The 11 Compulsions That Restrain One's Will

[caspex]

This is a follow up on my older post about Plasmism. 

Here's the goal of Plasmism: Mold reality into a version better aligned with our desires.

Because we understand that it is all influences influencing influences, and we also understand that while individual will is illusory we must act as if it is not. 
So the question becomes, how can we use this understanding of the world to solve our problems and create the life we want?
The answer is to first mold ourselves by controlling these influences.

Before we can answer HOW to mold, we must answer WHAT to mold ourselves into and mold ourselves out of,

There are many influences but first you must eliminate certain influences on your psyche/actions to make your (illusory) will FEEL much freer.
The further ahead you are in ridding yourself of these compulsions the 'freer' your ability to influence becomes. 

How are we making 'illusory will' experientially freer? Think of it as a character in a movie show. It's all scripted, and the character may know it, but from their perspective they can't help but act from a POV of individual will. They may even see the movie screen and realize each word is scripted no matter what they do, but they still act as if they have free will. Within the movie they can do things to make their illusory will 'feel' freer like breaking themselves out of prison or such. 

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After some thinking and careful consideration I have compiled a list of 11 compulsions which restrain our (illusory) will. These are all internal.  

While the ideal is to free oneself of all of these, this list serves also as a checklist to see whether in any given moment your thinking or actions are being INFLUENCED by any of these.

The Eleven Compulsions & Their Counterparts

 

Pride / Humility

Vainglory / Authenticity

Greed / Charity

Lust / Chastity

Wrath / Patience

Envy / Respect

Gluttony / Temperance 

Sloth / Diligence 

Cowardice / Courage

Raga / Vairagya

Boredom / Peace

1. This list incorporates heavily from 'The 7 Deadly Sins and Virtues'; 'Shadripu'; 'Stoic Passions'; and Vedanta.
   The difference lies in the GOAL for this list's existence. The goal is to list 'COMPULSIONS THAT RESTRAIN ONE'S WILL'. 
   The goal of the 7 deadly sins is moral purification. 
   The goal of shadripu is broadly speaking to define enemies of spiritual development, not maximizing free will.
   The goal of Stoic Passions is indeed to reach the state of apatheia (freedom from disordered passions) which is akin to maximizing one's will but the Stoic Passions are 'reason-centric' asking "Does this distort rational judgement?" while the 11 Compulsions are freedom-centric asking "Does this compulsively restrict the will?"

2. Pride: Bondage through superiority, self-elevation, and egoic self-importance.

   Vainglory: Bondage to external validation, recognition, admiration, and image.

   Greed: Bondage to acquisition, possession, accumulation, and ownership.

   Lust: Bondage to sensual and sexual craving.

   Wrath: Bondage to forcefulness, hostility, and compulsive resistance against obstruction or opposition.

   Envy: Bondage to comparison, resentment, and disturbance at the excellence, success, or possession of others.

   Gluttony: Bondage through consumption, and excess stimulation through intake.

   Sloth: Bondage to inertia, comfort, stagnation, and resistance to necessary change or exertion.

   Cowardice: Bondage to fear-driven avoidance and retreat from consciously recognized necessity, value, or duty. 

   Raga: Bondage through worldly attachment, emotional clinging, and dependence on impermanent forms for inner stability.

   Boredom: Bondage to stimulation and inability to remain at peace within understimulated existence.

3. Pride is distinct from Vainglory. Pride is the internal, arrogant belief in one's superiority, and vainglory is the external, desperate desire for applause and recognition. Now contrary to popular opinion, Vainglory can arise apart from Pride. One may actually feel and believe oneself to be quite inferior which is definitely not prideful, but also seek external validation in hopes of curing their feelings of inferiority, This is why I put Vainglory distinct from Pride.

4. Gluttony deals not only with food but excess consumption in general. Example: Doomscrolling.

5.  Wrath is that anger which binds one's will. You can be angry not only at others but at life itself. Example: Frustration. 
   Wrath internally is the mind's attempt to force reality to conform because it cannot get what it wants. It's basically emotional violence. 
   This is why Patience is the perfect counterpart to wrath.

6. In the 7 deadly sins and virtues model the opposite of Envy is either Kindness or Gratitude. Here it is intentionally made 'RESPECT'. This is because the goal of this list is different. 
   Envy and Respect are two sides of the same coin. The only difference between the two is believing whether the person you are envious of DESERVES the thing in question or not.

7. Seeing yourself do the same stuff everyday, even though you know you need to change, knowing full well what you are doing is wrong and doing it anyways, is an example of SLOTH. 
   Another example: Doing the same job for 35 years because you are too comfortable in your existing job even though you know making a change will be a much better choice.

8. I chose the word Cowardice intentionally. There are two types of fears in the context of this list; Fear which restrains your freedom and fear which enables your freedom. Example: Being afraid of falling off a cliff while walking on the ledge prevents dying which enables freer will because if not for this fear you might have actually jumped off the cliff due to the influence of any of the other compulsions. 
   Cowardice refers specifically to the kind of fear which restrains your will. Example: Not trying again because you are afraid of failure. Not starting a new habit because you are afraid of giving up again. 

9. Cowardice is distinct from Sloth. Cowardice related to fear while Sloth related to comfort. Both can sometimes lead to the same action. 'Not wanting to change your job because you are too comfortable/scared even though you know the change is better'

10. Raga is the very specific kind of attachment that is attachment to worldly objects like your wealth and relationships. If you can't develop Vairagya all the worldly objects will restrain your will. Example: You want to achieve Enlightenment but you are too attached to your Bugatti. Example 2: You want to open up your heart chakra but you're too hung up over your ex.

11. Boredom is a big one. The key word here is stimulation. Can you be peaceful when you are under stimulated; and for how long? When somebody comes up to you and starts talking about something you are not interested in, you get bored. I am not telling you to force yourself into taking interest; you can tell them you are uninterested or space out without focusing on the topic; but can you stay peaceful without getting bored? 

12. "But what about Ignorance? It should have made the list!"
    Ignorance DOES restrict will of a person but ignorance is not a compulsion, it's the condition of existing as a limited being. At any point you necessarily are ignorant about something or the other, so Ignorance and it's downstream functions like Hypocrisy don't qualify to be on the list.

13. Vanity didn't make it because it collapses into Vainglory ultimately. I like vainglory more because it is 'empty glory'.

14. Fear and Attachment are too broad to be on the list for what function it serves.

15. Hatred is not on the list because it's a composite of the other compulsions. Same goes with Cruelty and Sadism.

16. Acedia mixes too many concepts together for which the list isn't intended.

Edited 19 hours ago by caspex

[caspex]

Notice that most actions are taken in influence of the 11 compulsions. When's the last time you did something which wasn't heavily influenced by these eleven?

Edited yesterday at 06:12 PM by caspex

[integration journey]

This is a high quality thread

[caspex]

This list is different from Asthapashas [Lajjā; Jugupsa; Bhaya; Śaṅkā; Kula; Śīla; Jāti; Māna] because while they DO list eight BONDS it's from the perspective of Tantra. You cannot be realistically be expected to eliminate a chain such as 'DOUBT' by yourself without the help of a deity because you cannot be expected to undo Ignorance. 

So while the Asthapasha list sounds very similar in goal to the 11 compulsions that restrain one's will; it's actually listed from a very different perspective. 

Shame is eliminated once one becomes Authentic (counterpart to vainglory)
Fear is too broad to be on the list as explained earlier.
Doubt is a downstream function of Ignorance so is disqualified.
Clan and Caste are not compulsions so disqualified.
Pride is already on the list.
Sila being attachment to a sort of conduct or way of being, or the idea of things being a certain way (which you develop as you live); example: 'I am a human'. This is covered within Raga as an attachment to the world.

The most interesting one within the bunch is Jugupsa i.e. Disgust. At first glance it looks to be a separate compulsion which can restrain one's will in certain circumstances but after some thought it's evident that it is either not of a nature that restrains one's will or it's of a nature which restricts one's will but that's due it being a downstream functions of other compulsions already within the eleven.

For example:

1. moral disgust often contains pride and wrath
2. contamination disgust often contains cowardice and raga
3. social disgust often contains envy or vainglory

 

 

44 minutes ago, integration journey said:

This is a high quality thread

Thanks!

[YIDIRYIDIR]

Great Work.