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SUTRAS
ATTRACTION TO KARMA
59
channels of communication. Basic doubt that manifests in form of a negative attitude towards the integrity of the omniscient, their knowledge etc., blocks our access to deeper levels of understanding, where all our questions are answered intuitively and comprehensively. Our own negative attitude obstructs the very mechanism of gaining this flawless intuitive insight.23
Skepticism towards flawed or incorrectly communicated knowledge certainly will always be necessary. Yet this has nothing to do with the manifestation of distrust in the omniscient and their teachings etc. mentioned in the sutra.
There should also be no doubt that serious questions regarding this knowledge need to be explored and answered. We will reach ultimate freedom only when all doubts and uncertainties are successfully removed. Belief in any kind of dogma is neither precondition, nor desired, nor even supportive. Yet if our questions and doubts surface with a negative emotional attitude towards knowledge etc., then this negativity will fall back on us by blocking our very own mechanisms of understanding. The karma we attract this way only expresses our inner rejection of this knowledge.
23 We should be cautious to conclude from our first emotional reaction to
unfamiliar and possibly uncomfortable information that the error is caused by the knowledge and not by our own limited readiness to understand. The trait of Western science to constantly invalidate discoveries deemed unshakable, has caused a widespread readiness to distrust and question everything new. While this attitude might be quite useful towards the fleeting nature of Western knowledge, it rather obstructs our attempt to understand the initially complex and unfamiliar mechanisms of the path to freedom from karmic limits.
True - i.e. integrated, intuitively applicable - knowledge always originates in the context of dynamic insight, where our mind suddenly reaches new levels of understanding. Constant questioning of the insights gained this way interrupts this process or slows it down. A positive or neutral attitude towards this mechanism supports the unfolding of more comprehensive understanding within us. We need this increasing comprehension to find our way to ultimate freedom in the clutter of activities of daily life.
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