Image is nothing more than a psychological prison cell

“Why do we lose our joy for petty things?”, is a question one has to ask oneself.

Unimportant things have become more important.

Joy is the most important energy, but we lose it for one’s point of view. One’s point of view seems more important than joy.

Has something gone wrong in the way we look at life?

We give up our life for winning our point of view, or getting status or money or position. One has to learn to drop this foolishness. Anger is an expression of foolishness.

There is a famous story of two lions that were ready to fight to quench their thirst. There was sufficient water for both. But they fought on the issue of who should drink first, and in the process both were very thirsty but winning was more important than quenching their thirst. They stubbornly fought with words and their emotions became wild. Then they attacked each other. Blood was spilled but still they fought. Then they saw vultures waiting around to see who was going to die, so that they could have their food.

Realising their foolishness, they left. The thought that they would be devoured by the vultures ended the fight. Anger is the sure way to self defeat.

Every emotion is energy. Anger and sorrow are also energy. Sorrow creates its own material, and that is imagination.

When one is angry, one imagines a subjective world and justifies why one is angry. It creates an illusory world. One is unconscious of one’s inner projections. One takes the imagination to be real. One identifies with this imagination and creates its psychological prison.

To be alert to how one’s mind imagines, projects and creates a psychological prison is a part of being inwardly awake. If one is alert, one will transform anger energy into compassion. The object of anger will become an object of compassion. Transforming this energy is being wise. Why does one get angry with the other?

The other does not fit into one’s image of how one should be. So our struggle is to see that the other falls into the image we want.

The world is not indebted to fit into our mental image. We have not questioned why we create an image?

One may justify that it is natural to create an image. Stop justifying and think wisely.

You have an image of your wife or husband or boss. You want them to fit into your petty image. Why do you have an image?