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The Journey Begins
With the exception of humans, all creations on this earth - mineral, plant and animal - are born, live and die according to their nature imparted to them by Dharma. These creations are complete within the boundaries given to them by Dharma. They do not long for a conscious change. Whatever changes happen in their lives are not through their conscious effort, but are brought about by nature. Does a rose ever try to become a lotus? Or does a locust long to transform itself into a butterfly? Water doesn't strive to become wind. They are all complete and remain whole and undivided in the place appointed to them by the nature of Dharma.
Humans are different from all other components of nature. They are fragmented, incomplete and self-aware. Because of this awareness they are conscious of their fragmentation and incompleteness. It is through awareness of their incompleteness that they are propelled to become more and more complete and whole. Such striving puts them on the path of ‘becoming’. Humans are in a state of perpetual becoming, striving for more and more and never truly resting within. This striving, this longing and wanting and restlessness, is a conscious state because humans are self aware beings. Self awareness in humans is a cause of delight as well as torment. Delight is experienced because they are more conscious of vast vistas of nature and life than any other living being; torment is experienced because they are haunted by their fragmentation and unquenched thirst, and so they suffer and live in fear. Through this suffering and fear, because they are blessed with self-awareness, humans can choose to experience conscious growth and evolution. This is the extraordinary freedom available to all humans: freedom to explore, grow, evolve and move towards wholeness and Dharma consciously, in the light of full awareness.
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Human Striving
No matter where humans live or what they do, they always want to achieve this integral state of being. They strive to become fully aware and experience total freedom. In this process, however, they are often distracted and lost; they wander in the world and are taken further away from wholeness. Eventually they realize the futility of such repetitive cycles, the same distractions and the fruitless wanderings. Such realization is the beginning of the movement towards wholeness and integral life of Dharma.
As we mentioned earlier, involvement in religions, sciences, arts, ethical living etc. are all human efforts to discover Dharma or the natural laws and force of cosmos. A scientist wants to discover the ultimate truth of physical existence, to observe and record the ultimate particles of matter and to understand the unified force which governs the universe. A religious person wants to experience the timeless divine and longs to merge in that endless light. An artist wants to capture the timeless beauty of creation in a poem, music, painting, and sculpture, while a moral and ethical person wants to live life according to specific ideals. From Dharma point of view there is no difference between a religious person, a scientist, an artist, or ordinary family person, whether theist or atheist, leftist or rightist. They all long for and try to move towards Dharma and live an aware existence full of delight. They are all travelers and pilgrims on the same path the path of Dharma and its direct experience of Sat-Chit-Ananda, a harmonious, conscious life of joy and delight.
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