[Angela]

Bob, regarding karma and the random, impersonal nature of existence, I'm lost as to why you would be holding both beliefs -- I mean, it seems like karma is a system of meaning, so it just doesn't fit into a random impersonal world view, and vice-versa. If you believe in karma, then you don't believe things are random, right?

Personally, I think the concept of karma is a lot like astrology -- it's fun, but it's hooey baloney. Except in this way: in this physical human life we're living, it seems to me that the same lesson keeps coming back until you learn it, and each time you don't learn it, the consequences become more dire. That does feel to me like "order" of some sort, but I can't (and don't need to) explain it. I reckon some people would attribute it to god or karma, or a universal law of some sort. I just don't know.

Originally Posted by SonoranBob

Mostly the fact that I have only uncertain and conflicting information about WTF is going on.

Yeah, I gotcha. Careening; operating blind. It definitely feels different when your perspective is that it's a fun, wild game (that sometimes hurts) than when you view it as out-of-control danger and pain. (Just two of an infinite number of ways to view it.)

So you are saying you simply will yourself to "be" happy independent of circumstances?

Yes, but not the way people normally say "will" -- like a hero in an action movie; you know, force and insistence. Rather, I mean "being dynamically willing" -- which means: noticing where I'm getting in my own way, being willing to let go of that, and noticing what's missing that would make a difference, and being willing to generate it.

Very often if I think I am unhappy and I dynamically will myself to deliberately guide my emotions, it doesn't end up at "happy" but rather something that inspires me even more. I could give you a couple of examples if you're interested but I won't jump into that in this post.

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.

Nahhh, too bad you won't be agreeing with me. I don't tend to let go of hopes, dreams, or aspirations, because I find those things a ton of fun. I do often find myself letting go of attachment to a particular outcome regarding hopes, dreams and aspirations. That is, I let go of thoughts that "I will feel bad if this doesn't go exactly as I envision it." There are just way too many possible outcomes that might be so much cooler than my puny little imagination can currently come up with, and I don't want to kill off possibilities just so's I can have my ducks line up the way I want 'em.

In this way, the absence of that negative opens up an infinite space where something positive can live and flourish.

From here, who knows, I may be able to branch out into actual joy-joy feelings somehow. Stay tuned.

--Bob

I am totally pulling for you!

Lots of love,
Angela