About 10–20 years ago, the majority's level of consciousness evolution was largely negative. If we look carefully, most media and press reports then were negative. We did not even know whether the press reported that way because society was negative, or society was negative because the press reported that way. We were confused, unclear about cause and effect—which was the cause, which is the effect. But we can say our society was quite negative then.
Everything is governed by memories. We must acknowledge our circumstances at that time. We were a nation that had only just emerged from war, having transformed war into peace only a few decades earlier. There was so much to address: hunger, ignorance, illiteracy, culture, the environment, healthcare, education, bureaucracy, corruption… These negatives made people's lives deeply miserable and pitiful. Farmers lived on land burdened with so many taxes. The climate was harsh, and people treated one another with pronounced “class” distinctions. Such memories make it very difficult for us to see everything in rosy colors, very difficult to live freely, selflessly, calmly, peacefully, lightly, gently… A generation went through war with many wounds and divisions that have not been healed even now. The generations of grandparents and parents, and even their children later on, inherit the stream of memories from their own families and ancestors. Thus, within them are many memories of insecurity, anxiety, anger, disharmony, division…
Memories of war, waging war, and survival make people feel they must be selfish and think of themselves to survive.
This pattern is very evident when we are in traffic. We think only of ourselves. We participate in traffic with a culture of “filling in the blanks” rather than “green lights and red lights” (meaning that wherever there is an empty space, a vehicle moves into it). This creates congestion and a bottleneck, gradually leading to traffic jams throughout an area. It is a traffic culture in which we think only of ourselves: how to reach our destination as quickly as possible (or pick up our children on time), or get home and escape this “hell” as soon as possible. Naturally, we suffer and want to escape, but our escape from suffering causes others to suffer.
As a result, there is a great deal of negativity in society. From such a pattern of behavior in traffic, we can see that an entire people, or many of its members, are in fact slaves to memory. So many memories of insecurity, anxiety, selfishness, competition, and shortages of resources and means. Memories of war tell us we must grab things for ourselves, survive, and be selfish to make it through. Thus, each individual is a slave to memory, our ancestral lineage is a slave to memory, and our nation and people are also slaves to memory.
True freedom, the first freedom and the final freedom, is freedom from one's own memories.
Someone who can do that is called a Buddha. A Buddha is truly free from memory, having seriously gone deeply along the path of initiation and attained real freedom. The first freedom exists because initially we were not bound by memories, but we accumulate memories and karmic results until we carry a deep, heavy mass of karma: a stream of consciousness full of memories not yet corrected or purified. The final freedom comes when we can truly purify and let go of all those memories correctly and with balance. That is why we call them the first and final freedoms. Freedom does not mean doing whatever we like and being irresponsible in our many roles, or causing suffering and bondage for others. That is not real freedom, only the ego's possessiveness and selfishness. It remains slavery, bondage, clinging, and attachment to memory. Memories of ‘lacking freedom’ create a desire for freedom that rejects every responsibility. Ultimately, one is still not free, still enslaved to past memories of unfreedom.
We have to go through a very negative period, when staying positive is very difficult. Society is negative, so the press reflects that reality. In reflecting reality, it unintentionally nurtures and reinforces its continuation. These two dimensions reflect one another like parallel worlds.
So during the period around 10–20 years ago, we were very negative. When we are that negative, we are like someone “about to drown.” What someone about to drown needs is a “life preserver” to grab in time to avoid drowning and dying. At that time, we grabbed a life preserver called “positive thinking.” Originating in Western culture, the West is very proactive in manipulating and controlling its own thoughts, because mental activity, logic, and thinking are strengths of Western peoples.
Western culture is very positive. People can offer praise and view everything positively, are not quick to complain or grumble, and proactively take responsibility. They see the positive dimension of a situation, ‘recharging their own batteries’ and energy to find solutions. At that time, our society needed this because we were ‘about to drown,’ so we badly needed positive thinking. This is part of ‘neuro-linguistic programming,’ abbreviated NLP.
That is why teachings about NLP were necessary for evolution at that time. Decades ago, they were very necessary. However, we have been witnessing a shift in society's consciousness. If we were very negative decades ago, are we positive now? Not exactly, but those seeds of positive thinking were planted over many years. Recently, they have been blooming brightly. We have a generation of Gen Z people who know how to “enjoy life,” with the motto “you only live once.”
Because they think they only live once, they enjoy life and know how to think more positively. They never “throw themselves” into work like slaves. Of course, everything has two sides. The positive side is that they know how to reward themselves with relaxing moments, outings, or trips to relieve stress. The downside, however, is that after working somewhere for only about a month, even a few critical words from their boss can be unbearable. They take offense and “book a ticket” to Đà Lạt, forgetting their work and brushing aside all responsibility, ready to confront their boss and say they will quit if that is what the boss wants. That is their way of life.
Society is gradually becoming more positive. One clear sign is a recent trend we have watched with surprise: ‘Flexing.’ It is hard to define precisely, but it resembles sharing something positive about yourself, or boasting positively without making everyone ‘hate’ you. For example, flexing about owning a house and a car, or earning enough to build a home at just 25. When done subtly, people are very supportive. They say, ‘I love the way he flexes.’
A Facebook group about “Flexing,” established only a few weeks earlier, had membership and growth among the fastest in Facebook's history in Vietnam (at the time this teaching was shared with the community—this is an account written by a meditation student). This did not happen by chance. 10 or 20 years ago, you could not “Flex,” and there could never have been a “Flex” trend like this. If you “Flexed,” people might call you arrogant. But now, as positivity rises in society, many people can “Flex” proudly and… “Flex” in peace.
Of course, everything has two sides: positives and negatives. Precisely because society has become more positive, we will have to address some of the consequences of the positive thinking we have cultivated in our minds over the past several decades.
For example, imagine an ostrich standing on sand. It sees a lion approaching, staring and preparing to pounce. What will it do? There are two schools of thought. In the first, this ostrich is an NLP master who has practiced positive thinking for a long time. What does it do now? Out of habitual positive thinking, it buries its head in the sand and says, “This lion is not real. I am fine, peaceful, happy and completely safe. I use my mind's power and imagine it is not real. The lion disappears!” You can predict this ostrich's “fate.” Ostriches are among the planet's fastest runners, with more endurance than lions over long distances rather than short sprints. If it ran, it might have a glimmer of hope. But behaving with this kind of “positive thinking” makes it fine for only a moment; afterward, it is effectively digging its own “grave.”
Like many people suffering greatly in life, they cannot truly transform the memories that cause their pain, yet still try to create the illusion that “Everything is fine!” Some even deny the truth and refuse to face it. They “distort” reality and want to see it according to how they have programmed their “language of thought.”
If you are suffering deeply but deny that suffering, refusing to face its causes and merely ‘looking in the mirror’ to say, ‘I am not suffering; I am very happy,’ then over time your face will show the energy of inner emptiness, lacking fullness and fulfillment.
We can sense the energy of some people who are NLP “masters” — they are extremely violent toward their own consciousness. We can sense the tremendously pressuring, coercive, and violent energy they direct toward their minds. That violence appears in all their words. They may tend to “swear” a lot. They will say that is their style, a way to make an “impression” on the crowd so they can manipulate and influence its psychology. It is simply a training technique used by a trainer. But if you practice and can sense energy, you understand that their frequent swearing is merely a sign of helplessness in their minds. It is a way to “release” many memories of violence and pressure directed at their own minds. That violence is like a volcano surging up; they cannot contain it and “borrow” the audience below to absorb that energy for them. Like that ostrich, burying its head in the sand while doing NLP on itself and swearing.
Our ostrich has two possibilities: in one, it behaves in an NLP-style way. In case number 2, it knows how to “meditate” and practice deeply, working with its own memories. This ostrich will see the truth as it is and accept it. Only when it accepts the truth can it truly love itself correctly. Otherwise, everything, including self-love, is merely self-deception. The truth is that a lion stands right before it, and the lion is king of the jungle. The truth is that the lion is like the animal at the top of the “food chain,” eating others… The truth is that I (the ostrich) am about to lose my life. Only by facing the truth do we have a ray of hope and a chance to escape our own suffering.
That is why, in the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha does not teach us positive thinking. He teaches us to accept that we are suffering and recognize what suffering is. If we know what suffering is, we will know whether we are suffering. From there, we can identify the cause of suffering. When we can purify the cause of suffering, we can purify our suffering. Only then do we move to the next teachings, such as the “eight strategies of practice” called the Noble Eightfold Path. Face the truth, accept the truth and see it as it is: only then does the “ostrich” have a percentage chance of surviving and escaping that lion — escaping suffering.
From those two analyses, a proper, profound path of spiritual practice is actually different from a path aimed at adjusting the mind, changing the truth, or denying it. We can understand that each stage of social evolution calls for different advanced teachings.
10–20 years ago, we needed positive thinking and NLP because we were too negative. We looked at a half-full glass but thought negatively that it was half “empty.” We were focusing on lack, so we needed to practice positive thinking.
But in the long term, this is not good. We have met people who have suffered extremely serious consequences from the Law of Attraction and positive thinking. Serious consequences occurred in their lives simply because they were too violent toward their own minds. At some point, everything can shatter and fall apart completely. That, too, is their lesson.
Because illusion has an educational function; everything is a lesson through which we can evolve. So you see, at this cycle of evolution we need more progressive, more profound teachings.
Positive thinking is a stepping stone. It is only a stepping stone toward further teachings that are more progressive and profound, helping us attain true peace, true happiness and true harmony.
