Worldly Wise

Recently in one conversation a person told me “I am very much a worldly person. I like to enjoy world and am not a saint type”. I wonder whether saints, wise are not worldly people or even wonder can there be more worldly people than wise ones. Generally it is believed that normal people have lot of emotional jerks going throughout the day and that gives life to their life. The belief is that one should have some excitement, some masala to keep the life away from boredom. One is never content from one form of excitement. So people keep on moving from one form of entertainment to another in the hope to reach happiness. They may get addicted to things, dreams, people due to this. But without such addictions life seems impossibility.

To such a person the life of a wise one would look a contrasting, dull existence. No addictions. It looks as if there is no after-routine entertaining life for a wise. It’s all the same life; whether routine or no routine. Spice less, spineless existence!Actually the life of a so-called worldly person is the reverse: un-worldly, very much insensitive to unraveling of life every moment. It is not possible to be in such a state which is disconnected from life for long and hence one hankers after pleasures at times, that is, one is trying to experience life selectively and in the very process gets away from life, becomes addictive to selective sense pleasures.

What is generally abhorred in spirituality as sense pleasures is basically being selectively sense-full or sensitive to creation for some moments and remaining senseless to the same creation happening every moment. To be sense-addicted is the effect, the cause being senselessness, insensitivity. If we identify sense-addiction as the real problem then becoming insensitive would be seen as solution, and many have taken that route. So such a person is trying to get rid of effect by trying to strengthen the cause!! Seeing only the effect is seeing only the surface level things and the solution would also be surface level leading one and all to believe that such a person is leading a spiritual life whereas inwardly and in reality such a person may be devastating oneself and all.

Obviously the real solution is to be sensitive to every moment without relying on pleasurable objects, situations or people. That gets rid of selectivity in remaining sensitive. If one starts leading such a life then an amazing realization comes which shows that one cannot just remain sensitive to things happening to one-self. Because that would also be selective. To be selective is to be a limited entity, to be selective is really still to be insensitive. Selectivity is anti-sensitivity, anti-world, anti-wise. To be really sensitive one just expands one-self beyond one-self to world-self; becomes truly worldly – a wise, worldly; a worldly wise one.

Kid Shyama’s mother enrolled her dear daughter to a private school and gave a set of dearly instructions;
“My daughter is very sensitive. Do not ever punish her for anything or else she would make a mess after coming home. So just slap the kid next to her. That would be enough to frighten Shyama.”

Selective sensitivity is like that, not being sensitive at all.

To feel the world, by being the world.

So who is worldly: a wise or an unwise?