Skip to main content

Chapter - 5 Doubt as a key to Enlightenment

Doubt is what gives us the power to change our entire perception of reality in a single instant. Those who have experienced enlightenment still see their assumptions as absolute facts just as other people do, but every so often a magical thing happens to the enlightened; they remember the detachment they felt when they experienced enlightenment and in that instant, the certainty of their current states of mind begins to give way. They are suddenly free from the bonds of their assumptions and are capable of seeing the world in a fresh way, a way that serves rather than enslaves.

Isn't the average person also capable of this? Perhaps. But, if so, it is rare. There are simply too many forces working against him.

By our very nature we tend to identify with our assumptions about reality and as a result protect them from attack as we would protect our own bodies. Consider how often we fight over our points of view even when it ultimately makes no difference who's right and who's wrong. We latch onto some thought or another, claim it as our own, then draw our swords whenever anyone disagrees. So little of what we argue about makes any real difference in the world, but it makes an enormous difference to us.

Why is it so difficult for us to admit when we are wrong? Because we so identify with our views of reality that, when they are wrong, we are wrong. Even our language supports our identification with our points of view. The phrase we must say is "I am wrong." Why doesn't it occur to us to say, "The thought I held was wrong"? Because without being aware of it we live as if our thoughts and ourselves are the same thing.

The outside world also promotes our identification with our thoughts in order to protect its social structures. Every social group that seeks your involvement, whether it be religious, political, fraternal, or anything else, needs you to utter just one magic phrase for it to begin to exert control over you. The magic phrase is "I am." Once you utter the phrase "I am" anything, you have walked into a trap. That doesn't mean you won't get value out of the trap and it doesn't mean you are foolish for walking into it. It simply means that you are now in a trap and the only hope you have of ever getting out, should you decide you want to, is remembering how you got caught in the first place.

Until recently, I was a registered member of one of America's two main political parties. Though I rarely followed politics in the news or volunteered my time to any political causes, somewhere along the line I signed a membership card

and from then on I proudly claimed, "I am a __________ ." For over 10 years my

in-laws and I would get into bitter, ugly arguments about politics. Screaming, yelling, name-calling. As you may have guessed, everyone was split along party lines. Though we genuinely tried to avoid the arguments whenever we were together, all it took was a hint of the subject to be brought up and the fight was on. Recently I grew so disgusted with both parties that I declared myself an

Independent and an amazing thing happened. I have not gotten into one argument with my in-laws over politics even though the topic now regularly comes up for conversation. I have absolutely no need to defend "my" party and no need to bash theirs. All the effort and self-restraint in the world couldn't counteract my attachment to the label I had given myself. But the moment my label changed, everything else changed without effort.

Consider for a moment some of the things you may "know" about yourself. Do you "know" you are a Republican/Democrat, or are you simply someone who shares many of the views of one of those parties? Do you "know" you are a doctor/lawyer/accountant, or are you simply someone who practices one of these professions? You see, there is an enormous difference between someone who "is" something and someone who "does" something. And while the difference may seem trivial, the next time you find yourself strongly defending some point of view, ask yourself if it is a position you "hold" or one that you "are."

Fostering doubt in our assumptions can help us get out of our psychological traps. When we begin to question our assumptions, change is possible. Until that point, whatever system we find ourselves in remains intact. If we are to break through this barrier and create real change in our lives, our efforts must not be against circumstances, but against our inherent tendencies to identify with our own thoughts and assumptions as well as the onslaught of those presented to us by others. Unfortunately, this is not always easy because our assumptions don’t look like assumptions. They look like reality.

Syndicate

Syndicate content