I was
watching a movie called Experimenter. It follows the life of Dr
Stanley Milgram and the effects of his now famous (infamous?) and
still studied experiment in human behaviour. Just to refresh your
memory, Dr Milgram conducted experiments where the test subject was
asked to administer electric shocks of increasing degrees to a fellow
tester in an adjoining room. The test subject was prompted by a
scientist exerting himself as an authority figure to continue the
electric shocks even if the test subject felt he/she should not do
so.
The
results of the experiment showed that most of society will follow
orders regardless of their own ethical standards and in fact let a
virtually unknown person control their behaviour to such an extent as
to possibly murder another human being. There were a few test
subjects who managed to stand up to the authority of the scientist
and quit the experiment all together.
If 90%
of people will follow orders despite their own ethical inklings not
to and only 10% have the (for lack of a better term), moral fibre not
to blindly follow orders – what does that say about our society
today and is it unerringly routed in human nature? What about the 10%
that managed to overcome and pass the test? Is there a way to address
this challenge in human nature?
I came
upon an article that reminded me of my studies in Buddhism. The title
read “How to Let Go of Emotional Attachments”. Huh...but this was
not an article about the “no mind” of Zen. Well not exactly.
Remembering back in university trying to sit still and let each
random thought that popped into my head float away in an imagined
soap bubble, I was missing the point. Back then I thought “clearing
the mind” meant that if I could manage to think of “nothing”
for a certain amount of time every day sitting in meditation it would
solve problems and create inner peace. What I didn't understand was
that it does not signify the literal absence of thought, but the
state of being "unstained" by thought. It is to separate
oneself from one's own thoughts and opinions in detail as to not be
harmed mentally and emotionally by them.
I left
off with Zen Buddhism at that point because it seemed to me pointing
a way out of this world while still in it and I didn't see a purpose
in extracting myself so completely from living. Still there was some
kind of good idea in being “unstained” by thought, but I needed
more clarification.
Live
in the present and realize your fate is not in your hands. Accept the
situation you are in. Chill and appreciate the good things around you
and be grateful for them. Partake in life, but dont overindulge and
get lost in materialism because we are all just Travellers in this
world, resting for a while and then moving on. Funny how simple the
truth is sometimes. We learn it in preschool with the sweet little
tune of Row your Boat. Turns out that life IS but a dream.
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