by Tyler K | Jun 21, 2020 | Sapiens, What should our species be striving towards
“I personally think we should stop striving. For what? Where are we trying to go? For what reason? To what end? Where is that taking us? The hustle and bustle of striving i feel is what created our fast paced consumeristic culture. The idea that we should always be striving to improve ourselves and the world is a direct statement that we don’t trust the natural world and we think there is some inherent flaw in it that we must take action to make it livable for us, as if nature doesn’t and isn’t already doing that. subconsciously applying this delusional view about the world to our experience then actions extracts all the mystifying beauty and the divinity that is the sacred worlds eminence of everything that is. I believe that is why we are seeing the problems we alone created today from an over emphasization of needing to improve nature and our experience when it doesn’t need it.
Striving is exhausting, distracting from nature, and I personally don’t want to sell my spirit to the conviction of constantly being in strain to always be going to the next objective, then the next, never without stopping to smell the sweet roses of life? What have we produced while striving other than strained faces, working at paces and periods of times that would exhaust a bull. We are crystalized in our demanding activity. Unable to smell lifes sweeter smell and to see all the other present aspects of nature. For what? To do it again, and repeat this strain? For if life were truly just tireless painful work, what is the point of living if there isn’t any type of enjoyment there? What makes life worth living? This is something we should investigate in ourselves. We never have time to see the world for how it truly is because we are so distracted by these “goals”, of not only bettering the world but also with bettering ourselves. What a worthy excuse for a distraction. hah! It distracts us from what we know subconsciously in ourselves, what we really should do right here, right now: What we avoid and don’t face in ourselves..
Our own dissatisfaction with nature, our life, our place in it and our choice to feel this way about it. When dissatisfied, we desire to be somewhere else, and to get there we strive. Not saying all striving is bad, but it shouldn’t be on our daily plates, it should be in the medicine cabinet when the time is truly needed. Conclusion: i believe we arrived at this need to change nature and ourselves because of our faulty underlying view on the reality of nature. So that naturally produced the symptoms we see wrong with the world today. Big factories pumping fumes out, piles of garbage, garbage in the ocean. This came from striving. Everyones striving for something. And that faulty view is that natural reality needs improving, is what got us here in the first place. So i wont use the word “strive” i will say “focus”.
So if i were to say one thing we should focus on, is our underlying world beliefs coming from yourself, no one excluded, because that orients our perspectives on how we see the world, and what it means to us and from that how we act towards it. Not only does it influence how we engage and affect the world, but also how you affect yourself internally, and that is the quality of your experience of life which branches out into the actions that affect the world to what it is now. When our inner views are oriented in accordance with nature our actions will naturally be aimed towards regenerative and sustainable practices. Which leads me to my second more practical answer. A constant aim towards becoming 100% sustainable in everyway, and striving is not sustainable.”
by Kofi F | May 27, 2020 | Sapiens, What should our species be striving towards
“We have the blessing of consciousness and sentience. Expressing gratitude as often as possible is a good step in the right direction. Recognizing how blessed we are, we can then intentionally direct our thoughts, speech, and actions towards the greater good. We take part in needless waste, we cause needless suffering to other sentient beings, we foolishly see ourselves as separate from nature. Having become aware of this, we can now choose to avoid causing needless harm. One super powerful way to do this is by making conscious choices about what to buy and how much to consume. We can vote with our purchases, and choose not to support the by-products of animal abuse or environmental degradation. Redirecting our powerful cash flow in this way, we create the world that we want. (vegan, plant-based, cruelty-free, fair-trade, recycled, plastic-free, reused, repurposed, minimal, etc).
This represents an outward focus, which is necessary, and which can be coupled with an inward focus. We can intentionally choose to take care of our own individual health (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, etc.) and thus be able to care for and support those around us. Then they can do the same. This way a ripple effect is started in the center of one being, and causes immense benefit to all beings and the entire system. Focusing on joyfully taking care of ourselves and others, letting go of the expectations and eventual results, we can effortlessly walk the path and enjoy the goal in each step. The key is doing it intentionally, joyfully, and for the benefit of all beings!”
by Miranda D | May 24, 2020 | Sapiens, What should our species be striving towards
“Harmony, balance. Pushing the limits of our consciousness and intellectual possibilities while not stealing the possibilities from other life forms and the planet. Understanding, connection, peace.”
by Swami Satchidananda | May 7, 2020 | Sapiens, What should our species be striving towards
“One thing that is starkly missing with a vast majority of us is that we do not have goals or a direction in life. Simply saying, ‘I want to be a millionaire or earn lots of money’ is not a goal. Today, the majority of parents have broken the goal of life to ‘good education’ leading to a good job leading to a ‘good’ life. This is not a goal. Most people do not have contentment and hence live like moving corpses.We say there are four goals, all of which we aspire to at sometime or the other: Artha, Kama, Dhama, Moksha…
ARTHA
KAMA
DHAMA
MOKSHA.
ARTHA… This refers to all activities which provide security for ourselves. First, in terms of food then a shelter and all other things that make us feel secure. This is a major part of living – we want to secure ourselves from heat, from cold from old age health and a whole range of things including death. List out the items and see the list. It’s a very large one. Let’s say you buy a large home with a swimming pool gymnasium and the works. You need to secure it. If you are a rich man, you cannot travel without armed guards and a convoy. This is one aspect of our life and goals. Not to forget life insurance, medical insurance and so on. As if you can stop death…!
KAMA .. This refers to all kind of enjoyment – from TV serials to exotic holidays, cruises, flights, exotic foods and eating out. Not to forget sex. Then we may be exploring drugs, booze… Today our economies are designed to give you as much pleasure as possible so we feel fulfilled. It is the design of modern life. Otherwise, what is life anyway? All games are corporatised and the players are like gladiators of the Roman era. So you may be entertained too with films. You make your list. Sounds like the American dream…..
DHARMA…. Now this is a slightly different key.. People want to live a Dharmic life based on values like truthfulness, non violence,non-stealing, etc. We call them Sanathana, meaning eternal values that make societies run smoothly. If individuals do not follow this, there will be a breakdown of society itself. Deep down, we need to give to the underprivileged. We need to show compassion and love as they are interconnected with us. This allows us to grow as individuals into a spiritual life. This makes us human. These people aspire for heaven.
MOKSHA…..After many lives and many experiences of pain in samsara, some aspire for freedom from dependencies and want to explore their true potential as a human being. How can this pain and insecurity be managed? How can I get over this fear of death, which eats into me? How can I get out of this trap where I am forced to behave in a particular way – aspiring for happiness but experiencing pain? There is something deep within us which is asking these questions. For some, this becomes the goal.
Western and Eastern societies. In the western societies the focus is on Artha and Kama goals. We are seeing the effect of that in psychological break-up, not just of individuals but societies. The Eastern way of life does not negate Artha And Kama, but used to focus on Dharma and MOKSHA and then place Artha and Kama as lesser priorities. The west used to call these people non-competitive societies.
The first thing to understand is to put Dharma and MOKSHA as goals above Artha and Kama. No school or college teaches this. Mothers and parents are misguided as well and place the wrong priority of goals for the children.
Now can you rectify this? Is your life going to be better? This you need to reflect upon deeply. A person who has grown with strength of character will not fail in other pursuits. But life may be more livable. Now do re-write your goals!”
by Swami Satchidananda | May 7, 2020 | Sapiens, What should our species be striving towards
“We are not born as a sinner, born to repent and live in fear of judgement one day. We are all born with vasanas (tendencies) based on our past likes and dislikes and we come here to rectify those mistakes born out of wrong tendencies to grow. Growth is your nature. Instead of repenting and fearing, rectify. This is what life is about. God is not a judge. He has better things to do. Only thing you must fear or be angry about is your inability to act rightly. The whole purpose of life and death and life again is to evolve to the highest potential of who you are. Life spent in growing is sure to be enjoyable too. This is how the Gurus and enlightened ones come to help others… Maybe you, too, will be one someday.”
by Chiron | May 3, 2020 | Sapiens, What should our species be striving towards
“Ending ignorance by realizing that everything that is happening around us is connected to us and we are in fact responding 100% except for our mind. Our body is responding to stimuli without our knowing, our brain is receiving information that our mind is unconscious about, our heart is always sensing our energetic environment – but our mind is not present for all these subtle changes in our experience. Therefore, our striving needs to be towards increasing the range of our mind’s capacity for perception.”
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