Fear or Wisdom

First thread woohoo!

Where is the line drawn between fear and wisdom? For example. I want to quit my job and live off the land, I want to see the world. I want to travel. Is it foolish because I can't do that forever, and I might end up in a worse place than before? Is it foolish since I haven't any rich relatives to keep me afloat?

Or is that fear talking? People always say fear is never good, but is there such a thing as rational fear?

I am afraid I am going to stagnate in my current job, stuck doing the same thing over and over until I'm dead. I see no way out. If I leave, what if the grass isn't greener on the other side, as they always say? Should I just be grateful for what I have, the simple things? My home-made meals? My outings with friends? My pets? My meditations? My internet? My knowledge? I feel like there is something bigger and more to life than that, but can I really achieve anything more?

Where does one draw this line in deciding what is a "wise" decision, or "fearful" decision?

reply to post by kohaku


One thing is certain in life.. you cannot expect to take your next breath.

One thing we come to understand in life... it's not the destination but the journey that counts.

One thing you can do in life... either stay and worry or live according to the above simple truths.

reply to post by kohaku


Can't help you with the decision, but I do know how you feel. I say that if you are not married and have no kids - go for it, because I believe that I would. However, in my profession I could always get a job traveling. But, since I am married and have kids I get/have to live the safe life and just try to be content where I'm at. In the end, it doesn't matter because the tornadoes and earthquakes will probably being killing us all soon enough. Good luck deciding and have a nice day : )

reply to post by kohaku


Fear and wisdom are so far apart.

It really has nothing to do with wisdom, it has to do with faith in yourself. Gotta have faith in your own wisdom to believe in it.

So if you want to do something and you don't, then you are living in a cycle of perpetual death. Have faith in yourself and handle buisness.

The two aren't really related. Fear in this situation stems from lack of experience in what it is you think of doing (and acts as a roadblock), while wisdom refers to the gained knowledge from an experience. How can you become wise... if you do not experience? Fear will hold you back, but you need to spit in its face and move on if it is something you truly must do for your life. Sometimes, however, the line between fear and stupidity is pretty thin, so tread carefully.

The kind of life you have is okay, but if you feel your work or anything else is truly a ball and chain, you'll never be happy by remaining idle. Without rest from this world and its drudgery, you will never be truly happy. You can sit and be afraid and die wondering 'what if?' or you can take a leap of faith and embrace as much as you can in the short time you are here. You may end up suffering, you may up cursing your decision, but you may also end up happier and more content than you ever thought possible, even while living in a poorer condition.

This is life: congratulations to he who has toiled and found it.

reply to post by kohaku

"There is no way that one may be mentally oriented and also enjoy the Transcendental Realization of existence"



Now you are looking for the cause of your suffering. You are looking to be relieved by examining the phenomena of experience themselves. You are looking to create an arrangement in the body-mind itself that is satisfying. But the body-mind is a limitation. The body-mind is mortal. There is no way to be ecstatic and at the same time to be identified with something mortal. Ecstasy by definition means "to stand outside oneself," to stand outside what is mortal, to transcend it, to be greater than it, but also to include it and to realize it as a superficial aspect of what you are consciously and absolutely. If you cannot find a way to realize this transcendental ecstasy, there is no way that you can be happy. You will simply be obsessed, obsessively pursuing pleasure in this life and obsessively identifying with this mortal body-mihd. You will be obsessively thinking, obsessively complaining, obsessively reacting, obsessively desiring. You will be obsessively depressed. Your capacity to love, to radiate in the world, will be profoundly limited. Life will always be problematic.

Thus, the key to human realization is not to find some way to become absolutely fulfilled. Rather, the key to human realization is to find a way to transcend the condition in which we exist. Such realization is not an artificial discovery, not an artificial attainment. This ecstasy is native to us. It is not created by stimulation and self indulgence. It is not created by the indulgence of any aspect of our functional life. Neither is it realized by separating ourselves strategically from this functional life. To be ecstatic is to realize the Transcendental Condition of this functional life while at the same time continuing as this functional life for its term. If you can enter into this Transcendental Consciousness, then your daily existence will become ordinary, natural, pleasurable, something of which you are the master, not by virtue of living as an independent self, but by virtue of your sacrifice, your surrender - by virtue of God Communion. If you cannot find a way to be ecstatic during the day, you see, your whole day will be spent obsessively, and you will constantly look to the ordinary things of life and of the body-mind to console you.

The Enlightened One, by contrast, does hot need consolation. The Enlightened One functions quite naturally in the world with humor, having realized a consciousness that is not superficial. There is no way that one may be mentally oriented and also enjoy the Transcendental Realization of existence. One must pass beyond superficial consciousness, beyond the consciousness that feels identified with the body.

Thanks guys. And Tayesin, I always like what you have to say. Thanks.

Katndew: I consider my pets my kids. I don't know how well a cat and a ferret can do on the road, haha. Giving them up is out of the question, to me, it is wrong to abandon a member of the family. I have a partner too and he feels the same yearning as I do, to quit all this and be free. So do you consider your staying home with the family and what not, a "wise" decision?

Thanks for the advise onequestion...

Maybe a better way to put it, like what AdamsMurmur said is how do you tell if something is a stupid idea or fearful? Experience will tell you that, I suppose. But what if you don't know how deep the water is that you are about to jump into?

rrokkyy, I like the idea of non attachment, in fact I tend to side with a lot of Buddhist philosophy. But at what point (if there even is any) are you just letting people walk all over you, instead of just detaching from all this suffering?

Originally posted by kohaku
Thanks guys. And Tayesin, I always like what you have to say. Thanks.

Katndew: I consider my pets my kids. I don't know how well a cat and a ferret can do on the road, haha. Giving them up is out of the question, to me, it is wrong to abandon a member of the family. I have a partner too and he feels the same yearning as I do, to quit all this and be free. So do you consider your staying home with the family and what not, a "wise" decision?

Thanks for the advise onequestion...

Maybe a better way to put it, like what AdamsMurmur said is how do you tell if something is a stupid idea or fearful? Experience will tell you that, I suppose. But what if you don't know how deep the water is that you are about to jump into?

rrokkyy, I like the idea of non attachment, in fact I tend to side with a lot of Buddhist philosophy. But at what point (if there even is any) are you just letting people walk all over you, instead of just detaching from all this suffering?

Detachment leads to liberation. It is freedom in life.

"Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it." (Mark 8:35)

"With the relinquishing of all thought and egotism, the enlightened one is liberated through not clinging." (Majjhima Nikaya 72:15)

Originally posted by kohaku

Katndew: So do you consider your staying home with the family and what not, a "wise" decision?


Maybe a better way to put it, like what AdamsMurmur said is how do you tell if something is a stupid idea or fearful? Experience will tell you that, I suppose. But what if you don't know how deep the water is that you are about to jump into?

I consider myself staying home with the family a "wise" decision because it is the responsible thing to do and a "selfless" thing to do, in a world where everyone is much too selfish at times (including myself). I still may "travel", sell the house, etc. once the kids move out and are on their own. But the older I am getting the more content I am getting also, so may just do more vacations : )

I guess to determine if it is stupid you could weigh the pro's vs. con's list. As for as fearful, you just have to meditate/contemplate on the reasons why you don't do it and see what comes up. Maybe you'll discover some is fear or you may discover that, in truth you are pretty content and just like the familiar and comfortable.

If you really believe in what you want to do, I don't think it should matter about knowing how deep the water is, as long as you know you are a good swimmer (can adjust to changing circumstances well).

Filter your fears through your instincts, and you will have courage.