Tag: behavior

Perhaps the most effective aspect of Eastern tradition, centered on training individuals through a unique relationship between master and disciple, is the crystal-clear notion that takes root in the disciple’s mind, who, aware of the extent of his dependence on the master’s example, grasps the importance of being exemplary. This leads only to positive effects, and the habit is cultivated based on the certainty that only action is edifying. The disciple, imitating the master, becomes a master; he begins to teach as he has learned, and never loses the gratitude that manifests itself in the feeling that, in truth, he has done nothing but receive.

Merely living in different environments can produce men with such different experiences that, if they try, they will realize that it is not possible to establish mutual communication. None of them will be able to correctly grasp the meaning of what the other says, and will end up judging it as inappropriate before suspecting that the problem may lie in their own understanding. Reality, identical for all, has aspects revealed only to some. And if, not of free will, but out of some unforeseen and uncontrollable necessity that prevents deviation and demands confrontation, some of those aspects end up being revealed, the man who has to confront them will know from experience that they are real, and his personality may be transformed forever; but even so, he may never be able to put into words and convince another man of what he has experienced.

It is a rather beneficial habit to, routinely, after completing a task, or rather, after reaching the previously set daily goal, not interrupt the activity and allow oneself to go a little further. The most obvious result is a small gain in productivity. But psychologically, this habit produces something better. With the goal achieved, one experiences that good feeling of accomplishment; however, if the activity does not end there, one remembers that the goal only exists in relation to a larger objective. Getting closer to it, even if only a little more, increases the satisfaction experienced and educates the mind, which, by getting rid of a possible excuse, gets used to always doing as much as it can to get where it wants to be.

It is curious that some initiation rituals, especially Eastern ones, represent the death and dissolution of the past, in order to then formalize the transformation of the initiate into a new being. On the one hand, one might question whether something like this is really possible. On the other hand, it is clear that not only is it possible, but in most cases, the ritual does nothing more than formalize something that has already happened. Largely due to 20th-century psychology, childhood is often given exaggerated and undue importance. In truth, it is not uncommon for adults to be unable to remember their childhood, except for a few isolated, vague, and irrelevant moments. For others, childhood means little—despite what some one-note psychologists might say—and represents nothing more than a strange period, with rememberable experiences, but with which they cannot establish identification. There is, however, a day when something happens, an unforgettable day, after which one is no longer the same: sometimes, it is from that day on that one truly begins to live.