Today I am thinking about the human tendency to gravitate toward extreme positions. The Buddhist community/world is no different than any other area of human interest, it is very polarized. Case in point, on the meaning of enlightenment we tend to take sides. Elitist camps forming on two or more fronts – from ‘everybody is already enlightened’ to ‘true enlightenment means the perfection of the individual.’ And left somewhere in the middle are the thousand vague, very much undefined positions, that as a result of their vagueness have become essentially powerless to truly educate and ultimately enlighten. Surely enlightenment is hard to define - some would say that it is ineffable. But the Buddha sure tried to define it, or at least tried to define everything that it was not, if the number (thousands) of sutras are any indication, (which is certainly open for debate). Taking sides . . . it’s such a human thing to do, to become polarized. (Because if you try to hold your middle ground, without in fact having a well grounded and defined position, then you tend to very quickly get pulled to one extreme or the other.) I think what I am usually trying to find and establish is, put simply, a well defined and grounded middle ground. But aren’t we all? More on this soon . . . Tallis
Yeah it's amazing how much we tend to 'take sides' rather than dancing in the open space of inquiry.
ReplyDeleteExtreme views are more solid and seemingly secure which is why we humans are habituated to them. Hanging out in the middle ground is uncertain and alive and demanding, so our security seeking self stays away and instead moves towards the extremes.
Then we have something to defend, a view that we think is real, so we can further solidify our world by taking sides, as you say. We can create a more solid feeling preoccupation by fighting and defending our extreme view ground.
Have you tried looking into advaita vedanta or non-dualism to resolve this problem ? When we at least understand that we are what we are looking for .. i.e. that which is beyond the opposites .. we have our first glimpse of the truth .. truly understanding this will eventually bring us to the real-isation of this.
ReplyDeletec.f. the "tenth man story" .. Hope this helps :)
Hi Tallis,
ReplyDeleteFM Alexander, who knew a thing or two about not gravitating, saw going to extremes as the hallmark of unconscious behaviour -- unconsciously reacting off to one side and then to the other. I'm certainly not immune to that, as I proved earlier this year when I cycled off the side of the road and unthinkingly tried to get myself back on the concrete, which I did, but not in the way I hoped. Hence still sitting in half lotus, due to torn cartilage in left knee.
In better news, I've sort of got to the end of the Saundara-nanda translation (at least on the blog, but am still working on it in secret). If you would like to contribute something, you would be very welcome.
With a 2nd birthday coming up, you may be too busy?
All the best,
Mike
Try to see Jac O'Keeffe's, "Going Nowhere" film, if after seeing it you want to tease out more, then I recommend "Born to be Free" with clear pointers.
ReplyDeleteOr just try to rest in awareness more, without labeling...it is work!