Realising Where We Went Wrong

We went wrong by following the unenlightened, who just followed the unenlightened. Even those who assume they are independent follow the same clichés, complaining about those who follow others. This is the vicious cycle of stupidity.

How do we escape such conformity? Conformity is the tendency to fall in line with the group, making people feel morally correct, while they’re unable to function on their own. This why the Buddha said, “Do not take my words for truth; see for yourself.” Conformity is without self-critical evaluation.

Conformity: late Latin from conformare, ‘to form, fashion’.
How do we get free of this form, this fashion?

When there’s just awareness present, there is no mental formation involved; that comes along when we forget that we are this awareness, and form ideas based on concepts and memories we’ve acquired from others. That moment of non-formation is the gap, the inner space of pure consciousness.

We experience this gap clearly in meditation. Now, when we see formations arise in the mind – usually due to emotions – they remind us that these emotions dwell in the space of pure consciousness. In that moment, the mind brightens and wisdom emerges, because we now see our mental blueprint (or the brightness becomes over-excited, becoming another formation, and we fall into moral decline).

Once we realise that we are pure consciousness, true compassion arises, and we start to become decent human beings, free of moral corruption.