Now, it is true that certain humans, here and there throughout history, have claimed that people should "control themselves" (usually under the threat of great bodily harm, and other penalties), but those supposedly "in control" (slave masters of all kinds: kings, rulers, overlords, priests, parents, bullies, brutes, etc.) couldn't do it on their own, so why should anybody else do it? It is possible to hold one's tongue in the face of a brutish insult - especially if the brute is bigger and badder than you - but it is less possible when there is no fear of reprisal, and therein lies the rub in all this. One can not hold one's tongue if one can not hold one's thoughts, feelings and sensations, FIRST, and - in general - nobody can do that. (Nobody is supposed to do that! Nobody was made to do that!) Thoughts, feelings and sensations operate MUCH FASTER than ordinary attention and awareness, even though that condition can be reversed.
Some claim that self-control is the way to "enlightenment" and other supposed rewards, but those rewards simply can NOT be quantified - not by anyone alive or dead. They are just claims. Someone who says they have "achieved" some reward can't prove it to anyone, so it must remain an empty claim, an empty reward. This is not surprising considering the very low level of humankind on this planet today, even after tens of thousands of years experimenting with the Gift of Life afforded one an all. People have been asserting such claims for tens of centuries, yet all you have to do is look around at every person you know, or know about, and you will quickly see they have not achieved anything. Riches, perhaps. Possessions, perhaps. But, "higher being", "eternal life", "cosmic consciousness?" Now... look at yourself, honestly, sincerely, and seriously - which means, without giving yourself a pass. Done correctly, and often, this can "wake one up" just a little bit, and is the beginning of reversing that condition mentioned above.
Some claim that self-remembering, or chanting, or meditating, or dancing, or taking psychedelics on a regular basis, or many other things, is the way to "enlightenment" and those other great rewards, but even those who claim they do one or more of these things, and do them always and everywhere, are just telling stories to a gullible audience who wants to be fooled. Humanity, in general, is that gullible audience who only wants to be fooled and/or entertained, and/or misdirected, RATHER THAN setting sail on a course which can actually lead to the Path that cleanses the Doors of Perception and results in a simple and certain Clarity of Mind, Heart, Being, Body, and Consciousness.
All of this is a personal excursion, invented by oneself, for one's own private purposes, and as usual it is much better left unspoken about to others, including oneself. But, because we ARE as we were made to be, thinking and talking and writing - attempting to communicate to ourselves and others precisely what we know and have learned while alive - has become the most important activity in our lives. So, my advice to myself alone is this: think more than you have to about everything, but notice the PROCESS - the interaction of the forces and energies involved - which is behind the impulse to ACT and the apparent results that ensue.
A close friend once said: "Remember, in all of this, it's not the contents of the mind - what people think, believe, talk about and write about - that needs to be questioned, per se; it's the mind that is doing all the questioning. Put in a slightly different way: investigate the box, nothing but the box once a quick study of the objects is effected and out of the way. Unless one understands the nature of the box, they understand nothing."
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