Agrote-In relation to other big scale wordly things like your family being wiped out in a Tsunami, no, your verruca doesnt matter but if you look at things from your point of view (which you are allowed to do by the way)then a verruca can matter and can cause a certain amount of distress.
Sometimes when I get in one of my moods I try to tell myself to stop being stupid as there are people in the world who dont have parents, are starving to death, have no home etc BUT, to me my problems are serious and distressing, not to anybody else, just to me, and yes they matter.
If someone is homeless should they really complain as they are better off then maybe someone who is being beaten.Then again is the beaten person better off than the starving person and therefore shouldnt complain??!!
Just because some things in life are trivial doesnt mean they shouldnt be dealt with.
The homeless complains because he has no home
The hungry complains because he has no food
May they find both shelter and nourishment.
But us fortunate, who has these things, (at least for the time being) are we not entitled to complain?
I'll admit, that anyone who comes to me complaining about some trivial everyday luxury problem will not be taken seriously. And if that sets them off, well then they take their own petty worries too seriously, and ought to be ashamed.
I agree that the tiniest detail should be dealt with, but when I hear about grown people going to court over a scratch in the paint of their car, then I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe, we've gone on long enought with this charade of materialism.
It is my bold statement that if you complain about trivial luxury problems, then you have let the blanket of materialism blind you from the true values that are out there.
In my brief time on this planet I have experienced great cashflow. I've owned a car, along with a landslide of other trinkets I spent most of my days sorting through.
Today I have one problem: To find money to buy food. This is not a difficult problem since I live in the country at the end of the rainbow.
Tomorrow I may have another problem: To find a place to live. I haven't had money in some time, and my landlord is getting impatient. I don't blame him.
So this is my life currently, and the curious thing is that I've never felt happier about myself than now.
To shed my riches was a concious choice on my part, though I took it a little bit too far. I did that also intentionally to show my father that the reality he preached (that you must work or starve) doesn't ring true in our land of milk and honey.
Your right,material goods arnt neccessary but I have to admit they do come in handy.
The only important things in life are people, food, shelter.
Material goods do make a lot of things easier. I am not saying that we should shed all excess materializm. Just that we should know it for what it is. Tools.
Cryacuz wrote: "It is my bold statement that if you complain about trivial luxury problems, then you have let the blanket of materialism blind you from the true values that are out there." I would make one change in this otherwise good post: "then you have let the blanket of egotism blind you from the true values...."
Val, in my opinion, the soldier's protest regards his murder. But if he were to live a normal life and die of old age then there are no grounds for protest. Do you agree? In that case, death is my very nature, not something that happens to (poor little) me.
JL, I like to think of egotism as the power the material world has over the individual mind. To be a slave to your ego is to be a slave to all that your ego desires.
JL Nobody
No, the soldier made that statement because he was forced to follow Death - you know, the big guy in black with a scythe? (Is it a scythe?).
About dying of old age. I think you are right, if old age makes us tired of life. Then death is welcome. But perhaps old aged people have a different perspective.
And yes, death is in my nature - in my cells, in my blood, in my brain. But not in my identity. And death is the end of me.
Val, I know how counter-intuitive this must be, but death IS me (an aspect of my true nature). It is the end of the illusory "me" (the ego). It's not just the end of my body, since it is replaced (dies?) every seven years.
JLN, Did you know some bamboos die every seven years?
JLNobody, what do you mean the body is replaced every seven years? That sounded really interesting.
As I understand it, Cyracuz, our cells are literally replaced every seven years. I don't know if that is an average time; I would think that the cells of some organs might metabolize out of us at different rates. Don't know. But the body we were born with is clearly not the one we have when dying. The DNA structure (the software program?) may be the same, but the physical substance (the hardware?) is not. So, in a sense, our BODIES die continuously. It's the EGO that we are desperately anxious to preserve. That's one reason why zen buddhists say that he who dies (gives up the illusion of self) no longer fears death.
JLN, Yes, our body is in a continuous mode towards death (in the sense that we will someday die), but during the first years of development, it's actually in a continuous mode towards life.
Ah, so you don't see birth as a simple terminal condition.
JLN, I think you misunderstand what I have said. We can all agree birth is a eventual terminal condition, but from birth till some point in infancy, our body grows to protect itself from future illness and disease, and so it's a living mode rather than a dying mode. If we remained in the same mode from birth, our death would be more immediate without any maturation.
Sorry, C.I., I understood your meaning and agreed with it. I was just trying to be funny.
That's interesting. Thaks JL and cicerone.
Cyracuz wrote:don't live life, let it live you.
IMO this is a retarded quote... Living by this saying will just lead you to depression. I guess i used to live by this quote in a sense. I lost a sister when i was 13, had my parents divorce, and my best friend move to thailand all in the course of 2 years. Because of these tragedies i felt that life was not in my control and that whatever life served to me id have deal with. I love to use analogies...(cause usually i can't say what im thinking without em)
When i was younger i felt like i was in the passenger seat of an empty car. I was driving down the road of life. Whenever a bump or a problem in the road came though i wouldn't avoid them id let them hit me and get thrown of my road and have to spend time recovering and time recovering could be years. What it took me so long to realize is that i could control my own fate and essentially avoid these bumps in the road by choosing to avoid them. For example when i was young i smoked pot and hoped every time i would get away with it. When i got caught i felt life was unfair and why me. The same kind of questions you ask when something bad happens to you. If i just didn't smoke pot i wouldn't get in trouble. By making good decisions i had better outcomes and an overall better life.
So instead of not living life and letting life live you, take a hold of life and make it into what you want it to be. You are the creator of your own destiny whether you choose to take this responsibilty is your choice.
Discreet, I see the obvious value in what you say. But do you appreciate the truth in the saying, "If you want to make God laugh just tell Him your plans."? (I'm not a theist).
Also, I like to think that I should not live each day as if tomorrow were my last; I like to try to live each day as if yesterday were my last. Right now is gravy, as it were. (careful not to take me literally).
In other words, try to see the value in Cryacuz' expression.
