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Embarking on frail, unseaworthy boats to cross the ocean, countless Vietnamese people risked everything in search of the freedom they did not have in Vietnam. I ask them, in the lands where they resettled: "Have you found that which you sought?" Some say "Yes," while others say "No." Many have discovered problems they did not know before. Some even said to me: "Here, we have money, house, car, good food and clothes, but we are not happy, because we have no time, and we would like to be back in the Refugee Camps again!" In the same way as the horizon recedes as we move towards it, so the object of our search eludes us, leaving us frustrated and unfulfilled; the heaven we dream of never materializes, and we feel let down. In a world of relativity and change, we look for things to hold onto that will not change and let us down, but this is futile, and only causes more frustration and suffering. We should know the nature of that which we seek, so that unrealistic expectations do not disappoint us. Most Indian religions— Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, at least— teach about Enlightenment and Liberation (Moksha), and maintain it is something absolute, that will release us from the realm of Change (Samsara). Now, just as the word ‘happiness’ disturbs our minds and causes unhappiness, so this concept, if grasped at and not understood, may be detrimental to our mental equilibrium. We set our sights too high, and fail to see what is right in front of us. Do we know, by our own experience, that there is such a thing as perfect or absolute Liberation? Or do we just believe and hope there is? We have accepted someone else’s word for it, haven’t we? And so we live in conflict with what is. We do not know. In the U.S., Australia or Europe, there is more freedom than in Vietnam and many other countries, but nowhere is there complete freedom; restrictions and limitations of various kinds always hem us in. And if there are not external limitations, there are the natural limitations of the body: we need food, water, air and many other things, merely to survive; we are not free, physically, and never can be. Nor are our minds free, as we are conditioned in so many ways, habituated, dependent and addicted, as upon drugs. We say we are searching for freedom or liberation, but what do these words mean? Do they have any meaning at all? I do not know, and cannot say, if there really is complete Enlightenment or Liberation, and I don’t want to speak from the books, but I do know we can push back the barriers and become more enlightened and liberated than we are now, and half-a-loaf is better than none; it is not a matter of all or nothing. Moreover, because I have experienced it myself, I can show it to others, too. I once wrote— in one of my books— that I do not like to talk of reincarnation or rebirth because I have no direct experience of it and so am not qualified to talk of it; we are qualified to talk of things only if we’ve experienced them. But I also wrote that the world is made up of ideas, many of which are wrong and some even bad, and that if we can change wrong ideas and replace them with right or better ideas, the world will improve thereby. Now, I can see how narrow ideas affect us and cause us to suffer, and so it is my responsibility to write about it, as I want the world to improve. I care. How about you? We live behind walls of wrong ideas— ideas such as racism, nationalism, religious fanaticism and sexism, for example. We can see what trouble such ideas cause in the world, because the way we think determines the way we act; actions are preceded by thought. If we can change or overcome some of our wrong and narrow ideas, we can avoid much trouble, and the world will be a better place for all to live in. Should we not try to do this? The ‘one-life only’ theory— such as forms the basis of some religions— is like looking at the world through a keyhole, and not only makes no sense, but is horrific. The belief that some of us are chosen by ‘God,’ while others are damned, has been, and still is, productive of great trouble. Is it not time we saw through such divisive beliefs and left them behind, as vestiges of our primitive past? They are not supported by life as we now know it, or by Science. Religion must be based upon reality, upon facts, not upon wishful thinking and superstition. The concept of reincarnation is radically different than that, as might be supposed, and provides us with a broader and clearer view, like looking at the world from a mountain-top. It is both very old and widespread, and can be found even in places where we would hardly expect to find it— in the Christian Bible, for example, where there are several references to it in the teachings of Jesus. Be that as it may, it is still not true for us unless and until we have experienced it directly, and can therefore honestly say: "I know this to be so." But a thing doesn’t have to be true in order to be good, does it? Even if this concept is not true, it is still good, in what it implies, because, just suppose it is true, that this is not our first life, and that we have lived many times before: Is it likely that we have always been born in the same place, of the same race and nationality as in this life, of the same sex, and into the same religion? Would it not be more probable that we have lived all over the world, now of this race and nationality, and now of that; now as a follower of this religion, and now of that; now male, and now female? This idea leaves no room at all for egocentric feelings of "My race / nationality / religion is better than yours," or "Men are superior to women," that we come across so often. How would people of the ‘far-right,’ like the hate-filled neo-nazis, feel if they could be shown (or reflect upon the possibility) that in a previous life they were of a race or group that they now despise? Most people who subscribe to the idea of reincarnation merely believe, however, and never bother to investigate and examine; not surprisingly, they remain prisoners of belief, narrow and proud of their race and nationality, feeling superior, and looking down on others. They derive no benefit from this positive concept, and get no nearer to liberation; in fact, they become further enslaved. Come now, did you choose your nationality, race and gender? Did you decide to be born where you were born? Though this was something you had no control over whatsoever, it was no accident (there are no accidents, things that happen by themselves); it happened to you as a result, no doubt, of innumerable causes, like everything else, and brought with it a tremendous burden of conditioning; we think and live according to patterns determined by our birth. In this life, I was born in England; where you were born, I don’t know. But do we know why we were born where we were born? We do not, do we? This is where liberation from the narrow and limiting ideas begins: by realizing that we don’t know, our egoism and false sense of certainty and pride is shaken, and when this happens we can begin to open up, and discover what it means to be human. Science tells us now that all the atoms that compose our bodies are replaced every seven years; if this is so, it means that all the ‘English’ atoms of my body went long ago, so what is English about me? ‘English’ is only an idea, and, since I found something much bigger and better than that, I do not think of myself as English any more, but simply a human-being. Having wandered and sojourned in many countries, the atoms in my body now have assembled here from many sources; I am, indeed, a citizen of the world, and belong nowhere in particular; no place has an exclusive claim on me. At the root of all our problems with others, of course, is the idea of self as distinct from others, and so, to attain greater liberation, this must be seen as the illusion it is, and left behind; there is no separate, unchanging essence that we can call ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ To realize this, however, requires much deeper insight than I have been talking about in this article; my purpose here is to help people get started on the journey, not to take them to the destination. When we have tasted liberation, we may want to go further, but until then, we may be content to remain as we are. "By doubt, we come to inquiry, and by inquiry, we come to truth." If we are concerned about Truth— if there is such a thing— we should know that belief is a great obstacle, as it fills our minds and prevents us from seeing. We believe when we do not know; Liberation means the overcoming, or transformation, of ignorance and prejudice; it is something of the mind. Seng Ts’an, the great third Patriarch of Zen in China, in his poem, The Faithful Mind wrote: There’s no need to search for the Truth; We are not as fettered and bound as we think we are; we have some choice. Why not choose Liberation instead of bondage? Two men looked out from prison-bars:
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