MUGZ speaks to the Dalai Lama (a message to all u board headz)

[pkern]

Originally posted by loch

okay, the cynic speaks:

the problem with these books...rather, the problem with us (uh oh, here i go again..."us" as in creatures of mood) in reading these books is that we will initially catch the profoundness in those written words and try to apply them to our daily lives for the first month (at most), while at the same time preach & recommend them to our friends. but ultimately, all that will pass and we revert back to our usual selves, as if it was something distant and far-fetched.

and then, every once in awhile, a particular event will take place that triggers our memory of having read something profound, the words & ideas creep back into our heads, and the cycle repeats.

I hate to disagree with you, Loch , but I think you might be confusing "mood" with lack of discipline. Changing your life - or the way you see and think about people, the world - is a difficult thing to do. It takes discipline and commitment. Yes, we are moody creatures, and yes, life certainly works in cycles, but we are also complacent creatures that can lose their resolve when life becomes difficult.

This fall, I planted a flower called a peony in my garden. It's a tempermental plant that requires a lot of tending and patience. If you plant it too deep. it won't bloom. If you don't put enough bone meal in the dirt, it won't bloom. If you don't soak its roots in warm water as you pack the dirt, it won't bloom. If the rain washes away the top soil and the root becomes exposed, it won't bloom. But, if all goes well and I get it right, this flower will come back each years, grow 5 feet high, and spread itself into a thick, permanent and gorgeous patch.

I'm not sure if I chose the right metaphor here, but the point is that I think we are actively involved in the creation of happiness. In Plato's Symposium, Diotima (the woman who taught Socrates) says that love (from which all happiness sources itself) is a verb, not a noun - it is the act of creation that requires our committed involvement.

Rilke: "If your life seems poor, don't blame it. Blame yourself. Admit that you are not yet poet enough to call forth its riches."

That's just my opinion, of course.

[loch]

Originally posted by mugwump

In my opinion all we are

is an acumilation of experiences..

We shape ourselfs from everything around us..

If our cups are filled to the brim with

NEGATIVE thoughts, ideas and dark

inspiration

how can we give anything back that is

Positive..

If we taste from the fruits

of great wisdom and reflect

on how it applies to the life

you already live..

..there is no need to REVERT!

It has already infected your

subconsciouse mind..

and it's like a seed that

in time can blossom.

IN THE END IT IS ONLY THE

EXPERIENCES THAT SHAPE YOU AS AN INDIVIDUAL..

(no book can truely do that for you)

But inspiration is like a light

that sheds illumination

on "possibilities"..

It really is up to the individual

how much you soak in..

i absolutely agree with what you're saying. yes, we are an accumulation of everything around us and the experiences that we go through. good, bad, postive, negative, etc.

and it is the positive messages like those of the dalai lama's (and zoran's, apparently ) that reels in the cynic in me and makes me want to spread the love and joy.

however, what i have noticed, and perhaps i should attribute this to only myself and not to "people", is that positive messages like these will affect me immensely early on, and then dwindle...for various reasons, until i totally forget about them, until some other event triggers them again and the cycle repeats. i believe, and unfortunately so, that this is most people's reality, that they vaccillate between positive influences and well as negative (cynical) influences. perhaps (and arguably) that makes for a better & balanced outlook on things, and life in general. well, at least for me.

i am reminded of the "Anne Frank contradiction"...where she contradicts herself in thoughts and her view of things. this contradiction is manifested in the following 2 passages: in one passage, she writes "There's in people simply an urge to destroy..." and yet, in another, she writes "...in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart"

what it really comes down to, i believe (and i'm starting to sound like a broken record, at that), is our mood dictates our perspective. what the hell is my point to all this? aw, fawk it. i think i'm done rambling.

i know...kinda like airport security. something bad happens. they step up airport security. nothing bad happens, they become laxed in security. something bad happens again. cycle repeats.

the analogy? something bad happens to us. we read the book. we practice what we've read. nothing bad happens to us. we forget about what we've read....etc. & repeat

[mugwump]

I hear ya~

In the words of ELECTREIC SKY CHURCH:

"It is easier to look down at the floor..

The trick is to keep looking up!"

If anything aids you to

remind you how beautiful life can be..

then it has brought you inspiration

for that instance..

Those "instances" can do the mind

wonders (For I have left the gutter if only for a second)

and travelled with things I may have forgoten

in the daily grind!

I try and find words/music/art that

can give me this ELEVATION each and every day..

I may revert in the end..

but I find myself hungering for those moments more and more..

the older I get the less DRAMA I want in my life!

I want INSPIRATION!

[loch]

pkern: did you have a point, or were you just rambling to tout your self-professed green thumb?

"but I think you might be confusing "mood" with lack of discipline" honey, i'd be so lucky if that's all i'm confused about. (but i think you're onto something there; i may be confusing the 2, perhaps. at least in THAT example)

mugz: yup. inspiration is the leg that boots me in the ass every once in awhile and knocks me out of my seat of complacency. inspiration is what keeps us moving.