Unexpected Freedom

More than our Feelingsempty space and if there’s right awareness, rightmindfulness, we see it in perspective. Even if it’s gold dust wecan’t afford to get it into our eyes, or we’ll become blinded byit. If it’s foul objectionable dust we don’t get lost in ourreactions to that either. We know the dust for what it reallyis. This is part of the function of mindfulness and clearcomprehension: to know things the way they really are, tosee the relativity of things – to see things in perspective.After hearing this advice, we may ask what use thisteaching is with respect to the bigger issues of the world. Nodoubt it is very subtle and good, but how does it all relate tothe fact that such and such a country might be building upfor another war with yet another foreign country? Whatgood does it do to know that sensory experiences are specksof dust floating through the empty space of the mind? Well,this practice can have a very positive effect on these widerissues. Thinking about a build-up for a war can producestrong emotional responses. Not only might we feel inneranxiety, fear or indignation, but we might also have all sortsof thoughts directed outwards about the various leaders ofthe countries involved. I’m sure we all know how enragingthe subject of politics can be. If we get caught up in suchthoughts and feel righteous, we find ourselves convinced bythem. ‘We shouldn’t go to war!’ we think; ‘War is bad, andgenerosity, kindness and peace is good.’ If we don’t havethese feelings with mindfulness and right understandingthen we lose perspective. If we get caught up in them, webecome them, and then our emotional reactions tend to beexcessive. Our thoughts, words and outward behaviour aredetermined by our stance, and our lack of mindfulness leadsto wrong action and wrong speech. It goes like this: wrongview, wrong thought, wrong speech, wrong action. I mean‘wrong’ here not in the moral sense but from the perspective37