Outside the Box

There is a story in one of the earlier texts from the Buddhist traditions. Some dude who isn't very fond of Buddha and his teachings decides to pay him a visit. Upon meeting the Awakened One, he proceeds to vent his feelings with a bit of mouth. He shouts, screams, rants and raves, jumps up and down foaming at the mouth as he makes clear to Buddha what he thinks of him. Having finally exhausted his invective, he falls into a moment's silence. 'What would you do if somebody gave you a present that you didn't want?' enquires Buddha. 'Well, I would give it straight back' comes the reply (this is India over 2000 years ago, remember, not middle-class southern England, where the done thing is to accept the present in silence, before chucking it in the bin once the donor has gone out of the door). 'That's exactly what I'm going to do with your present to me' continues Buddha. 'I am in no mind to accept it. There it is. Goodbye.'

OK, I've embellished the story, but its essence remains the same. Actually, Buddha was good at this sort of thing. He would have made a supreme politician. I recalled this story, in fact, in connection with the latest political event in the UK, the very recent general election. I looked more closely at my view that voting was not - could not be - a suitable thing for me to do. This incident in the life of Buddha seemed to illustrate quite well the significance of my stance. We are all presented with a 'gift' - by Empire, Control System, call it what you will. It is a gift of the world, of reality. 'This is how things happen in the world; this is how things are. Now you will not need to think about all this stuff for yourself. Receive and be grateful.'

This is what we are given: a gift of reality, in a little box tied with a little bow. Inside the box we find precisely how things are: politically, financially, socially, ethically, in terms of work and entertainment. The lot. And most of us, most of the time, simply accept the box with its contents as anything and everything. It contains all we are and all we will ever need. But the secret is that it is all a lie. There are far more possibilities than the narrow version of reality we find inside the box. It is a fabrication, a simulation. Not a very fulfilling present at all.

So, should one wish to explore the totality of possibilities in life, the best thing to do is to reject the gift. Not interested. Not impressed. And an event such as a general election, within the confines and twisted sense of normality presented by the lackeys of Empire, is key to the survival and maintenance of the current state of affairs. Note that this a different position to that held by those many people who may  not vote because, in their view, 'all politicians are the same.' This tends to be a state of disgruntlement and resignation. What I am suggesting is rather different. It is an insightful recognition that life inside the box is hardly real life at all. The existence of this unwanted gift is sustained only by the energy that is continually invested in it. The shapers of the box are exceptionally skilled in the art of persuasion: telling us time and again how important its constructs such as general elections are; playing continually upon people's fears and insecurities to gain consent; setting up world events so as to more easily manipulate peoples' shattered emotions. When folk opine that 'politicians are all the same, it won't make any difference', I beg to disagree. It does make a difference whether it's Cameron, Farage, Sturgeon, or Milipede in charge. It will effect the lives of many people in many ways. But that's not the point. The players on the board may vary, but the game's the same. And it's the game - the game of a false and limited reality - that needs to be left behind. Softly, gently maybe, elegantly. Not easy, and a continuing process. But the only way is out....