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Originally posted by pai mei
Life is not about "safety". It's about "play".
When Yamamoto Gorozaemon went to the priest Tetsugyu in Edo wanting to hear something about Buddhism, Tetsugyo said,
"Buddhism gets rid of the discriminating mind. It is nothing more than this."
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Once a group of ten blind masseuses were traveling together in the mountains, and when they began to pass along the top of a precipice, they all became very cautious, their legs shook, and they were in general struck with terror. Just then the leading man stumbled and fell of the cliff. Those that were left all wailed, "Ahh, ahh I How piteous!" But the masseuse who had fallen veiled up from below, "Don't be afraid. Although I fell, it was nothing. I am now rather at ease. Before falling I kept thinking 'What will I do if I fall?' and there was no end to my anxiety. But now I've settled down. If the rest of you want to be at ease, fall quickly!''
...we identify happiness with the maximum possible insulation from danger, dirt, and discomfort. But of course, this insulation cuts us off even further from the world and, so, exacerbates the separation that is the actual source of the pain.
A saying goes, "Seek not to cover the world in leather—just wear shoes." It is a spiritual cliché that happiness is not to be found by engineering the world so that everything goes your way: such happiness is transient, doomed. But that's the way we act, culturally and individually, much of the time. Someday, everything will be perfect and we'll be able to relax and be happy forever."
To say one should "Follow their heart" evokes romantic notions of meaning and clarity as if the solution to our distressing lives is revealed by simply living by what our heart wants. And this is all well and good as long as heart wants what is good.
But I don't see the heart as a kind master. It lies, wanders, distracts, deludes, blinds, hungers... It too must be bridled otherwise these passions would rule and toss us this way and that. We'd be nothing more than large children. Children, too, live by their heart and have you ever wondered why we never need to teach them to be selfish, violent or deceptive?
Originally posted by monkcaw
Even with the millions of lives that have come and gone through the ages the one thing that doesn't change is the condition of the human heart. And even though a tribe doesn't have a word for "want" I assure you they want nonetheless.
Those who haven't been exposed to the hypocrisies of a "civilized" education react to things naturally, as they happen. It is in the here and now that they are either happy or unhappy, joyful or sad, interested or indifferent. The superiority of pure Indians like these Guajiros was striking. They could outdo us in everything: when they adopted someone, everything they had belonged to him; and when anyone showed them the least attention, they were profoundly moved
The managers of Gulag's islands tell us that the swimmers, crawlers, walkers and fliers spent their lives working in order to eat.
These managers are broadcasting their news too soon. The varied beings haven't all been exterminated yet. You, reader, have only to mingle with them, or just watch them from a distance, to see that their waking lives are filled with dances, games and feasts. Even the hunt, the stalking and feigning and leaping, is not what we call Work, but what we call Fun. The only beings who work are the inmates of Gulag's islands, the zeks.
The zek's ancestors did less work than a corporation owner. They didn't know what work was. They lived in a condition J.J. Rousseau called "the state of nature." Rousseau's term should be brought back into common use. It grates on the nerves of those who, in R. Vaneigem's words, carry cadavers in their mouths. It makes the armor visible. Say "the state of nature" and you'll see the cadavers peer out.
Insist that "freedom" and "the state of nature" are synonyms, and the cadavers will try to bite you. The tame, the domesticated, try to monopolize the word freedom; they'd like to apply it to their own condition. They apply the word "wild" to the free. But it is another public secret that the tame, the domesticated, occasionally become wild but are never free so long as they remain in their pens.
The False Self
We have internalized our masters, which is a well-known psychological response to trauma.
If one thinks with one's heart, should one therefore love with one's head?
Some tribes do not know the meaning of the word "unhappy" or "depressed". They live in the moment and are as happy as they can be.
Originally posted by wylekat
I think I'd die from shock if I ever had someone actually show me love. The truly horrifying thing is... I HAVE shown actual love- and I was met with scorn, laughter, and all out refusal. Those times are past, and I am a much more hardened person for it.
Originally posted by mckyle
Originally posted by maria_stardust
Honestly, if there's anything this world needs more of, it's empathy.
Maria, you hit it right on the head!
A star for you and a flag if I could
and you never know when it can find you...