THE HUMAN CONDITION: COURTING THE INNER DEVIL- Authors: Neeraj Gupta and Denise Keever

THE HUMAN CONDITION: COURTING THE INNER DEVIL.   

         One fine day, Body decided to organize a Birthday party for its friends. It consulted its companion mind to decide upon the Guest List. Here is how the conversation went: - 

Body - Sweetheart, the big day is here.
Mind - Oh no! Not again! What big problem have you invited now? 
Body- I am thinking of a birthday celebration for myself.
Mind- Really! I am dying of laughter. Do you have a Guest List? 
Body - I will prepare one. Help me. 
Mind - This is going to be one heck of a day.  Make my day.  
Body - I propose the name of my closest friend, Flesh, as the first Guest. 
Mind - Flesh is always eyeing pleasure and wrapping itself around Sin. And always hitting on Temptation. At the last party, had I not warned Feelings to stay out of the way, your party would have been a disaster.
Body - I know that the Flesh is weak. I will keep an eye on it. 
Mind - Don't be ridiculous! Flesh will always throw itself in harm's way. Who is next?
Body - The second name on the Guest List is Wisdom.
Mind - Good choice. I like wisdom. Never desperate like the Flesh. Scholarly and patient. 
Body- I like him too. The last we met; to discuss my problem, he advised me to consult his assistants Insight and Reflection. And referred my case on priority to his boss, Learning.
Mind- Who is next? 
Body - Desire. 
Mind  - Oh no! Agent provocateur! Sometimes even I succumb to its charm offensives. 
Body - You better watch out! Don't you dare step out of line?  
Mind - I wish! 
Body  -  Keep an eagle eye on Feelings. I notice the naked lust in Desire's eyes whenever he sees Feelings. He wants Feelings desperately.  
Mind - Desire is such a scoundrel. And last time, he seduced Feeling's best friend Passion. And left his current mistress Longing red-faced. Ever since that day, Longing has been thirsting for revenge against the crafty Passion.
Body  - I am a little worried. I pray our simple and sweet Feelings, ignore Desire and maintain her distance from Passion and Longing to avoid getting hurt. 
Mind  - Feeling must learn to be more smart and be extra careful and selective with the choices she makes.  
Body - Whom do you want next on the list? 
Mind  - Conscience. 
Body- HAHAHAH: The self-righteous, self-proclaimed custodian of Morality. Always, judging me and my actions. Handing out unwanted advice. Though I must admit, it is worth following its advice, and I have saved myself from the blushes whenever I have done so. 
Mind - What do you know? It is from my part of the world. The world of Awareness. And our world is blessed with brilliant jungles of thoughts. And have you seen the brilliant oceans of consideration that flow through our land?  
Body - I love the wild of your land. And, on my every visit, I received a rousing welcome from Ego, my good friend. Who treats me like royalty? 
Mind - I am cautioning you. Ego is a slippery customer. It deserted its family and ran away and sought refuge in the caves of manipulation, tucked away in the scary and dangerous mountains of Greed. Ego is a willful deserter from our land. A fugitive. 
Body - So, you are admitting that conscience failed in its duty. 
Mind  - Conscience tried its best. It sent its most capable and intelligent messengers,  remorse and humility to Ego to persuade it to change its mind and educate it on the dangers of excessive self-importance. But to no avail. You have always had a high opinion of the Ego. I fail to understand why. 
 Body - Ego has some wonderful qualities, too. It is realistic. It dares me to be open to experiences. Be Adventurous. It has conditioned me, to be, willing to take on the threats of the tricky and calculating predators' Risk and Danger when they deliberately create mischief and foment trouble to try to mess up a situation. I feel its untamed energy surging through me when we meet, and it gives me a high. An adrenaline rush. I am just addicted to it. 
Mind - The price is too high to pay, but when have you ever listened to me? 
Mind  - Next I propose the name of Hope. 

Body - Oh yes! And man, doesn't its beautiful companion possibilities set my heart aflutter? 
Mind - Let's restrict ourselves to Hope. 
Body- What is hope without possibilities? 
Mind- Hope is the child of Virtue. It was brought up by Virtue to look out and search only for the good. Good, that is difficult but not impossible to attain. Hope was further groomed by the virtues of close friends and associates Trust and Confidence.  
Body - I feel my heart fluttering every time I see the beautiful and charming Betrayal making advances in Hope. It is a feast for the eyes 
Mind- You are a shameless brute. 
Body  - Next, I propose the name of Faith.
Mind  - Faith is so difficult to understand. It prefers the company of Truth, Value and Loyalty, but cannot resist falling prey to the advances of Dogma. 
Body - What I have noticed is that faith is emotionally very intimate with tradition, which sometimes blurs its anticipation of reality. But Faith is such a charmer and its positive and pure energy will certainly be welcome.  
Mind  - You gave me one reason to agree with you for once. 
Body - I propose the name of Ambition. 
Mind - Oh no. Desire's mentor. And it drives me crazy with its impatience. It is always picking up quarrels with my good friend Restrain. Restrain and Ambition's younger sibling Aspiration are good friends. They get along very well. Now as you know, Restrain loves to be humble, But Ambition refuses to listen to anyone. 
Body- what's wrong with being impatient? 
Mind- Impatience makes Ambition look like a wild bull charging at anything and everything when it sees red. 
Body - Look, sweetheart, Good intentions need Self-confidence, Initiative and Determination of Ambition to push their way through. 
Mind - You are such a fool. Will climbing heights make you touch the tip of a rainbow? Can one musician play every instrument in the band? 
Body - I disagree. Ambition believes in the power of dreams. Pushes ahead with purposes. Mobilises intentions . Gets aspirations together.  
Mind - Honey, may I remind you of the proverb? Every Eel wishes to be a whale one day. Body- My Ambition soars,  Yours creeps.  
Mind - I propose the names of two special guests. Spirit and Soul. 
Body - The holy ones, in the company of the unholy. You have always had a crush on spirit,  haven't you? Spirit excites you. 
Mind - Don't be silly. I and Feelings feel very close to Spirit because there is a mutual compatibility between our nature, Inclinations, Attitudes and Tendencies which bounce off each other.  
Body - I do enjoy its liveliness and its activating Zeal. I have always admired patience and Selflessness which have encouraged me not to give up in difficult situations. 
Mind -Yes. likewise, with me too. 
Body - And the last name on the Guest List is?
Mind- The Soul. The part of you that I love the most. Because it lives in the heart.  
Body - I respect it and fear it equally.  It takes me on a voyage of happiness and also of misery. It finds ways to connect me to the spirit. It fills me with characteristics that make me stand out in the crowd. It trained me on the concept of unity. It guided me through the conflicts that I had with you. It revealed to me my divine nature and uniqueness.  
Mind - Soul is a divine presence. Divinity follows it. It will survive you and me after we perish. It will indeed be a divine grace to have it in our midst. 
 Body - So finally, the Guest List is finalized. And now the invitations are to be prepared.  Mind- Too tired for it. You are going to snore away in a slumber. And I have to keep a vigil. So, I am calling it a day.