Everything Is A Paradox
It's true. There are so many different, unique aspects of my psyche. I can be the confident, sexy woman one moment and a frightened, misunderstood teenage girl the next. And that's not even all of me. ;) My question is, where do we find stability, knowing that we and things around us are always changing? This is something I've been exploring in Buddhism. It ties in with the concept of anatta or "not-self"
I went on a retreat this last weekend and one of my teachers said that we are all walking around with multiple personalities. Not the separate kind, mind you, but just... there are so many parts of our psyche that we encounter daily in life. There's this idea in Buddhism that we are all walking around with a serious case of mistaken identity. Everything we think we are is impermanent and subject to change. Who are we? When studying this, one can see how so much of what we think we are is really just an illusion. We've been conditioned to believe certain things about ourselves and have created a self-fulfilling prophecy in carrying out those characteristics and actions. This then leads to identification with this new, separate self we have created.
I have so much to write about on my experiences at the retreat. And some funny, life-loving stories as well. Hopefully I'll do this in a few days. It was really a wonderful experience. It also has encouraged me to get back to a daily meditation practice. So far I'm sitting for 30 minutes every day and it really does make a difference.
Off to my cushion I go!
I went on a retreat this last weekend and one of my teachers said that we are all walking around with multiple personalities. Not the separate kind, mind you, but just... there are so many parts of our psyche that we encounter daily in life. There's this idea in Buddhism that we are all walking around with a serious case of mistaken identity. Everything we think we are is impermanent and subject to change. Who are we? When studying this, one can see how so much of what we think we are is really just an illusion. We've been conditioned to believe certain things about ourselves and have created a self-fulfilling prophecy in carrying out those characteristics and actions. This then leads to identification with this new, separate self we have created.
I have so much to write about on my experiences at the retreat. And some funny, life-loving stories as well. Hopefully I'll do this in a few days. It was really a wonderful experience. It also has encouraged me to get back to a daily meditation practice. So far I'm sitting for 30 minutes every day and it really does make a difference.
Off to my cushion I go!