The Conditioned Self
The Conditioned Self and living trapped outside of now. The world is upside down, everyone thinks they are right and others are wrong. Blaming and shaming each other, creating turmoil and hostility is the normal way most live. The truth is no one ever knows what someone else is thinking, feeling or experiencing. Yet through:
- Conditioning
- Assumptions
- Expectations
- Society, Media, Schooling, Religion
- Family influence
We see the world as aggressive, hostile and full of chaos. We base our present situation on the sum total of past events and then wonder why things never change. All that happened in the past is simply the past. An event that occurred which is no longer relevant to the present state of being. In the present moment you find the unconditioned self reoccurring every second. The conditioned mind makes decisions by allowing the mind to wander to the past and then create suffering because you are conditioned to believe that this present moment is the sum total of the past. So we then suffer not only in the present moment but in the future. It’s these attachments to the stories out mind makes up that keeps us trapped in hell on earth.
The Conditioned Self
What Our Mind Creates
- Will the world except me?
- Will people like me and what will happen if they don’t?
- What will others think if I express a different opinion?
- Life is hard and I must work constantly to stay ahead of the curve. If not I am a failure.
- If I don’t produce enough money or material items: cars, clothes, attain wealth, prestige, power, then I will not be seen as important or accomplished.
We tell ourselves these things day in and day out. Striving and driving for more. We are left feeling overwhelmed, depressed, anxious and full of anger and self defeated. This is a never ending cycle. We pull from the past to predict the future and then dump into the present moment our fears calling them to fruition.
We wait for the world to tell us that we are important. But what if I told you that you can wake up the next day and not care what society and the world tells you? Are you in the conditioned mind or can you be in the present moment? This moment which is unconditioned, new, fresh, all inclusive and expanding consciousness. It’s no wonder most of the time people walk around unhappy, unsatisfied, irritated and restless. They find themselves seeking fulfillment from the past conditioned mind and not the spirit, the sense of self fulfillment that is always complete and unconditioned.
The Conditioned Self
Free Your Mind
How do we shift from the attachment and suffering from the conditioned self. Making the shift to the pure unconditional mind takes a complete change. It takes awareness and commitment to undo years of conditioning.
We must first get over the idea that we have labels that describe who we are and that any of those labels are important or matter in the first place. You may find yourself president of a corporation one day and in the blink of an eye you’re just an older woman or man stripped of the label for whatever reason. Now you have a decision to make. For the rest of your life do you cling to the idea of who you were and how people saw you, treated you and praised you? Or do and recognize yourself as once having had just an experience in time that does not affect the totality of who you are? The essence that is you?
The cycle of life continues and so does the physical body here in the present moment. It is not concerned with the past. The only thing clinging to the past is the mind. The monkey mind as it is referred to in Buddhism.
What if there was another way? What if we simply allowed others to do their own dance, sing and move to their own beat? We would love more, expect less, judge less. We would see the world as perfectly in sync and create a beautiful experience right in front of our own eyes. I believe that is the way we are all suppose to live. In the here and now.
