The Problems of the World

-
A few random thoughts and comments....

First, I recently came across this quote from Shantideva amongst my
collection:

"All the joy the world contains is through wishing happiness for others.
All the misery the world contains has come through wanting pleasure for
oneself."

The basic difficulty is selfishness (and that is with a small 's'). But
it's slightly more complicated then that. Let's see if we can't disentangle
it a bit.

1. Our initial idea is to find happiness for ourselves. While in and of
itself there is nothing wrong with that, in too many cases it involves
getting something from someone else or in someway depriving others of
something to do it. For instance, the basic 'necessities' of life are a
given, and under normal circumstances there is plenty to go around.
However, when certain people find that they need more than someone else,
then things go bad. This is in essence the human condition because of a
lack of satisfaction. People want what they don't have.

2. Wanting for oneself versus others also creates that sense of separation
- me versus others. When you want for others, and sincerely find joy in
seeing others happy, it minimizes the sense of 'me'. It begins to create an
identification with the other, expanding your sense of Self. Whatever
shifts the focus of attention from 'I, me, mine' to others - whether that
is extended 'me' (i.e. Family, tribe, nation), or to a Supreme Other -
Godhead, the Divine, etc. will help lessen the attachment and
identification to the individualized self.

3. The endeavor to become awakened comes from a personalized sense of self,
but it is also a recognition that the individualized ego sense is not
happy, and will ultimately never be happy seeking it's own gratification.
So although for many Enlightenment starts as the ultimate Ego-trip, it
actually necessitates the end of the ego. At this point, one can truly do
the most for apparent 'others' because it will not be based on selfish
desire. Here it is most undoubtedly the deepest innate sense of compassion
and expression of natural Love.

Well, that's all for now.

Popular posts from this blog

Touch Starved

-
  What DOES it mean to be human? Virtually everything that you have learned is wrong. It is NOT your fault. The problem is, nearly everything you learn has somebody's agenda behind it, very often the obvious ones of making money, etc., but very often hidden. This is why our western society is so very sick. We are taught about political, social, cultural, gender, and religious correctnesses. We are NOT taught about HUMAN correctness. We are told we should follow the laws of the government, but not the universal laws. We are told we should follow the "correct-ness" laws, but not the human laws. We believe we can make up the human laws. We can not!   The largest organ of the body is the skin. In a grown man, it covers about 19 square feet and weighs about 8 pounds. A piece of skin the size of a quarter contains more than 3 million cells, 100 to 340 sweat glands, 50 nerve endings and 3 feet of blood vessels.  Many people are aware of research done with monkeys no...
Read more

A Deeper Look at Inquiry

-
For years I have spoken on, and written, about Self Inquiry, but I'd like to make a clearer distinction. There are two basic facets of Self Inquiry: 1. The direct recognition of Self, and 2. The letting go, or deconstructing of that which is NOT the Self, specifically, the beliefs. 1. The direct recognition can best be described through the teachings of Ramana (the inquiry "Who am I?) or Nisargadatta's abiding as 'I Am'. The consistent and continuous practice of these methods, point us directly at that which precedes our thoughts and beliefs. It is the discrimination between what is sat and asat, or real and unreal, or permanent and impermanent. The focus of attention is not on the objects of awareness, but on the recognition that You ARE the awareness itself, without bounds or constrictions - formless. Generally, in going through this process, we 'drop' into this recognition, realize our freedom, and for moments, hours, or even days, there is just what I...
Read more

Be As You Are

-
Many people are familiar with the phrase "Be as you are," and many are also familiar with the book of the same name by David Godman, about the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. But how many are really familiar with what it is to Be As You Are? What I'd like you to do for a moment is really explore and investigate the 'feeling' that accompanies being as you are. Right now, be as you are! Now a question might come up of what does this mean, or how do I do that. The real question is how do you NOT do that? How can you not be as you are? Primarily by trying to be something that you're not. I ran into a wonderful quote the other day. It's from the Hasidic tradition featuring Rabbi Zusya. The quote has Rabbi Zusya saying, "When I reach the next world, God will not ask me, 'Why were you not Moses?' Instead, he will ask me, 'Why were you not Zusya?'" This is exactly the problem. Everyone is trying to be a Buddha or a Jesus or an anything ot...
Read more