The cruelty of nature

[Vmarco]

 

 

Maybe you need to play with this possum a bit ?

 

 

O possum. Never has a thought, although humans project the thought that it does. Can we "see" the opossum as not separate,...not an object outside of us,...perhaps a reflection of an aspect of ourselves. Awesome pic,...IMO one could wake up while viewing this photo.

[Nungali]

Of the words he made up, my favorite is Kundabuffer -- for kundalini.

 

I like kinderbuffer better (to ruffle the back of a young boys hair )

[Nungali]

Then there is strigiformebuffer

 

 

 

[Anoesjka]

If you ever read Gutdjieff, he was referring to this as Iraniranumange: http://ae.gurdjieff.org.gr/terms/en50/0290.htm

 

Creative guy, Gurdijeff, but his self invented words make it hard to understand. I almost have the feeling that I'm staring at a surrealistic text Dali has improvised. I tried to understand it and I failed.

[Anoesjka]

Maybe you need to play with this possum a bit ?

 

 

Can you send it to me then, with enough food and water to last the journey of course. I now know what's been lacking in my life!

 

Adorable, with all those little hairs and funny ears. So small, yet fully functional.

[soaring crane]

Can you send it to me then, with enough food and water to last the journey of course. I now know what's been lacking in my life!

 

Adorable, with all those little hairs and funny ears. So small, yet fully functional.

 

and presumably nocturnal ...

[idiot_stimpy]

Yes it is cruel.

 

This cruelness is what drives my desire for the liberation of myself and others.

[Marblehead]

and presumably nocturnal ...

And that's why the big eyes. They are larger than its brain is.

[idiot_stimpy]

Let suffering be your fire of desire to find the truth.

[Marblehead]

Let suffering be your fire of desire to find the truth.

Would you do my allotment of suffering for me? I don't suffer.

[woodcarver]

You're just one little person, who are you to say what's cruel or what's beautiful? You are nature and ultimately there is no nature at all. Nature scares me sometimes, too... then I realize that I'm insane for thinking so and just try to roll with it.

[Marblehead]

You're just one little person, who are you to say what's cruel or what's beautiful? You are nature and ultimately there is no nature at all. Nature scares me sometimes, too... then I realize that I'm insane for thinking so and just try to roll with it.

That is a pretty hard way of saying it but it's true.

[C T]

http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/buddhism/nonatt.htm

[idiot_stimpy]

Would you do my allotment of suffering for me? I don't suffer.

 

If you do not suffer, then I bow down to you and hope you can bless me oh liberated one.

[woodcarver]

That is a pretty hard way of saying it but it's true.

C'mon we've reached page 3.

 

I also didn't cultivate yesterday

[Marblehead]

http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/buddhism/nonatt.htm

Oh, No!!! He's trying to teach me how to be a good Buddhist!

[C T]

Oh, No!!! He's trying to teach me how to be a good Buddhist!

That could be one of my problems if i get stuck with labels. If not, i'd be able to extract much more from that reflective article, and perhaps glean the useful points to help me be a better person. Sometimes its funny when i tell a good Christian that he or she is a Buddhist at heart, just to see their reaction. How much more fulfilling life would be if we can become more unstuck from labels. The only good they do is separate things and re-introduce divisiveness again and again, without fail.

Edited October 13, 2014 by C T

[Marblehead]

That could be one of my problems if i get stuck with labels. If not, i'd be able to extract much more from that reflective article, and perhaps glean the useful points to help me be a better person. Sometimes its funny when i tell a good Christian that he or she is a Buddhist at heart, just to see their reaction. How much more fulfilling life would be if we can become more unstuck from labels. The only good they do is separate things and re-introduce divisiveness again and again, without fail.

While all that may be true, it is, afterall, one of my functions here at Taobums to give my Buddhist friends a hard time now and again.

[dawei]

You're just one little person, who are you to say what's cruel or what's beautiful? You are nature and ultimately there is no nature at all. Nature scares me sometimes, too... then I realize that I'm insane for thinking so and just try to roll with it.

 

I have never quite understood the idea that Nature is cruel... we can explain it with science if need be... but rain or shine, earthquake or tornado, these are circumstances/pressures which unfold accordingly. I find nothing cruel in the unfolding of nature.

 

Then there is man... the cruelty of man? Now that is a topic replete with historical and despicable and atrocious examples... man is the poster child and bane of existence in terms of cruelty.

 

Maybe we like to pat ourselves on the back because, unlike animals, we stopped hunting and eating those who roam the world around us.... Except that we have corporations to do the mass slaughter, processing and packaging of the meat...

 

That was my world view for a while... nature is not cruel... only humans are cruel... due to willful intent to act against the natural flow...

 

Then I realized this was the thought of one little person... claiming to define and assign cruelty as I saw fit. How could I be the prognosticator of life... a mere unfolding gavelling a verdict on the unfolding. Then I thought, maybe this gavelling is what sin is?

 

What we see, experience and observe is the unfolding; arising and returning according to the nature...

 

And for some, today, they will go see a movie, some will go to the supermarket, some will rob a bank, some will kill a family member or themself, some will just try to sit and forget... nature has as many options today... what are the circumstances and pressures which will erupt

[zerostao]

Would you do my allotment of suffering for me? I don't suffer.

i dont much either.but i have learned that just becoz i dont suffer does not mean there isnt much suffering in the world,

perhaps those of us lucky ones could offer a way of a little repose to the ones who do suffer.

it is a worthy challenge, i think.

last week i went to one of those events where a poet talks/reads about their poetry, this one spent the past 8 years visiting

Trappist monasteries, reflecting on merton and thoreau, maybe 16 showed up to listen, and it seemed she was personally looking me in the eyes and speaking directly to me 90% of the time. she spoke of how she shared some food with a squirrel and how they each tasted the very same thing. at the end i said, its like we are all connected, she said,"yes, in the spiritual, and also here in the physical"

 

edit>>the little things matter. little efforts matter

Edited October 13, 2014 by zerostao

[Brian]

Nature's not cruel, nature's indifferent.

[dawei]

i dont much either.but i have learned that just becoz i dont suffer does not mean there isnt much suffering in the world,

 

I think this is the balanced view... each eye/heart/mind interprets and interacts and makes sense in their own way... My lack of pain is not really an indication of your inability to experience my lack of pain.

 

As an aside, I think the idea of Daoism/Laozi is that we can find a common interpretation/interaction/sense at some point... and this is still just the physical level dipping a toe in the spiritual level...

 

 

perhaps those of us lucky ones could offer a way of a little repose to the ones who do suffer.

 

Yea... this is an interesting thought in terms of how much does one offer to another... As I take a much more 'destiny' oriented view, my feeling is that we can only nudge people along their path; their path is their path in the end.

 

 

last week i went to one of those events where a poet talks/reads about their poetry, this one spent the past 8 years visiting

Trappist monasteries, reflecting on merton and thoreau, maybe 16 showed up to listen, and it seemed she was personally looking me in the eyes and speaking directly to me 90% of the time. she spoke of how she shared some food with a squirrel and how they each tasted the very same thing. at the end i said, its like we are all connected, she said,"yes, in the spiritual, and also here in the physical"

 

Considering this was visiting Trappist monks... there is alot 'said' here

[dawei]

Nature's not cruel, nature's indifferent.

 

yes... but at some point one really just align that to 'man'...

 

Is man indifferent in the same way or in their species way?

[Brian]

Some people try to be compassionate, some people try to be cruel. Most of the time, though, people seem to be self-absorbed -- I guess being unaware is sort of a form of indifference, though?

 

Generally speaking, I would say people want to make themselves feel good about their own self-image of themselves and their behavior is a reflection of that. As our awareness grows, we might expand our concept of "self" to beyond our own ego -- perhaps including family, then community, then beyond that (or some expand it in a non-human direction first, placing "nature" above "mankind" as if they were separate) -- and by that abstraction of "self" abstract the immediacy of gratification. Zerostao's squirrel story reflects the abstraction which accompanies aligning with the Light, which I consider to be penultimate.

[Marblehead]

... does not mean there isnt much suffering in the world,

perhaps those of us lucky ones could offer a way of a little repose to the ones who do suffer.

it is a worthy challenge, i think.

I do my part. I don't have the time but I give of my money to organizations to use in helping those in need. I help support three human organizations and two non-human animal organizations.

 

We do what we can and hope for the best.