Tag: Choice

Giving up Intelligence

“Submit your intelligence to the Paramatma,” advises an old issue of Rishi Sabha from Sri Sri Publications.

 

That it is the intelligence that separates your atma from the Paramatma. When you submit, you let go of your ego.

 

I decided to do that. To me it meant the equivalent of saying, “Dear God, This intelligence is a thing I’ve struggled to believe in most of my life. Strangely, I have also struggled to contain the ego that comes with believing in my intelligence. This intelligence is actually yours. So take it and do what you want with it. When I need it, I will come asking for some – enough to help me by.”

 

So, when I mentally submitted my intelligence to the Paramatma, or God in my words, it was a letting go – Freedom from a heavy burden, of all my notions of intelligence.

 

Suddenly, I was free of being intelligent or dumb, creative or straight-jacketed, free of my opinions – which I believed were the truth – and the resultant debates and discussions, some external, others dangerously internal, working in a continuous loop in my own head.

 

I had a glimpse of what I could be free of – I am this and you are that, there’s a letting go of superiority and inferiority, of being right or wrong, with no need to prove myself to self or any one, to succeed or fail and the freedom not to have an opinion about innumerable things. This leaves me with space to do so much more.

 

Letting go of this intelligence and all its attachments gives me the freedom to do what comes naturally and that’s the whole point behind being creative. And plenty other things.

 

All that remains is to choose this freedom. I could so easily continue to refuse it.

 

Figure a Human

Figure a Human

There are two opposite ends at which you can figure the nature of a human with clarity.

Pushed to a Corner —————————————- Complete Freedom of Choice

 

When they are pushed to a corner

Do they lash out at those around?

Do they find it hard to wish well for others?

Do they trample over others to find their survival?

 

When they have freedom of choice

Do they choose to throw only crumbs for others?

Do they choose to meet their own needs that take away others’ freedom?

Do they choose to see the dark stuff in others whether it exists or not?

All of us are pushed to a corner at some time. We have great freedom of choice many times.

What we choose to do during these times is what defines our character. Each such act sets the direction of our character.

Spaces and Walls

When you live your life, do you see the Spaces? Or the Walls?

When I drove my Activa of 6 years, I looked for spaces that allowed me to move along. The rest was just a mass that I had to move past – people crossing the road, dogs dashing across, two-wheelers coming down the wrong way, bikes, cars, buses honking past – none of that mattered.

But when I became a new driver of a car, all I saw was every vehicle, person and animal on the road that was out there to stop me – the Walls. The Spaces disappeared. And I slowed down, sometimes coming to a standstill.

Same road, same traffic. A different me, hesitant and reluctant. It was unfamiliarity that brought on the difference.

It’s true of life too.

The world is the same. We see what we choose to see.

Those of us who see the Spaces, zip past, enjoying the breeze, the morning winter sun on our face and in control, never hesitating over a new direction, a new situation, an unfamiliarity.

Those of us who see the Walls, stop altogether. Or we slow down, too fearful to feel the breeze or the sun. We inch along, worrying ourselves in a new direction – if we move at all.

Yes, there are some basics to master. But the rest is our choice.

So do you see the Spaces? Or the Walls?

Making your Choices

Making your choices has little to do with safety.
Sometimes, they look like safe choices,
Other times, they don’t.
That’s when people can’t understand you.

Sometimes, they say – you are doing the easy thing.
Other times, they say – you are limiting your choices.
Yet other times, they say – what’s the point?

You aren’t doing the easy thing. You’re doing what your heart tells you to.
You aren’t limiting yourself. You’re focusing.
Finally, the point is – you’re doing what you’re meant to do.

They may not know your reasons.
They will attribute their reasons to your act.
And it won’t make sense to them.
Those opinions don’t count.

So long as you can truly hear your heart,
Go make your choice.
Make your place in the world.
It’s your dream, your experiment, your life.