Life & Fear
The biblical framework talks about law, with 10 commandments being the solution to humanity’s woes. The Greek framework talks about the oppresor and the oppressed, where you must instil order by control to ensure freedom. Unfortunately, these two govern our modern day society and thought process. What both models fail to understand is that life is not a problem that requires solving. It is a sight to be seen, and contemplated upon, so that we see ourselves truly and eventually open ourselves to joy without seeking change in the world. Hence, the great value given in India and other eastern countries to Darshan, the act of seeing.
Most people when they go to temples, they are there to see a statue, others say they go to see God, others for the “peace”. No one goes to rave there. Many even go looking for answers, but how many of those go to see themselves for who they are infront of the “Divine”?. How many pay attention to themselves? Perhaps who they are in temples can be dignified as divine. – thinking all are one, respecting strangers, speaking only when necessary, having control over the mind etc etc.
Darshan, reveals that fear of death pervades in nature. It’s not the almighty, but fear of death which impulses one to think “I want to die a good man/women” “I want to die thinking of the divine, I wanna die in peace” …
Fear makes us shun potential predators. Fear makes us want to dominate and discriminate. Humans alone have the power to outgrow this fear, discover love and include the stranger. To enable this is Dharma. But human imagination often amplifies fear. Fear cripples our mind and narrows our view of the world as we invent predators, and create structures and hierarchies to exclude them rationally. This is adharma. The problem is that acts of adharma must not incur outrage, but compassion, for adharma is rooted in imagined fear. Anger only amplifies this fear; love only can dissolve it.

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