06-18-2010, 12:00 AM
"There’s no such thing as a car yet we drive them anyway? The question is why is there no such thing as a car?!"
Yes, good question. There is a mindset that says..."this is all an illusion, this is all a dream". But in such a mindset being referred to, there is not an exploration of why there is no such thing as a car. So the "its all an illusion, a dream" becomes a meaningless mantra, because the car IS seen, IS heard, IS driven, and thus it appears as a thing with essence, as all things do. And when everything appears to have essence there is grasping, trying to understand it all, understand all the essences and how they "fit together". So essence is the hinge pin. Rarely is IT ever questioned. And when it is, often it is approached in a dull way, a route learning exercise, which cancels out the opportunity for true questioning.
Why is it in our benefit to truly question essence? Because the idea of essence is what makes for suffering. It also can bring joy. Which is why its not often questioned. But the fact that it brings suffering, and that such suffering can be alleviated, that's an extraordinary benefit. It is unbelievably liberating! Unfortunately suffering is a word misunderstood. There are all degrees of suffering. There is suffering that is unacknowledged as suffering due to the attachment to joy. So, essences are "made up" for the experience of joy found within such imaginings and thus other options of experience existence remain unexplored.
One example is a loved on dies. We imagine they go to heaven or some afterlife...reincarnation etc. This comforts us and in a sense brings us joy...thought of reunion in heaven, or continuing life in reincarnation. But there is also suffering in this perception. It is not felt as a truth, we are not sure there is a heaven or reincarnation. We are searching grasping for answers, never content. Trying to confirm such views in the world. Needing beliefs validated in some way. Suffering.
Yes, good question. There is a mindset that says..."this is all an illusion, this is all a dream". But in such a mindset being referred to, there is not an exploration of why there is no such thing as a car. So the "its all an illusion, a dream" becomes a meaningless mantra, because the car IS seen, IS heard, IS driven, and thus it appears as a thing with essence, as all things do. And when everything appears to have essence there is grasping, trying to understand it all, understand all the essences and how they "fit together". So essence is the hinge pin. Rarely is IT ever questioned. And when it is, often it is approached in a dull way, a route learning exercise, which cancels out the opportunity for true questioning.
Why is it in our benefit to truly question essence? Because the idea of essence is what makes for suffering. It also can bring joy. Which is why its not often questioned. But the fact that it brings suffering, and that such suffering can be alleviated, that's an extraordinary benefit. It is unbelievably liberating! Unfortunately suffering is a word misunderstood. There are all degrees of suffering. There is suffering that is unacknowledged as suffering due to the attachment to joy. So, essences are "made up" for the experience of joy found within such imaginings and thus other options of experience existence remain unexplored.
One example is a loved on dies. We imagine they go to heaven or some afterlife...reincarnation etc. This comforts us and in a sense brings us joy...thought of reunion in heaven, or continuing life in reincarnation. But there is also suffering in this perception. It is not felt as a truth, we are not sure there is a heaven or reincarnation. We are searching grasping for answers, never content. Trying to confirm such views in the world. Needing beliefs validated in some way. Suffering.