闲人

How many people question whether the path they are on is right?

I often find myself trying to convince myself that what I'm doing is right, by considering how others are wrong, or how other paths may be right for others but not for me. But I suppose as with all things, right and wrong do not truly exist.

Considering what is 'right' for me, is maybe considering what best fits my goals. Yet I am unsure what these goals are. Wealth? Freedom? Happiness? Ultimately it points to happiness, as freedom and wealth are but desires with happiness in mind. Happiness as a goal however, is difficult. What would make us happy now might not be what makes us happy when we get it, as we would know from experiences where the anticipation was more enjoyable than the anticipated. What we think would make us happy might not actually turn out as we expect; we often don't know ourselves that well. If something does make us happy, how long does it last?

We dedicate much of our lives to sensual pleasure, even if the pleasure just means the lack of discomfort. We obtain this pleasure by stimulating one or several of our sense organs, creating electrical impulses that culminate in the activation of our pleasure centres in the brain.

In principle, having a 'massage' is the same as having a massage is the same as having a nice meal is the same as playing with a new toy. When we enjoy ourselves we call it recreation, as it is an attempt to re-create past experiences that we found to be enjoyable.

Often we don't think of the mind as a sense organ. It is somehow different, a class above physical stimulation. Love is somehow more noble than sex, ambition is somehow more admirable than gluttony. Yet other than the ego involved in thinking people valuing thinking, it is all the same. Just another organ to stimulate.

The difference is we often don't realize all this is happening. The 'mind' is not an actual physical organ and people might argue whether or not such a thing exists, but whether or not it exists, the experience is there. The experience of a mind that perceives and understands, and craves for satisfaction. In addition, when one is physically satisfied it is clear that a physical organ has been satisfied which led to a mental pleasure. But as mind and mental activity are both non-physical it is difficult to separate. One feels pleasure without necessarily realizing it is the result of the satisfaction of mind as a sensual organ. We feel proud or happy or in love without realizing it is the result of the contact between mind and the proud/happy/love object. Yet it is the same.

As we grow, we grow to see the world in a certain way. And as each person grows differently, the world that is seen is different. What the world appears to be like depends on where we stand when we look at it.

Often people assume that, because we occupy the same physical space (or at least we assume to, as we have no way to prove it either way), that our worlds are the same, and more importantly, that one's world is the right one, and any one that dares say otherwise is lying, crazy or deluded.

Yet what we see is just what we see. In a physical sense, we can only see certain wavelengths of light and not others, and that's fine. It is all our ancestors needed to survive, and it is all we need. It is all that we can see, without sophisticated equipment. Even if one has gaps in the way one sees the world, one is seeing it the only way one can. Even if it is, objectively, deluded.

However, too often, there is an idea of what is 'right', and those who don't do what is right are either evil for defying rightness or ignorant for not knowing what's right. We make up rules saying it is right to do this and that, and fail to realize the "if and only if..." that should follow the declaration.