Humanity VS Animality

[eye_of_the_storm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0KbFjHyKbM

[manitou]

Thank you for posting that. What an incredible video. Actually, I thought the lady who was hollering at the litterer at the beginning of the video would have shown more grace if she had just picked up the bottle herself and put it in the trash bin. We're never going to change anyone by hollering at them, but teaching by quiet and unheralded action is far more powerful.

 

The animal scenes were heart rending. They did exhibit so much more 'humanity' than the humans. What incredible innate intuition, the dog protecting the dead dog, and the dog trying to get water to the fish. It was as though they had an innate appreciation for the value of life, whereas the humans did not.

 

What a find. Thank you again, Eye of the Storm.

[Michael Sternbach]

[thelerner]

I like to think, maybe, just maybe reincarnation plays a roll in some of these heroic videos.

 

edit> especially in reports of friendship between unlikely species.. such as pygmy hippo and tortoise.

Edited November 28, 2014 by thelerner

[manitou]

I like to think, maybe, just maybe reincarnation plays a roll in some of these heroic videos.

LOL. sometimes I wonder the same thing. Seems like my dogs sure have the unconditional love thing down a whole lot better than I do...

[Vmarco]

We're never going to change anyone by hollering at them, but teaching by quiet and unheralded action is far more powerful.

 

Although a romantic idea,...where has quiet and unheralded action precipitated real change? Yes,...I certainly agree that "quiet and unheralded action" is heart warming,...even can bring one to tears,...but real change,...in these days of mob rule,...as when "under god" was declared to be, as it is, an illegal endorsement of a monotheistic religion,...the mob ruled.

 

IMO, to demonstrate real change, fear must be removed,...for fear is the fuel of the mob. However, to remove fear, its opposite, hope, must be let go,...and the mobs will not like that,..."quiet and unheralded actions" feed the delusion of hope, and thus sustains fear.

 

Conditions can NEVER enter the Unconditional.

[manitou]

I see your point, Vmarco. But the romantic idea I was speaking of is, for example, taking the time to pick up a piece of trash in a parking lot and take it over to a trash bin. This is a powerful message to other people; it places them in awareness for perhaps the next time they decide to throw a Burger King bag onto the ground. Yes, I do think unheralded actions can produce real change, however subtle.

 

I distinctly remember the day when I was in maybe the second grade and the words "Under God" were placed into the Pledge of Allegiance. It put my small self into a bit of a shock, and I remember feeling a little resentful at the time because they were changing the Pledge (which I sort of think is ridiculous now, a person pledging Allegiance to a particular piece of real estate).

 

I agree with you completely about the fear aspect. People in Ferguson, MO, for example - people who probably never thought about demonstrating before, or getting tear gassed or shot - they're having to get over their fear of what the police may do to them, and stand up and make their point anyway. And yet hopefully the anger will turn into Hope at some time, particularly as changes come. In Ferguson's particular case, perhaps hope will follow fear; hope too is part of the reconstruction process, don't you think? All parties must be hopeful that they will be able to come to a meeting of the minds and change horrible conditions that have gone on for far too long....that is, once the fear is gone and they've stopped hollering at each other.

 

Your statement about conditions never entering the Unconditional is certainly true of Unconditional Love. Other than unconditional love, can you give an example of an unconditional state of being that you are referring to? I'm just curious - at this moment, I'm not able to see an Unconditional Condition other than Love. Although there are some folks who probably walk around in unconditional hatred too....

[Vmarco]

I see your point, Vmarco. But the romantic idea I was speaking of is, for example, taking the time to pick up a piece of trash in a parking lot and take it over to a trash bin. This is a powerful message to other people; it places them in awareness for perhaps the next time they decide to throw a Burger King bag onto the ground. Yes, I do think unheralded actions can produce real change, however subtle.

 

Your statement about conditions never entering the Unconditional is certainly true of Unconditional Love. Other than unconditional love, can you give an example of an unconditional state of being that you are referring to? I'm just curious - at this moment, I'm not able to see an Unconditional Condition other than Love. Although there are some folks who probably walk around in unconditional hatred too....

There is no such thing as Unconditional hate,...and very few have experienced Unconditional love,...for if they have,...the World today would be a much different place.

 

What many perceive as Unconditional love is a variety of conditioned loves, like chemical love, biological love, emotional love, etc. These relative, conditioned loves,...although seemingly better than there opposites, is not the real thing.

 

As for picking up trash,...yes,...that's great. But does that truly help?

 

H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, “Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.”

 

I love that quote,...however, how many understand what fairness and integrity are to begin with? Is it possible for a believer in the Abrahamic religions to have integrity? Absolutely not! Integrity is about honesty, and all faith-based folks are fundamentally dishonest.

 

Dishonesty arises from conditions. An Unconditioned person is not dishonest. A conditioned person cannot experience real love.

 

 

Experience born of belief, can only be experienced through the condition of that belief.

 

So yes,...I would be grateful seeing everyone picking up trash,...especially the trash indoctrinated by religions.

[Vmarco]

Continuing he above post....

 

A Christian does not understand the nature of Unconditional Love, because of the fundamental truth embedded in their belief system. For example,...although Christian love is often considered the highest love, it is merely a conditional love. To better understand this type of love, simply consider the Great Love Chapter of Christendom, Corinthians 13; for example, "love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things", 1 Cor 13:7. However,...bearing, believing, hoping and enduring isn't Unconditional Love, but the submission, devotion, expectation and suffering to the conditions of their religions brewed beliefs.

 

Thus,...if a Christian is attempting to demonstrate random acts of kindness,...they really are not, in any way, actual acts of Unconditional kindness,...and thus, such acts feed and sustain the obscuration of Unconditionality.,..that is, authentic love which does not arise from duality's conditioning. Everything of duality is a condition. Absolute Consciousness, is not of duality,...is not within time,...absolute consciousness is beyond conditions.

 

In the '80's I heard a 30 minute talk by a fellow named John Davies, that left a powerful, and continuing impression on me. About half-way through, while touching upon how many people want to "get out of here,"...to leave the body, or be taken up in a spaceship,...he said,..."no one is here to get out, we are here to bring more love in." Wow! What an idea. To bring love in.

 

First of all,...there really is no bringing love in,...like bringing home a pizza,...but there is a making space for love,...and that is only accomplished by dissolving the conditions built against Unconditional Love,...conditions like the Abrahamic religions,...who meme permeates every aspect of US American life.

[manitou]

I love the idea of making space for love. Most of us aren't in a position to make huge differences in the grand scheme of things. All we can do is bring as much love to the day that we can - to let someone ahead of us in traffic, or standing in a line - to 'never be the first', as one translation of the TTC says - to be noncompetitive in our daily lives and try not to be judgmental. All we can do is what we can do - what we can afford to do. I will readily give money to a homeless person, and I support a Southern Baptist church in the ghetto part of town to the tune of $200 a month. What else can we do? And yes, to pick up that piece of trash.

 

Maybe that's the Intent of the Dao - to morph to the point where individuals, a critical mass of individuals, find kindness and love for their fellow beings in their heart. And act that way.

 

I am truly in agreement with you on the current state of Christianity. People hide behind the fact that their church (around here, anyway) will feed the homeless once or twice a month - and that seems to cover the 'unconditional love' aspect of Christianity in their lives; then they will go to work and step on their co-workers to get ahead. My very own aunt, who lives here in town, laughingly told me about how, during one of these homeless food giveaways at her church, she would spray the air with air freshener after an odoriferous person would leave with their bag. She said the church ladies didn't like the smell of the people. My aunt's a good woman, but I wish she had been a little more sensitive about how that made the recipients feel. Sub-human, I would think.

 

Aaah. Human nature, our acquired personality, is something to be conquered, IMO.

Edited November 29, 2014 by manitou

[Vmarco]

 

Aaah. Human nature, our acquired personality, is something to be conquered, IMO.

 

Not conquered,...but calling it quits

 

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/8003/Calling-it-Quits

[manitou]

Well, I didn't watch all 85 minutes of it - but I love the way it started out. That we are a self-fulfilling prophecy because of the way we think. I didn't watch to the point where your point about calling it quits. All I know is my own experience, vMarco - becoming a positive thinker vs. the cynical person I had always been. Life has changed towards the magnificent because my thinking process is totally different.

 

Does this differ with a point you are making? Am I a fool for going to the trouble of changing my thoughts? Was this past 33 years of recovery a waste of time for me? I have had to put a lot of work into it, but my manifestations today are a quantum leap from my manifestations 33 years ago, when I was a drunk.

 

Please tell me what you mean by calling it quits, rather than me having to watch all 85 minutes, friend.

[Vmarco]

becoming a positive thinker vs. the cynical person I had always been. Life has changed towards the magnificent because my thinking process is totally different.

 

Does this differ with a point you are making?

 

No. IMO, true appreciation is the key to uncover real happiness and enlightenment.

 

Also IMO,...that is how Siddhartha broke through the delusion,...not by meditation,...but appreciation,...yet few are indoctrinated with that story.

 

First in the story,...Sakyamuni Buddha was not seeking enlightenment, but inquiring into the true nature of suffering.

 

Second, is that most, especially American Buddhists, instantly associate Buddhism primarily with meditation. However, although Sakyamuni meditated (and was dangerously underweight) before enlightenment, his "Light" was not realized through meditation.

 

Historically, Sakyamuni was near dead from meditation when a young girl named Sujata (likely a dakini) offered him some food (perhaps rice cooked in milk). Some say an appreciation filled him from this meal, and as he recovered his physical strength, through the state of appreciation, he realized the Dependent Origination from which suffering arises.

 

Ponder on this quote from an American New Age purveyor:

 

"We teach meditation, or quieting the mind, because it is really easier to teach you to have no thoughts, than to teach you to have pure, positive thought. We would rather you be in a state of appreciation, than in a state of meditation, because in appreciation you are a vibrational match to Source." Esther Hicks

 

Pure, positive thought is a consequence of the liberation from belief. No faith-based person can experience pure, positive thought,...because the very nature of faith-baseness is the condition of imprisonment in belief. A conditioned person cannot truly appreciate.

 

This is not meant to be "critical" of the conditioned, but simply a critique.

 

Buddhas have said, "A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real." Nor do they support the illusion, thus contributing to the delusion. A bodhisattva wishes for the liberation of all sentient beings. All faith-based folks are beings attached to sentience..

.

Edited November 30, 2014 by Vmarco

[eye_of_the_storm]

Samuel is an 8 month-old bull calf rescued from the dairy industry by Gaia Sanctuary in Spain. Samual arrived at the Sanctuary when he was just a few days-old.

The Sanctuary says, “Right after giving birth, babies are separated from their mothers and caged. This is to avoid them drinking the milk meant to be for humans. If the newborn is a male he will be sent to the slaughterhouse within a week, whereas if she’s a female, she will be reared to join the production chain. Cows average lifespan is around 25 years, but when they’re exploited to the point of total exhaustion they’re sent for slaughter when they’re just 4 years-old.”

Here, watch as Samuel enjoys some relaxing love and affection with a Sanctuary employee. There is such a bond between these two, it’s beautiful to watch.

Edited November 30, 2014 by eye_of_the_storm

[manitou]

vMarco - I am currently at about the 900th page of the 1600 page Avatamsaka Sutra. Your beautiful explanation above is totally concurrent with everything it says in that beautiful tome. Thank you for taking the time to explain your point.

 

Love to you -

[eye_of_the_storm]

adorable five-year-old try to explain to her mother how an incredibly friendly COW ended up in the family home

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2856137/Watch-adorable-five-year-old-try-explain-incredibly-friendly-COW-ended-family-home.html#ixzz3KnvvOCgE

Edited December 3, 2014 by eye_of_the_storm

[manitou]

That video is priceless - and I like the way the mom communicated with her 5 year old daughter - not condescending in any way, but giving her daughter full sway to express herself. The bond between the little girl and the cow was really heartwarming.

[eye_of_the_storm]

[eye_of_the_storm]