When I was learning, as a scrawny runt of a teenager, how to be a skipper a sailing dinghy, one of the exercises I initially struggled with was that of keeping the boat moving in a straight line when on a broad reach in a quartering sea. So, what all that means is that we were travelling with and across the wind
(typically, at about a 30 to 45 degree angle to the direction that the wind was blowing), and the waves generated by the wind would approach the boat at a about a 45 degree angle. As they did, the rearmost corner of the boat that was reached by the wave would be lifted and pushed a little by the wave, the opposing side of the bow would dig in, and the boat would tend to swing across the wave front, and then I would pull on the tiller and get the back back on course - resulting in a corkscrew course that would have - as my skipper, who was teaching me, said - broken the back of a snake :)
(No, he wasn't being nasty - we both had a good sense of humour and understood each other's humour.) That corkscrewing isn't good - it can be dangerous in rough conditions, but as I was learning, this was all happening in relatively smooth water the waves were only a couple of feet or so high. In those conditions, it mainly meant we were slower than the other boats we were racing against, as we wound up sailing a longer distance
(yes, my steering those first few times was that bad - but, mind you, we could win or lose races by a few inches, so every little bit counted). What was supposed to happen was that I should have pulled on the tiller earlier and harder, to keep the boat travelling in a more less straight line. It wasn't that I actually had to pull on the tiller all that hard, it's just that I had - again, to quote my skipper, good ol' Bert, my arms had the muscles of chicken legs.
(I later developed a fair bit of strength in my arms through weight training, then regretted that from time to time as I was too bulky to be fashionable ... so stuff the fashionistas - I'll take being strong any day!) I eventually did learn to keep the boat travelling in a straight line, and then I found that, if I pulled on the tiller even earlier and harder, I could get the boat surfing - and suddenly I was competitive on the downwind legs of races.
Life can be like that in many ways: you struggle to accomplish something, and then when you have managed to get that something to the equivalent of steering a straight course, you may well find that you can apply that technique "even harder" to make major gains. I suppose an example of that is working with colour. It can be a struggle to do that initially
(see my post on colour healing, at http://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2007/08/colour-healing-example-of-my-early.html), but then it becomes easier to use the technique, and
THEN you can use the technique to cleanse or heal rooms, places or even whole regions.
Another example is developing the skill of clearing by doing what I term karmic regression-rescue
(see the second and third posts I ever did on this blog, at http://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2007/06/workshop-on-past-lives-part-1-working.html and http://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2007/06/workshop-on-past-lives-part-2.html): it can be initially a major accomplishment to work with one aspect of one life, but then it starts to become easier and you wind up dealing with the same issue in multiple lives at once, and other advanced techniques I won't go into here.
Now, I'd like to move on to another topic, and I'll begin with a question: what is Buddhism about? In essence, happiness.
Surprised? No doubt some would be! The thing is, Buddhism doesn't conflate fleeting sensory indulgences with true, lasting happiness. As an example of that, consider the baby whose absolute pleasure is to get fed when hungry ... bliss ... until hungry again, and howling because the baby cannot feed itself - better to become mature enough to be able to feed oneself
(all of which assumes one is free of poverty and malnutrition - and too many people on this planet are not).
As another example, get a drug hit and you'll probably feel high as a kite for a while, but then comes the down ... If you're taking drugs to escape from something, maybe face up to that, including making whatever unpleasant changes and doing whatever grieving may be necessary, and then face life afresh - calmer, and stronger for the knowledge of having overcome a problem. Goddess that's a patronising little rant - never mind, I actually intended it to be, knowing that the reasons people take drugs - and
I include alcohol in that - are complex, and often include pressure from society
(peers are the LEAST of it), and quite commonly, trying to cope with having been abused or assaulted. Nevertheless, the principle still remains: if you're having trouble coping with having been abused, get some help that will be lasting help - counselling, a genuinely supportive friend, meditation, whatever genuinely works best for you; if you drink alcohol because it's the only way you know how to interact socially, try something to broaden your mind - study, meditate, etc.
It is important to be aware what it is that we really want, when we are seeking happiness. Failing to understand that can lead to things like staying in a situation that is abusive - it's a bit like the kid who misbehaves, knowing that they will get into trouble, because being punished is better than no attention at all. After I started this post, I came across this article
http://www.seeksafely.org/2013/11/09/seeking-happiness/ [3] (courtesy of The Wild Hunt), and there are some very good comments in there about our
TRUE motivations for doing things.
Buddhism takes that sort of approach: looking deeply, and
also takes into consideration a view that life extends beyond this current physical incarnation.
To expand on the first point a little, I found I couldn't have any sort of effective
(intimate) relationship until I could relate properly to myself, which basically means I had to face up to and resolve some fairly deep personal issues first. Those young women at high school, on the other hand, who were always involved with someone else and had contempt for anyone who didn't share their obsession with sex and "being hitched"
(note that none of it had to do with either love, a genuine relationship or even an honest meeting of sexual desires), are basically just an older version of toddler screaming for a feed ... as are at least some people taking drugs or alcohol.
Now, it is acceptable to indulge a little with things like alcohol, but do so for the purpose of enjoying that pleasure, that sensation, not for some hidden and unacknowledged reason
(the number of people I know who can talk knowledgeably about wine, for instance, but only do so because they want a sense of belonging to a social elite! - on the other hand, probably the best appreciation of wine I've had since I left my parent's home was with a wastewater treatment plant operator) - and never allow the alcohol to control you, or turn you into a violent or abusive monster.
[4]
The same applies to spiritual growth. Are you pursuing this for peace, a sense of value, some other reason? It doesn't matter what the reason is
(well, up to a point - studying to gain knowledge to enable control over others is dodgy, in my view), but it is important to
UNDERSTAND. One of the things I encountered during the time I was Buddhist, was a stage of growth where one was supposed to become comfortable with personal oblivion. That is very confronting, and contrary to my opinion of what Reality is, but going through the exercise does give you the chance to find out quite a bit about yourself, and to become calmer about many other things in life.
So .. why do you want to be happy?
[3] I'm quite possibly going to write about that website at some stage in the near future. I quite like the pledge they are asking people to sign up to: you can read more about it
(beginning with the Wild Hunt article) at
http://wildhunt.org/2013/12/what-should-we-learn-from-james-arthur-rays-return.html,
http://www.seeksafely.org/,
http://www.seeksafely.org/2013/10/31/can-hay-house-conference/ and
http://www.seeksafely.org/the-promise/. Note also that, here in Australia at least, everyone who takes money is subject to laws - see
http://www.gnwmythr.com/ethics.html (and everyone everywhere is subject to laws when physical injury happens - as the person responsible for the deaths found out when jailed [although the articles give me the impression that the sentence may have been inadequate, in some people's views]; one of the best parts of my day job has been the various safety roles I've taken on over the years, including on a mine site, and I have applauded most of the changes to safety laws in the last few decades - especially the ones that prevent Principals evading their responsibilities for safety when engaging people to do work under a Contract).
[4] One of our cats is quite a pleasure puss: he licks my coffee cup after I've had it, is first for food and pats - and has absolutely no hesitation whatsoever in putting himself forward for either ... but he also, as a result, takes a greater interest in what we're doing. Whenever there's a complicated
(or nice smelling!) meal being prepared, he'll often be in the kitchen sitting on a chair, taking a great interest in the details of what is going on. In fact, we've often joked that he's preparing himself for a life as a human
(although I don't accept the change of evolutionary line theory in incarnation on human - apart from a limited change from humans to dolphins, perhaps). What this boils down to is that, in addition to the enjoyment of pleasures that do not harm others
(spectacular, excessive consumption is out as it takes resources away from others and may be being indulged in to rub other people's faces in it, but the Christian guilt around sex is rubbish - just make sure there is free, informed consent) for their own sakes, an interest in pleasure can lead to, if not spiritual growth, then a stimulation of the mind. Think about it :)
[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.
[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux?)
My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...
See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag.
-
One size does NOT fit all.
- Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if the
simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather
than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
- May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
- Ban the dream interpretation industry!
- A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
- Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
-
Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant,
and a bad master.
- "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
-
Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle
between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side,
and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
- The means shape the end.
- Sometimes you just can't argue with
a biped that is armed with a sharp stick, a thick head and not too much
in the way of grunts.
-
As words can kill, the right to freedom
of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and
balanced as you can be.
- My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi".
However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar
reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more
so in some cases than many war films.
Do not pray for easy
lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (quoting 19th
century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
Jesus loves you. Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that.
Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in
their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If
you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN
We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
True compassion is more than flinging a
coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see
that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW
Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of
their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their
society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or
great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those
who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech)
Too
much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and
community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross
national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air
pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our
highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow
for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the
joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the
strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the
integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our
courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor
our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except
that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968
Tags: about me, attitudes, Buddhism, happiness, learning, life lessons, motivation, self awareness, self indulgence, self knowledge,
First published: Thorsdagr, 5th December, 2013
Last edited: Fryrsday, 6th December, 2013 (added note 4)
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