What if you're missing the purpose?

by journey-on 161 Replies latest jw friends

  • cognizant dissident
    cognizant dissident

    LOL at nvrgnbk! Did you just suggest I score some mind altering substances off tetra and get stoned? I must be killing everyone's buzz with my posts! Hey, Josh is one interesting guy. I love the way his mind works. We pm each other sometimes. He lives a couple of hours away in Vancouver. I'm on Vancouver Island. I can't believe he hasn't commented on this post. Perhaps he is off "relaxing" somewhere?

    While I have tried a few mind-altering substances in my day, I have to say that I think the belief that they are a short cut to enlightenment is a delusion I do not share. Maybe because of my background in healthcare, I think the evidence shows that the potential harm outweighs the potential for any enlightening effects. That being said, I'm not going to narc on anyone who lights up a doobie! lol

    Cog

  • cognizant dissident
    cognizant dissident

    Quietly leaving:

    Most days, I love humanity and nature too, except for on the days when I hate it (often coinciding with PMS days, strangely enough!) This too is awareness of the cycles of life.

    I agree, to be able to question and to ask the right kinds of questions is what keeps us growing in awareness. I am very leery of any claiming to have "found" the answers especially when they are apparent only to a select few, or those who make large donations. lol

    Cog

  • poppers
    poppers

    Hi cog. We can chew on the questions concerning this till the cows come home, but in the end what are we left with? A mystery. So a pertinent question might be, "How will I live life?" Will I live life entangled in egoic needs and demands, subject to the whims of how I currently ineterpret things, or will I live life from a field of open acceptance and surrender, free of demands for things to be this way or that, free of beliefs which tell me that I 'must' believe a particular way or be condemned by an unseen 'god'. If I choose the former my life will continue as it had, filled with fear, filled with thoughts of not being good enough, and filled with struggle with momentary periods of peace interspersed on occassion. If I see through the delusion of that "reality" there is the opportunity to experience a peace which is unshakeable, ever present, and not dependent upon anything. By resting in open awareness there is no longer a need to feel certain about anything - this I know from direct experience. There is complete comfort in no longer "having to know" anything. So the bottom line is this: I can't answer your question, but for me it doesn't really matter; and, knowing what I know, there is no going back - it simply isn't possible.

  • cognizant dissident
    cognizant dissident

    Well poppers, on that we can agree. It is a mystery and none of us really "knows" with certainty the fullness of the mystery. We can but ask questions and speculate. Learning to live in the present moment, accepting of what is, not becoming attached to the outcome, these do make for a peaceful existence and free us from enslavement to meanings and worry about the future. "That", we can experience and "know" right now. "That" IS a wonderful experience of freedom "within" the parameters of being human and all that "is".

    To steal nvrgnbk's handle, I am NEVER going back!

    With love to you all,

    Cog

  • cognizant dissident
    cognizant dissident

    JT: I love it when you call me Coggy!

    There is a very important and compelling ache behind your questions. Isn't what you are asking, simply : "What am I; really; really; really?" I suggest taking the agony of your earnest and sincere desire to want to know -- within. I have experienced that it is just this hunger that is the vehicle that carries us to undeniable realization of what we seek.

    Well sort of. It's more that I don't like the answer I get when I ask the question and go within. This idea of "we are all compost" is not mine. Ram Das says the same thing in a lecture of his on the nature of who we are. My teacher also has said, we are compost. I observe the truth of this every day when I sit on my cushion and meditate, looking out the window observing the cycles of birth and eating and sleeping and sex and death that surround me. Still, I whined, "but I don't want to be compost when I die. I want to be bronzed!" Alas, I have done nothing bronzeworthy of late!

    Coggy

  • Twitch
    Twitch

    Compost? LOL. Reminds me of a song

    The Dust Brothers - "This is your Life"

    And you open the door and you step inside
    Where inside our hearts
    Now imagine your pain as a white ball of healing light
    That's right, your pain
    The pain itself is a white ball of healing light
    I don't think so

    This is your life, good to the last drop
    Doesn't get any better than this
    This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time

    This isn't a seminar, this isn't a weekend retreat
    Where you are now you can't even imagine what the bottom will be like
    Only after disaster can we be resurrected
    It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything
    Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart

    This is your life, this is your life, this is your life, this is your life
    Doesn't get any better than this
    This is your life, this is your life, this is your life, this is your life
    And it and it's ending one-minute at a time

    You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake
    You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else
    We are all part of the same compost heap
    We are the all singing, all dancing, crap of the world

    You are not your bank account
    You are not the clothes you wear
    You are not the contents of your wallet
    You are not your bowel cancer
    You are not your grande latte
    You are not the car you drive
    You are not your fucking khaki's

    You have to give up, you have to give up
    You have to realize that someday you will die
    Until you know that, you are useless

    I say let me never be complete
    I say may I never be content
    I say deliver me from Swedish furniture
    I say deliver me from clever arts
    I say deliver me from clear skin and perfect teeth
    I say you have to give up
    I say evolve, and let the chips fall where they may

    This is your life, this is your life, this is your life, this is your life
    Doesn't get any better than this
    This is your life, this is your life, this is your life, this is your life
    And it and it's ending one-minute at a time

    You have to give up, you have to give up
    I want you to hit me as hard as you can
    I want you to hit me as hard as you can

    Welcome to Fight Club
    If this is your first night, you have to fight

    Fight to stay alive and aware

  • cognizant dissident
    cognizant dissident

    Wow, Twitch! Great song! I think the artist forgot to take his prozac the day he wrote that!

    I say deliver me from Swedish furniture

    Amen to that brother! That is my favorite line, cracked me up. (I really want to keep my double latte, though, it's my drug of choice to get me through the day! ) Deliver me from Starbucks! or is that deliver me TO Starbucks? Hmm. Another duality slide.

    Cog

  • poppers
    poppers

    From cog: "It is a mystery and none of us really "knows" with certainty the fullness of the mystery."

    I'm not sure I would want the mystery to be solved. It seems to me that would deprive life of its wonderment and surprise. By the way, who is your teacher (if you don't mind my asking)?

  • Twitch
    Twitch
    I think the artist forgot to take his prozac the day he wrote that!

    Definitely a soma-free existence

    I like the fight/surrender duality of it. Paradoxes are intriguing, not unlike life itself.

  • poppers
    poppers

    Here is a song that speaks to me.


    "Learn To Be Still"


    ©1994 By Don Henley and Stan Lynch and the Eagles


    It's just another day in paradise
    As you stumble to your bed
    You'd give anything to silence
    Those voices ringing in your head
    You thought you could find happiness
    Just over that green hill
    You thought you would be satisfied
    But you never will-
    Learn to be still

    We are like sheep without a shepherd
    We don't know how to be alone
    So we wander 'round this desert
    And wind up following the wrong gods home
    But the flock cries out for another
    And they keep answering that bell
    And one more starry-eyed messiah
    Meets a violent farewell-
    Learn to be still
    Learn to be still

    Now the flowers in your garden
    They don't smell so sweet
    Maybe you've forgotten
    The heaven lying at your feet

    [Solo]

    There are so many contradictions
    In all these messages we send
    (We keep asking)
    How do I get out of here
    Where do I fit in?
    Though the world is torn and shaken
    Even if your heart is breakin'
    It's waiting for you to awaken
    And someday you will-
    Learn to be still
    Learn to be still

    You just keep on runnin'
    Keep on runnin'

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