Adopting another’s views and beliefs and teachings is just more smoke and mirrors.
We want to know if it’s possible to live without views and beliefs, but we can’t find out without losing or putting aside our views and beliefs, so, frightened little children that we are, we cling to whoever takes us by the hand and walks us down the garden path…or points to the pathless way of no-way.
Say it this way: So frightened little child that I am, I cling to whoever takes me by the hand and walks me down the garden path…or points to the pathless way of no-way…
That way you don’t have to presume to speak for anyone but your self.
But I do presume…
According to you, what would be the supposed signs that someone is presuming to speak for someone other than himself?
From the point of view of the conditioned self, there is no happy ending. Death is, our brain tells us, the end of the self, which for the self is cataclysmic, sans silver lining. The self will come up with all sorts of theories and beliefs about surviving death to take the edge off, but deep down it’s terrified of ceasing to exist (as if it ever did!).
Realizing that I don’t exist in that way is very interesting to be aware of. Especially in times of suffering, depression, worry etc. Less so in times of pleasure.
Survival is the ultimate goal for the conditioned self. It trumps everything else.
The ‘self’ has heard and taken notice of .satori, nirvana, heaven hell etc
“Just as a lake is calm when the breezes stop, so when the mind has understood and thus transcended the conflicting problems it has created, great stillness comes into being. This tranquillity is not to be induced by will, by desire; it is the outcome of the freedom from craving… Thus through constant awareness, the deep process of craving, the cause of self and so of conflict and pain, is observed and understood. Without self-knowledge and right thinking there is no meditation, and without meditative awareness there is no self-knowledge.”
“The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti”, Vol. 3, The Mirror of Relationship, Tenth Talk in the Oak Grove, 1944.
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When the source of evil is seen, if there is any compassion whatsoever, the struggle ends.
How do you know when you’re seeing evil? Might you be seeing what you believe is evil?
It must align in an obvious manner with the definition of evil eg. conduct that willfully causes harm
.
Of course experience tells us that we are usually woefully mistaken ie. our beliefs are often demonstrably inaccurate. A good test - of a complete understanding of evil - would be how much our relationship to it changes, if we are still driven by it.
I saw a broadcast about a dairy farmer who had taken over the farm from his parents. He carried it on for 20 years at first. Cows that have to produce a lot of milk die much sooner than those that are not used for milk production.
Cows were taken away by the butcher when they were no longer profitable. One day, when another such removal was due, the farmer noticed that the cow and the cow she was friends with were crying. He had never seen cows cry before. Although he had felt uneasy about handling the dairy cows for some time, this made him decide to stop milk production. Cows feel pain - he hadn’t realized that before. He didn’t want to cause any pain.
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The human brain is egocentric because it is a prisoner of time, and consequentially, always trying to escape. The brain knows its condition causes suffering and horrific conditions on earth, but it can’t stop being a prisoner/escapist until it has the insight that thinking is keeping time, and freedom is not thinking.
Time is the expression for man’s relationship to change.
Care to explain what this is supposed to mean?