Beautiful Mind

Beautiful Mind

Let me list, a few of our emotions and then see how we can avoid feeling bad or confused.

This is based on a power point presentation to undergraduates in their Preliminary Course in English. Seeing students of different faith I avoided the Buddhist Terminology but in fact expanded on the four Wrong Directions which young one’s, including individuals of different religious faiths, political ideology, racial orientation and above all some teachers (ill conceived) with hidden agenda.

1. Fear

2. Anger

3. Hate

4. Aggression

5. Resentment

6. Envy

7. Rejection

8. Guilt

9. Pride

11. Boredom

12. Loneliness

13. Jealousy (Green eyed Monster)

14 Paranoia

Why not

1. Hope

2. Happiness

3. Love and

4. Self Control

5. Tolerance

These were the same emotions which went through young minds of our generation 60 years ago.

Most of them ended up with “Reactive Depression” not “Endogenous Depression” but there was no counseling of any kind at disposal.

I think in this modern age of Digital Obsession, there is more expressed “Emotional Intolerance”.

In fact, digital media like Facebook, to some extent YouTube thrive on this malady.

I think politicians from China to Russia to Middle East (Israel and Palestine included) to importantly USA base their strategies on hate anger and resentment.

Emotions like relationships have various shades and connections.

We can shape our emotions, the way we want them to be (for good as well as bad intentions).

How can we progress?

In away according to Professor De Bono;

It is to have beautiful Mind or get rid of the wrong Directions and Intentions.

I did a survey on technical terms in psychology and found psychological terms easily outnumbered the technical terms in physics, mathematics and philosophy all put together.

The corollary of this is that Religious, Political and Racial Doctrines can thrive on these minor and major psychological maladies.

It is interesting that Buddha had crystallized the themes into four categories. 

During the talk on “Making Choice in Life”;

Ajahn Brahm taught the four considerations when face with making a decision.

Not for selfish reason

Not with ill-will

Not out of stupidity

With no Fear.

This is the Buddha’s teaching on four “Agati”, namely,

Chanda-gati, Dosa-gati, Moha-gati, Bhaya-gati, or the four kinds of corruption.

Chanda-gati, corruption induced by desire, is deviation from the right path in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those one loves.

Dosa-gati is taking the wrong path to spite those against whom one bears ill will, and

Moha-gati is aberration due to ignorance.

But perhaps the worst of the four is bhaya-gati, for not only does bhaya, fear, stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right and wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other three kinds of corruption.

Agati: the 4 'wrong Paths' are: the path of desire, the path of hate, the path of confusion, the path of fear bhaya. One who is freed from these evil impulses is no longer liable to take any wrong path.

Satara Agati -Four unprofitable directions

The term 'Agati' in Pali mean wrong course or going bad way.

There are four bad ways,

a) Chandā agati - the going a bad way through ill will

b) Dosā agati -the going a bad way through hate

c) Bhayā agati - the going a bad way through fear

d) Mohā agati - the going a bad way through ignorance or delusion