Your fate: Only from inside or only from outside?

[Owledge]

I was inspired to write about this after reading some quoted text in the John chang video thread.

 

It's about two spiritual views that both seem to be very dominant, and are both contradicting each other.

 

Here's an interesting question:

Are there masters of truth, compassion, knowledge that have really bad luck? Because as I see it, the one doesn't exclude the other. Where do you think are those masters that have attained mastery through being subjected to incredible hardships and not having succumbed?

I don't think that adhering to truth, compassion, knowledge will necessarily change anything in your life for the better. Maybe even the opposite. So those virtues appear very relative in my view.

When you adhere to virtues and you don't get good feedback, it might all just be fooling yourself, a way to prevent yourself from going on a rampage or committing suicide, and in essence, would simply be one of the many strategies of replacing truth with a 'personally adjusted world view'.

 

Maybe people who attained mastery in something were just lucky, but when you are lucky, you are comfortable believing that it was your own inner effort instead of the world shaping yourself, while telling others that their bad luck is their own doing, which ironically is very uncompassionate.

 

There is an interesting essay somewhere about genius, which concludes that "genius", often seen like a gift from the universe or something mysterious and rare, something very special, can be traced back to outer influences. Example: Eric Clapton is a master of the guitar, considered one of the best guitar players in the world. And guess what: He started playing with the age of 4. No wonder.

Another example: I keep reading biographies of very good actors, and I'm almost tired of reading again and again about their parents having been actors, too, and them being introduced to the whole business early because of that. Again, No wonder. Very predictable.

 

Here's another thing that might help understanding the idea that it's all external:

Imagine right now the whole universe would vanish. You are floating in an empty space, there's nothing there, it's all gone. (You are just there, you don't need to breathe or eat to survive.)

What would you do?

There's nothing to react to or to interact with. There's no purpose, no incentive, no drive. So what is there to come from within that could initiate anything? And now imagine you have never learned what meditation is, because the universe so far didn't happen to provide you with that information. How should you learn to at least meditate in that complete emptiness? All you have left is intentions, but you can't act. You might have ideas, but there's nothing to 'paint them on'. And if intentions and ideas get amplified, even that is a mere reaction to the outer events of the universe vanishing.

Edited May 1, 2011 by Hardyg

[manitou]

I don't think that adhering to truth, compassion, knowledge will necessarily change anything in your life for the better. Maybe even the opposite. So those virtues appear very relative in my view.

 

I think that being mindful of truth and compassion every moment if the day (if it's possible to get to that point) has Everything to do with how your life's going. We manifest from the inside to the outside, in my view. If our outlook is kind and loving, this is what will be received in return, even if from a different direction. I'm not talking about karma here; it's merely a state of harmony even when everything around you is out of whack.

[Owledge]

But if you are in a state of harmony and everything around you is out of whack (meaning everybody had joined that state), then people will treat you as an outsider. It creates a tension between you and everything else as long as people choose to stay in that state, which they tend to do for some reason.

[Jetsun]

But if you are in a state of harmony and everything around you is out of whack (meaning everybody had joined that state), then people will treat you as an outsider. It creates a tension between you and everything else as long as people choose to stay in that state, which they tend to do for some reason.

 

I think an enlightened person is often perceived as a threat to a lot of people because their presence is an affront to the unenlightened ego and seeing as people completely identify with their ego then they can be perceived as a thread to their actual existence. Which is why throughout history enlightened people are often persecuted, killed and crucified.

[Owledge]

Welcome to my life!

[manitou]

Welcome to my life!

 

Glad you survived Easter, lol.

[manitou]

But if you are in a state of harmony and everything around you is out of whack (meaning everybody had joined that state), then people will treat you as an outsider. It creates a tension between you and everything else as long as people choose to stay in that state, which they tend to do for some reason.

 

But the sage would just keep on keeping on. He would Be Here Now, and do nothing to change the dynamic of the out-of-whackness; rather, he would be a mirror for the out-of-whackness and because of his kindness and non-judgment of the situation, the protagonists living within the out-of-whakness would find themselves having to deal instantly with their own 'instant karma', because the sage becomes like a backboard to the situation. Bouncing the ball back, but doing it kindly.

 

This is ridiculous to try and put into words.