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Sunday, March 20, 2016

Complacency in complaisance :)

As commoners... we seldom find it worthwhile to go too deep into the implied meanings of words...

But, as life experience deepens... those simple adages we heard during childhood suddenly seem to make 'More-sense' now, than it ever made... They seem to become 'live', and even mock at us!

During my kid days, the only instance/occasion, where I noticed my elders getting too-focused for the right choice of words was, when they tried to send a telegram :)
The reasons were too obvious...
Cost of 'number of words'... length of a single word did not increase its cost, ... hunt for a single word that 'carries' the meaning of more words...
Uniqueness of words... even if misspelt, the receiver should manage to decipher its original word :)
Shelf-life of message: Telegrams at times reach a little late (usually, it is about those which says, “I am coming there”... I reach well in time, to receive the telegram :)
Etc...  
But today, merely because it-costs-just-peanuts... we became 'complacent' about the contents of what we say, copy-paste and forward to yet-others :)

When I came to spiritual business... I was dumbfounded at once... the very choice of words, adhere to the concept of 'unambiguity' even at basic levels.... Be it about describing a physical practice, or whether it is about 'identifying' the phenomenon within, which indicates a spiritual-experience !
The worst part was... these spiritual masters ... were in 'unison' .. they refused to compromise on unambiguity, even at the cost of mystifying a fresher!
For instance, that verse in Hindi, “Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Naa Milya Koye Jo Munn Khoja Apnaa, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye” ... it roughly translates as, “I searched for the crooked, met not a single one When searched myself, "I" found the crooked one”.. A logical mind would meet a dead-end too soon, when it attempts to grasp the deeper-sense of it... where as, when the perception deepens enough to transcend the mind, the 'judgemental-nature of mind' gets revealed :))
The strangest thing is... once the meaning becomes clear, our own mind does a 'same-side-goal'... preserve the mysticism in it... says the mind, and let the freshers work their way towards it, even as I did!

But, when I tried to look at that word, 'complacency'.. ... something that the extremists in violence seek in others, to get away unnoticed, and inflict a damage by surprise...
I was in for yet another surprise!...
“You are okay, then I am okay” started its game as a malignant growth within, deterring spiritual growth in us, with that innocent looking thing called, “complaisance”... turning into a 'complacency' in us :)


For reference, I looked at “the free dictionary dot com”
About complacency: A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.

About complaisance: deference to the wishes of others; willing compliance

Ah, ... when it comes to our-own-selves... beware of that 'like for yourself, what you like for others!'(I told myself)... A tricky game !

So, whether I happen to note and remember that subtle difference between 'complacency and complaisance' or not... it is vital that the subtlety doesn't translate into 'actuality' in me :)

complacently yours,

psn (20th March, 2016)

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