The Paradox of Our Age

[deborah]

I often wonder - in our search for TRUTH and the meaning of life, if in the process we've become overwhelmed with too much information, and too many convenience's. I thought I would share the Dali Lamas poignant thoughts above and ask you about yours.

Even this forum seems to be too much at times - you know - we are part of a cyberspace jungle. Even though we keep it as clean as possible, and as organized as possible, I often wonder what long standing members, guests and new members think?

 

[Shiftkitty]

The first line was a bit off the mark depending on where you live. Around northern Cal (not sure about down south) the houses are big and are often being rented to multiple families of anywhere from 5-8 members each, because that's what it takes to keep a roof over your head.


More conveniences, less time, I agree. It seems to me because if you do anything to free up your time, life seems duty-bound to rush in and fill it up with something. Some people se idle time as a sin and not as a deserved period of downtime, a reward for working quickly and efficiently.


More knowledge, less judgement: Okay, even in Dungeons and Dragons a person can have a high Intelligence Score and a low Wisdom score, so no argument there.


More experts but more problems, because many of these "experts" are guided by trends and not wisdom or knowledge.


More medicines, less healthiness: If it's easy to get well, then why worry about getting sick? It's people's mindsets that need healing, not their bodies so much. A little education wouldn't hurt, either. There are places in the Third World where people still think it's okay to drink from the water supply that they use as a toilet.


I'm out of time to post my opinion on this (yeah, that part about time and conveniences...), but I believe people have gotten too used to instant gratification and "what's in it for me?". Why should I go meet that neighbor? What's he done for me? Why communicate anything of substance when I have the anonymity of my computer to allow me to vent my frustrations in an immature manner? Mass media has also convinced us that we need to be entertained 24/7, that we have to be where the action is, and generally has downplayed quality in favor of quantity. We are creatures of our enviroment, the one we created and the one we accept. To fix this, you have to fix people. But, to quote Bill Engvall, "You can't fix stupid."


(My 2 cents' worth, adjusted annually for inflation, or (in the case of the current economy) adjusted every few seconds...)

 

[deborah]

(My 2 cents' worth, adjusted annually for inflation, or (in the case of the current economy) adjusted every few seconds...)

ROTFLMAO - That's a good one. Made me laugh.:laugh:

 

[Totoro]

I think mainly, it's just to jog the minds of people that wouldn't normally consider such things.


Globalization has merely magnified and sometimes exposed the underlying issues in our cultures.


But I just think 80% of the world doesn't care about any kind of objective living and they chalk it all up to waste as you'll all die of cancer anyway. Whereas simply 2,000 years ago 80% of one village may have just said to heck it with it cause you'll get the plague.


In a manner of speaking lol.

 

[helz_belz]

What wonderful words the Dalai Lama has said.

More conveniences, less time, I agree. It seems to me because if you do anything to free up your time, life seems duty-bound to rush in and fill it up with something. Some people se idle time as a sin and not as a deserved period of downtime, a reward for working quickly and efficiently.

This reminds me of a series I watched a few weeks ago. I've been wanting to post it here somewhere, but wasn't sure where to put it, but here seems like a good place Its from the BBC and is called The Big Silence, although it doesnt cover reincarnation (the narrator is a benedictine monk, so not suprising), it does look at how we don't allow ourselves to stop anymore and just BE. shows just how beneficial taking time out to do nothing really can be

 

[Shiftkitty]

Sounds interesting. As soon as my desktop is up and running I'll give it a look. (Speakers on this laptop are kind of crummy.)


Deborah- Glad you liked it!

 

[Lady2]

What a good quote, so true - I enjoyed reading that. Thanks for posting Deborah!

 

[Aelfgyva]

The generation gap...


The older I become, the more I feel the gap between myself and the world around me growing bigger! I love the words of the Dali Lama...they seem to be true, but...any generation at any time in the past would have probably experienced the same feelings, just in other contexts. My greatgrandmother (born 1883) wept bitter tears at the changing world around her! My hope is, that although these changes seem overwhelming for me, that the next generation, or even that of my grandchildren will be comfortable with them and carry on!

 

[usetawuz]

After reading that I received an impulse which seemed to take the topical quote a little further...all he said is true, but it is solely a list of symptoms. The cause is a misunderstanding of the truth of our incarnate lives. As humanity we are trained to focus on what is visible, or what we "see" and if we can't see it the truth of it is questioned. What we see is simply the very tip of the iceberg...and with the tiny bit we "see", so little provides a cohesive system which makes sense, and on which to base our understanding of our incarnate existence. When we grow to understand that what we "see" is just that tip and what we do not see is the greater portion of us, only then will any of this make sense. The concept of only believing with "visible proof" must give way to believing what is felt and acting on that belief...a true faith in our greater selves.


So thats what I got...wow.

 

[Totoro]

I think to go along with that and what the quote means, is that it's always easy to get distracted from these basic, life guiding principals that we all share. Whereas I believe it takes courage to follow them and most people simply go with the flow and hide behind an assumption an facade of not being different than anyone else.