Something completely random: Struggle

[twistingstar]

 My little brother is something of a warped Buddhist. Or at least that's how I'm choosing to interpret his most recent argument that school and work are pointless. You live and then you die, and you really can't do much about either. It's his normal adolescent whinging, but it still makes me think.

My brother is easy to dismiss, because his position

Comments

[tinuvielchild]

In my understanding, detachment doesn't equal not caring. It refers more to a lack of emotional investment and clinging. You still have intellectual understanding of your needs for survival, and knowing that you need something (like food) to live is different from being emotionally attached to that same thing. There's a big difference between someone who cooks good food because they know that good food will help their body thrive, and someone who will only eat the most expensive or tasty foods because they are unhappy and those foods shore up their self-esteem

[twistingstar]

Separating attachment from emotional investment helps clarify the point a bit, but I still find myself in a logical loop between not being attached, and the end result being not being attached to being a good Buddhist. Though I guess you can reconcile the two by arguing that the end result of the path is a rational acknowledgement of the Buddhist path as the most satisfying life to live? Considering how long ideas like this have bothered me, I really should just sit down with a few books and let myself get immersed in the philosophy instead of the random article alluding to it. As for relationships, have you seen this yoga journal article? http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/998 Reading YJ articles is a part of the reason that Buddhist ideas have been hovering at the edge of my mind lately.

[musicsage92]

Thoughts, ahoy