Udja
A very well answered question. Many students answer this question from the perspective of a theoretical second or third person perspective as the question is asked but indeed I was looking for a personal perspective, I.e. how do YOU feel about this issue. Having said that, the question is answered from a perspective of definite conviction as to the notion that must be held by an avid aspirant. Additionally, I was gratified that you touched on an important point that you may not have realized and few if any do realize; namely that most people get caught up in job, family etc. responsibilities but who determined that those responsibilities are correct or legitimate? This society has been setup or evolved in a particular way with the so-called work ethic (except for the rich) and all are supposed to agree and comply with the idea of working to the bone, literally to death, having mortgages, having families that cannot be afforded, etc. and just go to church on weekends to release the safety valve of stress and insanity for living a life that is not supposed to be, a life that is forced into a mode of existence that is toxic to the body, mind and soul and then people wonder why they can’t calm the mind, or meditate or relax, or sit still to listen to a wisdom teaching and change their lives. And people wonder why it takes so long to attain enlightenment and why it is so hard to do the disciplines that seem to take all day? When so much time is spent doing things that in principle should not be done but in agreeing to living according to the societal norms of a barbarous and non-spiritual society, that is what they get; its what they fore themselves into. Instead of having their own culture, institutions, communities, etc. people choose, having been brought up in, and not knowing a better way and being caught up in the desires of the unrighteous culture cannot break free of it; so they spend an hour in spiritual practice per day and think the other 23 hours of mayhem will be absolved somehow. They fall back on platitudes like “I am only human”, I have to take care of my family”, I have to go to work to pay the mortgage”, I have to take my Kids to school,” “I have no choice if I want to survive”; “I cant be thinking of the teaching all the time, and meditating all day, I have to take a break, kick back and relax, watch a football game to calm myself and then I can get back to it”, and “Its not my fault, I am doing the best I can” which is used as a blanket explanation and excuse for accepting the social order, staying on the treadmill and grindstone of the world that is known to be wrong but yet remains compelling to them. All that leads to self-thwarting: “wow sages are intense, all the work they did to get where they are and I admire them but I cant achieve that in this life time, they are special and I am not, maybe next lifetime?” They want the teaching but also keep the world they built and have known, and like a car without breaks careening towards a cliff, they cannot stop even when they knew the brake fluid was running out. All this to say that an avid aspirant needs to think they can and will succeed which means that they will find the clarity and will to do whatever is necessary to attain the goal even if it means reducing unnecessary expenses, not piling on new unnecessary expenses that force more time engaging in activities to pay for those instead of engaging the teachings and pursuing the means to make the teaching effective in life-without excuses, recriminations or regrets- just moving towards what is real and true in life and leaving behind what is illusory and degrading in the world.
HTP
