Spiritual Life - The Ultimate Teacher

Lord Buddha - Gal Viharaya

Teachers help us to learn. Of course we can learn from books, Internet, etc. But behind them, there are people. They too belong to the teachers set. You can become a teacher too. There are special set of teachers who teach the most advanced lessons of life. Their teachings are timeless. Most of major religious leaders belong to this set. I myself consider ‘Lord Buddha’ as the ultimate teacher. I respect all other religious leaders too.

I can write the names of other religions and terms related to them, but honestly I haven’t had enough time to study them. By writing them in the wrong order or in the wrong context, I will not do any justice to them. I believe, most of them must be great, but within my knowledge and experience, I accept ‘Lord Buddha’ is the greatest teacher in our world.

Mental Health

Mental health is an important aspect of an individual. One must be mentally healthy in order to function well in this world. The following are some of the personality disorders.

Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency.

Source: OCPD

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder whose essential features are a pattern of marked impulsivity and instability of affects, interpersonal relationships, and self image.

Source: BPD

The above two conditions are meant to remind you of various disorders that can make you mentally unhealthy.

Insanity

Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person becoming a danger to themselves or others. (Source: Insanity).

Insane Asylum Brentwood

Meaning of Life, After Life, etc. are the areas of curiosity that you can’t completely understand. If you think more about them without understanding what you are doing it can lead to undesirable mental effects.

Don’t make your decisions based on purely natural scientific knowledge and methodologies. Social science has their own body of knowledge making our world a better place. Despite of being true, some concepts are meant to remain in the society. (not all of us are intellectuals or philosophers)

I have met some people, who faced a major setback in their life. They were unable to recover to their normal lives. They ended up in mental hospitals.

Causes

You need to identity your unhealthy thinking patterns in order to reduce the risk of being caught in a mental disorder. If you regularly feel some unease you should consult a psychiatrist.

Active Externalization

You can write your views on a paper or publish it online. Then you no longer need to carry them in your head.

This technique is called ‘Active Externalization’. Source: Externalization

Open Source

By publishing your views where others can read, you make the source open. Others can criticize your views. You can rethink about your own views according to others advices.

This enables you to analyze your own thoughts against others views. You can even exercise ‘Double Dissociation’. Source: Dissociation

Meaning of Life

Where Do We Come From

The three women with a child represent the beginning of life; the middle group symbolizes the daily existence of young adulthood; and in the final group, according to the artist, “an old woman approaching death appears reconciled and resigned to her thoughts”; at her feet, “a strange white bird…represents the futility of words.” The blue idol in the background apparently represents what Gauguin described as “the Beyond.” Of its entirety he said, “I believe that this canvas not only surpasses all my preceding ones, but that I shall never do anything better—or even like it.” In fact, after completing this painting, Gauguin felt so convinced that the rest of his life would be unsuccessful that he attempted suicide unsuccessfully. Artist: Paul Gauguin

Uncertainty

People talk about ‘Living in an uncertain world’ and about ‘suspending the judgment’. Read about them. Try to understand them. So you can make an informed decision on what you are going to believe and how you are going to live in this world.

Burtrand Russell

Immanuel Kant on Enlightenment

Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance. - Immanuel Kant

I like this essay. Source: What is Enlightenment.

Buddhist Philosophy

Personally, I believe in an afterlife and the previous lives. I run a process inside my brain which loads Buddhist Concepts into my mind so that I can use them easily to perceive the world in a Buddhist way. I believe in ‘Karma’ too. What we have now is the result of what we did in the past. (Actually these concepts are not as simple as the previous sentence)

Source: Ethics

Four Noble Truths

Normally we think our happiness is contingent upon external circumstances and situations, rather than upon our own inner attitude toward things, or toward life in general. The Buddha was saying that dissatisfaction is part of life, even if we are seeking happiness and even if we manage to find temporary happiness. The very fact that it is temporary means that sooner or later the happiness is going to pass. So the Buddha said that unless we understand this and see how pervasive dissatisfaction or duhkha is, it is impossible for us to start looking for real happiness. - Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths

Money

We need to earn money to live a successful life. You need to face the competition. You have to have sufficient amount of money to live a noble and spiritual life. Without money, one will be working hard just for food.

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