An Observation About Life

by JamesThomas 86 Replies latest jw friends

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  stillajwexelder

  are you really alive or just a figment of your own imagination?
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  jst2laws

  Tetropod,

  i guess i have always been afraid of letting myself go

  That's it. Fear. And if you are intellectual you fear being a fool to 'experience' rather than being . . . well . . Rene DesCartes comes to mind.

  Codeblue,

  Knowing you a little, you might go to the library and check out The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. He will give you an introduction to this thinking and maybe help you personally.

  Steve
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  EvilForce

  Code...I'm afraid it's not that easy my young lotus flower.....
  
  Each must find their own path.
  
  That's what makes it so darn hard :)
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  codeblue

  Jst2laws: I have the "Power of Now" and already told JT I stopped halfway and couldn't perceive how to do "it".....lol...don't laugh.... I told him in a previous post how I need to maybe reread that book.

  Evil: GEEZ...give a young flower a break...I need help!!!!!!!!! (lol) for real
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  poppers

  Code,
  
  Forgive me for jumping in on your question to evil. 'Process' implies that one must 'do' certain things to achieve something which one believes one doesn't already have. Enlightenment/awakening are words which simply point to a reality which is already here but is unnoticed. It remains unnoticed because attention is fixated on the phenomena which arise within awareness. When awareness itself is noticed awakening is realized. It's not that something must be added to or taken away for it to happen, only for awareness to fall back onto itself. Remaining present to what is clears away that which obscures the 'view' of awareness.
  
  Ignorance of awareness is what keeps one trapped in delusion. By ignorance I am not referring to an intellectual deficiency or misunderstanding, but rather to ignoring what is present - to not see what is already here. It has nothing to do with the mind, but with that in which the mind arises. Awareness is always here and never changes; that's why it goes unnoticed, because it stands out in no way because it is silent, clear, and unmoving. Mind is more interested in activity, noise, and change. But, if not for the still silent awareness underneath, activity, noise, and change would not stand out in contrast.
  
  Mind has come to believe that peace, fufillment, and happiness lie in that which changes, in something outside oneself - in a relationship, career, knowledge, position, wealth and so on. All of these, however, by nature change and therefore can never give lasting peace and happiness. Only that which never changes can be the source of unconditional peace and happiness, and the only thing which never changes is what you truly are - pure awareness. That is what you are and when all beliefs, judgments, and labels drop away that is what is discovered.
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  JamesThomas

  I care for a small farm and stop by the computer here and there. Right now I have but a moment to give and would like to comment on what several have said, however I'll just hit one for right now, and hopefully I will have time later.

  CodeBlue ask of EvilForce: "what does it take to get to the "enlightenment process"...can you give me the code".

  The clue, the "code" is right here in the question. What is "enlightenment"? It's a word that the mind has created to designate something, or someplace that we're supposedly not. The word "enlightenment" gives us something to discuss and think about. It's a distraction, is all.

  Just notice how we habitually step into intellectualizing everything. Stop doing that! Unless it is absolutely necessary to think and give mental commentary, be still! Breath. Consciously feel what it is to breath. As soon as you notice the mind doing it's thing again, stop. Breath. Consciously breath. Be aware of what it feels like to exist in this moment.

  Forget "enlightenment". Breath. Be present. Be open. Be here. Just be. All the rest happens within this fertile awareness of the moment. Perhaps the problem is, is that it's too simple. But don't think about how simple or hard it is. Breath!

  All we are after here is what we truly already are. So it's not about acquiring or about getting from point A, to point B. It's just about seeing what is here already. This happens in being, in being present, in being quietly kind and attentive to right here, right now. It is within this conscious openness that magic happens.

  j
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  JamesThomas

  Hey Poppers, I love this dance.

  I love how you express. Thank you.

  j
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  poppers

  'are you really alive or just a figment of your own imagination?'
  
  What you believe yourself to be is a figment of your imagination. To believe in that is to live a life of bondage. What lies beneath the imagination is the source of life itself. In the rediscovery of that is to live a life of freedom and peace.
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  poppers

  Hey JT,

  The cosmic dance is a gas, isn't it? Thanks for starting a great thread.

  poppers
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  JAVA

  :: I mean, if we are not with Life right now, then we may not be very much alive, and it would make sense we feel a need to create a future life in heaven. ::
  
  JT, I find the above suggestion about the need to develope a concept of after life interesting. I believe folks that have the least have the greatest need to focus on heaven because the present is bleak and unpleasant. The higher we climb Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs, the more we can stop and focus on the leaf, the water, and still the chatter to experience the now. Maybe heaven is a defence mechanism of sorts to get by the unpleasantness of the now for many people.
  
  Just getting to the top of Maslow's ladder doesn't in itself mean one is alive to the Life right now. Money, how to keep it, and get more of it, becomes the other heaven.
  
  I'm approaching this from a sociological point of discussion, not from transcendentalism. I appreciate this post, and your observations. Thanks JT!