Unexpected Freedom

Unexpected FreedomThen there has been all the talk about the awful weatherwe are having. The blame, it has been suggested, rests withthose responsible for global warming. And that can’t beBritain because she is too small. It must be the Americans;four percent of the world’s population generating twenty-fivepercent of the pollution! It’s easy to blame the Americans.But where does this blaming get us? On a superficial levelwe can feel better if we have someone to blame; we can feelright when we think we know who is wrong. Being able tolabel people as responsible also deals with the anxiety whichcomes from always wanting to know things are undercontrol. But does having someone to blame – and thatsomeone might be ourselves – free us from suffering? Itgratifies something momentarily, but is that the same asfinding satisfaction? Now we have created an enemy, which isanother kind of suffering. And if it is ourselves we haveblamed then we become even more hurt and inwardlydivided than we were before.Right MotivationSurely our motivation to uncover causes for our problems isa natural interest in being free from suffering – and there isn’tanything wrong with that. Yet the kind of blaming we’rediscussing does not come from pure-hearted interest. Inthese cases the healthy impulse to seek out the causes forsuffering became poisoned by the untamed passions. Ourlife energy experienced as our human passions, flared up andinvaded hearts and ignited minds.This life-energy is not in itself either good or bad; it isneutral. But the way in which it manifests gives rise toperceptions of good and bad; it is in how we relate to ourperceptions that we can begin to take responsibility for our66