Let’s take the story of the hare and the tortoise. The two have a race. The hare, assuming it’s a clear win, takes the liberty to rest his tired self halfway. In the mean time, the tortoise overtakes him and wins the race.
What did you learn? : Slow and steady wins the race.
What did I learn? : Never underestimate your opponent.
What did Alpha learn? : Both.
What did Beta learn? : He couldn’t care less about the story.
I wonder -“What changes would I make had I been the tortoise? I’d definitely not have a running race with the hare. Instead, I’d have a car race.”
You wonder- “What changes would I make had I been the hare? I’d probably carry some glucose water along to ensure I don’t get tired or feel sleepy half way through the race.”
Each experience teaches you many things. However, you may or may not learn the lessons that you are expected to learn.
When you claim that you’ve learnt from a story, I believe you but when you claim that you’ve learnt what was taught, I don’t. What you learn is not necessarily what the author intended to teach. What you absorb is not what the author wanted you to grasp.
A million people read holy books and believe that it has enlightened them. When they say -“I’ve learnt to live.”- I believe them. When they say -“This is what God intended to teach us.”- I don’t.
When someone abuses your country, you are bound to defend it fiercely. When someone abuses your state, you try to put theirs down. When someone abuses your religion, you pounce back at them. When someone abuses your family you put up a tough fight. When someone abuses you, you abuse back. This is patriotism at different levels. The defense mechanisms are different for different people.
If you learn that your country’s law prohibits you from smoking weed, you refrain from the ‘wrong doing’. However, this does not make it a global ‘wrong doing’. If you move out of your country, it may no more be a ‘wrong deed’. Of course, you’ll be trapped in another set of laws. Unfortunately, laws are far more rigid than Holy Scriptures.
The fear of God can force a man to behave like a human being but so can the consequences of breaking law.
The Holy Scriptures at least give you a choice. For some reason, people are just too scared to choose. Again, the book was written with an intension to teach. What you learn has a one in a million chance of mapping to the original intention. Yes, it is baffling but true that each of the million people has learnt something different. They would like to believe that their thoughts are concurrent and bound to ‘One’ but the truth remains- ‘To each, his own.’
Does that make you wonder what keeps them from crossing the boundaries, reading new scriptures and learning more? Well, every constitution cleverly binds you to it whether it is the constitution of your country or that of your religion. While your country keeps you from blending into this beautiful world, your religion keeps you from blending into nature’s intelligence. Both keep you from experiencing the brilliance of ‘No Limitations’. It is the fear of the consequences- paying for your sins like a criminal does- that keeps you from moving beyond it.
Similarly, if alcohol is banned in one state it is ‘wrong’ to be consuming it in that state. It is not wrong to be doing so in another.
Just like the country, state and religion binds you, so does family. The head decides what’s right and what’s wrong and you are expected to abide by the rules. If the rules say that you must be home before 10:00 p.m., you are expected to follow it. What forces you to stick to the rules? It is the fear that if you reach home late, you will be punished - ‘pay for your sins’. This does not imply that if the neighbours kids turn up at 1:00 a.m. they are doing ‘wrong’. It is just that they are a part of an altogether different constitution.
In this manner you throw yourself into a slot, within a slot, within yet another slot, and so on, where each slot has its own set of rules and regulations. To comfort ourselves we call it rich culture, traditions, wisdom, morals, and so on. We carry the ‘teaching’ forward so that our children may ‘learn’ from it.
Man - an accumulation of inherited beliefs, borrowed philosophy and imposed behavior.
Trapped!
P.S.: So, what did you learn today?
