2nd June 2022
When dogs are just being dogs, fish are just being fish, humans are also just being humans.
When visiting clusters of humans especially where certain cultures are strong, one begins to realise people start acting eerily similar to one another. The songs they like, the opinions, they way of speech, their expressions, their preferences, there dress sense, the way they walk and even down to their hair cut!
Conformity occurs not just physically but also mentally. Although we are complex with emotions and thoughts there is a certain pattern that conditioning brings. This can be subtle as described above or become swept up in radical ideologies and swept up in a mob mentality.
By observing your reactivity you can begin to see your conditioning from your parents, family, school peers & teachers, workplace and society. When you begin to notice the eerily similar reactive characteristics in your surrounding family and peers as well there is a realisation that these thought forms seem to have a viral affect on the brain. A typical example is mass media, specifically watching the news where an entire nation is fed stories by one news channel day after day. The mind is filled endlessly with myriads of images, videos and opinions. Suddenly this is reflected in the person. One can see how easy devisness can occur.
We like to think we are logical, rational and in charge of our thinking, but in reality this might not be the case. If we are not conscious enough, in other words completely believing and identifying with our thoughts and emotions then we run the risk of our mind using us and not the other way about. This is why I find teachings which focus on the present moment interesting. Because it is a direct realisation of the present reality which exists therefore removing the filters & conditioning that distort us from seeing the world as it is. The brain is plastic and mouldable for good or for bad. “Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind” – Epictetus.
-Jhoty
Jhoty 