Posted by dj on July 4, 2000, at 11:31:30
In reply to Re: Well, alrighty, then....Wicca and wind-up... » dj, posted by CarolAnn on July 4, 2000, at 8:21:01
> > BTW, here's a good one for you from Gandhi: "Be the change you want to happen."
> >>>>
> dj, I absolutely LOVE this quote!!!
> Take Care, CarolAnnCA,
Glad you enjoyed that and thanks for the insight on the Wicca law of threes. It is a fine line we tread, by times...
Another quote which I think addresses some of the issues examined above is from Voltaire and goes:
"To the dead one owes only consideration, to the living the truth." Hard to discern what the truth is at times, unfortunately, partially due to all the hyperbole in which our society is awash.However as Antoine St.Exupery, author of "The Little Prince", a gem of a book, wrote there: "It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightfully than you are indeed a man of true wisdosm...It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."
The heart attuned is the path to cutting through both our own hyperbole and that of the society that surrounds us, it seems. Buddhism is one, but not the only, path to moving through all of this and the seeming negativism, which isn't always so, while the seeming upness of our society is the source of many of our mass delusions and dis-eases I believe.
Buddhism is often portrayed as a negative approach because it is focused on looking deeply at and through the veils of ignorance and sensory tittillation that surround and smother us. As Tim Ward wrote in: "The Great Dragon's Fleas": "...there is a way to escape the suffering, a way discovered by the Buddha. By cutting the cords of desire, hatred and ignorance we can be free. This is the Third Noble Truth. Simple to understand but difficult to practice. The way to cut the cords is by following the Buddha's Eightfold Path." Jack Kornfield's inspiring book: "A Path With Heart" is one well written example of how one devout Buddhist dealt with some of those challenges.
And that is but one way, there are many, much of which get perverted by our interpretations. If we all truly followed the ten commandments, doubtless our society would be better for it....
Sante!
dj
poster:dj
thread:37688
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000630/msgs/39342.html