You made two posts today, and previously you last posted shortly before I came on this forum, and so are a new 'face' for me here. What prompted the return? It would seem looking at some older posts, you would tend to side with woo and post information from other sites and make some comments on it. I find the list below to be a good way of categorising those obstacles mentioned. Note that the sage Nisargadatta was addicted to cigarettes. And because most humans that are presented to us as enlightened seem to have foibles of various kinds, could conquering all these human foibles really be unnecessary? It is certainly necessary to become aware of one's shortcomings but how much effect do they have in preventing enlightenment, seeing that just about everyone living today on the enlightenment circuit seems to have some of these obstacles. Isn't all that is necessary is to realise all these foibles are just an aspect of pure being?
How many of these have you become senior to, if any? I have probably been accused of all of these except martyrdom. My interests these days somehow do not focus on things like this, at least not very consciously. If one desires to be the entire universe (unity) is it really necessary to give up all these things? What do you think? I see there is a photograph of you in the 1978 MIU Yearbook which I found on-line. You are a TM meditator, and whatnot. So what have you discovered about life since 2011 when you last posted here? Whay did you leave? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <untilbeyond@...> wrote : Seven Chief Obstacles Greed Fear of missing out Arrogance Fear of not being enough Self-deprecation Fear of being great (in my case, fear of showing off) Martyrdom Fear of being too selfish Impatience Fear of stagnation, or never 'arriving.' Self-destruction Fear of being alive Stubbornness Fear of losing control In this system, we choose (very early in life) one chief obstacle, and a secondary obstacle. There will be two items that you recognize in yourself more than the others. It's possible to have a 'well managed' chief obstacle. Addictive behavior falls under the domain of self-destruction. There are many people who smoke cigarettes as a way of avoiding the more destructive behaviors such as hard drugs and gambling. The other addiction that has destructive potential similar to nicotine is eating disorders, such as the ubiquitous carbohydrate addictions that we see everywhere. Drinking a gallon of soda per week, or binging on sweets? That can reduce lifespan as effectively as tar and nicotine, right? So what's the point in giving up an addiction if it's only going to be replaced by something more destructive. It takes real devotion and perseverance to become senior to our chief and secondary obstacles.
