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Buddhist Craze
lobster
Crusty Veteran
in Meditation
As a wer-lobster I know a thing or two about being crazed. Being human is the hard part. In dharma normal ignorance and pain chasing or hedonistic joy twittering is not in our interest. In fact a great deal of normality is crazed or obsessive behaviour. Being normal is crazy.
Fortunately some dharma, seemingly fantastical is a skilful means. For example Tantra employs emotional and imaginative constructs to generate well being.
So when talking to the Buddha, as I often do, or calling on the hordes of enlightened beings for their blessed support, I feel this changes my mood, mind set and is beneficial.
Is Buddhism normal?
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Comments
I would like to think that a normal lifestyle is a practice which produces wholesome states such as compassion, understanding, calmness and love.
Unfortunately, it seems humanity sometimes can have a strange understanding of what is the best path: being nasty to people such as burning them alive or not allowing them to speak their opinion peacefully, forcing people into systemic poverty, etc.
The word normal is tricky though! For something to be classified as normal, it is like wholesome. You need something to compare it with, a reference.
For me, Lobster is not normal... but a very interesting, funny and kind Buddhist follower!
Wish you the best for your practice and day!
Not normal enough.
I think Buddhism can make you crazed... I once met a young man who said he had a strong impulse he had to do something with Buddhism, he joined a youth movement, was onstage at festivals and things, and then he did a retreat and suffered a psychosis. So if you are vulnerable, and you may not know it, almost any strong religious experience can cause a break-through. For your information he recovered and went on to study hotel management.
But perhaps talking to the Buddha is like talking to Christ, people are likely to consider it a little strange, it is the province of prophets, saints and madmen. I think there is some overlap between these so I would not be too hasty to categorise anyone as either the one or the other. Perhaps a certain degree of madness is necessary to be truly original.
I don’t fully trust people who maintain they are 100% normal, they are probably repressing their craziness and at any given moment might erupt into full-on screaming fits.
Is Buddhism normal?
I find that when people say something is normal, they are usually saying something is predictable. Few things make folks feel safe like predictability. You could say that all delusion even stems from our root attempts to make the real chaos of existence into a state of predictability that it's never been.
Is this not the dream the buddha asked us to awaken from?
A Buddhist practice can offer a transcendence of the limitations of what we consider to be "normal" despite that its own presentation of "normal" is what has initially attracted in most of its adherents.
^^^^ Whoa!! That first paragraph hit me like a ton of bricks. Never heard it put that way.
Gratitude @how.
I like the word wholesome,
integrated, balanced, middled rather than muddled or a muddied stream entrant ...
There is a peaced together, rather than fragmented disintegration. We might say our disintegration or release of attachment to meddle with our being is also a way to balance ...
It depends wether we wish to change the world, whirled or stop being spun someone else's vested spin.
There I was watching Interreflections a movie/documentary when I realised ... our current world view is ... unwholesome ...
Here is a little clip ...
and now back to the wobbling world of crazy ...
I think people who grow up no closer to food and goods than money and a shop by definition end up with an unwholesome world view. It’s very easy to be seduced into the consumerist lifestyle where the most important thing is earning money and buying stuff. The fact that there is an obesity epidemic is kind of a reflection of what is going on inside people’s minds.
In a way being in a small village in India or Africa might be healthier, mentally. You would know where your food and clothes came from. You might have a better relationship with the people around you, as well, it has been determined that the human brain evolved to work best in groups of around 100 people.
In response I live a quite minimalist lifestyle. I don’t see so many people, I don’t buy much stuff. I think quite a few buddhists live this way, because Buddhism promotes a certain sensitivity. Whether that is normal is a different thing.
Buddhism simply offers us, as imagined tangled balls of karmic yarn, the means of disentangling this ball. What craziness is this love affair with nothing?
A lot to be said for owning your crazy. Most folks take themselves far too seriously.
>
I don't know where I saw it, but it made sense to me, "it" being the phrase "Everyone is normal - until you get to know them."
This Interreflections trailer you shared is so powerful. Where can I find the film?
Interreflections
https://www.interreflectionsmovie.com/
Apparently the film’s creator, Peter Joseph, is well-known for also making the Zeitgeist movies which are on YouTube. They are a little controversial but you might want to give them a look. Might even be appropriate given the thread title.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Joseph
Any norms?
As some of us realise, being normal in a crazed milieu is maddening.
Much better as the Buddha did, to find our safe space. For me that entails:
Lobster Norm