I don't think one's personality is just of a fleeting moment, it's a mix of experiences which were caused by certain moments in our life. These moments are not unique to one person, but they are common to everyone, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, but we differ on how we percieve them on how we come to see them at the end, is the death of this person a kind of injustice by the world? or is it the turning point which will make me stronger.
My identity, who am I? Though I share with you the concept, I disagree with your choice of words, it's not who I want to be, but it's who I am willing to be, it's the decision and the will that matters not the wish to accomplish. It's not just a dream, it's an ambition, a chosen path, even if death came before we accomplish it. Still I had an identity, not just a drop that follows the flow of the river, but the drop that will make a new river.
Ignorance is who we are and what would make us better when it comes to realization. A choice of knowledge is not an eeasy one, but a choice of wisdom a different one, few would know the difference, but fewer would take the later. Ignorance can be sometimes a bless, but our hell at others.
You know of no god and of no religion, have you thought that it may be a part of you ignorance?
Absoluteness (Part I)kalikronosMarch 21 2008, 04:27:39 UTC
I would first like to thank you for sharing your thoughts, I highly appreciate a good discussion. I hope that we can both refine our thoughts to a point where there will be a sort of understanding of all that has and will have been said.
I apologize for the long reply! I'll have to make two posts...
I don't think one's personality is just of a fleeting moment, it's a mix of experiences which were caused by certain moments in our life. These moments are not unique to one person, but they are common to everyone, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, but we differ on how we perceive them on how we come to see them at the end, is the death of this person a kind of injustice by the world? or is it the turning point which will make me stronger.
That is all indeed quite true, perception is necessary to all experiences. I used the 'fleeting moment' expression as a way to express that although we tend to describe and categorize our personality based on past experiences, it seems also fair to say that given the latent powers buried deep in the human soul, the way we might act or think today is no indication of what we will be in the future. This is how one can perceive personality to be but a 'snapshot' taken at a specific moment of one's lifetime. The things that I see or that other people see in that 'snapshot' is in fact of very little importance in the whole scheme of things; because it is but one small picture in a really thick photo album. I would not go as far as to say that personality withholds no actual power over people or events, simply because the type of life we were given at this point in time is carnal and factually temporal. But it is not I who has that power over things and events; it is the body I was given - a vehicle which my soul probably drives quite clumsily... the soul does what it can in a plane of existence it may not be used finding itself in. I realize this is a rather malformed statement that seems to leave little space for accountability and ethics. I'll think about it further and try to clarify this point at a later time.
My identity, who am I? Though I share with you the concept, I disagree with your choice of words, it's not who I want to be, but it's who I am willing to be, it's the decision and the will that matters not the wish to accomplish. It's not just a dream, it's an ambition, a chosen path, even if death came before we accomplish it. Still I had an identity, not just a drop that follows the flow of the river, but the drop that will make a new river.
You are right on this, my attention probably failed me at that point! The river allegory better portrays the meaning I wanted to convey. Rest assured that by 'want' and 'need'; I did refer to what hindus would refer to as manas (the spiritual skill of making elevated, intelligent and illuminated choices) rather than kama manas (the desire to make choices based on impulse, caused by carnal physical/emotional/rational/intellectual needs).
Absoluteness (Part II)kalikronosMarch 21 2008, 04:29:51 UTC
Ignorance is who we are and what would make us better when it comes to realization. A choice of knowledge is not an eeasy one, but a choice of wisdom a different one, few would know the difference, but fewer would take the later. Ignorance can be sometimes a bless, but our hell at others.
Ignorance is indeed both the biggest and the best obstacle we can face in a lifetime. Part of your paragraph I would like to elaborate on... Although I understand the context in which you use the term 'wisdom', I think that it would be pessimistic to say that wisdom is a choice that few individuals make. People may definitely struggle to make wise choices (or to actually act with wisdom!); but humans still spend much energy trying to act and react in such a way that they will lead a happy existence. I have personally come to believe with the years that wisdom is very closely linked to happiness. People who seek comfort and stagnation (as opposed to veritable joy or happiness) may think they are wise... but when you dig deeper, you realize that they have simply acquired knowledge without understanding, and therefore may not invest continuous efforts putting an ideal of knowledge into practice. The knowledge they gained is not therefore integrated into their being, the precious information they received not touch them in a way that it becomes imperative for them to act as wisemen. For all I really know, though; perhaps the reason we are here is because we are both wisemen and charlatans in different areas. Many things go into the making of a wiseman - what we are in fact destabilized by at times is that we and other people (perhaps unconsciously) seem to spend precious resources refining their charlatanical skills... a perfect example of devolution.
You know of no god and of no religion, have you thought that it may be a part of you ignorance?
Please, do not take my words out of context; because they were not meant to exclude anything or anyone. I would appreciate that they are not used for this purpose. While it is true that I have not studied the specifics of all religions, I was given a brief overview of most major religions. While the teachings were not encyclopedic or exhaustive, they focused on similarities between the religions rather than differences. Do I need to know more? Sure, more information would not hurt. But my unnamed faith, my personal set of beliefs, consists in keeping links between people - not breaking them. My absence of religious allegiance is, in and by itself, the path I have chosen towards liberation and joy. It is the purest form of devotion I have come across in this lifetime; a form of devotion that does not take into account differences between humans. The protocols and laws of certain religions usually aim to clarify one's mind - however, interpretation being a human limitation, it can also be a haze that blocks the bright light of Creation (or the Creator). ... This is the battle I picked: the decision to fight nothing; to revere what is intemporal, and to accept as well as seek to understand what differs from my personal set of spiritual rules and beliefs. This will allow me to learn from people and to grow with them towards a common goal that would all lead us to a peaceful death... and perhaps a great afterlife, regardless of whether or not there actually is such a plane of existence.
My identity, who am I? Though I share with you the concept, I disagree with your choice of words, it's not who I want to be, but it's who I am willing to be, it's the decision and the will that matters not the wish to accomplish. It's not just a dream, it's an ambition, a chosen path, even if death came before we accomplish it. Still I had an identity, not just a drop that follows the flow of the river, but the drop that will make a new river.
Ignorance is who we are and what would make us better when it comes to realization. A choice of knowledge is not an eeasy one, but a choice of wisdom a different one, few would know the difference, but fewer would take the later. Ignorance can be sometimes a bless, but our hell at others.
You know of no god and of no religion, have you thought that it may be a part of you ignorance?
Reply
I apologize for the long reply! I'll have to make two posts...
I don't think one's personality is just of a fleeting moment, it's a mix of experiences which were caused by certain moments in our life. These moments are not unique to one person, but they are common to everyone, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, but we differ on how we perceive them on how we come to see them at the end, is the death of this person a kind of injustice by the world? or is it the turning point which will make me stronger.
That is all indeed quite true, perception is necessary to all experiences.
I used the 'fleeting moment' expression as a way to express that although we tend to describe and categorize our personality based on past experiences, it seems also fair to say that given the latent powers buried deep in the human soul, the way we might act or think today is no indication of what we will be in the future.
This is how one can perceive personality to be but a 'snapshot' taken at a specific moment of one's lifetime. The things that I see or that other people see in that 'snapshot' is in fact of very little importance in the whole scheme of things; because it is but one small picture in a really thick photo album.
I would not go as far as to say that personality withholds no actual power over people or events, simply because the type of life we were given at this point in time is carnal and factually temporal.
But it is not I who has that power over things and events; it is the body I was given - a vehicle which my soul probably drives quite clumsily... the soul does what it can in a plane of existence it may not be used finding itself in.
I realize this is a rather malformed statement that seems to leave little space for accountability and ethics. I'll think about it further and try to clarify this point at a later time.
My identity, who am I? Though I share with you the concept, I disagree with your choice of words, it's not who I want to be, but it's who I am willing to be, it's the decision and the will that matters not the wish to accomplish. It's not just a dream, it's an ambition, a chosen path, even if death came before we accomplish it. Still I had an identity, not just a drop that follows the flow of the river, but the drop that will make a new river.
You are right on this, my attention probably failed me at that point!
The river allegory better portrays the meaning I wanted to convey.
Rest assured that by 'want' and 'need'; I did refer to what hindus would refer to as manas (the spiritual skill of making elevated, intelligent and illuminated choices) rather than kama manas (the desire to make choices based on impulse, caused by carnal physical/emotional/rational/intellectual needs).
Reply
Ignorance is who we are and what would make us better when it comes to realization. A choice of knowledge is not an eeasy one, but a choice of wisdom a different one, few would know the difference, but fewer would take the later. Ignorance can be sometimes a bless, but our hell at others.
Ignorance is indeed both the biggest and the best obstacle we can face in a lifetime. Part of your paragraph I would like to elaborate on...
Although I understand the context in which you use the term 'wisdom', I think that it would be pessimistic to say that wisdom is a choice that few individuals make. People may definitely struggle to make wise choices (or to actually act with wisdom!); but humans still spend much energy trying to act and react in such a way that they will lead a happy existence.
I have personally come to believe with the years that wisdom is very closely linked to happiness. People who seek comfort and stagnation (as opposed to veritable joy or happiness) may think they are wise... but when you dig deeper, you realize that they have simply acquired knowledge without understanding, and therefore may not invest continuous efforts putting an ideal of knowledge into practice.
The knowledge they gained is not therefore integrated into their being, the precious information they received not touch them in a way that it becomes imperative for them to act as wisemen.
For all I really know, though; perhaps the reason we are here is because we are both wisemen and charlatans in different areas. Many things go into the making of a wiseman - what we are in fact destabilized by at times is that we and other people (perhaps unconsciously) seem to spend precious resources refining their charlatanical skills... a perfect example of devolution.
You know of no god and of no religion, have you thought that it may be a part of you ignorance?
Please, do not take my words out of context; because they were not meant to exclude anything or anyone. I would appreciate that they are not used for this purpose.
While it is true that I have not studied the specifics of all religions, I was given a brief overview of most major religions. While the teachings were not encyclopedic or exhaustive, they focused on similarities between the religions rather than differences.
Do I need to know more?
Sure, more information would not hurt. But my unnamed faith, my personal set of beliefs, consists in keeping links between people - not breaking them.
My absence of religious allegiance is, in and by itself, the path I have chosen towards liberation and joy. It is the purest form of devotion I have come across in this lifetime; a form of devotion that does not take into account differences between humans.
The protocols and laws of certain religions usually aim to clarify one's mind - however, interpretation being a human limitation, it can also be a haze that blocks the bright light of Creation (or the Creator).
... This is the battle I picked: the decision to fight nothing; to revere what is intemporal, and to accept as well as seek to understand what differs from my personal set of spiritual rules and beliefs. This will allow me to learn from people and to grow with them towards a common goal that would all lead us to a peaceful death... and perhaps a great afterlife, regardless of whether or not there actually is such a plane of existence.
Reply
Leave a comment