In my previous blog I wrote about ‘enlightenment’ as a grand vision.
What could be grander than awakening? No more sorrow. No more regrets. Bliss beyond imagining. No anxiety or boredom. No jealousy or envy or frustration or unrequited love. No death and therefore no fear of death. In fact, no fears of any kind.
Certainly I wanted this.
Yet teachers I respected immensely like Ram Dass and Anthony DeMello claimed that I did not want to wake up. That I did not wish to escape from the prison I was in. I just wanted my broken toys to be mended.
How could this be?
Today, I realize that they were correct. I do not wish to wake up. You do not wish to wake up. You do not want to put an end to all your sorrows. We are perfectly happy being in our miserable condition. In fact, we do not even realize how miserable our condition is or how messed up we are. Yes, I am talking about you. And I am talking about me.
Puzzled?
I will explain with two examples.
Pick a slightly less grand vision. You want to be a tennis champion. You want to win Wimbledon and the other grand slam tournaments as well. You want to win them in the same calendar year, so you are a true Grand Slam champion. You would like this to happen more than once. You want to have a fluid style like Roger Federer and the dogged tenacity of Novak Djokovic and to be loved like Rafael Nadal.
In pursuit of this vision you are prepared to get on a tennis court for two hours every Saturday morning to hit with a coach and practice with a ball machine.
Do I hear laughter in the background? Will even loved ones, like your spouse, snigger and conclude that you do not really want to become a tennis champion?
If you really want to get there you have to spend endless hours on a tennis court. You have to learn about and practice all the strokes – the forehand topspin, the backhand topspin, the forehand and backhand drives, the forehand and backhand slices, the volley, the half volley, the various types of serves, the lob, the overhead smash, the overhead backhand smash, the inside-out forehand, the inside-out backhand and many more.
You will not use all of them in any particular match and you will have your favorite signature strokes but you must know all of them. You learn to combine them in your own unique fashion. You learn how they work together. For example, you learn to use the forehand slice to execute a dropshot and your backhand crosscourt slice to counter your opponent’s dropshot.
If you do all of this diligently you are still unlikely to reach your vision. But possibly, just possibly, you may make it to the main draw of one of the major tennis tournaments.
Let’s pick another example.
Your vision is to become the World Chess Champion.
You wish to strike terror into the hearts of your opponents as Bobby Fischer did. ‘Fischer Fear’ defeated many strong chess players before the first move was played.
You wish to play and defeat Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh D. and Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura and R Praggnanandhaa and other top chess players. You would like to do this in classical format and rapid and blitz formats. You would like to achieve an ELO rating of 2900 or more and this would make you the strongest chess player ever.
In pursuit of this vision you are prepared to sign up for the premier version of a good chess online site like ChessMood and spend a few hours each week exploring the offerings there.
Again, do I hear more laughter in the background? Do your loved ones conclude that you do not have a real interest in becoming a chess champion?
There are two centuries of work on chess theory and tactics. If you wish to excel in chess you have to master much of this material if not all of it. You have to learn the kings pawn openings like the Ruy Lopez and the Giuoco Piano. The queens pawn openings like the London System and the Torre attack. You have to learn to play and defend against the gambits like the King’s Gambit and the Queen’s Gambit and the Scotch Gambit and the Danish Gambit and the Evan’s Gambit. You have to figure out your playing style. Are you super aggressive like Tal or super defensive like Karpov? If, for example, you are confronted with the Danish Gambit do you take both pawns or just one?
Top chess players spend most of their waking hours musing chess problems and sharpening their style. They live, breathe, eat and drink chess.
If you do all of this and you have some raw talent you may reach grandmaster status. It is still highly unlikely that you will reach your vision.
Most people who think they want to be tennis or chess champions are not ready to put in even a fraction of the time and effort needed to begin the journey.
And what about you, my friend?
You want to become ‘enlightened’. You want to ‘wake up.’
And, to show how serious you are, you have set up a meditation practice and you go on Vipassana retreats twice a year. And you read books like The Untethered Soul and Awareness and Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots.
This does not work.
Ram Dass and Anthony DeMello were dead right. You do not want to wake up. You do not wish to escape from prison.
You just want better food.
So, what do you have to put into the equation if you truly want to ‘wake up’?
I will tell you in my next blog.
Peace!
