In the blog 97: 7 Delusions that can hold you back, I mention this, it’s what the author Robin Sharma calls WRAM syndrome (World Revolves around me). [ I suggest it will be helpful to read that entire blog and go through that list of 7 delusions I’ve mentioned there ]. Not-Ajnani is one who is not suffering that syndrome.
WRAM Syndrome
You may notice that people who never listen or ask genuine questions out of curiosity are people who are under this delusion. It’s not that they think the world revolves around me, they act like it. Every conversation somehow leads to their story. It’s basically that, their vision of the world is very little. One suffering from this delusion, at the least, cannot see other person’s perspective nor can they respect other person’s choices. Ex: If they’re a foodie, they see anyone who doesn’t live to eat as a misfit. Also, they think they’re the only ones with life, with people who love them, a job that they love, the ability to think, or problems, etc. In fact, they might not be aware of the mediocrity they’re letting into their lives. Nevertheless, they like to comment on others. If you haven’t heard of a celebrity they admire, they’ll look at you as if you’re alien, even worse, as if there’s something wrong with you.
Symptoms/Signs
The distinction can be made easier. If a person is taking action, and contributing to the community, the larger the better, then he/she is not under the influence of this delusion. If there are no aligned actions, just ramble about his/her own life, then, definitely, this syndrome is eating their life away without them realizing it. Realizing the converse and getting out of that delusion is very crucial to one’s growth.
We talked about Embracing the toolkit in the last blog, that is, to be open to the idea that, there may be other tools that work better for other uses. Speaking of being open, I thought why not write about being open to the idea of God for many people who are strongly a non-believer in God’s existence? But then I realized it’s more than just being open. Then came the idea of, – ” Atheist vs Not-Ajnani”.
Becoming a Not-Ajnani: A Paradigm Shift
Here a believer is called a Not-Ajnani because he at least knows that he is not the epicenter of this universe. Whether it is God or the universe, but not him. Of course, an extreme believer might say “My God is all there is, your God does not exist or is not significant, etc”. That’s also out of delusion. That’s why I didn’t name this blog Atheist vs Believer. Because I wanted you not to have that kind of extreme person’s image in mind when I say, a believer.
[Of course, everything exists in your experience. But that is just the half-truth, right? Everyone else experiences the world too. So you as a personality are not the center of this universe, YOU that is in all is definitely, everything. But let’s not get into that aspect now.]
But this simple realization that you are not the center of the universe can be life-transforming in a massive way. In this blog, as mentioned previously, a not-Ajnani is one who believes he is just a node, a competent one indeed but not the ultimate node. He knows the things he can’t control, or simply said, he is aware of his limits. [ I’m not saying he is aware of his strengths here because then we may have to consider him as a ‘Jnani’ rather than a ‘Not-Ajnani’].
To a ‘Not-Ajnani’, if it is not him, it is God. You might argue that it is purely delusional to believe that. But no, God is such a kind of concept. Sure you can say it is nature, everything other than you or beyond you. But don’t you think there is something beyond Prakriti/nature? Or wait, I’ll ask you the same in this way – Do you think when you say ‘Nature’ is it just physical space and time that you’re referring to? Isn’t there an involvement of certain intelligence? And if you agree there’s a singular intelligence in all living and non-living aspects of ‘Nature’, then don’t you think that the intelligence is beyond Nature itself, or that the intelligence is somehow fueled from elsewhere or within from a single source? [Read blog 7: GOD?]
More to think
That is just one line of thought. Through scriptures, we can get more shreds of evidence that lead to the supreme power. I’ll just suggest the examples and leave it to you, you think, and see if you can connect that to the ultimate. Pancha Koshas, Karma, Pancha-Bhoothas, what’s beyond the 3 Avasthas, Gunas, Body, Time (Past, present & now)? And even if you don’t want to or unable to think all of that, simply think of what’s the ideal self you can become, or if you know someone who is the most ideal person you’ve met, but you’ll also know he/she can also do better, right? Whether it is you or someone else, you are capable of imagining the highest level of greatness, right? If we could imagine flying and then eventually invent an airplane, then don’t you think personal mastery is also possible? If Rama is imaginarily possible, then don’t you think he could also possibly exist given the work our ancestors have already done on personal mastery and greatness? [ Of course, our ancestors have worked on everything from personal health, and astronomy to technology, personal development was probably the most focused one. Everything our ancestors did, was aligned with Spirituality. Spirituality is nothing but the highest form of personal development, what do you think? ]
Something is fictional only until it is a reality
You might ask me where is Hulk, Or Spiderman. You might argue that “I imagine him too but he’s not a reality”. Once scientists intend to work on such beings, they can definitely come up with something similar gradually as technology advances. Why am I telling you all this? To nudge you into deep thinking and eventually figure out that there’s one supreme or infinite power, intelligence, and awareness, that exists. You just need enough brain cells to imagine it. And just because you couldn’t, don’t blabber against people who could, try harder to observe in silence how other people could imagine and even manifest their deities. Discarding all those countless real-life events and experiences may be easier than going through cognitive dissonance, but just for once imagine, what if it were true?
Once we acknowledge that something beyond us, the concept of GOD as we’ve adopted is a very effective system. If instead of referring to ‘that’ as ‘that’ and making it hard to converse. Isn’t it better if you are able to describe him/her and recall an image even probably, It’s a great strategy, isn’t it?
You are not Alone
Anyway, I’m not here to convince you of the existence of one particular GOD, nor do I have the realization to say everything is ‘that’. There are so many nuances that I’m yet to figure out how to explain, but through this blog what I like to convey in full certainty is that, if you think you’ve got everything figured out and that you don’t need any other intelligence beyond your limited brain, then you are fooling yourself. While not advocating for any specific belief, through this blog I encourage you to explore the concept of God and its potential impact on personal development and understanding the universe.
Thank You
Sanath Kumar Naibhi
