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Originally Posted by yossarian  2. Joy is not something you attain, it's something you are. To feel joy there is nothing you "do". Mother Teresa didn't help people to feel joy, she felt joy and through that joy was able to help people. |
I disagree with you here, Yossarian. Theoretically at our essence we might all "be" joy. But by default of being a human being, we are seperate from our essence. Our work here is to reconnect with our essence and to increase our feeling of joy. Mother Teresa's way of connecting to her essence was to do the work she did. However, a person cannot do work that is incongruent with their essence and remain in a joyful state. Hence had she become a stock broker she would not have remained joyful. Ask any person in a job thats wrong for them how it makes them feel.
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Originally Posted by yossarian 3. People highly positively polarized don't help others to feel good. They help others because they desire to help others. There is no selfish motive. There is no cortisol feedback mechanism. They aren't doing it for the serotonin. They do it because it is their nature. It is their nature because they feel unity, because they feel universal and unconditional love. Love is not a quid pro quo. |
But why do people desire to help others? Because it makes them feel good to help others. If it didnt make them feel good, you can be sure they wouldnt do it. Thus, even though it happens to be "for the greater good", they're still really serving themselves. And if it is someones "nature" to serve others, then I give them even less credit for doing so. In kabalah there's a saying [which I'm about to screw up horribly] that says the angels sing loudest not when the good do good, but when those who have strayed from the path of righteousness find their way back - and do good.
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Originally Posted by yossarian 4. People highly negatively polarized find peace through separation. |
I disagree here too. I feel fairly certain that people like hitler et al felt anything but joy or peace. On the contrary, I suspect they were generally paranoid, lonely and deeply unhappy inside. Hitler used to have to be injected every morning just to get him out of bed. His personal doctor fed him a cocktail of stimulants and other drugs every day just keep him functional. People on that end of the scale do not have the benefit of joy or that "life force" to sustain them. Generally, I would say that peace was a stranger to them.
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Originally Posted by yossarian They see the Godhood within themselves and as they polarize they come to work more and more for themselves. |
On the contrary, they are blind to the holiness that resides within themselves. As a result of this disconnection they experience a sense of powerlessness and fear. It is for this reason that they seek external validation to compensate for their feelings of powerlessness by exercising power and control over others.
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Originally Posted by yossarian ... I think it's very naive to think that cultivating selfishness is not going to lead to hurting others. |
Surely in order to be of help to anyone else, you must first improve yourself, i.e. be selfish? Being selfish does not mean that you hold everyone else in contempt, rather it reflects the understanding that in order to be of service to anyone else, you must first help yourself. You cannot give away what you dont have. It is therefore naive to believe that you help anyone else, unless you are first in a position to do so! There is subtle psychology at play here...lots of people like to rescue other people - ostensibly to serve others - but these are usually people who require rescuing themselves.