Why We Travel The Path

Mankind strives for wholeness and completion. It is a striving that knows no end, or indeed, any limitation. It has to be, by definition, a three-dimensional quest of inner research into the essence of our very being. On the surface, all seems well and tranquil, but this facade of 'normality' hides the true nature of mankind's predicament. We are not complete as we are, even if we manage to ignore our developmental urges by disappearing into a morass of experiential phenomenon, a morass we tend to call 'everyday life.' This can only be maintained by a firm conviction of denial. We tell ourselves that all is well, even if we feel that deep down, this might not be true.

Happiness becomes a flimsy construct, a fine, thin veil that we can see through to the dissatisfaction lurking behind. This dissatisfaction is always threatening to penetrate through the flimsy happiness and invade the oasis of illusion that society builds its very existence upon. Of course, happiness within the context we are exploring is not happiness at all. I t is a pseudo-happiness, a falsehood declared 'true' by the consensus of 'non-knowing.' The deepest parts of our minds are out of balance with the parts of our minds that are nearer the surface – that literally 'interface' between our inner self and the outer world. Society builds its institutions and establishments upon this rather rocky foundation. The pain of separation from ourselves is obscured by the minute details of dull, repetitive procedure: a set of coordinated schematics, all relying upon one another for existence, that reduces human participation to that of mere 'automation.' Society tells us that repetition without apparent error is the way to salvation. We are expected to feel completed by merely not being noticed or standing out from the crowd. It is the dogma of fulfillment by disappearance.

But of course, we never fully 'disappear,' no matter how well we conform to society. No matter how dull we become, 'we' are always present in the existential moment of life. And we have to live with the feeling and knowledge of this state, and the obvious contradiction such an existence entails. We are free to be enslaved. The prevailing ideology encourages the acquisition of material goods in the outer world, but totally ignores the acquisition of 'wholeness' in the inner world.

The Buddhist scripture entitled the 'Dhammapada' (Pali: 'Path of Truth') tells us:

"The man whose hands are controlled, whose feet are controlled, whose words are controlled, who is self-controlled in all things, who finds the inner joy, whose mind is self-possessed, who is one and has found perfect peace, this man I call a monk." (THE DHAMMAPADA by Juan Mascaro, page 86.)