Posts by Bodhisattva1320

How about rather than we assume that all life is suffering, we assume that all life is joy?! How about we assume that that is its natural state? I wonder where we would go from there...
But really... Namaste.

hahaha i think that is a freakin fantabulous idea and i agree that life most definitely is joyful - none the less as the origianl poster of this thread shows us, hard times will come - so let us be prepared with strong minds to deal - which i can clearly see you will have no trouble doin' that daystar !

29

$h*T happens

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

i never knew if i was getting attacked by satan because i was doing good.. or if jehovah was allowing me to be tested by satan.

if i was reaping what i had sown.

if it was times and unforeseen occurances.. if i was really not going to have more put on me than i could bare.

Bodhisattva1320

i acknoledge your 'point' however you are taking it to the extreme....

Similarly to how the Witnesses view "independent thinking" as a negative, buddhist teachings teach one to view detachment as a positive. I, for one, would much rather be fully engaged with existence than be detached from it.

thier teachings are LIBERAL, practical and NON THEISTIC. nothing like JW's- not even close. the EXACT opposite in fact.

i think your interpretation of buddhist thought might be a little disproportionate... not every belief system demands worship- or even conformity. for example buddhist monks, male and female, create thier own vows... interesting considering they do not have to conform to a "acceptable" lifestyle but yet still can be dedicated to humanity (which in the end is thier ENTIRE point).

40

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY KARL

by unclebruce in

jw
friends

happy 18th birthday karl.

you're like the son i avoided having .

.

Bodhisattva1320

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HBD 2U HBD 2U HBD dear KARL ;) HB 2U

31

Getting DF'ed next Thursday -- hold me!!

by JimWood in

jw
friends

we are finally free, monday night we had our witch hunt.

they tried to get us to confess to anything.

we came to the jc thinking that we would be talking about the un material that we passed out.

Bodhisattva1320

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

and (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

29

$h*T happens

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

i never knew if i was getting attacked by satan because i was doing good.. or if jehovah was allowing me to be tested by satan.

if i was reaping what i had sown.

if it was times and unforeseen occurances.. if i was really not going to have more put on me than i could bare.

Bodhisattva1320

By the buddhist focus upon suffering and upon suppression of natural emotional responses....

just to clarify- buddhist thought does not focus on suffering- this is just an very clear understanding they have- We All Suffer- Unlike western theological thought "life should be perfect- if its not - you are doing or have done something wrong" which translates to sin- an idea i am not fond of ;)

29

$h*T happens

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

i never knew if i was getting attacked by satan because i was doing good.. or if jehovah was allowing me to be tested by satan.

if i was reaping what i had sown.

if it was times and unforeseen occurances.. if i was really not going to have more put on me than i could bare.

Bodhisattva1320

Bodhisattava,
Been reading a lot of your posts since you came on here. You're very bright. I like how you think.
S4

Thank you for the support Seeker :)

31

Lost a Good Friend Today

by Seeker4 in

jw
friends

the former owner of the newspaper i work for died today of cancer.

he was a tall, handsome man just past 50, with a great smile and sense of humor.

he hired me to work here four years ago, and we had a great time together.

Bodhisattva1320

((((((((((((((((((Seeker))))))))))))))))))))) so sorry you lost your friend...

thanks for sharing his story... and reminding us life is short

29

$h*T happens

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

i never knew if i was getting attacked by satan because i was doing good.. or if jehovah was allowing me to be tested by satan.

if i was reaping what i had sown.

if it was times and unforeseen occurances.. if i was really not going to have more put on me than i could bare.

Bodhisattva1320

Purp, during the time I was a jw, I could not understand why things never seemed to work out right. Or the way I expected.
All the stress and anger I had, got even worse when the elders interfered in my marriage. All said and done it ended in divorce and me df'd.
I felt I had to see a psychologist and after our first visit, he hands me a small book on psychology that states plainly right up front , that LIFE IS DIFFICULT.
I read the whole damned book in one week. The next visit he talks about my life and asks questions about the jw's and their requirements. Then he described just how this cult increased the demand of almost every aspect of my life.
Then he talked about the mental confusion "dissonance" that happens when what is claimed to be truth by an important "in our mind" source, does not agree with what we see in real life, but we aren't aware enough, to place the blame where it belongs.
After this is where I began to "change me", to fit into the reality of life and not the lies of the wbts.
Outoftheorg
Oddly enough Years later I had a conversation with a local religious minister and the subject of psychology came up. Then during our visit he made this statement. "You know that psychology can destroy ones spirituality." I felt like saying "yeah, that's why I love it". But I didn't.

i love your entire post!!!!!

29

$h*T happens

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

i never knew if i was getting attacked by satan because i was doing good.. or if jehovah was allowing me to be tested by satan.

if i was reaping what i had sown.

if it was times and unforeseen occurances.. if i was really not going to have more put on me than i could bare.

Bodhisattva1320

No doubt buddhist masters gain some amount of practical results. I acknowledge that, I respect that. But I spent too much time with Christianity telling me all life is sinful to spend much in another religion that makes basically the same philosophical claim of the nature of existence

agreed i feel the same - i personally find these teaching extremely practical and liberating. i am not part of the religion. and as far as i know buddhists don't have a concept of sin(?) not sure, as i am more interested and have read more info about the mystical buddhist (tibetan) and not the conventional.

it seems that many people turn to religions in order to cope with the suffering that IS just a part of life. i like the realistic approach of yea 'shit' happens- how you deal with it, how you let it affect you is what will be the defining factors- NOT the approach of 'what did i do wrong or why is god punishing me.'

so the basic idealogy of being non attached to your desires (expectations, internal OR external) can be quite liberating as in our western culture we identify so heavily on 'how our life has turned out' or 'these bad things happening to me' meaning a lot of self judgement.

k im done LOL :) thanks everyone !