So far we have looked at two of the three sub-ascetic practices in the Heaven Path philosophy. The first, meditation, is self-control of ones mind. The second, Tai Chi Chuan, is self-control of ones body.
The third is the most ascetic of the sub-ascetic practices in that it should be practiced all the time rather than for a few minutes a day as in the case of the other two.
I call this third sub-ascetic practice the Formal Observance.
In Formal Observance, one maintains self-control of ones outward relationship with the world by obeying the laws of justice, displaying good manners, being respectful to those who deserve through their actions to be treated respectfully, and also to those who don’t necessarily deserve to be treated respectfully, and where it is not possible to leave a situation better than one found it, leave no sign of ones passing. That is to say, one observes the form.
This seems like a rather mundane activity, but it is the practice that will have the greatest effect on the world, and on ones fulfillment in that world.
The purpose of this sub-ascetic practice is two-fold. The first purpose is to get in the habit of using ones own decision-making process and will to make the world a more peaceful and harmonious place. By observing the form, we are able, on the one hand, to avoid introducing, through our actions, angst and unhappiness into the world, and also actually set an example that, if followed by so much as a single additional person, will reduce the strife in the world beyond that reduction brought about by your own self-control. And on the other hand will, through conscious control of our behavior, prevent us from creating obstructions to our own fulfillment.
Let us consider a mundane example of the former.
A person has a car and a favorite song on some medium that allows the song to be replayed, on demand, in the car.
This person has a friend that looks up to, and admires, this person, and also likes the song.
This person picks up the friend in the car, and as they drive around they listen to the song in the car.
Now, you are this person. And you are now pulling into the apartment complex that your friend lives in to drop the friend off.
In the non-sub-ascetic approach, you drive up to your friend’s apartment complex with the song playing at a volume level that, while acceptable while driving down the road because it is drowned out by engine noise of the other vehicles and the distance separating it from residences, is unacceptable in an apartment complex because it will be heard by everyone in the complex, and because even the subset of dwellers therein that may also like the song will be further reduced by those who are engaged by other activities the likes of which being forced to hear the song coming from your car will constitute a disruption to their activities. (Sleeping comes to mind as an activity that even a fan of the song would find disrupted by being forced to hear it.) Your friend who, for whatever reason, looks up to you is going to admire, or at least fail to find abhorrent, this behavior for no other reason that the fact that they look up to you, and will likely mimic the behavior in the future.
The question then becomes “How much disruption have you introduced into the world by this single action?”
And it is unquestionable that, had been you been actively controlling your behavior with the objective of not introducing angst and unhappiness into the world, you would have recognized that leaving the music blaring was inconsiderate at the very least, and would have turned it down as you approached the apartment complex.
And your friend that admires you so may very well have, at that very moment, adopted a policy of being considerate based on your example.
One never knows when one is being admired from afar, nor does one know when ones behavior will determine the behavior of others for a long time to come.
Now let us consider the effects of the above scenario on your fulfillment.
When we follow our own path to fulfillment we are enjoined from obstructing others path because we don’t know whether our own fulfillment will ultimately serve the larger work, nor do we know whether another’s fulfillment will serve the larger work to a greater degree. In both cases, believing that you know is mere vanity.
Beyond this, as we approach the time when we will most desire that how we spent our physicality will satisfy our desire for fulfillment, we will not want the memories that loom largest to be those that stem from having done harm to others, and their pursuit of fulfillment. In other words, a given level of fulfillment will seem much less fulfilling if we did a lot of harm to others to achieve it.
Moreover, the effects of doing harm to someone will often have the effect of shifting us off of a particular groove of our Heaven Path, onto a groove that is less direct and less cost-effective.
It is odd, but the world seems to be shaped in such a way that causing harm does not lead to fulfillment, even when it leads to success. We see this in those who cause harm as they become older. They become desperately self- protective, as though they must preserve every possible moment left to them so they can continue to pursue whatever it is that they are after. It becomes particularly obvious in those whose harm of others has led to their own great financial or political success. As all the things they are going to do fall by the wayside, and all that is left is the things they have done, they experience a progressively less avoidable self-loathing that they desperately try to bury with the feelings of exaltation they had previously felt during their moments of conquest. But as they get closer and closer to the end, the exaltation itself feels more and more loathsome.
On the other hand, those who have pursued their own fulfillment but have habitually detoured around circumstances that would have resulted in their actions causing harm to others find that although they may not be famous or rich, they are able to accept their impending passing into the next world because the fulfillment they did achieve did not hinder the fulfillment of others.
Control your mind. Control your body. Control your behavior.
This is Sub-ascetics.
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