PT, I'm not necessarily arguing against your thoughts as such, it just my agreed and non-agreed opinion.
Equally important, but even more important to me, is inner peace. Not defined as happiness, bliss, but a quiet stillness inside in the midst of chaos.
You mean “inner†tranquility. Sure… I understand, but at the same time if you can comprehend that there is no such thing as “inner†or “outerâ€, you shall see tranquility in all and every thing. Yes, I do understand that first one needs to develop that “inner†tranquility, only then can it overflow outwards and encompass all, and the All then kind of become “innerâ€, and hence the reflection of a Self in ALL. so the concept of “outer and inner†dissolves.
Also looking at it from the Causality point of view, and the inherently binding connection that it creates between “thingsâ€, every thing could be said to have no beginning or end, but since THINGS do have a form, and a form has to necessarily be bound by its beginning and end of its “form-nessâ€, A=A, and at the same time is no different than you or me in ESSENCE, as a form, and because of the connectivity of all being a CAUSED thing, makes “me†or “you†no different then that “thing†in that sense. Hence where do “you†really begin and where does another thing end? The connectivity if understood makes that connectivity seem so unreal that it disappears, conceptually, and yet one can experience A=A, recognition - differentiation – reaction. So what is it that is “outside of you†and what is it that is “inside of youâ€?
But holding on to ‘ “I’ have no beginning or end ‘ is a delusion; It’s pride; Its ego; Thinking that that is an absolute, is violating the realization of A=A, hence once realized, one must let it go, because A=A is equally true as having no beginning or end. But that is exactly the problem. If one chases AN Ultimate Truth, he will be lost, because there are so many “Ultimate Truths†to be kept in mind at the same time, that “Ultimate-ness†looses its meaning when talking about Existence. Hence they seem contradictory when compared, but actually they cannot be compared to begin with, because BOTH are actually TRUE in their own rights. Now, THAT is generally quite difficult to overcome, because one has already conceptualized that one cannot attain “enlightenment†unless he has “pure logic†(ultimate-ness), “pure masculinity†(ultimate-ness), Intense Love of Truth (ultimate-ness), and so on and so forth….. In this, one has already made a “God†out of what he thinks should be Ultimate.
Ultimate-ness of things only exists in a comparative world, and it is true that we cannot get out of it, but that can be achieved using the same faculty of conceptualization, so if one takes another look at the second paragraph above, because he might have forgotten by now, one will see that comparative-ness can be conceptually removed, then what though in this world remains Ultimate?
The King chose the second picture. "Because," explained the King, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace." (Catherine Marshall)
Absolutely. And that this knowledge has been floating around for ages, but if one sees closely, for example, a simple sentence otherwise not much thought about actually holds the mother of all philosophies; “Beauty lies in the eye of the beholderâ€; a.k.a. All is subjective; Nothing lies beyond the mind; Nothing is actually confirmable except “Iâ€; Cogito ergo sum.
I never actually read any of those great philosophers; “beauty lies in the eye of the beholderâ€, was more than enough for me to know all the a.k.a’s, and more.
Existence is Sooooo connected, knowledge is Soooooo scattered, all that it needs is an eye to see it, otherwise it is really empty and meaningless, but THAT MEANING is created in ME, and am I not a product of the same, otherwise which “I†consider meaningless, Nature, Existence, Reality? So how meaning-less is the MEANING of meaningless itself? No…. not at all, existence is not all that meaningless, because it has created a thing that means what it says, and says what it means, and is Reality. Unless one is a disconnected God looking over from the “outsideâ€, and that would be absurd, hence Frank is ultimately, absurd.
Hehehe…..
Hey! That’s just my opinion of course, one can be as Godly as one wants, who am I to object? :D I just try to think to the best of my humble ability.
Coming to terms with Realization and having this being the end result would be my textbook definition of "Enlightenment".
May be, but I say don’t give it a new “text-book†definition, as if the old ones have actually helped in any way, otherwise we would have had the Enlightened by the pounds a penny; because it will necessarily bring along the HIGH value placed on IT because of the “profoundness†one pre-conceptually sees in IT, and hence will end up revering IT, rather than really thinking about existence, nature, and a Self?
It is absolutely true, I’ve heard it somewhere, that if one WANTS “enlightenmentâ€, he will never get it.
Because one’s nature becomes so “value-full†that he cannot be humble enough to let in a "contradiction" and then See that it is not a contradiction at all, which is hampering “his enlightenment†in the first place. I don’t know how else to say it… so what else can I say….
The idea of judgment, if pure, is fine, but no one has that type of judgment even here on this board.
If “pure� Right. So where, in and of this entire existence, can one find “pure judgment� “pure logic� “pure masculinity� or “PURE†whatever?
Can you first define “pure†and then rethink please? It is also this “purity†that is actually hampering ones progress. How can one have any sort of “perfectionâ€, or “purityâ€, or AN Ultimate “Truthâ€? if one cannot even get out of duality? Comparativeness? A=A? AND one says that he knows and has absolutely understood that basic lesson! So where is it Now? Under the carpet? Why is one forgetting that A=A-ness is also absolutely true and cannot be gotten rid of? So how can there be an Ultimate thing?
Any and all “judgments†can ONLY be comparatively more correct, but can never achieve any pure “purity†as such. One thinks of it as such because one can compare it to something that is less “pureâ€, according to ones own subjectivity.
Just try to look at things from the “outsideâ€, but don’t actually go out in a hurricane.