July 31, 2006

  • The Extra Mile, Part 1


    By Anthony de Mello


     


    If you take a look at the way you have been put together and the way you function you will find that inside your head there is a whole program, a set of demands about how the world should be, how you should be, and what you should want. 


     


    Who is responsible for the programming?  Not you.  It isn’t really you who decided even such basics as your wants and desires and so-called needs; your values, your tastes, your attitudes.  It was your parents, your society, your culture, your religion, your past experiences who fed the operating instructions into your computer.  Wherever you go your computer goes along with you.  It insists that its demands be met by life, by people and by you.  If the demands are met, the computer allows you to be peaceful and happy.  If they are not met, even if it is not your fault, the computer generates negative emotions that cause you to suffer.  


     


    For instance, when other people don’t live up to your computer’s expectations, it torments you with frustration, anger, or bitterness.  When things are not under your control, your computer insists that you experience anxiety, tension, worry.  Then you expend a lot of energy coping with these negative emotions.  And you generally cope by expending more energy trying to rearrange the world around you so that the demands of your computer will be met.  If that happens you will be granted a measure of precarious peace.  At any moment something is going to be out of conformity with your computer’s programming and the computer will insist that you become upset again. 


     


    And so you live a pathetic existence, constantly at the mercy of things and people, trying desperately to make them conform to your computer’s demands, so that you can enjoy the only peace you can ever know—a temporary respite from negative emotions, courtesy of your computer and your programming. 


     


    Is there a way out? 


     

Comments (8)

  • re -pogram? New computer, bigger hard drive, more memory, faster processor??? hhhmmm.. sounding better already:)

  • I can’t say I buy into the idea that we don’t control ourselves. Sure, we have external influences, but the decision to choose what we value ultimately rests with us. For example, if we are just “programmed” by society, then how is it we can change our minds about something if we receive new information that invalidates it? Because we can reason.

  • I think we are also guilty in having input in those programs too. Perhaps we just have to take it easy and easier, knowing those programs are working their own ways. If life is just easy to turn on and off like computer programs:)

  • One can always take a step back to notice the trend and stop certain programs from functioning while creating a new program that would fit into their daily lives.

  • the comparison of computer vs human brain is another ‘programming’ – courtesy of the technological world :)

  • I think we all start out exactly like that. Somewhere along the way, if we are spiritually wise, we start asking ourselves, “Who am I really? What do I really want? Like? Think?” Then we spend the rest of our lives on a spiritual journey to discover what’s real.

    When I was young, my mother always told people that my favorite color was pink and that I loved to wear red because I looked so good in it.  I remember a time when I was in college, I was sitting by the local lake eating lunch and thinking thoughts. Suddenly it came to me that I reallly didn’t like pink at all, in fact I hated it.  It took me weeks of thinking and feeling to decide what my favorite color was. That was a turning point for me. Question everything. Even your own thoughts and beliefs.

  • I have been observing the influence of my programing lately and it is amazing. I can’t think of anything that I was not programmed to believe and now I find myself questioning every decision I make and asking myself why I believe that and where did it come from?

  • Hey tri, have a good week!

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