The path to Tranquility (spring)
61. Life is a one-man show
In life, we have to face many choices, such as playing the roles of parent,
child, or partner, but most of the time, we play multiple roles at once. In
addition to these real-life roles, we also play imaginary roles, such as hero,
sage, or ordinary person. For these roles, we have built multiple different
egos within us, and each ego has the opportunity to control our behavior.
Therefore, achieving a state of unity of body and mind is a challenge for us. The problem lies within our inner selves, which carry emotions and reason. If our inner selves are not unified, the roles we play will easily cause conflicts, making life chaotic. The situation is like a one-man show, and as it goes on we become confused and unclear.
There is a master who shouts every morning: "Are you there? It's a new day, stay awake, don't be confused anymore!" Then he loudly replies: "Yes, I am here, and I will try my best! " But there was no one else beside him. The disciples thought he was crazy, but in fact he was just directing and acting in a situational drama. He is both director and actor, speaker and listener, which is not easy because the roles are easily confused.
Although directing and acting in a situational drama is quite complicated and requires a lot of practice to be successful, it is a way to achieve the unity of body and mind. Our reason is like the director, and our body and emotions are like the actors. By leading our sensibility with reason, we can play our own one-man show of life well.
External events stimulate our senses, creating emotions, which are signals sent from our emotions to our reason. If our rationality has been sufficiently trained in normal times, we can command our body to respond accurately and calm down our emotions. If there are not enough conscious reserves, reason cannot function, and we can only act according to our habits. For complex matters, this reflexive behavior is prone to mistakes and often leads to low moods. Letting emotions direct us to act according to habit, this is the reason for us so prone to mistakes.
Therefore, to achieve unity of body and mind, we must first train our observation skills, understand our thoughts, emotions, and feelings, especially our needs. Then cultivating our thinking and generalizing skills, in order to analyze and respond to situations in our daily lives. Raising our level of consciousness and consciously coordinating our body and mind is a process of self-growth and an important component of the script of our lives.
Life is like a play, but the ending of this play is beyond our control. To play our role with unity of body and mind, then accept the natural arrangement of the ending, this play will be a good one. Regardless of whether the process of performance is happy, sad, or boring, we should cherish this opportunity, use our emotions and reason, and leave a wonderful scene of our own.
60. Turn death into the deepest rest
62. Mental balance leads to health
