Ze importance of Nossing.

[LotsaBadKarma]

So earlier today I was sitting down with a cigarette and a cup of coffee and just relaxing and I thought about a close friend of mine who seems obsessed by just about anything. It's gotten to the point where it seems that she actually looks for things that are not perfect at times when things are running fairly smoothly. The latest thing I heard about was condensation in between the doors of the refrigerator. My answer for this problem was to close the windows and turn on the air conditioner which would take some of the moisture out of the air and thus reduce the condensation. This sugestion was received about as well as a beer fart in a room full of hyperosmiacs. And I realized that this kind of OCD stuff goes on all the time and there is nossing I can do to help.
But I began to wonder what it is that brings this kind of shit to light, this obsessive need to try to make things perfect. And I came to the conclusion that it has to do with the amount of shit that we're able to buy or earn or otherwise acquire and our fear of losing it. And I realized that this was probably why Siddhartha went out for a walk and never went back, because he knew that the problem was not so much with the world's imperfections but with worldly possessions. Maybe he knew that the shit we own ends up owning us.
Conversely, then, my diseased mind told me that the less stuff we own the less likely we are to become obsessed with all of it. And my mind took me to a tiny apartment almost totally devoid of furniture, just enough for the necessities, simple food and not an excessive amount of utinsels to eat it with. Just the required amount of clothes for everyday life and more of a concentration on the things I would do to relax.
And then it hit me.....the importance of nothing. Nothing as an actual quantity, like the measure of success and contentment is actually how little shit I might have to clutter my life as opposed to how much shit I accumulate. And I began to realize that the closer one gets to having nothing (with the exception of basic human needs and entertainment/relaxation) the more likely one might be to approach contentment.
I used to have a bumber sticker that said "Nothing Matters" and I thought it was cool because I looked at it from a negative point of view. But thinking of it now, from a perspective of positivity, it takes on a somewhat different meaning.
Pardon me for going on about this but I felt like I had the start of an awakening with all this shit and I kinda wanted to share.

[MindAbiding]

Hey Dude,

Great post!  Nothing was a big topic for Alan Watts.  If you look on youtube you'll find several recordings of his thoughts on the topic.  Here's one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLrMVous0Ac).  The nothing starts about 50 seconds in.

[Boston Rockbury]

Hey LBK - some groovy thoughts there dude. I thought about living on a canal boat in England and how good it would be to par my shtuff down to what I could fit on to a little 'narrowboat'. When you have nothing you are left with your self. Of course the mind can still hold mental objects - stage 2?

[LotsaBadKarma]

Thankee dudes, you are too kind.
One thing I want to clarify about my original post has to do with my use of the word entertainment. When I used the word entertainment what I was thinking was the kind of stuff I would do as hobbies. Like if I were a camper my camping stuff would be used as part of my entertainment. The one thing I meant to specifically leave out is a television. Better off without one of those.

[RevKHyler]

Others said it but I'll say it too - most excellent post, LBK! It's posts like that which will toss in lotsa GOOD karma. Peace, bro!
(More than once I've wanted to chuck it all but a couple of basics and do a truly minimalist thing... I've pared down over the years but it ain't easy.)
Takin' er easy... 

[LotsaBadKarma]

Thankee Chaplain K.
Man, this topic has opened up my mind somewhat. Not only has it made me examine myself and my own destructive habits but also the messages I've heard all my life, especially on that damned teevee. Consume, consume, consume. I haven't fallen for the big pharma commercials but I've been taken in by just about everything else.
I think that's why, if I had to pick just one thing, I would choose to axe the television at least as far as signals from the outside are concerned. I probably would have a tv with a vcr for TBL and other assorted great movies but that's as far as it would go. That would be my first step on the journey of a thousand miles.
What do you dudes think of when you think of dropping something from your life that is consumer oriented, you know, the result of advertising?

[RevKHyler]

The first things I dropped were TV and magazines (I did this a couple of years ago). I use a mini DVD player or my netbook to watch TBL and other older TV series and I get my news from less biased alternative sources.
I don't miss TV and junk mags anymore. Life is too short; I'd rather be out doing something more entertaining involving friends, good times and oat sodas.

[BrotherShamus]

I think as far as TV is concerned, there are some pros. I would hold on the the computer and watch netflix probably. There are so many programs on it that one can watch without feeling like they've wasted their time. There's educational stuff like TBL and other thought provoking films.

This last few months I've watched all of Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, several episodes of Cosmos with Carl Sagan, a documentary about D.T. Suzuki AND one about John Coltrane (one of my personal heroes).

One can learn a lot. Just can't over-do it

[DigitalBuddha]

So earlier today I was sitting down with a cigarette and a cup of coffee and just relaxing and I thought about a close friend of mine who seems obsessed by just about anything. It's gotten to the point where it seems that she actually looks for things that are not perfect at times when things are running fairly smoothly. The latest thing I heard about was condensation in between the doors of the refrigerator. My answer for this problem was to close the windows and turn on the air conditioner which would take some of the moisture out of the air and thus reduce the condensation. This sugestion was received about as well as a beer fart in a room full of hyperosmiacs. And I realized that this kind of OCD stuff goes on all the time and there is nossing I can do to help.
But I began to wonder what it is that brings this kind of shit to light, this obsessive need to try to make things perfect. And I came to the conclusion that it has to do with the amount of shit that we're able to buy or earn or otherwise acquire and our fear of losing it. And I realized that this was probably why Siddhartha went out for a walk and never went back, because he knew that the problem was not so much with the world's imperfections but with worldly possessions. Maybe he knew that the shit we own ends up owning us.
Conversely, then, my diseased mind told me that the less stuff we own the less likely we are to become obsessed with all of it. And my mind took me to a tiny apartment almost totally devoid of furniture, just enough for the necessities, simple food and not an excessive amount of utinsels to eat it with. Just the required amount of clothes for everyday life and more of a concentration on the things I would do to relax.
And then it hit me.....the importance of nothing. Nothing as an actual quantity, like the measure of success and contentment is actually how little shit I might have to clutter my life as opposed to how much shit I accumulate. And I began to realize that the closer one gets to having nothing (with the exception of basic human needs and entertainment/relaxation) the more likely one might be to approach contentment.
I used to have a bumber sticker that said "Nothing Matters" and I thought it was cool because I looked at it from a negative point of view. But thinking of it now, from a perspective of positivity, it takes on a somewhat different meaning.
Pardon me for going on about this but I felt like I had the start of an awakening with all this shit and I kinda wanted to share.

Without nothing, something would have no basis of contrast or place to exist, that is to say something must have nothing, or how would you know something exists? Wet needs dry, cold needs hot, up needs down...and I now need an oat soda before my brain gets too deep into this.