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Ok..I am not CONTENT
I just was thinking about why I still indulge in old habits I know are wrong..
It's because of where I "feel"...I am, I am not content.
I work the week, menial , minimum wage....it sucks. I tried school, had not enough money to pay for it. etc
I feel like I'd rather be in a prison for life. It'd be the same...except I wouldn't have to work every day.:D(depending)
My friend the other day was telling me, "hey man, we need to go on a vacation that's the goal we need- save up money for that..you'll be encouraged.."
yeah right! screw that!, I don't want to go anywhere...
I just realize now, no matter where I go, i will see the "hell" in it.
Duhkka... doesn't go away just because you are on a tropical beach, I doubt I can be happy anywhere...Suffering doesn't take a vacation
...for people like me.
It's a solid mechanism to promote Buddhist practice but IT SUX.
So I guess of course you guys will say,
"geez louise TF, you are teh n00b or what?!, If you desire to be content you cannot be content DONK!?
:buck::buck:"
or you will say "at least you aren't dying TF, or something something"
But I guess the question is, how do you just...BE CONTENT? with WHATEVER? ("dont desire") ....SHUT UP!!!
It seems like Duhkka or "Suffering", and "Desire"/Craving... are related like FATHER and SON.
:eek::eek:OMFG I just figured out the 2nd noble truth without realizing it...
I am going to get drunk and jump off a building..:) (jk)
It's because of where I "feel"...I am, I am not content.
I work the week, menial , minimum wage....it sucks. I tried school, had not enough money to pay for it. etc
I feel like I'd rather be in a prison for life. It'd be the same...except I wouldn't have to work every day.:D(depending)
My friend the other day was telling me, "hey man, we need to go on a vacation that's the goal we need- save up money for that..you'll be encouraged.."
yeah right! screw that!, I don't want to go anywhere...
I just realize now, no matter where I go, i will see the "hell" in it.
Duhkka... doesn't go away just because you are on a tropical beach, I doubt I can be happy anywhere...Suffering doesn't take a vacation
...for people like me.
It's a solid mechanism to promote Buddhist practice but IT SUX.
So I guess of course you guys will say,
"geez louise TF, you are teh n00b or what?!, If you desire to be content you cannot be content DONK!?
:buck::buck:"or you will say "at least you aren't dying TF, or something something"
But I guess the question is, how do you just...BE CONTENT? with WHATEVER? ("dont desire") ....SHUT UP!!!
It seems like Duhkka or "Suffering", and "Desire"/Craving... are related like FATHER and SON.
:eek::eek:OMFG I just figured out the 2nd noble truth without realizing it...
I am going to get drunk and jump off a building..:) (jk)
0
Comments
You could use some inspiration, you seem in a rut. I think inspiration is best found within, if you would at least give this thought:
Give yourself a goal ($500 to travel to see a Buddhist seminar or lecture somewhere maybe)
People these days need visual cues, so paint a poster board with that fundraiser thermometer on it, at the top your goal. Every week put money in the account (or every day whenever) and paint your line a little closer to the top.
Hang it in your room where you see it everyday.
By the time you have reached your goal you will have come to the realization that all goals (no matter how difficult they seem) are attainable one step at a time.
It was such a small thing, a piece of tissue paper, but she appreciated it. When I saw her appreciate it it all the cold terrible upset feelings left me and all I could feel was how much I cared for her. Seeing that appreciation just melted my heart.
I also remember once arguing with my mom when I was in high school and she called me a son of a bitch and both just broke into laughter, that shared laughter just stopped all the anger in both of us at once.
A couple of weeks ago I woke up grumpy, was behind in everything I was trying to do and I had to go to this kids soccer game. I got there late with a cynical attitude, but his family are such amazing genuinely great people that I forgot all about me and ended up hanging out with the family all day.
It doesn't take much to completely change the way you feel, something as light as a tissue can do it.
Please, don’t take this the wrong way, but…nothing will make you more unhappy than dwelling upon yourself too often, and too much. This goes the way of hell.
Why?
Because, what you are really dwelling upon is your ego, and the ego is a hellish thing when it is not trained or disciplined.
Why?
Because, the ego grows way out of proportion to reality, in many ways. It expects life to give it things it hasn’t earned by hard work, like a comfortable life style.
And:
If that is not enough, it thinks that it can support poor habits of thought, and not be hurt by them.
Ego is a liar.
Turn your back on the ego (small self), and do not listen to him. But, most of all, do not identify with him. He is not you.
Warm Regards,
S9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8qGa4Yh2qs
I cut up your words:
I rephrased your words:
I believe you already know this.
If you want specific advice,
Give a specific example you are struggling with.
If you don't feel any of the advice is helping,
Stop asking for it.
If you just desire attention,
Don't mask it with a plea for advice.
@subjectivity:
Ego is there for a reason. Survival.
If your goal is enlightenment, and not survival, ego may be the enemy.
If your goal is content life, stop being a slave to ego: observe his use and overcome his limitations. This is a hard process, but it is an investment if contented life is really worth it to you, and not a vague wish.
Nobody accomplishes great things, all at once. They just do one little thing at a time, that together add up to great things. Chip away at your attachments gradually, attentively, and mindfully. Look for a part of your life you can improve easily, right away. Your success in small things will help build your confidence and motivate you to move on to bigger things.
As an example, many years ago I kicked caffeine. It seems like no big deal, but it was very liberating. It improved my health and removed one attachment from my life. My success with this drove me to make other changes. Some time later, I finally quit smoking. Not long after that, I decided to stop drinking alcohol.
Every positive choice you make in your life results in positive consequences. Every negative choice results in negative consequences. A big part of the Buddhist path is to simply stop doing things that harm you. It sounds simple, and it is, but that doesn't make it easy.
Every time you remove a negative influence from your life, fill it with a positive one. When you kick a habit, you create a space in your life. That space is a vacuum, and it is going to get filled one way or another. If you just let it be, chances are it will soon be filled by another negative habit, or perhaps the same one all over again. If you fill it mindfully, with something that enriches you, the change is more likely to stick. In any case, removing a negative and replacing it with a positive brings you one step closer to contentment.
Of course, we may become as easily attached to "healthy" things as to "unhealthy" things, but there is a big difference. By becoming more healthful--not only physically, but mentally and spiritually--we create for ourselves a more fertile environment for genuine growth. That is what you should be striving for.
My measure of success is the same every day. "Am I better today than I was yesterday?" This is a simple compass for keeping you on track. When we participate in behavior that harms us and sets us back, we recognize this. Scrutinize your life with an objective eye. Mindfully identify negative influences, and begin phasing them out. Start small and work up to the larger issues.
Every day, we have only three things that we really must deal with. They are mind, body, and spirit. If you carefully nurture these three aspects of yourself, every day, other things will tend to fall into place. You don't have to change everything all at once, but take time to improve yourself every day and you will be amazed at how quickly you progress.
Mind, Body, and Spirit
Learn to control the mind, and stop giving it free reign. Meditation is a wonderful tool for this. Choose carefully what you put into your mind, just as you watch what you put into your body. There is a lot of "mental junk food" we absorb all the time. What we watch on T.V., what we read, the people we talk to, and even our own thoughts can be junk food. Our addiction to mental entertainment runs deep and isn't easily abandoned. For now, don't try to cut yourself off entirely. Just start making more mindful choices. Instead of vegging out on that all-night Rosanne marathon, pick up that new Buddhism book you haven't gotten around to reading yet. Instead of firing up the PlayStation, put on your shoes and go for a walk.
Exercise the body, and nourish it wisely. Avoid harmful foods and substances. Clean it, care for it, and maintain it, as you might care for the house where you live. The body is also the abode of the mind, and the mind will not function to its highest capacity in an unwell body. A healthy diet, lots of water, and daily exercise are essential to the well-being of the body.
Nurture the spirit with whatever you personally consider divine. This can include communing with Nature, appreciating art, music, or poetry, worshiping at a temple or church, or whatever. I find a walk along the beach deeply spiritual. Anything can be a spiritual experience, in the proper mindset. Lighting a stick of incense before an altar is a simple spiritual practice that can be done daily. Whatever "spirit" means to you, and however you choose to express it, nurturing it every day helps develop a reverence for life and appreciation for the greater whole of which we are a part.
The three aspects of mind, body, and spirit, are not really separate. They go together. There are some activities, such as tai chi or yoga, that exercise all three at once. By focusing our attention upon mind, body, and spirit, we are actually practicing the Eightfold Path.
Namaste,
~ AD
RE: S9: Turn your back on the ego (small self), and do not listen to him.
E: Ego is there for a reason. Survival.
S9: Please notice that I said, "Turn your back on the ego." I did not say kill it.
I fully realize that ego is a “much needed tool for survival” within finitude. So, you are quite right.
What you have said is a good reminder, which cannot be said often enough. : ^ )
RE: S9: But, most of all, do not identify with him. He is not you.
E: If your goal is enlightenment, and not survival, ego may be the enemy.
S9: Ego certainly has its proper place, especially when used wisely. However, our “Wrongful Identification” with ego turns it into an enemy of sorts. “Wrongful Identification” with anything, whatsoever, (body, mind, thoughts, concepts, etc.) is the “Mother of Suffering.”
E: This is a hard process.”
Q: All things beautiful are both difficult and rare.” Spinoza
E: It is an investment if contented life is really worth it to you, and not a vague wish.
S9: I just added this line because it was so well said. ; ^ )
I enjoyed your posting,
S9
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
Alright guys you helped me remember the POWER... of water.
It can rend mountains, scar landscape and fill the sky.., not because it's so strong, it's because it works little by little with what it has,
and settles where nothing else would..
Lao Tzu said that water, comes close to the WAY.:-/
We never renounce the ego self all at once. We always do it one thought at a time. So, we must remain ever vigilant, and learn how to enjoy the process. If you do not find a way to enjoy what you are doing, you will surely not continue to do it. Love your path.
Q: Joseph Campbell said, “Follow your bliss.”
Also:
A lot depends upon which direction you are looking in.
If you are looking backwards at your life, and see yourself as giving things up, it will surely feel like you are sacrificing a good deal in order to move ahead on this path. You may even conclude that it is not worth it.
However, if you are looking in the direction in which you are traveling, very often thing will simply start to fall away, and no longer burden you. It will not be long before you see this process as a love affair.
One little trick I use with thoughts is, I ask myself, “How does this make you feel.” If a thought makes me feel bad, I simply toss it. (There are plenty more where that came from.) ; ^ )
It is a myth held dearly these days, mainly by psychological circles, that the way to get rid of an unhealthy thought is to argue with it, or even to study it to death. But, this is certainly not necessary.
Just toss it.
Most unhealthy thoughts are just old memory traces, repeating, or even bad habits that you have long out lived. So, just clean house.
Simplify,
S9
Earlier today I found a discussion regarding a young man who was in the Netherlands and was about to take off on a journey of discovery in Scotland. Can anyone direct me to the proper folder?
I have not been here before...and apologize for bursting in like this....confused....
with nothing interesting to contribute....
Thanks.....or perhaps....
Gassho
VL
Just click on the blue icon with the > and get into the groove.
Your speedy reply is most appreciated.
No sooner did I rush to click upon the blue icon
when the phone rang....
my sister...
and after a conversation of some minutes...
rang again...
my best friend....
All this when the phone has not rung all day.
*pffffft*
I see you are still above ground....
and thus available to direct me....
for which I am humbly grateful.
Gassho
should I wish to learn about the mysterious blue icon
and other features of this intriguing reality....
how would you advise I accomplish that?
VL
I know I said "thank you"
but the Cosmic Glue seems to have devoured my words
and sent them somewhere unknown.
Alas! I say Thank you again.
VL
I enjoyed what you wrote too. You are very sensible.
I am going to talk to you about it, because it is fun to do so, and not because there is anything to disagree with. : ^ )
I believe that some people think that the ego is who they are. They do not realize that it is just a story that they are writing (in their heads) daily as a way to adapt to this world. My name is Joe, they might say. But what is that? Could they not as easily been named something else?
I’m an American. Now there is a trick of fate. Brick by brick, they build this fantasy of a person up, and call it me. Take away their story, or memories of their story, and they are disorientated. Yet, in truth what have they actually lost? Do they not yet remain?
We like to pretend that we are in control. One of the ways that we do this is by pretending that our story is a solid thing. That our story self is a real thing. And that, we can write our selves as being in control, (in our heads) and make it so, just like that. Or that we can define ourselves as powerful in this way, much like we wrote our identity. But thoughts and words are a flimsy building block, and no more substantial than smoke.
At least, that is how I see it.
S9
I have found much of life to be a process of building up and tearing down. When we think of ourselves as static entities, we tend to form attachments through which we identify ourselves. Self-identity is a game we play with ourselves. We only get into trouble when we take the game too seriously.
I've rebuilt myself many times, and each time I learn more about who, or what, I really am. More importantly, I learn what I am not. I'm not what I do. I'm not what I think. I'm certainly not this flesh and blood that moves about the world. Like water, life is always in motion. It is as impossible to define myself as "this" or "that," as it is to step on the same piece of water twice.
~ AD
I get an image of someone plunging their face into cold water to wake themselves up. That can definitely do the job, but there's a point at which you don't need the cold to shock you anymore. There's a point at which you are able to maintain the necessary concentration for practice without seeing hell everywhere. If you went to a Zen master of the more stick-wielding lineages, you'd get some good whacks and some harsh words about how you've developed some sort of sickness where you only see hell.
So, while I understand where you're coming, another way to look at it is that happiness (in the true contentment sense) is not dependent upon conditions. Of course you can no longer get absorbed in simple things like environment shifts, but so what? How big of a story are you making out of your situation and why? I mean 'why?' in a non-dismissive sense. Seriously, you've gotta figure this part out. Resolve it one way or another. That's what the Buddha did. That's the whole damned point that I do what I do.
Anyway, best wishes and I hope your intensity of searching yields significant fruit.
_/\_
A: We do seem to share a similar perspective. I recognize myself in your words.
S9: Don’t you think that is because, basically, we are looking at the very same thing, and describing it?
I found that when I studied the multiple religions of the world, that they were full of diverse opinions, and that we as a consumer of these facts could pick and choose, according to which facts fit our needs at the time, or made us most comfortable in some way.
But, as you followed any of these religions deeper and deeper, with time they all seemed to wander away from divergence, and begin to agree. Much as Aldous Huxley said in his Perennial Philosophy.
You can come at this journey of self-discovery from two angles. You can try to find out who you are, or you can try to find out who you are not.
Because the mind is such an imaginative son-of-a-gun, and create worlds without end, it will probably be more efficient and quick (at least at first) to try to discover who you are not, and drop what is not true.
How?
Easiest way to begin, is to drop anything that doesn’t make you happy. That shows you what isn't a good fit.
"Go with the flow." Taoist
Mr. Found might easily say, “Oh sure, drop my job? Get real!”
So no, I don’t mean that you need to run, on whim, out of the work place penniless. But, like you (AD) have so rightly pointed out, we can always work in that direction.
Or, it is said, we can drop negative addictions, (Put down that donut that you are eating merely for stimulation) and replace it with a positive addiction, like running.
Sure it may feel like "no fun" at the get-go, but soon you will not want to miss a day without your fix on endorphins (The feel good hormone).
A: I have found much of life to be a process of building up and tearing down.
S9: In my early years, when I still believed that happiness was to be found out there (in the world), I made “a Journey to the East” (as many of my generation did. Accept “I went west young man” from Boston to LA.)
I was so sure that my unhappiness had something to do with where I was geographically, and/or old way of doing things. (same old/same old)
However, when I got there, “Lo and behold,” I was already there waiting for me. ; ^ )
Okay, LA wasn’t the answer. So,“ I got on my hobby horse and off I rode,” to Seattle and Oregon, and Huston, and Colorado, and Florida… Okay, I am a slow learner, but I do learn. : ^ )
In other words, everywhere I went, I was there (already) waiting for me. ; ^ ) DAMN!
Q: “I have found the enemy, and he is us.” (At least, the who that I thought I was, anyway.)
A: I've rebuilt myself many times, and each time I learn more about who, or what, I really am. More importantly, I learn what I am not. I'm not what I do. I'm not what I think. I'm certainly not this flesh and blood that moves about the world. Like water, life is always in motion. It is as impossible to define myself as "this" or "that," as it is to step on the same piece of water twice.
S9: Yes, there is great joy to be found in, “Sitting beside the river,” (of life.)
Or as some song lyrics go, “Relax, don’t do it, if you want to come. “ (Come home, that is!) ; ^ )
Peace is our inheritance, so reach out and pick the fruit.
S9
N: There's a point at which you don't need the cold to shock you anymore. There's a point at which you are able to maintain the necessary concentration for practice without seeing hell everywhere.
S9: No one continues to do something if there is no payback in it.
I believe that when we are young, if I can remember back that far, ; ^ ) one of our biggest enemies is boredom. In other words, better hell, than another day of BORING.
Stimulation deprivation hurts, and the worldview that our children, for the most part have inherited from us is deprivation…of life. (Any satisfactory life.)
Some years back, when I worked with the profoundly retarded individuals, we would have to put a football helmet on them as we dressed them for their day. This is because, they would hit their heads on the cement floor until they bled in order to stimulate themselves, finding it preferable to stimulation deprivation (they were not self-starters, and could not keep themselves entertained). What does that tell you?
This is exactly how most of us, more normal types, use negative emotions.
Negative emotions are what we fall back on, when we do not make an effort to self-start. This way of going about our life is nothing more than a bad habit, sure. But do not kid yourself. Negative emotions are addicting, and do come with a pay back all their own, or they wouldn't be so popular.
The lower middle class in the USA are as a general rule, actually PROUD of all of the hard times and pain that they have suffered. They self-define by it. They believe that it has somehow made them noble and special. Just try to take that away from them, if you dare.
Self-definition is a strange bag of worms. ; ^ )
It may not seem so, as you perhaps got lost in my wordy forest of ideas. But, I am agreeing with you.
How I do go on. ; ^ )
Warm Regards,
S9
.