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Originally Posted by Angela  I'm sorry, I don't understand. How does the concept of karma explain a lot that accentuates the dispassionate, indifferent, impersonal nature of existence? Why are those ways not easy to accept for you? |
No, I said that karma explains a lot,
but in a
way that accentuates the impersonal nature of existence. To me it is bad enough that I am born into some random family, in some random socio-economic milieu, into some random belief system. But that I am also saddled with garbage from 'past lives' just gives me all the more to sort out, and without even the courtesy of knowing WTF it is I'm sorting. That is what I find difficult. I find it unkind and disrespectful of me. I have never understood why reincarnation or karma is appealing to people. To me, it's its own built-in hell. It increases, rather than decreases, the "unfairness" of life. It just doesn't seem helpful. I mean, thank god I at least was born into a halfway reasonable family and a rather excellent socio-economic situation, or I don't know WHAT I would have done.
To me, the absolute genius of Christianity is the hope of a cohesive, linear afterlife. It's a pity I don't buy that story anymore. It's the only part of that particular story that I really miss.
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Originally Posted by Angela What is it exactly that has you feeling like you're acting out a script written by someone else and being annoyed by that? Do you mean that you feel like your choices are being made for you? Or is it something else? |
Mostly the fact that I have only uncertain and conflicting information about WTF is going on. Secondarily, that my present situation and many of the experiences that formed it were not at all of my choosing. In some areas of my life -- relatively unimportant ones to me -- I am enjoying abundance beyond my wildest dreams or ambitions. In others, the ones I deeply cared about, it's been one clusterf_ck after another. So no, I theoretically maintain my free agency in all things, but I have just grown weary of ramming my head into brick walls that I didn't construct and never suspected should even be there.
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Originally Posted by Angela I think that one of the most profound aspects of my Dopamine Superpower is that the more I let go of having fundamental, non-negotiable, absolutely-has-to-be-this-way conditions before I'm willing to be happy (peaceful, joyful, free), the more easily and quickly those qualities bubble up and flow into my life. I would say my feeling good has a lot more to do with letting go of stuff I don't need than trying to be something I'm not. The more I let go, the more room for feeling good. Once again, simple, but not necessarily easy! |
So you are saying you simply will yourself to "be" happy independent of circumstances? Well I can at least manage (just barely at times) not to be pissed or resigned independent of circumstances. Perhaps that is progress of a sort.
I actually could agree with your statement if you would say that letting go of your hopes, dreams and aspirations removed most suffering. It's the absence of a negative, to be sure. But I wouldn't call it a source of happiness.
I will say this, I am doing exactly and precisely what I prefer to do with my free time for the first time in my life. No compromises. And I choose to focus on What Works. My hobbies, avocations, and experimenting (successfully so far) with re-establishing some extended family relationships that have had to be neglected in recent years. Stuff like that. Right now it feels good not to have most of my life force expended on exercises in soul-crushing futility, even if what I spend my time on is less compelling than I might want it to be. From here, who knows, I may be able to branch out into actual joy-joy feelings somehow. Stay tuned.
--Bob