Just as I thought I had got it, I realised I hadn’t. My composure was severely knocked by crypto fraud and an unpleasant and unhealthy dispute with Oswald the Tory War Criminal.
For days I became obsessed with getting my money back – reporting the crime to the FBI, the SEC and Uncle Tom Cobbly, posting on various forums to build a victim’s registe, and starting a class action in the US.
Then came my Tory friend. I was knocked sideways by the sheer bestial inhumanity of someone I have known for 40 years. I would never have believed he harboured such terrible beliefs.
Finally, thank the non existent deity, years of Buddhist practice kicked in. There had been quite a few days when my distress was such that I had failed in my daily meditation. Mercifully, I soon realised I had to retreat right back to the stance that it was all an illusion, and the ten thousand things simply had to be ignored.
It became a breakthrough. Out of the shambles, my efforts took a significant turn for the better. For a while I had to make a conscious effort to shrug off the annoyance and to concentrate with renewed effort on my daily routine.
By now I’m meditating for three hours each morning, from 7 to about 10. And usually for an hour or so in the evening. Suddenly, on a few occasions, I found that I had simply disappeared. I was conscious but wholly absent. I imagine this is what others have described as non dual awareness. The scientists claim it results from the quietening of the Default Mode Network.
The point is I thought I had arrived, and yet these two upsets proved that I had not. That there was a way to go, more layers to the onion, more baby dolls inside big mama.
I don’t suppose I’m there yet. The meditation will probably become deeper, even more strange. But the important point is it was there when I needed it. It restored balance, enabled me to return from a place of obsession and foolishness to clarity and serenity.
So thank heavens for practice. And the tubby little chap in the loincloth.
There is nothing sacred or holy about meditation. But it does make you see the world and your own behaviour in a very clear light. That if you are not very guarded, you contribute to world misery rather than solve it.
Equally you see in ever clearer terms how wholly wrong our species is and how vile it’s behaviour.
The real trick is learning how to avoid humanity and to ignore it. There is absolutely nothing you can do except try to “do unto others”. Which at times is far from easy.
I would stop short of categorizing our entire species as wrong and vile in its behavior, while still acknowledging that such individuals do exist.
As a human person, I feel the need to express the view that even those who are noble and selfless and who aspire to more lofty pursuits than accumulating wealth are part of humanity as well, and perhaps it is fair to say that there are far too many humans for whom your descriptions and recommendations are accurate, but the whole of humanity not only cannot be effectively avoided or summarily ignored, but also contains some of the most remarkable and trustworthy people, right alongside the scum of the Earth…
We all appreciate the sad state of affairs in particular areas of the world presently, and the villains and rotters do seem to get the most attention these days, but I think there are still places on this planet where humanity shines as well.
I have come to believe in a secular version of Original Sin. My own included. I look back on my posts since 2018 and am considering deleting them. Perhaps the entire website. I find that instead of contributing to a better world, I have merely added to the hatred and anger which has always beset our race. With perhaps as you suggest a few exclusions. Of which I am not one.
I’d be curious to hear your description of a “secular original sin”. Generally I tend to feel humanity to be pretty bad. You can’t blame an obligate carnivore for hunting but what to say about the ape who invented the factory farm?
Original sin, according to the religious, gave people an inherited evilness. Following the appalling behaviour of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. : 😄. Non believers realise that it is simple evolution that is given us the hideous need to survive – which inevitably entails kicking the shit out of everyone and everything around us to get their food, goods, wives and so forth. The factory farm might be seen as an ultra cruel extension of this . As, of course, is the endless genocide we continue to commit.