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Out of mind spring innumerable things, conditioned by discrimination…These things people accept as an external world…What appears to be external does not exist in reality; it is indeed mind that is seen as multiplicity; the body, property, and above – all these, I say, are nothing but mind.
Lankavatara Sutra, in D.T. Susuki, Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra, pg. 242
The ‘classical’ path to happiness in life has been to achieve ever-greater levels of controls in one’s life. It seems obvious and logical. We strive for more money, more power, more influence, more freedom, more autonomy, more comforts, and so forth so that we will never be in a situation in which we will lose control of our destiny either in the short term or in the long term. Greater levels of control will, we hope, lead to greater levels of personal freedom, and, greater freedom leads to greater personal happiness. Or so the theory goes.
The theory has some flaws. First, I don’t know anyone who after gaining significant levels of material achievement has developed a greater sense of freedom. In fact, to the contrary, most such people have cultivated over the years a greater sense of fear; the fear of loss of the control they have managed to achieve to date. Hence they become slaves to the attainment of a false sense of freedom. Second, all of the effort exerted in controlling one’s environment is ultimately futile since even our own thoughts and acts of attempting to achieve that control are predetermined (not to mention the attainment of such control itself).
There exists however, a second (and characteristically paradoxical) means of achieving the same end goal of freedom and happiness. One that bypasses the potentially futile element of control. The second path is simply the recognition of the determinacy of life and therefore surrendering our desires for controlling those very elements in nature, which we now know to be deterministically governed by the laws of physics related to the Big Bang. Such ‘surrender’ provides an instant lifting of the burden of the fear of loss and a gaining of a sense of power and confidence in the knowledge that nothing can be lost.
In our quest for ever greater degrees of comfort and control over our environment, we are constantly engaging in “self-improvement” activities, meditation, martial arts, and the like. However commendable such self-improvement is, one must always guard against it being only an outward compensation for either a real or a perceived inner weakness. Once inner strength is developed, it matters not whatever external circumstances befall us. We are always ready and able to calmly and confidently absorb the blow as a child wrestling with his best friend.
The most powerful position to be in is one without the externally developed strengths, capabilities and powers that result in pride and possessions. Once freed from the need for these, one is also freed from the burdens of defending these and is then able to focus clearly on action alone without the burdens of the consequences of reactions. One then gains the clarity of thought to be able to act in the name of duty alone, not for reward or consequence. One’s mind becomes calmed by releasing worries about maintaining one’s position of strength or control. The veil of fear being lifted, one then is able to focus on one’s inner thoughts more clearly and true introspection becomes possible. Ironically, this also makes one a formidable adversary in times of conflict since a fearless adversary is virtually invincible.
It is for these reasons that ancient religions often promote asceticism and release from material yearning, not due to some inherent ‘sin’ in materiality, but rather, as a means of building a greater degree of strength than could be gained through physical and material advancement.
One’s “will” or “intention”, as stated by famed author, Deepak Chopra, is always materialized through a self-actuating mechanism of what he calls the “Quantum Field”. To the skeptic, this is ridiculous. I cannot fly like a bird just because I have an “intention” to fly. Yet again, perhaps you can. Not immediately, but rather, the intention remains latent, unmanifested, until such time that sufficient energy is built up that this desire can be actuated through the quantum field - for those who believe in reincarnation as Chopra's books assert, perhaps even in the next life, through the act of becoming a professional pilot!
Chopra tells us to learn to use this quantum field as a mechanism to realize our dreams or intentions. As he points out, the use of intention through the quantum field is a powerful tool. One can learn to focus one’s energies towards the materialization of one’s intentions and the result will always be successful. The greater the degree of attention and energy applied to this effort the faster and more permanent will be the effects of the intention. Yoga and meditation are by far the most powerful tools for the focusing of one’s energies towards this end. Through the stilling of the mind, and subsequently applying all of the mind’s energies towards a single intention, rather than dividing it amongst the myriad of hundreds of intentions and distractions which are present in daily life at any given moment, we can learn to cause the realization of our intentions very rapidly and effectively.
However, as we have argued in this book, the reflection of our intentions or actions (as a result of intention), are the very Karma that we are trying to bring to an end. These “intentions” are the seeds of Karma and what Chopra calls the quantum field is the soil. It is our assertion that Union, and hence liberation and contentment can be attained only through the extinguishing of one’s desires or “intentions” (the result of desires). The ultimate goal therefore, contrary to Chopra’s thesis, is liberation through passive observation, and through detached, dispassionate, self-less action, free of intention.
If one is determined to develop sufficient focus to concentrate exclusively on the manifestation of one’s intentions to the highest possible degree, he can only do so by first extinguishing all other desires so as to leave only the one on which he wishes to focus all his energies. Any least bit of desire, which remains for other intentions, will divert some of the energy meant for the prime intention. That is to say, in order to succeed fully with the ability to materialize our intentions at will, we must first rid ourselves of the desire for those very same intentions that we are so eager to materialize. This is why we do not often see many individuals successfully manifesting their intentions to become ruler of the universe!
In the final analysis, the aim of strengthening one’s own power of ‘will’, like fretting over all things pre-ordained, is a chase for one’s own shadow.