This is the piece of information which may initiate a change in this habit. It means you may now realize that your habit or act of running on hard ground is what is causing knee pain. Hence you may choose to run on soft ground as it absorbs the momentum given by your feet thumping against it to a significant extent; and hence all this momentum is not sent back to your leg as a reaction to balance out the force applied by you on this ground.
However in case of hard ground; it fails to absorb much force applied by your feet and hence it sends most of it back to your legs through your feet. When this force travels up your legs; it finds a breaking point around your knees since there is a gap between the bones at this point. Hence this force or energy gets out through this gap and the area around it gets affected by it; since this is the area which is attacked the most by this force, though the point through which this force enters is also affected.
Suppose five people are standing close to one another in a straight line, which means their bodies are aligned and they’re all facing in the same direction; like people standing in a row. Suppose you push the first person with force which is strong. As you push the first person, the impact is transferred to the second person through him, then to the third, fourth and fifth person, supposing that none of them tries to counteract the force applied by you. Assuming the force applied by you has a specific strength to create the impact which we’re going to discuss; this is what may happen.
Though you have pushed the first person; the fifth person may fall in reality and the first four people may be able to manage; given the specific strength of the force applied by you. This happens because the first person transfers this impact to the second person, the second person transfers this impact to the third person, the third person forwards it to the fourth person who forwards it to the fifth person. Since the fifth person is not able to transfer this impact to anyone, he’ll have to deal with it on his own; and hence he may fall.
It means when this happens; the fifth person may be affected the most, followed by the first person; since the force is applied through his body and hence the part of his body which receives this force may get affected. Likewise, your feet get hurt since they are the points through which the reciprocating force applied by hard ground enters your body; and the area around your knees gets hurt since it is the area through which this force gets out.
This is why joint pains are common since a number of impacts enter through different parts of the body and they get out through the nearest joints; affecting the area around these joints in a negative way. Though some parts in between may also get hurt if the force is strong, this aspect is not the scope of this discussion.
Coming back, you may stop running on hard ground once you become consciously aware that doing so is causing knee pain. It means that awareness about the nature of an act is more important than the awareness that you’re engaging in one such act; since the former helps you stay away or move away from such act; depending on whether this awareness comes to you before one such act or after one such act.
For instance, if someone becomes consciously aware of the fact that killing animals for meat is bad and he also becomes consciously aware of the fact that if he purchases meat; he becomes responsible for killing an animal though someone else may be doing this job on his behalf; before he’s ever had meat, this awareness will help him stay away from eating meet.
However, if he’s already been eating meat for a long period of time when the awareness about both these facts reaches him consciously, such awareness first helps him move away from this habit and it then helps him stay away from this habit. Hence the awareness about the nature of an act or habit is more important than the awareness of whether or not you’re engaging in such act.
To conclude, there are two important aspects related to this practice. The person who’s subconsciously aware that animals are being killed for him but he’s consciously not aware; has subconscious guilt inside him since his subconscious and conscious mind are in conflict. On the contrary; the person who is subconsciously as well as consciously aware that animals are being killed for him and at the same time; he’s subconsciously as well as consciously convinced that killing animals for meat is not bad; is at peace. This is because the harmony inside his subconscious and conscious mind is undisturbed in case of both these facts and hence there is peace. Hence the first aspect of this practice says that the person who’s harmoniously of the opinion that killing animals for meat is not bad; is at peace.
Looking at the second aspect; if killing animals for meat is bad in reality; the person having guilt may get out of this habit any time but the person having no guilt may not get out of it ever; until such guilt starts forming. This is because the first type of person is already harmonious on the fact that killing animals for meat is bad and he only needs to consciously be aware of the fact that he’s also responsible for getting a number of animals killed. It means he knows that a specific habit is bad but he doesn’t know he has it. Hence his job is relatively easy.
When it comes to the second person; he’s stuck at the first step; which means he thinks a specific habit is not bad. Hence there’s no way he’s going to get out of it because you don’t feel the need to get rid of something which is not bad. Therefore, the first person feels guilty but his chances of getting out of this practice are higher in comparison to those of the second person who’s at peace while engaging in this practice; though the same peace will stop him from getting out of it; if it is bad in reality.
When it comes to get rid of a particular negative habit; there are two ways it can be done. The first way is that with the passage of time; you achieve spiritual growth through some practices; which means your conscious mind becomes stronger. It has already been explained that spiritual growth means making your conscious mind stronger and stronger; until the ultimate point of strength is reached.
As your conscious mind gains strength; it starts deleting those negative habits of yours, which can be deleted with the quantum of strength it has at any point in time. For instance, if your subconscious mind is offering a resistance equal to 50 units of energy when it comes to change a particular habit; you are not able to change this habit since your conscious mind is not able to produce effort which is higher than 50 units of energy.
With spiritual growth; as your conscious mind reaches a new level of strength which now enables it to produce effort which is more than 50 units of energy; it’ll succeed in deleting such habit. You may not know but your conscious mind knows at every time; whether or not it has the strength to win over your subconscious mind; related to anything. Hence it avoided getting in conflict with your subconscious mind over this habit until now; since it knew it couldn’t win.
However, as it gains sufficient strength; it is confident of victory; it engages in conflict with your subconscious mind over this habit and it succeeds in deleting it. Your journey continues and as your conscious mind keeps gaining more strength, whichever negative habits are there in the knowledge of your conscious mind and such habits can be deleted with the kind of strength that your conscious mind has at a point in time; your conscious mind will delete them, modify them or even form new habits; according to the demand of the situation.
As you keep providing more strength to your conscious mind; it becomes more and more capable. Ultimately; you reach the domain called sainthood and this is the stage where your conscious mind is capable of forming, modifying or deleting any type of pattern on your subconscious mind; at the earliest. This is why nothing can corrupt you now because your conscious mind is strong enough to protect your aura from all types of corruptions.
At this stage; your conscious mind doesn’t even let any such piece of information go to your subconscious mind; which can prove harmful later on; by trying to form a habit. It means you start living life in the moment; instead of living it through the habits formed in the past. We’ll discuss more on this topic, later on.