War vs Office Job

[Pilgrim]

I read this and wish I did not understand what you have shared. This can be difficult.  Being a human being is very complex and difficult and takes on as many permutations as there are different lives being lived. I appreciate what Stosh has written and agree it is very good.

 

The  point of view you have expressed comes from awakening to the inescapable reality of  Buddha Nature. Living in the realm of Buddha Nature means dying as a small being moment after moment. 

 

Buddha Nature is perfect balance and is the backdrop against which all Dramatis Personae play out.

 

We as human beings live in a constant state of imbalance this is how we live, and grow that which looks beautiful and that which does not, does not, and that which does,  does so and does not so, for the very same reason, because it is out of balance and ever changing against a backdrop of perfect balance and background harmony.

 

Consider this once upon a time you we were all small children, the background that our childhood played out upon  is the same today as it was then. Where is the child now? When we have lived some more years we are going to die,  then the movie the drama of our lives as human beings will be over,  yet will not the screen the background upon which our dramas played out not remain?

 

Was it not present for our Grand Parents and their Grand Parents as well?

 

It can be considered most people we meet are ignorant of what we perceive yet at the same time know fully well,  as well.

 

This is a difficult stage for everyone who arrives at it,  it is very hard,  as one no longer has the choice of just pretending because the pretending is now harder and this is the stage of waking up and staying awake and struggling against falling back to sleep yet needing to. Throwing oneself into some meaningful mission is a way to feel value and I think that is very good and constructive even though it too is always fleeting and impermanent.

 

This is the conundrum.

 

The problem is what you can perceive of reality is still limited but you know there is more, What Is It?   Join the club.

 

In those moments when you connect eye to eye it is not your I which is connecting it is Buddha nature connecting with Buddha Nature and in that moment you are not two but one,  yet at the same time two and one. Here there is trouble because of all the things that make up the small being ( YOU or I ) and this is where we project more drama upon the screen in a knee jerk reaction to it becoming so blatantly obvious to out limited perception.

 

I have often considered we as small beings have no choice but to create against the backdrop of Buddha nature so it is really interesting to be aware of doing so and not aware of doing so and purposely trying not to recognize doing so. I think that until the small being is ready to become a swinging door that it is uncomfortable with recognizing it is creating against the backdrop of Buddha nature but the ones that are and do are more like good Movie Directors that enjoy making shows for others to watch.

 

For some in those moments the Play of the theater becomes dreadfully apparent and less real than the continuum of Buddha nature. 

 

This is because of the small being is not fully realizing the background of Buddha Nature and I do not mean this as an intellectual exercise either.

 

How can I say such things?  It is from living like this a lifetime from infancy and coping the best I can.

 

When I was 17 I was given my big experience Buddha Nature. The Opening the living experience was so much that words can not express the true realization, unity of all things is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

This changed me forever but was not a state I had fully realized but rather a 12 hour experience of reality as the ability to be, to be ,  constricted back down to the small being and the small being has been growing gradually,  very slowly into Buddha Nature for some 32 years now. It is unlikely I will ever know this reality of being again as I did that day in this life time as the integration into it is such an inexorably slow process.

 

The trick is you have to play your part in this world and take it seriously with sincerity and be and give the best you are and love and live in the face of and in-spite of the impermanence.

 

You have to give yourself permission to create a drama and share a drama with others as interrelation with others is very important to ones own growth.

 

You really have no other choice the alternative is to make yourself miserable and the span of a human life time is very short anyway so make the best of things and learn to appreciate the insincerity of it all and the impermanence with a smile as often as you can remember to.

[Stosh]

A Very good post to you too, I really know where youre coming from Pilgrim. 

[Pilgrim]

20 hours ago, ilumairen said:

 

The real alternative is to address your own dissatisfaction. 

This is the most challenging of all and good strong hard often bitter medicine. The only real medicine. One has to be very strong to take it and be prepared to fail time and time again and tear up and throw away a life sometimes in favor of what the medicine reveals.

 

Often the medicine is more than I can stand and I spit it out, then somehow the medicine finds a lingering taste in my mouth and this calls me back for another taste. I think it is like this for all of us to some degree or another. 

 

We should be careful how much medicine we take at once, the cure can be too much to bare all at once.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Pilgrim

[Fa Xin]

I’d rather not be in a war. 

[thelerner]

Course, it doesn't have to be War or Office Job.  Its a big world.  Certainly has more office jobs then soldiers, thank goodness, but there's a whole array of jobs that aren't office.  Though I can dig that office job might mean workin for The Man.  But a soldier still works for him, longer hours too.

 

I suppose the question always is, what is my best life?  What do I need to get there and am I willing to make the sacrifices?  Or is that yearning a false path, that in truth we should happy with what we have?

 

I've enjoyed the householder path, but I've been pretty lucky. 

wealthy, good looking, sexy, humorous, I've been batting .500. 

[Pilgrim]

8 hours ago, thelerner said:

what is my best life? 

Oh!  now you just had to go there...............   Sorry just can't resist the temptation on this one.... Crom's Bones Man!

 

 

[Spotless]

A good friend from high school went off to the Air Force Academy.

 

He was a National Merit Scholar Finalist and had three letters.

 

We (some buddies) visited him at Spring Break in Colorado at the academy. It had the coolest parking lot we had ever seen - tons of sparkling muscle cars.

 

Tim was overjoyed to see us - but as our meeting progressed it was as though in many levels time had stood still for him while we had all been on a whirlwind of unfolding and the general cluster fuck of endless possibilities.

 

Tim explained:

as a freshman when walking among buildings one is required to walk with arms raised slightly in front of oneself and in a kind of niny position with both hands drooping as though like a bunny. In some cases they are also expected to hop.

 

If a senior class man tells you to carry his books - you are required to carry his books.

 

He spends time in class learning the shadow outlines of different types planes.

 

It is a life of relentless reduction of personhood in exchange for automated response to the various dogmas of war and unquestioned abeyance (a bit like some monastic scenarios).

 

He was forced to stay out the year or his father would not aid him in other education.

 

He left that summer and became almost immediately a senior VP at 

a very large and worldwide known brand manufacturer and developer of electronics.

 

If one were to look over the past few decades of war - the USA’s most prominent have been according to John McCain and Alan Greenspan - Oil Wars. Perhaps they know nothing and the wars were for true patriotic purposes - but it is interesting to see such high suicide rates among those returning. As though they partook in nothing more than a huge lie.

 

During another useless war - in Vietnam, it was not entirely uncommon for friendlies to “cap” a newbie officer (shoot in the head) they were both jealous of and who did not yet know what the hell he was doing.

 

Sometimes keeping together a family and dealing with a million small “bullet holes” to one’s ego and willfulness is far more courageous and not so petty and sleepy as might be assumed. 

 

You can can look at life as drudgery or like you’re in a candy store. Mountains to be conquered are everywhere to be found. Sometimes as a pack they can be exciting to climb - sometimes pack mentality can lead one to think in terms of “collateral damage” 

 

The only people that think positively of War are those that have never been in one.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by Spotless

[Pavel Karavaev]

On 20.12.2018 at 2:16 PM, rideforever said:

I was watching an old WW2 movie the other day and war seems very interesting and full of life really.   You get to walk around in big open spaces, bridges, fly in planes, it's all very important, people desperately need you to do this or that, you take your life in your hands.

 

Contrast that to office job : morning, morning ... alright ... yeah not so bad ... weather's shit isn't it ... yeah.   Only two weeks till Christmas ...

 

Which one is closer to the soul ?

 

Do we really get anything out of life, being so domesticated and passive ?

 

Any other real alternatives out there ?

 

Interesting topic.

Office job is often associated with the inertia of attenuation of human potential.

And on the contrary, the war pushes a person to activity and actions in the face of death. It is interesting that in traditional teachings there is an image of war is used

as an image of the path of internal self-improvement.
 

Edited December 24, 2018 by Pavel Karavaev

[Aetherous]

15 hours ago, Spotless said:

The only people that think positively of War are those that have never been in one.

 

That's not at all true.

[rideforever]

2 hours ago, Pavel Karavaev said:

Office job is often associated with the inertia of attenuation of human potential.
And on the contrary, the war pushes a person to activity and actions in the face of death. It is interesting that in traditional teachings there is an image of war is used

as an image of the path of internal self-improvement.

 

Something very strange has happened to mankind.   They wish always to be happy, or calm.   But this is profoundly unnatural.  Next comes a fear of sex, or action.   Once they repress these things then they get Angry.   And then talk of how to get rid of Anger.   But if you go back to the beginning, why did you suppress yourself ?   
Well, maybe there is a reason, maybe it involves redirecting your energy into the development of spirituality or higher intelligence - but at the same time it is damaging for your naturalness.   Humans, exploring their new intelligence are making a bit of a mess, but I suppose that is to be expected and forigveable.   
Nevertheless, understanding this picture leads one once again to action.

 

[ilumairen]

4 hours ago, rideforever said:

 

Something very strange has happened to mankind.   They wish always to be happy, or calm.   But this is profoundly unnatural.  Next comes a fear of sex, or action.   Once they repress these things then they get Angry.   And then talk of how to get rid of Anger.   But if you go back to the beginning, why did you suppress yourself ?   
Well, maybe there is a reason, maybe it involves redirecting your energy into the development of spirituality or higher intelligence - but at the same time it is damaging for your naturalness.   Humans, exploring their new intelligence are making a bit of a mess, but I suppose that is to be expected and forigveable.   
Nevertheless, understanding this picture leads one once again to action.

 

 

What of those who are naturally calm?

 

And what of the samurai?

 

[rideforever]

14 hours ago, ilumairen said:

What of those who are naturally calm?

 

And what of the samurai?

 

Regarding calmness : enter into the spirit of what I said there and we will not be far apart.

 

Regarding Samurai : I have loved many aspects of the Japanese traditions but in the end perhaps they were cowards killing themselves to please the ceremonial crowd.   There is a good film called Hari Kiri about this.  Also turning oak trees into amputated playthings (bonzai) is not really very nice.   And there is a bit too much sword fetish.   Nevertheless the culture has developed quite a lot, which is worth something.

 

[Pavel Karavaev]

15 hours ago, ilumairen said:

What of those who are naturally calm?

 

And what of the samurai?

 

 

I suppose that being only calm or only active is not natural.
Yin and Yang are constantly replacing each other in the world. And if the sun constantly shines, then all living things will burn and dry, and if it rains constantly, then everything will drown and freeze.
So the one who lingers at one extreme, thereby suppresses his opposite side.

By the way, the samurai is always calm, but at the same time it can be said that he is always at war !

Edited December 25, 2018 by Pavel Karavaev