Personally, I like Buddhism. I believe the Eastern religions are full of wisdom, and great sources of practical spirituality. However, I do have a bone to pick with some of its principles.
For instance, a basic tenet of Buddhism is, "To live is to suffer."
In my view, reality, life and all that exists is inherently meaningless (and meaningful at the same time, I will explain.) Life cannot be inherently full of suffering, for life is different for everyone. Everyone has a unique life situation, coupled with unique experiences, memories, beliefs, situations and so on and so forth. Some people suffer a lot, while others, very little. How they, can we logically conclude that living is synonymous with suffering, when that evidently is not the case?
The truth is, life has the meaning which YOU give it. Life can be pleasurable, or full of suffering. What exactly constitutes 'suffering' anyway? Why place such a negative on a given experience? Any event filtered through lens built on a positive conceptual framework will elicit a positive response, and vice versa. So it is definitely NOT true, that living is synonymous with suffering. Although, beliefs are powerful and such a worldview may lead to a more negative experience.
Although, I will have to agree with the other noble truth that states: Desire causes suffering. When one becomes "enlightened", one stops craving desires, and thus, suffering is also eliminated.
This is TRUE, to an extent...
Desires may not cause suffering, or they might. What determines the degree of discomfort the cause is NOT the desire itself, rather, the underlying emotion behind the desire. A desire inspired and motivated from the lack of something is negative, and therefore may cause suffering. However desires can also be positive and serve as strong driving, motivational forces in the world as well.
Ironically, the desire to be free of desire is also a desire and is bound to cause suffering. Interesting...
Ultimately, it is important to approach life from a positive point-of-view. Desire is not necessarily bad, but I agree in that it can cause suffering. This is because the desire for something is the want for something you do not already have. However desires may be positive as well.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Thinking...Good or Bad?
I was thinking to myself (lol) if thinking in itself is good or bad? It seems like some individuals have a tendency to overthink or analyze things. In such cases, it does become a problem. First of all, I think it detracts from the present moment. Nietzsche is of the opinion that future obligations, promises, and so on keep us from experiencing the present. I tend to agree here. By withdrawing in your cognitive faculties, remaining in deep thought, it is hard to enjoy the present moment.
The problem is that the only time we have IS the present. The past is gone, and the future has not yet arrived, so dwelling on either can cause discontentment or anxiety. Too much thinking deprives us of enjoying the present moment in my opinion. Being present involves surrendering yourself to the senses of touch, sight, smell, hearing, tasting. While eating dinner, we often contemplate the day's experience, or think about our tasks, obligations and so forth, instead of enjoying our meal. Instead we can get lost in the rhythm of some smooth jazz, breath in the aroma of fresh Parmesan cheese and focus on the sensation of the sweet tomato sauce lathered onto a plate of whole wheat pasta and washing it down with a glass of aged wine.
Thinking is good, of course, but only to the extent that you are able to "control" the thinker within. If you cannot rid yourself of your thoughts, you do not control your mind, your mind controls you. Your thoughts aren't you, and a simple exercise of 'watching the thinker', as Eckart Tolle teaches, will demonstrate to you this fact, and allow you to experience an increased awareness of your consciousness.
I can write a lot about this topic, but I'll stop here for now seeing as I have introduced the topic.
The problem is that the only time we have IS the present. The past is gone, and the future has not yet arrived, so dwelling on either can cause discontentment or anxiety. Too much thinking deprives us of enjoying the present moment in my opinion. Being present involves surrendering yourself to the senses of touch, sight, smell, hearing, tasting. While eating dinner, we often contemplate the day's experience, or think about our tasks, obligations and so forth, instead of enjoying our meal. Instead we can get lost in the rhythm of some smooth jazz, breath in the aroma of fresh Parmesan cheese and focus on the sensation of the sweet tomato sauce lathered onto a plate of whole wheat pasta and washing it down with a glass of aged wine.
Thinking is good, of course, but only to the extent that you are able to "control" the thinker within. If you cannot rid yourself of your thoughts, you do not control your mind, your mind controls you. Your thoughts aren't you, and a simple exercise of 'watching the thinker', as Eckart Tolle teaches, will demonstrate to you this fact, and allow you to experience an increased awareness of your consciousness.
I can write a lot about this topic, but I'll stop here for now seeing as I have introduced the topic.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
First Topic: Dreams...Dreams, Dreams, Dreams.
I was bored in school a while ago, and decided to let my thoughts flow on a particular subject which has significance to me - dreams (the night kind. although aspirations are good too).
and so here it is:
Mots people do not think much of dreams, awarding them no merit, attributing little to no value to them and generally dismissing them as worthless.
Why do we have dreams? Likely no one can answer this question . Of course, fixating on certain things during the day with intense emotion may bring these themes into some night dreams -- this is the subconscious mind at work. But, are dreams real?
How can we be sure that our waking life is objective reality? Often, people have incredibly vivid & lucid dreams. These dreams at the time feel extremely real, and then of course, the person wakes up to the "real world".
Others claim they don't dream, but this is a misconception since everyone dream. Dreams alternate with different brainwave states and REM sleep, as one typically has around 7-10 dreams per night. Dream recall can be improved through practice and intent (the neuroplasticity of the brain will be covered in a future topic), ameliorated by a certain diet, and supplements.
Time is rather different in dreams. I've had dreams that have appeared to last days, a week, or even months. The concept of time being slower in dreams was introduced in Inception, although I'm not sure if it has basis in reality. Although one thing is certain -- time in dreams works differently. For instance, once I timed myself to have been asleep for no longer than 10 minutes. In this time I had a dream which seemed much longer than this amount. It is possible that dreams "dreams within a dream"; 'real life' constituting the latter 'dream'.
Interpreting dreams is no easy task as many psychologists have found out. The subconscious communicates to us through symbols. In other words, things are not as they appear in dreams.
Some themes in dreams are translated to real-life concept one would understand, and so, their perception becomes a bit skewed.
It is however possible that dreams themselves are glimpses at parallel realities and have as much (maybe even more?) validity than our waking life. Although there has been much scientific advancement in other areas of importance, dreams still remain a relatively unknown frontier. (Note: Unknowingly when I wrote this 2 weeks ago, I had no clue I would use this blog name, nice synchronicity here.)
A few things I am wondering about are:
What happens if we DON'T dream?
Does time exist in dreams? Or is the interpretation of the dreams translated to the concept we refer to as time, once we awake? The conscious mind always tries to make sense of things which are aligned with pre-existing beliefs, so that is something I am interested in finding out.
What is possible in lucid dreams? I've had first hand experience with LD's and can testify that they are indeed as amazing as they sound. Superpowers, etc, exist. But I am more interested in the philosophical implications of this, and as well, if we can mitigate every day tasks to the subconscious? Can we learn in ld's? Can we discover more about ourselves?
Pretty messy, but that is the first topic. More questions than answers were brought to light, but this is good. Seems like learning about dreams will be something that we will have to do empirically. That is, by consciously dreaming, achieving states of lucid dreams, and fervent experimentation.
I had also 'let my thoughts flow' on morality, but will likely not post this since I am currently studying different moral philosophies as well as the metaphysics of morality so my thoughts on it are frequently changing.
and so here it is:
Mots people do not think much of dreams, awarding them no merit, attributing little to no value to them and generally dismissing them as worthless.
Why do we have dreams? Likely no one can answer this question . Of course, fixating on certain things during the day with intense emotion may bring these themes into some night dreams -- this is the subconscious mind at work. But, are dreams real?
How can we be sure that our waking life is objective reality? Often, people have incredibly vivid & lucid dreams. These dreams at the time feel extremely real, and then of course, the person wakes up to the "real world".
Others claim they don't dream, but this is a misconception since everyone dream. Dreams alternate with different brainwave states and REM sleep, as one typically has around 7-10 dreams per night. Dream recall can be improved through practice and intent (the neuroplasticity of the brain will be covered in a future topic), ameliorated by a certain diet, and supplements.
Time is rather different in dreams. I've had dreams that have appeared to last days, a week, or even months. The concept of time being slower in dreams was introduced in Inception, although I'm not sure if it has basis in reality. Although one thing is certain -- time in dreams works differently. For instance, once I timed myself to have been asleep for no longer than 10 minutes. In this time I had a dream which seemed much longer than this amount. It is possible that dreams "dreams within a dream"; 'real life' constituting the latter 'dream'.
Interpreting dreams is no easy task as many psychologists have found out. The subconscious communicates to us through symbols. In other words, things are not as they appear in dreams.
Some themes in dreams are translated to real-life concept one would understand, and so, their perception becomes a bit skewed.
It is however possible that dreams themselves are glimpses at parallel realities and have as much (maybe even more?) validity than our waking life. Although there has been much scientific advancement in other areas of importance, dreams still remain a relatively unknown frontier. (Note: Unknowingly when I wrote this 2 weeks ago, I had no clue I would use this blog name, nice synchronicity here.)
A few things I am wondering about are:
What happens if we DON'T dream?
Does time exist in dreams? Or is the interpretation of the dreams translated to the concept we refer to as time, once we awake? The conscious mind always tries to make sense of things which are aligned with pre-existing beliefs, so that is something I am interested in finding out.
What is possible in lucid dreams? I've had first hand experience with LD's and can testify that they are indeed as amazing as they sound. Superpowers, etc, exist. But I am more interested in the philosophical implications of this, and as well, if we can mitigate every day tasks to the subconscious? Can we learn in ld's? Can we discover more about ourselves?
Pretty messy, but that is the first topic. More questions than answers were brought to light, but this is good. Seems like learning about dreams will be something that we will have to do empirically. That is, by consciously dreaming, achieving states of lucid dreams, and fervent experimentation.
I had also 'let my thoughts flow' on morality, but will likely not post this since I am currently studying different moral philosophies as well as the metaphysics of morality so my thoughts on it are frequently changing.
First Post!
Alright! I made my blog, after trying out a few blog names only to find out that they are all taken, I have chosen this one. Sounds positive, so that is good.
Here I will be posting my thoughts and perspectives on various topics such Philosophy, Science, Positive Psychology, Spirituality, Media, Life, and so on. Topics of paramount importance which deserve more introspection than others (at least in my opinion).
Although I will also post my thoughts on any given number of unrelated subjects if I want to. Many of my perspectives on these topics are unique. Some people may agree with them, while others, undoubtedly would not. It is important to take everything into consideration -- being open-minded is key. Critical thinking goes without saying, as well. My blog posts will usually not be very long, as I intend to avoid an essay-like structure and rather focus simply on the points I'm making.
Many of my thoughts will not be my own, some will be a mix of others' and my own, and yet others will be entirely original. Their origin should matter not and their validity should be assessed independently.
Anyway, this got way too long, but that's the introduction of my blog. Hope you enjoy it!
Here I will be posting my thoughts and perspectives on various topics such Philosophy, Science, Positive Psychology, Spirituality, Media, Life, and so on. Topics of paramount importance which deserve more introspection than others (at least in my opinion).
Although I will also post my thoughts on any given number of unrelated subjects if I want to. Many of my perspectives on these topics are unique. Some people may agree with them, while others, undoubtedly would not. It is important to take everything into consideration -- being open-minded is key. Critical thinking goes without saying, as well. My blog posts will usually not be very long, as I intend to avoid an essay-like structure and rather focus simply on the points I'm making.
Many of my thoughts will not be my own, some will be a mix of others' and my own, and yet others will be entirely original. Their origin should matter not and their validity should be assessed independently.
Anyway, this got way too long, but that's the introduction of my blog. Hope you enjoy it!
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