Buddha and the Enlightenment Seeker - Part 4

Buddha:
So, today the goal is to put the ideas we have discussed into practice.

Seeker:
Wait. Before we go there…I have a question about last time.

Buddha:
Okay. Go for it.

Seeker:
You said that we are nothing but genetics + environment. But, if that is true, then where is our “free will”? I have free will! I feel like I have free will!

Buddha:
Yes. You do feel like you have free will. Let us talk about this and explore this.

Seeker:
Thank you.

Buddha:
Let me start by saying that I don’t know anything for sure.

For example, I have no idea if at this moment I am dreaming or awake.

Is this moment not part of a dream? Would you know?

And if I don’t know such a basic thing then all I am left with is: “I think therefore I am” by Rene Dekart.

Do you know what he was trying to say with that line?

Seeker:
Hmm. Not sure.

Buddha:
He asked a similar question to “who knows if this is reality or a dream”.

Noticing that he does not know even such a basic thing, he concluded: “The only thing I am sure of is that I am thinking. And from that, I can conclude is that I exist in some form.”

This moment could be a dream of a green alien on a distant planet. Aliens who hibernate for 100s of years. And this conversation is part of that dream. How would you know?

The fact that this conversation exists means that something exists to experience it. That’s all we can know.

Seeker:
Okay, this is getting weird. What is your point? What has this got to do with free will?

Buddha:
My point is that you cannot know anything for sure. And in this context, when you ask me if there is free will, I will start by saying: “I don’t know.”

Seeker:
Okay. I am not sure we are making much progress.

Buddha:
Ha ha. Yes. But, that is a start.

Because we cannot know anything for sure, does not mean we give up. We can still observe reality and say that things seem to work a certain way.

You drop a ball a million times and it falls to the ground a million times. So, we say “gravity seems to exist”.

Seeker:
Okay. I am getting lost. Where is this going?

Buddha:
We can only talk about what “free will” seems to be like to me. Based on my observations.

It is not the ultimate truth about free will. There is no “ultimate truth” about anything. There cannot be.

Seeker:
Okay. Yes. But this seems like a very long explanation for “I don’t know”. Was it needed?

Buddha:
Oh in my view it was essential. Because saying “I don’t know” helps you see reality clearly.

And, thinking that one “knows” makes it such that you can be blind to a mountain that is right in front of you.

This is very important, because, enlightenment is all about seeing more clearly.

Seeker:
Okay, what does that mean? I am lost again.

Buddha:
Glad you asked. Let me illustrate with a story.

Do you know why America has the name “America”?

Seeker:
Ahh. No.

Buddha:
It’s named after an Italian merchant “Amerigo Vespucci”. He is the first person to notice that the continent exists.

Seeker:
Wait a second. I know that that is not true. I am pretty sure that “Christopher Columbus” discovered America.

Buddha:
Yes. You are right. And that is exactly why I am telling you this story.

Seeker:
Okay. What do you mean?

Buddha:
Christopher Columbus bumped into a whole continent. But, he refused to believe that there could be a whole continent that he had never heard of.

He refused to believe that all the scholars of Europe had not heard of it. He refused to believe that the God of the Bible had never heard of it.

So he looked at the continent and said something like: “I know the world. This must be India. These people here must be Indians.”

Because he thought “he knew”, he could not see the reality for what it was. He could not see something as big as a continent.

Seeker:
Yes, I have read that the name “Red Indians” was given to the natives to represent this.

Buddha:
Yes. Amerigo Vespucci was not so sure that he knew. So he entertained the possibility that this was a whole new landmass. One that the Europeans had not discovered. One that the Europeans had not put in their maps.

He entertained the idea that he and all the others he knew might be “ignorant”.

Do you see how blind one can be if they think that “they know”?

Seeker:
Yes.

Buddha:
So, with that once again I say: “I don’t know if there is free will”.

I hope you can see the importance of taking such a stand and how it helps one be less blind.

Seeker:
Yes.

Buddha:
With that, let me share with you my observations around free will.

Seeker:
Okay.

Buddha:
Let me show you a photo of some soldiers.

Buddha:
Tell me. What do you see?

Seeker:
I don’t know. Happy soldiers in uniform from ages ago.

Buddha:
Do you notice anything weird about the women?

Seeker:
Ahhhh. No…

Buddha:
Okay. And the guy with the musical instrument on the right? Anything odd about him?

Seeker:
Ahh. No.

Buddha:
Do they seem like people you should be very scared of?

Seeker:
No. They seem like normal people. They are soldiers. Should I be afraid that they have guns or something?

Buddha:
Do they seem like “the most horrible and evil people you can ever encounter”?

Seeker:
Ahhhhh. No. But I can tell by your questions that this is going somewhere.

Buddha:
Ha ha. Yes. So let me introduce you to them. Do you know what Auschwitz is?

Seeker:
Not sure.

Buddha:
Auschwitz is the worst of the Nazi concentration camps. It was a place where Jews were taken. The weak ones got exterminated in gas chambers. They made the strong ones work in horrible conditions. Little food was given. They were beaten if they did not work.

And when they could no longer work they were sent to the gas chambers for extermination.

Seeker:
Okay. I see. That is horrible.

Buddha:
And the people in the photograph are the people who ran Auschwitz.

Seeker:
Ohhh…

Buddha:
Do you look at the people in the photo above and see the “evil” on their faces? Do they seem like normal people or do they seem like the monsters who could do all that?

Seeker:
From the photo, they seem normal.

Buddha:
Well, that is my point. These soldiers of Nazi Germany did not even see themself as “evil”. For whatever reason, they thought that committing these atrocities was fine.

In fact, they thought it was the right thing to do.

Because they thought so, these normal-looking people were capable of committing horrible atrocities.

Seeker:
Okay. But what has this got to do with free will? They seem brainwashed to me.

Buddha:
Okay. Do you feel brainwashed?

Seeker:
No. I am not brainwashed.

Buddha:
Is it? So, they were brainwashed…

Why? Because they absorbed the ideas from their environment and believed in them. But, what about you? Have you not done that too?

Seeker:
I do not take ideas from my environment without questioning.

I do not commit atrocities and then sing songs and laugh.

Buddha:
Tell me. What is your favorite food?

Seeker:
Ahh… egg chiken kathi roll.

Buddha:
Do you know the kind of horrible lives chickens have before they reach your plate?

I will leave you to look it up if you want to. But, the lives of those chickens are more horrible than the Jews of Nazi Germany.

But, you pay for them and eat them and fund these atrocities. You enjoy your “egg chicken kathi roll” and move on.

Seeker:
But there is a big difference. You cannot compare people and chickens!!!

Buddha:
You have raised an interesting point. And I will come back to it. But, first, let me ask you something.

Was there a point in your life when you considered the unfortunate situation of chickens? And having gone over it all, decided that you were okay with it?

Seeker:
Ahh. No. I mean I am aware that they live horrible lives. But, I have been eating chicken since I was little. So, I guess I never thought too much about it.

Buddha:
So, everybody around you was eating chicken, so you did not think too much about the morality of it. You assumed that since everybody is doing it, it cannot be so wrong. Is that accurate?

Seeker:
Ahhh. I guess.

Buddha:
So you absorbed the idea that it’s okay to commit horrible atrocities to chickens from your environment. You never paused to consider what your stand was on it. You did it because everybody was doing it. Is that true?

Seeker:
Yes, I guess in some sense that is true.

Buddha:
If you can see that.. then I hope that you can see that in some sense, you are also brainwashed. Would you agree?

Seeker:
Ahhhh…. maybe.

Buddha:
You should spend some time thinking about what else you are brainwashed about.

What other atrocities do you commit and don’t even think about the morality of it?

What things are not even worth questioning because everybody around you does them.

Seeker:
Yes maybe. But, again you keep saying “atrocities” and compare chickens to humans. It’s not the same.

Buddha:
Okay. Why is it okay to commit atrocities on chickens and not humans? What makes humans special?

Seeker:
Ahhhh. I don’t know. Human life is sacred.

Buddha:
Sacred? Sacred means: “connected with God”. In what way? Why are chickens not “sacred”? Why does God despise them? Who came up with this idea?

What about the millions of other species? The cute ones like koala bears? Are they sacred?

Seeker:
Okay fine. Forget “sacred”. We are humans. We are at the top of the food chain. So we get to eat other things. It’s our right!

Buddha:
You have the power to do so. But tell me, if you have the power to do something does it make it morally right?

For example: Would it be morally right to kill a baby because you have the power to do so?

Seeker:
Okay fine.

Ahh… Maybe it’s not about power. It’s simple. We need to eat things. It’s natural. The tiger also eats the deer.

Buddha:
Sure. It is natural. But not very natural to give the chickens horrible lives.

Also, why do you equate “natural” with “morally right”?

It is also natural for us to be naked. But that would be frowned upon. All the other animals are naked.

Homosexuality is also “natural” and is seen in the wild in many different animals. But depending on what human views you have, you may or may not deem it as morally okay.

Natural has little to do with “morally right”.

Seeker:
Okay. I don’t know.

Buddha:
Well, all you need to see is that you are comfortable committing atrocities on chickens.

You did not stop to decide what your thoughts were about this matter. You classified it as “morally okay” because everybody around you was doing it. In some sense, you are “brainwashed”.

And there is nothing unique about any of this. There was a time when having slaves was “morally okay” and everybody was doing it. Times change. Our ideas change. Our brainwashing changes.

Seeker:
What has this got to do with free will?

Buddha:
Well, my view is that all your ideas of right, wrong, good, bad… all your judgments are inherited up from your environment.

You can inspect your decisions. If you ask why you made them, the basis will lie somewhere in your environmental influences + tendencies of your genes.

This introspection is something you will have to do. I would love to, but I cannot trace every last idea in your mind with you.

And after you do this, you might be more convinced that there is little space left for free will.

Seeker:
Hmmm…. okay.

Buddha:
Having had this conversation, maybe the Nazis seem less “evil”. Maybe they seem like a result of their brainwashing. Like you are the result of yours.

Anyways, I guess we are out of time. But next time let’s try to talk about how to see the universe for what it is. Free from judgments and baggage.