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Justifying agendas with buddhism
NamelessRiver
Veteran
Hello people! Long time no see! 
I was listening to this talk the other day and the guy said something like "One cannot be what one should be merely by closing one's eyes to what one is". For me that represents the normal workings of our being though, closing our eyes for what we really are, or even how other things really are. (Can you perceive other truthfully when you can't stand to take a good look at yourself?)
It is odd though, to perceive that people justify all sorts of absurd behaviors, even with Buddhism. It is like it gets turned into a wonderful mechanism of denial: you read the sutras, you (or me :-P) think they mean this or that (something agreeable), you ignore the part you don't like and you justify your behavior. Or maybe you behave one way when you are "in a buddhist mode", long enough to free yourself from some guilt or whatever, then you go on "normal mode" and start doing whatever unethic behavior you are usually engaged into. Sometimes one can judge other people through a buddhist lens just to make oneself look better.
It seems to me that falling in that kind of trap makes all the work one puts into buddhism null, because you are just justifying your misunderstandings.
How do you get over this kind of trap? It is quite tricky because if you think about it, considering that our minds are deluded, the mind that practices the buddhist path is also filled with delusion. Any thoughts?
I was listening to this talk the other day and the guy said something like "One cannot be what one should be merely by closing one's eyes to what one is". For me that represents the normal workings of our being though, closing our eyes for what we really are, or even how other things really are. (Can you perceive other truthfully when you can't stand to take a good look at yourself?)
It is odd though, to perceive that people justify all sorts of absurd behaviors, even with Buddhism. It is like it gets turned into a wonderful mechanism of denial: you read the sutras, you (or me :-P) think they mean this or that (something agreeable), you ignore the part you don't like and you justify your behavior. Or maybe you behave one way when you are "in a buddhist mode", long enough to free yourself from some guilt or whatever, then you go on "normal mode" and start doing whatever unethic behavior you are usually engaged into. Sometimes one can judge other people through a buddhist lens just to make oneself look better.
It seems to me that falling in that kind of trap makes all the work one puts into buddhism null, because you are just justifying your misunderstandings.
How do you get over this kind of trap? It is quite tricky because if you think about it, considering that our minds are deluded, the mind that practices the buddhist path is also filled with delusion. Any thoughts?
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For example we see that the drink or outburst of anger or whatever does NOT deliver what it promises and instead disempowers us.
That just made me think of something. Does the body remember?
We remember sequences of actions and improve as we perform them.
In meditation, does the body play a part in remembering the positive and negative exsperiences, so that we are better able to improve and feel even better?
There is also the more on-topic consideration which is the effect our state of mind has on our comfort and health. Does stress really raise cholesterol, does positive thinking help with recovery from operations of tumours?
After all, we do have a 'second brain' controlling our gut which does its own thing - or does it? IBS sufferers would say not, I'm sure.