instantly. Now, can the forming of images come to an end instantly, not
afterward? Because once it is formed, it is difficult to get rid of it. I am going to
go into both the prevention and the cure.
First of all, the prevention, which is never to form an image about anything,
including about your guru and all the absurd things he talks about. When you are
insulted, at that moment be totally aware. So you must understand what it means
to be totally attentive at the moment of insult, at the moment of flattery. What
does it mean to be aware, to be aware of the colors here, of the various dresses,
objectively, outwardly? When you are aware of the blue or the red or the pink,
whatever the colors are, and you say, “I don’t like it,” or “I like it,” you are
limiting the awareness. Be aware without the limitation of like or dislike,
condemning or justifying. Be aware without any motive, without like and dislike,
without any choice so that you see, you are aware of the whole thing.
Now, when you are insulted or flattered, if you give complete attention at that
moment, which is complete awareness, then you will see that there is no image-
forming at all. Then what takes place? Your attention means that there is no
observer at all; there is no censor who says, “I like. I dislike. This is right”; you
are merely attentive. When you are so attentive, in which there is no choice, in
which there is no observer, then there is no image-making at all. Now please just
listen. Are you attentive totally to what is being said? Watch it; watch yourself.
Are you listening with complete attention, or are you listening partially? Partial
listening is to compare what is being said, is being disturbed by the light, your
mind wandering off to something else, is being distracted, and so on. Or are you
listening completely, with your heart, with your mind, with your nerves, with
your whole organism, psychosomatically, completely? If you are listening, you
will see that you have no image of the speaker at all.
Now, the next time your wife or your friend says something unpleasant or
pleasant, give complete attention to it. The mind then becomes free. Freedom
means seeing things clearly, purely, without any distortion. It’s only such a mind
that can see the truth—not the images that you have built about the truth. So that
is one thing you can do instantly.
Then what will you do with all the images that you have collected—about
your country, about your political, religious leaders, about your theories? You
know how your mind is burdened with formulas, theories, opinions, judgments,
endless chattering. What will you do about them? What will you do with the
collection of images, beliefs, formulas? What will you do with them all? Because
that is what you are. You are the formula. You think you are great or small, that
you are the Atman or this or that. So you are the past. Actually you are the past.
The past is directing you, the past images, the past knowledge.
So we come upon something very interesting, which is this: all knowledge is
the past. All technological knowledge is the knowledge of the past. That is a fact,
isn’t it? What you know is the past, and the past modified by the present projects
into the future. So you as an entity are the past, the past being your memories,
your traditions, your experiences. So the “you,” the “me,” the “I,” the ego, the
superego, the super-self, is still the past. Your Atman and these things that you
have read about—of which you know nothing—all that is the past. So knowledge
michael s
(Michael S)
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