21st May 2003
Hiya MOW
Some two cents in
between, for consideration.
If they don't sit
well, ....hit the del key.:-)
My experiences as to what's
real.
That which is an
experience, .........can it ever be real?
As a Taoist come Buddhist I have
to come to understand much about reality.
Understanding
"about" reality,........ may I suggest for your consideration, ...is
not reality.
I of course have a long way to
go before I become enligthened...but I have learned quite a bit.
In the past 3 years I have come
to understand that nothing, not even this statement has inherent independent
existence.
Spot on.
And hence no
understanding, no experience, no realization, ........having an independent
existence, ..........is really of any import.
Everything is the result of
something else. Every thought, action and object is a result of a convergence of
other actions thoughts etc etc etc. Human beings and even clay potts are merely
the convergence of a collection of events that are occurring on the spot at the
same time.
Yes.
Today even Science
acknowledges that there every cause is a universal Cause.
A linear sequential
cause-effect continuum, is a myth.
This is known as Dependent
Origination - everything exists because of something that came before it (and
maybe after it).
For anything to
exist, as it does in the moment, the entire Universe, the entire phenomenality,
had to be what it is, in that moment.
Now this is one level of
reality. There are many others.
There are no levels
of reality.
Yes there are levels
of understanding "about" reality.
And no level of
understanding about reality, is.... reality.
For example, another one is the
common mistake we all make. We waste our time doing fruitless things. We spend
most of our time bidding our time. We produce nothing of any real value.
Hmmmm.
Which pre-supposes
that what is assumed to be "real value" (without that assumption, your
statement does not stand) ,........is actually of some value.
What is
less-than-real, needs the "real" to be assumed as real, isn't it?
Suggest for your
consideration, .........that no matter what you conceive to be of "real
value", .........that will only be another conception of the mind.
And nothing,
absolutely nothing that the mind conceives, is of any value, whatsoever.
Which of course does
not stop the mind to try and make the "real" an object of conception.
I have to admit I was absolutey
shaken by the fact that 99% of what I do is a waste of time.
That 99% is a
"waste of time",....... is a conception of the mind.
That the 1% is not a
"waste of time",......... is another conception of the mind.
Whereas, what is
happening is that,........ what you do, or what you cease to do,
.........whether you
or society judge that action/inaction as "waste of time" or
"profound, exalted stuff", ...
......
"you" could not help but do exactly that, in that given moment.
So what you say!!!! Well take a
look at everything you do....why do you do it?
Suggest an a priori
question could be, do "you" actually do, what you did in the moment?
What is it good for? The truth
is very little in our life has any real value. I realise right now some of you
will jumping up and down saying 'hey the new house and car are my reason for
living' or some such thing...which is really rather pitiful. For most of us our
continued existence is based on what pleasure we can experience next...feeding
our desires...or rather we are a slave to them.
Yes.
For much of humanity,
these are the icons, which serves as the means of self-identity.
Aka what will I be,
without these possessions, without that relationship, without that career
position or societal prestige, without the latched on "spiritual
seeking"
Ok most of this sounds
depressing, granted on the surface it does. If you understand it on one level
(such as reading my comments here) you will not understand at the depth that I
understand it.
For example, Dependent
Origination has helped me understand that I am not able to exist as the human I
am without the help of others. I am dependent on them (and they on me) and I
realise now that I am them.
Suggest, there is no
"I" to be dependant on any "them".
When every thought,
.....every decision (which is a thought), ....every external actualization of
the decision, as an "action", .....every behaviour (which is nothing
but a series of actions), ......
.....is seen to be a
resultant of an Universal Cause, .......
.......when it is
seen that there is no "me" with any sense of volition to do or not to
do, whether it is to scratch your nose or actualize your highest
potential........
...........when this
is clearly apperceived,................. who is the "other" left?
Without a sense of
"me", can there be a sense of "you"?
Thus the old expression, 'if I
help them I help myself and if I hinder them I hinder myself'. Once you start to
grasp Dependent Origination you see the value in having compassion, patient and
tolorence for others.
Again I suggest, ......you do not see a "value" in
compassion, patience, tolerance.
For that is nothing
but a subtle bargain.
In the cessation of
the sense of "me", which is only the sense of separation,
...........the resultant consequence, is a mileu.
A mileu, in which
someone, any one, entering the milieu, ........experiences the benediction of
compassion, ........of love.
There is no
"one", being compassionate, there is no "one" who loves.
They are just flavours of the
milieu, available to both, the entering
"sinner" and the "saint".