Let us imagine a big drum of water - and a set of twenty bottles in different sizes. Now pour the water into each of this twenty bottles - some round some tall, some square, some short etc. Add different colour to each water - red, blue, green, yellow, violet, black and then put the cap. N0w everything looks so different. But do you think the basic property of water is changed ? Do the waters in all these bottles really have the option to think themselves as different from each other in their basic constitution ? NO ! never under any circumstances can each one be different from each other. The outer shape, colour and size does not make them different in their internal constitution. And when you leave them open in the sun for long they will all evaporate leaving behind the coloring residue and the bottle and the shape.
Human beings at birth and also at sleep and death are all equal. Only at the conscious phase of our life we think that we are different - but how does it occurs. To understand the true self - you need to break the illusion or the image of self. We are all born naked - like a portion from the big drum of water - we start growing - the outer world starts pouring in colour in the form of knowledge - our family tells us - this is good and this is bad, this is desired, this is not desired. Books tell us - this is a barbarian, this is a hero, this is terror, this is liberation, this is freedom, this is your country, this is your neighbour, this is your enemy, this is what they did, this is what we should do. Society tells us - this is a good behaviour, this is in bad taste, this is how we should dress, this is vulgar, this is success, this is glamour, this is love, this is happiness, this is pleasure, this is peace, this is in, this is out, this is a local hero - defines the rewards and success. The church or the religious teaching tells us - this is moral, this is immoral, this is evil, this is good, this is bad, defines the rewards - this life or afterlife. Similarly Movies, Television, Media, Books also play an active role in defining our goal and the desired image in which we want to exist. Each one of these plants the seeds of fear either directly or indirectly in our subconscious mind and also the level of aspirations. In effect it helps to shape the bottles in which we will grow for the rest of our life.
Now, the human mind is hard-coded to seek the secure levels as it is driven by the most basic instinct of survival and reproduction. Once it comes in contact of these information’s it starts drawing the circle of security over and above the real self for every section of our existence. Be it for our daily bread, our relationships, our health, our job the mind defines the secured levels and a strange thing happens subconsciously - where the levels of insecurity also gets defined and fear creeps in without even our knowledge. (This meaning ‘fear’ we will discuss separately later). It defines what is a cool job, what is a good relation - parent, friend, relatives or partner, what is good health (mere biceps are not good health), what is a good car, house and everything else. It shapes the bottle in which we constantly try to fit in.
The outer world also shapes us or our mind to project an image of us in which we want to exist. So when we are in a job we work with a particular image in mind where we interact with others always keeping in mind that image - restricting our acts and words. In a social meeting we act again with an image which mind makes us think that it is the real me, in a relation when with our boyfriend or girlfriend we talk and interact with that image - again where the mind defines - do this and don’t do this. We wear or decide to wear a particular dress, we eat or decide to eat a particular food, we do or decide to do something - with always that illusory image in mind. Just think a little and you would realize that all our actions and whatever we do is guided by this image of self which sits at the centre. So in effect we are all self-centered - this is not the self-centered commonly used. This means that we act from the image of self sitting at the centre. Even when four or more people look at the same object - a glass of beer or a cup of coffee each ones thought will be different as all will think from their own perspective - their own image of self. As of now there is no observation or action where thought does not influence - but again we discuss this later.
So this what which adds colour like in the bottles above and builds an image of self shadowing us all the time - and which also makes us think that this is me and I am different. Do you understand that this basic assumption of “I am different” gives rise to “we are different”. I am different, i am unique, individual entity leads to a division among people and which gives rise to other divisions like nation, economic status, religion etc where a group of people starts thinking that we as a nation are different , we as a religious follower are different as a social class are different. This is also where the seeds of conflict between classes, nations and religions get harvested.
So you understand that even being similar how we act and behave as if we are all different with the so called sense of individuality which is nothing like the color of the water and the shape of the bottle. We all live within the illusion of self, we all suffer from insecurities ( someone feels insecure without his daily bread and someone without his caviar). So, all we need is to be aware of this illusion or image of self as the “different me” and remove it form being the center of our existence. When we become consciously aware of this pseudo-self we can see all our actions and how they are guided by thought. Simply imagine the act of giving a few cents to a poor man - in most cases the subconscious tells us that we are doing a humble act and which makes us feel good - again, this is not being humble. Any action which is guided by thought or a motive is imperfect - a pure action comes without the interference of thought. (another subject)
Our mind has become so conditioned that every input to the mind gets moulded by this self before it forms a level of experience - our subconscious decides which experience is pleasure, which is good, which is bad, which is sad before they get written on the memory. If we are really able to be aware of all objects around us without this image of self interfering, then we become truly aware of each object around us and our actions then beams out from the true self.
