Our problem is that we tend to be conspiracy theorists. The Buddha wants you to look at: What are the patterns right on the surface?

"Our problem is that we tend to be conspiracy theorists. We want to know: What’s happening behind the scenes? Who’s operating the lasers that shot lightning over northern California last year? We have a sense of “our self” and we have a sense of the world in which “our self” operates, but those ideas are behind-the-scenes ideas. The Buddha tries to reduce them to what’s on the surface. The world, he says, is simply events of the six sense spheres, and the feelings that arise from contact, all of which are happening right here. The same with your sense of self: It’s just the aggregates. What are they? They’re events. They’re actions that are happening right here on this level. The more you try to elaborate a theory that gets behind, behind, behind the scenes, the further you’re getting away from what the Buddha wants you to look at: What are the patterns right on the surface?"

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "On the Surface of Things"

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