tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661720134805378340.post292185075457830602..comments2024-01-20T09:26:50.881-08:00Comments on Bingo, I did it again!: How much shit is one disposed to swallow to see his dream come truth?wouldnt care lesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10283005311401921261noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661720134805378340.post-78544908175630624152010-10-18T18:08:34.881-07:002010-10-18T18:08:34.881-07:00Emil,
You’ve asked a key and fundamental question...Emil,<br /><br />You’ve asked a key and fundamental question.<br /><br />First, I want to say that this is a type of magical thinking, where you make up a “something” to be responsible for something you don’t understand. <br /><br />This might make you feel better, but it doesn’t really solve the problem. And, some of these questions aren’t answerable, and never will be answered. The universe is one interconnected thing/event, flowing along like water in a river. But our mind divides this one thing/event into supposedly separate things and events. <br /><br />These separate things and events, however, are just ideas about reality. They don’t really exist other than in our minds.<br /><br />These ideas about reality are, however, absolutely necessary. Our nervous system creates them because they help us to survive and navigate our way through life. One aspect of dividing things into this and that is the creation of preferences–what Alan Watts called the Game of Black and White, where the main rule is that White Must Win. <br /><br />And though this game is the cause of suffering, we have to play in order to be here.<br /><br />So people must, and do, try to “control the game.” If you don’t try, you can’t survive (and, if you weren’t trying to “control the game” there wouldn’t be anything to do). Yet if you do try, you create suffering. <br /><br />Can you see how this is a double bind?<br /><br />Despite this, the human condition eventually hits this blissed out person over the head. <br /><br />Blissed out or not, they have to deal with several aspects of the human condition from which you can’t escape. These are:<br /><br />1) Cause and effect: We’re all caught in a giant matrix of cause and effect. Cause and effect is, in fact, one of the most significant aspects of that one thing/event that is flowing along like water. Cause and effect subjects us to physical forces beyond our control: gravity, weather, the sun, geological events, etc. What’s more, there are billions of other people (and animals) who have agendas different from ours :)<br /><br />This means that sometimes we don’t get what we want, or sometimes get what we don’t want. <br /><br />Though we learn to do what we can to mitigate this, ultimately cause and effect is beyond our control. <br /><br />Many of the consequences in the cause-and-effect matrix don’t depend at all on whether or not you give a shit.<br /><br />2) Impermanence: All things, including everything you have, want, or love, eventually ends. This includes the thing you’re most attached to: that which you think of as “me.” This dilemma of impermanence also creates suffering.<br /><br />There is no escape from cause and effect or impermanence.<br /><br />One way to look at this would be to say that someone knows that there is no escape from the human condition (i.e., cause and effect and impermanence). <br /><br />Zen master Genpo Roshi, for instance, has said that he CHOOSES to be attached to his wife, his children, his motorcycle, his dog, etc. He knows that these things are impermanent, and he knows that they may not always act in the way he would like them to. So he makes these distinctions and enters into these attachments with his eyes wide open, knowing the consequences of doing so. <br /><br />He doesn’t get to choose “no consequences,” but he can choose WHICH consequences.<br /><br />To be here, to be a human being, you have to play the Game of Black and White. <br /><br />The question is, will you play with awareness, by choice–or unconsciously and automatically, without choice?<br /><br />There’s nothing left to do but live. <br />When it’s time to eat, eat. When it’s time to sleep, sleep, when it's time to party, party<br />...<br />And when it’s time to fly, FLY.<br /><br />Wow :) I also did it again ))<br />Be well my friend.<br />MariusMarius Wlassakhttp://zapit.nu/ICEBERGnoreply@blogger.com