Making Decisions Based On "Feelings" And The Search For Enlightenment

Some well-known reasoning: "I have a bad feeling about this".

When there is a lack of substantial data to make a decision, this well-worn phrase makes an appearance. Hollywood has made millions on this fear-based human assessment tool. It is a tool that has no more value than standing at a roulette wheel, "feeling" the next number and color on the wheel. I'm as guilty as anyone of resorting to this method at any given time, and if I'm honest with myself, I'll tell you it has not made a positive difference. More than anything, it's a hindrance, and generally results in procrastination or worse, total inaction.

I'm in a phase in my life where I've been down multiple paths, growing up in a religious household as a youth, migrating to Buddhism, winding up full-circle back at ground zero. I hate labels, but I'd use "non-theist" if I had to for the present. And that's my focus here:

The present.

Buddhism had all the right language for me: delusional mind, the lack of "I", attachment to thoughts, the attempt to clear the mind, it all made sense. But like all ancient philosophies and theologies, there comes a point where you have to make the leap of faith. And that's where it ends for me. Karma, reincarnation, prayers, a ready-made way of life, just add belief and you're on your way. Another system, another guide, more directions on how to live. I have given up on the search for enlightenment, because I don't think there is a such a thing.

www.youtube.com...

The discussion forums here are incredible. I have learned a great deal in many threads. I am learning which threads to stay out of too. There are a great many people that find comfort, apparently, in sharing their delusions. People that travel outside of their bodies, people that have lived previous lives, people preparing for their next life. So much discussion on things that can never be verified, just a "feeling".

I try, and fail, every day, to see things without the taint of previous experience. It's just about impossible. I'm trying to be content with what nature has provided to us, lucky to have lived and loved, and experience joy. I have no desire to keep any thoughts alive for eternity. I don't believe in a "soul". All of these mind-made scenarios are just ways to keep from thinking about the dark. This is about all I can come up with at the moment. Let me know your "thoughts" or "feelings".

"What is" is and we are interacting with it. Since the placebo effect exists there have to be some kind of mind determining matter.

What are you seeking when you seek for enlightment?

Are you seeking the bodily bliss?
Are you seeking higher understanding where you can make extreme connections and understand patterns others can't?
Are you seeking psychic ways to manifest thing and get information?
Are you after becoming a healer that can heal people (increase synchronicity so the improbable become very probable by effecting quantum reality)?
Are you after becoming a hermit that is almost totally disconnected from all other humans since others have a hard time understanding you?

The term enlightment is an overused word that is to ambiguous of people who wants to be enlightened but have no idea of what it is they are after.

If You don't KNOW what it is You are after, how would You KNOW if You obtained "it" ?

I don't believe in a "soul". All of these mind-made scenarios are just ways to keep from thinking about the dark.

Soul/dark?

It's not that your decisions are tainted by reason. Your ability to reason naturally arises from experience. It is just that the scope of your experiences is too limited.

It's not just you who's scope of experience is limited. It's most people. It's me. I make a point to experience new things in a different way as much as possible to keep my mind open and my intellect well informed, but I still have a ways to go.

Wang Tang
It's not that your decisions are tainted by reason. Your ability to reason naturally arises from experience. It is just that the scope of your experiences is too limited.

It's not just you who's scope of experience is limited. It's most people. It's me. I make a point to experience new things in a different way as much as possible to keep my mind open and my intellect well informed, but I still have a ways to go.

Yes!

And to the other posters, I'm not ignoring you. I'm not searching for anything. Just trying to get the most out of this life.

I just think we are limited by our conditioned minds, we mimic the tools too. How much of "ourselves" make up who we are? Any thoughts on this vid?

www.youtube.com...

There seems to be some issues with My posts (again) something to do with "coding" I had authored a nice lil soliloquy and only the opening showed up.

There certainly are parallels that can be drawn between us and parrots. The same can be said for a plankton in the sea. We are just like plankton that are swept to and fro by the waves of the open sea. The waves of the sea are like our new experiences that sometimes push us in one direction, and then push us in the opposite direction.

I like to see my life as me out on a small boat in the open sea. The boat is like our preconceived notions... our worldview if you will. While on the boat you don't feel the effects of the individual waves that are trying to push the boat to and fro. Jump into the water and you will experience each individual wave washing over you, but you cannot swim forever and if you stay too long you will drown. So practically speaking it is good to have a boat, but it is also important to learn how to swim on your own.

Reasoning is a valuable tool that humans possess. However, when you overemphasize rationality you start to become numb to your feelings and skeptical of your perceptions, so much so that you start valuing incoming sense experiences less and less and instead fall back on your preconceived notions. The man who reasons too much chooses to accept the experiences that support his preconceived notions, and discards experiences that go against his notions. The man who reasons too much is dangerous in this way, once he sets in stone his conceptions of the world, there is little chance of moving him from his conceptions even through his sense experiences.

In light of this fact I think the idea of the "Middle Way" advocated by Buddha and Aristotle are very helpful. It is both dangerous to be an over-thinking man and a non-thinking man. There is an ideal middle ground somewhere in between. Think too much and you lose touch with reality. Think too little and you drown.

reply to post by Wang Tang


Thank you. You are obviously well versed in what I'm attempting to put into words. I can see that you have researched this from this reply.

I realize thinking is required to survive and function in what we label a typical society. I am fascinated by how much we as humans invest in our thoughts, that we are somehow special or a superior species created by a supernatural cause. I think we are no more important than any other mammals, and when we die, we simply give back to the earth.

Theists that reference bible or quran quotes, "enlightened" bodhisattvas and the four noble truths-all this seems counterintuitive. Why bother with a guide book? Who really needs one and why? It's just humans dealing with pain and fear, using words to create a comfy blanket of delusion.

Wang Tang

Reasoning is a valuable tool that humans possess. However, when you overemphasize rationality you start to become numb to your feelings and skeptical of your perceptions, so much so that you start valuing incoming sense experiences less and less and instead fall back on your preconceived notions. The man who reasons too much chooses to accept the experiences that support his preconceived notions, and discards experiences that go against his notions. The man who reasons too much is dangerous in this way, once he sets in stone his conceptions of the world, there is little chance of moving him from his conceptions even through his sense experiences.

How can a person that are constantly trying to seeing beyond his/hers ego biased ideas be trapped by preconcieved notions? If you in your view of what is choose to view your understanding as an idol that can be changed as more data appear then this stagnation of understanding will always be questioned.

Some preconcieved experiance might even be good for you and keep you from making bad choices. For instance because of my life I see life on this planet as a pale illusion of what it should be. It is like being in a black and white movie with bad sound when it should be colored with doulby surround. That idea has made me a bit appathetic when it comes to striving for material success and the normal idea that I should have a kid and wife to be fullfilled since that is the human dream.

I would probably have very different ideas if I was born in a thousand years when humanity probably have grown out of the parasitic ideas that today exists in the system of society.

eggman90
reply to post by Wang Tang

 

Thank you. You are obviously well versed in what I'm attempting to put into words. I can see that you have researched this from this reply.

I realize thinking is required to survive and function in what we label a typical society. I am fascinated by how much we as humans invest in our thoughts, that we are somehow special or a superior species created by a supernatural cause. I think we are no more important than any other mammals, and when we die, we simply give back to the earth.

Theists that reference bible or quran quotes, "enlightened" bodhisattvas and the four noble truths-all this seems counterintuitive. Why bother with a guide book? Who really needs one and why? It's just humans dealing with pain and fear, using words to create a comfy blanket of delusion.

I have a feeling all beings are special and unique in their own way including the animals. I have met dogs that are so friendly and loving that I am wondering if it is not the animals that are purer to what they are than the humans I have met.

The bible say 7 lamps, 7 seals, 7 churches. Hinduism say 7 chakras (energy centers) within your bodies. What quran quotes I do not know since every time I try to read it, I come to a passage that I cannot see as anything but dogmatic and lose all trust for quran to be holding any higher understanding of "what is".

Maybe it is the translations that are off or maybe I am too dumb to see the beauty or maybe I am to smart to not see the dogmatic thing it is.

You can only test if 7 lamps/7 chakras are real by assuming they are and then test what you can do with them.

eggman90

Theists that reference bible or quran quotes, "enlightened" bodhisattvas and the four noble truths-all this seems counterintuitive. Why bother with a guide book? Who really needs one and why? It's just humans dealing with pain and fear, using words to create a comfy blanket of delusion.

I think there is value in the four noble truths. Buddha came to these conclusions based on experiences from the same world we live in. Since the four noble truths are derived from the same objective reality, there is significant truth value in the noble truths for us. However, while our objective realities are the same, our subjective interpretations of this reality are all different. So while the four noble truths may have been Buddha's ideal path, it may not necessarily be our ideal path because we have different subjective experiences of our objective reality. As a result, the four noble truths are a useful supplement for our lives, but they are not the answer.

LittleByLittle

How can a person that are constantly trying to seeing beyond his/hers ego biased ideas be trapped by preconcieved notions?

Seeing beyond ego biased ideas is what I call thinking deeply. This is different from over-thinking.

Wang Tang

LittleByLittle

How can a person that are constantly trying to seeing beyond his/hers ego biased ideas be trapped by preconcieved notions?

Seeing beyond ego biased ideas is what I call thinking deeply. This is different from over-thinking.

One nugget that has helped remove mountains of my own stress has been to keep the ego from being the little devil on the shoulder, whispering retorts to apparent insults. I don't get insulted nearly as much as I used to when I was younger. Still do on occasion, but I'm working on it. When it appears that someone is insulting me, I remind myself they are only words, and to not personalize it. Sounds simple, but it has taken me close to half a century to figure that out!

Wang Tang

LittleByLittle

How can a person that are constantly trying to seeing beyond his/hers ego biased ideas be trapped by preconcieved notions?

Seeing beyond ego biased ideas is what I call thinking deeply. This is different from over-thinking.

Thanks you for the answer. One problem as I see it is that humanity do not have a proper definition of language (at least not one that I know off) to describe how we really think that is taught to people so that people can understand and monitor themselves. For instance the thinking deeply and over-thinking is your semantic choice but it might not mean the same to others. The ambiguity of language since people have not quantified the different states that can be.