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Why do you post?
RichardH
Veteran
This question occurred to me as I passed through yet another cycle of love/hate with online Dharma, there have been too many to count, and it is a good opportunity to watch the mind.
There are a mix of reasons. For me as a self employed artist there is a lot of time in the studio that involves pacing, cleaning brushes, looking at the canvas, followed by short bursts of intense activity. There is alot of time to reflect. My Sangha support on the Theravadin side is practical, emotional, and social. on the Zen side it is structure and discipline with little talk. If the Zen people saw the stuff I go on about online, it would be embarrassing frankly.
So why post... it comes down to a few things.
- Having genuine experience and wanting to share.
- Feeling a certain responsibility for new people.
- The pure egocentric need to correct what I perceive as an error in someone else's understanding.
- A sense of connection with a geographically broad community.
- A sentimental attachment to familiar voices.
- Avoiding practice.
would anyone mind sharing why you post, the circumstances around posting?
Thankyou.
There are a mix of reasons. For me as a self employed artist there is a lot of time in the studio that involves pacing, cleaning brushes, looking at the canvas, followed by short bursts of intense activity. There is alot of time to reflect. My Sangha support on the Theravadin side is practical, emotional, and social. on the Zen side it is structure and discipline with little talk. If the Zen people saw the stuff I go on about online, it would be embarrassing frankly.
So why post... it comes down to a few things.
- Having genuine experience and wanting to share.
- Feeling a certain responsibility for new people.
- The pure egocentric need to correct what I perceive as an error in someone else's understanding.
- A sense of connection with a geographically broad community.
- A sentimental attachment to familiar voices.
- Avoiding practice.
would anyone mind sharing why you post, the circumstances around posting?
Thankyou.
0
Comments
It is also a fun distraction whilst doing research online and waiting for items to download.
- Having genuine experience and wanting to share.
- Feeling a certain responsibility for new people.
but before
- The pure egocentric need to correct what I perceive as an error in someone else's understanding.
My teacher said that lonliness is like a refreshing splash of winter wind or something like that.
But... I still get lonely!
I have like 3 other forums where I post at. Sometimes other people's comments bother me but I've learned not to correct them. Aggression just leads to more aggression... it doesn't matter what form it comes out as. That's Tao.
So I just try to be nice and hopefully someone will be nice to me when I really need some help.
Loneliness plays a part for me. I have family and friends, sangha, but when alone all day in a room with a white square, there is loneliness. You are friends, it's a funny, casual, arms length affair, but the personalities come through, and it is a relationship of a kind. It is sangha. What a strange medium.
Some unwholesome:
- To hear the sound of my own voice
- To try to convince others that I am right, they are wrong
- To pass time/avoid practice
Some wholesome:
- To learn
- To share what I have learnt
- To try to drop wrong views and establish right views
- To practice right speech, right intention, right mindfulness, and right effort
- To encourage others to do the same
I like to think that most of the time my motivation is wholesome, but perhaps a second opinion could shed some light. What do you guys think?
You seem like a pretty balanced guy, grounded in Dhamma, and trying to walk the walk.
- The challenge of listening
- The challenge of not spinning out in anger pride jealousy etc
- Hearing about things I wouldn't otherwise in my readings and sangha
- People: helping, humor, familiarity
- So that people will hear from me if what I say may be worth considering for them
- I'm not ready to meditate on all my spare time and this is closer to the dharma than video games and drinking/brewing beer, my other hobbies
-Sometimes out of boredom.
-To help others along the path as well as myself. I find that when I go and try to explain something to someone else, I also end up explaining it to myself which is quite helpful.
-To learn new things from those that have done academic study as I have never really done that myself.
-To be challenged in practicing right speech.
-To hopefully get smacked down when I propose to know something that I actually don't.
I belong to very similar online communities like this but for Classical Guitar, Ipod Touch fans, and Barefoot Running and I find it's a great way to connect with others of like interests and once I become learned in whatever the focus is I can then provide a bit of insight\advise to others just starting out.
I've done this as far back as 20 years ago when I was into aquariums and posted on news groups back when internet access was all via dialup and text based interfaces.
Since then my interests have matured along the lines of Buddhism, Classical Music and Health (hence the barefoot running)
I like this forum. People here are patient, sensitive and seem to be at a higher level than me. I am becoming less and less nervous to ask a question.
Very true.
Thats a good thing. Only a few of us bite
That, and a feeling of communication and discourse (no matter how digitalized) with people of a like or similar nature.
I think it's important to add that I read far more than I post.
I like to pretend that I may have some tiny inkling of Boddhicitta.
I like the feel of interdependence here at the forum. Think of all those links and where they go!
Some of my most useful posts never get posted. I write the post, look at it, and realise that its not really of benefit to anyone so I click the back arrow and move on (there's no cancel button). That way I learn not to take myself too seriously.
Having said that, when I do post, its probably because I do take myself too seriously, or maybe more like- I do take myself too seriously.
Cheers, WK
Sometimes my posts are meaningless dripple; sometimes they are meant to teach others, but most of the time because I know so little, I come to post whatever comes out of my mind at the time.
And because I live in the Bible Belt and this is the only way I know how to get away from it.
And the only other way I know how to get away from it is to watch Jon Stewart and Bill Maher on TV.
And then there is meditation!!!
Mainly with the motivation of Bodhichitta.
- to seek help from others
- gain larger picture of diversity
- practice
- none of these
Have been trying to pull back from aggressive replies that equate to telling an individual their beliefs are wrong (wrong speech). Progress today, deleted an entire post that would have offended the person it was meant for and many others, prompted by the kind and compassionate post that another had added in the spirit of true selfless compassion. No hold-back from posting my opinions/views when not directed at someone or as part of a debate though (still pretty blunt, but only a standalone opinion that anyone may agree or disagree with as they desire).
It might be to help someone looking for information or the experiences of others.
I also post sometimes because in the West, most dialog on Buddhism either omits Pure Land or misrepresents it, so I post to clarify at least the Jodo Shinshu perspective.
This internet forum has been a great clarifier of "right" and "wrong" and It has taken almost two years of ups and downs to process through this form of interaction. It has been well worth it.
What of my own I would add:
1) First, I'd have to add the pure joy of expression and interacting with others —in other words, just for the fun of it. I do not see this as unproductive time-wasting, but a building up of community, no matter how geographically dispersed we may be.
2) The challenge of trying to communicate my ideas more effectively. This is difficult because 99% of us are very poor listeners and hear the voices in our own heads and not the real thoughts that others express. It can therefore be hard to want to continue posting sometimes, for all of us. However, knowing that everybody is in the same boat in this regard certainly helps.
3) The challenge of opening myself up to humiliation (real humility) by voicing what I feel in the best way I know how, and then being attacked by people who would hold me accountable for every syllable as if I were intending to run on an unsullied record for public office. The second part of this is that sometimes people really are too hot under their collars (which fact I seem to forget about too often —before I speak.).
4) Lastly, but not least, the challenge of speaking out for the right of people to express their ideas freely, so long as they are not laced with falsehood or ill-will towards others. Sometimes, even here on NewBuddhist, people do attempt to silence others by ridicule or unfairly characterizing people's ideas or their loyalties. I, for one, will even allow myself to be made to look quite foolish in the defense of myself from even a small slander. That is because, in my opinion, calling people names is an attempt to abridge their speech by impugning their integrity. Even if someone is 100% deluded (and we're all deluded, to at least some degree), insisting on their incompetence to decide certain questions impedes their freedom of speech. I say let all speak for themselves and let us judge them on the context of their deeds and not their mere words.