"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church." - Thomas Paine
"There seem to be two kinds of searchers: those who seek to make their ego something other than it is, i.e. holy, happy, unselfish (as though you could make a fish unfish), and those who understand that all such attempts are just gesticulation and play-acting, that there is only one thing that can be done, which is to disidentify themselves with the ego, by realizing its unreality, and by becoming aware of their eternal identity with pure being." - Wei Wu Wei
I would argue that these two quotes are saying the same thing. Would you? I also agree with both. Paine and Wei seem to be on that journey to find a sane mind. I feel they are enlightened and truly understand the proper way to exist. We are always trying to satisfy this urge inside to be what we "should" be for our age or for our family or for our friends or co-workers. What "should" we be and who made this so? Why are we trying so hard to please? Why are we straining to make what happens outside of our bodies happy and pleasant at the expense of what goes on inside of them? We are the ones who have to live with the conditions and consequences of overwork, depression, anxiety etc.
How many people have made their own mind up about how they want to live and what they want to believe in? Society decided long ago what is important and what is beautiful. The rules and the norms were laid out long before we came. But, can we not change them and make our lives better? Can we decide what we feel is important to focus on by ourselves? Do we need religion, peers, family, TV, media, government, and our adversaries to tell us what we "should" be doing with our minds, our bodies, and our lives? I say no. Finding your own proper way to exist happily and to be fulfilled while focusing on what you deem to be as important is freeing and unrestricted. No one has ever come back with pictures from heaven or hell. This life is guaranteed. That's it. Don't stress, enjoy it now.
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3 comments:
Theses 2 statements both try to tell us that we do not need anything outside of our own minds to feel complete; and that only by looking deep within ourselves can we ever feel complete. Feeling complete in our minds, we can disengage with external forces, and just be; follow the middle path, the truth between opposite illusions presented to us outside.
We can never pretend to not be effected by outside forces. Society has been shaping us since the moment we were born. Even somebody who is enlightened, has still lived a full life and is aware of the ways that outside forces has effected him. It is impossible to survive without taking things from these outside forces. Without the influences of society, we would not speak and communicate, we would not have a common way of interaction and experience. Even somebody that understands the influences of society and decides not to pay attention to certain things, like image, can never honestly claim not to be influenced by their surroundings.
Good for people to know.
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