It is well known that people’s life on this planet is primarily driven by the demand for ego satisfaction and ego security. Unfortunately, this permeates the field of religion too. The other factor to be considered is that human responses and reactions come from conditioned minds. This matter of conditioning is a very deep one and human beings generally remain unaware of this. It is deep because three major factors affect it – genetic conditioning, cultural conditioning and past-life conditioning. As a result, people get into complications and suffer mentally even when their survival needs are well met. Reflective people begin to question the basis of this suffering.Imagine we are on a broad road in which thousands of people are pushing each other and scurrying along. We get pushed and we push others. There is a great momentum that keeps people arrested in this mad rush. That is how the habitual neurology in an individual is molded and people remain a slave to it from the teenage onward. It is possible to release oneself from this deplorable situation and that would be like veering off the broad road mentioned above. It is a radical departure from the conventional functioning of the mind. We no longer get pushed by the crowd and we stop pushing others too.
The Release
Before there can be a release from a captured situation, there should be an awareness of what is going on. Let us look at the legendary hero Tarzan. In many episodes, he gets imprisoned by horrid tribal people or savages. In most of them, if not all, Tarzan releases himself - primarily by his careful observation of the physical and functional factors that keep him arrested. Thereafter, his sagacity comes in and helps him free himself. The moral of this scenario is that the major factor in the release is a matter of awareness – an in-depth awareness of the prevailing factors.
The same way, what can help people make a radical departure from the captured situation of habitual neurology is one of simple self-awareness – because the causal factors in this case are all from one’s own mental conditioning. Again, as in the case of Tarzan, it is a matter of careful observation, awareness and perception.
What can help?
The primary releasing factor is the awareness of our being captured by the conventional thought process in the form of fear, anger, regret, attachment, resentment, jealousy - and such ‘I’ associated neurosis. The more we observe ourselves being caught by that process, the more we discover what it means to be free.
The following items can act as catalysts in the process of deepening self-awareness.
1. Being neither a believer nor a non-believer: Freedom from attachment to beliefs or their opposites. This can help us be explorers and so can put us on a journey of discovery.
2. Shattering readings: Going through books depicting the talks of some Masters can produce shattering readings. This is because such talks tend to demolish the psychological wall that we build around us in our ignorance due to the noisy mind.
3. Messages from NDEs: People who visit the afterlife for a brief period bring great messages that can help us free ourselves from the habitual neurology.
Those who pay attention to the above discover several other aids in daily life towards inner freedom. Similar topics are covered in the book “In Quest of the Deeper Self”; visit the website http://spirituality.yolasite.com