Cleaving to Things

Carl

Silly me. I thought he was going to end up with same mountains just relocated. Good story.

I'm taking my shovel to Fun Mountain. Care to join me?

Carl

Andy and I discussed Buddha's Second Noble Truth awhile ago (well, probably a couple of years ago). He took exception to some of the wording - especially, "the illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things". His issue was that "cleave" has two meanings, stick fast to and split.

Pondering while soaking in the hot tub last night brought me back to this discussion. Ah ha, I thought! ...

Before we can have something on which to "cleave", we need to "cleave" a chunk out [chref=37]of the nameless uncarved block[/chref]. Any stream of thought which ends with favoritism is symptomatic of this emotional process. Here, our own needs and fears do the "cleaving"; first comes the splitting, then comes the sticking.

Can we cease doing this? I suppose those with free will can... For the rest of us [chref=39]'hapless' [/chref] little animals, just realizing that this is going on within us helps take some of the steam out of these illusions - if not delusions - of [chref=79]favoritism[/chref]. If we are mindful enough of what is happening, we can [chref=64]deal with the situation before symptoms develop[/chref]. Not out of 'free choice' mind you, but out of necessity. This is no different from being mindful that fire burns. When you are, you just naturally avoid putting your hands in the flame.