Discovering Mechanical Behavior

	I		my
Can	you	choose	your	inner state?
	we		our

Some of the ideas of the school say that the man or woman in everyday life who has not had the opportunity to use various ideas that throw light on the spiritual aspect of man and his relationship between his psychology and physiology, his structure and his biology, that that person -- without that understanding or without having had that opportunity -- is "mechanical". Anything mechanical is subject to what happens to it (i.e., it has no determination of its own). For example, a car is mechanical -- it waits for us to start it and take it places. If another car runs a stop sign and hits our car (or, for that matter, if it is just sitting on the street and another car bumps it), it is bent out of shape. When we become angry, fearful, guilty or insecure you could say we're bent out of shape...we are far from being happy and pleased within self -- we're far from being conscious. A human being may be in such a state that anyone can push a button and cause him to be angry, or cause him to work or to cause him to agree with many ideas which will possibly lead him into a state of slavery sooner or later -- a state of dependency on something else. We do not choose the state, it happens to us and in that state we are mechanical. We can observe that we do not choose our states. We're unable to function in those moments of our everyday life in a calm and responsible manner. You might say we have buttons out that can be pushed.

paraphrased from a statement in "The Teachings" Tape 1
(of 48 tapes in that series)
by Rhondell

Some buttons that we might see:

• Someone pushes a button and I'm bashful.
• Someone says something and I begin to predict doom and gloom.
• A relative does something and I start a reverie
• Someone says something derogatory about a friend and I find myself believing it.
• I hear about a crisis on the news and start figuring how to be safe.
• Someone gives me a compliment and I feel delighted.
• Someone gives me a gift and I feel obligated.
• I go to work on the computer and it won't do what I want and I'm frustrated.
• Someone isn't doing what I want fast enough and I'm impatient
• Someone listens to my "tale of woe" and I feel "comforted."

So the "work" for this week is to observe these "mechanical reactions" in the "self" and discover that we don't choose our inner state.

As an exercise this week, you can take a piece of paper and write down the various things you see all through the week -- day after day -- in relationships and when one reacts mechanically either within or without.

I might add here that when I originally did this exercise I was a bit upset that all these things could control me --- especially when I looked at them a week or month later and saw that they were really NOT IMPORTANT, and turned out just fine.

This is a new direction and a very valuable one. If we can see "what's going on" perhaps we can do something about it.

This (as well as all the other discussions on these pages) will be expanded as time goes by.

So take care with doing the "work".

Remember to observe without criticizing, judging or justifying!

About terms used on these pages: as I understand it we are all in the "school" and "life" is the teacher. If anyone doesn't understand any of the terminology used in any of these pages just ask and I will do my best to give you (at least) my definitions. Better, more understandable definitions from other students are, of course, welcomed!

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