Guest guest Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 [...] Virtually all spiritual practices and inquiries, faith, religion, psychological and philosophical analysis in its root... is about overcoming pan and suffering and finding lasting peace and happiness. Fear is in the root of virtually all mental pain. > > > Yet, we " enjoy " scary rides... and, find them " exciting " ! > > ...we enjoy scary movies... and, find them " exciting " ! > > ...we enjoy reading scary books and stories! > > > > Difference is that in these cases, we " believe " we are going to 'alright', we are going to be 'fine', 'ok', 'safe'. Whereas, in the normal fear situation, such " trust " , such " believe " is missing. And, this lack of 'faith' makes fear very dreadful. > > " Faith " , " trust " ... or, " knowledge " , " understanding " , " intelligence " , " wisdom " be it because of believing in a God, Karma, Creator or be it without having investigated thoughts or be it because of having inquired into reality... gives us strength to sustain fearful, uncomfortable situation and yet, be at relative peace. > > Apart from " assurance " , " knowledge " and " faith " one more thing than differentiates the " excitement " of scary rides from the pain of normal fear is.... Acceptance, Desire and Surrender! Sitting in a scary ride... we do it by our own " choice " , our own desire and we " look forward to " its fear! Sitting in a scary ride... we " accept " that while in ride, we can only control our inner state, how we react and feel... we can't control the external situation! Sitting in a scary ride... we " surrender " our will to control the external, we " relinquish " our assumed control over the external. Due to this acceptance and surrender, in spite of fear, the ride becomes exciting and not painful! Many spiritual practices try to bring same acceptance, love and surrender into normal life outside the... amusement parks. They try to do it by... - Live each Moment as if you have fully chosen it! - How can I experience th liberated condition you are in? - By Fully Accepting the condition you are Already In! - Thy will will be done! - Wherever you go... there you are! - Reality is what it is... you don't get to vote haven't you noticed! - When I am Perfectly Clear... What Is.. Is What I want! - When you argue with Reality... you lose... but, only 100% of the times. - I Love What Is... not because I am a spiritual person... but, because it hurts when I don't. - I am at peace... because, I don't mind what happens. - You are not the doer... all control ultimately is just an illusion. > > Faith based religions try to do give this " assurance " by instilling blind, unquestionable belief. > > Zen tries to give this by teaching " wisdom " like... " all things are impermanent " and " this too shall pass " . > > Advaita tries to give this by helping in getting the 'experimental knowledge' regarding reality and find out the " self " the center of most fears is already false and 'non existent' and thus, the fears in the end are baseless. > > [...] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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