Troubles are only mental; it is the mind that manufactures them, and the mind can gorge them, banish them, abolish them.
- Mark Twain
I did not know that Mark Twain was a Buddhist :)
I remember when I started my meditation practice.
I would do this meditation where I close my eyes and imagine a great source of energy, love, health, truth and harmony like a big ball of light and I would breathe in this energy,
guide it into my body, into my blood stream and from there into every cell of my body.
I would imagine this energy washing away all my stress, fears and troubles and then I would exhale all that negativity out of my body.
And I would repeat it until I would attain complete body rest and mind stillness.
And at that point all my troubles would be out of my mind and I would be just as pure and perfect as the day I was born.
A very powerful meditation, that I still do from time to time to recharge my batteries but then I get back to my illusory “real” life to play the hide and seek game of the ego.
I would always know that this “reality” is just a temporary illusion and our troubles are only a figment of our imagination but that illusion can be so powerful, so overwhelming that many of us can’t see through it.
I remember a conversation with my friend J ( a very stubborn atheist )
He said to me:
- That is just religious mumble jumble. How can you deny the obvious, the concrete, factual reality?
Here, I have a problem with my car – can you say that is just an illusion, that it is not real and it is just a creation of my imagination?
- Yes – I reply – We have created the illusion that we need a car, by creating the illusion that we need a freeway, by creating the illusion that we need an urban sprawl, by creating the illusion of progress.
You can renounce that illusion.
Move to an Amish community and suddenly you will not need a car, car registration, car insurance, gas, car maintenance or repairs – all your car troubles will vanish like magic :)
- That is just more religious BS – he replied –
You have a car, you have the same car problems and you know it as well as I do, you just don’t want to admit it.
- My friend, I have the problems that I have, the same way you have the problems that you have. I am not denying that.
The difference between you an I is that you believe your problems are real and I believe that my problems are my own choosing.
And that is the difference between fighting your life or playing your life.
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8 comments:
So true - it's all about perception. Have a fabulous holiday weekend, Buddha!
The more we have the more we have to maintain .
The car is real But you need to have one is of your own doing. The problem is that to take part in what ever culture your born into , you make commitments. You have people that become dependent upon you. When you try to live in a way that makes more since to you , your "dependent" remind you of your commitments. Then you find that your old culture has laws that bind you to their way of life. So then the need to fix your damn car is very real ,unless you think being held in prison is an illusion.
Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.
Mark Twain
Ah, so wonderful. A great post that seemed like a meditation in the way it relaxed me.
Have a great holiday with your family.
Wow, what a powerful post. It is so true and you put it in such a beautiful way. I have found that it is so easy to get caught up in problems that we forget what we know to be true. I needed to hear all of this today.
I love your meditation and I am going to try it.
I have something for you at my site so come and see.
Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby
Anything can be warped; good and evil, right and wrong, problems and solutions: all depending on the lens from which you choose to view them through.
The object of the problem may exist in the physical world our purposes, but the idea of viewing that object as a problem is malleable.
Sure there are other factors beyond our control, but in the end much of the circumstances of our lives have been controlled by our decisions; willingly or not.
Nice Post!
@ Talon – Yup! Reality is 90% perception :)
@ Flight – LOL! We are all prisoners. We can never escape the confines of our skull – well, some of us do – but pretty much the walls of the prison cells are as far as you can see :)
Excellent comment!
@ Lydia – That meditation still works for me!
@ Angel – You are way too kind to me Angel!
I really do not deserve that kind of praise.
But thank you for thinking of me!
@ G – We might not be in control of our circumstances but we are certainly in control of our reactions to the circumstances.
That is where the quality of our human experience is determined.
I like the way you explain the illusion of life. I guess it all comes down to perception and choice.
I am going to try that meditation too. This seems to be the subject du jour for me.
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