Don't be so predictable.

Photo by James Ownby

Travel to any national park in the U.S., and you’ll likely see a sign that reads “Keep Wildlife Wild.” It gives visitors a stern warning not to intentionally feed the park animals or leave food unprotected. The rangers are very aware of how these human actions can radically alter the behavior of wildlife. Animals that learn people are an easy resource for food react consistently: they lose their instinctive fear, becoming bold and often aggressive. Property damage, injury and death (usually of the animal) are frequent results. The human animal can be just as predictable as food-conditioned wildlife. We react automatically with the consistency of hot and cold water taps on a faucet. Whether something brings us pleasure or threatens our pleasure determines which tap gets turned on. But the thirtieth slogan reminds us that we don’t have to give in to our impulses or be led by our assumptions. Instead we can be fully present as each moment unfolds without allowing preferences or prejudice to muddy our perception. Perhaps we humans need our own sign: “Don’t Feed the Habits.”

Desire is no friend, but seems like one, which is why you do not fear it.

~ Aryadeva

For more information on the thirtieth slogan, go here.

Slogan Thirty

Don’t be so predictable.

From the Lojong for the Layperson booklet:

          Why is it that family and friends can so easily push our buttons or manipulate us? The answer is because our behavior is so predictable. We are like programmed robots; we react a certain way depending on whether a stimulus is painful or pleasurable. But with awareness we can pause instead of being carried away, responding from a less selfish and impassioned perspective. When our ego is not so busy defending itself, a spacious vista opens before us, full of endless, fresh possibilities.

Photo: On green moss, a row of cowrie shells with a cerith shell in the middle.

            Insurance companies make a profit by using statistics – a collection and analysis of numerical data used to compute probabilities. They've figured out that certain humans generally act in certain ways, so they use this to their advantage. For instance if you’re a married female between the ages of 25 and 65, your car insurance rates will be lower. They've found that men, single people, senior citizens and teens are riskier to insure. I’m sure my family and close friends could make similar predictions about me. Like a doctor testing a reflex, they know pretty well what my reaction will be to certain people or situations. They might say, “Don’t bring up that subject, or she’ll get angry and start and argument.” Or they could explain, “If she’s really afraid, sometimes it seems like she’s mad.” Yet the insurance companies know there are anomalies, people who deviate from their calculations. Slogan thirty encourages me to be one of those folks, someone who doesn't have a conditioned pattern of behavior. Keep them guessing!