19th May '06
Experimentation
I do some experiments sometimes,
mindful ones, just to see what happen. The things done in the
experiments aren't always exactly "wise" but sometimes they "have"
to be done in order to learn a important lesson the hard way. For
example, I might crave for chocolates so much that I let myself buy
a whole bunch of them and start eating away. My rational mind tells
me that it isn't good for health to eat so much heaty and fattening
stuff in one go, while my emotional mind just wants it all.
However, at the same time, my rational mind might tell me "Go
ahead-follow this blind emotion-but just this once for this silly
chocolate craving and see what happens. You already know something
bad will happen but you don't believe it enough! Let reality prove
itself!"
And so, as "expected," I might end up with a sore throat or even
fever... This might sound crazy, but I do feel that such
"relatively harmless" experiments are necessary once in a while.
I'll rather get it over with bravely, with a hard lesson learnt
once and for all, than let the craving linger on and on, disturbing
the mind. The key factor that must be present is mindfulness and
bearing all responsibility of whatever results. Never go overboard.
Don't even think of trying dangerous and addictive things like
drugs!
Come to think of it, the Buddha could in a sense be said to have
been a most courageous experimenter extraordinaire. He
wholeheartedly tried practising asceticism to its extreme. In fact,
He almost "went overboard," but He listened to His innate Wisdom
and gave it up in time. It was His experimentation with asceticism
that led to His discovery of the Middle Way.
