Greetings to all. Today I would like to focus on two aspects of this social isolation: (i) share some ideas that will help you live in this isolation (find the meaning of this “prison”), with emphasis on developing guidelines for your own well-being and (ii) do some practices to increase the productivity of time and silence.
Some General Considerations
I would like to start with some general and important points. Three words seem to me we must address right now:
- Isolation
- Solitude
- Freedom.
We could spend all day defining them, and analyzing them. That is not the purpose right now. But these three words should define everything we do right now. The three words represent states of the inner being. They are not things. They are not bought in the supermarket. They are states of being that must be self-realized.
Today you have to confront two types of “prisons”: external prisons and internal prisons. The first is this isolation from the external environment: family, friends, the natural environment …
But, we also have internal prisons. Our minds are trapped in an internal jail. We are all prisoners in some way. There are hundreds of internal prisons, minor and major. Today, I just want to illustrate these prisons with a couple of examples.
First, attachment. This is something that is sometimes very subtle and that we do not realize how attached we are to the material world or other forms of existence. In a world where desire has become a necessity, detachment is a very important path for all of us.
Second, our values. Individual and collective values are very essential in life and in all activities and decisions in which we are involved. But there is a moment in which the way we see our values, of practicing them, of manifesting them – as dogmas, defensive instruments, forms of discrimination in relation to others – that are transformed into a great internal prison. Sometimes we are drowning in our own values!
Third our logic. It is important to note that we practice internal logic of the mind so much that in the end we think that this is reality. But, it is not reality! And it is in this void between logic and reality that many internal prisons are born and we respond, for example, “that is so.” And we affirm it as if it were a reality. You have to adopt concrete practices to get back to reality. In reality there are no prisons. The sun is the sun. And you don’t feel trapped when you go out every day.
Fourth, toxicity. There are many forms of toxicity that are very difficult prisons to combat. I mean drugs, alcohol, tobacco, etc. But I also mean other forms of intoxication such as bad thoughts, a negative mind, personal and social carelessness, being a constant critic, use of discrimination, and so many other internal prisons that shape our world.
You know very well what your internal prisons are. It is difficult not to know them, since they are the main source of suffering. If you want to get rid of them, start by acknowledging your reality. Know yourself.
The important thing is that, upon emerging from this crisis, from this isolation, from what I call “the prisons,” they demand to leave both prisons and not just one of them. For me, it is very important that you give a higher priority to getting out of the internal jail. This forms an unchangeable law: “The external is like the internal, and the internal is like the external.”
But what are we isolated from? On the outside it is easy to define. We are isolated from family, society, and the material world. Internally, which does not depend on physical spaces, what are we isolated from? Are we already asylum seekers before entering this social isolation (jail)? Are our minds and souls isolated? About what? How to repair this isolation? We will see later how that is done. But it seems vital to ask yourself this question.
Now I would like to refer to the word, state of being, La Soledad. I would like to distinguish between loneliness and loneliness. Loneliness is feeling lonely. lonely. Solitude is being alone. These are two totally different things. I live alone, but I do not live alone. Loneliness is in the mind. Loneliness is in the emotional body.
It is important that you know that:
- Solitude has energy
Solitude has energy
Solitude has memory
Solitude has behavior
Solitude paralyzes us
Solitude changes our behavior
Solitude makes us question everything
Solitude collapses our balance points.
We have to give birth to an alternative, new energy within us to diminish the energy of loneliness. This is a new way of meditating. This is a new way to heal.
The last word, the last state of being is Freedom. We all want to be free, but free from what? Free from whom? Freedom is a state of being that is accompanied by other states of being. That is why it is very difficult to be free. Examples of these states of being are: love, compassion, justice … There is individual freedom and there is collective freedom. They go together, since your freedom ends when you are restricting mine.
I would like to finish this part by saying: that freedom is not given, it is earned, that freedom is accompanied by responsibilities and not just rights, that you will be free when you decide to do it and that freedom needs discipline.
Two Additional States
I would like to share two more words. Two states of being, which are vital for those who live in a prison compound.
- Patience
- Resilience
You have to be pacient.
You have to reorganize your whole life.
You have to learn many things from this experience.
You have to face difficult situations.
You have to confront mistakes
You have to be able to survive the routine.
You have to strengthen your resilience.
This is your ability to continue a good path.
You cannot fall to the ground for anything on the way.
Productivity During This Isolation
It is vital that all of you improve the productivity of time and silence. Time can be your best ally, or your best enemy. Many people say that time “kills”. I want you to be the great enlightened beings of the future. Meditate, contemplate, pray, use deep silence, do yoga… Stay busy. Assume your reality
Fundamental Exercises to Practice Daily
- Physical exercises and eating well.
- Take care of yourself.
- Use of the human body.
- Sensitivity and energies of the body.
- Wisdom of the body.
- Union of mind, body and soul.
- Intellectual exercises.
- Discipline your mind.
- Open your mind to change.
- Change in habits.
- See more of the future than the past.
- Whoever seeks to reproduce the past when he is released from prison is condemned to return to it.
- Visualizing a Different Future: Projection.
- Spiritual exercises.
- Live in the present: Mindfulness.
- Conserve and cultivate the spirit.
- Emotional exercises.
- Trust yourself: Self esteem.
- Surround yourself with love.
- Learn to confront failure.
- Learn to confront everything that comes your way.
- Commitment to yourself: Purpose.
- Forgive and leave the resentments of the past.
- Service Exercises.
- Help others.
- Atone.
- Exercises of (Re)construction of a new life.
- Reintegration after Covid 19.
- Not just a trade or job.
- Culturization.
- Identity.
- Social Networks.
Dzambling Cho Tab Khen (Alfredo Sfeir Younis), PH.D.
