You change what is going on inside and everything changes.
Michael A. Singer
I was questioning something the last couple of days. Why is the pull down for some stronger than it is for others? Now, I know the only thing we can do to change the world, is change our insides. I know that samskaras and our preferring/desiring based on them is the source of our suffering....but still: Why are some people more prone to samskara build up and then the negative pull of desire and aversion than others?
Life circumstance certainly has something to do with that. I mean, some people are born into more challenges/trauma than others, right? Some challenges are bound to be packed away in our "Sam(skara)sonite" luggage. And if you suffered trauma you may be carrying around more potentially explosive baggage than someone who hasn't. Yet, not everyone stores trauma and challenge. There are starving beggars in the streets of Calcutta who are happier and freer than many who grew up with affluence and comfort in North America. How does that work then? What causes some people to grasp, cling, and push away more than others? Is it because of faith and cultural conditioning? The Hindu may be more likley to see suffering as a means to burn off karma and therefore will embrace challenge happily, whereas a North American may see suffering as something to be avoidied all together and spend their life running from it. Is this the cause of the difference in samskara storage and activation??
Yet, people from the same circumstances, same culture, same faith and geographical background can differ tremendously in their response/reaction to life events because of how much they stuffed and stored. Is it biological and genetic? Are people's nervous systems naturally wired for a certain degree of selective stuffing and storing and therefore preferring? Does it have something to do with the levels of feel good neurotransmitters in the body or the uptake reflex? Are some people so lacking in dopamine they tend to grasp, stuff, and store more than others? What does the hyperactivy of neurons or the primordial brain, the amygdala have to do with this tendency?
People could go through the exact same trauma or challenging events and some would store wounding creating a samskara that will affect the rest of their life...while others will just let it in or out...or at least store less of it. Why? Does it have to do with the personality traits we are born with? Maybe...more esoterically- it has to do with what we inherited in our collective unconscious...or even more esoterically...what karma we are bringing with us from a previous life?
Hmm! I really do not know!
I do believe wholeheartedly that our preferring tendencies are based on what we stored and stuffed. I do. I believe that these preferences and expectations are screwing up our lives. I do. I do believe we all need to give up our preferences, which equates to preferring life to be exactly as it is, if we want to be free of our suffering tendency! This makes perfect sense to me.
But my question remains...why is it more difficult for some to give up these preferences than it is for others? Why are some people so preference addicted...so easily pulled into the negative drama of little me...more stuffed with samskaras than others? Why do some of us have more work to do to become free and purified than others do?
Do you ever wonder about that?
Hmm! Anyway...I am rambling.
Regardless of the cause, as Rumi says :
Yesterday I thought I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
All is well.
Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( February 22, 2024) Exploring the Root of Preference. https://tou.org/talks/
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