Chimpanzees have no thinking mind. They don’t create religions or ideologies and they don’t worry about tomorrow. They live in the now.
Human beings have a thinking mind. We have a language. We talk and we think. We create theories. We invent religions and ideologies and we worry about the future. We are rarely in the here and now. We are almost always somewhere else.
Buddhist mindfullness meditation practice is about practicing being in the now. When the mind drifts off into the future or in to other dream worlds it is gently pulled back.
Eckhart Tolle claims that no meditation practice is necessary. The thinking mind simply calms down and falls silent after the awakening and there is nothing we can do in order to wake up. Awakening is spontaneous when the time is right. It’s like when we are waking up in the morning from a nightmare.
So the question is, is spiritual awakening about to silence the gibbering mind or is it that the mind becomes silent by itself? Is spiritual awakening to return to an animal way of looking at things, to be conscious without thoughts?
Friday, May 6, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
“If God does not exist everything is permitted.”
Inquisition trials and torture cambers.
Witch hunts.
Dreadful religious war.
Slave trade and colonialism.
Repression of women and children.
Child abuse.
Child spanking.
Oppression.
Support of oppressors, dictators and greedy capitalists.
Hypocrisy.
Lies.
Witch hunts.
Dreadful religious war.
Slave trade and colonialism.
Repression of women and children.
Child abuse.
Child spanking.
Oppression.
Support of oppressors, dictators and greedy capitalists.
Hypocrisy.
Lies.
Monday, April 4, 2011
God
Who or what is God, do you think? Is he like a father or is she like a mother? And what kind of father is he like, if he’s like a father? Is he like a drunkard or is he like a psychopathic CEO?
What kind of person is he? Is he like a mad and hard-to-please dictator? Is he made out of imagination? Is he made out of flesh and blood or is he made out of spirit?
What is spirit? What does spirit consist of? What do you think? Is spirit made out of the same substance as imagination or fantasy?
When you look at all the suffering in the world, do you think of it as created by a good God for some kind of weird reason?
And what kind of mother is she like, if she's like a mother, is she like the goddess Kali or is she more like Margaret Thatcher? What do you think?
And if you don’t believe in God, what kind of God is it that you don’t believe in, a God made out of spirit or a God made out of flesh and blood?
There are so many different ideas about who or what God is. What do you think? Remember that only your thoughts are real.
What kind of person is he? Is he like a mad and hard-to-please dictator? Is he made out of imagination? Is he made out of flesh and blood or is he made out of spirit?
What is spirit? What does spirit consist of? What do you think? Is spirit made out of the same substance as imagination or fantasy?
When you look at all the suffering in the world, do you think of it as created by a good God for some kind of weird reason?
And what kind of mother is she like, if she's like a mother, is she like the goddess Kali or is she more like Margaret Thatcher? What do you think?
And if you don’t believe in God, what kind of God is it that you don’t believe in, a God made out of spirit or a God made out of flesh and blood?
There are so many different ideas about who or what God is. What do you think? Remember that only your thoughts are real.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
You are not the one you think you are.
You are not crazy, but your ideas are crazy.
You, and your ideas about yourself and the world,
are not the same thing.
You, and your ideas about yourself and the world,
are not the same thing.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Abusive and controlling relationships
It happens sometimes that a woman finds herself trapped in an abusive and controlling relationship and for various reasons, she is not able to leave her tormentor.
Some people are, in a similar way, captured by a mean ego, which they're not able to drop. They're holding on to an outdated and dysfunctional philosophy of life. They're trapped in an abusive and controlling relationship with their own thinking mind.
For example, to some people it's very important to be good looking, smart and successful and to have good looking and successful children. They disdain losers. If they stubbornly hold on to such ideas when they no longer are good looking and successful, they will of course have problems with themselves, especially if also their children fail.
Some people are, in a similar way, captured by a mean ego, which they're not able to drop. They're holding on to an outdated and dysfunctional philosophy of life. They're trapped in an abusive and controlling relationship with their own thinking mind.
For example, to some people it's very important to be good looking, smart and successful and to have good looking and successful children. They disdain losers. If they stubbornly hold on to such ideas when they no longer are good looking and successful, they will of course have problems with themselves, especially if also their children fail.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Bullshit
I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe that any part of me will live on after my death. I don’t believe in heaven or hell. I don’t believe in reincarnation.
I believe that the soul and the spiritual realm are fantasies. I believe that all priests, gurus, mullahs, preachers and spiritual teachers are deluded. Some of them are also liars who don’t even believe in their own teachings.
I don’t believe that we will ever wake up from our dream worlds and begin to take care of each other and this planet. I believe that we’re mad and that there is no cure for this madness.
In fact, I believe that madness, bullshit, lies and delusions are what characterizes us, all of us, not just priests and politicians.
I believe that if we got rid of all the bullshit, all the fantasies, lies and delusions, we would simply be an animal species among all the other animal species.
I believe that there is no meaning with life, if we don’t invent one.
I don’t mind if you believe in God. I don’t mind if you believe in Santa Claus or fairies. I don’t mind if you believe in a free market capitalism and the invisible hand. I don’t mind if you believe that we can change. We are all swimming in one delusion or another, one mud pool or another. I have my beliefs and you have yours. I accept your religion, beliefs and opinions, as long as you don’t create too much problems for other people, as long as you don’t start fussing and fighting.
We all have to find something that makes life worth living. It doesn’t matter if what we find is a delusion. Without delusions and bullshit, many people can't find any reason at all to live.
I believe that the soul and the spiritual realm are fantasies. I believe that all priests, gurus, mullahs, preachers and spiritual teachers are deluded. Some of them are also liars who don’t even believe in their own teachings.
I don’t believe that we will ever wake up from our dream worlds and begin to take care of each other and this planet. I believe that we’re mad and that there is no cure for this madness.
In fact, I believe that madness, bullshit, lies and delusions are what characterizes us, all of us, not just priests and politicians.
I believe that if we got rid of all the bullshit, all the fantasies, lies and delusions, we would simply be an animal species among all the other animal species.
I believe that there is no meaning with life, if we don’t invent one.
I don’t mind if you believe in God. I don’t mind if you believe in Santa Claus or fairies. I don’t mind if you believe in a free market capitalism and the invisible hand. I don’t mind if you believe that we can change. We are all swimming in one delusion or another, one mud pool or another. I have my beliefs and you have yours. I accept your religion, beliefs and opinions, as long as you don’t create too much problems for other people, as long as you don’t start fussing and fighting.
We all have to find something that makes life worth living. It doesn’t matter if what we find is a delusion. Without delusions and bullshit, many people can't find any reason at all to live.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Dollar junkies
The Germans were bewitched by Nazism in the nineteen thirties and forties. They were never able to brake the spell. Others had to brake it for them.
Today people in the western world are bewitched by an ideology called neo-liberalism. And exactly like the Germans in the nineteen thirties, people of today are totally unaware of the fact that they are hypnotized. They are not able to see that this desperate craving for more and more money is ruining this planet. They are mad for more money. They are desperate for more even if they have billions of dollars. They are like drug addicts. They are dollar junkies.
Ok, many people are not totally mad after more money, they’re quite satisfied with life because daddy takes care of them and many accept the idea that those who are mad after more money should be honored because they are so successful, create jobs and have such wonderful houses and such pretty wives.
The working class is as crazy as the upper class for more money, but the difference is that they don’t get hold of any. What they can get is perhaps a loan or a flat screen TV on installment.
Religious fanatics are of course also bewitched and so are the neurotics. The religious people are possessed by their various dogmas and beliefs and the neurotics are possessed by unconscious ideas that something is wrong with them.
Are you also under a spell? What do you think? Are all people bewitched, brainwashed, indoctrinated or hypnotized in one way or another? What do you say? What have they made you think that you are? Do you have any idea? What have they made you think that life is all about? Do you think it is possible to wake up from this magic spell?
(Neo-conservativeism is neo-liberalism with nationalism and religion added.)
Today people in the western world are bewitched by an ideology called neo-liberalism. And exactly like the Germans in the nineteen thirties, people of today are totally unaware of the fact that they are hypnotized. They are not able to see that this desperate craving for more and more money is ruining this planet. They are mad for more money. They are desperate for more even if they have billions of dollars. They are like drug addicts. They are dollar junkies.
Ok, many people are not totally mad after more money, they’re quite satisfied with life because daddy takes care of them and many accept the idea that those who are mad after more money should be honored because they are so successful, create jobs and have such wonderful houses and such pretty wives.
The working class is as crazy as the upper class for more money, but the difference is that they don’t get hold of any. What they can get is perhaps a loan or a flat screen TV on installment.
Religious fanatics are of course also bewitched and so are the neurotics. The religious people are possessed by their various dogmas and beliefs and the neurotics are possessed by unconscious ideas that something is wrong with them.
Are you also under a spell? What do you think? Are all people bewitched, brainwashed, indoctrinated or hypnotized in one way or another? What do you say? What have they made you think that you are? Do you have any idea? What have they made you think that life is all about? Do you think it is possible to wake up from this magic spell?
(Neo-conservativeism is neo-liberalism with nationalism and religion added.)
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