This, according to me, are the four steps to losing all fears and living life royally i.e. with total freedom!
- Lose fear of death
- Understand life
- Understand death
- Lose fear of life
I have ordered them, in what is in my opinion, increasingly difficult to accomplish. Losing fear of death usually is, either an accident or divine grace (depending on your perspective). I really think that the first big progress in the spiritual realm is made with this step (though tiny progress could be made in any subset of the above four steps simultaneously). Along with it a lot of common fears of life (like career, growth, happiness, ambition, pride etc) will disappear. Though many more deep fears (like physical security, food, basic needs of near ones etc) will remain.
Then, one understands that all of life, every event, emotion etc is something that is being projected on the mind (like how a cinema is projected on the white screen). With practice, one slowly stops reacting to the projections. This consists of one primary teaching of the Buddha and many other mystics - all of life is but a mere projection on the vast canvass of the mind. With practice and patience one slowly realizes that one is nothing but the canvass itself. This may or may not be a single sudden jump. Most often, it is a series of small and big jumps.
Later, I think (I am not totally sure how things will proceed from here, though I can and will conjecture), one understands death. This is the other half of the primary teaching, that even death is nothing but an event being projected on to the canvass of the mind. If this is true and when it is understood, all the other left over fears of life also disappear.
At this point, the person is ready to die any moment and hence lives with gay abandon and total freedom. This does not mean recklessness (though there could be occasional streaks of them, arising primarily due to the inability in handling the freedom). On the contrary, it would mean total responsibility as there is absolutely no fear. Such a life is indeed Royal.
Then, one understands that all of life, every event, emotion etc is something that is being projected on the mind (like how a cinema is projected on the white screen). With practice, one slowly stops reacting to the projections. This consists of one primary teaching of the Buddha and many other mystics - all of life is but a mere projection on the vast canvass of the mind. With practice and patience one slowly realizes that one is nothing but the canvass itself. This may or may not be a single sudden jump. Most often, it is a series of small and big jumps.
Later, I think (I am not totally sure how things will proceed from here, though I can and will conjecture), one understands death. This is the other half of the primary teaching, that even death is nothing but an event being projected on to the canvass of the mind. If this is true and when it is understood, all the other left over fears of life also disappear.
At this point, the person is ready to die any moment and hence lives with gay abandon and total freedom. This does not mean recklessness (though there could be occasional streaks of them, arising primarily due to the inability in handling the freedom). On the contrary, it would mean total responsibility as there is absolutely no fear. Such a life is indeed Royal.
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