While contemplation has led to most of humankind’s amazing discoveries and inventions, it has also led to some of the most inane as in the case of purely intellectual contemplation – usually undertaken by men in Ivory towers, or mystics in monastic cells. Contemplating such questions as ‘Why are we here?’ and ‘What happens after death?’ has led not only the mystics but the scientists as well into passionate imagination resulting in elaborate fairy stories of meta-physical worlds and spiritual concepts. If what is factual and actual is ignored or denied in contemplative thought, then passionate imagination is the inevitable result. Meditation, as developed in the Eastern Religions, is the opposite to contemplation as one attempts to deny the rational thinking process and instead inculcates and indoctrinates the brain to regard the physical world as an illusion and the ‘inner’ world of imagination to be real. This induced imagination gives rise to good and Divine feelings which are commonly expressed as emotion-backed thoughts, i.e. that which the ‘self’ fervently wishes to be true. By actively pursuing transcendence of the real-world ‘bad’ emotions and thoughts, one emphasizes and gives full reign to creating a fictitious spirit-world of good emotions and thoughts. Meditation leads to an ‘inner’ world of white lights, heart-felt feelings, bliss, poetry, glory, God, the Eternal, the Timeless, Silence, Oneness and Wholeness – all of which are nothing more than imaginary events occurring inside the head. Delusion is the common psychological term for this phenomena, ‘seeing visions’ is another. To lamely follow the platitude of ‘get out of one’s head and into one’s heart’ is to give full license to passionate imagination as both a denial of, and escape from, the world as-it-is and people as-they-are. Any chance of peace on earth and an actual end to malice and sorrow is willingly traded for a passion-fuelled, utterly selfish and self-aggrandizing delusion. Pure contemplation, on the other hand, is the brain’s ability to make sense of the physical world as directly experienced by the senses, free of any imagination, affectation, concepts, traditions or beliefs. The universe is clearly seen as infinite, eternal and perfect with no ‘outside’ to it. Contemplation, when guided by pure intent and a relentless commitment to what is factual and actual, will inevitably free one from the grip of the instinctual passions of fear, aggression, nurture and desire that nestle in the bosom of every human being. Freedom from the Human Condition – Happy and Harmless © The Actual Freedom Trust |
