The illusion of identity

Those who believe in the Trinity ?....feel there's a (holy) ghost inside them. Those who don't ?....don't believe there's that ghost inside them. Those who do believe ?...believe that that ghost is in them too....whether they believe it or not.

And don't ever try to hire me to exorcise that ghost 'cuz I'll have no part of that....at all. 

People with $ die too....just like poor people. But, when a rich person dies (the few) they lose the enjoyment of life. When a poor person dies (the many-many) they lose the pain of life. That's why people with lotsa $ usually live a longer happier life. They have an ez'r life & they wanna be here. The poor are enslaved w/ a seatbelt they can't takeoff.

Anyone who says $ can't happiness is full of (**)it. Come on this rock and see for yourself.

And I'd go to guess that the poor cannot even enjoy love like the rich can. The opportunies just are not there. And the only equalizer is that everyone dies. And still the rich are able to exert their influence after they die....with a will.

Makes me feel like a lumpo with no real dignity to hold on to. 

It seems to me that money really can't buy happiness...it can only buy external pleasures, which once experienced, only leads to the next grasping for temporary pleasure, and so on, in what is actually a kind of tragic zero-sum game in and of itself.

imo, this pattern is the exact opposite of actual happiness.

This, i think is what Jesus meant when he said it was impossible for a rich man to enter heaven...if one were to view heaven as a metaphor for a state of being rather than an actual place in the clouds.

The other thing,about Buddhism, is that there seems be some misconceptions about what Gautama was saying re the Four Noble Truths, etc.

Let's not forget that the Eightfold Path is central to the teaching as well, i.e. Right View, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Work, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

Also, in the Dhammapada,which is the prime teaching attributed to him, Buddha brings up cultivating Loving-Compassion as the central goal of following this path quite often.

btw, i'm only bringing this up to point out that nihilism is not at all the essense of what he was trying to say, imo.

As well, i'm certainly not claiming to have mastered these principles myself, as anyone who has read some of my posts would probably point out. :)

And, tomtryto, thanks again for such a great thread, and being such a gracious and thoughtful host, keeping so cool, and also the other contributors for participating in such an excellent satsang. :)

Money would solve my immediate material problems and free me up to utilize my energies on other things - I'd probably end up using all my money to help orphans, feed the hungry, build shelters for the poor/abused animals...my goal in life was never really to "be happy"...it seems a meaningless life's pursuit for me.

You're right kaynight.

Lemme try to fix this broken chair of mine...

I'll put something cheery up.

Happy Christmas to you, tomtryto!

The Mind Only school of Buddhism claims that all phenomena are nothing but modification of the ground state of reality -- pure consiousness.  How else could it be? All events affect "conscious" observers of one sort or another, whether they be carbon-based metabolic systems, silicon-based circuit networks, or even a thermostat or the orbit of an asteroid.  Phenomena cannot exist in the absence of an observer.  These are two sides of the same coin -- experience and the one who experiences.

This does not negate the apparent existence of individual viewpoints (what some would call "souls").  But these individual "identities" exist only in the relative sense within the dualistic perspective, the web of dualistic polarities (self/other, joy/pain, wave/particle, hot/cold) in which we find ourselves embedded.

A thermostat is not conscious in the ultimate sense, but neither is a human being.  Instead, these composite objects merely exist within the ground state of reality known as "pure consciouness", "the shining void", "the Godhead", etc.  According to this system of metaphysics, personal identity is real only on the relative (dualistic polarized) level.  From the "transcendant" or "enlightened" perspective, personal identity is understood to ultimately be an illusion.

The "God" concept (avoided in Buddhism due to the historical baggage it carries) equates to the transcendent viewpoint which experiences all relative relationships, while remaining free of self-limiting identifcation (like the ultimate actor who plays many parts with full emotion, while simulateously remaining aware that it is all a play).

Reality contains all possibilities, includes an infinite variety of relationships playing out within an infinite number of universes over infinite time (the "multiverse" that even hard-nosed theorists can no longer ignore).

Try to understand how reality works (by scientififc investigation, study of wisdom traditions, along with introspective meditation) so that you can harmonize with it, and thereby make the most of this precious life.

Isn't it about time we get back to topic ? For Tom's sake and mine anywayz ?

Tom ?....can you get us back ?

Stephen Hawkings has too much time on his hands.