Self Image Perception

 

Was hearing Jiddu Krishnamurthi, the great philosopher, about how to protect oneself from ‘hurt’ and how to avoid ‘habit’. In most of his discourses he emphasizes on being attentive. He speaks about image one creates of oneself and anything going ‘against’ or ‘for’ the image leads to those strong feelings. And, attentiveness towards the interaction with external factors- speech, action or environment, can save one from getting affected, leading to eruption of strong feelings within. This is in a nutshell the gist of some of his speeches.

 

To my limited understanding, the three main things he emphasizes on is ‘Consciousness’, ‘Mindfulness’ and ‘Self Image Perception’. First two would come by practice. More than half of life activities, daily chores, are mechanically performed, driven by habit. Can we consciously and mindfully get into these actions. It would need lot of practice but no doubt the quality-of-life changes. Can we imagine ourselves not thinking anything else while brushing our teeth and seeing how our tooth is cleaned? Or realize the water rinsing our skin while taking a bath. Honestly, I had not noticed any of these actions ever. It seems I would never be able to get to act so carefully and consciously. However, a try is worth a life.

 

I reiterate, it is worth a life, because, lack of mindfulness makes us oblivious of ourselves and of our surroundings. They directly and indirectly affect and effect our present, though we foolishly presume it is the past and the future, which ordain our life. Current can be controlled, if we are conscious and mindful, but neither past nor future is controllable. But, how many of us live our present. Again, admitting honestly, I do not, even though sometimes I try to catch up with my present. So, is it not worth experiencing what is happening than what has happened and what will happen?

 

Above all these experiences, what intrigued me most was the actuality of ‘Self Image Perception’. This is amazing. It is ‘us’- to be precise ‘me’ or ‘I’, which is the culprit. ‘I’ interpret everything the way ‘I’ perceive my self-image. No doubt, everyone has to have their image, but how conscious we are to the factors that we presume to be bruising or massaging our image is important. Mindfulness towards these factors can prevent ‘I’s image from getting affected and thus save from outburst of strong feeling, which necessarily may not be real to the intention. This would bring peace and harmony around. 

 

Sri Ramana Maharashi, a great saint, in his book ‘Who am I’ has vividly defined the role of ‘I’. The perception of ‘I’ is so strong in everyone that it dictates our action. The false identification of self can be done away with, and that requires practice. The saint puts it so well, “When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realization of the Self which is the seer” and he says, “When the mind, which is the cause of all cognition and of all actions, becomes quiescent, the world will disappear”.

Certainly that is quite saintly, and we the worldly animals can only strive to achieve that goal. But even few steps in that direction would bring lot of peace and harmony in oneself and surroundings. Let us revisit our ‘Self-image perception’ and control from getting affected by the world.