Welcome to Gaia! ::

Why is it that most people will gladly lay down their lives & the bourdon of responsibility if they can just have a holy man or some other authority tell them what to do? The why can you just fight fire with fire? At one extreme, you could be a goodhearted fool and at the other extreme, you could attain knowledge without any emotion. I now understand that there’s a middle path, to develop both. The highest wisdom is seeing that in reality, all phenomena are incomplete, impermanent and do no constitute a fixed entity. True wisdom is not simply believing what we are told but instead experiencing and understanding it. Wisdom requires an open, objective, unbigoted mind. My path requires courage, patience, flexibility, and intelligence; I hope I can attain them.

I am responsible only for my own happiness. If I follow my bliss, I won’t blame others for my misfortune. I am learning this the hard way. I will suffer if I expect other people to conform to my expectation, if I want others to like me, if I do not get something I want. Wanting deprives us all of contentment and happiness. A lifetime of wanting and craving and especially the craving to continue to exist, creates a powerful energy which causes an individual to be stuck. The truth is that life is suffering therefore; life includes pain, getting old, disease, and ultimately death. We also endure psychological suffering like loneliness, frustration, fear, embarrassment, disappointment, and anger. This is a fact that cannot be denied. It is realistic rather than pessimistic because pessimism is expecting things to be bad. Instead I just know they can, I also understand that suffering can be overcome and happiness can be attained, and that true happiness and contentment are possible. If we give up useless craving and learn to live each day at a time not dwelling in the past or the imagined future then we can become happy and free.

This can be understood and tested by anyone. The solutions to our problems are within us not outside. Do not take others words as truth, but rather to test them for you. This way, each person decides for themselves and takes responsibility for their own actions and understanding; and learns and uses their acquired knowledge in their own way. We then have more time and energy to help others. This is Nirvana.