The Lotus Flower: A Symbol of Purity and Knowledge : หน้า 9/47

THE LOTUS FLOWER Held in high regard and respect for millennia by many differing cultures and segments of seeking humanity, the lotus flower is a symbol of purity and illumination rising from the muddy depths of human sufferings and ignorance. Its serene beauty epitomizes the desire within the human spirit to awaken and nurture unseen/elicited elements of the mind to uncover the ever-present destructive defilements that seek to cloud our vision and perception of the realities of life and existence. INTRODUCTION It’s never too late to learn,” so the saying goes. Every person on earth spends a lifetime learning new things. As technology has evolved, it seems that knowledge can be acquired easily with just one simple click of a computer mouse or touch of a screen. We can access every kind of knowledge or information from every corner of the world. Nonetheless, the most basic fundamental questions about our very existence have not yet been answered. People continue to search for the absolute truth or knowledge that stems from the beginning of time until today. The reasons for our human condition are hard to comprehend or we’re not knowing when we are born. We are born with complete ignorance of our needs or the efforts we have to make to survive. We don’t even know we have to breathe until our senses are physically shocked and we cry as if our life depends on it, which it does. We don’t even know how, nor have the ability, to survive without outside assistance. Humans are driven by their ignorance to want to discover the truth — the what, the why and the how. Ignorance is the source of every cause of suffering in this life. As our awareness and knowledge is acquired, we become alert to further dangers that have to be faced and develop more fears and insecurities. We become fearful of things we don’t understand or know, such as when we walk into a completely dark room or place, we are afraid of what we cannot see or know of what may be lurking, hidden in the darkness and shadows of our ignorance. Fear of uncertainty, fear of how we are going to survive from day to day, fear of death and, ultimately, as the concept of self is realized, the fear of not knowing what happens to us after our death; these are some of the reasons that cause us to live in a constant state of suffering. To alleviate suffering, we learn by experience and study to further our knowledge, but even then our fear is not overcome and remains merely subdued, concealed beneath a carpet of denial or illusion until.