You are not the doer
Thomas Aquinas had six proofs for the existence of God.
One of them was: Since everything is moving there must be a first mover which is not moving itself, ergo, God is the Unmoving Mover.
Thomas Aquinas lived in the 13th century and he is the father of the philosophy that Catholicism is based on. It is called Thomism.
His reasoning is not so bad when we remember that his proof was arrived at purely intellectually.
First we have to keep in mind that all the words we use when we talk about these matters are concepts. That is why nobody seems to be able to agree on anything at this level of thought. A concept is relative and can be discussed but the absolute is not a concept so there is nothing to discuss.
It is like a dinner party. With the first dish people talk a lot. With the next dish there is more silence and when they finally reach the desert there is only the sound of eating. In the same way, when we talk about spirituality, when you are not full, having not really tasted anything yet, you talk a lot. When you start to have experiences you don’t say so much. When you “know” you are silent!
At the time of Thomas Aquinas – during the Scholastic medieval times, there was an unwavering trust in the intellect. This was before the time of science.
With the growth of science “belief” was outruled by experience. But the fight between belief and experience is still going on.
True spirituality is the science of the inner. It deals with inner experiences and not beliefs. In the quest for truth we leave all ideas and concepts behind and look directly at “ what is!”
The question in this Dharmadoor is “am I the initiator of my actions?” The point of inquiry is the personal pronoun “I”.
Take any situation in your life where you felt/believed that you were the deciding factor.
I sometime ask people “did you choose to come to this satsang?” Most people will then innocently admit, “Yes I did!”
If I inquire a little into when and how this choice happened the person starts to become a little apprehensive because things are not what they appear to be. It is just that we never look deeply into these things. Why do I say it is my thoughts, feelings and choices? Are the thoughts and feelings really coming from something called me? What is this me then?
We talk about free will or predestination without investigating if there is a separated me that is free or predestined.
In this Dharmadoor we simply take simple situations from our life and look into them with the question; who is this me that insists, “I decided!” “I chose!” It is extremely freeing just to see through these illusions intellectually, not to say when there is full realisation!
So the Dharmadoor is: “Who is responsible for initiating actions?”