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Random Thoughts
Topher: Thank you for explaining so clearly what you believe to be true. I understand what you are saying and appreciate the thought and reflection that went into it.
I can see that through our senses, perception and judgements we interpret the world around us, and you might call that creating our own reality. But that we can transcend our survival instincts, our needs and fears as Carl puts it, our basic animal nature and create a reality aligned with spiritual principles sounds a little...umm...unlikely.
I find hard it to believe that we were put here for a purpose--I think we feel that way because of our egos, our own self-importance. Our egos are good, they help us survive, but they get a little carried away. I myself am striving to be more like my labrador retriever.
I can see that through our senses, perception and judgements we interpret the world around us, and you might call that creating our own reality. But that we can transcend our survival instincts, our needs and fears as Carl puts it, our basic animal nature and create a reality aligned with spiritual principles sounds a little...umm...unlikely.
I find hard it to believe that we were put here for a purpose--I think we feel that way because of our egos, our own self-importance. Our egos are good, they help us survive, but they get a little carried away. I myself am striving to be more like my labrador retriever.
Comments
Mostly, we operate in life from a context of "knowing" and it keeps us from discovering what we do not know. If you find your life you will lose it, and if you lose your life you will find it. X always produces not X and visa versa.
I think the problem with discovering that "X always produces not X", (or maybe I would day '1 and 0 produce each other') is that this is counter intuitive. How can 'loss' be 'gain'. It defies common sense, and yet...
So, it takes some actual experience noticing this 'loss' and 'gain' thing to at least nod our head, Mmmm.....perhaps.... Until that day comes, and for the rest of us, '[chref=41]He laughs out loud. If he did not laugh It would be unworthy of being the way.[/chref]' Yet, even when we nod our [chref=43]understanding[/chref] heads, actually 'giving up' is like committing suicide when all you want to do is live.
Well, at least the 'Taoist manual' warns us, "[chref=70]My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, yet no one in the world can understand them or put them into practice. [/chref]"
Yes. And when we see this in one area of life, it doesn't always make a difference in that area of life or carry over to other areas of life. Understanding doesn't necessarily make a difference.
So what you are saying, Carl, is that if one can recognize that threat produces its opposite, safety, security, contentment, I would be able to be okay or at least have some wisdom regarding threat.
I'm not holding my breath!
(In very subjective terms, I'm starting to see how threat can produce its opposite. If I weren't so attached to the little secure world I've created, I wouldn't be threatened. If I didn't feel threatened to begin with, I wouldn't need all the stuff I need to feel secure. Am I getting it?)
That works for me! The deeper we feel it is true in our bones, the more difference it makes. It is not about understanding the words. Anyone can do that; you've made a gametically proper statement. It is experiencing what the words say that brings it home. For example, we can tell a child not to touch the hot pan. He may or may not. Once he burns himself, he feels it... :shock:
Simply put, a true visceral understanding of the utter futility of an expectation (desire, idea, goal) does wonders to [chref=36]shrinken, weaken, and lay it aside[/chref].
That's why I said it was impossible.
How does deep understanding come? Only with age and experience, I suspect.
Perhaps I should have said "knowing" rather than "understanding".
We can know something and recite it but it doesn't necessarily make a difference. However, we can also understand something and reject it or refuse it. In my experience, though, the light gets replaced by darkness and what was once understood, is lost.
Ok, then... If it doesn't make a difference, the knowing isn't true knowing.
If you need to "recite" something, you don't know it. You don't need to "recite" your name, or the fact that you like pizza pie, or hate nats, for example. Thus, unless we have Alzheimers, what is truly known or understood rests at the foundation of consciousness.
I see our 'problem' is that our brain's cortical grey matter (egged on by subcortical limbic brain structures) fondles ideals about how it would like 'reality' to be. Then we huff and puff awhile to make it so. But like bingeing and dieting, it never works because it is a dream.
What is real, on the other hand, impels us to act (or refrain from acting). I call this pseudo free will, because it seems as though we are in control, i.e., thoughts, knowing, feeling and actions are all in sync. But, it is pseudo because we could not do otherwise. Our brains have a mind of their own. Who is in charge? Our brain [chref=65]hoodwinks[/chref] us with the illusion 'I' am! Ha! We are sooooo gullible. And what make a person so gullible? When you tell them something couched in what they want to hear they take the bait, hook, line and sinker.
Anyway, a 'symptom's point of view' simplifies everything: Your actions and feeling tell you what you truly know, who you truly are. The proof is in the pudding, Nature is the cook. All we can do is look at it as honestly as possible... or pretend Santa Claus is coming! Mmmm... am I starting to sound like a broken record? :roll: Oh well, age you know.