So,
you just got back from work, turned your computer on, logged into your email
account, and found this wonderful newsletter gracing your inbox! All is well in
the world. Or so it seems. Think about your journey home - how much of it were
you consciously aware of? Think about your last ten journeys to work, unless
there was some manner of incident, I imagine they are all one large blur. Or
perhaps we should try a more extreme example: Think of the last time you sat an
exam! How your pen flowed with uncontrollable fury, how surprised you were
about how much you knew about Astrophysics, how swiftly the time flew past in
the exam hall. These situations are examples of your Body operating
independently of the Minds direct commands and expectations.
The
Body is effectively a flesh engine, a construct of nature. It has sexual
impulses, it has rational capabilities, it creates great works of art, it has a
sense of rhythm with which it creates music. It is an uncontrollably unfolding
organism. We cannot ever disable these creative/destructive Bodily impulses, we
must simply accept them. Nor should we wish to be free from these Bodily
impulses, for they obviously play an essential part in our human being. These
abilities of the Body are decided according to the whims of evolution: If you
have the potential to be a great artist, writer, musician, inventor, anything,
you should thank nothing beyond your physical make-up.
The
Mind, in contrast to the Body, is that transcendent eye-of-awareness that is
currently fully awakened and reading this very article. The Mind is what
attempts to control your Bodily actions. This awareness can only guide the
Bodies innate skills in a general direction. That is, your Mind has a general
framework of where it wants to go in life; in its awakened moments it decides a
rough course of action and devotes the skills of the Body toward that goal.
This is a 'Moral context', which puts all of the Bodies pre-determined
abilities, quite literally into the context decided for it by the conscious
Mind. If you'll excuse the tired cliché - think of a human Body as a ship, upon
a stormy sea. The Mind is the captain of that ship, and has limited control
over where to guide it. Where is that blasted port?
Now,
you may feel somewhat disheartened, or disempowered by all of this stealing
away of exact power over your Body. Yet don't be! We are not always in total
control of our actions, but this is a price we have to pay. Constant
awareness and constant control leads to constant boredom. We must sometimes
allow ourselves to fall into the world of action; we must submerge ourselves
into the general flow of events. This will make the slow crawl of time
bearable. We need to childishly conform to some of societies rules (there is no
denying that we already do! May as well admit it). We need to be somewhat naive
and easily amused, seeking the approval of others and not just being creatures
of complete self-caused enlightenment - that would be boring! To make life
bearable, we humans thrive in semi-sentience.
