Ditch Power Games: Quiz Yourself

Our lives are always experiencing some kind of suffering. We don't know what will happen to us, yet we are responsible for who we are - that's the truth. We're unhappy not just because life is suffering, but because we condemn ourselves for that suffering. Everything in the universe is created through some kind of suffering. But, there is no complaint, no outcry, except for humans. Yet, we humans have so many choices, which constantly define our lives. Like all the creation processes in the universe, our lives too function in a certain way. We must lead the life we want to live. We never see our own philosophical side throughout our lives. Most of our lives are filled with pages of games of power and profit. Most people want a life filled with pages for the world to see and know what we were. 

But, who remembers whom for how long? By the time we've accomplished something, someone else is busy trying to write more pages than we have. And almost everyone does this in their lives; very few people in this world leave the pages of their life's books blank. It's not that they achieved nothing in life. The truth is that what they achieved in their lives can never be shown. Such people never experience loneliness; rather, it is solitude that holds the greatest value in life. How much we live for ourselves is more valuable than how much we live for the world. How many moments of our life should we spend in moments of solitude? When our curiosity for others gradually diminishes, that's when we should know that a fundamental change has begun. This fundamental change will affect the waves of life. Then we won't worry about people's respect, nor will we will worry about society. Then our peace and joy will be everything, which cannot be written in any book. This is the seed of true human life. Everyone wants change in the world, but the initiative is always expected from others because people don't believe in their own fundamental capacity for change. We don't realize that self-motivated positive change can also be brought about within our inner lives.

People are thoroughly entertaining themselves with games played for power and profit. People are also contributing as much as possible to hatred and violence. A life founded on the belief in the inherent dignity of human beings has no concern for anything. People no longer have the capacity for positive change. But do we really think for others? Do we really think for ourselves ? Why are we so dependent on other things? We live under so much influence from external things or other people that it becomes difficult to know when we are thinking for ourselves. Most likely, out thinking is not our own at all. Human beings were born to experience joy through the human body, to celebrate the festival of joy through the human body. Throughout the universe, the festival of joy is being celebrated. If one can understand the inner world, one can also understand the outer world. Because what we find in the inner world is the same as what we find in the outer world. Therefore, we must first understand ourselves. Once we understand ourselves, we can understand the world. It is important to note here that when we say 'self', it means the emptying of the self, that is joy, because we are all empty and hollow with our own selves. It can be difficult to know when we are thinking for ourselves.  

We cannot be a wise, truly aware person unless there is a possibility that our thoughts are not our own. It's not that all external influences are bad or detrimental to forming our own thoughts, but being unable to think for ourselves can lead to misery at best, or a puppet of someone else's idea at worst. Obviously, we're all born into societies or cultures where norms and customs are already established. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if we blindly accept everything and never question the status quo, then we should consider ourselves dead. 

Are we really living the life we want to live? It takes tremendous courage and humility to ask ourselves this. We can't even say to ourselves, "I want to change my life and start living the life I've always dreamed of." We're all given one life, just once, and without an instruction manual. But the joy and good fortune is that we've also been given a brain-the most sophisticated instrument on the planet. We're all lucky, but we forget to consider how lucky we can be when we don't stop comparing our problems with the world we live in. There's no doubt about it, with all the chaos and uncertainty going on in the world these days, it can be hard to feel like we're in charge of our own lives. There are some things we have no control over, but when our horizons are broadened, our thoughts become honest.