Playing with Perspectives

[UnbornTao]

 

Edited October 24, 2024 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

https://youtu.be/8m7Ybp3Ehrs?feature=shared

 

[UnbornTao]

 

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Jesus, buckle up. 

Love kiwis.

[UnbornTao]

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The purpose of today's training is to defeat yesterday's understanding.

-- Miyamoto Musashi

 

Edited May 28 by UnbornTao

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Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

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Do nothing which is of no use.

-- Miyamoto Musashi

That is, stay on purpose.

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

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Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

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Edited February 1 by UnbornTao

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All philosophies are mental fabrications. There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things.

― Avatamsaka Sutra

Is your experience of things the same as the things themselves?

Edited May 30 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

[UnbornTao]

You might conclude at some point that "everything is constructed by the mind." Whether that statement is based on an authentic insight or not remains to be seen. In the meantime, these are two possible dispositions to approaching that notion:

1. "Fuck it, nothing matters" (taken as a negative thing) and, as a result, engage in bad quality creation, or;
2. "Okay, let's make sure the things I construct are functional, effective, healthy"

Edited May 30 by UnbornTao

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Edited December 5, 2024 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

As an exercise, practice making new, finer distinctions within your experience of aromas and the sense of smell.

Use the following documents to learn about learning, and to integrate principles such as correction and feedback into your life:

1. fragrance-analysis - Unknown.docx
2. fragrance-terminology - Unknown.docx

Edited May 29 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

What would it take for you to generate your own feedback?

One thing that comes to mind is becoming increasingly aware of your own thought processes and actions throughout a given process. What are you actually doing? Where are you directing your attention? What does the process demand from you that you currently fail to perceive? What could you do more gracefully?

Increase your conscious sensitivity of every aspect of your experience by paying attention - you could start with your body, since it is a grounded, objective perception.

Edited June 1 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

 

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[UnbornTao]

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The meaning of life consists in the fact that it makes no sense to say that life has no meaning

- Niels Bohr

One reason a depressive-nihilistic stance toward life might be adopted is to justify one’s lack of action. What motivates this stance is a bias toward what feels agreeable and comfortable—not something inflicted upon you by circumstances or the world. Why take action when it’s far more convenient to undermine the reasoning behind any effort in the first place—except, of course, for the effort of your own undermining?

You may hope or set out to find a reason, motive, or inherent meaning that moves you to act, believing such things to be discoverable somewhere, as if hidden under rocks. In doing so, what you may have actually decided is to remain complacent, pursuing immediate gratification—which, coincidentally, is not dismissed as readily as other pursuits—while avoiding confrontation and labor. This negative viewpoint keeps you comfortable, as it does not challenge your unconsciousness, passivity, or defeatist attitude. Yet this mindset is still rooted in your own agenda and “selfish” behavior. Ask yourself why you choose to adopt it—if, indeed, you do.

Realizing that you are the source of this behavior is the first step toward ending it. If acting depressed is something you do, you can stop generating it. Doing so requires becoming aware of the root of the acting itself. Also, recognize that you want to experience it. Since it occurs within your own experience, it serves a purpose for you—albeit an unconscious one. Imagining a hopeless future is a key component of this behavior. To change it, either create an image of a positive future for yourself—or stop imagining a future altogether.

What’s harder to notice about this disposition is that non-meaning cannot be negative. If you hear it as negative, you are still operating within the same paradigm. Likewise, meaning, as a complementary process, implies that something exists before meaning is assigned—it is added after the fact. It does not mean anything that it does not mean anything!

Obviously, creating something requires taking responsibility for its actualization. It could be said that life is a blank slate upon which you can build any meaning you choose. As with play, the core motivation behind your actions could simply be the enjoyment of the process itself—playing the game mindfully, with sensitivity and awareness. This is not to say that inventions should be dismissed; they can undoubtedly provide value. So by all means, produce functional things, whatever function they’re meant to serve.

Given that a game is ultimately played for its own sake, it is not treated as something that will bring about an idealized sense of personal fulfillment. This frees us to engage with it fully. Existence itself may ultimately be meaningless—like any creation. The point is to play the game wholeheartedly, master it, and, when all is said and done, put the pieces back in the box. Otherwise, you might as well enjoy your actively depressive stance—since, after all, it is meaningful to you.

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Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box

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feedback: the text feels too closed-off, making many assertive claims without elaboration or adequate explanation. Need to open it up a bit. 

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

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What we have opened up so far in this experiment is an opportunity to get clear that most of us are not clear where our experience of the world, of others, and of ourselves in the world is actually happening. 

In other words, we often encounter life through some theory or belief, rather than encountering life as we actually live it. As a result, we attempt to comprehend or understand life as it is encountered through these theories or beliefs, rather than comprehending life as it is actually lived. And as a consequence, we interact with life (the world, others, and ourselves) from these theories or beliefs, rather than interacting with life as it is actually lived. 

A master encounters life as it is lived, and as a consequence deals with life as it is lived, rather than dealing with life through the filter of some theory or belief.

It is not that a master has not theories or beliefs, rather a master holds his or her theories, beliefs, knowledge, and experience so to speak above himself or herself so that it doesn't act as a filter, but illuminates what is encountered.

-- Werner Erhard and others

 

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

 

Love the passion and enthusiasm; they are contagious.

Edited May 30 by UnbornTao