Get Your Self Out of Your Way

[the_urban_monk]

To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
    You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
- T.S. Eliot

Getting what you want doesn't make you happy. Not getting what you want doesn't make you unhappy. The former situation is not better than the latter. They're just different.

One afternoon, I sat in a restaurant with a close friend

Comments

[bodhimian]

yeah. i notice i enjoy the painful emotions...not in a way that is upside down or leads me to bad decisions...just in the way that i'm really feeling them...and thats an expression of this moment. it feels so good not to be numb anymore....
i particularly like what you said about self vs. other. i think thats a common thing where we instantly try to downgrade ourselves. thats similar when people leave a god-based religion and they try buddhism without showing respect for the masters or the interconnectedness of phenomena etc... its still pulling towards the extreme of me vs. the world

did you paint your icon?

[the_urban_monk]

The icon is a painting of the poet Santoka, done by my friend Gomyo Kevin Seperic - gomyo - a Shingon Buddhist monk and graffiti artist in Okayama, Japan.

[fastlearner]

Well written, thanks for the good reminders.

I'm curious, when you say you're "not wise," how do you define being wise? Having the understanding and ability to be able to watch with compassionate detachment certainly seems like wisdom.

[the_urban_monk]

It's the result of years of formal Zen training and practice, rather than any innate strength or wisdom.

[fastlearner]

I understand. From my perspective, it is from practice that wisdom comes. I do follow what you're saying about it not being innate.