Expression

A high premium is laid on expressing oneself. It is taken to such an extreme, that I feel that I would be committing murder if I stay silent!

There is a theoretical premise why self expression is preferred over non verbal communication.  But that apart, I think there is a misconception that self expression (verbal) is in a better position to solve problems/ to give clarity over the situation or to ease ambiguity. My take on this, is that whatever is in your mind, will eventually express itself – in verbal or non verbal terms. Any action or an expression is no guarantee of bringing transformation in oneself. Bluntly speaking, if there’s garbage or confusion in one’s mind – that is what is going to come out. For something to change, one needs to relook within or do an internal assessment. Without the effort to reassess our internal world, no constructive change is possible.

We must understand that there is something called as ‘thoughts’ that are a function of our existence. Thoughts mean mind – and mind means the compulsion of being immersed in thoughts as a function of survival. The idea of survival is an indicator of “attachment” to the phenomena of body and mind. We are aware of it to a greater extent than other life forms and hence the attachment to thoughts is also much greater. Our imaginations of the past and the future are all indicators of this survival instinct.

The mind clings to anything. The idea of existence or experience or perception of life itself means clinging to a series of thoughts that define you! To what the mind clings and why, is a question that can be answered just partly. It can cling to negative emotions or positive emotions, but it nevertheless clings. To whatever it chooses to cling, defines our quality of life – or the intention of our processes/ actions and the consequences. This clinging also informs our perception of the consequences of our own actions. The mind is also very volatile – it jumps from one kind of imagination to another. That way, we are programmed. However, if we know the working/ tendency of the clinging that we tend to do, we may decide the choice of clinging to help us go to higher levels of experiences. Thus, at some level, this tendency may be seen as playing tarzan – swinging (clinging) from one tree (phenomenon/ thought) to another and creating our way forward. The movement generated by thoughts is inevitable. Whatever compulsions we feel, it still remains in our hands to discipline our mind. Disciplining means to stay focused, to decode phenomena, to perceive and conceive things appropriately and to make sense of the world around us and to connect with universal compassion with all. The training is required to take us from an individual sense of survival to a collective and unbounded sense of empathy to all. The training will help us move from a linear sense of time to a spiral sense of time. From fragmentary reality to a wholesome phenomena. From mundane to profound. Thus, training of the mind is required to overcome its shortcomings or to overcome petty tendencies. From complexity to simplicity. From exclusiveness to inclusiveness. From customization to multifunctional. From grandiose to minimal. From verbose to silence.

This journey is something that requires no justification or no need to express. If one is on this journey, his/her actions and character will speak for itself. Having understood this, there is no need for any justification. Having known the cause of an imagined fear, there remains no justification to prove oneself or outwit the other.  Having known thought itself, one is in a position to control thought at will.