..續本文上一頁s going to be all right. There”s going to be plenty of everything - warmth, food and comfort - forever more.”

　　If you practise meditation and develop insight into the Dhamma, you can investigate to see the real problem. Is there any real separation, or is it merely an appearance of separation, brought about by attachment (through desire) to the five khandhas*

　　*five khandhas: the five components or "heaps of human psycho-physical existence, i.e. form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness.

　　Consciousness implies desire, because as a result of consciousness there”s feeling. There are feelings of attraction, repulsion or neutrality and we tend - until there is enlightenment - to react to feeling with desire. We incline towards beautiful, pleasurable things. We try to get rid of, to run away from, ugly or painful things. And the whole range of neutrality is usually unnoticed - unless you write poetry or do something to be more mindful. Usually we”re caught in the more extreme reactions to the attractiveness and repulsiveness of sense experience.

　　There is culture, refinement and beauty in the sensory realm, and we can appreciate celestial and ethereal planes of mental creativity. However, it is the lower elements which tend to be the easiest things to absorb into: violence, sex, survival, which are the instinctual functions of the animal world. If you want to turn on masses of people, you have to appeal to that level. We must learn how to touch the earth and accept instinctual nature, the four elements and planetary life as it is. Meditation isn”t an escape from the instinctual world, but an opening up to it; it”s a way of understanding the world, apart from the reactions of indulgence or suppression.

　　We are not trying to deny the animal functions or instincts - or reject them, suppress them - or identify with them as ”me” or ”mine”. But we can reflect, we can note, we can accept them for exactly what they are, rather than for what we believe them to be. Then we can appreciate the intelligence and creativity of a human mind too, without becoming attached to it.

　　This attachment (upadana} is really the crux of the matter. Identification is attachment: ”I am this person, this personality.... I am this body, this is "me". ... I am this way. ... I should be ... I shouldn”t be. . . .” And because of "I am” and ”me”, there”s ”you” - because on this level of consciousness there is separation. We are separate, aren”t we

　　 I”m here, and you”re there.

　　If we understand this separation to be simply a conventional reality, there is no attachment. We are merely using it for communication and for practical reasons. But for most people that separation is the real world: "Look after yourself. You have to look after yourself first.” ”I have to protect myself. I only have one life, and I”ve got to see that I can get everything I can out of it.” Parents say, ”Now, Sonny-boy, you”ve got to be careful, you are not getting any younger. You”ve got to make sure that you have your pay cheque and your social security, your insurance, your hospital and medical insurance.” People think, ”When I get old, I don”t want to be a burden.” The elderly can be perceived as burdensome and they see themselves as burdensome, because of identification with the age of the body.

　　Contemplating this, we can observe all that we create out of these illusions: ”I don”t wane to be a burden. ... 1 should, I shouldn”t. ... I would like to be ... You should be, you shouldn”t be ... You ought, you ought not to . . .” and on and on in this fashion. Views, opinions, identifications, preferences, attachments of all kinds - this is what we call ”the real world”, this is what we believe in as reality.

　　If you pick up a London newspaper you”ll find all about "the real w…

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