HIGH HIGHER HIGHEST
Life is too unique to learn how to live from someone else
If you are born in Nigerian family, there are certain expectations from you; firstly you do not question your parents instructions, arguing with your father is a sign of disrespect, you either study to be a lawyer, doctor or engineer, choosing a career path other than that will make your parents quite unhappy.
Eight years after high school, I have my first university degree, quite a collection of certificates, an undying love for the art of photography ( which is something my father is not happy about).
Throughout my university education, I learnt several things about how the plant works, how animals live their lives, how to curate information about plants cultivation techniques and best methods to give animals a good life, how to help farmers make more profit, I learnt about political activities within the agricultural system and so on, but something was missing within me, something remained unclear to me.
I DID NOT KNOW HOW TO LIVE LIFE!
several errors after, I came across a talk about self mastery and it dawned on me that I had come across an answer to one of the numerous questions that exist within me,
I found out that the main part of this discovery is SELF EXPLORATION; development of behavior
Regardless of the opinion of others, i decided to continue to learn about myself, paying closer attention to my body in itself. My curiosity led me to ask these questions;
WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT IN LIFE?
WHAT DO I CONSIDER TO BE VALUABLE IN THIS LIFETIME?
ONE of the benefit of developing yourself is to enjoy your time even doing nothing, and a major way to achieve that is to find a way to do the thing you love doing
A story by a shaolin monk lays emphasis on all that is being said and it goes thus:
A certain man wanted to climb to the peak of mountain, he met a traveler and he asked “how did you climb the mountain and what did you see at the top?” the traveler shared his story, but the man thought the traveler’s story makes it look so stressful getting to the top without sharing exactly how to get to the top. He met another traveler and asked the same question, he still didn't get a satisfactory response, he met more and more travelers on his way and he asked them the same question, but he never got a satisfactory response. None of them ever told him how to satisfying the peak of the mountain was, none of them told him how to get to the peak without getting exhausted on the way.
Sadly this man never climbed to the top.
It goes without saying that
Each individual needs to find the most suitable way to climb the mountain, it is impossible to share the experience of clarity when you are standing on the peak by yourself.
Clarity means to see clear, seeing clear means you can make better choices
Seeing clear means you can distinguish for yourself which is the proper direction to take and which decision to take to achieve your goals. Along your personal journey, you will encounter challenges, challenges that might prevent you or hinder you from moving on and climbing that mountain.
The Buddhist lay emphasis on the 5 hindrances that describe the different state of mind:
Sensual desire -attraction to good desires
Ill mindedness — can be described as a dislike towards a situation or occurrence
Dullness — can be described as being locked up within yourself
Skeptical doubt — a state of mind of uncertainty
Restlessness — a state of mind of unsettledness,
One needs to align his life in a way that prevent the hindrances from affecting your safety. In order to do this, one must:
Recognize — what state of mind am i in?
Accept — learn to acknowledge the situation or person to be how they are
Investigate — investigate your mental state and ask questions
Non identify — I am not the body, Iam not my emotions, I am not the mind
All of our lives are too unique to copy the past from someone else, to bring value into your life you need to learn and master your self and do not let the hindrance stop you
I will be glad to meet you at the peak.
write up adapted from the teachings of Master Shi Heng Yi