--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "lurkernomore20002000" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > snip > > > > This speech comes from a place in me that has > > always held fairness, honesty, and sincerity as > > the highest values. I was raised with those > > values; they were how my parents treated me, and > > I was taught that I should stand up for those > > values, for others as well as myself, whenever I > > saw them being trashed. > > > > Goodness knows I have my faults, but I do my > > level best to live up to that teaching, at least. > > And that's what I'm doing in this post. > > (Speaking about you in the third person) (I think) This > lady is a powerful writer, and what a mind. But I just > can't help but feel she has this tremendous blind spot > that prevents her from seeing things in clear light. I > mean the moniker, "Defender of the Faith" seems > appropiate.
The more I encounter this "defender of the faith" mentality, not just on FFL but in Christian groups and Buddhist groups and Islamic groups and even in political groups and Microsoft groups and Oracle groups, the more I am reminded of Rene Descartes. His famous saying, "I think, therefore I am," has been accurately described from the point of view of yoga and enlightenment as being *bassackwards*. He put Descartes before the horse. Similarly, a *lot* of people seem to get off on the belief, "I am persecuted, therefore I am." What they focus on is the "attacks" on the things that their small s selves believe, as if those small s selves were really who they are. The more "attacks" they can perceive against the small s self, the more important that self seems, and the stronger it gets. It seems to me that a "defender of the faith" is really "defending" his or her small s self, and the puny things it believes. The more "attacks" the small s self perceives, the more it believes in its own importance. And sadly, the more "attacks" that the small s self perceives, and the more it "defends" itself against them and feels important for having done so, the more unhappy it gets. As opposed to realizing that there is nothing to be "attacked," and nothing to defend, and nothing to defend *against*, and that letting go of the notion of self is the thing that leads to the ultimate happiness of Self.
