Are you worried? Are you miserable? Worries and miseries are twin evils that go hand in hand. They co-exist in this world. If you are miserable, you are worried. We must face facts. Although we cannot run away from them, we must not let these twin evils of worry and misery overcome us. We must overcome them. We can do so by our human efforts, correctly directed with determination and patience. With proper understanding and carefully applied intelligence, we should be able to subdue our emotional feelings and do away with worries and miseries. Our worries are of our own making. We create them in our minds, through our inability or failure to understand the danger of our egoistic feelings and the inflated and false values we attach to things in their perspective, in that nothing is permanent in this world and that our own egoistic self is our wild imagination running riot in our untrained mind, we should be going a long way to finding the remedy to eradicate our worries and miseries. We must cultivate our minds and hearts to forget about self and to be of service and use to humanity. This is one of the means whereby we can find real peace and happiness.
Many people have longings and hankerings, fears and anxieties which they have not learnt to sublimate and are ashamed to admit them even to themselves. But these unwholesome emotions have force. No matter how we may try to bottle them up they seek a release by affecting the physical machinery resulting in chronic illness. All these can be repelled by correct methods of meditation or mental culture, because the untrained mind is the main cause of such worries.
Whenever you have worries in your mind, do not show your sulky face to each and every person you come across. You should reveal your worries only to those who really can help you. How nice it would be if you could maintain your smiling face in spite of all the difficulties confronting you. This is not very difficult if only you really try. Many teenagers worry too much when they are jilted by a friend of the opposite sex. They may even plan to commit suicide, compelled by the plight of frustration and disappointment. Some even end up in lunatic asylums. Many such broken-hearted youth lead miserable lives. All these unfortunate events happen due to lack of understanding of the real nature of life. Somehow or other, departure or separation is unavoidable. This may happen of a life career; sometimes in the middle and sometimes at the end; it is certainly unavoidable. When such things happen one must try to find out where the cause lies. However, if the separation is beyond control one must have the courage to bear it by realising the nature of life. But on the other hand, it is not difficult for anyone to find new friends, to fill the vacuum if one really wants to.
"Wheresoever fear arises, it arises in the fool, not in the wise man", says the Buddha. Fears are nothing more than states of mind. One's state of mind is subject to control and direction' the negative use of thought produces our fears; the positive use realises our hopes and ideals, and in these cases the choice rests entirely with ourselves. Every human being has the ability to completely control his own mind. Nature has endowed man with absolute control over but one thing, and that is thought. This fact, coupled with the additional fact that everything which man creates begins in the form of a thought, leads one very near to the principle by which fear may be mastered.
A noted British anatomist was once asked by a student what was the best cure for fear, and he answered, 'Try doing something for someone'. The student was considerably astonished by the reply, and requested further enlightenment whereupon his instructor said, "You can't have two opposing sets of thoughts in your mind at one and the same time". One set of thoughts will always drive the other out. If, for example, your mind is completely occupied with an unselfish desire to help someone else, you can't be harbouring fear at the same time.
"Worry dries up the blood sooner than age". Fears, worries and anxieties in modernisation are natural instincts of self-preservation. But constant fear and prolonged worry are unfaithful enemies to the human organism. They derange the normal bodily functions. If you have learned how to please others, you always will be in a good mood. This is because your mind does not allow worries to be accomodated in it.
The Voice of Nature: For the sake of material gain, modern man does not listen to the voice of nature. His mental activities are so pre-occupied with his future happiness that he neglects the needs of his physical body and entirely forgets the present moment for what it is worth. This unnatural behaviour of contemporary man is the immediate result of his wrong conceptions of World Order of human life and its ultimate purpose. It is the cause of all the frustration, anxiety, fear and insecurity of our present times. One who really likes to have peace should not disturb another man's freedom. It is wrong to seek happiness by disturbing and deceiving others.
If man is cruel and wicked, always lives against the laws of nature and the cosmos; through his acts, words and thoughts, he pollutes the whole atmosphere. As a result of such mis-deeds and thoughts, nature may not produce things which man requires for his living but instead man may be faced with epidemics and various kinds of disasters. If, on the other hand, man lives in accordance with this natural law, leads a righteous way of life, purifies the atmosphere through the merits of his virtues and radiates his loving kindness towards other living beings, he can change the atmosphere in order to bring about better results for the happiness of man. You may be a very modern busy man, but do not forget to spend at least a few minutes a day in reading some valuable books. This habit will give you a lot of relief and enable you to forget your worries and to develop your mind. At the same time, you have to remember that you have a religion also. Religion is for your own benefit. Therefore, it is your duty to think about your religion and to spare a few minutes a day to fulfil your religious duties.
Mental Health and Criminal Tendencies: In relation to health, it is not AIDS, or cancer, that is the most alarming of the ailments of our age. These sicknesses are now under control, and there is every hope that a cure for them will be found in the near future. Actually, the most alarming of all is the prevalence and increase in all kinds of mental ailments and disturbances. We are forced to build more and more hospitals and institutions for the mentally sick and neurotics of various kinds. There are many more who do not receive any treatment, but who are in great need of it.
It may be asked why the criminal element within our society is mentioned in the same breath as the positive and far-reaching results stemming directly from the research work of Freud is the recognition that criminals and delinquents are also mentally sick people, more in need of treatment than punishment. It is this liberal outlook on the problem that is the basis of all 'progressive' social reform, and which open the way for reclamation rather than revenge.
Know Thy Neighbour: We can never know how other people live; we may not even know anything about the lives of people of different social levels from ourselves or of lesser or greater wealth. If we are healthy we cannot know what it is like to be sick and if we are invalids we cannot understand the energy of the strong. Such lack of experience makes for intolerance, because tolerance is born only of understanding and without experience there can be no understanding. Hence it is a good thing for us to get as wide an experience as is possible of all aspects of life, and especially to travel and let us make sure we do not always travel in luxury!
Man's Unhappiness: The Buddha thought that all man's unhappiness comes from wanting extraordinary things, the pleasures that money can buy, power over other men, and, most important of all, to go on living forever after one is dead. The desire for these things makes people selfish, so that they come to think only of themselves, want things only for themselves, and are not worried what happens to others. The only way to avoid this restlessness is to get rid of the desires; but when a man achieves it, he reaches a state of perfection and calm.
We do not enjoy pleasures but were ourselves overcome by pleasures (i.e., by endless anxiety in seeking those pleasures all our energies were sapped). We suffer more than we enjoy in seeking the pleasures of this phenomenal world.
Time Will Heal Our Wounds: Trouble passes. What has caused you to burst into tears today will soon be forgotten; you may remember that you cried but it is unlikely that you will remember what you cried about! As we grow up and go through life, if we remember this we shall often be surprised to find how we lie awake at night brooding over something that has happened to upset us during the day, or how we nurse resentment against someone and keep on letting the same thoughts run through our minds about how we are going to have our own back against the person who has harmed us. We may fall into a rage over something and later wonder what it was we were so angry about. And even if we do remember, we realise what a waste of time and energy it has all been, and how we have deliberately gone on being unhappy when we could have stopped it and started to think about something else.
Whatever our troubles, however grievous they may appear, time will heal our wounds. But surely there must be something we can do to prevent ourselves from being hurt in the first place. Why should we allow people and troubles to drain our energy and make us unhappy? The answer is, of course, that they do not, it is we who make ourselves unhappy. You may have had some trouble in your office or the place where you work but you should not bring or extend such troubles to your home and create a bad atmosphere among your loved ones who are innocent.
The Voice of Nature: For the sake of material gain, modern man does not listen to the voice of nature. His mental activities are so pre-occupied with his future happiness that he neglects the needs of his physical body and entirely forgets the present moment for what it is worth. This unnatural behaviour of contemporary man is the immediate result of his wrong conceptions of World Order of human life and its ultimate purpose. It is the cause of all the frustration, anxiety, fear and insecurity of our present times. One who really likes to have peace should not disturb another man's freedom. It is wrong to seek happiness by disturbing and deceiving others.
If man is cruel and wicked, always lives against the laws of nature and the cosmos; through his acts, words and thoughts, he pollutes the whole atmosphere. As a result of such mis-deeds and thoughts, nature may not produce things which man requires for his living but instead man may be faced with epidemics and various kinds of disasters. If, on the other hand, man lives in accordance with this natural law, leads a righteous way of life, purifies the atmosphere through the merits of his virtues and radiates his loving kindness towards other living beings, he can change the atmosphere in order to bring about better results for the happiness of man. You may be a very modern busy man, but do not forget to spend at least a few minutes a day in reading some valuable books. This habit will give you a lot of relief and enable you to forget your worries and to develop your mind. At the same time, you have to remember that you have a religion also. Religion is for your own benefit. Therefore, it is your duty to think about your religion and to spare a few minutes a day to fulfil your religious duties.
Mental Health and Criminal Tendencies: In relation to health, it is not AIDS, or cancer, that is the most alarming of the ailments of our age. These sicknesses are now under control, and there is every hope that a cure for them will be found in the near future. Actually, the most alarming of all is the prevalence and increase in all kinds of mental ailments and disturbances. We are forced to build more and more hospitals and institutions for the mentally sick and neurotics of various kinds. There are many more who do not receive any treatment, but who are in great need of it.
It may be asked why the criminal element within our society is mentioned in the same breath as the positive and far-reaching results stemming directly from the research work of Freud is the recognition that criminals and delinquents are also mentally sick people, more in need of treatment than punishment. It is this liberal outlook on the problem that is the basis of all 'progressive' social reform, and which open the way for reclamation rather than revenge.
Know Thy Neighbour: We can never know how other people live; we may not even know anything about the lives of people of different social levels from ourselves or of lesser or greater wealth. If we are healthy we cannot know what it is like to be sick and if we are invalids we cannot understand the energy of the strong. Such lack of experience makes for intolerance, because tolerance is born only of understanding and without experience there can be no understanding. Hence it is a good thing for us to get as wide an experience as is possible of all aspects of life, and especially to travel and let us make sure we do not always travel in luxury!
Man's Unhappiness: The Buddha thought that all man's unhappiness comes from wanting extraordinary things, the pleasures that money can buy, power over other men, and, most important of all, to go on living forever after one is dead. The desire for these things makes people selfish, so that they come to think only of themselves, want things only for themselves, and are not worried what happens to others. The only way to avoid this restlessness is to get rid of the desires; but when a man achieves it, he reaches a state of perfection and calm.
We do not enjoy pleasures but were ourselves overcome by pleasures (i.e., by endless anxiety in seeking those pleasures all our energies were sapped). We suffer more than we enjoy in seeking the pleasures of this phenomenal world.
Time Will Heal Our Wounds: Trouble passes. What has caused you to burst into tears today will soon be forgotten; you may remember that you cried but it is unlikely that you will remember what you cried about! As we grow up and go through life, if we remember this we shall often be surprised to find how we lie awake at night brooding over something that has happened to upset us during the day, or how we nurse resentment against someone and keep on letting the same thoughts run through our minds about how we are going to have our own back against the person who has harmed us. We may fall into a rage over something and later wonder what it was we were so angry about. And even if we do remember, we realise what a waste of time and energy it has all been, and how we have deliberately gone on being unhappy when we could have stopped it and started to think about something else.
Whatever our troubles, however grievous they may appear, time will heal our wounds. But surely there must be something we can do to prevent ourselves from being hurt in the first place. Why should we allow people and troubles to drain our energy and make us unhappy? The answer is, of course, that they do not, it is we who make ourselves unhappy. You may have had some trouble in your office or the place where you work but you should not bring or extend such troubles to your home and create a bad atmosphere among your loved ones who are innocent.
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