Obligations

It may be helpful here to have the Model of the Mind open.

An obligation is something we need to do or have to do.  An obligation is thus a requirement to take some course of action.

An obligation can be a legal or ‘moral’ obligation to do something.  There are also obligations in other contexts, such as obligations of etiquette and  social obligations.

So an obligation is something we are going to have to do sooner or later – like filling in our tax returns - but it isn’t something we necessarily want to do. 

Thus an obligation is something we really don't want to do, but have to because the law states we must, because we feel family obligations so to do, because we have been indoctrinated into a moral code that makes us feel we have to.  And so on. 

Our life can be filled with obligations.  Having to pay the bills, having to do the shopping, having to do the washing, the cleaning, the washing up, the cooking.  This is why many people go on holiday – not for the rest, but to escape, on a very temporary basis, the obligations. 

In a highly organised and complex society, obligations can be the biggest block to spiritual experience, because you are always, always worrying about them.  And you cannot get rid of them because they are usually a permanent fixture of our lives.  We may be able to simplify, but we cannot remove on a permanent basis. 

Observations

For iPad/iPhone users: tap letter twice to get list of items.

• A Gift From God Ibogaine by C
• Dickinson, Emily - The bone that has no marrow What ultimate for that
• Gentling the Bull – 08 Both Bull and Man forgotten
• Logan, Andrew - The British Guide to Showing Off
• Nietzsche - On the Genealogy of Morals - The ripest fruit is the sovereign individual
• Reid, Gall, Mill, Bain and Hack-Tuke – On the nature of the Will
• Steiner, Rudolf - Nature spirits - The misuse of power
• van Helmont, Jan Baptist - The Illumination of the Higher spirit
• Vaughan, Henry - The Pursuit