keskiviikko 3. elokuuta 2016

Wishing and praying for others? Stop!

I felt like talking a little about one of the big delusions we as humans have that we usually don't seem to be aware of at all. It's praying and wishing for others behalf, whether it's for end of suffering for humanity in general or whenever we see someone in pain we tend to pray or wish the pain to end for them.

When we see people in pain there is a natural compassion and feeling of pain in ourselves if we are even a bit sensitive. It's quite beautiful thing in itself to have this empathy but even amongst more aware beings it tends to have a more personal element into it. We tend to project ourselves on to other's situations and from that personal space we wish for that other person what we imagine they should be experiencing instead -so right there we have an agenda which distorts our seeing of the situation. From that distortion we keep on hoping for world around us to change into what our limited mind can think of as "better". We are not really helping anyone by wishing upon them what we think they should be experiencing. In fact this kind of thinking is deeply arrogant. We think that we know how it should be and the help and good intentions we offer from that state only serves our ego. We think we are helping but we are just helping ourselves.

More authentically we can pray or wish for someone else's experience to not be in vain, so that it brings some deep understanding and growth through that situation which to the outside looks painful and horrible. We all know that for ourselves sometimes the most intense pains and extreme situations have brought about a greatest release of some perspectives and limitations which kept us in bondage that we probably would have never seen and understood without some painful circumstances. In fact everything in our lives serves our growth and freedom if we let it..  if we can see that then the pain is not necessary anymore and life usually starts having a beauty even if to the outside it doesn't look like what a happy life should. Usually it's the resistance to the pain that keeps us in suffering and someone who tries to help to get rid of it only helps the suffering to go on longer by bringing attention to it and confirming the misery. We should not be so hasty to go about riding in our shiny armours to help people.. at least it shouldn't be our agenda.

The appropriate help can of course be given but it never comes from projections and imagination. It comes as a knowingness from sober seeing, impersonally, spontaneously.