Negative Thoughts, Emotions, and Reactions

It seems that the future of the human condition is to be inevitably stuck in a quagmire of rambling thoughts. That is a thought I had today while sitting with a group of like-minded people.  It was our Sunday morning meditation group and although we are like-minded (we like to meditate), we were arguing, and I use the term loosely, about Patajali's yoga sutra 2.22 which has to do with the perceiver and the existence of objects. The original premise of the topic was that happiness and misery are largely dependent on one's perception of the world.  The conversation started with talking about how some people interpret this particular sutra to mean that the world is full of pain and misery and the best one can do is hope for a better life after death.  Others thought that the real meaning of the sutra is that this world is a beautiful place and it just takes realizing that fact.  One person said that he agreed with the interpretation of beauty and then another person said she didn't.  And then another person said he didn't agree with it either and then another person said it all has to do with judgment. The conversation went from  yoga sutra 2.22 to how people from India perceive Westerners. And around and around it went.

Even among like-minded people there will be disagreements. But the truth of matter is, we can all agree to disagree and still be friends. It is absolutely ridiculous to get angry at one another just because we don't agree on something.  But disagreements turning to war is what we see happening between nations all the time.

My point in all this has to do with how we humans like to talk about our beliefs and what we think is true. Our thoughts govern what comes out of our mouths and the more we profess to know what is true, the more we believe it to be true. Random thoughts can become contagious and contagious thoughts can become poignant and absolute. Everybody wants to change everybody except themselves. Everybody, without exception, has an ego.  There is no denying that. I think there is a problem, however, when the ego gets stuck in believing that there is only one truth and everybody must believe it to be so.  The ego can get out of control and become dangerous.

If you are open minded and aware when the ego gets stuck you can back off, take a deep breath and say that there may be another way - just maybe.  By simply recognizing this larger than life ego will dissolve its power and allow positive energy to flow through you.  Love is the purest form of positive energy. In order to allow that positive energy of love to flow all you have to do is stop thinking for awhile, open your heart, relax, and feel it. It is like magic. It will come to you immediately.