One Rolls On According To One’s Conditioning Poem by Raj Arumugam

One Rolls On According To One’s Conditioning



conditioning, when alive


see how rarely there’s clarity
but each is conditioned
each is shaped, branded
to think one is
British or Chinese or Aussie or Russian
or to think one’s African or Mexican
or whatever else transient concoction
geography and politics and history
and particularities
and peculiarities produce
as one clings to a formula, to a Book, to beliefs or non-beliefs
and a system
and so one thinks of oneself as a Christian, or Hindu
or Muslim or Sufi or Buddhist
or Daoist or Shinto
or Atheist or Universalist…
or whatever else transient concoction
geography and politics and history
and particularities
and peculiarities produce


O sweethearts
you roll according
to your conditioning
and so you lead your lives
and find yourself in outcomes
shaped by beliefs,
reactions
and the vortex you are sucked into





conditioning, as one rolls on




1
there’s one
who found himself in True Heaven
and he congratulated himself:
I’m in True Heaven
for I’ve always worshiped the True God


2
and some other who had worshiped
the Eagle God
landed in Eagle Heaven
and congratulated oneself:
I knew I was right
and everyone else wrong


3
and even the guys
who had no form for their God
but held on to their Book and Verse
they too ended up in a Heaven
shaped in their beliefs and conditioning



4
and so the Christian wakes up
in a Christian Heaven
and a Buddhist in a Loka
and a Hindu in a Swarga
and each holy person
in a heaven of one’s conditioning –
and each sees the other
in the afterlife, and screams:
Hey! That’s not fair!
How come the other guy
found Heaven too
when I always believed
only I and my kind
would go to Heaven?





O sweethearts
you roll according
to your conditioning
and so you lead your lives
and find yourself in outcomes
shaped by beliefs,
reactions
and the vortex you are sucked into

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Patti Masterman 23 September 2009

We can see the other guys in their heavens while we are in ours? Wow, I never realized that..(smile) I want my heaven completely enclosed so no non-believers can stumble in by mistake..oh wait, I believe in nothing..guess you can't fence that in. Great words Raj; you've hit the nail on it's dented head with this one. Men are such children really, but they are precious beyond measure..

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tom mc quade 23 September 2009

raj..i can appreciate the careful and impeccable construction of this well written poem..and im sure to use 'one rolls on according to one's conditioning' as a favorite phrase ive adopted from you in future conversations i will have with people..(kinda rolls off the tongue nicely!) ...you've got the gift my new found friend...looking forward to reading more :) tom

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Milica Franchi De Luri 23 September 2009

Spot on Raj, we all have our conditioning, starting with our family, school, pears community, country and so on. We are all programed like robots and we all belief we got the correct programing......... Such a thought provoking poem.............

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