Re: Necessary Indifference
- From: Evelyn <evelyn.ruut@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 17:57:26 -0000
On Aug 19, 10:55 am, Nantz <thena...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
As I write these words I know that some innocent beautiful child is
being blown to bits in some war torn area of the world. Someone's
daughter is being raped, someone's son is in the last stages of
starvation, someone's mother is gasping her last breath from a fatal
disease, and on and on and on.
So, how do I harden my heart? Ho do I dare to laugh when so many are
in pain? I personally can do nothing about all the suffering in the
world. I can help one or two, but not millions.
What do I do? I watch a comedy show, I work some puzzles, I prepare a
meal, I call a friend, anything, to stop thinking about it.
Five people died in my area last night from a flash flood and several
are still missing.
So, I'm going to work a sudoku puzzle right now.
Nantz
We cannot control things that happen in the world. All we can do is
control our own feelings to some degree about them. There is
suffering that is unavoidable that happens to all of us. Then there
is the avoidable suffering we bring upon ourselves by replaying
tragedy or sadness over and over again in our heads.
Buddha said that is as if you were shot by an arrow, so you pull out
the arrow and begin stabbing yourself with it over and over. If
something sad or horrible happens that you have no control over, then
you are hurt once. But replaying it over and over in your head,
allowing yourself to become depressed, is like being hurt a thousand
times by the same incident.
Buddhism teaches practical ways of stopping the escalation and
replaying of such things through meditative practice. Thoughts arise,
we experience them and then practice letting them go. This continues
in real life when real things happen.
The concept of karma is a little game we play with our minds. It
somehow helps us to accept the inequities of life and go on with a
sense that they are somehow not to be changed, and to find a sense of
rightness above and beyond justifiability. Outrage at inequities,
justification and justifiability have no bearing on what we ultimately
do with these things in our minds.
People can do prayers envisioning that they are spreading peace in the
face of injustice, and it has nothing to do with whether those prayers
have actual effect, but the important matter is their effect on your
own mind, on your expressed good wishes and good will, and desire for
peace and happiness for all beings. If you approach the inequities of
the world with compassion, sympathetic good will, and desire for
happiness and peace, you will find that outrage and ratcheted up
emotional reactions simply diminish and may even be gone altogether.
These are simple thoughts that anyone can do. Nothing supernatural
about it, just practical and sensible ways of dealing with the
inevitable inequities and sorrows of life.
I am afraid to try and make a longer posting, since I had a long post
written to Olly a few days ago, and google ate it. We're going back
home to Woodstock tomorrow, and I will be able to reply without such
concerns.
We have had a wonderful, restful, happy vacation, the wedding we
attended was absolutely fabulous, I have enjoyed the company of my
daughter and grandsons and now I am ready to go home again..... happy
for it all :-)
Regards,
Evelyn
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Necessary Indifference
- From: Joan F \(MI\)
- Re: Necessary Indifference
- References:
- Necessary Indifference
- From: Nantz
- Necessary Indifference
- Prev by Date: Re: At Last -- Another Goal
- Next by Date: Re: Necessary Indifference
- Previous by thread: Re: Necessary Indifference
- Next by thread: Re: Necessary Indifference
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
