Evolution of Consciusness (33)-Passion of Pain and Insightt

Passion

Normally passion is considered as strong desire towards something.

Passion is more than Desire.

If one desires music, he would enjoy spending  time listening to music,

but if passionate about music , he would take even pain to deepen his experience with

respect to music and would like to learn about music(Form, Structure, History etc.).

Similarly, if one is passionate about a person, he would like know EVERYTHING about

the person.

One can find young people very passionate about fashion, good looks or celebrities and

take lot of pain, spend money, energy and time to get to the bottom of things.

Athletes, out of passion for the sport take lot of pain to excel. 

So passion is more about going through something wholly and get to the bottom of the

thing, than simple enjoyment..

Here by ‘Whole’, we don’t mean ‘more’, but going through comprehensively without

Any prejudice, preference or reservation even taking lot of pain.

Normally, people are passionate about positive things, which gives them happiness, joy or

recognition.

But, when it comes to negative things like pain, suffering, disappointments, anger and

resentment etc.

One would like to escape, end them quickly or avoid them altogether.

Now, Can one be passionate about negative things?

So that, one can have comprehensively understand it and go beyond it.

Let us take psychological hurt.

Is it possible for one to stay with the ‘Hurt’ without escaping from it by reacting or

Retaliating?

Is it possible for one to go through the ‘Hurt’ wholly without any prejudice or

reservation?

Because

When one escapes from the hurt by impulsive mechanical reaction (Anger)

or retaliation (Hitting Back), understanding remains partial, prejudiced.

 So, one never get to the bottom of the 'Hurt' - what is hurt ?, why it is hurt? and so on..

By becoming passionate about ‘Hurt’,

one can go through it wholly and also get to the bottom.

It does not mean inviting pain or suffering more.

By being passionate, we mean looking at the ‘Hurt’ in its entirety without trying to

escape or do something about it.

Let us see step by step.

Firstly,

By being passionate about ‘Hurt’,

One stops the tendency to escape through anger or Retaliation.

So one stays wiht the 'Hurt',

This weakens the mechanical nature of the mind and consequently increasing the awareness or

wakefulness of the person.

Secondly,

As one stays with the ‘Hurt’, one can remember one self ( Self-Remembering/Pure Reflection).

That reverses the perception (We have already discussed this in the earlier posts) and

One is able to identify the particular ‘I’ or Personality or the Self-Image that is hurt.

(It is always a Self-Image that gets hurt or being insulted or flattered.)

This gives clarity about one self, identifying the features of the multiple ‘I’s or false

personalities and over time to do away with them.

Thirdly,

As one stays with the 'Hurt',

One can patiently look at the personal Hurt from the perspective of the other who caused

the hurt.

This enable one to empathize with the other’s situation and bring stability and balance in

one's approach instead of impulsive emotional outburst.

And, one can also look at one-self (particular 'I')  critically without like or dislike. 

Further down,

Since all personalities are derived from the society and as every one has more or less similar

Pesrsonalities.

One finds out that there is actually nothing personal in the ‘personal’ hurt;

In fact everone goes through it one time or another.(E.g. Being insulted, loss of job, money or dear ones etc)

Individual Hurt or Suffering is only a reflection of ‘Suffering’ of mankind.

An individual only shares the common human suffering.

This perception over time open the door to the understanding that

Ego-self is not the actual True-Self but simply an individual expression of collective

social conditioning,

Depending upon the intensity of passion, one can accelerate the work towards the 'True-Self'.

So, by being passionate about negative things, one is able to handle  the negative situations better and also

has an opportunity to deepen one's level of consciousness or awareness.

 

Let us look at a popular illustration to see How Empathy generates Intelligence.

A ring master in a circus controls the big cats by shouting commands and making

loud noises with the whip.

Big cats are trained to obey the commands under these conditions.

Supposing, the lights goes off and it becomes dark.

Then the situation becomes dangerous and unpredictable.

  

Big cats can see in the dark but the ring master is blind.

Normal reaction is shock and fear and mind tends to think about the escape.

This normal reaction may prove deadly, because once the ring masters stops issuing

Commands, the big cats would attack.

But an enlightened ring master would do the following.

Firstly,

He won’t think of escape and remain stable.

Secondly,

He would perceive the situation from the position of big cats (Empathy).

That is, cats can see clearly but cats do not know that he can’t see.

Thirdly,

This perception is intelligence and it will enable him to resolve the deadly situation.

He will keep issuing commands and making noises with the whip in the dark as if he can

see and cats will continue to obey the commands.

So, empathy leads to intelligence- which liberates one from the situation.

 In a general negative situation,

This is possible only if one has passion.

Because,

If one is not passionate about the negative situation, he will escape through reaction or retaliation.

If one escapes, he can not empathize

If one can not empathize, one can not have that intelligence.

So, if one has passion towards negative events,

Ultimately, passion leads to empathy and to intelligence of higher order.

In all this, Ego-Self is not dominating, which generates space for innate essence and true-self to emerge.

 

* passion of Christ refers to taking over the sins of others by Jesus Christ out of compassion.

There are many references in the mystical books about saints taking over the sins of others to relieve  them

from pain or illness.