ความโลเลเกิดจากกำลังบุญที่หนุนอินทรีย์ 5 คือสติ ศรัทธา ปัญญา วิริยะ และสมาธิ ไม่พอ ทำให้ถูกชี้นำสลับไปมาระหว่างกุศลกับอกุศล ความสำเร็จมากน้อยแค่ไหนล้วนเป็นผลของกฎแห่งกรรมที่ตัวเองประกอบเหตุไว้แต่เดิมFickleness comes from insufficient merit-power behind the five spiritual faculties — mindfulness, faith, wisdom, effort, and concentration — which leaves a person swinging back and forth between the wholesome and the unwholesome. How much success anyone achieves is the fruit of the causes they themselves planted through the law of karma.
A student asked what causes someone to be fickle, changing their mind again and again — for example, taking up one line of work, never seeing it through, then switching to another, and repeating the pattern.
Insufficient Power Behind the Five Faculties
The teacher explained this comes from insufficient merit-power. Some people carry a sense of self-mastery, and some don't. Those without it lack confidence and fear everything, because impurities in the mind let inner voice steer them toward anxiety. What's missing is : , faith, wisdom, effort, and concentration. When each is weak, the inner guide behind it is weak too, so understanding, confidence, and vision all stay small — leaving someone unwilling to change anything, stuck repeating the same routine.
Two Types of People Who Never Arrive
Those who do have self-mastery come in two kinds. One is steered by the unwholesome into recklessness — seeing others get rich and wanting the same, without ever studying the principles or methods, just wanting a quick, easy answer. This type can never succeed, because success requires all working together: however finely tuned one's mindfulness is, that's the ceiling of what can be achieved; however much faith and confidence one carries, that's how much weight can be shouldered. The power behind each faculty must be enough to drive toward the goal — and the level of success varies according to the merit-power available.
The Unseen System Guiding Toward a Destined Outcome
The teacher went on to explain that every success in life is guided, behind the scenes, by an unseen system. Humans themselves understand very little of it; that unseen background pulls in the elements needed according to a destined blueprint already in place, whether at the level of a family, a country, or the world. Each undertaking has its own process, made of components working together like gears in a clock, and the crucial force driving it all is merit. There's also a distinction between the role of a manager, who solves problems and obstacles, and an executive, who creates added value — different vantage points that must still work in coordination.
Why Some People Start Strong, Then Give Up
The student then observed: some people begin keeping precepts and practicing intensely, but when they don't see results while their friends do, they lose heart and pull back — then, catching themselves, start again, only to repeat the cycle. The teacher explained this is the fruit of karma each person has laid down differently. Even when starting points look alike, development can leap ahead unevenly, steered alternately by or the unwholesome according to past karma. Those with more right view are guided more by the wholesome; those with more wrong view are steered by the unwholesome into repeating the same mistakes. Simply observing someone's attitude toward their own work reveals which side is doing the steering.