Sadhguru on How the Whole Of Human Experience Is Self-Created (and How To Take Better Control of Your Experience) [Excerpt]

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Excerpt: The following is an excerpt from Inner Engineering by Sadhguru that discusses how the whole of human experience (our experience) is self-created.

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The following is an excerpt from Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide To Joy by Sadhguru. In typical Sadhguru fashion, the excerpt opens with a comical short story about a bull and a pheasant that then lays the foundation for a discussion on how the whole of human experience is self-created.

The idea is that while our external situation may influence our internal situation, it by no means is the end-all be-all. We are the controllers. Not the weather. Not the stock market. And not the bullsh*t that fills our everyday life. It is our perceptions and our ways of interpreting the external events that happen to us that determines our internal experience.

Once we can free ourselves of these external dependencies, we can free ourselves to create the internal experience(s) that we so desire. But, first, we have to remember how the process of human experience works and then learn how we can improve our role in processing those experiences for a better life. And now, over to Sadhguru to make the case. Enjoy!

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On a certain day, a bull and a pheasant were grazing on a field. The bull was grazing and the pheasant was picking ticks off the bull—a perfect partnership. Looking at the huge tree at the edge of the field, the pheasant said, “Alas, there was a time I could fly to the topmost branch of the tree. Now I do not have enough strength in my wing to even get to the first branch.”

The bull said nonchalantly, “Just eat a little bit of my dung every day, and watch what happens. Within two weeks, you’ll get to the top.”

The pheasant said, “Oh come on, that’s rubbish. What kind of nonsense is that?”

The bull said, “Try it and see. The whole of humanity is onto it.”

Very hesitantly, the pheasant started pecking. And lo, on the very first day, he reached the first branch. Within a fortnight, he had reached the topmost branch. He sat there, just beginning to enjoy the scenery.

The old farmer, rocking on his rocking chair, saw a fat old pheasant on top of the tree. He pulled out his shotgun and shot the bird off the tree.

Moral of the story: bullsh*t may get you to the top, but it never lets you stay there!

So, you can bullsh*t yourself into all kinds of emotional states, you can somehow crank up some well-being for yourself, but the problem is, it doesn’t last. The weather could bring it down. The stock market could make it come crashing down. And even if it does not collapse, living in anticipation that it might is bad enough! The impeding possibility that it will fall apart one day is torture—often worse than the actual disaster. So, as long as your inner life is enslaved to external situations, it will remain a precarious condition. There is no other way for it to be.

What then is the way out?

The way out is a very simple change in direction. You just need to see that the source and basis of your experience is within you. Human experience may be stimulated or catalyzed by external situations, but the soure is within. Pain or pleasure, joy or misery, agony or ecstasy, happens only inside you. Human folly is that people are always trying to extract joy from the outside. You may use the outside as a stimulus or trigger, but the real thing always comes from within.

Right now, you are holding a book. Where do you see the book? Use your finger and point to where you see it. Do you think the image is outside you?

Think again.

You remember how it works? The light is falling upon the book, reflecting, going into the lens of your eyes, and projected as an inverted image on your retina—you know the whole story. So, you are actually seeing the book within yourself.

Where do you see the whole world?

Again, within yourself.

Everything that ever happened to you, you experienced right within you. Light and darkness, pain and pleasure, agony and ecstasy—all of it happened within you. If someone touches your hand right now, you may think you are experiencing their hand, but the fact of the matter is you are only experiencing the sensations in your own hand. The whole experience is contained within. All human experience is one hundred percent self-created.

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The above excerpt can be found on pages 30-32 of Sadhguru’s book. If you enjoyed this piece then you should consider reading Inner Engineering in full. It comes highly recommended.

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