Beware! People who like to label others as crazy are craziest

This morning while having breakfast in the village kopitiam. I overheard a group of Singaporean businessmen and their wives talking about Famous Amos. One of them referred to him as the psycho boy and soon the rest used this term to describe him as well.

Shortly thereafter one of them turned to me and asked, ‘what do you think of that crazy boy?’

My first reaction was not to offer a comment. After all, it seems they have already made up their mind. So I know only to well how this conversation will unfurl. Nonetheless I asked them, ‘how do you know he is crazy?’ Some of them replied enthusiastically, ‘THEY say he is crazy!’

Only for me to ask further, ‘and who might THEY be?’

I went on to ask of this fellow, ‘Have any of you read this boy’s material to draw the firm conclusion he is actually crazy?’ I then turned my attention to the womenfolk removed my sunglasses and asked further in a slow drawn out tone, ‘Tell me, if this boy is your own flesh and blood. How would you feel as a mother, if THEY or other lazy people who don’t even bother with the urgent business of understanding him first casually labels your son as crazy? How would you feel as a parent if your son who is the apple of your eye has to go thru the rest of life with that sticker pasted on his back?’

They looked at each other in embarrassment and soon silence swept thru them as they all fell into deep reflection.

That was when I realized, I don’t want to be part of this…I have the power to say, No!

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‘Beware of the power of words and how they can influence your thinking. As some words have the power to detour your mind like a road block and direct it elsewhere. Other words are like elephant guns, they will stop you dead on your tracks. Bang! And it’s all cut and dried. Then there are some words that will only mislead and lead you into darkness. As there also exist plenty of other words that provoke a nervous, anxious, fearful state etc etc etc. The list goes on and on.

If you want proof! All you have to do is observe very quietly whenever your colleagues speak about people, events and circumstances….listen carefully….listen deeply ….do not be part of…..only observe like a silent witness and very soon you will catch these mind killing words.

Why do these mind killing words have power? Where do they come from?

In truth they are essentially a bi- product of scripting and rote learning. We may not even be conscious of how our mind can often lead us to chase our own tail. As so much of it resides in the darkened corridors of our subconscious and childhood. But what is important to understand is, it has been put there by others and they have become encrusted into our thinking.

That is why it is so important to practice being a silent witness of the mind.

And never to close the mind by invoking mind killing words like, ‘he is crazy…..I don’t understand him…..he is always like that…he is so different from us…..he is a non believer….he has a criminal record….he has a mistress…..he is a drunkard….he went to jail…he is unemployed….he is a drug addict….he is a bankrupt….etc etc.’

As once we fall into the trap of forming an opinion or judgement about a person, event or circumstances based on labels and very little else, that is the end point when our mind ceases to think beyond what is before us.

That is the point when we cease completely to be imaginative, intelligent and curious. And sadly that is also the point when we will end up following the mindless mob unthinkingly, just like zombies.

When you understand this is the nature of the scripted mind and how it is an indelible part of you. Then you will always be mindful of how your thought processes will always take the path of least mental resistance. It will always be lazy and try to seek out the simplest explanation even if it involves assassinating the truth.

If we are not mindful of how our mind can so often turn against us without us even realizing it. We will only be the cause of misery to ourselves and others.

I once knew a planter who only listened to his wife. If his wife says, ‘this is a good person’ he would mix and do business with him. If his wife says, that is a bad man, he would avoid him like a plague. Eventually this man ended up a bankrupt! He frittered away his largesse on a series of bad business decisions all BECAUSE he did not gainfully use his mind to seek out the truth along with the many opportunities that came his way, but instead choose to suspend belief by leaving it all to his judgmental wife who used mind killing words to control her husband.

That is an example of how devastating mind killing words can be when they feature as a large part of our beliefs – they can often be responsible for mistrust, broken fellowships, family disputes and in certain cases even outright murder!

That is why the superior mind is always mindful of this failing common to EVERY mind…even the best minds are built with this mechanism of self destruction – that is why one should always adopt a silent witness attitude rather than to judge hastily.

Let the facts unfurl like a unfolding flower….there is no rush to find out the truth…let it all reveal itself in good time.

As when we are easily influenced by mind killing words without being conscious of how our scripted mind works against our better judgement all the time – then all we will doing is searching for the right facts to flesh out our already decided and dead mind. All we will be limited to doing is listening to confirm our already decided mind. Label a man. He is ungrateful! And don’t be surprised if the facts can very easily be found to fit that label to manufacture your reality. He is violent! Again. No trouble whatsoever to find the facts, no matter how spurious they are, even rumors will suffice to build up that picture we already have in our head. He is crazy! No problem again, even a square peg can be whittled down to fit a round hole! No need to ask further. Case closed. Finished!

Do you see how our mind can conspire against us without us even realizing it?

I have witnessed this so many times in my life. And it gives me no pleasure to recount how so often people who remain ignorant of this secret are themselves directly responsible for creating the very ideal conditions for grief and suffering to take root in their hearts.

How despite their seeming sheen of righteousness, fairness and reasonableness, they are even able to export their seeds of suffering to influence others to think and behave exactly like themselves simply because they do not realize how certain mind killing words have the power to cloud their judgement…..render them backward…parochial…insular and hateful….hence they go round and round in ever diminishing circles creating ideal conditions for schism…..doubt…..prejudice….resentment to take root in their heart. Till they themselves becoming the very architects of their own fears and anxieties.

For example. I happen to know a plantation lady who suffers from a very strange inexplicable nervous condition that only manifest whenever she sees me.

During her attacks. She will begin to babble non stop, mangle up her words as she fumbles shaking the her cutlery on the table till everyone will begin wondering whether they might me experiencing a supernatural portegeist attack.

On one occasion, to prescribe a cure – her pastor even asked me for permission to place a crucifix on my head. When he noticed no steam was coming out of my ears. He was so disappointed and confused he stormed out confounded as to the cause of this strange malady that he was convinced was none other than the work of the devil. This was the talk of the plantation high society for months.

It was only one evening after a formal dinner when we were alone, when she turned to me and asked me in a genuine tone of concern – what might be the root cause of her nervous condition, that I felt compelled to share with this poor suffering soul – she was thinking about sex…and since she has always been scripted since the moment of her childhood, to believe this is a dirty, filthy and shameful word that deserves guilt, derision and punishment, that is why she is punishing herself subconsciously without even knowing it, by provoking these these nervous attacks with the power of own her mind.

It was only when I revealed to her, my long held suspicion, the mind killing word SEX had short circuited her thought process and that this is not a dirty nor shameful. As how can be when it is the very word that gave her life.

In that moment of profound revelation she was able to seize control of her mind by recruiting her intellect to banish the power of this mind killing word sex….forever.

Poof! It was gone. Just like that. No da Vinci code some more. Thereafter she was cured completely. Today this woman who used to have a nervous creature look about her looks serene, calm and beautiful…..as the mind killing word no longer has a hold over her!

The only reason why I feel the compelling need to share these examples is to illustrate the destructive power of mind killing words that regularly stop us from seeking the truth, thereby opening the doors of hell that can only trap us in the gyre of suffering.’