FIGHT OR FLIGHT
When a problem comes into life, there is a natural tendency to take flight; in the fight-or-flight response, people prefer flight. Where does this natural tendency come from, and what is the basic cause of wanting to flee? How has it come into you that you want to fly away, that you want to escape from the problem? The basis would be fear. The basis would be an inner feeling of insecurity and inadequacy. The basic fear is of not meeting up to the challenge, for there is no problem that cannot be solved. Yet the fear remains in man, and he wants to fly away from the problem. By escaping the problem, he does not solve it; he just goes to sleep, and when he wakes up again, or comes back from where he has escaped to, the problem still remains. That is man’s insanity; it is insanity to run away.
Man fears losing his ego because what is most often hurt by a problem is his own ego, and his ego is controlled by the various samskaras that he has in his mind. It is nothing but his samskaras that form this ego. Ego does not only mean self-boosting. When we say that a person has a big ego, it does not necessarily mean that he thinks a lot of himself; he might have an ego that makes him think very little of himself. So, ego is normally the stumbling block that stands in a man’s path to face his problem. Because it is only the ego that recognises that a problem exists in the first place, and it is the very ego, by its own recognition, that tries not to solve it but to escape from it. It is like an ostrich digging its head into the ground, and he thinks all his problems are solved.
THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF
Where does the energy come from, or how could this sense of ego be manipulated so that it could face the problem? Can one say that by not recognising the problem, no problem exists? Man’s mind is not yet conditioned to that state; he has not evolved, he has not developed the awareness to say that this is really no problem. So, in recognising the problem which the ego has created, the ego has to fight it. But having gone through conditions in previous lifetimes, such as in the animal kingdom, the first response of an animal when it is threatened is to run, and if it cannot run, it will attack. If you come across a snake, and I know this by personal experience trudging the various forests and jungles of India, normally when the snake sees you approaching, it runs away until you inadvertently trample on it, then it will turn and bite you. The same thing with all wild animals; they only attack you if you show fear for them, and by you showing fear, they become aware of the fear or self-destruction that is within them, and then they attack. But if you show no fear, they run away. So, this instinct in man to take flight is not only conditioned by this lifetime, but it goes back to those lifetimes when man even existed as an animal and had gone through this whole evolutionary process. So, the fear is instinctive in man, but why it has to remain instinctive in a thinking, rational person becomes totally illogical. Should man operate by instinct, that is more in the department of the animal, and we have the animal in us, and that is why it comes to the fore. So, with man’s intellect and his reasoning ability, he could activate that intuitive side of himself, and by activating that intuitive self, he gets rid of fear. And when you get rid of fear, you do not take flight, because by running away, it only shows how fearful you are of the circumstances.
So, the creditor knocks on the front door, and you run away through the back door. Is that going to help? It is not going to pay the bill. I could cite so many examples like that. Why must this happen? What can we do to sublimate this basic instinct into an intuitive quality? When man dives deeper into his mind and regenerates the active conscious mind with that which is within, then fear loses its sting, it loses its value, and it has no power to hurt. The only thing to fear in life is fear itself; there is nothing else to fear. For what is there really to lose if we realise that there is nothing to lose in life, because nothing is possessed by us? You have come with nothing, and you go with nothing. You have only come with your samskaras, and you will only go back with samskaras, nothing else. And samskaras are just certain vibrations.
TRANSFORMING FEAR INTO STRENGTH
These fears, too, are made up of vibrations, and as we know, vibrations can be altered. They can be shifted from a lower frequency to a higher one, and higher frequencies are normally more powerful and more subtle. So, by heightening the vibrations of lower frequencies into higher ones, we automatically get rid of the lower frequencies which constitute fear, depression and anxiety, and from there we take flight. Yet physically, we are built in such a way that, in case of fear, the glandular secretions increase to be able to cope with it. By increasing the frequency, the glandular secretions will still be secreted and can be used in a far more effective way to fight.
There will be no physical or biological changes; they will function in the same way, but the changes will occur in the conscious mind. As I would say over and over again, the conscious mind can be brought to a quiet state by meditation and spiritual practices. This is not only half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening; it should last throughout the day. That one hour spent sitting down is less important than the twenty-three hours of the day when the mind, becoming accustomed to that quietude, will remain quiet. It is only the calm, quiet mind that can evaluate a problem, because then it will not function on the instinct of flight. It will not function on the animal instinct of running away. The animal runs away, for it is its nature to do so when danger approaches. It will run away, but not man.
You might have heard many examples. For instance, I read a story about a very frail woman whose husband was repairing the car when, somehow, the jack slipped away and the car fell on his chest. Because of her love for him, at that moment so much strength came into her that she virtually lifted the car. Normally, she would not be able to lift a shopping bag. It is the same energy that makes you run away, which could also make you fight. It is just turning in the other direction.
BREAKING THE WALLS OF FEAR THROUGH RIGHT ATTITUDE
When facing a problem, does fighting it solve it or make it worse? It depends on the problem. By fight, we mean evaluating and assessing the problem, and by doing so, the solution often becomes clear. It might not be a complete solution, but it puts you on the path to one. There is no such thing as a magic wand. So, in the face of any crisis, we have to face it. The house is burning down; you are not going to run away from it; you would try to salvage as much of your goods as possible. Why can we not apply the same principle to every situation? Why let the house just burn? Why run away? Try to salvage, and by salvaging enough things, a new start can be made. A man loses a job; he says he cannot find one, and this is not really true. It is his own laziness, fear, or sense of incompetence that makes him feel he cannot get a job. He goes for an interview with the attitude that he will not be hired, and he will not be hired. But if he has the attitude “I am going to find a job this week, so help me Bob,” he will. Because when you go for that interview with the boss, he will naturally feel, by the way you speak and sit, whether you are confident or not. The aura you create will influence whether the boss gives you the job or not. Yet you might not get it because of your negative attitude, and another person, less qualified, might get it because of the positivity that person has.
So, we are continually running away, running away, running away, but where can you really run to? You are surrounded, as if in a cage. Whichever direction you look, there is a wall, and people feel this. The tragedy is that people try to preserve these walls. They have an inner feeling that “I want to break down these walls,” yet their every action and every thought becomes conducive to preserving the walls. So, they become more and more trapped. They are frightened to run away from fear. Is that not a contradiction? That is a contradiction. People are frightened to move away from fear. So, what is the solution? The solution is the attitude, come what may. What can happen to me? I will only go six feet deep, so what? What have I brought with me? What am I going to leave behind? I am going to make the best of it, be it successful or not, so who cares?
That attitude, “Who cares?” and “So what”, can only be held by two kinds of people, the very irresponsible and the very responsible. The very irresponsible person would say, “Oh, so what”, but when the responsible person says, “So what”, he says it with the understanding that “Come what may, I am prepared to accept the challenge. Life is a game and I am playing the game for the game. I am not playing to lose, and I am not playing to win, I am playing for the sake of playing.”
This is beautifully expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, “Perform action for the sake of action and not for the fruits thereof.” For as soon as you start hankering after the fruits of your action, all the anxieties and all the fears begin. When they begin and you get caught up, you want to run away, because you cannot face them any longer. But if any action is performed for the sake of doing it – I am talking now, and I do not care if some understand and some do not understand. I am here to talk, pour forth my heart, and that is exactly what I am going to do and what I am doing. If I am understood or not understood, I do not mind. After all, what does mind matter, and matter does not mind.
WHEN FACED WITH A PROBLEM DO ONE OF THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICES GIVEN TO YOU
We have all kinds of fears, including the fear of getting broke, not only that but also the fear of friends. You know, friends might desert a person when he is broke. So here was Joe, and Joe got broke, so half his friends deserted him. Someone asked him what about the other half. He said, “Well, the other half does not know I am broke.”
So, we have all these little fears that want to make us run away from life, which is impossible. You cannot run away from life; life is eternal. Where, then, can you run to? People think death is an escape, which is why we have suicides. That is also running away. Little do they realise that they might leave this body behind, only to take on another body, like taking off one set of clothes and putting on another, but the self remains the same, with all its problems. So, when another body is taken on, the problems remain, and the same problems will come up again in some form or another. So, it just does not help. You cannot run away from life, and if you cannot run away from life, then why run away from a situation, even if it kills you – for lack of words, even if it kills you, because nothing can kill you. You are immortal, children of immortality, that is what we are.
In every situation that comes up, I have found one solution which I have recommended to many people, and it has worked invariably. When you are faced with a problem, do one of the spiritual practices given to you, such as Gurushakti, or even the repetition of your mantra in the mind. That will help, and it will take your mind away from the worry of the problem. A problem always seems very big when the mind is in turmoil, but when the mind is quiet the problem becomes small and you find the courage to face it. And by the Gurushakti practice the mind quietens down, and then that problem becomes small.
When you see a big mountain, you say, “Oh, how am I going to climb this?” But if you see a small hill, strength comes into you. I had one mountaineering experience, the first time I went mountaineering. I was a young man then, and I do not suppose I could climb these steps today. Nevertheless, it was very high, and I said, “Oh, there are thousands of feet. How are we going to climb it?” So my friends said, “Come on,” and they pulled me along. There was a gorge going up, and going up that gorge was so easy. From down here, the mountain looked so steep, but on the mountain there was a gorge, and it was very easy to climb. That was at Table Mountain in Cape Town, and the gorge, I still remember the name, was the Skeleton Gorge, and to my surprise it was a very, very simple climb. At first, I said, “How am I going to do this?” So, within every problem there is a gorge. Do not view the mountain at its highest point or the toughest part of the problem.
QUIETEN THE MIND, AND IT ALL COMES
Every problem is like a chain; it has its weak links as well. Find the weak link and tackle it, for a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, an old saying. The idea is not to run away from it; no problem is insurmountable. Therefore, if there is a business deal or a problem coming up, many people would say, let me sleep over it. It means letting go for a little while, throwing it out of the mind, and the next morning, when you wake up, you have the solution. In the intensity of the moment, the decision that has to be made about the problem can seem immense; you become undecided and prefer to leave it alone. So, the secret is to get the mind away from the problem, and one of the simplest methods is to practise a spiritual practice, whereby the mind is quietened. Then the problem becomes much smaller than you thought, and when it becomes smaller, you gain confidence and courage to tackle it. It is the same problem, but your angle of view changes. So, for the conscious mind on this mundane plane, there might be problems, but they are not as big as you think they are. They are small. It is our minds that exaggerate them. We make them big. We make molehills into mountains.
You could have a hundred examples of this. My wife is going to divorce me, okay, fine, what a big problem. There are children, what a big problem. But if you look over the centuries, how many divorces have there not been? Not that I would advocate that, but looking at it, how many divorces have there not been throughout the ages, and how many children have there not been through those marriages? Yet for centuries and centuries, those problems have been solved, have they not? Are you such an exception? They have been solved; somehow or other, those children have been looked after. Divinity is so great that even before a child is born, he provides milk in the mother’s breast. So, have those children not grown up, have they not been looked after in some way or the other? They suffer a few heartaches, headaches, toe aches, stomach aches, okay, I accept that. So, like that, this is just one example. Like that, losing a job, for example, there are so many other jobs to be found. Losing a business, so many other businesses could be found. Is there anyone here in the western world who could really say I am starving, and if he is starving, he is a lazy bum.
So, we exaggerate our problems. We do not need to run away from them; we must face them, come what may. And that is the only way, and the way to do it, to repeat again, is to quieten the mind. And it is only by quietening the mind that the solution or the way could be found. A husband and wife have a terrible argument; they want to get at each other’s throats. The next morning the wife says, “I am sorry, darling”, and he says, “I am sorry, love”. Why? Why, they had such a hell of a row last night. Why, all of a sudden, without any prompting, do they say sorry to each other? And the reason is very simple. Because the minds, at the time of the quarrel, were in turmoil; the next morning their minds have quietened down, and therefore they can say sorry.
Everything in life is like that. If there is a problem, and it can be left alone for a little while, leave it alone. Leave it alone. Do not run away from it. Leave it alone. Quieten the mind. Meditate. Do spiritual practices. Pray. Go sit in church for half an hour. Do not ask God for the solution. He will not give it to you. Why must He favour you and not someone else? But just become quiet, and He sends the solution into your mind. Because you are begging for that solution, you are going through a type of anxiety. In that very begging of yours, churning the mind, “Oh God, give me this, give me this, give me this” – you will not get it. Quieten the mind, and it all comes.
This little woman had a problem. The little boy was sitting at the table, and she said, “You give me headaches every day. I want you to finish all the food on your plate. Why must you give me trouble every day, begging you to eat and eat and eat?” After a while, she said, “Now you finish your spinach. It will give some colour to your cheeks.” So the boy said, “Mom, who wants green cheeks?” Everything is a problem. Do you know breathing is a problem too, yet you breathe. Why? Stop breathing. It is a problem. Look at the amount of work you are giving to the lungs. Are you not sorry for them? Blood circulation is a problem; look at the workload you are putting on that poor thing called the heart. You have created problems. Yes, but the lungs accept it, the heart accepts it. All the various organs of the body accept them, and they keep on working, not asking for any reward, just acting for the sake of action. And you will find that one morning you will wake up problem-free, no problems at all. When that day comes, when you wake up without any problems, be sure to know you are dead.
HOW IS MAN GOING TO LIVE IF HE IS NOT CONFRONTED WITH CHALLENGES
This world is made up of expansion and contraction. Expansion and contraction necessarily imply conflict. Without conflict, this world cannot exist. Even in the functioning of the solar system, there must be gravitational and anti-gravitational forces at all times. All material existence, and mind is also matter in a subtle form, must have conflicts, yet Divinity has been so merciful as to give us the tools to face the problems. He never gave us tools and said, “Run away.” You created those tools of running away yourself because of your fears. Divinity never created fear, nor anxiety. Man, with his free will, created that. It was not a creation of Divine will. What He created was love and joy, the ever-flowing river in all its beauty, gurgling, singing along in its path. Man created the blockages so that the water stagnates in the river, and that is why we are stagnating by having created our own problems. And yet these eyes that we have, made to see all the beauty of life, all the beauty around us, the symphony of the wind in the trees, the beauty of the flowers, the fragrance, the blades of grass swaying in a wild ecstatic dance of abandonment, all these beauties. The beauty of a beautiful woman’s face, the beauty of a little child being nursed on its mother’s breasts, the little gurgle in his throat, what greater symphony can there be? All these things are made for man to experience the joy of God. For there is all that He created, joy, joy and nothing but joy. Are we not all fools wanting to run away from that joy? We do not use our ears properly, we do not use our eyes properly, we do not use our hearts properly. We create these obstacles and then say, “Oh problems, what kind of God is He?”
Bloody fools we are. So do not think of a problem as a problem. I have one interpretation. I have problems, oh yes, oh yes, but I do not call them problems; I call them excitement. It is exciting. How is man going to live if he is not confronted with challenges? Then you become dormant, you become a vegetable. It is these very ups and downs, which we call problems, that keep us alive, that keep us going. If, for example, a man retires from his job, everyone will tell you to take up a hobby, take up an activity; if you sit around at home, you will put one foot in the grave quicker than it should go there. So activity has to be there in all kinds of life, and a problem is part of that activity. If all problems can be regarded as challenges, as excitement, that problem becomes a joy. I have got to pay rent by the end of the month, and I have not got the money. Problem, fine. Okay. What will happen to me if I do not pay the rent? I will be thrown out; my wife and children will be on the road. Problem number two. If they are on the road, and in England’s lovely weather, they might catch cold and pneumonia and what have you. Now the problem number three. We will have to call a doctor, and the doctor has to be paid. Problem number four. We cannot pay the doctor, and we cannot pay the rent, then we will have to face the lawyer. Problem number five. Then we get a summons from the lawyer. Problem number six. We get hauled up in court. Problem number seven. We land up in jail. Problem number eight. And I can carry on and on and on. So, before we let these weeds grow, let me get off my backside and do something to pay the rent by the end of this month. Do you see, something can be done, something can be done.
THE WORLD WAS CREATED WITH PROBLEMS AND AT THE SAME TIME ALL THE TOOLS WERE GIVEN
Do not wait for the problem. If you have a slight inkling that a problem is coming, something can be done if you bring your mind to a state of quietude and allow it to rest. In everything in nature there is rest. Between two heartbeats, there is a rest. When you walk, there is a rest. You rest on one foot while the other goes forward. You rest on that foot while the other goes forward, and you rest on the other foot until the first goes forward. In everything, there is a rest. The only place where man does not find rest is in his mind. And yet science has proved over and over again that there is rest.
We think a thought lasts half an hour, but it does not. The mind is only capable of a few seconds, then there is a gap, and it continues. It is like a cinema film. When you see a film, you find it continuous on the screen, but the film is not made that way. It is made in separate frames, and there is a gap in between. So, by taking the mind to quietude through meditation and spiritual practices, we are momentarily residing in that gap, and it is through that gap that the inner energy comes. And when that inner energy comes, you have more strength and more courage.
So, we have got all the tools. When the world was created, it was created with problems, and at the same time all the tools were given. But the trouble is, we do not use them. If we only consciously make up our minds that we are going to use those tools, there will be no problems. Many times, we look for cures when prevention could have been so much better. So, who cares about problems? Who cares about problems? Let them come, let them come by the hundreds, the more the merrier. Yes, and if they come in too much, they will just choke themselves. Yeah. Yes, let them come. It is really fun.
This girl had a problem. She was overweight, and that was her problem. She kept on talking about her weight problem. So she meets a friend who tells her, “Stop talking about your problem. The best way to lose weight is to keep your mouth shut.” It was a calorie problem. And so this secretary was sitting in a sandwich shop. Her friend comes along, and the friend orders her normal meal, but this secretary orders a cottage cheese sandwich. So the friend asks, “Are you on a low-calorie diet?” To which she replies, “No. I am on a low-salary diet.”
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1982 – 04
