The Concept of Spiritual Freedom

2445 Words10 Pages
The vulnerability of the organism is the root of both pain and pleasure, because the organism must evaluate the stimuli which impinge upon it in terms of their significance for its well-being. But the greatest source of human suffering and delusion is the reality principle itself-- which ironically is the mind's very solution to the problem of the body's vulnerability. Treating its experience as real is its primary adaptation to the world upon which its survival depends. The reifying tendency of the mind is its capacity to extend reality, or "objectness"-- on the model of literal physical reality-- into areas which are non-physical or not literal. It is, in effect, a form of hallucination. The solution becomes the problem when the sense of reality runs amok. Therefore, the ability to question one's experience, to treat it not as reality but as a creation of the nervous system, is a great boon. This ability to bracket experience as subjective is the hallmark of modern consciousness, the culmination of eons of physical and cultural evolution. It can be intentionally cultivated as a discipline. It is the source of the inner freedom promised in the great spiritual traditions. Unfortunately, it is also the source of a further vulnerability-- of the mind which lives in an inner world of images. Mobility, flexibility and masslessness may be the evolutionary advantages of thoughts over things, but these same properties are also their hazard. The inner world is much easier and more economical to manipulate than physical materials. The physical world resists human whim, but thoughts can be molded to desires. Deception and rationalization are possible only in a mental world. Knowledge of the processes by which mind interprets reality allows for its deliberate and skillful manipulation. The very cues the mind uses to assure itself of a valid interpretation, are just those
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