The purpose...

[Aaron]

[xenolith]

...Taoists and Buddhists believed....

Bodhisattvas know.

[Otis]

Hello Sloppy Zhang (and whomever else it concerns),

 

I want to clarify that I am not opposed to anything. I understand that there are many paths one can take to find purpose, and in fact, I wont disagree that one should ask, "why should there be a purpose?" I just see it as the opposite side of the same coin.

 

For me the important thing isn't whether someone is a Buddhist, Christian, or Muslim, but rather whether what they do is working for them. In my mind, as someone has stated, we are all from the same beginning and we are all the same person, the only thing that separates me from you is the fact I was told that this was true. It's the I complex.

 

I had this conversation earlier tonight, right before I was going to reply to this post and one of the topics that came up was the idea that when I realize that you are me and I am you, then when I see you suffer I suffer. Compassion is not a moral action, but rather a natural response. Call it De or realization, but really it's understanding that we are not different people, that idea is all an illusion.

 

So when I "teach" or "share" I am not simply teaching you I am teaching myself. When I choose not to listen to you, then I choose not to listen to myself. In the end you have a right to your opinion because I have a right to mine, the two can't be separate, because they aren't separate. When I can realize this, not only on a logical level, but a experiential level, then I can start to practice real compassion and understanding.

 

Part of reaching this level of understanding, I think, comes from living in the here and now. The only moment I have any control over (if I do in fact have any control) is the here and now. If I make the most of what's happening right now, then I need not worry about the future or the past, because that's irrelevant.

 

Anyways, rather than discuss this at further length, which isn't needed, I will say I'm sorry. I truly am sorry that I might have offended you or made you think that I didn't care what you thought, because I honestly and deeply do. The truth was that I thought I found a truth, but in the end that's not so important. What's more important is that you understand that I do care about what you thought and your idea is every bit as important as my own.

 

Aaron

I liked your OP quite a bit, Aaron, but I like this post even better. Cheers!