Not by making judgment is one wise, but by investigating both right and wrong is one wise.
– The BuddhaYou cannot make the weak strong by making the strong weak
– Abraham Lincoln
To differentiate good and bad in my own experiences is to make judgement upon myself – disallowing myself to see the good in bad and the bad in good. To ignore bad is to cover up what is nature, instead of trying to understand nature. Whenever I ignore the strong force of guilt in my mind, I am trying to make the guilt weak – which in truth increases its force. To suppress the bad as to wish the good will increase is to mean increasing the bad by making the good seemingly small. For what I focus on becomes my reality. The more I ignore, the more I am giving attention to it, unwarily. I can only ignore something that I already know. I can’t ignore anything that is not within my space. Each ignoring is increasing my knowing.
To want good is to don’t want bad. To want bad is to don’t want good. Both good and bad is not the problem – my wanting is the problem. For each time I want something, I am already indicating I don’t want the opposite. To see both good and bad as nature brings me into equilibrium. Instead of making judgment or conclusion to what is right and what is wrong, let wisdom investigate what both are as to bring compassion and deeper wisdom into the space. And in that space of sanity, wholesomeness comes into my being.
I cannot avoid judgments arising as that is the work of the ego but I can be aware of the judgment and make wise contemplation upon it deriving a realization that is supportive of my mental peace, instead of avoiding bad and chasing after good. In the space of mental peace, wisdom chooses what is essential and what is inessential. Neither is one good or bad over another.
Zen does not call anger the problem, Zen does not call sex the problem, Zen does not call greed the problem, Zen does not call aggression, violence, the problem. Zen calls the root problem desiring – and all other problems arise out of desiring. Cut the root, and the whole tree disappears.
– Osho
Nice & “spot-on” image.
I’ve seen my hand. At fingers’ level I am the separated five. If I looked at deeper level, then there will be no more five fingers but one palm. Again, because I have seen my hand, I “know” the palm even “seeing” the palm will not be necessary.
I have not seen the so-called “Truth” where (similarly with the finger/palm analogy) there will be “unity” (at deeper level) instead of “separation” (current level). I am striving to go deeper from “the 5 fingers” to “single palm”. I believe the “palm”, I have faith in “it”, just that I have not “seen it”. I keep “seeing” 5 fingers even though I have the faith of the “palm”. To go deeper than the 5-fingers level, this is the struggle! This is the great battle against the mighty ego. My wanting/desire to go deeper is itself the problem of going deeper. Stuck? How ironic this can be?
I would not be writing this if I’ve seen the “Truth” like I’ve seen the “palm”, right?
I may be querying about “that” and you may be explaining about “that” – but we may not be having the same…. “that” ?
Where there is an “I” there appears another. The “I” seems to give an impression that everything is revolving around it – the “I” is the centre of everything.The pendulum is a good way to illustrate this phenomena. If I were to swing the pendulum by holding the other end of the cord, an illusionary circle is created. The whole entire existence of this circle is born from the centre. It is interesting to note the Buddha uses the wheel to denote the cyclic process of birth and death. When the centre is been released by letting go off the cord, the whole illusionary circle disappeared – totally disappearing from its existence.
The same is with the world – there is a world because of the “I”. They are the same and yet not the same thing – like the front and back of an object. Where there is a front there must be a back. Both are the same except of different perspective. When the “I” is release the entire illusionary world disappears along with it as the world and “I” is not separated – there are the duality of conditioning.
It is also interesting to note that Yeshua (Christ) see the world as a projection of the subconscious mind. So the good news is not about trying to enter into oneness, as separation has never existed, but rather to understand the illusion of duality, constantly recognizing its play. Understanding and realization releases the meaning of separation.