So I was soaking in the tub with candles lit meditating to an Alan Watts lecture and contemplating the concept of controlling my breath. Then it stuck me. By controlling my breath I was losing control. To surrender control I would gain control of everything. By just letting things be that they are as they will be I control all. All things do.my will if my will is aligned with the great dung heap. By willing all things to be as they are all things are subject to.my will. Letting go of control i control all things. I applied this to bowling and scored a 150.
Once again I'm struck by the shocking callousness of these "eastern things".
No offense. I'm fulfilling my calling as Devils advocate. (Devil horns to forehead mode start)
But it seems that in a world full of suffering this selfish obsession with one's own comfort is shocking.
I know this often comes down to terminology as in "by just letting things be that they are as they will be I control all".
I realize that this is meant to be a means of addressing the inner struggle but when put in terms of the real world struggle it can't be interpreted as anything but subservience and possibly worse indifference.
Yeah I know. It's a bummer.
I know it's very exhausting and everybody bums and needs some whale tunes from time to time but for me the issue arises in making subservience and indifference
a policy. Just saying. It's not personal.
It's an ongoing fly in my dudeist ointment.
It always just feels like a callous sort of entitlement on the part of people who in the grand scheme of things enjoy relative comfort no matter how their classes at a university or coworkers or boss are bumming them out.
Which generally seems to be the level of difficulties that we encounter here.
I know I'm being very undude and on the verge of yelling "get a job sir" but IMO acceptance is not synonymous with control. They just sort of feel the same and for those with no hope of actual control they provide a sedative effect.
Generally we are not those people.
It's cool to mellow out from time to time but rose colored glasses are not the order of the day.
It's at best a balancing act between maintaining our mellow and feeding the monkey.
Isn't this sort of mindset the spiritually equivalent to stepping over the homeless dude to get to Starbucks for a nice comfy latte?
Again nothing is absolute. We all occupy a place on the spectrum of beliefs but I'm always a bit put off by the tendency to codify a commitment to inaction and indifference in the name of a personal mellow.
I'm sure the zen brothers will have a lot to say. I've probably heard it before.
Yes it's called the "middle path" for a reason and there is a lot of gear grinding on the whole detatchment without indifference ax. But I find it unfulfilling.
Quote
"Sometimes equanimity is confused with indifference although it is actually easy to distinguish the two. If we remain calm and unmoved because we understand that excitement or agitation is inappropriate, unjustified or unhelpful, this can be called equanimity. If we remain unmoved and uninvolved because we cannot be bothered or because we simply do not care, this can be called indifference. Equanimity grows out of knowledge, indifference out of ignorance or selfishness."
-Bhante Shravasti Dhammika
I guess I don't agree that "excitement or agitation is inappropriate, unjustified or unhelpful".
To me if I ever get to that point just shove me in the grave and chuck on the dirt.
This sort of detachment may be very dude but it decidedly not Rock and Roll.
It's great to be at peace but as Zorba said "life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo you belt and look for trouble."
Peace.
And Rock On!
8)