tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2685698485860402737.post149102395963696725..comments2023-07-03T10:34:14.805-05:00Comments on Zombie Jesus: Ryanism, or: I'm an accidental BuddhistUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2685698485860402737.post-49007359686556840752006-11-12T21:10:00.000-06:002006-11-12T21:10:00.000-06:00"I'd say anger often amounts to waisted e...<b><i>"I'd say anger often amounts to waisted energy, time and emotion. The thing about this whole post that I don't think I'd be comfortable with is your apparent emotional detachment from the world.<br><br>I'll admit I don't know a whole lot about you at this point, but what this all makes me think of is a person who doesn't get emotionally invested in anything in an effort to avoid said "bed feeling." I've decided in the last two years that pain is simply a risk you take in a search for happiness, and all you can do is learn from anything you must endure."</i></b><br><br>Indeed, you don't know me well. :)<br><br>I don't "not get emotionally invested in the anything" by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I get emotionally invested in everything. If I weren't emotionally invested in the lives of people on the other side of the world, why would I oppose their deaths in war? If I weren't emotionally invested in the well-being of animals, why would I refuse to eat them?<br><br>No, I think your confusion comes from the part where I try to be intellectually detached from, and in some respects in control of, my emotional investment. It's not that, say, I don't get angry when a car cuts me off on the highway -- it's that I consciously choose not to express that anger, and I consciously choose to "let it go." And so it goes.<br><br><b><i>"Also, the notion that "life is suffering" doesn't seem to fall in line with this way of thinking. You say early in this post that "We are not in control, and we never will be." Later, you say you control your "bad feelings." I just can't reconcile these thoughts."</i></b><br><br>Maybe I should call the first suffering simply "bad things," since "suffering" more properly refers to an experience. What I was getting at in the first part is that many people I know spend large amounts of time worrying about bad things they can't change. I think for me personally, when I started accepting that which I couldn't change, it became much easier to change the things that I could -- like how I react to anger or despair.<br><br>If you don't accept that bad things are simply a part of life, and you obsess over always avoiding them, you will be continually frustrated at your inability to do so. If, in contrast, you accept these bad things and deal only with those you have control over, you can avoid the suffering that they might otherwise cause.<br><br>The point of the post was essentially that I think the Buddhists are on to something in that anyone is capable of understanding how to eliminate large amounts of needless suffering from their lives, and that I think that they're pretty spot-on about how to do it.<br><br><i><b>"Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that the only thing people really have control over is their reaction to the environment around them. So what is suffering?"</b></i><br><br>Well, I think you've got it exactly. I think that, if I understand Buddhism correctly, you have to recognize that suffering exists before you can find a way to ease it. So in that context, I was agreeing that there will always be bad things, and the question is do we let them consume us, or do we find a way to free ourselves from suffering their effects to the greatest extent we can?Ryan McReynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333879625502795277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2685698485860402737.post-73640462992923452242006-11-12T16:56:00.000-06:002006-11-12T16:56:00.000-06:00"Being "in the moment," detached an..."Being "in the moment," detached and aware of what is happening. I think for me this is related to the above. I try to be conscious of my consciousness ... When I have a bad feeling, I am aware that it is just a feeling and with a bit of effort I can make it go away."<br><br>In the time I spent with you last week, this is the way I would describe my impression of you; I think it's an admirable trait to some degree and I agree with what I think you are saying - that a great deal of pain can be overcome simply by a person's attitude and approach.<br><br>I'd say anger often amounts to waisted energy, time and emotion. The thing about this whole post that I don't think I'd be comfortable with is your apparent emotional detachment from the world.<br><br>I'll admit I don't know a whole lot about you at this point, but what this all makes me think of is a person who doesn't get emotionally invested in anything in an effort to avoid said "bed feeling." I've decided in the last two years that pain is simply a risk you take in a search for happiness, and all you can do is learn from anything you must endure.<br><br>Also, the notion that "life is suffering" doesn't seem to fall in line with this way of thinking. You say early in this post that "We are not in control, and we never will be." Later, you say you control your "bad feelings." I just can't reconcile these thoughts.<br><br>Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that the only thing people really have control over is their reaction to the environment around them. So what is suffering?Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204348521295381707noreply@blogger.com