Two Cents on Delusion

Once again the sometimes challenging, but always compelling Marnie Louise Froberg at her Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret, once sets me to thinking…

This time she opens up my heart reflections through an examination of avidya.

Avidya is most commonly translated as ignorance or delusion. She explores other ways of interpreting that word and gives it a bit of historical/theological context. I very much recommend it.

For me it usually rises in the context of the “three demons” greed, hatred & ignorance.

There is a pop Buddhist psychological model I much like and to which I constantly refer, which suggests we as individuals are woven out of all three of these “demons.” But, one tends to take the lead.

Obviously as a psychological model it is too simple, too few factors involved, even if one includes their “flip” sides.

Still, I do see how most of us express ourselves largely through the constellation of grasping or the constellation of aversion.

And while that third exists, it is the lead for many fewer people.

And, while it is easy to understand the constellations of grasping and aversion, it is less clear what exactly one means when one speaks of ignorance or delusion. Marnie goes into that in her reflection.

After many years I’ve come to a conclusion about what avidya means within the context of this simplistic psychological model.

Along with the realms of ignorance and delusion, avidya is the constellation of certainties.

So, if a good example of someone led by grasping is sexual inappropriateness, and an example of someone led by aversion is taking offense too easily, an example of someone led by certainties could be someone who finds conspiracies everywhere.

The flip for each would be a constellation of generosity, of clarity, and for certainty: curiosity.

For me the important thing to be found here is that these perspectives come naturally to us as our breath. We are almost literally woven out of them. They are aspects of personality that arise with personality. They and their “flips.”

I’m not sure just knowing this is particularly helpful on the face of it.

But knowing this does open doors.

And perhaps allows us to be a bit more gentle with ourselves and others, even as we tend to the hard work of seeing through, and going to that place beyond self and other…

Two cents on the first full day of Autumn…