The Jack in the Box is ME?

This practice is tough. It's tough because most of us are convinced there is a Jack-in-the-Box. It may not be called Jack, it might be better to say we call it "ME." We all think there is a ME in the box. We've been told there is over and over again and are convinced ME is a solid citizen. In fact, we will often pretend ME is solid and good and worthy. It's what we as humans do. And so we often are unable to see anything else.

When we feel certain feelings we are certain that the feeling is based on the external experience. And the feelings might be high or low, it doesn't matter. We think the feelings are somehow tied to someone else or something else other than the Delusional Jack.

Have you ever had the experience of being with someone and feeling anxious or upset after being with this person. Or watching a movie that triggered fear or hate or agitation. Or discovered your friend lied to you and you now feel terrible? Or finding out someone you thought you could trust betrayed you?

The list of experiences is endless.

We continuously experience both afflicted emotions and non-afflicted emotions. But what happens to us in most circumstances is to BLAME the trigger of the emotion. We think the someone, the friend, the situation is to BLAME for what we feel. See for yourself.

The next time, probably sometime to day, you'll encounter a painful and bitter feeling. Notice what you do. You may plan NEVER to do that again, or you put together escape plans to get away from the person you feel is responsible for the situation. You become certain the nasty feeling won't happen again as long as you NEVER encounter that someone or situation again.

All of the blame and recrimination or schemes to escape the afflictive emotion by killing off the trigger, or getting away from the trigger is not the practice. The practice is to pull the fool, called Jack otherwise known as ME, out of the box.

We begin to pull ME out through observing and disciplining our emotional opinions.
Jack in the Box