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What drive us?
We are drawn to the 'cause and then effect' point of view, as noted in the commentary on chapter 24. This plays a profound, if shadowy, role in daily life so... need I say more? Certainly!
There is nothing wrong with seeing reality with a 'cause and then effect' bias per se. I reckon this bias is instinctive and common to all life forms to some extent, e.g., when a dog steps on a sticker he look for the cause of the pain and removes it if possible. The same goes for the 'sticker' equivalent in a bacterium's life.
Viewed with some [chref=16]impartiality[/chref], however, [chref=14]the shape that has no shape[/chref] looks more like this: every 'effect' is a 'cause'; every 'cause' is an 'effect'. A problem, unique to those who 'think', arises when we cease following the chain of causation and simply settle on some surface 'cause'. In doing so, we paint ourselves into a corner and close the lid on the 'box', thwarting any change to 'think outside the box'. Failing to think outside the box, leads to difficulty. As chapter 71 puts it: '[chref=71]Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty[/chref]'.
In a way, the 'causes' we see become self fulfilling prophesies, and we become our own worst enemy. Only by being [chref=15]hesitant, tentative, murky, and thick[/chref] in our judgements can we ever enter [chref=1]the gateway of the manifold secrets[/chref] as a daily and [chref=23]natural[/chref] way of life. Now that certainly sounds easy [chref=17]enough[/chref] doesn't it?
There is nothing wrong with seeing reality with a 'cause and then effect' bias per se. I reckon this bias is instinctive and common to all life forms to some extent, e.g., when a dog steps on a sticker he look for the cause of the pain and removes it if possible. The same goes for the 'sticker' equivalent in a bacterium's life.
Viewed with some [chref=16]impartiality[/chref], however, [chref=14]the shape that has no shape[/chref] looks more like this: every 'effect' is a 'cause'; every 'cause' is an 'effect'. A problem, unique to those who 'think', arises when we cease following the chain of causation and simply settle on some surface 'cause'. In doing so, we paint ourselves into a corner and close the lid on the 'box', thwarting any change to 'think outside the box'. Failing to think outside the box, leads to difficulty. As chapter 71 puts it: '[chref=71]Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty[/chref]'.
In a way, the 'causes' we see become self fulfilling prophesies, and we become our own worst enemy. Only by being [chref=15]hesitant, tentative, murky, and thick[/chref] in our judgements can we ever enter [chref=1]the gateway of the manifold secrets[/chref] as a daily and [chref=23]natural[/chref] way of life. Now that certainly sounds easy [chref=17]enough[/chref] doesn't it?
Comments
Perhaps, what biologically drives us is the need for pleasure, comfort and security, and we fear pain and loss. With that in mind, the following, if practiced should help us obtain "happiness":
1. Accept change, nothing stays constant.
2. Practice non-attachment, do not attach to pleasure/comfort/security or pain/loss. You need to let things go.
3. Everything is connected or networked together, therefore practice non-duality. We need to get above pleasure/comfort/security and pain/loss.
4. Practice ‘egolessness’, it is our own ego that is causing the need for pleasure/comfort/security and the ‘fear’ of pain/loss.
5. Be in the NOW! If we are in the NOW pleasure/comfort/security and pain/loss disappear.
6. Minimize/eliminate our desires/lust and what is driving us will also be minimized/eliminated.
Cheers,
Allandnone
All you say works for me except for one tiny hitch - these all require freewill to put into practice! Perhaps that is why chapter 70 says, [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] Lord knows I tried mightily at one point in my life to do what you suggest. Oddly enough, I actually made 'progress' after I realized my failure and gave up trying. In a way, totally letting go of what I wanted made space to have what I wanted. Well, of course. How else could it be? For, [chref=36]if you would take from a thing, you must first give to it.[/chref]
We can only have what we give up. Oh the irony!
it is nice to back on your web-site.
Free will, wow! Philosphers today are still arguing about free-will. I am thinking about the young man that just killed over 30 people and wounded many others. Did he have Free Will? He shoot many people and himself. This was a deliberate act of agression. Was this free will in action?
Your concluion of free will perhaps suggests what happened "....
The real force here is biologically-based need! We can not freely choose our core instincts, like the need for fairness, which foreshadow our conscious desires. At best, we choose between the various conflicting forces we feel, e.g., selfish vs. altruistic, fight vs. flight, binge vs. purge, love vs. hate etc., with the strongest need commanding our attention and controlling our action. Clearly, instinct-based need, in concert with circumstances and experience, determines the course of our lives. 'Free will', or rather, 'wise will' is not part of our genome, nor can we learn or teach it. We simply earn it as we stumble through life, fall down, pause, ponder and remember what really makes us happy."
The killings at Virgina Tech today has created tremedous saddenness throughout our society, and especially all families and students invovled. We probably will never know what the killers "strongest need" was. He probably did not even know himself what that subconscious need was.
Fundamentally I'd say he was feeling the deepest internal isolating emotion pain imaginable. His actions are merely a symptom - a reflection - of what was within him. And, as the Jesus pointed out, "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit."
And certainly, a tree does not choose whether to be 'good' or 'corrupt'. Neither do people! Of course, [chref=46]there is no crime greater than having too many desires[/chref]. Alas, 'too many desires' arise when we are not content. Only when we [chref=44]know contentment[/chref] are we able to [chref=32]know that it is time to stop[/chref].
How does one choose to feel inner peace and contentment? In the end, [chref=73]heaven hates what it hates, who knows the reason why?[/chref] I suppose it sucks feeling so helpless... until we give up and [chref=21]follow the way and the way only[/chref].