Hip-hop is very lyrically intense. And even though that lyrical intensity is one of the elements that attracted me to hip-hop in the first place, sometimes you just wanna delve into the MUSIC and tune out what is being said. Foreign Hip-Hip is great for that. It really gets you to focus on the musicality of it all. All you musicians out there, know just how important this is in perfecting your craft.
I've always been really into French Hip-Hop, as well as German, Afrikaans, and some spanish, but about a year ago, I discovered Dogmother. I was amazed to find such a beloved Greek female rapper. If any of you know the music scene in Greece - you'd know what I'm talking about. However, as I listened to her music, it was obvious that there was just no denying her skill. Her music is off the chain! She has a killer flow and the downbeats she chooses for her instrumentals are Dopalicious! If you haven't explored the world of foreign hip-hop yet, I recommend you pop your cherry with Dogmother.
Here is one of my favorites:
You don't even need to understand what she is saying to grasp the aesthetics of this song, but after you hear it and you wanna know SOME (I don't understand Greek, entirely) of what she's saying, give me a shout. The lyrics are dope, too!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
When THE F*** Will it all End?
Before you read my Blog...Check this out: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/08/woman-kills-elephant.html
BoingBoing - A directory for wonderful things.
How in the world can ayone think something like this is wonderful? Check out Teressa Groenwald-Hagerman standing on an elephant she killed with her bow and arrow, like she's All that! Killing innocent animals for no reason at all? For the sake of a bet? Just for the sake of being able to say that you've done it? Does that really make one Cool? If this is true, I'd rather remain the furthest thing from cool and retain my karmatic benevolency.
I think this sort of behavior is far beyond cruel. This act of killing for the sake of not turning down a challenge, is even worse than slaughtering animals for meals. What are they going to do with the remains of this poor elephant? Well...I suppose they will find some use for the ivory of its tusks. But the rest of its corpse? This animal's life will have gone in total vain.
It just boggles my mind - the mentality of human beings. How is this woman not aware of the precious connection every living thing has to each other. And what the F*** makes anyone think that the animals belong to us? Nothing on this Earth belongs to us. One can only say that an item belongs to them when one has created it. Note: Creating is very much different from making. Yo!!! The Animals do not belong to us!!! These Creatures have been put on this Earth for us to take care of and look after. We've taken the responsiblity that has been given to us, and turned it into our own circus act. I wish there was a more meaningful word than HORRENDOUS to express the emotions behind this act, but since horrendous is the only word I can think of, right now - I will say that this crap is a thousand times Horrendous!
Yo. I know this blog has no structure what so ever - please forgive me. Learning about this kind of stuff just makes me sick to my stomach; I can barely think of writing structure, right now. And those of you who know me, know that this is quite a difficult task to accomplish. So, Ms. Groenwald-Hagerman, Congratulations to you! You have not only accomplished the single-handed abolishment of an innocent being, but you have also managed to make me pissed enough to disregard the integrity of my writing. I hope you're very proud of yourself!!!
Isn't anyone aware that animals are just like you and I? Animals breathe the same air that we breathe. We share a home with them. Is this how you treat the people that live in your home? Well...the earth is our home, and the creatures of this earth... are our family members. Animals feel pain just as we feel pain. They bleed when punctured just as we do. They laugh, they cry. What makes you think that your life is more meaningful than theirs? Animals occupy an important part of this Earth - a part that would leave you inexistant if they were not here. We need each other - just like a family. When are we going to realize this and begin taking care of these innocent, defenseless beings? Would we do this to another group of defenseless, innoocent beings - like human babies? Of course not, that would be inhumane, right? Well...hurting and killing animals is just as inhumane. These creatures need us to care of them, just the way human babies need us to watch over and protect them.
We must realize that taking advantage of our power over animals is just like White people taking advantage of their power over Black people and Men taking Advantage of their power over women. When THE F*** will it all end?
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Beauty of Mindful Living.
When we consistently think only of the past or the futue, we lose our awareness of the pleasures inherent in the present. After all, the mind can only consciously focus on a finite number of things at any given time. Mindful living , however, is about being here now ( a task far easier spoken about than done), and when we focus on moving from one moment to another, instead of skipping to next week, our unconscious mind becomes free to take in the bigger picture. We begin to realize through our own self-discipline the full capacity of the human being to live.
Mindful living is also about validating the connections between everything, & perhaps most importantly, it's about recognizing beauty in every place, thing, and person with whom we interact. In this way, we cultivate a mutual respect among all living things and we find less to fear and more to love. Love in itself makes all our lives much more happier. The more obvious beauty exsists in our immediate reality - the trees in the yard, the flowers in the garden - but you would be surprised at how much more beauty theres is to see in the world without anxiety's blinders in the way. After some time spent practicing mindful living, al the the importance we have mistakenly placed on the material world falls away and we are left to take in the wonder of life truly experienced in every moment. The key is to learn to see the beauty in those things we fear the most, even (and maybe especially) death.
Mindfulness is no easy task and as with everything worthwhile, it takes time, practice, & above all else, dedication. In order to place ourselves firmly in the present, we must first release the grip that the past and future have on us. There are many ways to do this, & everyone's journey is different. Everyone must find their own way. Some people choose counseling and psychotherapy as a way to let go of potent and ultimately harmful personal memories. Others throw themselves into yoga and meditation, very valuable practices for disciplining their physical and mental states while releasing them from self-imposed limitations. Whatever the method, it must be diligently practiced in order to be an effective mindfulness excercise. In this case, the goal of practice is not perfection, but universal awareness through detachment from our affections for the material world.
Life is not ours to capture, but as with everything else, it is fleeting, intangible, constantly changing. A life intangible as it is, cannot be measured by the fruits of the material world, only witnessed by the universe around you based on the legacy you leave in your wake. The most important decision you will ever make is the nature of that legacy - will it be one of attachment to the insubstantial world or enlightened awareness of the only reality you can count on, that which exsists solely in the moment?
If you have knowledge...let others light their candle in it. We are all connected.
Mindful living is also about validating the connections between everything, & perhaps most importantly, it's about recognizing beauty in every place, thing, and person with whom we interact. In this way, we cultivate a mutual respect among all living things and we find less to fear and more to love. Love in itself makes all our lives much more happier. The more obvious beauty exsists in our immediate reality - the trees in the yard, the flowers in the garden - but you would be surprised at how much more beauty theres is to see in the world without anxiety's blinders in the way. After some time spent practicing mindful living, al the the importance we have mistakenly placed on the material world falls away and we are left to take in the wonder of life truly experienced in every moment. The key is to learn to see the beauty in those things we fear the most, even (and maybe especially) death.
Mindfulness is no easy task and as with everything worthwhile, it takes time, practice, & above all else, dedication. In order to place ourselves firmly in the present, we must first release the grip that the past and future have on us. There are many ways to do this, & everyone's journey is different. Everyone must find their own way. Some people choose counseling and psychotherapy as a way to let go of potent and ultimately harmful personal memories. Others throw themselves into yoga and meditation, very valuable practices for disciplining their physical and mental states while releasing them from self-imposed limitations. Whatever the method, it must be diligently practiced in order to be an effective mindfulness excercise. In this case, the goal of practice is not perfection, but universal awareness through detachment from our affections for the material world.
Life is not ours to capture, but as with everything else, it is fleeting, intangible, constantly changing. A life intangible as it is, cannot be measured by the fruits of the material world, only witnessed by the universe around you based on the legacy you leave in your wake. The most important decision you will ever make is the nature of that legacy - will it be one of attachment to the insubstantial world or enlightened awareness of the only reality you can count on, that which exsists solely in the moment?
If you have knowledge...let others light their candle in it. We are all connected.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Life’s Secrets.
The Depth behind the Mystery of Creation is called Science.
The Depth behind the Mystery of the Self is called Spirituality.
It has been said that the objection of technology is simple comfortability. We must analyze this.
Technology Occupies Us. It occupies the Brain. More than Occupies the brain, Technology Distracts the brain. Think about it. It causes spiritual needs, and human needs to become neglected. Don't get me wrong. I'm all about growth. I'm all about Progression, but Balance is always Key. The other day, my phone fell into water and I almost lost my mind. I had schedules on there, contacts, messages, all sorts of important data that disappeared in less than a minute. I had become dependant and I was let down. I decided then and there that I would continue to reap the benefits of technology, but I will never again allow myself to become fully dependant.
As time, progresses, we become more and more dependant on technological advances. We become more Expectant. Expectancy begets Ungratefulness, and Unsatisfaction. All these traits are bad for the Soul. They hinder the Spirit. How many times have you found your self saying: "Why haven't they invented this or that yet? When are they gonna come out with a phone that also has this and that?" This is called Expectancy; which can also be called Ungratefulness. Ungratefulness manifests Destruction. In this world, that destruction is already evident. We begin to take everything for granted, especially the most vital things in this world, like food and water. What happens when those vital resources dissipate? We realize then, that we never missed it…until it was gone. Technology without human values sees nature as a dead aspect. Science provides insight into nature, but spirituality exhibits nature as Reality. In the eyes of children, for example, nothing is dead in the world. The Sun, the moon, the trees are all looked upon as being alive. However, in the eyes of an ignorant individual, even animals and human beings seem to be objects or robot-like.
Technology without the aspect of spirituality is detrimental. Spirituality in itself, can be defined as the technology of Consciousness. One who is closed-minded is not yet amazed by the magnificence of the Cosmos. I suppose it all appears to simply exist…as an object; in the same way humans can appear to be robotic to certain individuals. Tell me, what in this world is not a mystery? Birth is a mystery. Death is a mystery. Life itself is surely a mystery. This Creation is an unfathomable Secret.
Well…there are five secrets that are sacred and guarded in
this creation:
-Birth is a Secret. In the way a soul takes a body, the selection of the place and time of birth, body type - including gender, race, & parents are all a secret.
-Death is also a secret. The When, How and the Why, the process of Separation of the Spirit from the Physical and the journey from there on are all secrets.
-The Principles of Governing and the Principles of Maintaining orderliness in creation are highly guarded mysteries.
-Nature is definitely a mystery. It seems that the more a scientist knows, the more he realizes there is to know. Science, though it appears to resolve the mystery in Creation, has only managed to deepen it. Knowledge of quantum physics, black holes and vacuums has only been able to deepen the mystery.
-Mantras or Rhythms of Consciousness still remain a mystery. The mantras and their influence and effect are all secretly guarded.
Remember: The Depth behind the mystery of Creation is called Science. The Depth behind the mystery of the Self is called Spirituality.
Whenever you consider a person, place, thing or idea as something sacred, your attention seems to become undivided. When facets remain the same, one tends to become less aware. Ever wonder why is it that when an act is performed repeatedly it seems to lose its sanctity? This occurs when the memory overpowers consciousness and the the sensitivity is lost. There is certainly a pleasure in activity. This sort of pleasure is momentary and, in turn, causes fatigue. The pleasure in rest is altruistic and energizing. However, in order to have Deep rest, one must be Active. The Proper Balance of Both is Essential.
Now we should Examine the Factors that Influence the Mind:
Space: Whatever location you are in. Every location has a different impact on the mind. Even in your own house, you can see that you feel differently in different rooms. Even in your own room, you may feel differently in certain sections of the room. A space where there has been singing, chanting, praying, incencent burning, or meditaion has a different influence on the mind. A room where there has just been arguing, or negative thinking will have another affect. Then, at a later time of the day, you may find the same rooms have a completely different impact on the mind.
Time: Time is another factor. Different times of the day and year all have different influences on the mind.
Food: Food is a big factor. Your choice in food, determines your choice in mind-state and vice-versa. Whatever one decides to input will affect the output.
Past Impressions or Karmas: These aspects have a different impact on the mind. Awareness, alertness, knowledge and meditation all have a huge impact on the Mind-State.
Associations and Actions: The people you choose to get down with and the events you choose to partake in all have an influence on the mind.
Now lets Examine the types of Discomfort & their Remedies:
The first type of Discomfort is due to the location you are in. If you are in tune with yourself, you will realize that when you move away from certain places, streets, or buildings, you immediately feel better. Chanting, Singing or something so warming to the heart as the laughter of children can change the atmospheric restlessness.
The next type of Discomfort is within the Body. Eating the wrong foods; Spirit-aggravating foods, eating at odd times, not exercising, the imbalance of over-working & under-resting can all cause physical restlessness. The remedy for this is exercise, moderation in work habits and a one to two day raw vegetable diet.
The third type of Discomformity is Mental. It is caused by ambition, strong thoughts, likes or dislikes. Knowledge alone can cure this restlessness; this includes seeing life from a broader perspective, knowledge of the self, and realizing the impermanence of everything. So what, if you achieve Everything? After your achievements, you will die. Knowledge of your Death, or even life, confidence in the self and in the Divinities can calm down Mental Restlessness.
The fourth type is Emotional Discomformity. Any amount of Knowledge cannot help with this type of Discomfort. The presence of a Guru, or a wise person can help calm the emotional restlessness, but the greatest remedy is Love; Unconditional Love from another being and the acceptance of this love. Reciprocation of the Love is also important. How else will you continue to receive if you do not know how to give?
The last type of Discomfort is rare, but it's a restlessness of the Soul. When everything feels empty and meaningless, you should know you are very fortunate. Do not try to get rid of this feeling. Embrace it! This restlessness of the Soul can bring authentic rhythms in you. It is so precious to get that innermost longing for the Divinities. The presence of the enlightened ones is what soothes this restlessness. Do not search for the Divine somewhere in the Sky or within Holy Literature. You can find the Divine in every pair of eyes, the grooves of the mountains, the flow of the river, the wind in the trees, the innocence in the animals. How? This only happens when you see God in yourself. Only the eyes of Gods are worthy enough to see other Gods. Heightened awareness brings you close to the reality. So, to acheive this, you have to increase your Prana ( the life-giving energies or forces of the universe).
This can be done through:
- Fasting and Eating live foods.
- Pranayama (Universal Breath Control) and Meditaion.
- Singing and Chanting.
- Loving Uncondiontionally and Earning Unconditonal Love.
- Sincere Gratitutude towards the Divine.
All of these combined is called Homage. When you have a certain reverence for all the Cosmos, you are in harmony with the entire Universe. Then, you do not need to reject or renounce anything because you will overstand that it all takes place in purpose. When you have reverence in all your relationships, your consciousness will expand; even small things apear to be significnant. Every little creature appears honerable. It is the reverence for the relationship that actually breathes life into the relationship. Practice the skill of having reverence for each moment in your life and for every aspect of your life.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Power in Pause.
There is much power in Pause. Instead of battling circumstances, others, and even yourself, you can use the same energy to calm down, create an inner pause and find peace. We must understand that these circumstances that rub us the wrong way are just other forms of energy. We fight the energies out of defense. The energies also need to defend themselves, so the more we fight them, the more they will fight back, for the same reason we do – out of simple defense. Life shouldn't be a battle. By learning to master the power of pause, it can be full of ease, beauty and joy.
Peace can only be found through a pause. Peace will not be within reach, until we can mindfully reach a pause, in order to find the serenity of our own inner being.
The first step would be to collect all of our fragmented selves. Within each of us, there are several layers of bodies: the physical body, the mental body, the emotional body, the intellectual body, the spiritual body, ect. We are only able to become aware of our deepest, intuitive self when we are fully relaxed. This awareness and mindfullness through relaxation, is the gateway to the higher realms.
A single moment of true pause will help you to relax and also to become closer to who you truly are. Experiment with it and you will begin to feel your deeper presence. The past and future will dissipate, leaving only the present moment. Presence only occurs when we are completely mindful. When we are able to detach ourselves from the past and the future, what remains is the present – the only tense that truly exists. And when we are fully in the present, the ambience of the deepest self comes alive. The deepest self is the body where the beauty and goodness of our soul reside. And when we can reach this realm, that beauty and goodness will permeate our conscious with utter joy.
Take a journey through your own body. It will help you to relax, appreciate and to experience the body's subtle wonders. In your every cell, lies Infinite intelligence, power, and energy. But to accees these gifts, your body needs your loving attention. Begin a new, ongoing relationship of discovery with your body. Try relaxing by listening to some soothing, melodic music and take this inward journey, regularly. Begin by imagining that you're a point of focus at the center of the universe and that your physical body is the periphery. Simply watch from the inside out. Let your mind talk to your body and let your body talk to your mind. Tell your mind that it is a time to relax, to simply be, to let go of all activity.
Begin at the top of the head, the crown chakra. Just bring your mind to the center of your head, then to the crown. See your skull through the window of your mindfulness. Allow relaxation to take over your skull. Now, bring your mind to your forehead. Stretch, then relax the muscles in your forehead. Next become aware of your eyes. As you experience the energy of your eyes, express your gratitude towards the universe for the abundant forms of creation that you have been blessed to see. As you turn your mind and attention to each fragment of your body, allow whatever is material to melt into non-material, and the physical to melt into energy that is non-physical. Mindfulness is a light, the light of consciousness. As you allow your consciousness to touch any part of your body, the poisons begin to leave. Wherever the light of awareness reaches, no toxin can survive. Toxins have to die away and create space for the universal energies to diffuse.
Peace can only be found through a pause. Peace will not be within reach, until we can mindfully reach a pause, in order to find the serenity of our own inner being.
The first step would be to collect all of our fragmented selves. Within each of us, there are several layers of bodies: the physical body, the mental body, the emotional body, the intellectual body, the spiritual body, ect. We are only able to become aware of our deepest, intuitive self when we are fully relaxed. This awareness and mindfullness through relaxation, is the gateway to the higher realms.
A single moment of true pause will help you to relax and also to become closer to who you truly are. Experiment with it and you will begin to feel your deeper presence. The past and future will dissipate, leaving only the present moment. Presence only occurs when we are completely mindful. When we are able to detach ourselves from the past and the future, what remains is the present – the only tense that truly exists. And when we are fully in the present, the ambience of the deepest self comes alive. The deepest self is the body where the beauty and goodness of our soul reside. And when we can reach this realm, that beauty and goodness will permeate our conscious with utter joy.
Take a journey through your own body. It will help you to relax, appreciate and to experience the body's subtle wonders. In your every cell, lies Infinite intelligence, power, and energy. But to accees these gifts, your body needs your loving attention. Begin a new, ongoing relationship of discovery with your body. Try relaxing by listening to some soothing, melodic music and take this inward journey, regularly. Begin by imagining that you're a point of focus at the center of the universe and that your physical body is the periphery. Simply watch from the inside out. Let your mind talk to your body and let your body talk to your mind. Tell your mind that it is a time to relax, to simply be, to let go of all activity.
Begin at the top of the head, the crown chakra. Just bring your mind to the center of your head, then to the crown. See your skull through the window of your mindfulness. Allow relaxation to take over your skull. Now, bring your mind to your forehead. Stretch, then relax the muscles in your forehead. Next become aware of your eyes. As you experience the energy of your eyes, express your gratitude towards the universe for the abundant forms of creation that you have been blessed to see. As you turn your mind and attention to each fragment of your body, allow whatever is material to melt into non-material, and the physical to melt into energy that is non-physical. Mindfulness is a light, the light of consciousness. As you allow your consciousness to touch any part of your body, the poisons begin to leave. Wherever the light of awareness reaches, no toxin can survive. Toxins have to die away and create space for the universal energies to diffuse.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Freedom from Desires
How does One Free Themselves from the Bondage of Desires:
The Buddha taught us that unfulfilled desires cause suffering. The more desires one has and wants to fulfill, the more one suffers when they remain unfulfilled. So this means that freedom from desire leads to freedom from suffering. While this certainly seems true, it doesnt seem possible to be totally free from desires. Suppose a person who has achieved enlightenment, is asked "Would you like some tea, or perhaps a cold beverage? Would the enlightened person reply. "I have no desires, so it doesn't matter to me." Such a reply would be quite strange. If an enlightened person enjoys tea, he or she would certainly say " I'd love some tea. Thank you."
It would be obvious here, to distinguish between two different types of desires: Lets call them Binding Desires and Non-Binding Desires. A Binding desire is a desire whose non-fulfillment causes you to suffer. A Non-binding desire is one whose non-fulfillment does not cause suffering. For example, a child looks in the kitchen cabinet for his/her favorite cereal – Cocoa Puffs. Even though there are five other boxes of cereal , if there are no Cocoa Puffs, the child will cry " Where are my Cocoa Puffs?" The child will suffer because of his/her Binding desire for her favorite cereal. You on the other hand, might go to the same cabinet, looking for your favorite cereal. If it were not there, you would simply choose another box without further thought because your desire was non-binding and you would not suffer when your desire went unfulfilled. If you were to have thousands of unfulfilled desires and all of them were non-binding like the desire for your fave breakfast, then you would remain perfectly content. But if you had just one Binding desire that was waiting to be fulfilled, that would be just enough to rob you of contentment and cause you to suffer. Therefore, freedom from suffering is gained when we become free from all Binding desires, even when non-binding desires are still present. The secret to overcoming suffering is not to become completely desire-less, but rather to ensure that all our Binding desires are transformed into non-binding desires.
It is essential for spitual growth to become free from the bondage of desire. Unfulfilled desires often make us miserable, and when we are miserable, we also make others miserable. Those who you caused suffering to, will in turn cause you more suffereing, and so on so fourth. It becaomes a vicious cycle, that way. We want contentment, but contentment remains vague and unattainable due to unfulfilled desires. Because of this, we must address this challenging question, "How can we become free from desires?"
First of all, let us all admit that we can never satisfy all our desires. When one desire is fulfilled, another arises. Desire is often compared to fire. A fire is always ready to consume more fuel; it is never satisfied. In the same way the fire of our desires can never be satisfied.
When food is served onto your dish, you will say "Enough." at some point. But several hours later, you will be hungry for more. All our desires are just like this – satisfaction is always temporary because other desires soon arise. Sometimes, we are told that we should willfully give up our desires. Whoever tells us to simply abrogate our desires never tells us how to do so. Suppose a person with a great attatchment to drinking soda decides to give it up for spiritual practices as sacrifice. All day long, he can willfully choose not to drink soda, but what would he be thinking about throughout the day? Soda! With will power, you can give up objects of desire, but will power cannot remove the desire itself. However, if you force yourself to continue this practice, the mind will begin to think about soda less and less each day. By abstaining from your habits, you will allow your subconscious to begin realizing that the desire was a foolish one. Then, your conscious will also begin to realize this. The same is true for any type of desire.
If we cannot satisfy all our desires or willfully renounce them, how will we ever become free from desires? In fact, we do not get rid of desires: we outgrow them. Recall a toy that you were very fond of as a child. How did you get rid of your desire for that toy? You outgrew that desire for the toy because you found a better one. This process – in comparison to outgrowing one toy when a better toy is acquired – continues into our adult lives. When a better, newer automobile is purchased, the desire for the old car ceases.
In this same way, you have outgrown many desires. As you matured, you outgrew all your childhood desires. As your Spirit matures, in the same manner, you will also outgrow all your wordly desires.
The Buddha taught us that unfulfilled desires cause suffering. The more desires one has and wants to fulfill, the more one suffers when they remain unfulfilled. So this means that freedom from desire leads to freedom from suffering. While this certainly seems true, it doesnt seem possible to be totally free from desires. Suppose a person who has achieved enlightenment, is asked "Would you like some tea, or perhaps a cold beverage? Would the enlightened person reply. "I have no desires, so it doesn't matter to me." Such a reply would be quite strange. If an enlightened person enjoys tea, he or she would certainly say " I'd love some tea. Thank you."
It would be obvious here, to distinguish between two different types of desires: Lets call them Binding Desires and Non-Binding Desires. A Binding desire is a desire whose non-fulfillment causes you to suffer. A Non-binding desire is one whose non-fulfillment does not cause suffering. For example, a child looks in the kitchen cabinet for his/her favorite cereal – Cocoa Puffs. Even though there are five other boxes of cereal , if there are no Cocoa Puffs, the child will cry " Where are my Cocoa Puffs?" The child will suffer because of his/her Binding desire for her favorite cereal. You on the other hand, might go to the same cabinet, looking for your favorite cereal. If it were not there, you would simply choose another box without further thought because your desire was non-binding and you would not suffer when your desire went unfulfilled. If you were to have thousands of unfulfilled desires and all of them were non-binding like the desire for your fave breakfast, then you would remain perfectly content. But if you had just one Binding desire that was waiting to be fulfilled, that would be just enough to rob you of contentment and cause you to suffer. Therefore, freedom from suffering is gained when we become free from all Binding desires, even when non-binding desires are still present. The secret to overcoming suffering is not to become completely desire-less, but rather to ensure that all our Binding desires are transformed into non-binding desires.
It is essential for spitual growth to become free from the bondage of desire. Unfulfilled desires often make us miserable, and when we are miserable, we also make others miserable. Those who you caused suffering to, will in turn cause you more suffereing, and so on so fourth. It becaomes a vicious cycle, that way. We want contentment, but contentment remains vague and unattainable due to unfulfilled desires. Because of this, we must address this challenging question, "How can we become free from desires?"
First of all, let us all admit that we can never satisfy all our desires. When one desire is fulfilled, another arises. Desire is often compared to fire. A fire is always ready to consume more fuel; it is never satisfied. In the same way the fire of our desires can never be satisfied.
When food is served onto your dish, you will say "Enough." at some point. But several hours later, you will be hungry for more. All our desires are just like this – satisfaction is always temporary because other desires soon arise. Sometimes, we are told that we should willfully give up our desires. Whoever tells us to simply abrogate our desires never tells us how to do so. Suppose a person with a great attatchment to drinking soda decides to give it up for spiritual practices as sacrifice. All day long, he can willfully choose not to drink soda, but what would he be thinking about throughout the day? Soda! With will power, you can give up objects of desire, but will power cannot remove the desire itself. However, if you force yourself to continue this practice, the mind will begin to think about soda less and less each day. By abstaining from your habits, you will allow your subconscious to begin realizing that the desire was a foolish one. Then, your conscious will also begin to realize this. The same is true for any type of desire.
If we cannot satisfy all our desires or willfully renounce them, how will we ever become free from desires? In fact, we do not get rid of desires: we outgrow them. Recall a toy that you were very fond of as a child. How did you get rid of your desire for that toy? You outgrew that desire for the toy because you found a better one. This process – in comparison to outgrowing one toy when a better toy is acquired – continues into our adult lives. When a better, newer automobile is purchased, the desire for the old car ceases.
In this same way, you have outgrown many desires. As you matured, you outgrew all your childhood desires. As your Spirit matures, in the same manner, you will also outgrow all your wordly desires.
Friday, July 18, 2008
What Makes Life Meaningful?
What Make's our Lives Meaningful?
I've been dwelling on this all day.
Well, one of the most obvious suggestions is that it is a meaningful life if it is a happy one. But happiness, as Aristotle pointed out a long time ago, is understood by different people in different ways. We probably didn't need Aristotle to tell us this because it's pretty obvious.
Some people, he said, think that the happy life is a life of pleasure or, at least, a life filled with many more pleasures than pains (since the cost of pleasure, as we all humanly know , may be worth a little bit of pain). Maybe this is what Jay-Z meant when he said "Pain is Pleasure..." Anyway, other people think of a happy life more in terms of what Aristotle called "honor", by which he meant being held in esteem by one's peers and fellow citizens. For us, this might mean any of several very different things. It might mean a successful life, which in turn has several variations.
Some people would say that success is wealth - that you can tell how successful a person is by how much money and how many possssions he or she has. Others would say that success is fame - being recognized by lots of other people (whether for one's accomplishments or just being known for being known, as is all too common among our current bundle of celebrities). Still others would say that success is more subtle and less obviously visible - for example, making a contribution to society or doing something meaningful, say, teaching in schools or working for a cleaner environment, whether or not this is financially rewarding or gets you well known.
Aristotle himself insisted that the good life is doing something worthwhile that you love and are good at, whether it is philosophy (his choice) or one of the arts - music, dance, literature - or perhaps gardening or being a housewife. It would be misleading to say that there are as many different views of happiness as there are people in the world, but it is clear that there are many different types & conceptions of happiness, and one size does not fit all.
Yet, as always there are larger philosophical questions that need answering. Earlier, I made a quick equation between happiness and a meaningful life; but is a happy life always meaningful, and is a meaningful life necessarily a happy one? The answer to the first question seems to depend on which of the above versions of happiness one accepts. With some of them, its unsettled in my opinion. For example, if one thinks of a life of pleasure as a happy life, it is quite clear that since there are different outlooks on happiness then there are an equal amount of outlooks on pleasure as well. Some of them, to be sure, like enjoying excercising some skill (playing basketball, sewing, playing the piano), can make life both pleasurable & meaningful. But others (watching wrestlemania, drinking beer to excess, playing practical jokes) are degrading, and a lifetime of such activities, no matter how pleasurable, can not add up to a meaningful life. Would you rather be a Dissatisfied Sage, who has contributed many teachings to generations to come, or a clueless pig rollling around in the mud, utterly delighted and totally satisfied? A happy life is meaningful, we might say, if it is the right kind of happiness. But then we seem to be back where we started and facing yet another version of relativism: are all conceptions of happiness of equal value?
To the second question, it seems that answer is no. If a person dedicated his or her life to finding a cure for a dreaded disease, to taking care of the poor in some Third World Country, or to creating a perfect artwork, all despite continuing frustration and utter lack of recognition or appreciation, we might applaud suck a life as meaningful but recognize that the person was not happy. Many celebrated saints and artists lived such lives. The great composor Beethoven suffered for most of his adult life from terrible headaches & tragically lost his hearing, an especially terrible fate for a musician (in my opinion as a musician myself). He had a terrible temper, terrible social relations and all in all a terrible life. Nevertheless, at the height of his suffering and while deaf, he composed what is perhaps one of the best-loved pieces of music, the final movement of his ninth symphony. Had he not lived such a tragic life, would he have been able to create such beautiful music? Many millions of people continue to be moved and overjoyed by the delightful "Fur Elise" - This is is the song that made me realize my amity with music. Had it not have been for the composition of this song, would I have ever found myself through music? Would I have ever found myself at all? How many others has Beethoven inspired in this way? But Beethoven never had a chance to enjoy "Fur Elise" or to experience the joy that this piece inspired in so many people. His is an example of a most meaningful and most UNhappy life.
The question "What is happiness" has yet another philosophical twist. "Happiness" does not refer to just a temporary feeling, what we call "feeling happy." So whether or not someone is happy is just not a question of how they feel right now. It is rather a question of the larger dimensions of his or life, whether he or she is living well or badly, because just as there all sorts of degrading pleasures, so too there are meaningless ways of feeling happy - drinking alcohol or taking drugs, spending time with a couple of amusing but shiftless friends. At the same time, we would be very hesitent to say that someone was happy if he or she almost never experienced such moments of joy - like poor Beethoven.
So it looks like the question of whether or not a person is happy depends on several differnt kinds of factors, which I have decided to clumsily call "internal and "external". The internal factor has to do wit how a person feels. The external has more to do with the actual facts of one's life. Both, I suggest, are necessary for happiness.
But consider this: Suppose you are one of those people who thinks that a happy life is the life of pleasure, or at least a life in which the balance of pleasure far outweighs the pains. Just imagine that for a moment.
Now we approach the reason I been dwelling on this subject.
At school, we've been discussing "the pleasure centers" because it has a lot to with certain psychological viewpoints. But thats another blog altogether. Neuroscientists only discovered this part of the brain a few decades ago. They found that stimulation of these centers was so intense and satisfying that the rats being tested on, when hooked up with electrodes in such a way as to self-stimulate their own brains, literally starved to death. Can u believe that? A colleage of mine, Robert, was the one who spoke on this, today. It reminded me of the "birds & the bees" talk my father had with me some years ago. In his attempt to make me realize how sexual the male being can be, he told me that ANY man, being honest with himself, would choose to have sex over eating for the week, without hesitation. Of course at that time I thought he was being exaggerative in order to make a point and in order to stray me away from having sex. However, the older I got, the more experience I've gained, and of course the more I learned about these centers, the more I began to realize that he wasn't exaggerating as much as I had initially thought. Today, Roberts explanation of this experiment summed up all of those findings and put them into complete perspective.
Well, I found out through internet research that the teqnuique has been perfected so that it is now safe and suitable for humans. Moreover, there is a life support system so that, even if somone does not want to innterupt the pleasure, he/she will be kept alive indefinitely, at least for a normal life span. For those who want to live a life of pleasure, here it is, the most perfect, dependable, continuous, pleasure you can ever expect to have. Would you like to be hooked up? (A note of warning: no student who has ever tried this has chosen to stop, although that option is always left open.)
Over many years, very few students have been willing to try it. Their reasons are revealing. They say "I want to do something with my life. I'd miss my friends. I'd like to get married someday." This suggests to me, that the internal aspect of happiness is not enough. But there is a variation on this theme, credited to Rober Nozick. Instead of waves of continuous pleasures, his contraption is much more sophisticated. You can think of it as an experience machine. What it does is it (electronically) simulates the experience of, say, having a successful career in medicine and saving thousands of live's or of being a popular music star and having millions of fans around the world. It can also simulate the experience of spending lots of time with friends or of meeting someone, falling in love and getting married. It can even simulate the experience of getting pregnant and giving birth. In short, it can give you any experience you would like to have of a happy, meaningful life, without the risks and bother that are normally apart of life. If you wanted the challenges and risks those could be arranged as well.
Now, the question again: Would you like to be hooked up?...
But again, most students say no. They are still unsettled because they want to REALLY do something with their lives, They want to REALLY spend time with their friends. They want to REALLY get married, someday. That seems to show that most of us insist on REALLY living in the world, with uncertantity and dangers included. A happy and meaningful life, in other words cannot be just a life internally enjoyed. We want to be part of the world as well. We want that natural-born connection to the cosmos. We also realize that we have a limited time and that makes it all the more urgent that we do something worthwhile with what we've got. So we give our lives meaning by the choices we make, by the relationships we form, and by the difference we make. That, in a nutsell, is what happiness is all about. Not just life of pleasure but a life of doing something meaningful and worthwhile and, as a virtuous person, enjoying it all as well.
I've been dwelling on this all day.
Well, one of the most obvious suggestions is that it is a meaningful life if it is a happy one. But happiness, as Aristotle pointed out a long time ago, is understood by different people in different ways. We probably didn't need Aristotle to tell us this because it's pretty obvious.
Some people, he said, think that the happy life is a life of pleasure or, at least, a life filled with many more pleasures than pains (since the cost of pleasure, as we all humanly know , may be worth a little bit of pain). Maybe this is what Jay-Z meant when he said "Pain is Pleasure..." Anyway, other people think of a happy life more in terms of what Aristotle called "honor", by which he meant being held in esteem by one's peers and fellow citizens. For us, this might mean any of several very different things. It might mean a successful life, which in turn has several variations.
Some people would say that success is wealth - that you can tell how successful a person is by how much money and how many possssions he or she has. Others would say that success is fame - being recognized by lots of other people (whether for one's accomplishments or just being known for being known, as is all too common among our current bundle of celebrities). Still others would say that success is more subtle and less obviously visible - for example, making a contribution to society or doing something meaningful, say, teaching in schools or working for a cleaner environment, whether or not this is financially rewarding or gets you well known.
Aristotle himself insisted that the good life is doing something worthwhile that you love and are good at, whether it is philosophy (his choice) or one of the arts - music, dance, literature - or perhaps gardening or being a housewife. It would be misleading to say that there are as many different views of happiness as there are people in the world, but it is clear that there are many different types & conceptions of happiness, and one size does not fit all.
Yet, as always there are larger philosophical questions that need answering. Earlier, I made a quick equation between happiness and a meaningful life; but is a happy life always meaningful, and is a meaningful life necessarily a happy one? The answer to the first question seems to depend on which of the above versions of happiness one accepts. With some of them, its unsettled in my opinion. For example, if one thinks of a life of pleasure as a happy life, it is quite clear that since there are different outlooks on happiness then there are an equal amount of outlooks on pleasure as well. Some of them, to be sure, like enjoying excercising some skill (playing basketball, sewing, playing the piano), can make life both pleasurable & meaningful. But others (watching wrestlemania, drinking beer to excess, playing practical jokes) are degrading, and a lifetime of such activities, no matter how pleasurable, can not add up to a meaningful life. Would you rather be a Dissatisfied Sage, who has contributed many teachings to generations to come, or a clueless pig rollling around in the mud, utterly delighted and totally satisfied? A happy life is meaningful, we might say, if it is the right kind of happiness. But then we seem to be back where we started and facing yet another version of relativism: are all conceptions of happiness of equal value?
To the second question, it seems that answer is no. If a person dedicated his or her life to finding a cure for a dreaded disease, to taking care of the poor in some Third World Country, or to creating a perfect artwork, all despite continuing frustration and utter lack of recognition or appreciation, we might applaud suck a life as meaningful but recognize that the person was not happy. Many celebrated saints and artists lived such lives. The great composor Beethoven suffered for most of his adult life from terrible headaches & tragically lost his hearing, an especially terrible fate for a musician (in my opinion as a musician myself). He had a terrible temper, terrible social relations and all in all a terrible life. Nevertheless, at the height of his suffering and while deaf, he composed what is perhaps one of the best-loved pieces of music, the final movement of his ninth symphony. Had he not lived such a tragic life, would he have been able to create such beautiful music? Many millions of people continue to be moved and overjoyed by the delightful "Fur Elise" - This is is the song that made me realize my amity with music. Had it not have been for the composition of this song, would I have ever found myself through music? Would I have ever found myself at all? How many others has Beethoven inspired in this way? But Beethoven never had a chance to enjoy "Fur Elise" or to experience the joy that this piece inspired in so many people. His is an example of a most meaningful and most UNhappy life.
The question "What is happiness" has yet another philosophical twist. "Happiness" does not refer to just a temporary feeling, what we call "feeling happy." So whether or not someone is happy is just not a question of how they feel right now. It is rather a question of the larger dimensions of his or life, whether he or she is living well or badly, because just as there all sorts of degrading pleasures, so too there are meaningless ways of feeling happy - drinking alcohol or taking drugs, spending time with a couple of amusing but shiftless friends. At the same time, we would be very hesitent to say that someone was happy if he or she almost never experienced such moments of joy - like poor Beethoven.
So it looks like the question of whether or not a person is happy depends on several differnt kinds of factors, which I have decided to clumsily call "internal and "external". The internal factor has to do wit how a person feels. The external has more to do with the actual facts of one's life. Both, I suggest, are necessary for happiness.
But consider this: Suppose you are one of those people who thinks that a happy life is the life of pleasure, or at least a life in which the balance of pleasure far outweighs the pains. Just imagine that for a moment.
Now we approach the reason I been dwelling on this subject.
At school, we've been discussing "the pleasure centers" because it has a lot to with certain psychological viewpoints. But thats another blog altogether. Neuroscientists only discovered this part of the brain a few decades ago. They found that stimulation of these centers was so intense and satisfying that the rats being tested on, when hooked up with electrodes in such a way as to self-stimulate their own brains, literally starved to death. Can u believe that? A colleage of mine, Robert, was the one who spoke on this, today. It reminded me of the "birds & the bees" talk my father had with me some years ago. In his attempt to make me realize how sexual the male being can be, he told me that ANY man, being honest with himself, would choose to have sex over eating for the week, without hesitation. Of course at that time I thought he was being exaggerative in order to make a point and in order to stray me away from having sex. However, the older I got, the more experience I've gained, and of course the more I learned about these centers, the more I began to realize that he wasn't exaggerating as much as I had initially thought. Today, Roberts explanation of this experiment summed up all of those findings and put them into complete perspective.
Well, I found out through internet research that the teqnuique has been perfected so that it is now safe and suitable for humans. Moreover, there is a life support system so that, even if somone does not want to innterupt the pleasure, he/she will be kept alive indefinitely, at least for a normal life span. For those who want to live a life of pleasure, here it is, the most perfect, dependable, continuous, pleasure you can ever expect to have. Would you like to be hooked up? (A note of warning: no student who has ever tried this has chosen to stop, although that option is always left open.)
Over many years, very few students have been willing to try it. Their reasons are revealing. They say "I want to do something with my life. I'd miss my friends. I'd like to get married someday." This suggests to me, that the internal aspect of happiness is not enough. But there is a variation on this theme, credited to Rober Nozick. Instead of waves of continuous pleasures, his contraption is much more sophisticated. You can think of it as an experience machine. What it does is it (electronically) simulates the experience of, say, having a successful career in medicine and saving thousands of live's or of being a popular music star and having millions of fans around the world. It can also simulate the experience of spending lots of time with friends or of meeting someone, falling in love and getting married. It can even simulate the experience of getting pregnant and giving birth. In short, it can give you any experience you would like to have of a happy, meaningful life, without the risks and bother that are normally apart of life. If you wanted the challenges and risks those could be arranged as well.
Now, the question again: Would you like to be hooked up?...
But again, most students say no. They are still unsettled because they want to REALLY do something with their lives, They want to REALLY spend time with their friends. They want to REALLY get married, someday. That seems to show that most of us insist on REALLY living in the world, with uncertantity and dangers included. A happy and meaningful life, in other words cannot be just a life internally enjoyed. We want to be part of the world as well. We want that natural-born connection to the cosmos. We also realize that we have a limited time and that makes it all the more urgent that we do something worthwhile with what we've got. So we give our lives meaning by the choices we make, by the relationships we form, and by the difference we make. That, in a nutsell, is what happiness is all about. Not just life of pleasure but a life of doing something meaningful and worthwhile and, as a virtuous person, enjoying it all as well.
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