It is worth thinking a moment as to which of our activities are worth it and which are waste of time and energy.
சளத்திற் பிணிபட் டசட்டுக் ரியைக்குட் டவிக்குமென்ற
னுளத்திற் ப்ரமத்தைத் தவிர்ப்பா யவுண ருரத்துதிரக்
குளத்திற் குதித்துக் குளித்துக் களித்துக் குடித்துவெற்றிக்
களத்திற் செருக்கிக் கழுதாட வேல்தொட்ட காவலனே.
Asattu kriyai: Foolish activities.
How do you classify which of our activities are foolish and which are not?
Any activity is foolish if it takes us away from ourselves, from what we are. And any activity, spiritual or secular, is wise, if we do not lose for a moment our self-awareness, our sense of presence.
There has to be an element of creativity, of spontaneity to what we do. And the worst of all blocks to creativity is the sense of self, because the self is a creation of the past, it is the past, and all self-centred activity is a perpetuation of the past.
A way out of this is to take our mind away from our preoccupations. Thinking about God is alright, as long as it just means awareness of the distracting influences that assail us. But if we are going to invest it with much significance, then it is just another egocentric activity.
Self-awareness, the awareness "I am", which underlies all our activities would seem another egocentric activity, but it most definitely is not. For one thing, it is not an activity, there is no trying. Awareness is either there, or not. Self-awareness is not even the awareness of a self, it is just there.
In that sense, we can be anything, do anything as long as the self-awareness is there, and count ourselves engaged in some activity worthy of ourselves. But if the awareness is not there, and we are sunk in an activity, be it watching television or doing meditation, when there is self-forgetfulness, it is most likely a silly activity that will delude us into inconscience.
I find contradiction in the usage of the term 'self awareness'. In any case, I take from here:
ReplyDeleteSelf-awareness, the awareness "I am", which underlies all our activities would seem another egocentric activity, but it most definitely is not. For one thing, it is not an activity, there is no trying. Awareness is either there, or not. Self-awareness is not even the awareness of a self, it is just there.
I feel it is more of a paradox. None of us can say "I am not". the "I" is always there. Yet spiritual texts speak of transcending the ego.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the point. the "I" we know, is the I that comes together with knowledge- the idea we have of our name, form, bank account, personal habits, preferences and so on.
There is another "I" that is prior to this. The pure sense of Being, the "I" that exists before memories are invoked.
What Self-awareness means, is, in my own personal view, the awareness of existence in which there is no sense of identity- there is no sense of being located in any particular time and space.
I know it sounds nonsensical. But this is the idea I get.