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Materialistic view of life by today's people.

pf echoes

pf echoes

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
231
Location
Utah
After reading a book on The Science of Self Realization. I have begun to find the spiritual existence inside myself, and have gained the ability to block out the effects that this material world has afflicted on my mind. I have gained the power of being able to shut off outside stimuli and become one with myself. I have no need for materials to "gratify" my senses.

But since I have gained this knowledge, I have been looking out on my fellow beings. Seeing how attached they are to this world and their problems. I wish that I could help them see the world in such a way where you can by pass all your problems by simply looking at the world and seeing that none of this matters, and that the true object of life is being able to build your spiritual energy and see the world in a great new way. It seems as though they think of their life so significantly and never think one time in their life that we are an organism experiencing the universe and that the bright thing in the sky is an actual giant burning ball of gas thousands the size of our little speck in the universe. That we truly are nothing more that the bacteria that we scrape off our teeth every morning. How naive we are to the things that are happening in this expanding universe within this infinite time and space. For all we know the universe as we know it could be a pin prick in the actual universe itself. Something millions the size of our known universe could smash our version of the "universe" at any moment.
 
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Probably a majority of people on here have felt the same way. Most people aren't capable of understanding our point of view. I have many friends that are intelligent, but cannot flex even a little bit when it comes to looking at things from a different perspective-- in that way, they are childishly immature and uneducated.

Most people don't want to look at things as they really are: most are content to accept the shitty life that surrounds them, as long as they are occasionally relieved of their burdens.

The choice is yours: the path of the Bodhisattva: selflessly helping other people realize the truth, or you can be a selfish buddha: enjoy your enlightenment while in this earthly body...
 
you cant make people go through the door, you can only help them walk to it, show them it, and explain it as best you can.
they have to choose to walk through it.

some dont even want to hear about it.

but i wouldnt fret, as in the end they will eventually, in some sense or another, come to realize it.

we are all but cosmic dust, my friend ;)

welcome, the ride is only just beginning :)
you might want to bring a towel...

towelday.jpg
 
Too true. I wish I could explain these things to many people in my life. My girlfriend especially, people are so wrapped up in the physical, they don't even realize there is so much more than that.
 
I'm glad you guys understand this all the same way I do. Pretty difficult to find many people that do.
 
While I see a problem within today's society regarding material items, I don't necessarily believe that excluding them from our lives is essential towards living a happy and spiritual life. The problem we see today is that many humans have taken for granted their basic material necessities for survival and have resorted into a glutenous behavior of splurging on food and products that fill a void within their lives. On the other hand, materialistic possession can be a great thing if we hold true value towards what we consume and purchase. To eat a delicious meal, savoring every bite... To save up the money you worked so hard for and purchase something like a guitar and marvel at the great craftsmanship and the music it produces when you play it... Or better yet, building or making something, in which you worked your own hands and mind to construct... A beautiful painting... Surely, these things speak to our spirituality. To completely dismiss our aesthetic value system, in which we treasure things with sentiment or we are indicative of how we worked towards achieving it, we dismiss our nature as humans. Just as over indulging is demeaning.
 
The people who find materialist things out weight everything

forget to eat
forget to breathe
and forget to appreciate anything that is free

i try to enjoy everything to the fullest epically the free stuff
 
I don't think people like looking at the big picture. Only what they see here on earth matters. I try talking about this kinda stuff to some of my friends and I just get looks like i'm crazy. Maybe I am lol
 
Study: Money Doesn´t Buy Happiness, May Have Opposite Effect

Research carried out by the University of Colorado´s psychology professor, Leaf Van Boven, and published in Personality and Social Psychology, suggests that wealth and possessions don´t buy happiness and can even have the opposite effect.

Van Boven´s experiments indicated that material wealth may well have a negative effect on relationships which are a strong predictor of well-being, health, and happiness.

"The mistake we can sometimes make is believing that pursuing material possessions will gain us status and admiration while also improving our social relationships In fact, it seems to have exactly the opposite effect," said Van Boven.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/04/15/Lots-of-stuff-doesnt-buy-happiness/UPI-60481271385320/
 
A big problem everywhere, but particularly in Canada, is that people seem to be incapable of being outraged. I even think I know why Canadians in particular lack this: Canada was founded on the idea of surviving against the odds, and people still behave that way thanks to climate and a collective sense of "being realistic and moderate". When someone is in survival mode, they don't have time enough to think about things and get outraged about them.

Hence, corporate-capitalists can get away with a lot unchecked.
 
I think sensationalist news outlets have something to do with that effect, Jamshyd. When everything's a disaster, a tragedy or an Important News Item(tm), people become desensitised to feeling outraged, thus they become comfortable not acting on that very emotion that would free us.
 
Nice post Sega, I would have to agree with your sentiments.

Living MY life as best I can is my #1 priority, and this involves being polite to others and helpful when a person in need wants help. However, it seems to me that it would be arrogant to assume that others want to hear my opinion on the state of the world and how things "should" be. That's what I am fighting against.
 
I agree with Raw Evil. A lot of people fall for the fear-mongering of these stupid ass news agencies and feel they have to "fight for what's theirs" instead of looking past that and seeing that we're all beings given a unique ability to see outside ourselves and our environment and find some bearing on our place in the universe. If people could transcend their normal outlook of focusing on their own little materialistic world then the human race would be in better shape IMHO.
Also these corporations are trying to turn adults back into kids by marketing things that used to only be played with by kids but now nobody wants to grow up. Interesting book: "Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole" by Benjamin R, Barber, definitely worth a read...
 
B9 said:
We are tiny & insignificant - and great & powerful at the same time - this paradox of the human condition is a pain the arse for most people.
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Fixed.

OP, I feel similarly a lot of the time. If true spiritual transformation means wholeheartedly embracing impermanence, then at times when I'm willing and able to do this, I find I can see straight through people who are surrounding themselves with ever more material things, in a vain attempt to build a fortress of permanence against the unabetting flow of impermanence, change, destruction, and reformation. You can't take ANY of it with you when you go -- except for MAYBE certain states of aspects of mind, though of course that's not proven or even provable. It makes me sad to see people spending their hard earned money on things whose power to overjoy will clearly wane fast.

That's very different, I should say, from people who just go for it and spend some money and time on a simple joy that they're well aware is unsophisticated and fleeting. That's living for the moment, and that definitely has its place.
 
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I must say, as I walk through my daily life on this fleck of dust floating in this ocean of cosmic chaos I find myself extremely frustrated with the "materialistic" views of the general population.

Even more frustrating is the realization that most of these people will be born, live, and die, hiding behind the veil that society has laid before them.

I'll tell you, fellow BlueLighters, in my short stay here thus far it is very comforting and reassuring to know that there are people out there who are intelligent, caring, and compassionate towards those around them.

It's quite a refreshing place to be!

Kinda feels like home. :)
 
pf echoes said:
After reading a book on The Science of Self Realization. I have begun to find the spiritual existence inside myself, and have gained the ability to block out the effects that this material world has afflicted on my mind. I have gained the power of being able to shut off all outside stimuli and become one with myself. I have no need for materials to gratify my senses.
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Well that's not true. You're a human, you can't sever ties with the material world unless you die. As long as you're living here, you'll need to consume stuff: that's just how the game works.

That we truly are nothing more that the bacteria that we scrape off our teeth every morning.
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That's only half the explanation though. At our core, we are the same as the bacteria. However, a human is a much more precious and rare permutation of matter than a bacteria. As a human you can experience love, art, beauty, and make spiritual progress. Bacteria cannot do these things.
 
Roger&Me said:
That's only half the explanation though. At our core, we are the same as the bacteria. However, a human is a much more precious and rare permutation of matter than a bacteria. As a human you can experience love, art, beauty, and make spiritual progress. Bacteria cannot do these things.
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While I agree that the biological attachment we each possess is similar to the aforementioned bacteria, a human *being* is much more than a human *body*. Multicellular organisms like human bodies are basically societies of cooperative bacterial cells. A human being, by contrast, is a phenomenon that encapsulates consciousness in a mobile platform full of its own perception, thoughts and desires. Matter is only one part of the formula. We are that, but we are also the thing/stuff that matter gives rise to.
 
pf echoes said:
I have gained the power of being able to shut off all outside stimuli and become one with myself. I have no need for materials to gratify my senses.
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And yet you are not doing this.

You are engaging with the outside world, opening yourself up to outside stimuli and comunicating with other people using material methods (a computer and the internet).

pf echoes said:
I wish that I could help them see the world in such a way where you can by pass all your problems by simply looking at the world and seeing that none of this matters
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Sorry i can't help you with that particular communication problem, except to suggest have you tried looking at it as if it doesn't matter? If you didn't care one way or another what people thought of your new understanding of the universe you would not be frustrated by the unrealised desire of communicating this understanding to other people, thus passing the problem by.

Maybe you have more in common with everyone else than you think. You do not spend your life shut off from the rest of the world any more than most other people seem to and you concern yourself with what you perceive to be your problems just the same as everyone else. The only difference is in the detail.
 
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