You are more powerful than those who position themselves as your enemies.

You already know.

Each person is responsible for doing their part, to the best of their ability.
If we all do our part, collectively, we can tip the scales. If you add enough
drops of water to a bucket, eventually it spills over. There is strength in
numbers.

There is always more to learn.

Reminds me of the stones of some ruins or whatever from the tibetan flic Samsara.

At the beginning you read "How do you prevent a drop of water from drying up?"

At the end of the flic at some point, the stones say "Add it to the ocean", or some such

Just do the very best you can, from one day to the next, and you will be
doing your part. Your best effort, whatever that may be, is “good enough”.

Just do the very best you can, from one day to the next, and you will be
doing your part. Your best effort, whatever that may be, is “good enough”.

Quoting radiohead now we are? Packed like a can of sardines or whatever it was called heh



This mind, perfectly and fully realized,
Moves with a clear, tranquil spiritual awareness.
It encompasses heaven, covers the earth,
Penetrates form, and rides upon sound.
It is a boundless openness;
It is a summit rising with forbidding abruptness.
It is a radiant light shining from the crown of your head,
Illuminating wherever you are;
It is an awesome wind, rising up at each step you take,
Enveloping all things
If you are able to make this mind your own,
Then even though you do not seek excellence yourself,
Excellence comes to you of its own accord.
Without seeking emancipation,
You are not hindered by a single thing.
- Zen Master Daito (1235?1308)

No- I am not quoting anyone. These are my own thoughts and words.

No- I am not quoting anyone. These are my own thoughts and words.


Ahh well I was wrong anyway, it was the Kid A album, Optimistic song:

You already have success.

Success?

The first step is to turn off all of your perceptions, thoughts, senses, etc, without turning your awareness off too (ie falling asleep or unconscious).

Various various ways of accomplishing this, from prayer/mantra practices to meditative practices to shamanic practices, Different religions have different paths to this, for example in christian mysticism there's the Christian monastic text Cloud of Unknowing, a christian version of Zen-like practices.

There, I said it in my own words, now I shall quote!



Withdraw now from
The invisible pounding and weaving
Of your ingrained ideas.
If you want to be rid of this
Invisible turmoil, you must just sit
Through it and let go of everything.
Attain fulfillment and illuminate thoroughly.
Light and shadow altogether forgotten.
Drop off your own skin,
And the sense-dusts will be fully purified.
The eye then readily discerns the brightness.
- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)

Ahh well I was wrong anyway, it was the Kid A album, Optimistic song:




Optimism is a choice. The glass can be half empty or half full, depending
on how you choose to look at it. Generally speaking, I think the
optimist gets more enjoyment out of life than the pessimist.

I have been meditating for over 10 years.
I get it.

Both would get even more joy and serenity out of life if they were to not make any judgements whatsoever upon things. A middle way. Here comes the quote!

This is an ancient Eastern story (thus, no copyright so i just posting it all)

One day in late summer, an old farmer was working in his field with his old sick horse. The farmer felt compassion for the horse and desired to lift its burden. So he left his horse loose to go the mountains and live out the rest of its life.

Soon after, neighbors from the nearby village visited, offering their condolences and said, "What a shame. Now your only horse is gone. How unfortunate you are!. You must be very sad. How will you live, work the land, and prosper?" The farmer replied: "Who knows? We shall see".

Two days later the old horse came back now rejuvenated after meandering in the mountainsides while eating the wild grasses. He came back with twelve new younger and healthy horses which followed the old horse into the corral.

Word got out in the village of the old farmer's good fortune and it wasn't long before people stopped by to congratulate the farmer on his good luck. "How fortunate you are!" they exclaimed. You must be very happy!" Again, the farmer softly said, "Who knows? We shall see."

At daybreak on the next morning, the farmer's only son set off to attempt to train the new wild horses, but the farmer's son was thrown to the ground and broke his leg. One by one villagers arrived during the day to bemoan the farmer's latest misfortune. "Oh, what a tragedy! Your son won't be able to help you farm with a broken leg. You'll have to do all the work yourself, How will you survive? You must be very sad". they said. Calmly going about his usual business the farmer answered, "Who knows? We shall see"

Several days later a war broke out. The Emperor's men arrived in the village demanding that young men come with them to be conscripted into the Emperor's army. As it happened the farmer's son was deemed unfit because of his broken leg. "What very good fortune you have!!" the villagers exclaimed as their own young sons were marched away. "You must be very happy." "Who knows? We shall see!", replied the old farmer as he headed off to work his field alone.

As time went on the broken leg healed but the son was left with a slight limp. Again the neighbors came to pay their condolences. "Oh what bad luck. Too bad for you"! But the old farmer simply replied; "Who knows? We shall see."

As it turned out the other young village boys had died in the war and the old farmer and his son were the only able bodied men capable of working the village lands. The old farmer became wealthy and was very generous to the villagers. They said: "Oh how fortunate we are, you must be very happy", to which the old farmer replied, "Who knows? We shall see!"

Thank you for sharing your wisdom. I appreciate it.
But you aren’t telling me anything I don’t already know.
With all due respect.

Great great, then you know better than to be taken in by the vague pronouncements of people playing forum games by trying to sound vague and mysterious. There is nothing vague or mysterious about any of it, it's all freely available with hundreds of teachers and guides out there, and thousands upon thousands of websites full of the information gathered over thousands of years.

For example I am a full time resident at a rural meditative center that offers retreats in the summer season, and the amount of wisdom from the various teachers of various traditions and religions is plentiful and easily available to anyone who so chooses, although these are generally only a week or so long. The resident monks (buddhists in this case) are also full of wisdom, and gladly share it with anyone who asks.

Choosing to see the glass as half full is a matter of perspective, not judgment. It is an “attitude of gratitude”. The focus is on
appreciating what you do have, and being grateful for it.
Beats focusing on a perceived lack, and being dissatisfied,
disappointed, or bitter.

Just ask someone who is very, very thirsty- that half glass of
water is probably looking pretty good to them, and they are
grateful for every drop.

True wisdom is gained from life experience.
From being out in the world, and engaging with it.
The way I look at it, Seb, we are all teaching and
learning from each other. All of the time. Everywhere.
The question is- what are we teaching and learning?
And how will we apply what we have learned?

Some of my greatest teachers have been the handicapped children I have
worked with. And the working class folks, who love to tell their stories.
I have learned waaaaaay more from interacting with others than I have from books (and I am well read). And I can connect with source everywhere
I go (we all can). I don’t need to be in a church or a monastery to experience God’s presence or to gain wisdom. Though I respect each persons right to follow their own path and do it their way. God doesn’t
care how we reach out to him and communicate with him, as long as we do.

I believe it.

:stillstanding:

My opinion would be that you are partially correct, and I will explain why:

Almost invariably, spiritual masters of the past went off on their own, away from all of the distractions, before their Awakening.. Even Jesus, with his 40 days and nights in the desert. That's why there is such a strong monastic tradition of isolation from the world, in every faith.. Christian monks chanting all day their prayers are engaged in Mantra practice.

But upon reaching a certain state, I opiniate, one would then be able to see clearly through any given situation, and respond appropriately and wisely, thus engaging with the world and learning from it, as you describe.

Most do not reach this state, or spend (supposedly) several lifetimes working towards it, but there are countless tales about those who have, from the various Saints to Mahasiddhas, crazy yogis, shamans, etc. Jesus's key disciples in the bible.

Anyway, none of that is a requirement - I mean I am not saying "hey, if you arent doing it this way you suck!", I'm not here to pontificate so much as to try to include the real world knowledge-base amongst all of the "hey look at me, i am super special" posts that always just hint at things.

Actually I was going to leave it at the last post, but what can I say, I am feeling particularly verbose today.

Thank you for being particularly verbose today.
I have enjoyed talking with you.

Search for my username on minds dot com.

From experience, a lot of my enemies were just in competition, jealous and irrational. I distance myself from these people. No, I'm not all that, but I can look into someone's eyes and see who they really are and what their objective is.

I can too and I notice that those with self proclaimed "gift of gab" have no other skills.

They are just all talk.

I thought of that because those are who I distance myself from. They think their "gift" buys my skills.

Exactly!

Totally agree with that - beware those who seek to weave you into their spell with their elaborations. The world of spirituality is just as full of charlatans and pretenders as any other. You see this a lot on these nobody/anomaly threads.

You've been doing it this whole time.

Just because it says nobody once doesn't make it a "nobody" thread.
(The rest were responses to complaints about the use of the word)

You're not the real no bodhi.