Life, the universe and everything...
Lee82
Veteran
_"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this : most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.
Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.
And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small café in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.
Sadly, however, before she could get to a phone to tell anyone about it, a terrible, stupid catastrophe occurred, and the idea was lost for ever."_
What a wonderful piece of writing by Douglas Adams to lighten your mood.
Comments
Thank you! Just what I needed to hear.
Yes she found she had won 10 million on the lottery and was dragged back into a life of misery!
Not the planet's problem - the planet is indifferent to our unhappiness. It's a problem the transmogrified biomass of apes are having, and it consists of their relentless materialistic obsession with and grasping after an abstraction, an idea, they call happiness. All of them have their own ideas about what it is. The ape girl's idea was lost - but no matter, none of the other apes would have listened, let alone agreed and implemented, this fabulous idea. At best, they would have had a big, long running argument about it - maybe accepting it in the end, maybe not. Then the big stupid disaster would come and everything would start all over again. So What? What was the big deal about happiness anyway? Peace might have been a better pursuit, but the apes would have clutched at and obsessed on that as well, and all would have been the same. There is no perfect world, and yet if we are at peace, the world is perfect.
It makes me wonder what would happen if we would just give everyone enough money to buy everything that they want. There would suddenly be a lot of demand for new sofa's, new high-end cars, everybody would buy great quality stuff and the purveyors of cheap crap would be left high and dry. It would be great for the economy. And I bet it wouldn't even be that expensive.
Except for houses and a few other supply-constrained items.
Mr Adams had a wonderful, wicked sense of humor.
Have you tried the Steak at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe?
Deeeelicious!
My local Tescos would run out of ice-cream pretty quick.
There would never be 'enough' to cover the 'wants' ....because wants outweigh the needs... That's craving for ya
So what we really need is a very efficient rationing system...
Actually, according to this National Treasure and absolute marvel, we need something more drastic. And trust me, he should know...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9815862/Humans-are-plague-on-Earth-Attenborough.html
Well that is true. If we were to get a disease which were to wipe out say 9/10's of the population that wouldn't be such a bad thing for the planet.
And he's not discriminating. He's picked nobody out in particular, but I don't need to say that those with more affluence appear to have less conscience about how they use the world's resources, and what they do with them.
People who live in comparatively wealthier societies, need to stop breeding.
It's a cold, harsh and seemingly heartless thing to say, but every privileged* person who is capable of having children - really shouldn't.
It seems to go against every social, ethical and moral responsibility that people seem to think they have, but having a child in this day and age is a misguided entitlement.
And let me immediately say, I am a mother. I have a grandson. My niece has just had a baby.
David Attenborough himself, has two.
But the global situation is getting progressively worse, and as he says - if 'Global Warming' don't get us, then over-population and over-use of the world's resources, will.
I know it's totally politically incorrect to advise people to not have children. Couples - prospective mums - delight in announcing their pregnancies.
I am convinced that only my adherence to Right Speech, has hitherto prevented me from responding "How irresponsible. Have you any idea what an impact your selfish decision to procreate, will have, in an environmental sense?!"
Can't say that really, can I? It would be heartbreaking.
Goodness knows how much negative Kamma I have put into store, by thinking it though....
(ETA: By privileged*, I don't necessarily mean wealthy...)
Communism in its true form .....
what i am writing now is not a criticism or for argument sake, bear with me
if one reads following and sees there is no point in it just let go 'what one read', thanks
after the meditation (as a result of many, many meditation sessions) following understanding occurred
there are three quick (vary, vary fast) processes happening within and around us
1. movement of four basic elements
(we can not grasp it)
2. process of selecting symbol/perception for the process No. 1.
(this process is faster than No 1. and we can not grasp it too)
3. process of sending selected symbols/receiving sent selected symbol
(this process is faster too but we can grasp the symbols)
problem arises here
we do not know there are three process happening within and around us
we grasp the symbols of the third process without knowing that in between two symbols there are two other faster processes happening, so we add the symbols
then we have 'a thing'
so we can think of that thing, talk about that thing, work on that thing
for example: see the blank space in between the two letters, blank space in between the two words etc.
i hope you can see where the new technological skill and dhamma discussion of good friends and own meditation took me so far
I have absolutely no idea whatsoever, what you're talking about. At - all.
So far it's not taking me into the understanding zone.
It is possible to express in 'impact symbols' in other words to make impacts that bypass rational processing. This is how humour and Trump works (sorry to bring that up again).
Remember to stay grounded.
Not exactly the direction I thought this thread might go down. That's the internet for you :-)
Chatter is a stream with a meandering habit....
'Goodness knows how much negative Kamma I have put into store, by thinking it though...'
indicates U R on the 'Path' already, it is definitive
process 1 has already sink in 'you' - Food for thought
process 2 has been happening within - digesting
process 3 is happening every moment and be aware to know it (the best time and place is during meditation, but even during the day to day activities it can be done)
you will be there - at understanding zone
be patient, be aware of what is happening within U
thanks
english is not my native language, there can be hiccups
if U see the process 1, 2, 3 and how they works u know there is nothing (emptiness) to worry
advice taken, thanks
what we expect is not happen always, that is suffering
to bring that suffering there is 'dukka'
that what Buddha talk about
that is what we have to try to understand
see, another indication that U R on the PATH
better stop creating process 1 for who read this post
Do you mean something like this:
Not sure if @upekka is referring to this?
I had this experience once after listening to Pema Chodron & Judith Simmer-Brown discussing the 9th Chapter of Shantideva. That we are more passive receivers than active agents within the world around us. I saw everything as molecules that move, that impress the mind and senses, to which we react.
We imagine ourselves to be only active agents imprinting the world but it's totally multi-directional.
The experience only lasted 10 mins - but was a great 10 mins.
If you think about it, the future is anytime forward, and the past is anytime past but the time in the very now is so so so short.
The way I came to understand the experience is that it's a series of conditions that lead one moment into the next moment into the next moment. In a way, there's no linear cause and effect, just a series of interacting conditions.
'Interacting conditions' described here:
http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/coarising/
However, the conclusion of Buddhism is that nothing possesses its own irreducible self-nature but everything depends on something else for its existence. Therefore, all things are empty, empty of intrinsic reality and intrinsic value; all existence is relational. Whatever the ultimate reality of things, it is inexpressible and inconceivable; therefore Empty. All things arise through the co-working of many causes and conditions.
This matches my experience perfectly. Thanks!
Loving the discussion board - so fantastic to have a forum to ask long-standing questions and have a helpful response.
I'm ever grateful for having come across the dharma.
So my original quote of course is from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Having just finished reading the second book in the 'trilogy of 5', I have to say it is insanely brilliant! You spend most of the book wondering what on earth is going on but are captivated by it, then when you get to the end all becomes clear and the literary genius leaves you speechless. Good read!
But fundamentally, it's all just 6 7's (or 7 6's). Although some would say it's 42.
But six multiplied by nine doesn't equal 42!
By the same author:
Dirk Gently's Holistic detective Agency (Book #1)
The Long Dark TeaTime of the Soul (Book #2)
Utterly brilliant. My desert Island choice of reading matter.
input
processing within
output
i do not think U need any more clues by now
just a friendly reminder, eye - four elements within is the cause and form - four elements outside is conditions
if one is mindful/one pays attention to what is happening Now, one knows:
what is arisen and fallen away - Right Mindfulness
from where did IT come - Right Wisdom
Right Here, Right Now
So basically you are describing the process of perception, and the conditionality of our experience?
Me too, but sometimes it makes my brain hurt.
You have a brain!!! Sheer luxury
Apparently English must not be my native language either because I don't understand a word of what anyone says on this thread.
Like a friend in Hawaii once said after reading the morning newspaper at a coffeehouse, I'm just going to go back to worrying about whether the surf is up or not. Almost impossible to do these days, but something to aspire to in any case, and wouldn't our lives be so much better if we did what he suggested?
We're quoting a book by Douglas Adams called Life, the Universe and Everything. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_the_Universe_and_Everything. It was a super-huge hit in the 1980s as part of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
It fits in the realm of absurd humour.
If you didn't know about the books, this thread would be absurd. Actually it's absurd anyway.