From the book of proverb.
Well, the gullible in the book of proverb. Is not just a stupid person, here he is presented as a person who is easy to be tempted there is a connection here between stupidity and surrender to temptation. A ‘fool’ is one who is tempted, one who is willing to abandon principles and essence for pleasure.
And now, to expand on the idea:
When you want to make a person deviate from his principles, you put him on bait and then he is captured. That is, stupidity is like a trap, and wisdom is freedom. To stay free – one must give up surrendering to the temptation.
And fools are the ones who are left behind, fallen into the trap of temptation. They did not remember the goal and did not draw strength from it – the power to say to the temptation “No!” The fool is not focused on the goal before him, he is looking for pleasures that are on the sides of the road. He looked for the possibility of licking drops of honey. Then, finding them, he gets lost in them and forgets what is in front of him. The magic of pleasure is like a dream you do not want to awaken from to the harsh reality.
To be tempted is to fall deeper into sleep. Sleep is like being immersed in watching TV. When the programs projected there are like dreams; The more stimulating and fascinating the program, the harder it is to abandon it and return to reality. The sweeter the temptation, the harder it is to abandon it and come back to life.
The wise man is awake and he remains so in his ability to refuse the pleasures of temptation. This is because he knows the price he will have to pay for it. Price of giving up knowing what is really going on.
The lures are always directed to the instinct, to the lower emotions: to desire, to sex. Wisdom, on the other hand, is related to consciousness and the mind. The lures lower man through the tunnels of pleasure, into the basement of his being. The sage knows how to say no. And also knows why to say no. The lure does not grasp the magnitude of the price he will pay for the deviation for the sake of temptation.
Which one is smart? The one who was not tempted by the oils of this land. For onions and garlic. To the backs and winks of passers-by. The one who can seal his heart to the entreaties of all levels of desire and instinct and cling to some goal. He values his life and love ones and therefore fears the loss of value by succumbing to temptation.
The lure does not appreciate his way and does not go down to the end of the meaning of his life, and therefore is not afraid of what will happen to him if he deviates here and there in favor of a little pleasure and a drop of pleasure.
A review of the forces that drive the human race throughout history – reveals that disintegration of achievements, or inability to remain at some peak, has often occurred due to submission to some temptation. It could be a ruler of a kingdom, (or just a man in a position of power), who has lost everything and brought his kingdom (his life) towards at a depreciation, due to submission to temptation.
The temptation is first and foremost directed at those who have something the seducer wants to achieve. And it’s meant to squeeze something out of him. And the seducer achieves this by promising pleasure. And when her seduction is seduced, he gives the seduction what he wants in exchange for the atonement of pleasure.
The problem with the pleasure and enjoyment is that as soon as you drip a drop, thousands of lust-thirsty demons immediately wake up, screaming that they too want, just another drop. Then it’s hard to disconnect. Seduction has an addictive power. The sage refuses to be tempted because he is aware of gliding down the slope of desire, which submission to the present temptation will follow. * His purpose in life is to transform the pleasure and delight into fulfillment and meaning *.
Desire, instinct, senses and sex – are lust for pleasure. Whereas consciousness and mind -are thirsty for meaning, insight and fulfillment. The work of the sage is to accustom his system to work on the satisfaction that comes as a result of self-fulfillment and the gathering of meaning and insight, and not on jumping from one peak of pleasure to another.
In fact, every person has two systems – a high system and a low system. The low system is the system of instinct, desire and sex. The higher system is the system of consciousness. The high system is in the head and neck (intuition and consciousness). The lower system is in the abdomen and lower parts, (lusts, passions and sexuality).
In any given situation, one of the systems sets the tone. In each situation one system is paralyzed and the other is active. When the low is busy surrendering to temptation, the high system is blurred and out of focus. And when the system of insight, meaning and wisdom awakens, the system of desire and instinct enters into relaxation and peace of home.
The most common and available example is food. You can eat wisely and allow food that is moderately stimulating (the high system), or you can be a victim of the next peanut and the next chocolate bar – then the low system rules.
You can eat from the mind or from the stomach.
Who is the food? The one in the head or the one in the stomach? Where does hunger come from? The sage understands that the matter of food is but a metaphor for a much more complex and inclusive situation: his life. Food is but a parable of the power relations between a one governor and a another. Between the power of temptation and the power of consciousness. It’s easier to live from temptation to temptation, than to say ‘no’ to it. But when a person says “no” to temptation, the space of his life is evacuated in favor of self-fulfillment, wisdom of life and meaning, which are the high and sublime outputs of human life.
And yet, in spite of all this, the true sage never condemns himself utterly abstinence from temptation. He allows it sparingly, up to a certain limit. This is much more difficult than a total ban on surrendering to temptation, because here you have to constantly be on guard, be vigilant and constantly on check: how much to allow, when to allow, etc. This is in contrast to a total ban or absolute permission, in which case consciousness and wakefulness can go to sleep.
The sage should be awake, in order to make constant control of equilibria and balances. He must be in the middle, knowing that all extremism is catastrophic for him. On the one hand, complete abstinence from temptation will make his system dry, lacking in moisture and vitality. And on the other hand, submission to temptation will make him seductive and expelled from the higher and more significant level of his life. As an awake and conscious person, he should control the level of freedom he allows the demons of sex and desire. He should know how to set boundaries. Give them limited freedom. And restrain them when they want to break through the boundaries.
This is much harder than banning completely, and being a tyrant about the lower parts of his life. It is harder to be an enlightened ruler; constantly being with a finger on the pulse and knowing when the ban is suppressing the life of emotion, desier and sex. And when their allowing is becomes an addiction.
Quotes about Stupidity:
Gabriel