XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: tony.kingsbury@gmail.com   
      
   On 11/09/2016 3:37 PM, liaM wrote:   
   > On 9/11/2016 4:50 AM, Ummmmmmm wrote:   
   >>   
   >> Really, really, wanting something - and knowing that it's possible -   
   >> means you don't give up until you've found it.   
   >> If we have only one life - surely we have to aim for the highest?   
   >> Otherwise we let ourselves down.   
   >   
   >   
   > Aim for the highest may not be so simple..  Do you mean "Enlightenment"?   
   > That, in fact, imo, is the simplest to achieve, if one is of age to   
   > understand the 4 Noble Truths and follow the way to achieve liberation.   
   > No hocus pocus is needed. One or a few kind teachers, maybe.   
      
   If it's so simple, why don't more people achieve it?   
   Could it be that over three thousand years of muddled transmission &   
   mis-translation the original message has been warped beyond recognition?   
   The recipes don't work anymore?   
      
   In the same way as Jesus's teaching that "the Kingdom of Heaven is   
   within you" has been completely forgotten by modern Christianity.   
   >   
   > For me "the highest"is a life well led through its seven or so stages.   
   > A Japanese guru years back asserted that each stage has its flowering,   
   > he was referring to actors' lives in his troupe, from the youngest to   
   > the oldest..  And the last flowering, of the oldest actor.. perhaps one   
   > who plays a maiden in the Kabuki, is the best.   
   >   
   > But I prefer Gurdgieff's view, that humans are endowed with   
   > potentialities that not everyone has the chance and the will to   
   > realise to their fullest.  To have known creativity, to have experienced   
   > fusion with one's contemporaries, to have worked hard and succeeded   
   > (or failed) in Love, Sex, Music, Children, Kindness, Gourmet cooking,   
   > Zen or Buddhist Enlightenment, to have considered God - or not,   
   > to have found out who one's parents are or were, etc. etc. is part of   
   > "the best"   
      
   All the paths in this bucket list lead to happiness of one kind or   
   another. (if they don't make you happy, why pursue them?)   
   But they all lead you out, away from your essential self, not in towards it.   
   There may be a path that leads inwards, towards your true being.   
   And it may be that the experience of who you really are is more   
   enchanting and engrossing - more fun, in other words, - than all the   
   other paths put together.   
   To put it another way - instead of following a whole lot of pursuits in   
   the outer world, in order to find happiness, why not first find   
   happiness in the inner world?   
   Then you can still have all the other things if you want to pursue them   
   - but because your happiness isn't dependent on them, it doesn't matter   
   if your friends die, or your lover leaves, or your children grow up, or   
   your taste buds get too old to appreciate gourmet cooking. Everything   
   'out there' changes, all the time.   
   There is something inside you that is constant, untouched by time. To be   
   in touch with that is 'liberation'.   
   There is a light inside of you - to see it is 'enlightenment'   
   There is clarity and peace inside of you - to bathe in it is 'samadhi'   
   To realise that this is true is 'satori'.   
      
   I'm not much of a foodie, but my guess is that it beats gourmet cooking   
   every time - and doesn't give you indigestion or make you fat :-)   
      
   >   
   > So little time, so much to do.   
      
   Well, that's the problem with bucket lists - the list grow longer, and   
   the time grows shorter, and hope slowly turns to despair, as you begin   
   to realise that none of the avenues you've wandered down has actually   
   resulted in lasting happiness. Transient joys, perhaps, yes. Transient   
   joys can be beautiful and very rewarding - but only if the ground of the   
   experience is inner peace.   
      
     In truth, here's a confidence, I estimate   
   > every human, even the innocents that die young thanks to an oversight   
   > of the Almighty (careless as he is)  - all humans have the   
   > time that's needed to reach "the highest".  Life is "the highest".   
      
   I agree wholeheartedly. But Life contains within itself a secret, a   
   treasure that needs to be unwrapped. And only a moment of time is needed   
   to unwrap it.   
      
   But to reach that point - a some humility is needed, a little ability to   
   untangle yourself from the mummified wisdoms of the past, and tune in to   
   the living wisdoms of the present.   
   Your own inner guide is wiser than Gurdjieff, or Gautama - because they   
   were then, and you are now. You don't need translation, or   
   interpretation, or explication - you just need to learn how to listen to   
   your own inner self.   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)