Decoding Transformation — Pragmatic Series
Pragmatism Series#9: Freedom to Fearless, Machines to Magicians
In India, especially in the Cricketing world, the two words that pretty much occupied both verbal and written commentaries were Character and Resilience. Yes, those were two words that defined Team India’s performance on field against Team Australia during the 2020–2021 test series. It was an exhibition of the emergence of “New India” from the ongoing pandemic and into the future. An example of a “Liberated mind” that reflected on the field through execution.
Personally, it was the remembrance of J Krishnamurti’s (JK) core message in a speech in the UK four decades ago, titled ‘Without freedom, we are all machines.
Over a period, the accumulation of rituals, dogmas, beliefs, and faith are all the movement of thought, and thought is a material process. It is a scientifically proven one, and thought has not solved any problems. The beliefs, ideals, and faith define the quality of the conditioned and mechanistic brain. This conditioning of the brain happens for centuries, and hence the man operates mechanically.
JK states, ‘the only way to break this is through doubt; skepticism is essential because that brings a certain quality of freedom of mind through negating everything that man has put together.’ (ref: ‘Without freedom, we are all machines’ (speakingtree.in))
If one doubts the beliefs, ideals, and faith, factually, accurately, meticulously, puts aside all that, and the conditioned mind starts to crumble. To start one must freely operate to break this pattern to realize the freedom
Similarly, Team India doubted long-associated beliefs, faith, and ideals in their mind. Skepticism about an inherited thought pattern of
- the belief of buckling under pressure
- lack of faith in the inexperienced players or bench strength (always rallied around on super star players)
- the so-called Ideals — the mental pressure that creeps, and the lack of intent to bounce back there after
Thanks to the situation that forced them into a no-option pool of resources to choose from, the volume, opportunities, and exposure provided at the first class level, including the major leagues in the last decade and the Team Australian over enacted aggression that leads to a momentary mental state of an unconditioned mind and operate fearlessly. Furthermore, what followed a humiliating loss in the first test match was the magic on field when the team operated Without fear, and all became magicians.
“Without freedom, we are all machines.
Without fear, we are all magicians.”
In summary, breaking the conditioned mind to set self-free will lead to fearless action to create the unthinkable magically.
This new liberated phenomenon is here to stay and inspire a lot of aspiring cricketing talents across the world.
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