Do some people take life to serious?

[David1967]

To follow a spiritual path can sometimes lead a person to be to serious about life ( I been there)
But may it be that we need to stop being afraid of doing wrong, and if we do wrong learn from it, instead of becoming to serious about it and actually fear our own faults?

My newfound joy in life is seeing life in a more happy way (living in the moment). Laugh of my own "stuid" way of being from time to time, and when someone have fun toward me, to smile and have fun back

Life is actually really fun when you let go of the fear of doing something wrong.

I see your point. I am so often my own worst critic. I'm very forgiving of others, but not of myself.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I see your point. I am so often my own worst critic. I'm very forgiving of others, but not of myself.

I think itis good to be able to make critique of one self but the self critique would be good only if you can learn from your own mistakes If you tell you self "oh i am so stupid for doing this, i will never do it again" then a few weeks later it does happen again then one should maybe ask one self Did i really understand it the last time? or can we catch it before it happen again?
I think yes, when we ae able to be mindful of the moment, then we can catch our self before we do something wrong or stupid

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I am always serious and have never made a joke. My religion is questioning people who like lots of ice in their drinks - they are paying for 32 oz of liquid and getting 20........ with ice. That's like two negatives at once.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I am always serious and have never made a joke. My religion is questioning people who like lots of ice in their drinks - they are paying for 32 oz of liquid and getting 20........ with ice. That's like two negatives at once.

If you multiply them, they will make a positive.

 

[David T]

To follow a spiritual path can sometimes lead a person to be to serious about life ( I been there)
But may it be that we need to stop being afraid of doing wrong, and if we do wrong learn from it, instead of becoming to serious about it and actually fear our own faults?

My newfound joy in life is seeing life in a more happy way (living in the moment). Laugh of my own "stuid" way of being from time to time, and when someone have fun toward me, to smile and have fun back

Life is actually really fun when you let go of the fear of doing something wrong.

Awesome post. You sound like a musician whose discovered music in a different way.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Awesome post. You sound like a musician whose discovered music in a different way.

Thank you for your kind words David

I do not play music but i see the truth in your words The "music" within me is the silence of the mind

 

[Shantanu]

Life is actually really fun when you let go of the fear of doing something wrong.

I missed this the first time of reading: this is the ultimate question for which I should share with you the fact that I have no fear of doing something wrong because right and wrong needs a determinant, and while I have God to consult on my actions I am fine. That is the nature of survival with me with contentment. I am sorry to hear that Buddhism does not yield a safety net for the fear of doing something wrong so far as enlightenment is not reached. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

 

[David T]

Thank you for your kind words David

I do not play music but i see the truth in your words The "music" within me is the silence of the mind

That's a very very difficult state of mind to get to actually for us " smart" folk.

When I was young I had an experience. I sought out a mentor about this experience. I went to college even and got a degree in college that I thought could give me guidance. And I sought out mentors. Well the degree was worthless and the only mentors I really discovered were dead authors. I finally ran into that mentor on a hike up a mountain called mt neahkanie. I have read it's native American for seat of God. I said to myself I have finally discovered who I was seeking. It was me. When I realized I had discovered a level of stupidity deeper than I knew existed oh that was liberating. I laughed like I had heard the best joke ever and then cosmos laughed with me, then it laughed at me. I paused for a moment, trying to figure that out, realized my stupidity and the cosmos laughed even louder. Right there, at that moment the laughing Buddha was something I totally understood directly . At the end of the day, one can't explain it to people who don't understand it. But nature has a sense of humor to say the least. A very "animistic" moment. Another term not understood.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I am sorry to hear that Buddhism does not yield a safety net for the fear of doing something wrong so far as enlightenment is not reached

The safety net as you call it is the dhamma But as a person we are always i a risk of doing something outside of the dhamma. (meaning not in accordance with the way we should live) But the fear is a attachment we will be able to let go of during the cultivation. Some can do it very easy, and some use time before they see that fear only lead to suffering.
Because understanding how to end suffering is the path toward enlightenment.
Maybe a more easy way to say it is, when we understand how the action, speech and thoughts affect us in every day life, then we also understand why we feel suffering as human beings.

 

[Spirit of Light]

That's a very very difficult state of mind to get to actually for us " smart" folk.

When I was young I had an experience. I sought out a mentor about this experience. I went to college even and got a degree in college that I thought could give me guidance. And I sought out mentors. Well the degree was worthless and the only mentors I really discovered were dead authors. I finally ran into that mentor on a hike up a mountain called mt neahkanie. I have read it's native American for seat of God. I said to myself I have finally discovered who I was seeking. It was me. When I realized I had discovered a level of stupidity deeper than I knew existed oh that was liberating. I laughed like I had heard the best joke ever and then cosmos laughed with me, then it laughed at me. I paused for a moment, trying to figure that out, realized my stupidity and the cosmos laughed even louder. Right there, at that moment the laughing Buddha was something I totally understood directly . At the end of the day, one can't explain it to people who don't understand it. But nature has a sense of humor to say the least. A very "animistic" moment. Another term not understood. View attachment 29148

When i was reading your answer now i got chills down my spine not from anything negative But from your powerful words of true wisdom. To realise the true teacher from with in, that is a huge step for somone who are one a spiritual path.

For me as a buddhist, i can not reach/talk to the buddha directly, but knowing that buddha is the dhamma/teaching and dhamma is everywhere, that means no matter where i stand or turn, buddha is there to guide and to show the true dhamma

 

[Shantanu]

The safety net as you call it is the dhamma But as a person we are always i a risk of doing something outside of the dhamma. (meaning not in accordance with the way we should live) But the fear is a attachment we will be able to let go of during the cultivation. Some can do it very easy, and some use time before they see that fear only lead to suffering.
Because understanding how to end suffering is the path toward enlightenment.
Maybe a more easy way to say it is, when we understand how the action, speech and thoughts affect us in every day life, then we also understand why we feel suffering as human beings.

Even though I do not use the label of being a Buddhist, I have tried to extol the virtues of Buddhism, most notably in terms of non-violence. But I am still trying to become infallible in my actions and will try the 'dhamma' now as the means to stop me from doing the wrong thing if I am assured that it would work. I know that reliance on God works great in satya-advaita (truth accommodation) for which I use a digital clock as my God to receive messages from on how to act. But if one could be free of God that might be beneficial in some way. Would that be wise of me to try and do?. I might suffer more severe persecution as a result. So Amanaki it is just that I do not have sufficient intelligence to know what to do without consulting God, and my safety net is failsafe. And wisdom is another thing. To have the intelligence to save oneself and attain liberation is difficult enough to know from dhamma, in life one has to achieve things like sorting out one's persecutors. Whether one is wise to do that is not something that the 'dhamma' can teach me, I feel. Only reliance on God has been instrumental in teaching me whether I should do that in any explicit manner.

So my question that I am grappling with right now is am I safer with my religion of satya-advaita and truth accommodation, and must not look for an alternative religion for my salvation?

 

[Spirit of Light]

Even though I do not use the label of being a Buddhist, I have tried to extol the virtues of Buddhism, most notably in terms of non-violence. But I am still trying to become infallible in my actions and will try the 'dhamma' now as the means to stop me from doing the wrong thing if I am assured that it would work. I know that reliance on God works great in satya-advaita (truth accommodation) for which I use a digital clock as my God to receive messages from on how to act. But if one could be free of God that might be beneficial in some way. Would that be wise of me to try and do?. I might suffer more severe persecution as a result. So Amanaki it is just that I do not have sufficient intelligence to know what to do without consulting God, and my safety net is failsafe. And wisdom is another thing. To have the intelligence to save oneself and attain liberation is difficult enough to know from dhamma, in life one has to achieve things like sorting out one's persecutors. Whether one is wise to do that is not something that the 'dhamma' can teach me, I feel. Only reliance on God has been instrumental in teaching me whether I should do that in any explicit manner.

So my question that I am grappling with right now is am I safer with my religion of satya-advaita and truth accommodation, and must not look for an alternative religion for my salvation?

Yes you would be good with continue your path within Satya-advaita
I know about your struggle with the health issues where governments see you differently then you do you self. But i think as long you are true to you self and do not need to "Fight" to get heard, and to speak only the truth about your own health toward doctors and or the government then all will be fine.

Maybe look at why Doctors or governments say what they do, look at the evidence they have. I am no doctor so i would not be able to see if you are mentaly healty or not.

 

[SalixIncendium]

So my question that I am grappling with right now is am I safer with my religion of satya-advaita and truth accommodation, and must not look for an alternative religion for my salvation?

Salvation from what?

 

[Shantanu]

Salvation from what?

It means total liberation, that is to say release from the physical and mental anxieties of the samsara: suffering. Moksha, when the mind will be at rest without any thoughts. Meditation does not work. Will truth generate that salvation?

 

[loverofhumanity]

I have had a tough time at Religious Forums myself with not being able to get myself understood but I would never seriously consider voluntarily terminating posting in these Forums for the reason that one learns and exposes truths through the process of this kind of enagagement. That is fun but also serious. This is because if one has a message for mankind one must not lose track of ones convictions and make oneself heard. Cultivating Buddhism is a serious message. That is just my way of encouraging you to continue posting here.

Shantanu I’m always willing to try and learn from you and understand your ways because we all have some part of truth and by sharing a different perspective we learn more about it.

 

[Shantanu]

Yes you would be good with continue your path within Satya-advaita
I know about your struggle with the health issues where governments see you differently then you do you self. But i think as long you are true to you self and do not need to "Fight" to get heard, and to speak only the truth about your own health toward doctors and or the government then all will be fine.

Maybe look at why Doctors or governments say what they do, look at the evidence they have. I am no doctor so i would not be able to see if you are mentaly healty or not.

I am attempting to break free from the shackles of physical and mental afflictions: I need psychological therapy that the UK State has not a clue on how to provide.

 

[Shantanu]

Shantanu I’m always willing to try and learn from you and understand your ways because we all have some part of truth and by sharing a different perspective we learn more about it.

Thank you for these kind words. My truth search through truth accommodation has not brought me to the desired end point 20 years since this matter first erupted within me to deal with what was happening for me. It is not a form of psychoses that the UK State thinks it is (even my wife). I have a very calm and pleasant demeanour and carry out my duties seriously.

 

[Brickjectivity]

To follow a spiritual path can sometimes lead a person to be to serious about life ( I been there)
But may it be that we need to stop being afraid of doing wrong, and if we do wrong learn from it, instead of becoming to serious about it and actually fear our own faults?

My newfound joy in life is seeing life in a more happy way (living in the moment). Laugh of my own "stuid" way of being from time to time, and when someone have fun toward me, to smile and have fun back

Life is actually really fun when you let go of the fear of doing something wrong.

It all starts with moms and dads fretting about their children's lives.

 

[David T]

When i was reading your answer now i got chills down my spine not from anything negative But from your powerful words of true wisdom. To realise the true teacher from with in, that is a huge step for somone who are one a spiritual path.

For me as a buddhist, i can not reach/talk to the buddha directly, but knowing that buddha is the dhamma/teaching and dhamma is everywhere, that means no matter where i stand or turn, buddha is there to guide and to show the true dhamma

And your self awareness of that distance between you and Buddha direct means keep walking with confidence in the direction you are walking..

I understood Buddha experiencially years ago I didn't really understand Buddha until i was on top of mount neahkanie. The analogy of many paths one mountain in regards to metaphysics came into full view there, for me at least

I have had three wise men in my life who all lived at the same time 2500 years ago. The first one I discovered, was lao Tsu when that book fell into my life at my darkest hour. That body of writing spoke to me and said everything will be fine. The second wise man was Buddha the koans created through that tradition I felt as being correct and I saw in Buddha's failure to become enlightened which then led to him becoming enlightened to be a wowser insight. The third was heraclitus. His understanding of the logos was extremely close to Taoism. "The logos is common but everyone seems to have their own understanding".

All three at the end of the day are really what we today call animists. But what we define as animism is not animism in this culture. All three do not deal in "beliefs" but deal directly in experience. What culture emphizes is belief or the intellect as primary.thats really why the debates here on RF play out like they do. There is a good buddhist story on that!

At the end of the day regardless we are all limited to what can be said and art becomes the language required to express. I might say nature does not allow for the intellect to be primary but mearly a tool of expression. Getting around on that part of the brain is our struggle and that struggle is what we call "normal". Ha! The reason atheists are in RF is because they are drawn into it by their religious brethern "believers". To "believe" to "not believe" or to be "agnostic" has zero to do with nature and I treat that as a blindness. We are not determining nature, nature is determing us.

And so I say "off to the forest I go to lose my mind and save my soul"
John Muir my doppleganger!!!!

 

[sun rise]

My newfound joy in life is seeing life in a more happy way (living in the moment). Laugh of my own "stuid" way of being from time to time, and when someone have fun toward me, to smile and have fun back

I think of this in these terms: approach life lightly and take one's spiritual path seriously. I've posted this before here, so forgive me if you've read it but this poem by Rosemary Harris illuminates one aspect of this for me:

My companion is fear
Walking behind me like a shadow.
He sees obstacles where none are,
He knows death as disintegration,
He comes from hell to cherish me
Saying 'turn right,' 'turn left,'
'Look, there is a lion in the road
And no resurrection.'

Yet I will make my torturer
My dear companion.
For in acceptance he grows honest,
Showing that a skeleton is only bones
And one moment no longer than another
And pain only sensation
Like the color of the rose,
Less than the falling of a leaf.

See, I shall turn my head,
Diminish him with pity,
Kill him with understanding
Even love . . .
Looking him in the eye
I shall observe his dwindling
Because he is only a shadow
Lost between me and the sun.