by Sunnygal41 18 Replies latest social relationships
People miss most of the beauty in this world. The media and culture influence our perceptions of what beauty is. It's as if many people go through life only seeing 10% of everything, like 90% of their vision is lost.
For years I was one who missed great beauty, especially in people. I see more beauty and enjoy life more these days. Try looking for the beauty in each person. It makes life more meaningful and rich.
Flyin'
Yes, most of the media, while it entertains, also exploits and ridicules white people. The people behind it understand us and other races very well, and they do have an agenda.
SS
Even the supposed hope the WTS holds out deep down is very negative. They must convince everyone how imperfect they are so they will "need" the WTS's printed crap! The WTS pound our imperfection into our heads every week! If you told the J-dud masters you were OK with who you are they would mark you and gossip about you having a bad attitude! Maverick
"Being Real"
. . . what does that mean?
Thought I'd share the above quote here and see what everyone else had to say about it.
A talking horse? Surely it's the work of Satan. I was never allowed to read such drivel as a child.
But the point is everything that is real is beautiful, isn't it? Why do we value such expressions in art and the like? Isn't it because it's simply a reflection of the reality of life? And inherent in this is really unconditional love. Nothing is left out, even the sadness.
Good post, Mark, and I don't think I've said hi or welcome, personally.......but, I really wanted to address the above portion of your comment. I understand that sadness, and other "negative" emotions are part of the human experience. But, when your life is in the toilet, you can barely crawl out of bed to go to work everyday and this goes on for ten years.......when do you finally say, okay, time to get real about real. IME, there has to be balance................we accept that there is a harsh side to life, but, we also know and anticipate that there is a beautiful, joyful side to life. Yin/yang...............
Terri
But, when your life is in the toilet, you can barely crawl out of bed to go to work everyday and this goes on for ten years.......when do you finally say, okay, time to get real about real. IME, there has to be balance................we accept that there is a harsh side to life, but, we also know and anticipate that there is a beautiful, joyful side to life. Yin/yang...............
Hi Terri,
Yes, you certainly don't want to be at an extreme when you're dealing with the relative, which is of course what relationship of all type is, and as you pointed out the complementary nature of yin and yang. If that's all you really see, then there's no point in indulging in some ideas that might say otherwise. However, if there is some recognition that there's more to what is real than your experience, then not only is it of interest to look into that for it's own sake but it also becomes relevant to the suffering.
Not to turn this into a philosophical discussion, but most people are not familiar with the thought behind the taiji, (tai chi) which is the name for the yin/yang symbol. The Chinese actually have something beyond that, which is an empty circle called the wuji, which can be called 'creative nothingness.' I only mention this because the negative side can seem overwhelming, but the point here is there is a whole other 'level' that is deeper and in a sense unaffected by it. I'm sure that would be pretty abstract, but all I want to do here is to describe the feel of it.
The beauty to me is not just in the joyful side of life, but in being touched. Of course the fact that people suffer is not what's beautiful, but letting that touch you is. What I've found is the more fundamental cause of suffering is being caught in the cycle of positive and negative. While there may be a tacit recognition of this, almost nobody ever inquires as to what is capable of this recognition. This is where you start to touch into freedom beyond the opposites. In terms of personal relationships, I find that from this sort of a neutral perspective I am able to sense where others are at without much distortion, and at the same time I am not caught up in their feelings like they might, and this is more valuable and helpful than a kind of misery loves company thing.
Anyway, this is really kind of going in a different direction so I won't say much more about it, but it starts getting into what I've been talking about in the 'is your reality just thought' thread. I just read a quote today that kind of relates, so if I post it there I'll post the link to the thread here should you be interested.
Edited to add link: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/72592/2.ashx
bttt
Seems like there are quite a few threads on the board this morning regarding exercising our power of speech, and allowing our "real" self to come forth, so, I thought this might be a good tie in thread. I see it's almost been a year since I posted it, thought that was pretty significant, also. I enjoyed rereading it and getting a deeper perspective on some of the contributing posters thoughts................and have come to a consensus that being real is a beautiful, deeply satisfying thing, is it not?
