April 19, 2009

Enlightening Thought #11

Last year, I read the book Siddhartha, which is about a little Indian boy who goes on a spiritual journey in search of enlightenment. When he first left his home, he joined a band of ascetics traveling through his village. Asceticism is the act of depriving oneself of life's worldly pleasures, which includes everything from sex and alcohol to food and clothing.



Why would anyone do that to themselves? Imagine yourself in this situation. You would probably be begging for a TV break and pissing and moaning about how you need to check your facebook in case you have some new notifications. Feeling real enlightened by that "which superhero are you" quiz yet?

In reality, asceticism is not about the pain caused by these deprivations, but the obstacles caused by indulgence that are in the way of ultimate spiritual freedom. It is the process of overcoming the material world.

I'm not going to say that this is true all the time, or for all things, but this is what I have concluded:

Only when you have nothing, can you truly appreciate everything.



Pretty good, eh? Someone should quote me.
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9 comments:

  1. Willa ChenApr 19, 2009, 7:49:00 PM

    "Only when you have nothing, can you truly appreciate everything." - Juliana

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  2. The WitchApr 20, 2009, 3:47:00 PM

    It sounds familiar

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  3. BuddhaApr 21, 2009, 9:16:00 PM

    Tyler Durden: "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything. " ~Fight Club

    That's probably why it sounds familiar.

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  4. JulianaApr 22, 2009, 9:05:00 PM

    Fail - I've never seen or even heard of any quotes from Fight Club. Also, it has a very different meaning.

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  5. BuddhaApr 22, 2009, 9:22:00 PM

    I thought you were the one who said that meaning depends on the interpretation of the listener. These could very easily be interpreted to mean the same thing.

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  6. JenniferApr 23, 2009, 3:40:00 AM

    Fight Club is win. WIN!

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  7. JulianaApr 23, 2009, 8:23:00 PM

    The meaning I intended was different from the meaning I derived from the Fight Club quote you posted. Therefore, at least to me, the meaning was very different.

    Are you really arguing with me about this? It wasn't plagiarism because I had never heard the quote before. This isn't necessary.

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  8. BuddhaApr 23, 2009, 11:06:00 PM

    I never said it was plagiarism. I was simply pointing out that when you said "it has a different meaning", it was contradicting the argument you were making yesterday in Physics, that it is the interpretation of the listener that matters, not what the author meant by it.

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  9. JulianaApr 24, 2009, 2:55:00 PM

    I don't think I actually said that o_o but okay. There is no solid definition for meaning either, so at least for me, the meaning was different when I read your quote in comparison to mine. And on the topic of contradiction, I'm sure I'm not the only one who contradicts myself... humans are all pretty hypocritical.

    ReplyDelete

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