33. The Kleshas and "Well, They're Not the Alps"

45 minutes from SF, a 6 hour flight. I’ll be teaching soon. Less than 2 hours me thinks, and the woman sitting next to the window from Newark says “Well, they’re not the Alps/” Of course they’re not the Alps! The Alps are the Alps and uniquely so! Just like the Himalayas are the Himalayas, the Cordiera Blanca is not the Cordiera Negra.  And McDonalds isn’t Carl’s Junior, a Hershey Bar isn’t Nestle which isn’t See’s, which isn’t Godiva. I am not my sister, my mother, my next door neighbor. I’m only myself.

On a subtle, or not so subtle level, do we intrinsically want, expect things to be alike? To look like what we are familiar with? To act the way we want them to act? And if they did, what would that look like? Definitely not like MY picture, or my sister’s or my mother’s or my next door neighbor’s.

This is one of the kleshas in action on a subtle, benign level. The kleshas are translated as afflictions and Patanjali, the dude that wrote the revered Yoga Sutras, names 5 of them. The one I’m talking about today would be asmita, our identity, moving into Raga, pride and getting to Dwesha, distain. The Alps comment fits in there somewhere. Part of her identity was clearly invested in having seen the Alps up close and personal. Another part was proud that she knew of the Alps for having felt the need to compare them to the Rockies and state it out loud. The tone in her voice sounded disappointed with a hint of distain for these “lesser” peaks.

Why not just enjoy the Rockies as the Rockies? Apparently she had never seen them before, so why the need to compare to what she already knew? That way she could enjoy both and perceive both as uniquely different energies, experiences. The Rockies probably didn’t take her comment personally, but I know that I have when an authority figure (meaning one who I gave authority to and their opinion mattered more than my own) when I would be compared to so and so for such and such.

I’m not saying don’t compare. I’m saying, when we start to remove these kleshas, afflictions, which filter, veil, alter the “purity” of an experience, we will have more fun because we will enjoy more things and the fullness of what those things have to offer. I will know the fullness and qualities that Hershey has to offer, the Nestle has to offer, that Godiva has to offer, and when I make a choice to have one, all, or none, I can base my selection on what would best serve me in the moment, and even if I picked Hershey over Godiva, I wouldn’t think of myself as picking something of a “lesser” quality.