He probably thinks of death as a state of non existence, not as ceasing to live.
lol That was somehow funny to me. I can’t see the distinction between the two but the thought which did come to me was that some people just can’t give up the ghost. lol
Maybe you can propound on that.
Because we do cease to exist. We do not even exist as an idea unless your parents plan you out, what you look like, who you are, etc. But there is only one problem with that, they can’t.
We cease to physically exist (death). We then are born and manifested into physical entities through birth to live (life). We then degrade with our physical body returning to the flora and our energy returning to the universe, we cease to exist as physical entities (death).
what an awful thing…but that’s it
What is this ‘we’ which ceases to exist?
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Phyllo,
Are you a buddhist?
I don’t think that those questions are so easily answered. They are not so cut and dry.
I could only wish to have great understanding. The only great understanding that I know i have lol is that I don’t have great understanding. That’s driven home to me more and more often.
All spirituality flows from the same spring.
You understand more than you realize. You have a connection to life and to the universe.
What? You’re afraid of death and dying, phyllo?
You are a part of the “we” who shall eventually walk the way into death. Or did you mean something different than that?
phyllo,
Well, perhaps you’re not a buddhist. I kind of agree with you on that.
But what “spring” are you speaking of here?
I think that there IS a strong connection between nature and the universe and our natures and cores within. When we interface with that, we can’t help but get an inkling into who we are or at least how we flow in the moment.
Kind of as HatingmeisEasier mentions - only he dwells too much on the human anatomy and the sexual with regard to that.
Strange, but when I read what I colored in, it gave me the shivers. I thought in the next line she would have pointed to her brain and her heart. Anyway…
I can certainly identify too with BEING those things…the cloud the water the mountains (have you ever stood before a mountain and felt a presence? self)
That was kind of a funny ending. Didn’t I tell you that I lack the understanding? 
Would monks necessarily understand her though considering that they lack hubris - practice humility? That is definitely not me saying though that I lack hubris and practice humility.
What is the meaning, do you think, behind her words? I might not grasp it because there is no god for me.
If there is a ‘we’, then there is an ‘I’.
When does this ‘I’ begin? At birth? At conception? Do either of those two answers make sense?
The ‘I’ at birth is not the same ‘I’ at middle-age. The ‘I’ now is not even the same ‘I’ from a moment ago. Or is it?
How does ‘I’ change at death? The machinery of the body stops working, but what happens to ‘I’ ? If it ceases to exist, then how is it separate from the biological machine? Is ‘I’ just another word for the pattern of atoms which is the body? If so, then every rock, cloud, library shelf, etc is an ‘I’.
You can call it God, or universe, or whatever you like. The name is unimportant.
I don’t think she would point to anything in particular. She does not live separately in any way - there is no dichotomy to point to.
They think about what she says. They analyze the meanings of words. And they are confused as a result. To be in the moment is to drink the tea.
I don’t suppose we have any choice in the matter. We have to consider ourselves also as “Is”. Or we might act as do the Borg. Oh, I forgot we do at times. Then we become the "WE"s or would it still be the "I"s or an interchangeable us? I wasn’t sure where to put the quotation marks.
I suppose when the organism realizes that it is separate from other organisms. Not at conception. When the child realizes that it is not completely part of the mother. …though there are some of us who never reach that division…even in adulthood.
Sure, they make sense to me.
True. As Heraclitus said (I think) no man [or woman} walks into the SAME river twice. There is nothing about us that remains the same though it might appear as such and though at times we backpedal on ourselves. I backpedal a lot on myself which actually only goes to show that this so-called “I” is flow - not like a rock.
Well, I tend to think that we are just like dead leaves…we become like dead leaves. The “I” simply dwindles down to nothingness although some of us "I’s live on for a time in others. lol
Unfortunately, though I would like to think otherwise, I think it does cease to exist.
It isn’t separate at all. It’s a part of what takes place in the human brain. When the brain winds down and shuts off, the I goes with it.
It’s just another word for every kind of human experience, thought, feeling - sensation - every human thing and person which we have ever encountered, every memory, every emotion, every beautiful piece of music, every beautiful and awesome sight we have ever set eyes on, all the qualia which we have been fortunately enough to have taken into our beings, the whole kit and caboodle of who we at some point began flowing into, continued flowing into - in our being and becoming. All flowing like a river within the brain.
What I spoke about above has to do with consciousness. I don’t think that those things have consciousness. Poor them.
phyllo,
This I think is true. There are springs everywhere. They abound. Whatever gives us more of a sense of self or qualia is a spring. It’s like Old Faithful, the geiser. The only thing is that this Spring rises up from the brain. lol
I missed the point.
But yet, it’s important to think about the meaning, don’t you think?
I didn’t even get that. But it does make sense. Being in the moment is doing whatever we are doing, no matter what. I think that the drinking of the tea is a great metaphor from that - of course, it has to be part of that picture.
Perhaps less analyzing (which is what I like to do) and being more in the moment brings more awareness without even trying. And if it doesn’t’, what’s the difference? Being in the moment is BEING and a necessary part of living - life.
Sometimes it is appropriate to think, sometimes to not think.
phyllo
And where do YOU draw that line?
Thank you for that.
A[b] monk, asking for instruction, said to Bodhidharma: “I have no peace of mind. Please pacify my mind.”
“Bring your mind here before me,” replied Bodhidharma, “and I will pacify it!”
“But when I seek my own mind,” said the monk, “I cannot find it.”
“There!” snapped Bodhidharma, “I have pacified your mind!”
A monk told Joshu: “I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me.”
Joshu asked: “Have you eaten your rice porridge?”
The monk replied: “I have eaten”
Joshu said “Then you had better wash your bowl”[/b]
They are so simple but at the same time - so profound in that simplicity.
There was a time when I believed in god that i loved to read the stories of the Desert Fathers.
fatherpius.littleway.ca/desert03.html
There is really so much wisdom in the world and so much stupidity. Why would we choose stupidity?
I once read a really good book about the desert fathers. They lived simply, as Jesus had taught. That was the authentic Christianity before it became a big ‘important’ organization.
I’m trying to remember the title.
that’s interesting