Some people who read our essays in the Simple Reality Project complain that they seem predominantly negative. That’s because we can’t get people headed toward the lifeboats until they realize that the Titanic is sinking. Until then they are focused on pigging-out at the buffet, boogying in the ballroom or maneuvering their deck chair into the sun. The people of the Global Village are sailing on a doomed ship and we do realize how hard that is to admit. But if you’ll forgive the sledgehammer on the forehead, you must realize you cannot get the jackass to move until you get his attention.
First, most of us believe that we live in a human community in which many people (the other) are in competition with us and are otherwise unfriendly or a threat. Secondly, we believe to survive in this context we use most of our energy in pursuit of security (material wealth), pleasure (addictive behaviors to take our mind off of the reality of our situation), and power (trying to control other people and our circumstances).
Obviously, we cannot remain on the Titanic and survive so we must climb into the lifeboats and row to a seaworthy ship, we must shift paradigm. A shift in paradigm, in our beliefs, attitudes and values, will also shift our identity which will in turn drive life-sustaining behaviors. However, we must not believe that we can accomplish this process with our intellect, we cannot “think” our way out of our dilemma.
For more on the “bad news” of relying on our intellect, on “thinking” click on the link below.
Insight # 130: When there is thinking, there are the acts of accepting and rejecting, of pleasure and of pain. (1)
Link:
- “Thinking,” in this blog and also in the print version The ABC’s of Simple Reality: The Encyclopedia of Self-Transformation, Vol II (2018), by Roy Charles Henry, pages 286-292.
Reference:
- Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima. “Thought-Free Wakefulness.” Shambhala Sun. November 2002, page 37.
