Take up your OAR….

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because
it is spoken and rumoured by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because
it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the
authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they
have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find
that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the
good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” [Buddha]

Wow! – quite a challenge to where you you may find yourself at present: full of conditioning, perhaps dependent on the approval of others and, therefore, not entirely accepting responsibility for your own journey. But, heck, we are not to believe simply because: of what we hear or what is rumoured by many (including the media); it’s contained in a religious book; it carries the authority of those you trust – teachers, family, friends and the like; or it’s been handed down from family and previous generations. For me, this isn’t because such sources are necessarily unreliable, but (simply) that you need to take responsibility for your own Belief System.

You are what you think; your Thoughts become your Reality. This Reality (largely based on your subconscious mind) is influenced and is based on your beliefs and therefore your behaviour, response to events or actions that you take stem from those beliefs; either positively or negatively. Think about that. When you express your thoughts through behaviours or actions, these are likely to be based on what you (simply) heard others say or what you percieve the collective (expected) viewpoint or behaviour to be. Without challenge (or ‘observation and analysis’ as Buddha suggests) you may not therefore be on Your own journey – but rather set on a course that society, teachers, parents (all with the best of intentions) believe to be right. At this stage, I am taking ‘reason’ to be an alignment with Your Purpose; you know, when something just feels right or gives you a ‘bit of a glow’. This is maybe a bit over-simplistic but is sufficent for our current discussion.

Of course, this is not to suggest that you should break the law or act in a morally incorrect manner, because your thoughts that lead to actions ‘must be conducive to the good and benefit of one and all’. Similary, the advice or collective view may not be wrong, anyway, for you. No, it’s simply that the road to contentment demands that you take responsibility, use your freewill ability to choose to make your own (mind’s) decisions and have the courage to act on them.

Simple really. Well, maybe. Learning to Observe, Analyse and take Responsibility (OAR) can take quite a bit of practice. But that’s not my primary concern, at least intially. No, I’m more interested to hear that you have found your OAR and at least ‘stuck it in the water’ Once you’ve mastered that, we can talk a bit more about having the courage to take action.

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