Best Of
Re: Seeking joy
Not to forget, Joy is a mental state. Like other mental states, we can very often choose whether to be in it or not. It doesn't have to be a conditioned response to objects or circumstances, it does not have to be a reaction to stimuli.
Fosdick
Re: Seeking joy
Seeking joy
Joy is waking up every morning to what the day has on offer...
Reminding me of this:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
~Rumi~
Shoshin1
Re: Letting go of games
From what I posted in the ‘Seeking joy’ thread…
“… I have spent too much time and energy fighting darkness…”
In pretty much every major game you end up fighting the forces of darkness. It’s silly. If you had the choice in real life would you not do something more constructive, more joyful than fighting? Is not building, prayer, dance a better way to spend time?
Jeroen
Re: Ten years of wisdom
Ten years of wisdom
As one ventures along the Path, gradually opening the door of perception, one becomes increasingly aware of what lies behind it.
"Wisdom is just awareness spelt differently."
How one utilises this awareness measures the level of wisdom.
Shoshin1
Re: Ten years of wisdom
Your input is very welcome @marcitko
I came across a little section of Osho yesterday that felt appropriate, he was telling a new disciple that we had within us the capability to build a spiritual heaven or a spiritual hell, that we had the choice. That by following our joy and giving it our attention and energy, we could arrive at a celebrating and a flowering, and that this was the beginning of a long pilgrimage towards God.
Perhaps that is a better path for me than to try to follow Eckharts short pointers to Being.
Jeroen
Re: Ten years of wisdom
Hi @Jeroen
Some unasked for advice/perspectives. All of it just IMO.
That you did the experiment is excellent, now you have more data for the internal computer to churn on.
IMO, the experiment does not prove that digging one deep well instead of many small holes is wrong - it just proves that the Power of Now is not that big well for you at this time.
I'd say, lower the bar and stay humble. Look for a deep well that inspires and that you can see yourself actually digging with determination and consistency.
I have a feeling that for you - and for me - the deep well currently is not so much very high spiritual philosophy/practice but more an actual-factual practical wholesome engagement with the world and people.
And in that engagement, if we do it in a wholesome way, spiritual insight comes by itself.
There's a song in my country that includes the lyrics: "Stay in the light and the answers will come all by themselves". IMO, we need to find activities that keep us in the light and keep us growing in positive ways.
Apologies if this was unasked for and is irritating... or just plain wrong.
marcitko
Re: Spirituality vs Psychology
@person said:
I come to psychology from having first delved extensively in spirituality. To me its more of an addition to spiritual work.
I saw psychology and spirituality together when I was very young, and later had a more scientific upbringing up to and including a Bachelors in Engineering at university. It took me a long time to shed an over-reliance on scientific principles.
In the end I came to see spirituality and mental health, including psychology, as extensions of each other. It helped me during my recovery from my breakdown to focus on a spiritual life, to come to a measure of purity.
Jeroen
Re: Living in Surrender to What Is
Surrender conotates yielding, giving in or giving up.
Perhaps accepting, embracing, uniting with or becoming one with what is.
At ant rate, once we become one with what is, we can establish a better parameter with what will be. Only in accepting the what is do we fully see and appreciate what is and the paths before us. For we are neither slave nor captive to what is, but an active creative participant benefactor and beneficiary of what is. What is is not a solid rock to stand upon but a flowing river, ever changing, ever flowing. We are the navigators, traversing this what is.
Another way to state this is that fighting the what is is tantamount to swimming against a rip tide. A surfer utilizes the rip tide (rip current) to get through and too the waves. A swimmer, in accepting the what is of the rip tide, flows with it, swimming across until emerging from the rip to the what is of the sea and waves pushing him or her to shore.
The what is has not changed. The surfer and the swimmer have not surrendered to their "what is", but have accepted it and utilized it to benefit and advance - the surfer to reach his beloved waves and the swimmer to safely reach the shore, their new what is.
Peace to all
Lionduck
Re: Living in Surrender to What Is
In some sense surrendering to what is allows us to take appropriate action. If we didn't accept that the sun can burn our skin but instead rallied against the sun for burning, the sky for not being cloudy, our skin for not being sufficiently resistant, we would expend a lot of energy fruitlessly when if we accepted those things we could take the sensible action of applying sunscreen or wearing appropriate clothing.
person