--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Alex Stanley" <j_alexander_stan...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Alex Stanley" <j_alexander_stanley@> > > wrote: > > > > > I think that a lot of my inability to conceive of > > such a belief system is the same thing that gives > > me pause with Buddha's supposed First Noble Truth, > > that "Life is suffering." Life is *not* suffering > > for me. Never has been. Hope that it never will be. > > Unlike many, I was *never* drawn to meditation and > > the spiritual path because I felt that my current > > life was "suffering" or didn't work. I felt that > > my life was pretty cool; I was merely looking for > > ways to make it cooler. > > I do understand the concept of "life is suffering" because > I did spend decades in egoic aversion to how the I/me story > shows up and egoic grasping for fulfillment in the relative > world. Which is not to say that there is no longer *any* > aversion/grasping going on; it's just no longer the governing > force. I do still experience a certain degree of suffering > when I allow myself to get caught up in a polarity, like I'm > doing with the issue of Dan's suicide. I think what he did > was a horrible, cruel, ignoble, selfish act... a giant > "Fuck You!" to the whole community, and because of that, > I find these new age hagiographies of him offensive.
I didn't know him, so I can't say one way or another. With Frederick Lenz - Rama, I did, and can. His suicide was a big FUCK YOU, in capital letters -- to his students, to his family, and to the world for not appreciating him in the way he had hoped to become accustomed to. But if you think about it, that's part of the Mythology Of Enlightenment, too. The enlightened just do stuff, much of which is beyond our understanding. But it's all perfect, and we know because the enlightened are *always* perfect, and we know *that* because...uh...because *they* told us so. So if one of them chooses to drop their body like a big turd in the punchbowl of those who love them and care about them, that's just more enlightenment, acting out. I think it's narcissism, acting out. Tantrum yoga.
