"Real" Happiness

[Marblehead]

 

And you don't incarnate as a plant.

 

Hehehe. But I have seen some 'happy' plants.

 

Peace & Love!

[Vajrahridaya]

Hehehe. But I have seen some 'happy' plants.

 

Peace & Love!

 

Yes, I've read and if I remember correctly seen how plants respond to certain types of music. It seems that they love Classical music the best and even Indian Ragas. They seem to also respond to emotions as if they were a highly primitive level of brain with all the sensitivity, but no self consciousness?

[Marblehead]

Yes, I've read and if I remember correctly seen how plants respond to certain types of music. It seems that they love Classical music the best and even Indian Ragas. They seem to also respond to emotions as if they were a highly primitive level of brain with all the sensitivity, but no self consciousness?

 

Yes, I think we can disregard any thought of self-consciousness in plants.

 

It is also said and has been demonstrated that plants do better when the keeper talks with them. (Of course, this is probably only the result of the carbon dioxide that we breath on them when we are talking.)

 

Heard something recently about cows - I think it was John Denver music causes them to be happy and give 5% more milk.

 

Happiness comes in all different sizes and shapes.

 

Peace & Love!

[Apech]

The Secret Life of PLants

[Marblehead]

The Secret Life of PLants

 

I have heard of this book but have never read it.

 

Peace & Love!

[Apech]

I have heard of this book but have never read it.

 

Peace & Love!

 

 

I wonder if it has a tulip and a rose in it?

 

[Marblehead]

I wonder if it has a tulip and a rose in it?

 

 

Hehehe. That will be coming soon.

 

Peace & Love!

[Vajrahridaya]

Yes, I think we can disregard any thought of self-consciousness in plants.

 

It is also said and has been demonstrated that plants do better when the keeper talks with them. (Of course, this is probably only the result of the carbon dioxide that we breath on them when we are talking.)

 

Peace & Love!

 

It has more to do with energy than merely the carbon dioxide.

[Marblehead]

It has more to do with energy than merely the carbon dioxide.

 

That may be but I can't speak to that issue as I have no knowledge of it.

 

Peace & Love!

[Apech]

That may be but I can't speak to that issue as I have no knowledge of it.

 

Peace & Love!

 

 

Why don't you ask the flowers what they think, eh?

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

Lerv, lerv lerv...

Edited October 26, 2009 by TheSongsofDistantEarth

[Marblehead]

Jeez,

 

Some of you jokers stay up all night or get up in the middle of the night to post this crap? I really don't believe you have spiritual or meditative practices. You don't. The TaoBums has become a colossal waste of time...

 

Hi Songs,

 

Lighten up. Please? This is not intended to be an all serious thread. That's why I'm taking so long to move from one point to another - so the folks who care to play can have a little fun.

 

Taoists are allowed to have fun.

 

 

Hey Apepch7,

 

I have been talking with my passion vines lately. Man! You should see how the react when I whisper sweet nothings in their ear. (Ear? No, that's not right - in their flowers.) No one has spoken back to me yet though - kinda' like my kind of woman - doesn't talk much. Hehehe.

 

Peace & Love!

[Apech]

Songs,

 

I might get up in the night to crap - but when I post crap its in the middle of the day.

 

 

Marbles,

 

Passion vines? Have you been reading the 'sex with entities' thread again - leave those vegetables alone man.

 

 

A.

[Marblehead]

 

Marbles,

 

Passion vines? Have you been reading the 'sex with entities' thread again - leave those vegetables alone man.

A.

 

Yes. Passion vines. Here is the variety I have in my front yard:

 

http://www.hear.org/starr/plants/images/sp...iflora+coccinea

 

It is a tropical so even here in Florida where I live it dies back in the winter but returns when springtime arrives.

 

Peace & Love!

[Apech]

 

Nice. I only have three Rosemary bushes and a small tree.

 

A,

[Marblehead]

After a long deliberation Rene stands up and calls the gardener to his side.

 

The gardener joins Rene with the rose in one hand and the tulip in the other.

 

Rene speaks to the gardener, "Please hand me the rose." The gardener does so. Rene holds the rose up for all to see and asks, "Is this a rose?"

 

All agree that Rene is holding a rose. Rene hands the rose back to the gardener and asks for the tulip. Rene holds up the tulip and asks, "Is this a tulip?"

 

All agree that Rene is holding a tulip. Rene hands the tulip back to the gardener and asks once again for the rose. Rene holds the rose up and says, "This too is a tulip."

 

The sage says, "No, Rene, that is not a tulip. We just agreed that it is a rose."

 

Rene asks, "Sage, can you imagine that this is a tulip?" The sage thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, Rene, I can imagine the rose to be a tulip."

 

Rene replies, "So, if we imagine a rose to be a tulip I suggest that although we may believe it to be so it really is still a rose and it is our delusion that allows us to believe it is a tulip. In reality it is still a rose."

 

Everyone agrees. Rene hands the rose back to the gardener.

 

Rene then holds up his empty hand and says, "Sage, is this a tulip that I am holding?"

 

The sage responds, "Rene, you are holding nothing."

 

Rene asks, "Can you imagine that I am holding a tulip?"

 

The sage responds, "Yes Rene, I can imagine you are holding a tulip."

 

Rene asks all in attendance, "Can all of you imagine that I am holding a tulip?"

 

Everyone agrees that they can imagine that Rene is holding a tulip.

 

Rene says, "Wonderful! Now I suggest that if I am holding nothing and I ask you what I am holding and you tell me that I am holding a tulip then this is what I call an illusion of your mind. In reality I am holding nothing but you have created an illusion in your mind that tells you that I am holding a tulip."

 

Rene pauses while everyone considers what Rene has just demonstrated and there seems to be an understanding. Rene then says, "Then I suggest that no matter how deeply we go into an analysis of what we have just demonstrated a rose by any other name is still a rose and anything that is not a rose will always be not a rose. Therefore, anything that is real can be considered real and anything that is not real is not real no matter whether we are illusional or delusional. Our illusions and delusions effect nothing outside our mind."

 

Silence.

[Apech]

Hamlet:

What have you, my good friends, deserv'd at the hands of

Fortune, that she sends you to prison hither?

 

Guildenstern:

Prison, my lord?

 

Hamlet:

Denmark's a prison.

 

Rosencrantz:

Then is the world one.

 

Hamlet:

A goodly one, in which there are many confines, wards, and

dungeons, Denmark being one o' th' worst.

 

Rosencrantz:

We think not so, my lord.

 

Hamlet:

Why then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or

bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.

[Marblehead]

... for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

 

So the bird in the cage has found security and freedom from fear.

 

But is it 'Happy'?

 

Peace & Love!

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

For 'me', happiness is Clarity.. seeing 'what is', such that my interactions are with 'what is', rather than with the 'illusions' i might conjure.. or the 'illusions' constructed by others.. happiness is authenticity.. often confused with 'pleasure.

 

Be well..

[Marblehead]

For 'me', happiness is Clarity.

 

Another nice comment I hope we can discuss at the end of the story. Thanks for being a part of this.

 

Peace & Love!

[C T]

So the bird in the cage has found security and freedom from fear.

 

But is it 'Happy'?

 

Peace & Love!

A bird in a cage is nothing more than a bird in a cage. Security is a false projection. To me, the attempt to project the cage as some kind of security is like trying to name a rose differently. Asking if the bird is happy shows non-acceptance of reality, the fact that its in a cage, and just be immersed with that reality. No need for happiness, no need for security..just be. That, i think, is the spirit of true warrior-ship on the quest for emancipation.

 

Just Be-ing sounds simple. Needs to be tested anyhow. Thats why in ancient China, some MA student beginners are asked to do nothing for 3 years except to train in standing on the spot for hours each day. That is an example of a true test of Be-ing. As one teacher friend of mine put it, "There is no such thing as an expert. There is only 'getting used to'..".

 

Non-acceptance is the root-cause of all projected dis-ease and dis-ability of mankind, imo.

 

Peace!

Edited November 6, 2009 by CowTao

[Apech]

"I could be bound in a nutshell and still count myself king of infinite space."

 

Sorry to keep quoting the bard - but it comes to mind ... does the bird in the cage think it is in a prison? Or is it still free and therefore (IMO) happy. Happiness is a state a mind and some can be happy in circumstances that others would find oppressive. So then ... what are the causes of happiness?

[C T]

The English Zen monk asked his Japanese counterpart, "Why are you so happy ALL the time, even in your sleep you have this big smile of contentment on your face. What's your secret?".. to which the reply was, "Me no mind, me no mind, you no mind too...hahahahaha..!!".

[Marblehead]

After a long period of silence the Sage suddenly stands up and says, "I've got it! I've got it!"

 

"What is real for an individual," continued the Sage, "is real only to the internal awareness of that individual and it may or may not be real to any other person. So we must discriminate between what is real to us, the individual, in the individual's mind, and what is real external to the individual's mind."

 

"How can we test this?" asks the Sage.

 

"Rene, please pull your chair out from under your desk"

 

Rene does so. "Rene," says the Sage, "please sit down in the chair."

 

Rene does so. "Everyone," asks the Sage, "does a chair not exist that Rene is sitting on?"

 

Everyone agrees that Rene is sitting on a chair.

 

"Rene," says the Sage, "please get up from the chair."

 

Rene does so. "Gardener," says the Sage, "please sit on the chair."

 

The Gardener does so. "Everyone," asks the Sage, "does a chair not exist that the Gardener is sitting on?"

 

Everyone agrees that the Gardener is sitting on a chair.

 

The Sage says, "Gardener, please get up and Rene, please put the chair back under the desk."

 

The Gardener and Rene do so. "Gardener," asks the Sage, "can you imagine that the chair is still in the exact same place it was when you were sitting in it?"

 

"Yes I can," replies the Gardener.

 

"Gardener," says the Sage, "please sit down in the chair you have imagined to still be where it was."

 

The Gardener hesitates, attempts to sit in the chair but resists falling and attempts to sit a couple more times but finally says to the Sage, "I cannot do it." "Why?" asks the Sage.

 

"Because even though I can imagine it to be there I know it is not there because I know Rene put it back under the desk and furthermore even though I can imagine it to be there I cannot touch it so I know through logic and reason that it really is not there."

 

"Exactly!" exclaims the Sage. "If we use logic and reason we can, in almost all cases determine between what is real and what is an illusion or delusion. Therefore, I suggest that we can establish if our thoughts of 'reality' are real or an illusion or delusion through logic and reason."

[Tao99]

"Exactly!" exclaims the Sage. "If we use logic and reason we can, in almost all cases determine between what is real and what is an illusion or delusion. Therefore, I suggest that we can establish if our thoughts of 'reality' are real or an illusion or delusion through logic and reason."

Hey Marble, great thread.

 

The Sage says 'the longest of roads begins with the first step.' And the first step is the Three Laws of Thought the Mind naturally follows to determine between real and unreal. yes??

Edited November 14, 2009 by Tao99