Andrew Barker – Most people won’t believe they are enslaved, though some believe they are enslaved by the ruling elite. But when we look deeper into this predicament, we may be able to see that we are in fact enslaved or trapped by our own minds.

Man is a slave. He is not born as a slave, he is born free. He is born as freedom, but he is found in chains everywhere. He lives in chains, he dies in chains. This is the greatest calamity that has happened to humanity. – Osho

Feeling vs. Expression

We have a feeling, and then there is the expression of that feeling. The feeling is the intent, the motivation, the driving force. The expression is the action we take to express this feeling. This operates throughout life in everything we do. But conflict and suffering arise when the expression does not match the feeling – and I believe this is the predicament of most of humanity.

For example, an artist has a strong feeling about something, which is authentic; she expresses it on canvas. This expression pleases some people and they buy her work; she gains money and reputation. Her expression gets noticed and becomes fashionable. She seeks to reproduce something of similar quality, and the expression becomes habitual and stylized. Inevitably, the expression becomes more important than the feeling, and soon the feeling evaporates.

When expression becomes all-important because it is pleasurable, satisfying, or profitable, then there is cleavage between expression and feeling. When the feeling IS the expression then the conflict doesn’t arise, and there is no contradiction. But when profit and thought (desire, power, money, status, ego) intervene, then this feeling is lost through greed, and we become a slave to money, desire, and ego. The passion of feeling is entirely different from the passion of expression, and most of society is caught in the passion of expression. Continue reading →