Marcus Stegmaier
31th December 2011 |
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Doer and Non-Doer - Aliens In Life
“Should“ and “Should Not“
There is no doubt: If in the depth of the universe man someday finds an alien life form, the alien‘s language too would be dominated by the word “should“, as it is in every human language all over the earth. How could this be known?
If “should” were not the dominating factor of the alien‘s language, man would not admit intelligence to them and “extraterrestrial intelligence” would be called “extraterrestrial foolishness” instead. The belief in a doer and a non-doer is supposed to be a sign of intelligence. “Man is the measure of all things” as the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Protagoras has stated more than 2000 years ago. This is how the human mind functions at the present state of evolution.
The difference between animals and man is believed to be the ability to plan and act accordingly, i.e. to do what “should” be done and not to do what “should not” be done. This gave birth to the concept of a doer and a non-doer in the human mind. And this belief is the basic illusion under which man suffers a lifetime without even wanting to let go of it, for the ego is afraid of losing control. However the ego does not understand that it has never been in control in the first place but only appeared to be the ruler of the game. This deception is the intelligence of life.
To say it with the words of the terrestrial sage Dr. Vijai S Shankar: “Man is not even intelligent enough to be stupid.” Did he blame man for misunderstanding life‘s intelligence? Not at all! This is not the only statement shared with humanity by Dr. Shankar. It is part of a huge work containing many books, CD‘s, DVD‘s and articles which explain the illusoriness of the human mind in detail. Every speck of his mind man needs to understand with clarity, and the word “should” is the key to understand the illusion of doer and non-doer.
Not that “should” should not have been manifested by life in the first place! Nothing is wrong or needless in life‘s magic play. Every single “should” which happens to man may help him to awaken into life by understanding that his waking state is just as real as the dream in the sleeping state. Man is blind to life and only open to his mind. Man needs to understand: Life happens as a flow of light and sound, in the form of an optical illusion, i.e. the movement of the body, and an auditory illusion, i.e. the movement of sound which appears as speaking and thinking to the ego.
Close observation, if it happens, will reveal that life is not a sum of events connected to each other due to the logic of cause and effect. This understanding makes man capable to enjoy his mental life as a dream which it is and not as a reality which it is not. Then man lives life as it is and ceases trying to make his dreams come true by planning what he should do - man, then, understands that planning and doing are dreams in the mind while life happens as it should happen. Life only happens in one way: life‘s way and not the mind’s way.
The mind, if not understood rightly, if not understood to be totally illusory, is an alien in life. The belief in a doer as well as in a non-doer alienates man from life. Man, however, is not his mind. Mind is not man‘s true nature. Life is a beautiful play of light and sound. And sound appears as the mind to the ego. This needs to be understood in detail, then man is free from all “should” and “should not” and the illusion of a doer and a non-doer.
The word “should” somehow has become the badge of mankind. “Should” and “should not” are the hallmark of his intellect which man takes for intelligence. This happens, because man is conditioned to believe that he is the doer of real actions which could be and should be planned by the ego. Doing according to a plan is taken for intelligent action in life. Life however is a singular flow of energy, therefore “should“ and “should not” are purely mental concepts.
If man were really the doer, speaker and thinker, as he believes to be, man would plan what he should do and afterwards would just do it, how and whenever he wants it to do. But this is not the case, this does not happen as the history of mankind unveils again and again to each and every one in daily life. If man would understand that he is not the doer, speaker and thinker, the word “should” would disappear from his vocabulary. This would be a true sign of terrestrial intelligence as well as extraterrestrial intelligence!
It is the intelligence of life to make man believe that he “should” or “should not” while in life actions are absent as well as an individual and time and therefore a doer. All this is just illusory, existing in thought form only. Thoughts however are just sound, for life is a play of light and sound. For a deeper understanding of these statements the reader may read the works of Dr. Vijai S Shankar, who has already been mentioned. In this article the word “should” as well as the illusion of a doer and a non-doer will be examined carefully.
“Should” means that something which does not happen should happen. Yet it should be easy to understand that only that what is is, and what is not is not. The word “should” appears logical to a sophisticated mind and logic is the disease in the mind. “I should do! I should have done! You should not do! You should not have done!” tortures man with regret, bad conscience and fear of forgetfulness, more or less every day, almost every hour, sometimes every minute. This gives rise to the concept of a doer and a non-doer.
Sometimes man is supposed to be a doer, if what he does happens according to what is expected from him. And sometimes he is believed to be a non-doer, if the expected deeds don‘t happen to him. Based on those labels of a doer and a non-doer the character of man is built up in the mind: “He is lazy”, “She is creative”, “The director is disciplined“.
A character is based on the beliefs of the one who invents it for another person, so to speak, and does not absolutely depend on the person itself. It depends on the circumstances whether an apparent modus operandi of an individual is considered to be good or bad. This shows how relative a character is. A character is not an inborn quality of man but donated by the other’s mind, later on adopted by one’s own mind.
Someone to whom what was planned before exactly happens is called consistent and disciplined. Someone to whom what was planned before does not happen is named undisciplined or plan-less. Someone to whom not even the planning happens calls himself spontaneous whereas others may label him method-less, unsystematic or even chaotic. For example in an advertising agency a so called chaotic man could be very successful, and then his planlessness is labeled as creativity.
The mind’s explanations about why man does not always act according to what he has planned are highly sophisticated. In such a manner the illusion of doership is camouflaged almost perfectly. Most of the so called deeds of man happen without the mind thinking about it, which is proof that the mind is not involved in doing.
Observe how many movements happen to the body all day without the mind being present, thinking about something else in the past or in the future! The mind is never in the ‘now’ where the body moves. Therefore the mind does not conduct the movements of the body. The mind is not an instrument to plan actions but only to know what has already been done by life, illusory though it is.
But has this observation helped man to understand his mind as yet? Not at all, for life is intelligent enough to maintain its illusions as real and therefore made Psychology invent such terms as “the unconscious” or “subconsciously”. There are supposed to be deeds which are done “consciously” whereas others are labeled “subconsciously” meaning that apparent deeds happen without planning or thinking.
In daily life a doer and a non-doer is always present: in the armed forces, in the business world, at school, in relationships, in marriage and in families, in the monastery and even in a lone-household. A “non-doer” gives rise to various strategies of manipulation to make the other do what should be done. Reward power, coercive power or referent power are used in order to force the other or even oneself to become a doer of a certain action and not to be a non-doer.
Let’s have a look at a family: When the father comes home from work and one of the children did not do the homework for school as yet, the mother is blamed for not making the child do the homework. One non-doing child magically creates a second non-doer: the mother. This is called responsibility. Parents are supposed to be responsible for the doers or non-doers their children appear to be.
But in order to blame someone as guilty, there is no need of many people - even one person is enough! If a young or old bachelor comes home and the planned and expected clearance of the habitation has not happened as yet, the only non-doer available is himself and this leads to self-blaming: “I should have done it already. I am so stupid. Now the weekend comes and my mother visits me tomorrow evening”.
Man expects others as well as himself to do something at a certain time, for he believes it has happened likewise in the past. Doing happens and sometimes it is accompanied by thinking which appears as planning to the ego. In many cases the doing happens even without thinking or planning and this is called automatic doing. Automatic doing is believed to be the outcome of training in the past.
But how did the training happen to man the first time? The training would be doing too. Man believes that training happens due to the advice or help of another man who is already capable to do a certain action. In this sense man believes that there is a teacher and a pupil, the teacher teaching and the pupil learning. Deep enquiry would reveal: Who could ever have been the first teacher?
Now the ego being very clever, would answer that sometimes man learns something new due to spontaneous creativity and this is believed to be a part of his character. Some parts of his character, psychologists say, are the outcome of interaction with the environment, some are inborn since birth. If this were true, free will would be an illusion which it is, but in order to avoid this conclusion, in addition to the concepts of environmental influence and inborn genetics man is given the concept of free will. Again life’s intelligence to maintain its illusions as real makes it difficult to understand the illusion of a doer and a non-doer and to become free from “should” and “should not”.
The shadow of the doer-concept are feelings like regret, bad conscience, guilt and fear of forgetfulness. But what could that mean? Who makes man remember? Who makes him forget? If man were the doer, which he believes to be, he would never forget anything. But he seems to forget what he should do. This is proof that man is not the doer and man does not recognize it for he is immersed in doing, doing, doing as well as planning, planning, planning.
“Plan, do, check, change!” is his mantra in order to make continuous development happen. Yet, sophistication happens due to the intelligence of life, and this evolutionary process of life includes planning thoughts as well as illusory actions. All this illusion is very deceptive; a magic show which the ego is not capable to enjoy for the ego takes itself to be the doer, speaker and thinker of real acts, real words and real thoughts. How intelligent life is and how limited the intellect! And even this limitation is an expression of the intelligence of life!
The belief about a doer and a non-doer is based on cause and effect. Cause and effect is believed to be the basis of every action. The thought of planning seems to be the cause, and bodily movement, the so called action, is supposed to be the effect. On this assumption rules are based.
But cause and effect are actually one, for life is a singular movement with no division lines. Only words functioning as labels in the mind make an illusory separation of separate events appear real and give rise to the concept of cause and effect. Words, however, are nothing but sound in life and therefore even the apparent duality of the mind is oneness too. Life, as the sages have proclaimed, is Advaita, One appearing as Two.
There are rules for raising children, rules at work, rules at school, social conventions, laws in the nations etc. To make others function according to rules, children as well as adults are punished by punishments as well as they are punished by rewards. This needs to be understood: Rewards are nothing but the threat of punishment. A reward says that you will be punished by not getting the reward if you do not do what you should do.
Therefore children and adults alike become angry when they do not get the reward and others get it. They don‘t feel rewarded either but just less punished, if they get the reward. Envy, greed and competition are the outcome. In business life a financial bonus gets announced for productivity and then the boss wonders why the salaried personnel do not work together as a team but against each other. The working atmosphere declines commensurate to the bonus payments.
The verbal equivalent of reward and punishment are praise and blame. Words for man have become equivalent to deeds and things, which is understandable for deeds and things are actually nothing else than words too. As man is punished by not being rewarded, he gets blamed by not being praised. Therefore in the same manner as reward and punishment, praise and blame are also one and not two. Thus even the mental concepts of the mind are one and not divided as man believes.
In daily life there are multiple situations in which the ego reacts to the belief of cause and effect. This logic is the disease in the mind. The parents only expect a certain behavior from their children because they react to the conditioned mind’s logic of cause and effect and do not respond to life as it is. The logic of the mind prevents man from seeing and responding to live beings.
Man, though he believes to see, only thinks doers and non-doers even in his children, let alone neighbors or foreigners, and thinks about what they should do and what shouldn’t be done. If parents begin to understand this absurdity, society makes it difficult for them to trust life instead of the mind. If parents do not give any rules or do not reward, punish, laud or blame their children they are supposed to be mad and irresponsible. These are the signs of a conditioned mind that others should be blamed for being a doer or a non-doer.
Time-management, self-management, timetable, day’s schedule, weekly rota, monthly plan, annual plan, 3 year plan, 5 year plan, career planning, self-motivation, purpose, ambition, destination... in so many expressions of business language there is a “should” implied and a doer as well as a non-doer is hidden. Why is man anxious, confused and stressed about “should” and “should not”? Why is man angry, depressed and frustrated if what should happen does not happen? Man needs to enquire into this phenomenon deeply!
The mind appears logical, yet is contradictory! If man were the doer he should be relaxed all the time for he would always exactly just do whatever should be done, and he would never do what should not be done. And if what should be done does not happen, he would have decided it for a good reason, so why should man be worried at all?
Man, however, doesn‘t allow himself, let alone others, to be happy until the imaginary point in time when what should be done is done. This hope has no end for plans never end, not even in the holiday season. Man needs to understand that if the end, goal or ambition is in sight he can never enjoy the present “here and now” which flows precisely as it should and can never be changed by man.
The misery in which man find himself to be is just a sign of severe lack of trust in life. To understand that what is meant to happen will happen and nothing else, is trust in life and not in the mind. A man of trust will just watch what happens instead of waiting, longing, expecting something to happen only because a certain thought has come to his mind saying this or that should happen or this or that should not happen.
What is called order and disobedience in military language is called contract and breach of contract in business language. And in private life, man calls it promise and renege of promise. This is how daily life becomes a matter of domination and business. Man, however, believes that in family life, between relatives, in so called love attachments and together with children one should not demand, and therefore man utters a request. But what happens if the other does not grant the request? Then man gets angry. This reveals that the request never was a request but just a demand in disguise. Therefore man‘s so called loving relationships are nothing but domination and business deals too!
A real request would be to embrace whatever answer is given to it. This is not easy to understand. And what is even more difficult to understand is the following scenario: When the other admits to do something but the doing does not happen. Then even the one who would have accepted a “No’ to his request gets disturbed, confused or even angry: “You should have said before that you don‘t want to do it! Then I would have done it on my own.” Life makes man say “Yes” or “No” and makes him act accordingly or not. Only because a certain deed follows a “Yes” in many cases this does not mean that the “Yes” is the cause of the deed. This belief is due to the deep conditioning of a doer and a non-doer and effects man in daily life so that his relationships get converted into domination and business deals.
Would society break down if everybody understands that rules are just the outcome of lack of trust in life? How could something break down which does not exist as a reality. Society and all its rules are an appearance in the process of evolution and with the sophistication of life even society will transform from one form to another. How this form will look like, no one could say, but life is safe in life’s hands; without planning it does what needs to be done, illusory though it is.
Would business break down if man understands that motivational strategies are illusory, for life makes business happen and not the mind? How could something break down which does not exist as a reality. Business and all its motivational strategies are an appearance in the process of evolution and with the sophistication of life even business will transform from one form to another. How this form will look like, no one could say, but life is safe in life‘s hands; without planning it does what needs to be done, illusory though it is.
Would education break down if man understands that praise and blame, rewards and punishment are illusory, for life makes education happen and not the mind? How could something break down which does not exist as a reality. Education and all its manipulating strategies are an appearance in the process of evolution and with the sophistication of life even education will transform from one form to another. How this form will look like, no one could say, but life is safe in life‘s hands; without planning it does what needs to be done, illusory though it is.
Could God have the potential to become a doer or a non-doer? It needs to be understood what God could be? God is the intelligence which makes life flow. If prayers are not fulfilled by the supposed almighty, then even God gets blamed for being a non-doer. Others in this situation prefer to blame themselves believing that they have failed to do their rituals the way they should have been done. Therefore even in religion a doer and a non-doer is omnipresent. Where could be God then, one should ask!
In many spiritual circles God is supposed to be the doer and not man. Therefore man, being a doer, has to become a non-doer so that God could enter his being. This is a common satsang-disease. Neither God nor man is a doer or a non-doer, because actions and non-actions are nothing but thoughts in the mind, which accompany a singular movement which is life. Life is a play of light and sound and not action-filled.
There are many things the spiritual seeker does to become a non-doer for example meditation and practicing silence. Could the spiritual do to become a non-doer? Man is yet to understand, if he really were a non-doer, he would not be able to do anything spiritual. Meditation as any other action is a thought in the mind and not an actuality in life. Silence could not be practiced for it is everywhere. But this understanding is yet to happen to the so called spiritual men and women. What an irony life manifests to give man a chance to understand properly!
Would religion and spirituality break down if man understands that rituals and meditation are illusory and life makes them happen and not the mind? How could something break down which does not exist as a reality. Religion and spirituality would transform into an deeper understanding of life, into true religiousness and true spirituality, called enlightenment.
Even enlightenment is an appearance in the process of evolution and with the sophistication of life even enlightenment will transform from one form to another. How this form will look like, not even the enlightened could say. And if he could, man would not be able to follow until a deep investigation into his own mind has happened to him so that he understands on his own that life is safe in life’s hands; without planning life does what needs to be done, illusory though it is.
The understanding that life is a singular transformation of energy and does not exist of multiple events, the understanding that life is a flow and not action-filled, the understanding that man is a live being and not a doer or a non-doer gives rise, step by step, to become the witnesser, which is a sophisticated ego. The witnesser is patience itself, for he understands that life happens on its own accord and could not be controlled, modified and planned by the ego.
Then arguments about what should happen and what did not happen as yet, will lose its grip. Deadlines are understood to be illusory as well as praise and blame, laud and criticism, reward and punishment. Then feelings like anger, depression, frustration, stress, sadness, anxiety and confusion based on the concept of a doer and a non-doer naturally transform into love.
Man then understands that doers and non-doers, “should” and “should not” are just mental concepts which alienate man from life as it is. This understanding arises spontaneously from within and is an expression of true intelligence which could not be found outside, neither on earth nor in space.
Copyright: Marcus Stegmaier, M.A., 2011
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