attempts to change yourself are futile??
I listened to Alan Watts podcast called "What is..."
It was all relatively confusing.
He is a great speaker though, very entertaining. His voice and style of speech reminds me of David Bowie's *sigh* I wish I could have gotten into him BEFORE he died.
I did pull a few very essencial ideas from his lecture. One was that there is no "Self". For example, when we use the term "I", we are giving it an imaginary meaning. He began by saying that we are apart of the Universe- and the key proof of this, is how alienated we feel in this modern age, as the enviroment is being destroyed. By hurting the enviroment, we are hurting ourselves.
This part very much reasonated with the research I've been doing lately, and hearing over and over again the idea of unity and oneness with nature and others.
The new concept, however, was the idea that we can't change ourselves (I think the reason was because there is no self to change). We can't become the masters of our mind. We can't control our feelings and thoughts.
This, by the way, is a huge shock to me. I am all about self-empowerment and struggling to make myself "better".
He ensured the audience over and over again that this was not meant to be a depressing message. Apparently, when we let go of the control, things work themselves out.
"If you realize you cannot transform yourself, that means your main obstacle has collapsed. That was you"
"You can't control your feelings and your thoughts becuase YOU ARE your feelings and thoughts"
"The hallucintion (of "I") only dissapears in the realization of it's own futility"
He said the reason gurus and yogis emphasize trying to master the mind, is because it is impossible and they are purposely trying to get you to the point of realizing your own futility (a process that could take the average individual a lifetime). He was obviously promoting meditation:
"When you realize you can't do anything, and your feelings and thoughts are simply happenings, you have reached a state called meditation"
He explained the process; You simply observe your thoughts, observing, observing, not trying to change them. And eventually they will just die out, and you will reach silence. This is a deeper meditation. Suddenly, you will see the world as it is.
You will realize true reality- the oneness of all things.
This is the first time I understand why Buddhists try to cut out desire. Desire causes suffering because certain things are unattainable.
No difference between yourself and others.
No difference between the future, present or past.
"WE LIVE IN AN ETERNAL NOW... you've got all the time there is."
"And then we get this strange feeling...that we are no longer this
poor little stranger and afraid,
in a world it never made.
but that you ARE this Universe, and you are creating it at every moment. Because it starts now....it didn't begin in the past...because the past is now. It begins here. This is the birth of responsiblity."
"If you know that "I", in the sense of the person, the front, the ego, it really doesn't exist. Then...it won't go to your head too badly, if you wake up and discover that you're God."
Funny quote::
Spiritual competition: "MY YOGI IS FASTER THAN YOUR YOGI!
I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU LOVE ME!"
XD
It was all relatively confusing.
He is a great speaker though, very entertaining. His voice and style of speech reminds me of David Bowie's *sigh* I wish I could have gotten into him BEFORE he died.
I did pull a few very essencial ideas from his lecture. One was that there is no "Self". For example, when we use the term "I", we are giving it an imaginary meaning. He began by saying that we are apart of the Universe- and the key proof of this, is how alienated we feel in this modern age, as the enviroment is being destroyed. By hurting the enviroment, we are hurting ourselves.
This part very much reasonated with the research I've been doing lately, and hearing over and over again the idea of unity and oneness with nature and others.
The new concept, however, was the idea that we can't change ourselves (I think the reason was because there is no self to change). We can't become the masters of our mind. We can't control our feelings and thoughts.
This, by the way, is a huge shock to me. I am all about self-empowerment and struggling to make myself "better".
He ensured the audience over and over again that this was not meant to be a depressing message. Apparently, when we let go of the control, things work themselves out.
"If you realize you cannot transform yourself, that means your main obstacle has collapsed. That was you"
"You can't control your feelings and your thoughts becuase YOU ARE your feelings and thoughts"
"The hallucintion (of "I") only dissapears in the realization of it's own futility"
He said the reason gurus and yogis emphasize trying to master the mind, is because it is impossible and they are purposely trying to get you to the point of realizing your own futility (a process that could take the average individual a lifetime). He was obviously promoting meditation:
"When you realize you can't do anything, and your feelings and thoughts are simply happenings, you have reached a state called meditation"
He explained the process; You simply observe your thoughts, observing, observing, not trying to change them. And eventually they will just die out, and you will reach silence. This is a deeper meditation. Suddenly, you will see the world as it is.
You will realize true reality- the oneness of all things.
This is the first time I understand why Buddhists try to cut out desire. Desire causes suffering because certain things are unattainable.
No difference between yourself and others.
No difference between the future, present or past.
"WE LIVE IN AN ETERNAL NOW... you've got all the time there is."
"And then we get this strange feeling...that we are no longer this
poor little stranger and afraid,
in a world it never made.
but that you ARE this Universe, and you are creating it at every moment. Because it starts now....it didn't begin in the past...because the past is now. It begins here. This is the birth of responsiblity."
"If you know that "I", in the sense of the person, the front, the ego, it really doesn't exist. Then...it won't go to your head too badly, if you wake up and discover that you're God."
Funny quote::
Spiritual competition: "MY YOGI IS FASTER THAN YOUR YOGI!
I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU LOVE ME!"
XD