NATURAL, NORMAL, CLEAR
In the beginning of our life reality is a whole. Words do not exist.
The world is reflected in the eyes of a newborn human being. Reality lives in that initial, natural state of a new man/woman but, unfortunately, not for long. Once self-consciousness becomes noticeable, when the first word is uttered, and ideas, concepts, things, wishes… start living in their brain, little people gradually leave their natural state of being and reality starts to break.
Nevertheless, it is an unavoidable and, in our case, necessary stage of life which enables us to join the rest of the human population and to become like everybody else – normal. The original state of silent wonder, curiosity, innocence, and freshness of a child slowly fade away until they are almost entirely replaced with “knowledge”, names, identity, beliefs, convictions – words behind which emptiness, boredom, and ignorance are hiding.
Look at the world today: Reality offers one thing, we want another and, consequently, frustration and disappointments appear. Pain and fear are everywhere. In order to get rid of them we pursue dreams, invent hundreds of things which can make us “happy”, and millions of ideas which we can cling on to and thus keep our mind occupied. There are sedatives in the form of “fun” too, and many other forms of self-delusion which bring us what we need: a momentary delight, relief, or illusion of these things. Imperceptibly, all this becomes normal. So people bear suffering, voluntarily and persistently. They even depict the ways to love, God, happiness… as sublime suffering.
Concisely, it can be described like this: You are climbing a mountain and carrying a load on your back. The longer you are going upwards the load is becoming heavier and heavier, not only because you are getting tired of walking but because as you are climbing you are adding more stuff on your back, thinking they might be useful someday. You do not ask your- self if that is good for you, or a clever thing to do, because everybody else around you is doing the same. Occasionally, with the load on their back they take a short break, tell a few jokes, and go on climbing… – until death stops them. …Until it is your turn. And then, your soul takes your load over and carries it to eternity, or into a new life.
How interesting! Such stupidity and unawareness is actually stunning! Somehow we are unable to see that moving is much easier without a load on our back and that moving directly upwards is not the only way to climb a mountain!!
And, what do we do? We try to change the scenery around us and to make the journey somewhat prettier or, at least, more bearable. So, somewhere along the way, art, religion, drugs, psychology… were invented – to avert our thoughts from reality; to make us numb; to explain why the load is important (in case there are any doubts); to comfort us when somebody close to us dies…
However, it is undeniable that these things do not do the trick. We are becoming more and more stupefied, and further away from freedom, truth, peace… whatever, because right from the start we have been riding on the spiral of ignorance and illusion.
And this has been going on for thousands of years!
Therefore, it is understandable why most normal people find the way of thinking, and conclusions presented in this book disturbing or, perhaps, even irritating.
“What, then, is the purpose of life?”, “Is it all for nothing?” passes through the heads of those who have been, for a long time, trying to fill the existing and persevering emptiness in their lives with God, belief in life after death, lovers, children, fun, friends, fighting for survival, recreational activities, things, money…, secretly knowing that it cannot be done.
They live their whole life unaware of their genuine nature and never again get to see the world around them with the eyes of a child: without distortions, prejudices, and judgments. People spend their old age obstructed by fear, living in a cage they have made themselves and cannot go out, because they have thrown the key away! They just do not get that death itself is not the cause of the fear of death. It is literally as follows: life based on illusions makes people fear death.
Anyone who wants to eliminate this (and every other) fear has to leave the normal and enter the clear mind stage. In it we reappraise priorities and transcend our “Self” (everything it encompasses), accept it as a necessary evil, and start putting the broken pieces of reality back together.
Eventually, words, convictions, and emotions become (much) less important, boredom disappears, the fear of nothingness or emptiness turns into curiosity, and you start enjoying solitude (this is the unmistakable sign of content and happiness which, by the way, is not an emotion).
There is nothing more important a human being can do in his/ her life because: (Your) Life and death are in (your) mind and nowhere else.
The human mind reveals itself as the source of all knowledge and ignorance, suffering and happiness, wisdom and stupidity. It is the factory of illusions from which every “cloud castle” in this world was, is, and will be built.
Unfortunately, most of us are utterly unaware that the state of mind is the only “thing” we really have – both now and at the moments which precede death! …The only “thing” we could rely on. That is why it has to be studied, known, disciplined, and cleansed.
⅏
“Recognize the infinite diversity of appearances as a dream, as mere concepts of your mind, treacherous and unreal.
…You are about to die soon, and then nothing will be of any help to you; All that you (think you) experience in death is only your conditioned reasoning.
…That which clings on to everything existing and non- existing, good or bad, is only your mind; …Do not hang on to appearances, do not turn them into terms, do not accept or deny them…
It is the essence of the Teaching…
Samsara is your mind, and nirvana is your mind; all comfort and pain, and all illusions do not exist outside your mind. To achieve the control over mind is the essence of the practice …”
(Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, a Tibetan teacher from the 17th
century; slightly adapted)