Buddha and other like-minded thinkers argued: no possessions, no expectations, and having no needs. These, are the key elements in achieving enlightenment. For monks this might be a possible path to follow, but for lay human beings, it is somewhat difficult to follow. Most of us have needs, accumulate and use things and build certain patterns of behaviour and expectations. Perhaps, it is not as much as completely eliminating the desires and possessions, but rather realising that these aspects do not lie at the heart of our existence. Perhaps one of the secrets is in the realisation of not having to do anything, yet being and doing it out of our own choosing. This realisation forms a basis of the ultimate freedom. It lies on the borderline between being and not being.
I do not need to own… but I may, if I chose to.
I do not need to do… but I may, if I chose to.
The question is if it is truly me choosing to do certain activity, or is it being chosen for me. By the stereotypes, by the social rules and conventions, by the physiology of my own body, by my primitive needs that need to be fulfilled in order for my body to function. Am I a subject, that decides everything, or am I merely an object, that executes decision that has been made without “me”? Without my full mindful awareness? Is it me choosing to eat this, or to do that, or am I blindly mindlessly doing it or following it, not even realising it?
How to achieve the required mindfulness and the state of ultimate awareness.
It is truly up to me to take the next breath – as even this can be subjected to one’s choosing. Absolute mindfulness, absolute self-control, and freedom, seem all to come together hand in hand.
Deadly sins are called “deadly” not because we carry them being out existence (as majority may think). They are “deadly” because they rip us off our existence, they make us dead, they make us like zombies or spiritual slaves. These sins make us become someone else. They block us being able to realise of whom we are. All people are good – yet most (all?) of us are subjected to various forms of deadly sins that eat us less or more and prevent us from becoming of who we truly are. And this is why these are called deadly sins.
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