philosophy

16 Feb 2012 No Comments

What Do We Owe To Future Generations? (Part Three)

As we continued our discussion three main questions were at its core:

Where is the golden mean?  How much to consume vs conserve? Someone mentioned Jeremy Bentham, an advocate of utilitarianism, who argued that we need “to form laws in order to create the greatest good for the greatest number, and that the concept of the individual pursuing his or her own happiness cannot be necessarily declared “right”, because often these individual pursuits can lead to greater pain and less pleasure for the society as a whole. Therefore, the legislation of a society is vital to maintaining a society with optimum pleasure and the minimum degree of pain for the greatest amount of people”.

How do you know what to do? My personal opinion is that we need to raise awareness of what we know and make best decisions now in order to create the best possible society and environment today, no matter what happens tomorrow. So we don’t really owe to future generations but to ourselves and to current generation.

The concept of time is an illusion, everything is happening now. So we should learn about different perspectives to form a realistic opinion of the situation and do the best we can now. No one owns air but we are all responsible for keeping it clean. . That is why NGO s and Intergovernmental policies are important. If one part of the world suffers from pollution other parts of the world need to know that problem and do what they can to help and solve.

How to motivate people to act responsibly? In my group I was told that even when people know what to do, they often will not do it, as no one really wants to sacrifice their privileges and give up their comfort for someone else (whether existing or non-existing). My response is that we need to create incentives and rewards for good behavior and penalties for opposite (on individual, corporate and government levels). They could be monetary or not. One of the example, carbon tax. Beyond extrinsic incentives there are intrinsic ones, like feeling good that you do the right thing (example, recycling) because you live according to your beliefs…

There is an overlap between personal good and common good. Awareness of problems and solutions should help with motivation and building incremental changes in our lives.  We should find the balance between being content with what we’ve got and setting goals for what we want to improve. Deep inside we all want inner peace and be a part of this big ecosystem where we reside together with other species whether present, past or future.

We finally got back to our big group of four dozen people and shared our ideas. We voted on whether we think we, humans, are doing well collectively in preserving the Earth for future generation, and the answer was unanimous no.

Someone interjected saying that we should not worry about humans as they are adaptable; they will adjust to new conditions (no matter how dramatic they are). If we run out of natural oil, humans will invent something else. There is no other way to motivate but educate vs hard lessons. Say, if the US goes bankrupt due to its international debt, then it will have to review and restricts its consumerism and credit policy.

Another good point was on religions. Some go on saying that nature is a gift and we can use it up; others warn us to be reasonable and leave resources for other creatures. Several people were against procreating: “If only 1 billion humans could live sustainably on the planet, we should stop multiplying”.

At the very end someone concluded that the question should really be about what motivates us and what we are willing to do not what we owe. And what we should be focusing on and pass on to future generations is not technology, but knowledge of wellness and humanity. Speaking of love for humanity Eric invited all to the theatrical production of “The things we do for love and presidents” at Warszawa Restaurant in Santa Monica today, Feb 16th at 7:30PM.  

The most surprising closure came via email I received from one of the attendees several days later:

“My name is Mitch. Just one thought I didn’t share this Sunday, which you reminded me of with your mention of Kabbalah…

Rabbi Hillel famously tried to summarize ethics like this: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?”

There are three parts, but I have almost always over focused on the middle bit, with the occasional admonishment to myself to remember the last part.

Well, Hillel went to the trouble of putting that first part in there. He even put it, you know, first.

It’s occurred to me that I, and many people I know and like, are inadequately selfish. If life is meant to be good, it’s not just meant to be good for people we don’t know, we’re responsible for making life work for the people we can help most – ourselves.

Which is how I think this ties back in to “What do we owe future generations?” I heard people say, almost apologetically, that it’s okay for us to use some natural resources today … but I never heard anyone say that one of our main jobs is to live well, ourselves, here and now.  (Hillel listed it first, and I suppose third too!)

The entire discussion seemed to be variations on “how do we restrict our inherent selfishness,”rather than “what do we owe ourselves, and what do we owe future generations.”

Resources: What a Way to Go Movie, I am Movie, Free Speech Blog Post, Creating a world that works for all Book, Home Free Movie, Intergenerational Justice Article, Is It Wrong To Wreck The Earth Radio Talk.

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

15 Feb 2012 No Comments

What Do We Owe To Future Generations? (Part Two)

Brian distributed handouts with basic rules of conversational decency. We split into 5 smaller groups and had very controversial conversations about who owes who and what.

Among 8 people in our group we had a range of opinions – some thought that we owe nothing and are on the path of destruction; others – that we do owe something to future generations and our ecosystem, and should be consuming and polluting less but conserving and cleaning up more. There were also those who thought that our generation is mainly working on building technology and that is good enough to pass on future generations. But is that so? Is it really good to develop technology at odds with the surroundings? Check this out The Power of Technology. 

I want to quote Sharif Abdullah again and give you two more analogies from his book “Creating the world that works for all”. Besides the rabbits story, I also like the story about The Keepers, The Breakers and The Menders.

“The Keeper story is the original story of humans. Keepers are people who live interconnected with their local ecologies and all other beings. They keep the ancient ways of living, perfected over eons of coexistence. Their story is based on a thought, “Living in harmony with all I encounter”, and an assumption, “The land is abundant”.

Keepers do not have a concept of the Earth as a whole; they are identified with their local ecologies. Within those ecologies, they have, over the course of a million years or more, achieved a dynamic equilibrium with all beings, including human and non-material beings.

We are Breakers: The Earth and everything in it were created for Man, we have the right and the responsibility to place all of it under our control. Because there is not enough for all, the world must be conquered in order for us to exist. We do not live in the Web of Life; we live on top of it. Our story is simple wilderness is bad, human control is good.

We call ourselves by many names, most of them positive or benign; civilizers, settlers, pioneers, missionaries, explorers, industrialists. We will continue to control and dominate all life forms, including humans who are not like us, because control is good.

We are Menders: We believe the Earth and our fellow humans need to be healed from the excesses of exclusivity and we live our daily lives in accordance with this belief. We used to be Breakers, but are consciously turning away from that dead-end path, away from the glitter and allure of the Breaker society. Our goal is to live as a consciously integral part of a living, conscious and sacred planet, to catalyze a new era, the Mender era.

Our task is simple and profound: to heal the damage caused by the Breakers, those who act as though the Earth and all of her inhabitants were their property. We vow to stop Breaker destruction and begin to restore the balance between the Earth and humanity within this generation.

We Menders are Breakers in recovery. Breaker history is our history. We are not arrogant enough to think that our problems are someone else’s fault. We consciously reject all privileges that have come to us at the expenses of other’s lives, freedom or comfort.

The Mender story is in harmony with an ancient story, one as old as the Earth itself. We honor the Keepers, who show us the way of wisdom. We honor the Breakers, who show us the way of technology. We heal the damage. We are Menders.

Lester Milbrath speaks eloquently about the nature of this change in his book, “Envisioning a Sustainable Society”. He compares the story of our planet to a yearlong movie. If the movie starts in January and ends (at the present) in December, life itself shows up in March. He goes on to state:

“Compared to most other species, humans have lived on planet earth for a very brief time, (only 11 minutes of our year-long movie). During most of that time humans have lived in harmony with nature; their home was that environment in which they evolved. It is only very recently that our species created an unnatural home for itself as it set out to dominate nature. In that brief period (only 2 seconds of our year-long movie), we have built a civilization that cannot sustain itself”. Or can it?

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

13 Feb 2012 No Comments

What Do We Owe To Future Generations? (Part One)

“On Christmas Day, 1776, British explorer Captain Cook arrived on Kerguelen Island, a Connecticut –sized land mass covered with grass in the Indian Ocean. One of the things Cook did while he was there was release a few rabbits. He thought that rabbits would provide fresh meat for any sailors who followed. The rabbits, in a favorable climate with not natural predators, multiplied. And grew. And flourished. And overpopulated. In a short span of time, the rabbit population exploded into the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions.

Then, after eating every single blade of grass, they died. They died as they lived, by the hundreds of thousands. The old once died, the baby bunnies died, the pregnant mothers died. They died because that is how the Web of Life works. Biologists call it “overshoot and dieback”. No rabbit was immune.

If you go to the island today, you will see that no one rabbit or one blade of grass exists. Both rabbits and grass were rendered extinct by the rabbit’s success. The rabbits were killed by their own story.

Each rabbit had a story that governed its existence and behavior: “Creating a World That Works for Me”. According to this story, each rabbit maximized its position, eating as much as it could and producing as many offspring as possible. This formula for “success”, in the absence of competing owl and coyote success formulas, was fatal. The rabbits were disastrously successful. Exclusivity is death.

Think about how the rabbits must have felt when their population has reached a million and “only” half of their grass was gone. They were in Rabbit Heaven! All the grass you could eat (with no competition), half a million sex partners, and not a coyote in sight! Eat, sleep and screw all day! The only thing they didn’t’ know was that they were just one generation away from annihilation. Assume that, at this time, a more reflective-than-average-bunny wrote a book entitled Creating an Island That Works for All. In it, he said that if they were to continue to thrive, rabbits everywhere on the island would have to change their thinking. No more “maximum food, maximum sex”.

This strange bunny even went so far as to say that rabbits needed eagles, owls and coyotes! Without them, the rabbit population would outstrip the generative capacity of the island and it would die. In order for the island to work for rabbits, it had to work for coyotes also. The bunny writer called his concept “inclusivity”. He believed that if the rabbits consciously reduce their food intake, consciously restricted their sex habits, and invited in a few owls, eagles and coyotes, the rabbits and the grass would continue to flourish. We’ll never know whether or not the book bunny was right. We do know, however, that the others were wrong. Dead wrong.”

This analogy is mentioned in the book “Creating A World That Works For All” by Sharif Abdullah. And I thought of it during the Philosophy Meetup event yesterday. About 44 people gathered on Sunday to talk philosophy and in particular discuss the topic of “What, if anything, do we owe to future generations?” Brian, the organizer, who has been leading this group for 8 years, posed the questions:

“Nearly all of us care about and have moral regard and obligations to people around us (at least to some of them).  Does it follow from this, or from any other consideration, that we do or should have regard or obligations to people who live after all people currently alive have died?  Normally, we think of our obligations as being to particular individuals who actually exist.  How can we be obliged to people who don’t exist and may never exist?  How can specific persons who don’t exist have rights and claims upon us?”

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

21 Jan 2012 1 Comment

Kabbalah Love (Class One)

Several weeks ago when I was in LA, I went to the introduction lecture on Kabbalah. When I returned to Boston, they emailed me about an upcoming 4-week course that takes place in Cambridge. I decided to enroll to get more familiar with this school of thought. What I liked the most about it  is that it is open to all no matter what race, religion or gender. I also like the concept of giving before you are able to receive, which totally resonates with me. So I signed up for the course in Cambridge called “To Love – an in-depth look at the Nature of Love Itself”. 

The course description said: “Kabbalah does not just contain the secrets to love. Kabbalah IS love. Take a 360 degree turn in your understanding of Light, life and love – and uncover the true purpose of love. This is more than “how to find your soul-mate” class. It is a journey into the essence of what it means to have a soul, why relationships exist, and how to open your heart to greater love and a deeper connection to people and the Creator”.

10 days ago I attended the first session with about 30 people. I was told there are about 300 people who are on the Kabbalah mailing list in Boston area. The session began.

Love One Care. These words represent number 13. Which is a special number meaning going beyond your traditional “package” of qualities, like the ones associated with 12 horoscope star signs, to love is to go beyond your normal description. Then the instructor asked us to write down qualities of people whom we love. It became apparent that these people show some affection toward us and support us in a certain way. We normally love because we receive love from those people. I wrote down the following: similar caring spirit, humor, intelligent. We were told that we often confuse love and need, but first thing to do in love is to give (yes, unconditionally).

Love is an outcome, never a cause of something. We see reflection of ourselves in other people or we look for and see something we are missing in ourselves and want to have. There is nobody else there, because we are in a relationship with ourselves. Is this love unconditional or does it depends on something? How do you recognize true love? If you plant a seed of love and it was a need , lack or co-dependency, it vanishes… it was not true.

There is no love at first sight, because we don’t know the person yet. We all have lacks, issues, judgements, who doesn’t? Love is not about fear of losing. We need to work on ourselves first: to separate our needs from love for other person.

Relationship definition: Expression of the yearning of the soul to join forces in the battle to promote our spiritual understanding and help each other to pay the cosmic debt (tikkun).

Relationships are about growing and transforming, the feeling of yearning and connection with this person. It can help me grow but I don’t know why. It has to help me grow and transform. Am I better with them or without them? Love is made of 2 different forces : give and take. Opposites attract, but in differences there must be something that unites us both. We got our life for free with no effort. But later in life you have to work for things to pay your cosmic debt/baggage to transform it (from past life or childhood).

Relationship: They should challenge us, help us grow. We like the idea of love but do we want to work for it. Whatever you want to get you need to give first. How does it make me feel? Do we give love anytime? (to whoever is in front of us?) No, we are busy. Usually we only love when we have time and in good mood or to those whom we like or those who like us. It is rare that people just give us, without wanting to get anything from us. We need to give love as a tool, example, to like all babies, not just cute babies. We need to be there for the person in front of us, we need to exercise love every day. And see what happens. That is our homework.

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , ,

24 Nov 2011 No Comments

Half a Year Update

This is my 100th post. I started this blog 6 months ago, even though I’ve been working on the Ultimate Answer idea for one year. The original idea was transformed along the way, but the core is still the same. In one year I learned so much and I am still learning every day.  

First time I presented The Ultimate Answer publicly was in April 2011 at the Boston Ethical Society in Cambridge, MA.

I remember receiving friendly laughter from the ethical members when I mentioned that one of the goals of the project is to find the meaning of life… I wasn’t joking… It is work in progress and I have more answers today than six months ago. See my previous post.

My project is a hybrid of different disciplines and world views, as I developed it using Blue Ocean Innovation Strategy. It is definitely a mix of philosophy, quantified self approach, positive psychology and humanism. In August I went to Washington DC to attend the 119th Annual Convention of American Psychological Association and learned about its strengths, fear, struggles and hopes.

I heard Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive psychology, speak at that conference. I truly admire his courage to focus on what many don’t bother to do – try to leave more than just an empty patient, but alive patient with a zest for meaningful life. He was the one who in his book “Flourish” openly said that antidepressants do not provide good long-term solutions, only short-term. And the book “Anatomy of an Epidemic” by Robert Whitaker has more facts to prove it. I read many more books on the topic of happiness and participated in a number of self-improvement and philosophical courses and forums to gain global realistic perspective on happiness.

Back in June I created the happiness formula and tested it with individual testers and in three live group sessions with about 50 people. Based on their feedback I revised the original formula.

I presented three more times in October 2011: at The Boston New Tech Meetup, Ultra Light Feedback event and Babson Rocket Pitch event. I also made a last minute video in the kitchen of my apartment in front of my project’s post-it notes for the Big Idea Competition, and the video made it to the 6th place out of top 10.

I received feedback from my October presentations. One comment was about collaboration, and I agree that in the future it will be important to create a community and partnerships with other organizations, and I already plan for that (peer support-groups, volunteer organizations, subject matter experts, etc.). Another comment was about “what famous psychologist stands behind it? Otherwise some will think it is  a gimmick.” I don’t support this view: who said that psychologists know how to solve problems and cure depression or unhappiness? If they knew, people wouldn’t spend years in therapy unsuccessfully… or drugged by meds.

I want to hear from people who experienced exact same problems with both negative and positive results so that I will know what to do and what not to do. I’ll make my decisions. There is a formula, but no one is going to prescribe it to you, because you create your own happiness and the formula is not the same for everyone… you create your own , track it and modify it to make your life purposeful. It happens when you find common ground with others, read testimonials and act with wisdom… If I have to name one famous person who can support the Ultimate Answer idea, it is Dalai Lama. And I will prove it in the next several posts.

There were more comments on my presentation at the Rocket Pitch event:

“The “SparkPeople.com” of happiness. Needs cleaner revenue model. Should mention positive psychology as basis – happiness now becoming a science”. To be honest, I don’t care if this project never generates money. If it makes people happy – this is the most important ROI.

“Noble goal: is it a crowd-sourcing version of “ask a psychiatrist”?” Yes, there is an element of this for sure.

Next steps:

I will be submitting an application to present at the National Conference on Service and Volunteering in Chicago, IL on June, 2012. http://www.volunteeringandservice.org/

Two developers are working on creating an app for the happiness formula, basic resource library, forum and a couple of other tools that will help users to improve their happiness formula results. It should be done in December 2011. If you know of any resources on self-improvement and happiness topics, please send them my way so that I can include them in the upcoming library.

Next posts will be about the following books: The Art of happiness in the Troubled World, Anatomy of an Epidemic, Creating the world that works for all, The how of happiness, Alone Together, Good Faith Collaboration, The Map, Mastering Reality and others. I will also tell about my personal experience of being heavily depressed and wanting to go through clinical trials for a new drug.

My latest findings from Miniseries “Rich man, poor man”- good quotes:

“It is all right to be angry, but it is not as good as reaching out”.

“In every family there comes a time when the best thing to do is to let go”.

What you do or say “just doesn’t go with your look unguarded. Are you happy?”

Thank you for reading this blog and Happy Thanksgiving!

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

11 Oct 2011 No Comments

My Landmark Forum Insight (Part Three)

9. The world is the way it is and others are the way they are. No one owes you anything; no one is really in your way to achieve anything.

In life there are no problems. People do all kinds of things, sometimes hurting to us. But that is what happens. Change your perception/expectation and make action. Be the player, because for the player there is not “is” nature or “I” nature. There is just being.

No matter what circumstances are, deal with them in constructive manner. Like in hockey, you are in the game of falling down and getting up as quickly as possible, not sitting on ice and crying about being mistreated. The game is to be trying to get out of the issue. And the most important thing – you can choose your game. And if you still think there are problems, you can choose your problems too. You can create good problems to get rid of small ones. Replace small problems with big problems. Example, instead of being depressed about your extra weight, start a campaign to eradicate hunger around the world.

There are many possibilities and you can create anything you want in your life.

10. You are not stuck with who you end up being. You are not what happened to you. You are whole, complete and unbroken, and no one needs to fix you. You just need to choose yourself. When you choose, there are no likes or dislikes.

You are not deciding to be more, better, different, but you choose to be certain way. When you choose there is no doubt what you are and what you are not. You are not to prove anything or try to be anything, you just are what you create.

How do you do it? When reality doesn’t match your opportunity, you declare your new possibility with your word and enroll others into your new world of possibility. And then you register in it by making action.

Landmark

Usually world creates the word. It should be the other way around. Your word creates your world. Foundation of integrity should be our declaration: “I will honor my word, I’m my word!”

Action is correlated with the way you see the world. Being is consistent with your actions. Have authentic communication with those who support you. Focus on things that matter to you. Don’t postpone the moment when you might get happy or have future accomplishment. There is nothing out there in the future, because then and there is now. Actions give you results and they go to the past, which is nothing. The rules of creation are to understand our defense mechanism/human reaction and make a difference that makes a positive difference.

My own take on this is our own clearing work. We can re-write our own biography, no one would know the difference, in terms of how we felt. In history the winner creates his glorious story. My favorite book about it is “Chapaev and Emptiness” by Victor Pelevin. So in our case, since we are the winner and the loser of our own life we fabricate our own story. What will we choose to be? Will we choose the story that we want or we don’t? Are we the loser or the winner? We can create everything from nothing, and our suffering could become our blessing. We can create our own meaning to our own life. “People living deeply have no fear of death” ~Anais Nin.

Check out other articles about Landmark Forum: NY Times and Huffington Post.

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

09 Oct 2011 1 Comment

My Landmark Forum Insight (Part One)

If Landmark course was free, I would recommend every person on the planet to take it. Landmark teachers to understand other people’s opinions, our own reactions, letting go and forgiveness. It teaches optimism and it empowers people. It works for many, but not for everyone.

I liked when Roger, our instructor, told us in the beginning, that even if we don’t accept Landmark’s world view, we can just try it out and see what it feels like. Definitely, an open-minded approach. There was no cursing, no making me do things against my will, but a lot of revelations and learning opportunities, and I’m glad I finished 3.5 day Forum with 120 other people in Quincy 3 weeks ago. Even though I don’t agree with some concepts and terminology used, the Forum definitely broadened my perspective of the world. And that  is how:

1.The first thing we were introduced to was What happened vs. Our interpretation or what kind of story we create around the event. We behave as if we know everything. We know that there are things we know and don’t know, but there are also things we don’t know we don’t know, even though we behave as if we know everything or almost everything. So when something happens we immediately interpret the event the way we see it, and automatically attach meaning to it (our own meaning). Example, someone was laid off and thought it happened because his boss never liked him. Then the employee may think that life is not fair, when in fact the boss didn’t dislike the employee but had to eliminate that particular position.

I really like this approach, as it helps understand views of all parties involved in any situation. Any event can be interpreted differently by those involved or not involved. So … always be listening.

2. All the talking about what happened doesn’t help. Example, there is talking during the game in the stands. The whole talk is about the game - who did well , who didn’t, and who will win, but all their talk has zero impact on the outcome of the game. Only those who play have action, and only they can impact the outcome of the game. So when you complain about something unfair in your life, it will not help anything. What you need to do is to pull yourself together and act!

3. Integrity is when we are true to our word. A lot of people suffer because they know they are not what they say. They lie, they cheat, they pretend – they become inauthentic. Integrity breech happens, when we are not true to ourselves (our values, beliefs, inspirations) and not sincere with others about our intentions. To restore integrity is to restore person’s relationship to his word.

4. Rackets come to play, when we start blaming someone or something for things not working out for us in our life, for our own underperformance. Racket is a fixed way of being and a persistent complaint.

Rackets are used in case of loss of power, freedom, self-expression or peace of mind.

Payoff: Right/wrong, dominate/avoid domination, self justify/invalidate others, win/lose.

Cost: Love/affinity, self-expression, health/vitality/wellbeing, satisfaction/fulfillment.

Rackets are a way for us to not take responsibility for our own life.

How to overcome rackets? Don’t change, as change causes persistence. No change causes disappearance. Just choose to be the way you want to be, invent a possibility in your life to do it and do it step by step.

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , ,

06 Oct 2011 No Comments

Philosophy Works (Class Three)

Waking Up to New Knowledge

“All people, while they are awake are in one common world; but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own”. Plutarch.

Class Notes:

“Level of Awareness:

Among previously mentioned Higher Consciousness, Fully Awake, Waking sleep, Dream, Deep Sleep – also Waking Consciousness/waking up.

Waking sleep is when we are engaged in the various activities of life without really being present. Body present, mind absent. It is a kind of auto-pilot. In waking sleep are we of much use to ourselves? To others? How much of the day do we spend in waking sleep?

Waking consciousness: Each time we practice something on purpose, such as “What would the wise man or woman do?” or the Exercise, there is an opportunity for conscious action, a choice, which brings freedom from the knee-jerk, mechanical reactions that govern our lives.

Waking up to your inner resources: in Need or Opportunity to use Awareness, Presence to create New Knowledge.

The primary method used in this course is Observation. When we practice approaching life with an open mind, we begin to see more clearly what is true and what is not true.”

Can we be consciously aware of every single moment in our life (when we are not asleep)? It seems that we, the 21st century doers, have so much to do that it would simply be impossible not to turn auto-pilot on from time to time. If we didn’t, we would be exhausted! Don’t you think? Who has the time to sit around and just observe? Philosophers, not us – working people… (That is what immediately came to my busy mind…)

But awareness is being linked to our senses, not to our mind (interpretations). If we process only 50% of all we see ( information that we receive from the outside world), then awareness is consciously directing our attention/focus where and when we want to, but not where and when it used to be.

When someone is in the meeting/situation and either doesn’t follow the conversation and daydreams or immediately judges (reinterprets) what is happening, that person is in waking sleep. And there are consequences to it:

people notice that person is not “being present”,

and that person misses and misinterprets things,

he/she underperforms,

and most importantly – becomes detached and steals his/her own happiness from present moment.

Conclusion: try to see things that we usually don’t see, see them deeper and process information in a different  – gentle way (with grace). Awareness is noticing what actually happens, not imposing our own meaning, but making knowledge from it. And it all can be done by using our senses within reality, not within our own “Kingdom called Mind” by applying subjective meaning.

Once a student asked Buddha, “Are you the messiah?”

“No”, answered Buddha.

“Then are you a healer?”  “No”, Buddha replied.

“Then are you a teacher?” the student persisted. “No, I’m not a teacher.”

“Then what are you?” asked the student, exasperated.

“I am awake”, Buddha replied. (Steven Mitchell, The Enlightened Mind)

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , ,

02 Oct 2011 No Comments

Seven Pearls of Wisdom from Epictetus

Now, who is Epictetus you may ask?

He was a Greek philosopher that lived about 1900 years ago. When he was young he was a slave in Rome but was later released and started to teach philosophy first in Rome and later on in Greece.

Epictetus was somewhat of a lonesome minimalist.

He lived with few possessions and by himself for a long time. He also seems to never have written anything, but luckily his thoughts were recorded by his pupil Arrian.

Here are seven excellent pearls of wisdom from Epictetus.

If you are going your own way, prepare for reactions.

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

Plus…

You choose to be insulted.

“It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.”

Forget about what you think you know.

“It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.”

Listen.

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

Appreciate what you have.

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Notice what is reflected.

“When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.”

Suffering is optional. And so is happiness.

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”

“I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?”

“It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.”

Re-posted from The Positivity Blog http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2008/02/22/epictetus-top-7-timeless-pearls-of-wisdom/

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , ,

23 Sep 2011 1 Comment

What is a Human Being?

Recently I discovered Acropolis, a non-profit organization which was founded in 1957. It has centers in 45 countries around the world. Acropolis presents an updated version of traditional knowledge, a holistic form of education which, like classical humanism, links Sciences, Arts, Religions and Philosophies in a comparative way and tries to discover, through research, the laws governing Nature and the Human Being.

Acropolis Boston, a local branch, promotes the rediscovery of the most useful aspects of all cultures and civilizations. Acropolis Boston is a modern day School of Philosophy inspired by the great classical philosophical traditions of the East and West. Their goal is to help individuals realize their potential, better themselves and the world around them. Individuals will be able to:

Explore classical wisdom that is applicable in the modern world.

Awaken their inner sense of adventure.

Develop a deeper understanding of themselves, others and the universe.

The first course in the program of studies is Applied Wisdom of the East and West, a 8-week adventure through Ancient Egypt, Plato, reincarnation, karma, Socrates, Buddha, Marcus Aurelius, and other topics.

Last week I attended the first class in this course:

Timeless and Universal Philosophy
Philosophy: Love of wisdom. The value of philosophy for science, politics, religion and art. What is the nature of human being? The seven principles in nature and man. The inner Nature of the Soul.

Here are my notes:

“What am I?” is more important than “Who am I”?

In the West, the nature of human was describe as trinity of Body, Mind/Soul and Spirit. It later was revised as duality of material and spiritual, mortal and immortal or constant struggle between bad and good. That separation happened due to Aristotle.

In the East, The seven –fold constitution of the Human being was constructed:

Material – Physical(food, sleep, reproduce), Energy(activity), Emotions and Intellect.

Spiritual – Intelligence, Intuition and Will.  

We can hear all seven voices when we meditate. Consciousness operates on all levels, but more dense on lower levels and subtle on higher levels, so that it becomes subconscious on higher levels.

Soul is the upper five levels. Free will is the ability to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints, even if our choices contradict other levels of our nature/needs.

The most important thing mentioned was that we identify as our weakest link. For example, “I’m hungry”, so I would identify as my physical nature, or “I’m not learning anything new at my work” would be identifying as my intellectual nature. So we get stuck in the buckets of needs if we don’t have balance. And if our needs don’t get satisfied long-term, we identify ourselves as those needs, example, “I’m a malnourished person” or “I’m stupid”.

Interesting quotes from the class: Saying is “to die in vain”, but more important question is “do we live in vain”?

To air is human. To forgive is divine and to repeat is diabolic (not to learn from your mistakes).

We come from somewhere and are going somewhere. Main premise of all religions and philosophies is that our natural state is being happy, enthusiastic (with Gods), and to be alive and create a better world.

Future classes will cover: Ethics – harmony with ourselves, Sociopolitics – harmony with others, Philosophy of history – harmony within time and space.

by polyachka in Happiness Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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