The State of Freedom
A journey of Truth into the mind’s sanctuary
with the destination of inner Freedom.
C8. The Observer of my brothers’ minds.
Having seeped in this new agreeable inner flow, the mind now tries a new game, by means of which he will systematically exercise his active care for his brothers: the hypothetical recording of the observations which the Observer of his brothers’ mind would do.
The whole idea started from the finding of the mind that the brothers who surround him have hitherto been to his eyes none but whatever they project: glad or sad, with high or low self-confidence and self-esteem, noiseless or with a furious presence, dynamic or weak, shy or courageous, peaceful or quarrelsome, patient or hasty, useful or useless for the fulfillment of my mind’s personal aspirations and loads of other distinctive characteristics.
All of a sudden, he realized that his knowledge regarding his close brothers is limited to these sole impressions and that he has very rarely bothered to wonder about their history. He knows nothing about the external conditions and the internal anxieties and procedures through which his brothers have become what they are today and what they have consciously chosen or unconsciously been trained to project. Nor has he troubled about which facets of their selves they conceal and for what reasons they are afraid to reveal them. And whenever he has made such thoughts, they were always fleeting and superficial.
“But this means that all these years I have only thought that I lived in a world which is like it seems to be, whilst in the reality I have not become aware of what really happens behind the masks of my brothers!” This contemplation, which the mind considered as absolutely correct and undeniable, shook him up and made him suddenly feel that until now he had been living in his own world, the limits of which did not exceed the limits of the cranium which contains my brain, inside which transpired his associations and the conclusions to which he came based upon the phenomena he saw around him.
However, appearances can be deceptive. In order to cease this “poverty” and understand what really happens inside his brothers and achieve to live one day within the world in the same conscious and responsible way in which his Saint lives, he decided to adopt the habit to play this – especially interesting and amusing, as it practically proved to be – game of the hypothetical recording of the observations of the Observer of his brothers’ mind. Besides, he made this recording in the first person, that is to say with exactly the same phrasing with which each brother would have recorded his observations on his self, provided of course that he would have learned how to perform self-observation.
Again he creates a warm atmosphere; he sits at his desk, takes pen and paper and recalls a particular brother of his. He starts with his morning awakening. “What might the brother think as soon as he wakes up every morning? The first thought of the day is very important for me to know, because it reveals which is his dominant attitude and denotes the fundamental way of viewing life in general”. The mind intuitively understands that for this brother the first thought of the day must not be so joyful. He writes in the first person, as if it were his brother the one who speaks:
“Damn it! Again to work today! I will be obliged to undergo their sour faces again, their comments and their irony; I can’t bear it anymore! But what else can I do, I need the money, and there is no other alternative available for me. I have to stand up now, because I am already late, since I have already pressed the snooze button of my clock twice out of my reluctance to confront all these idiots today again”.
My mind proceeds in the same way and records the observations of the same brother’s mind, while he brushes his teeth and looks at his face in the mirror. It has a sad expression, because he is obliged to do something that he does not like at all. He goes on recording, always in the first person, the desperation and the injustice that has been spread in this world, in which the rich people do not need to work, whereas he does not have the right to choose where, how and together with which persons he will spend the most of the hours of his day; and after that he will have to go back home tired and irritated, without any appetite to engage in something interesting.
“This is not a way to live; I have to do something to change this situation!” the brother thinks with anger and decisiveness, who a few minutes later is on the train and, having forgotten his morning thoughts, has indulged in the chase of time and in the anxiety to go to work on time, so as to avoid the scorning of his boss who is supposed to be a “disgusting redneck”.
The mind continues his observations tireless and excited by the new world he recovers. This is a world which has always been around him. He has always been meeting and touching the people of this world in the train, in the supermarkets and in every place of massive conglomeration of his brothers, without even suspecting what was transpiring in their mind, only a few millimeters deeper than the pampered or unpampered skin of their face and their expressive or expressionless eyes.
“This was obviously due to the fact that even the expressive eyes which smile are very often nothing but a mask”, the mind contemplates now, “a mask which my brothers have put on in order to hide from others, and also from themselves, their deep distress, their anguishes, the envy, the anger or their dislike for the other person and many other innermost emotions and thoughts which they are afraid to confess”.
Thus, my heart rejoices, becomes full with euphoria and compassion and my body is overwhelmed by sweet health. Not because I see my brothers around me suffering, but because I now know the very kind of suffering they undergo and because I am at last capable to help them, provided I decide to do so. And I will! Because, when I know, when I have seen, I can no longer pretend to be blind, I do not stand anymore to act as if I were indifferent.
Besides, I know – even hypothetically, though I must not be far from truth – the observations the particular brother would make if he had been trained to observe his mind, understand and forgive himself and proceed step by step to the path which leads to freedom. Hence, I am now up to record also these observations of his, in order to acquire a clear image of the great potentiality for freedom and joy he has inside himself without knowing it. I can talk to him in an open way – in the extent he can bear it, of course – in order to tell him whatever I think I know about him and prompt him to also start himself observing the procedures of his own mind, confess and understand them, embrace and get to know them, and tell him that they will thus gradually change. With this, he will feel more free, glad and happy.
For example, I visualize the brother I observed before, waking up early in the morning after a peaceful and happy sleep, revitalized and cheerful, self-satisfied, and contemplating:
“What a nice sleep I had! I feel very grateful for the gift of life, for the day which will start after a short while and for the freshness I am now experiencing after such a nice sleep. I am awash with a feeling of trust to the very miracle of life. It cannot be otherwise; such a beautiful entity, like life is, will take care of everything. I needn’t worry about anything, it is enough for me to participate in it every single moment and exploit in the greatest possible degree the marvelous gifts it offers me.
“I am very glad, because I am going to see my colleagues again in the office today. I like being near them and conveying my good mood to them, whenever they start becoming sour inside. I have understood that the most of them are not very happy in their personal lives. They do not love and accept themselves enough; as a result, their relationships are condemned to remain in a level of mediocrity and tension. Whenever they talk to me in an impolite way, I like to answer them ‘everything is OK, my brother, I shall take care of it, do not bother’, because it pleases me a lot to see their face sweeten and their eyes soften at once. These are the best moments of the day for me. Whatever else I do throughout the day is secondary in comparison to these beautiful humane moments which open my heart and bring peace to my mind”.
The mind goes on in the same way and writes down the observations of the same brother’s mind while he brushes his teeth and looks in the mirror at his radiant face being happy with the prospect of what he is going to do today. He records, always in the first person, the brother’s deep conviction that humanity will soon find its way and that the rich people will come to a harmonious collaboration with the poor ones for the sake of the common good.
The brother likes to believe in the greatness which is hidden in all people and dedicate every single moment of his life to the emergence of this greatness, which will eradicate from humanity all forms of separatedness related to the financial status, social position, education, skin colour, gender and many other ideas of the human mind. He knows that these ideas are ultimately fictional and hence will soon bow down in front of the greatness that will be emerged in all humans and will give it over the forefront of their lives.
“I am certain that this situation will soon change!” thinks the mind with keenness and decisiveness. A few minutes later he is in the train and, maintaining his morning thoughts indelible, indulges in the conscious cultivation of the feeling of compas-sion for his frowned fellow passengers, who have evidently also put faith in the ideas of their minds and are, therefore, sunken in their misery, like he used to be some time ago.