MATURITY, RESPONSIBILITY AND THE END OF EXTERNAL DEPENDENCIES
I am not a Buddhist, but I love Buddha. That said, let’s dive into a short text of this great master, who gave so much spiritual wealth to my evolution.
The integration of the wisdom of masters into practical life consists in recovering the essence of the message, welcoming it into the heart and taking it to everyday life.
Buddha said: “Once you understand that you are lost and you have to find your own way, and that you are not going to get any help, then, you become responsible.”
In the upbringing and education processes given to children, the absence of a satisfactory and balanced father figure, with authority and affection, usually manifests. This situation has created a widespread human need for masters; that is why Christians call God: “Father”. European citizens call governments: “paternalistic” states
Millions of people across the world carry with them a fatherless child. This actually produces a search and an unhealthy dependency unhelpful for people’s psycho-emotional maturity.
The truth is that I’m alone, and that you’re alone too. We would like to be accompanied in this endeavour called “life”, we would like to have a father figure to protect us and tell us what to do; that would give us a lot comfort and carefreeness, but also a great lack of responsibility.
Buddha says:
1- Once you realize that you are lost
(Comprehension that we are worse off than we imagined and that we need help)
2- … and that you have to make your own way,
(Only with your own effort, without anything resembling anything you already know)
3- … and that you will not get any help,
(Stop asking for, or seeking or expecting any kind of external support)
4- … then you become responsible.
(You take charge of your own life, stop blaming others, pointing out, judging and start looking for your own solutions)
Osho thus says: “Praying, asking etc. is, to some extent, irresponsible.” He doesn’t say it is bad or negative, but irresponsible. The idea is clear: depositing trust outside is an irresponsible act.
A teacher, a medicine, a therapy group, a spiritual school, a belief, a guide, a doctor, a shaman, a guru… are external figures that can either distract you or help you find yourself.
These are two very opposite possibilities. It can either be a creation of the human mind in order to avoid finding a way out and sticking around in the jungle, lost and complaining that we can’t escape; or the attitude of surrender that will enable you to find the final output to all problems or confusions.
“Once you understand that you are lost and that you have to find your own way, and that you are not going to get any help, then you become responsible”
THANK YOU BUDDHA
Alberto José Varela