Last evening I was at a doctor’s clinic. The doctor, a
wonderful lady, was seeing off her friend – who ostensibly also appeared to be
her patient – at the door while I waited for my turn to be called in. As the
two ladies stood at the clinic’s entrance, the doctor told her friend/patient: “There’s
nothing wrong with you. Cheer up! It’s all in your mind! Just learn to be
detached. Life is too short. Learn to let go and try not to control anyone or
anything in Life! Don’t expect your Life to be perfect either. It never will
be. Just live the Life that you have, stay prepared to depart when your turn
comes and you will just be fine!”
I am not aware of what the patient’s actual complaint or
condition is. But I found the doctor’s perspective truly awakening!
Almost all the time, our suffering comes from our attachments
– to people, things, opinions, habits, events and such! Think about it. Every attachment fuels a
desire to control. To possess. To own. Unknown to us, we end up being possessed
by it! There are people who are worried about their status and prestige in
society. To them, being humble, being ordinary, being vulnerable is suffering
because they are constantly worried about what others will think about them.
They no longer earn their status, they are controlled by having to keep it!
Some are attached to their property, their car, their phones, their desks,
their cameras and sometimes, to their opinions. Even attachment to an idea can cause
suffering. For instance, some have an idea that they will be happy subject to
certain conditions being fulfilled. So, if those conditions are not met, they
will be unhappy. This applies to habits too. Are you owning a packet of
cigarettes or is it owning you__when you are in a no-smoking area and your mind
is on the packet with you and on your craving to smoke, it is controlling your
every thought, isn't it?
There's
a poem that describes The Buddha thus: "The Buddha is like a full moon
sailing across an empty sky." Meaning that The Buddha's happiness was
immense because he possessed nothing. When our mental landscapes are full of
things that we possess__ideas, material objects, opinions, habits, worries__we
are no longer in charge of our lives. When we let go of every single thing we
possess__physically, literally, figuratively and metaphorically__we will be
bliss. This does not mean abdication. This means remaining detached so that we
too can sail freely in this big, beautiful, bountiful Universe.
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