possible?”

If I’m honest, I have to admit that – up to now – I have believed that it’s much truer that I’m stuck with craving. I’ve believed pure peace is possible, eventually, but I’ve more strongly believed that craving is real.

Big mistake. I’ve been buying a lie. The lie that what I desire is out there in things and I crave them to give me that nice feeling.

Like the image of the room, this thinking is upside down. I do desire something: pure peace and happiness. But it is not out there in things. Although, with training I can create it in my mind, just as I create illusions at the moment.

The only thing that is stopping me from being free from craving is a thought. The thought that I cannot be free from craving. But I can use the power of imagination to replace that thought with an alternative: that I am a person free from craving.

Why not? It’s exactly the same process of imputation. The difference is this time the object of my imputation is virtuous. It is not an illusion. It is actually true. It may seem unrealistic, but that’s just because I’m so used to believing in the illusion.

So I’m buying out of the lie. I’m turning the world up the right way again.

I’m resolving to invest my precious time and effort in a more fruitful direction. Moving a little bit closer every day to an image of myself as a person free from craving. One for whom true peace and happiness really is possible.

[‘Contact’ and ‘feeling’ are two of the twelve dependent related links in the Buddhist Wheel of Life. I have developed a personal decision-making tool based on the Wheel of Life, which is available free from www.thelifeeditor.com]