Looking at something and becoming fond
Will cause one to develop a strong bond
Such sustained contemplation becomes lust
Which if frustrated becomes anger and bust

Anger will be the cause of delusion
Then memory becomes baffled confusion
Thus intelligence is completely lost
Victim of life’s waves we’re hopelessly tossed

Entrapment in the material world begins by not seeing things properly.
When we look at an object without acknowledging to whom it may belong, we begin to imagine that we can control and enjoy it. Such thoughts are the root of material desires and subsequent troubles..

We begin the subtle process of thinking, feeling and willing about the object. We first think about the qualities of the object. Next, we feel how good it would be to own and enjoy the object. Then, we make a decision of will that we must have the object to be happy. The psychological processes of thinking, feeling, and willing are the inspiration for performing action (or work). Becoming convinced that our desires need to be fulfilled is the subtle form of action.

First, we hear about or observe an object. We acquire knowledge of the object. We, as the knower, undergo the process of thinking, feeling, and willing. Thus there is the knower, the object of knowledge and the knowledge of the object. These are called the impetus to action.

As our contemplation of the object gets more intense, we evolve from desire to attachment and then lust or the obsessive desire to control and enjoy an object. Once there is strong attachment or excessive desire and attachment (lust), if we are in any way hindered or frustrated in our attempt to control and enjoy the object, we become angry. Anger comes right after frustration.

Anger after frustration has definite symptoms such as, heavy breathing, tendency to use harsh language, possibility of violence, swelling of the chest and tensing of the muscles and facial expressions such as sharp eye contact, raising of the eyebrows or furrowing of the forehead, rashness of thought, increased heartbeat, and quick conclusions of retaliation, etc.

From anger delusion develops.The state of delusion occurs when one believes to be true or real something that is false or unreal. The conviction: “I am the controller and I am the enjoyer” is the basis of the delusion. This requires explanation as it is difficult for most people to accept that such a thought is actually delusional.

The basic concept of property and proprietorship determines the organization of society from the life of an individual to the entire population. For example, in modern day countries there are differences of social organization founded on a basic concept of proprietorship. In a capitalist country, the assumption is that the individual is the proprietor and the majority of laws protect personal property. In a socialist country, the state is the most prominent proprietor and most of the laws protect state ownership. In a monarchy, the king and nobles are the main proprietors. In a communist state, ideally the commune or the working class people as a collective is the proprietor. In a dictatorship, the dictator, his family and friends such as his military, industrial, and banking cronies are the proprietors. Every one of these concepts of property ownership and the social institutions that protect such concepts are flawed.

If I make a mistake at the beginning of solving a mathematical problem, I will most probably get the whole problem wrong. A mistake in the beginning will give me a wrong result in the end. Similarly, if the most fundamental concept on which an entire society is built (the concept of proprietorship) is wrong, then how can we expect the people in that society to be happy and eventually achieve the goal of human life?

Today, we live in the United States of America. Did this country exist five hundred years ago? The answer is no. Will this country exist five hundred years from now. The answer is we do not know! We can conclude that the existence of this great country or any country for that matter is temporary. The same can be said about anything we believe that we own. At most, we temporarily own something. Even during the period that we temporarily own something, we do not really own it. We can lose a possession at any time due to a variety of causes. If all the above mentioned concepts of proprietorship are wrong, then what is the right concept of proprietorship?

Before we answer the question, first let us consider the following. If all the above concepts of proprietorship are wrong, then we must be in a state of delusion if we believe we are the proprietor. I might accept rather easily that I am not the proprietor of the state of Colorado. But, I am hard pressed to accept I am not the proprietor of my body or my bank account. The truth is that I am not really the proprietor of my own body because so many functions of the body are taking place that are completely out of my control. I may reside within the body, but it is functioning in mysterious ways that are beyond my comprehension and conscious determination. I don’t control my heartbeat, the blinking of my eyes, my entire digestive system, and so many other vital processes of the body. I don’t control the aging process and ultimately, I don’t control birth, disease and death. Then how can I pretend that I am the owner of the body when I do not really control its vital functions.

Through honest self inspection one can understand that any claim to proprietorship is very temporary and always dependent on some superior authority such as the state or anyone with overpowering force, natural laws, and ultimately God. The person who controls nature and its insurmountable laws is the real proprietor of everything by virtue of his overpowering force. We see this force in hurricanes, tidal waves, earthquakes and any massive display of natural force. The strongest army in the world, the US Armed forces with all its sophisticated weapons could not stop hurricane Katrina from destroying most of a modern American City, New Orleans. Therefore, no one and no nation can claim to be proprietor except the Supreme controller of everything or God Himself.

At the most, our claims to proprietorship are temporary and always dependent on superior authority and ultimately God. If I believe that I am the absolute owner (or enjoyer) and controller, then I am in a state of delusion.

From such a state of delusion, our memory becomes confused. We forget who we are, where we are, what is our purpose in life, what are our limits, what are our duties and responsibilities.

From this confused memory, we lose our intelligence or our power to discriminate right from wrong. Then we fall down into a whirlpool of frenzied activity that is ultimately destructive to ourselves and others.

Unless we learn to see things correctly as owned and controlled by God, we become prone to developing material desires and acting in selfish and self destructive ways. God has made an arrangement by which He has set aside our minimum needs. However, when we take more than what we need, we become victims of our own greed by which others may be denied their minimum needs. We then become subject to the laws of material nature or correction for our greed.

The allurement of the material world is the desire for sense gratification. Such gratification is necessarily selfish, self centered and often passionate. The progression down the path of destructive behavior begins by seeing an object and meditating on it, developing attachment for it. From attachment, lust arises. If the lust is frustrated, there is anger. From anger comes delusion. From delusion comes bewilderment of memory. Then loss of intelligence and finally falling down into irresponsible behavior. This progression can happen very quickly.. It can occur in a few seconds or develop over an extended period of time.

There are many examples that can be given. I want to cite one that is particularly troubling. The following article was written

Friday, 14 December 2007.

“Thought she was not a virgin
Egyptian kills his bride on their wedding night

CAIRO (Moustafa Suleiman, AlArabiya.net)

Egyptian police arrested laborer Ibrahim Ali after he killed his wife on their wedding night. Failing to deflower her, Ali thought his bride was not a virgin and killed her, assuming she had an illicit relationship.

Residents of Al-Quba village in the Delta governorate of Sharqia said they heard the screams of Hoda Salem, 23, the new bride. When they rushed to her rescue, they found her lying on the floor with critical stab wounds.

The bride told them her husband had stabbed her and then run away. The neighbors called the police, and she was transferred to the hospital, where she died.

Police later arrested the groom, who confessed to the crime. He said that after he failed to break her hymen, he thought she was not a virgin.

This is the second crime of its kind within the month. The first incident took place in Giza governorate when a peasant killed his bride for the same reason.

In a previous case, a man killed his wife, only to have the coroner’s report show that she was still a virgin. He is now in jail.

Gynecologist Naglaa Ahmed told AlArabiya.net that she deals with many cases in which the husband cannot break the wife’s hymen on the first night. This, she explained, is due to the physical and psychological stress both go through leading up to the wedding.

Ahmed added that the condition of the hymen could be another reason. In some cases, minor surgery is needed to break the hymen due to its thickness or inelasticity. In rare cases, pregnancy can occur while the hymen is still unbroken, she added.

Virginity is one of the most important conditions for marriage for most Egyptians and is seen as a matter of personal and family honor.”

How can a man murder his newly wedded wife on their wedding night? It seems incomprehensible. Yet, if we understand the progression from incorrect contemplation to loss of intelligence, we can comprehend in a rational way the process by which intelligence can be quickly lost and one resorts to irrational behavior out of frustration and anger.

The purpose of spiritual education is to understand our eternal relation with God. At the same time, we must learn the pitfalls of material life in this world. Spiritual knowledge teaches us to stop the process of incorrect observation that leads to attachment, lust, anger, delusion, confusion of memory and loss of intelligence before we become victimized by such a slippery slope toward irresponsible behavior.

Laborer Ibrahim Ali who, on the spur of the moment had a doubt about the virginity of his new wife and murdered her, could have waited a day or two, made an appointment with a doctor and had her examined to see if his hunch was right or wrong. Better yet, he could have asked her before their marriage to submit herself to a test of virginity. He could have acted with his intelligence in control. However, he lost control of himself and murdered her as an act of unjustified rage.

Another interesting example to study is that of Lord Jesus and the prostitute that was going to be stoned to death.

Jhn 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

Jhn 8:2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

Jhn 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

Jhn 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Jhn 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

Jhn 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with [his] finger wrote on the ground, [as though he heard them not].

Jhn 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Jhn 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

Jhn 8:9 And they which heard [it], being convicted by [their own] conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, [even] unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

Jhn 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

Jhn 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Jhn 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Jesus rightfully says that one must first be free of sin themselves before they attempt to judge another person of sinful behavior.

A recent event illustrates this same point.

“A federal appeals court judge on Friday stepped down from a high-profile obscenity trial in Los Angeles, three days after acknowledging that he had posted sexually explicit material on a publicly accessible personal website.

“In light of the public controversy surrounding my involvement in this case, I have concluded that there is a manifest necessity to declare a mistrial,” wrote Alex Kozinski, chief judge for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. “I will recuse myself from further participation in the case and will ask the chief judge of the district court to reassign it to another judge.”

* Trial will see hours of hard-core fetish pornography

* Alex Kozinski: A respected, colorful, sometimes controversial jurist
* Kozinski in 2003: On Jurist’s Case Over His Ties to a Killer

On Wednesday, Kozinski suspended the trial of Hollywood filmmaker Ira Isaacs to allow the prosecutor to explore what he saw as “a potential conflict of interest concerning the court having a . . . sexually explicit website with similar material to what is on trial here.”

The words of Jesus were so powerful that they were able to stop the scribes and Pharisees from stoning to death the prostitute. Also the Pharisees wanted to trap Jesus by forcing him to say something against the ancient Jewish law. Jesus, however, was able to make such a cogent statement that his detractors became introspective about their own qualification to exact justice. This is an example of spiritual education which makes a person introspective about controlling their passions and building up their discriminative powers (intelligence) to stop themselves from falling victim of the lower forces of material nature: improper observation, attachment, lust, anger, delusion, confusion of memory and loss of intelligence.

Similarly, the case of Judge Kozinski is example of a person who sits in judgment of the “sins” or illegal activities of another person while the Judge has the same weakness or “sinful tendency” as the man being judged. The Judge did not voluntarily recuse himself when he was appointed to the case. He was ratted out by the defendant’s attorney who found out that the Judge had posted sexually explicit material on his own web page. Then it became apparent that Judge Kozinski was not qualified to sit in judgment in such a case.

The important issue is whether a person has control of their senses and mind. There are four activities that render mind and sense control almost impossible. They are: gambling and philosophical speculation, meat eating, intoxication and illicit sex. These four material activities undermine truthfulness (gambling and speculation), austerity and humility (meat eating), mercifulness (intoxication) and cleanliness (illicit sex). These four principles are the universal principals of spirituality. Undermining these principles by the four material activities of gambling, meat eating, intoxication and illicit sex, a person becomes very prone to being a victim of the slippery slope of imperfect observation to loss of intelligence and destructive behavior. When a person can regulate material activities based on the universal spiritual principles, they become capable of self control. The intelligence exercises its discriminative powers and can project into the future to see the consequences of rash behavior. It acts to avoid the senseless dive into the abyss self destructive behavior and causing harm to others.

There is an example of a man who is dreaming while asleep. He cries, “Tiger, tiger…It is eating me!” Another person who is awake witnesses the sleeping man’s emotional cries. He smiles and wonders “Where is the tiger?” Yet, the dreaming man is crying and moaning, “Tiger, tiger, tiger.” One does not have to be in a state of dreaming to be in illusion. An illusion is accepting something for what it is not due to either imperfect hearing or seeing. If we see water in the desert or mistake a rope for a snake, we may accept that the reflection of the sun on the hot sand is actually water when it is not or the rope is actually a snake when it is not. These are examples of illusions. When we believe that the illusions are really factual, we are in a state of delusion.

Sometimes politicians claim, “This is my land. This is my country.” Another group of politicians claim the same land and say, “This is my land, my country.” The two sides begin to fight and kill each other. Both sides are in a state of delusion. The land does not belong to either side. It belongs to God. But they are claiming my land, my country. But how long will they live to enjoy their land and country? It is an illusion to accept God’s property as one’s own property.

Without understanding our real position, we remain perplexed in the midst of the problems of this world which are all caused by false claims. The root cause of the illusion is the material conception of “I” and “Mine” or the false idea that I am the controller and enjoyer,

Once a king was about to die. He ordered that a coffin be made with two holes. When asked why he said, “I am a most powerful king with untold wealth. But when I die, I want the people to see my hands protruding from the coffin. I want them to see that I left this world empty handed even though I was so wealthy and powerful.” “Dust thou art and dust thou shalt become,” is the Biblical saying. It rings true. Any claim to proprietorship (even of our own body) is a false claim. The only true proprietor is God. If we learn to use everything in the service of God, then we can escape from the chains of illusion and self destructive behavior. Most disputes and wars in this world are based on territorial claims. Individually we attempt to be the controller and enjoyer. This attempt is spread to an entire society or nation. Then one nation desires to control and enjoy another nation. All wars are fought for sense gratification. One nation wants to enjoy their senses in one way and another nation in another way and they fight for domination for their own brand of sense gratification. It is all false and illusory.

Another interesting example is a story about Hazrat Ali, the famous Muslim prophet who is the saint of the Shia Muslims. Hazrat Ali was fighting in a “holy war.” He knocked down an opposing soldier and was about to kill him with his sword. The soldier spit in Hazrat Ali’s face. The saint put down his sword. The soldier was shocked. He said, “Why don’t you kill me?” Hazrat Ali said, “Before you spit in my face I was going to kill you on behalf of Allah as a righteous act. But when you spit in my face, I became angry at you. I cannot kill you in a state of personal anger based on my own emotional state. Therefore, I have put down my sword.” The soldier was so impressed by the motives of Hazrat Ali that he converted to Islam and became a sincere follower. There is a difference between acting on one’s own personal motives and acting as a servant of God without any personal attachment or self interest. One is saved from the entanglement of reactive work by acting only on the order of God without any personal motive. This story illustrates how important the motive of the action is.

During a war, a soldier kills an enemy fighter according to the rules of engagement. He is not considered a murderer although he kills. But, after the war, if the same man kills someone of his own accord, he will be prosecuted as a criminal. By acting under the orders of superior authority and following the rules of engagement, one is not responsible for the acts. Acting on one’s own selfish desires, one becomes responsible.

There is another example of delusional acts under the influence of extreme anger.

By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 25, 7:07 PM ET

HENDERSON, Ky. - ” A 25-year-old press operator shot and killed five co-workers and himself at a plastics plant in rural western Kentucky just hours after arguing with his supervisor about not wearing safety goggles and using his cell phone while on the assembly line, police said Wednesday.

Authorities said Wesley N. Higdon of Henderson was so riled by the argument with his supervisor that he called his girlfriend and told her that he wanted to kill his boss. The girlfriend didn’t warn anyone, police said, and just two hours later, Higdon argued with another co-worker then shot and killed his supervisor as they walked outside. Then, he returned and shot at co-workers in a break room and on the plant floor.

A man who called 911 frantically described the violent scene to a dispatcher, tallying up the number of dead around him.

“There’s more than two people dead. There’s like one, two, three, four, five people dead,” the man said. “The supervisor is dead, too.”

Authorities said Higdon was known to keep a .45-caliber pistol in his car, which is not illegal in Kentucky.

The first shooting took place as the supervisor was escorting him from the building. Other co-workers were shot in the break room and on the plant floor. One worker was injured and was being treated in the critical care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital and Medical Center in Evansville, Ind.

“He just walked in, looked like he meant business and started shooting at everybody,” Henderson Police Sgt. John Nevels said at a news conference.”

The need for real education is absolutely necessary to help people control their senses and mind and refrain from rash, passionate acts of senseless violence.The first symptom of an educated and civilized person is that they always consider carefully the outcome and collateral effects of an act before they act.One cannot do this unless they accept that there is a higher authority than oneself. Respect and love for the higher authority, who is ultimately God, is the beginning of self control and self discipline.

Unless one sincerely understands the spiritual truth of our eternal relationship with God, we can never become free from the material influence which leads us on like a blind man into a ditch of confused, desperate acts. In truth, material sense enjoyment pales in comparison to the higher taste of spiritual enjoyment in the association of God. Tasting such spiritual pleasure in the presence of God is the beginning of freedom from material conditioning.