Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Thoughts are not just thoughts. Thoughts are magic spells that can make you deeply religious or deeply non religious. Thoughts can turn you into a right winger or into a left winger. Thoughts can turn you into a neo Nazi. Thoughts can drive you crazy.
Thoughts can make you miserable and depressed and they can make you laugh. But what are thoughts, really? What do they consist of? What would we be without them? Is the thinker also a thought?
Be kind to your mind. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to your ego. Be kind to others. We are all in the same boat. Our planet is like a leaking ocean liner with a fire in the cargo hold.
Sometimes the ego is not like a nagging mother or a disturbing wino; sometimes it is more like a fascist schoolteacher or even like a merciless dictator in some banana republic. Then you’re in hot water. Such guys don’t want to hear that they are nothing but thoughts, that they are nothing but fantasies. They are like real. You have spread yourself thin to please them.
Some people believe that life is a competition, that life is about to win or loose. Some believe that life is a waiting room. They are waiting and waiting to get in to the doctor. In the mean time they are reading magazines.
Some people are not even aware of that they are very unhappy. They believe that they are filled with enthusiasm.
Everyone is telling everyone else how to think and what to believe and how to look at things. We are all like religious founders.
Some people are rich but inwardly dull and empty, sometimes also evil. They have nothing but money. To hide their inner emptiness and evil they spend money on charity. They can also go to church on Sundays and put on warm smiles, like politicians. In that way no one can complain about them.
“All the world’s a stage. And all the men and women merely players…” What if the actors. one after another, suddenly got bored with the play and took of their costumes and left the theater.
What if you tried to get to know yourself better, and you discovered that you where an egoistic, false and oily idiot. What would you do?
Thoughts can make you miserable and depressed and they can make you laugh. But what are thoughts, really? What do they consist of? What would we be without them? Is the thinker also a thought?
Be kind to your mind. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to your ego. Be kind to others. We are all in the same boat. Our planet is like a leaking ocean liner with a fire in the cargo hold.
Sometimes the ego is not like a nagging mother or a disturbing wino; sometimes it is more like a fascist schoolteacher or even like a merciless dictator in some banana republic. Then you’re in hot water. Such guys don’t want to hear that they are nothing but thoughts, that they are nothing but fantasies. They are like real. You have spread yourself thin to please them.
Some people believe that life is a competition, that life is about to win or loose. Some believe that life is a waiting room. They are waiting and waiting to get in to the doctor. In the mean time they are reading magazines.
Some people are not even aware of that they are very unhappy. They believe that they are filled with enthusiasm.
Everyone is telling everyone else how to think and what to believe and how to look at things. We are all like religious founders.
Some people are rich but inwardly dull and empty, sometimes also evil. They have nothing but money. To hide their inner emptiness and evil they spend money on charity. They can also go to church on Sundays and put on warm smiles, like politicians. In that way no one can complain about them.
“All the world’s a stage. And all the men and women merely players…” What if the actors. one after another, suddenly got bored with the play and took of their costumes and left the theater.
What if you tried to get to know yourself better, and you discovered that you where an egoistic, false and oily idiot. What would you do?
Sunday, March 30, 2008
I'm not sure if I agree with Eckhart to 100%. This is my idea of ego:
A man without an ego is like a car without a driver. The driver can be drunk or crazy or full of hatred, but he can also be reasonably relaxed. The ego is nothing you can get rid of, but it is possible to calm down. It is possible to realize that most thoughts, opinions, beliefs, likes and dislikes are nothing but misapprehensions.
Yes, the ego might be a bunch of conditioned responses and in a sense an optical illusion but still, what would you be without it? Where would you go? Would you like to stay in bed for the rest of your life? Someone has to drive the car. Someone has to pick up the kids from school and buy groceries or whatever.
The delusions are like a manuscript to a tragedy. We have always been driven by delusions. When we wake up and realize that the delusions was nothing but delusions, that the play was just a play, we get disillusioned. What will now take us anywhere? Who will now come up with new ideas and make up new plans? I think we need to realize that we need the ego, it may be an illusory ego, it may have been conditioned in a dysfunctional family in a dysfunctional culture, but without it we have nothing. We need the delusions, the matter is what delusions and what manuscripts.
The play is over. We are leaving the theater and stream out to the streets. Tomorrow we are back to work again, caught up in traffic jams and worries about bills we need to pay and lazy workmates. This is life as it is. Welcome to the reality.
*
What if we blow this little planet to pieces in a nuclear war.
What would the reality be like if no one was there to perceive it? There wouldn’t be any colors and not any sounds. It wouldn’t be hot or cold, good or bad. Just an endless empty space without any quality at all. Isn’t that an interesting thought? We are creating this world with our senses.
*
The voice in my head can sometimes be immensely nagging, going on and on about something; sometimes like a nagging mother, sometimes like a wino in a commuter train. Shut up for Christ’s sake, I want to get lost in my book! Yap,yap,yap…
What the hell to do? How do you deal with a nagging inner voice? How do you deal with talkative winos in commuter trains when you want to read your book in peace?
A man without an ego is like a car without a driver. The driver can be drunk or crazy or full of hatred, but he can also be reasonably relaxed. The ego is nothing you can get rid of, but it is possible to calm down. It is possible to realize that most thoughts, opinions, beliefs, likes and dislikes are nothing but misapprehensions.
Yes, the ego might be a bunch of conditioned responses and in a sense an optical illusion but still, what would you be without it? Where would you go? Would you like to stay in bed for the rest of your life? Someone has to drive the car. Someone has to pick up the kids from school and buy groceries or whatever.
The delusions are like a manuscript to a tragedy. We have always been driven by delusions. When we wake up and realize that the delusions was nothing but delusions, that the play was just a play, we get disillusioned. What will now take us anywhere? Who will now come up with new ideas and make up new plans? I think we need to realize that we need the ego, it may be an illusory ego, it may have been conditioned in a dysfunctional family in a dysfunctional culture, but without it we have nothing. We need the delusions, the matter is what delusions and what manuscripts.
The play is over. We are leaving the theater and stream out to the streets. Tomorrow we are back to work again, caught up in traffic jams and worries about bills we need to pay and lazy workmates. This is life as it is. Welcome to the reality.
*
What if we blow this little planet to pieces in a nuclear war.
What would the reality be like if no one was there to perceive it? There wouldn’t be any colors and not any sounds. It wouldn’t be hot or cold, good or bad. Just an endless empty space without any quality at all. Isn’t that an interesting thought? We are creating this world with our senses.
*
The voice in my head can sometimes be immensely nagging, going on and on about something; sometimes like a nagging mother, sometimes like a wino in a commuter train. Shut up for Christ’s sake, I want to get lost in my book! Yap,yap,yap…
What the hell to do? How do you deal with a nagging inner voice? How do you deal with talkative winos in commuter trains when you want to read your book in peace?
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Many people go to Thailand for a two week holiday trip, also many families. It is a wonderful country. The Thai people are nice and friendly, the climate is pleasant and the beeches are excellent.
But the family tourists are rarely aware of the Thai prostitution industry. They don’t know that children are sold to western weirdo’s and they don't know about the extent of that business. Their level of awareness is often very low. They don’t see anything; they don’t hear anything, so they don’t have anything to say about it. They are happy. They are charging their batteries.
Most people are not aware of the fact that the chocolate they enjoy so much is produced by slaves in West Africa. Kids are kidnapped and forced to work in the cocoa plantations. Slavery never came to an end. I read recently that about 27 million people are kept as slaves in the world today.
Many people are not aware of that the clothes they wear and the toys their kids play with are made by children that work under horrible conditions in Asian sweat shops.Also adults are forced to work under horrible slavery like conditions.
Well, we're happy to get good bargains and in order to stay happy we have to make ourselves unaware. We have to numb ourselves. Alcohol, drugs, endless TV nights, anything goes; exercise, dieting, hobbies. Why not try gardening? And if nothing else works we have to construct rationalizations. "It is good for them to find employment, isn't it? Otherwise they would starve. They should be thankful to us."
Why do I bring this up? Doesn’t all the horrors belong to the old world? Why not simply leave the old world behind and wake up to a new world? Yes, why not! It is a brand new day today.
But the family tourists are rarely aware of the Thai prostitution industry. They don’t know that children are sold to western weirdo’s and they don't know about the extent of that business. Their level of awareness is often very low. They don’t see anything; they don’t hear anything, so they don’t have anything to say about it. They are happy. They are charging their batteries.
Most people are not aware of the fact that the chocolate they enjoy so much is produced by slaves in West Africa. Kids are kidnapped and forced to work in the cocoa plantations. Slavery never came to an end. I read recently that about 27 million people are kept as slaves in the world today.
Many people are not aware of that the clothes they wear and the toys their kids play with are made by children that work under horrible conditions in Asian sweat shops.Also adults are forced to work under horrible slavery like conditions.
Well, we're happy to get good bargains and in order to stay happy we have to make ourselves unaware. We have to numb ourselves. Alcohol, drugs, endless TV nights, anything goes; exercise, dieting, hobbies. Why not try gardening? And if nothing else works we have to construct rationalizations. "It is good for them to find employment, isn't it? Otherwise they would starve. They should be thankful to us."
Why do I bring this up? Doesn’t all the horrors belong to the old world? Why not simply leave the old world behind and wake up to a new world? Yes, why not! It is a brand new day today.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Human beings are created with a free will. If the free will is not used it will atrophy, like muscles. Muscles that are not used begin to atrophy within a few weeks, for example when a leg is in a cast.
This applies also to attention and awareness. If you are habitually inattentive and unaware you will lose those abilities. And you might lose them for good. It is terrible. You might end up in mire for the rest of your life.
Christians are deeply convinced that Hindus say their prayers to illusory Gods. Muslims believe that the Gods animists pray to are but fantasies. Most people believe that people of other faiths are misled. Introverted people think that extroverted people try to escape reality and extroverted people think the same about the introverted. Right wingers think that left wingers are jerks. Everybody seems to know everything. Isn’t it amazing? Not many people say that they really don’t have a clue about anything.
What if the God you pray to doesn't exist!
What if also you have got it all wrong.
What if also you have been deceived and misguided.
You don’t tell all the details to a child about how grandmother died. You don’t tell about what happened when you had to kill the cat. You just say: “Grandmother and the cat have gone to heaven now.”
It makes things easier.
This applies also to attention and awareness. If you are habitually inattentive and unaware you will lose those abilities. And you might lose them for good. It is terrible. You might end up in mire for the rest of your life.
Christians are deeply convinced that Hindus say their prayers to illusory Gods. Muslims believe that the Gods animists pray to are but fantasies. Most people believe that people of other faiths are misled. Introverted people think that extroverted people try to escape reality and extroverted people think the same about the introverted. Right wingers think that left wingers are jerks. Everybody seems to know everything. Isn’t it amazing? Not many people say that they really don’t have a clue about anything.
What if the God you pray to doesn't exist!
What if also you have got it all wrong.
What if also you have been deceived and misguided.
You don’t tell all the details to a child about how grandmother died. You don’t tell about what happened when you had to kill the cat. You just say: “Grandmother and the cat have gone to heaven now.”
It makes things easier.
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