TURMOIL IN PLACE:

[Pravin Kumar]

Turmoil in Place:

Although it seems what occurs in life is the cause of one's arising turmoil, but this is not the case. The turmoil that arises is already in place, if it wasn't there's no way it would arise.

You can only react to life with what you have in place. Something like anger arises because it has been learned, this also goes for fear, greed, hate, and so on. I constantly reacted unconsciously for many years without any understanding whatsoever and it kept me locked into my inner turmoil, clueless that the only reason it was occurring was because it was in place. Simply put, when something occurred that I didn't like, my inner turmoil arose without my permission or knowledge and I reacted in the way that I did. What arose was whatever my conditioning deemed appropriate. The only reason this happened is because it was already there laying in wait: like a lion waiting to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

Understanding this is where there is power in knowledge. If why one’s inner turmoil arises isn't understood, there will be very little true periods where this turmoil reactions are not in control. Through awareness of what's arising, one has something tangible to use to get beyond it. Why most people remain as they are and repeat the same reactions over and over is because of the total unawareness of why it happens. To me this knowledge has immense value because when it's seen one can truly decipher whether what's in place is beneficial or not. It’s then that a course of action can be developed to change whatever's in place that's causing the non beneficial turmoil to arise.

MICHAEL CUPO