Comments on: Is nirvana nifty?

By: Tess

Tess — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:25:09 +0000

Pollinatrix, I love that Anne Lamott quote, and yes there is something eternal inside that lives alongside.
SS: ‘wonderful ocean of life’ – great phrase. I’m wondering about a post asking people what kind of fish they are!

By: Sunrise Sister

Sunrise Sister — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:45:12 +0000

Tess,

I like this post for some reason:)…..perhaps because I think it’s a healthy way to live, that is being aware that this is NOT all there is. This wonderful ocean of life we live in – wouldn’t it be a waste of God’s energy to just cast us aside? I’m eager as in – a loooooonnnnnggggg time from now – to see what’s next in store for me.

xoxo

By: The Pollinatrix

The Pollinatrix — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:43:33 +0000

No, I’m glad you used the Kurt Cobain opener. I just have a very strong sense of connection to him for some reason, but that’s another story.

Now that I’m back I realize how much wonderful humor there is in this post! I couldn’t even see it the first time.

Strangely, this quote was on The Website of Unknowing this morning:

“I used to think that paired opposites were a given, that love was the opposite of hate, right the opposite of wrong. But now I think we sometimes buy into these concepts because it is so much easier to embrace absolutes than to suffer reality. I don’t think anything is the opposite of love. Reality is unforgivingly complex.”
~Anne Lamott

All of this is interlacing mysteriously for me: the sadness and then the laughter, how completely different this post hit me from one hour of the day to another, the humor of death, the Lamott quote. This post strikes me as a koan, almost: How would we recognize life as perfect if there were no ugliness and sorrow? It’s unimaginable, and yet it’s not. Like you say, it’s completely alien to us. And yet, it seems to me there is something eternal “inside” that DOES know this perfection, without an opposite. That “something” is just bigger than the brain, and bigger than words.

By: Tess

Tess — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:14:15 +0000

@Jane, I’m sure there will always be someone to tie our bows.
@Polli, I’m sorry, perhaps I was wrong to use Kurt Cobain as an opener to this post. I hope he has now found whatever it is we can’t envisage.

By: The Pollinatrix

The Pollinatrix — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:49:27 +0000

I just can’t get past Kurt Cobain yet. I’d never read his suicide note until today, when I followed your link.

I’ll have to come back later and comment on the rest of the post, as I’m a bit choked up right now.

By: Jane Hartley Crewe

Jane Hartley Crewe — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:31:00 +0000

We are in kindergarden compared to where we’re going. The interesting thing is that what is beyond this life is part of nature too! Suppose yourself a caterpillar talking this over with other caterpillars, what will it be like, the next realm? Well it will be totally different in butterfly land, and yet still seamless with who we are and with nature’s ways, I would suppose. I think we are taught there is some sort of supra-heavenly realm separate from nature. Once you stop thinking like that, even the play of imagination changes its scenarios, because there is a natural trust in nature and her manifold possibilities.

As a little girl I wore dresses with bows at the back which I had to have my mother tie for me each day. And I used to worry what would I do when I grew up and she was not there to tie the bows! Worry about what we will gain or lose in the next realm, I’m sure is quite similar.

By: Tess

Tess — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:54:30 +0000

@Sue: yes, we would be fish, that’s a good one, I could live with that!
@Towanda: I have a great vision now of singing baseball teams.
@Claire: no I certainly agree that a dying person would prefer that to the other option. I’ll take Ceiling Cat over Basement Cat any time.
@lucy: I’m actually quite happy not having a clue – in so many senses!

By: lucy

lucy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:48:01 +0000

hmmmm. my own mind is conjuring up too many sunday school images of clouds and angels and harps – boring!! i know it’s perfectly natural for us to think about dying and perfection, but i think we just have to trust that we don’t have a clue!

i used to be quite afraid of death – all that hellfire and brimstone, you know. now i’m with you, i don’t think i fear it so much, but really hope it holds off for a good long time since i just now seem to be getting a bit better at this living thing

By: claire

claire — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:00:20 +0000

I was living in India when I found out through Tibetan Buddhism, I think, that enlightenment could only be reached during a lifetime. This simplified my life greatly. I just had to focus on the day at hand — and not postpone.
Death is another matter. I will easily say that I am ready to die until I go for my yearly cancer checkup and the doctor says, Oh-Oh, I see something I do not like.
=I recently saw some interesting pages on the ego in Anthony de Mello’s Walking on Water.
As to heaven, I don’t think a dying person feels bored at the idea of going there
Interesting, different post, Tess

By: towanda

towanda — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:32:40 +0000

well you know, i always say heaven is perpetual baseball games and choir practice. And since baseball is pretty much a game of failure, it does make for an interesting understanding of what heaven will be like…