MIND DETERIORATION

Continues … from last week issues 22 / 01 / 11 

But that vital urge to inquire, to find out, is soon smothered , is it not? It is smothered by fear , by the weight of tradition, by our own incapacity to face this extraordinary thing called life. Haven’t you noticed how quickly your eagerness is destroyed by a sharp word, by a disparaging gesture, by the fear of an examination or the threat of a parent – which means that sensitivity is already being pushed aside and the mind made dull?

Another cause of dullness is imitation. You are made to imitate by tradition. The weight of the past drives you to conform, toe the line. And through conformity the mind feels safe, secure; it establishes itself in a well – oiled groove so that it can run smoothly without disturbance, without a quiver of doubt. Watch the grown – up people about you, and you will see that their minds do not want to be disturbed. They want peace even though it is the peace of death, but real peace is something entirely different.

When the mind establishes itself in a groove, in a pattern, haven’t you noticed that it is always prompted by the desire to be secure? That is why it follows an ideal, an example, a guru. It wants to be safe, undisturbed, therefore it imitates. When you read in your history books about great leaders , saints, warriors, don’t you find your self wanting to copy them ? Not that there aren’t great people in the world, but the instinct is to imitate great people, to try to become like them, and that is one of the factors of deterioration because the mind then sets itself in a mould.

Furthermore, society does not want individuals who are alert , keen, revolutionary because such individuals will not fir in to the established social pattern, and they may break it up. That is why society seeks to hold your mind in tits pattern and why your so – called education incourages you to imitate, to follow, to confirm.

Now can the mind stop imitating ? That is can it cease to form habits? And can the mind, which is already caught in habit, be free of habit?

Continues… on next week