Negativity...

[Rara]

...is inevitable. It cannot be avoided (People are so miserable, aren't they?!)

 

So why entertain it? Cultivate positivity to balance it out!

 

Thank you and good night =P

[thelerner]

I've restarted an old practice of doing the Glenn Morris's Secret Smile practice (slightly abbreviated) when I'm in the wash room. Its the most mentally positive energy style exercise I've been exposed to.

 

He (& KAP) would do it before doing any other practice saying energy runs best (and safest) in a happy environment.

[Marblehead]

I ran out of negativity. Anyone care to send me some?

[3bob]

ultimately there is no such thing as negative energy just negative forms or types that energy may get bound up in.

[Marblehead]

ultimately there is no such thing as negative energy just negative forms or types that energy may get bound up in.

The only reason you said that is because it's true.

[3bob]

perhaps, although and maybe - just to be definite about it

Edited February 9, 2015 by 3bob

[Bearded Dragon]

...is inevitable. It cannot be avoided (People are so miserable, aren't they?!)

 

So why entertain it? Cultivate positivity to balance it out!

 

Thank you and good night =P

 

Cultivating positive energy to balance it out IS entertaining it.

[liminal_luke]

Awww, Marblehead. I´m sure you don´t need anybody to send you any negativity; just change your perspective, and you'll have plenty. The rest of us don´t have any difficulty being negative so I imagine you´ll get the hang of it. Perhaps you´re just out of practice?.

 

Liminal

[Taomeow]

"His eyes reflected the world perfectly, like a perfect mirror." I came across this description a long time ago, in a novel, in reference to a protagonist who was a taoist sage of supreme attainment, and thought, "taoism must be my thing."

 

The mirror may be calm, but what reflects in it may be far from pretty. Many things take a lot of courage and wisdom to see clearly and reflect accurately -- so, I'm in favor of cultivating that. I'm not really in favor of the high tech mirrors that have to keep "fixing" things that reflect in them in order to remain calm. Come to think of it, that's not a mirror, that's photoshop.

 

Imagine a description of a taoist sage that would go, "Her eyes never reflected the world as is, they always produced an edited, photoshopped copy." If the passage that impressed me then went like this instead, I'd probably have thought, "taoism must be yet another one of those things that are not my thing."

[3bob]

some of those sages not only have clean mirrors but also movie cameras that playback a whole big scene un-edited.

[Rara]

 

Cultivating positive energy to balance it out IS entertaining it.

You're reading into it too much.

 

I meant that people around are very negative, so cultivate positivity and negativity in your mind will diminish.

[Rara]

 

"His eyes reflected the world perfectly, like a perfect mirror." I came across this description a long time ago, in a novel, in reference to a protagonist who was a taoist sage of supreme attainment, and thought, "taoism must be my thing."

 

The mirror may be calm, but what reflects in it may be far from pretty. Many things take a lot of courage and wisdom to see clearly and reflect accurately -- so, I'm in favor of cultivating that. I'm not really in favor of the high tech mirrors that have to keep "fixing" things that reflect in them in order to remain calm. Come to think of it, that's not a mirror, that's photoshop.

 

Imagine a description of a taoist sage that would go, "Her eyes never reflected the world as is, they always produced an edited, photoshopped copy." If the passage that impressed me then went like this instead, I'd probably have thought, "taoism must be yet another one of those things that are not my thing."

Good post! This is my meaning...everything in the world will be reflected.

 

But humans entertain more negativity than positivity. Bound my limitations of the influences around them..."you can't do that"..."don't listen to him"..."that will never work".

 

So why not reflect the good parts as well? Let's not get consumed by the negativity that's in the air!

[Jetsun]

You're reading into it too much.

 

I meant that people around are very negative, so cultivate positivity and negativity in your mind will diminish.

 

You are still in conflict with the negativity, which ultimately helps to keep it alive

[Marblehead]

perhaps, although and maybe - just to be definite about it

I later considered what you said about negative energy and recalled the auto electricians comment about if you wire up the horn negatively it won't blow: it sucks.

[Marblehead]

Awww, Marblehead. I´m sure you don´t need anybody to send you any negativity; just change your perspective, and you'll have plenty. The rest of us don´t have any difficulty being negative so I imagine you´ll get the hang of it. Perhaps you´re just out of practice?.

 

Liminal

Hehehe. True words. And yes, it is because I am out of practice. And it was hard to break that habit, or was it an addiction?

 

I still do feel being drawn toward negativity but luckily I now realize when it starts to happen and I will take action to change the conditions.

[Marblehead]

 

"His eyes reflected the world perfectly, like a perfect mirror." I came across this description a long time ago, in a novel, in reference to a protagonist who was a taoist sage of supreme attainment, and thought, "taoism must be my thing."

Chuang Tzu does speak to this.

 

While reading the rest of your post I was reminded of the Bluegrass song with the words: "20/20 vision but walking around blind."

 

And then there is the Rock-A-Billy song with "Her eyes were wide open but there was nobody home."

[Bearded Dragon]

You're reading into it too much.

 

I meant that people around are very negative, so cultivate positivity and negativity in your mind will diminish.

 

That's like putting your fingers in your ears and going LALALALALALA.

 

If you want to ride the seesaw of positive and negative then be my guest. I'm not even on it.

[Marblehead]

..."you can't do that"...

Hehehe. I just experienced one of those the other day. I was a Home Depot wanting to buy some copper wire. What I was interested in was on a high shelf but it just so happened that one of their platform ladders was right there so I got on the first step of the ladder and started looking for which wire would best satisfy my needs.

 

An employee came up and said "You can't get on the ladder." I looked down at my feet and said, "Seems I am already on it."

 

(Being an Anarchist, I really don't like others telling me that I can't do something.)

[Marblehead]

You are still in conflict with the negativity, which ultimately helps to keep it alive

This is an interesting concept floating around in the background here.

[Taomeow]

some of those sages not only have clean mirrors but also movie cameras that playback a whole big scene un-edited.

 

Yup, the rich ones.

[Taomeow]

And please nobody profess a position above and beyond positivity and negativity. Unless you have no electrolytes in your blood -- in which case you're a different species and have no business teaching humans.

[VCraigP]

And please nobody profess a position above and beyond positivity and negativity. Unless you have no electrolytes in your blood -- in which case you're a different species and have no business teaching humans.

 

I second that. As long as you are still living and breathing you WILL experience emotions. What happens next after they arise...this is the question worth considering.

[Jetsun]

There is a difference between experiencing emotions and preferences and something being negative, negativity is usually a position taken by the mind. You could experience intense emotional suffering and it not be negative, things usually only become negative when you go into resistance against something in your thinking, which is just a form of going to war with what exists, and what exists always wins that fight.

 

Pretty much what the Buddha did was give up the war in his mind against negativity and accepted suffering without trying to escape from it. It seemed to work for him quite well.

[Taomeow]

That's not how I remember the story. I remember he stopped fasting and started eating so as to put an end to his self-imposed, and pointless, suffering. Wise move.

 

Suffering must never be accepted except in situations where its purpose is to take on yourself what otherwise would have been suffered by someone else. No one benefits from someone else not eating, no matter how hungry they get and how much they suffer -- unless they suffer because they've given their bowl of rice to someone else who was hungrier. Skipping a meal does not feed anyone. Cooking a bowl of rice for someone alleviates their suffering. Wasn't that what happened to Buddha? (I go by the movie version, don't know how accurate it is, but it was sensible.)

 

In taoism, the meaning of suffering is to learn compassion from the experience. Or discipline, in cases of self-imposed cultivation-related suffering. It increases your gongfu, so the story goes, your cultivation energy. You take this on voluntarily, if you have a goal toward which you need to grow sturdier.

 

I think it's the same with "negativity." Depends on where you're going with it. If you learn compassion from things being not right, you may improve them for someone if you have a chance, or at least not aggravate their suffering by doing the wrong thing or failing to do the right thing. If negativity presupposes a pre-selected default mode, however, it's very counterproductive -- just as positivity is when it's a pre-selected default mode "no matter what." It does matter "what." To be positive toward someone's suffering is to be cruel or unfeeling (bu ren).

[liminal_luke]

I´m reminded of the following quote...

 

 

“I blame the daffodils. Who wants to hear summery sounds while they’re in prison? Who wants to hear summery sounds even when they’re free. Not me. I hate summer. The same old outings, happy people going on long-planned holidays. Children sucking ice-cream, pregnant women wearing blousey dresses. Why can’t it be winter the whole year round. Do we really need summer?”

 

June Gibbons