Realization
Human behavior flows from 3 main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. ~ Plato
2 instincts preponderate mental life. Foremost is the biologically based urge to satisfaction. This instinct dominates the lives of the Collective.
2nd is the desire for control. We begin our quest at birth. The fundamental means for obtaining control is comprehending the world in which we live, including our own evolving nature.
If trying to control the world is an exercise in frustration, it is small-time compared to what is inside. Self-control is most formidable obstacle we face.
The longest trip you’ll take is inside. ~ South African musician Trevor Rabin in the song “Endless Dream” (1994)
There are negative and positive vectors of motivation for spiritual seekers. Some are driven by emotional torment to find relief. Others seek understanding, finding conventional explanations, whether religious or scientific, insufficient. The two are not mutually exclusive – in combination they can be most compelling.
Something inside us subtlety senses that there is more to life than what is facilely felt and observed: a feeling only denied by those with a neurotic need for the delusion of certitude. It is within our nature to seek a deeper truth, beyond the empirical.
The mind of man is so constituted that it cannot remain content with the mere observation of facts, but always attempts to penetrate into the inner reason of things. ~ Georges Sorel
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Mom and pop will fuck you up for sure. ~ Scottish musician David Byrne in the song “Sax and Violins” (1991)
One may be born enlightened or even realized. If not, for an infant, enlightenment is as a word on the tip of the tongue: pregnant with fruition. Alas, the parenting of the Collective quickly wipes it away. Socialization effectively scrubs the sheen off potential for enlightenment.
From the moment of birth, when the stone-age baby confronts the 20th-century mother, the baby is subject to these forces of violence, called love, as its mother and father have been, and their parents and their parents before them. These forces are mainly concerned with destroying most of its potentialities. This enterprise is on the whole successful. ~ Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing
Despite the difficulty many have in attaining enlightenment, it is a natural state: a homeostasis of consciousness.
Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is. ~ French philosopher Albert Camus
