Interesting!
I was listening to Audio Dharma today, specifically on the Four Noble Truths, and on aspect of the second Truth (The source of suffering is attachment).
One manifestation of this Truth is that you must be free from the desire for both existence and non-existence. So in essence, the first part of that makes a lot of sense: you essentially free yourself from addiction (desires that consume you). The last part, however, was a little confusing for me - free yourself of the desire for suicide? While that's a part of it, it is more realistically the opposite of the first - freeing yourself from aversions that consume you.
My consistent and repetitive statement, for example, that I do not want to be in college is incredibly damaging - the more I harp on this, the more I am attached to this, the more harmful it becomes. If I free myself from this desire for the non-existence of college in my life, I step closer to accepting the impermenance of life and achieving enlightenment (at least in buddhist terms - I have yet to come to an understanding of enlightenment that I like).
Though it may seem painfully obvious, hearing it put in this way was incredibly uplifting.
Buddhism continues to fascinate me.
One manifestation of this Truth is that you must be free from the desire for both existence and non-existence. So in essence, the first part of that makes a lot of sense: you essentially free yourself from addiction (desires that consume you). The last part, however, was a little confusing for me - free yourself of the desire for suicide? While that's a part of it, it is more realistically the opposite of the first - freeing yourself from aversions that consume you.
My consistent and repetitive statement, for example, that I do not want to be in college is incredibly damaging - the more I harp on this, the more I am attached to this, the more harmful it becomes. If I free myself from this desire for the non-existence of college in my life, I step closer to accepting the impermenance of life and achieving enlightenment (at least in buddhist terms - I have yet to come to an understanding of enlightenment that I like).
Though it may seem painfully obvious, hearing it put in this way was incredibly uplifting.
Buddhism continues to fascinate me.