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What's your motivation?

ravkesravkes Veteran
edited April 2011 in General Banter
What drives you to wake up each morning and do what you do?

In a broader sense, why do you think people continue to live and propagate life even if they have no idea what life is about?

What moves us?

Thanks.

:)

Comments

  • MindGateMindGate United States Veteran
    edited April 2011
    Why do I wake up each morning and do what I do?

    Well... why not?
  • ArjquadArjquad Veteran
    I wake up because my alarm goes off and I need to go to school.
  • YacababyYacababy
    I wake up so that I don't find myself in the same bed 20 years later sad, living with my parents and with no future of any kind. I used to live like that... No fun
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Spammers, trolls, jerks..... and of course, getting one of you to make the tea.....
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    How you are a funny one federica!

    What wakes me up in the morning.. Normally my girlfriend getting ready for work. What motivates me to do what I do? Well, I do not do a lot each day so there requires little motivation to do what I do. I should find my 'right effort' when it comes to Buddhism, yet I am recently I fall short and continue to act through IGNORANCE.

    That is probably one thing that motivates many many many people to do what they each day, ignorance.
  • VictoriousVictorious Grim Veteran
    My family and my cultivation. I think in that order too... :)
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Without trying to offend you, they are not actually your family in affect, we do not own anybody or anything. Everything is one, we attatch to such things as family, yet they are merely interconnected to everything else and an extension of ones ego.

    f it motivates you to be compassionate, I guess it is positive in one light, yet it can easily become a strong attachment, we own nothing, these things own us.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    So, why the 'my girlfriend'.....?
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    yes I knew that was coming. Well what else can I say in English apart from my girlfriend.. I do not think I own her, even if I said my partner or my lady friend, whatever, I have to say 'my'. But I understand I do not own her or that she belongs to me. She is not a reason why I wake up in the sense I live to focus on her being a form of compassion, I am compassionate, but I wake up due to the noise she makes :p Bu going back to what I said, nothing belongs to us, our material things, our attachments to people own us
  • SherabDorjeSherabDorje
    Survival.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    I take that on board. I guess, with his experience and practice, Victor probably knows it too.
    'Knowing' and 'realising' are definitively, two different things completely, in Buddhist terminology.
    So I'm just wondering why you felt the need to point out something so obvious to another long-standing member whose practice may or may not be equal, or even more advanced, than yours?

    Just asking..... ;)
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    I know little of victor, from his few posts I have read they have been very logical and interesting to read.
    I was merely pointing out that we actually own nothing, including people. If not for victor, for anybody else who may come tp read this thread.

    What worries me a little is how you have stated the difference between people not being equal due to their practice, in affect A is better than B due to their extent of buddhist practice.
  • VictoriousVictorious Grim Veteran
    edited April 2011
    Sorry Tom I thought your question related to our motivations broadly?

    Not only the Buddhist ones... Any who. The world is the place I wake up still. I am not Arahant... :).

    And federica assessment is correct too.

    Reg
    /Victor
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    I know little of victor, from his few posts I have read they have been very logical and interesting to read.
    I was merely pointing out that we actually own nothing, including people. If not for victor, for anybody else who may come tp read this thread.

    What worries me a little is how you have stated the difference between people not being equal due to their practice, in affect A is better than B due to their extent of buddhist practice.
    No, I have stated no such thing.
    The crux of my question lies in the Biblical quotation about taking the log out of our own eye before pointing out that someone has a splinter in theirs....
    There need not be an inequality at all.
    In fact, I made the statement to read either way.
    I would, by the way, be very open to acknowledging myself that my practice falls short - way short - in comparison to the practice of others.
    I am not the Best Buddhist I could be.
    But no PERSON is better, or worse, than I.

    And @Victorious, the question was never ThailandTom's to begin with. It was ravkes'.

  • VictoriousVictorious Grim Veteran


    And @Victorious, the question was never ThailandTom's to begin with. It was ravkes'.

    Oh yeah right. Mixed it up. Just ignore me!

    /Victor

  • JeremyKS1JeremyKS1
    “What drives you to wake up each morning and do what you do?”

    It’s something that I like to do.

    “In a broader sense, why do you think people continue to live and propagate life even if they have no idea what life is about?”

    I’m not sure that’s a problem for most people. Most seem to do just fine without ever needing to know “what life is about”. Sure, they have problems, trials, tribulations and sufferings galore, but most don’t seem to let those things force them to ponder much deeper than “That sucked; I wish it hadn’t happened.” Things happen, they suffer with it, they move on to one degree or another.

    Perhaps if they did ponder such things they would suffer less, I don’t know. But for most (I think) no amount of suffering is worth “pulling back the veil” to look deeper. And that’s O.K. I’ve come to realize that the need to see deeper is my own hang-up. I’m happy to leave others to theirs.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    edited April 2011
    No need to be sorry victor, it is sometimes that people get confused or wires get crossed, especially over the internet as it is so 2 dimensional and monotone. From what I have heard from you, or shall I say, 'read', you seem to be an understanding and compassionate person with logic.

    @federica Maybe this is just me, but I have come to find that at times you are quite 'uptight' or short with at least me. I understand you have a lot to deal with with regards to this board, but that is your choice. You also sometimes seem a little bitter, these are all based around the posts and assumptions. i also have the notion you dislike me, so with this in mind, maybe you do need to acknowledge yourself as a person, and so do we all. Me, I have my own departments I have to work on, and so do we all. Nobody is perfect and most of of us are ignorant to different extents
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    I'm not going to launch into a one-on-one discussion with you in someone else's thread and take it off topic. Suffice to assure you that you are mistaken in every sense.
    Be well. :)
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Understood, sorry if the OP feels angry or something negative. I will Pm you then federica ...
  • Malachy12Malachy12
    Hmm about not owning anybody... while it's true that one could say they don't "own" their loved ones, and there could be a danger of becoming too attached to a gf etc. I think the same could be said of the personal body. We don't own our body's yet try as hard as we want, the majority of us do become attached to ourselves (I likes my purty eyes). We say my arm, my eye, my thoughts, my logic. It's not a terribly big deal, it just means that we could make some bad decisions if we become too attached to ourselves and we will also experience sorrow, if say for instance we lose a much loved limb in a garbage disposal (watch those hands guys). I think the Buddhist admonishment to avoid attachment could also be translated as "Be aware that nothing lasts forever", or "Be prepared to lose others/ ourselves." This will happen one day to each of us, so the warning is there in case we go ballistic when someone passes, or when we break up with someone, or when we lose an arm to garbage disposals. But there is nothing wrong with saying "My family drives and motivates me". We're not meant to walk around saying "I am attached to nobody, not even my kids, and that makes me so serene".
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Attachment to a child is not the same as truly loving it and having compassion. One example, my mother has an attachment to me. When I was 7 years old my mum and dad split up. She felt guilty and so over time spoiled me. If she had right view, right intention and was not attached to me, she would not have been blinded by her delusion and acted differently. You can love a girlfriend or a partner, but have no attachment to them. Ajahn Brahm claimed he did not cry when his father died, at his funeral or after. Most non buddhists would see this as him not having love and being cold, yet it is the opposite.
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