Didn't know where to post this. What this fella
is saying in words how I'm feeling, but could not express in any succinct manner.Some nights I feel like I'm gonna just run out into the middle of our street yelling at the top of my lungs then falling face down. A neighbor will recognize what happened n dial 911.
Then so be it.
https://youtube.com/@functionalmelancholic
= new reply since forum marked as read
Understand a few things.
We "construct" reality. Our "reality" is largely based on stories that society tells.
To a large extent, they are manipulative. So, the games we play are rigged in favor of the riggers, the "house"
We cling to things in a world which is nothing but change, that is, everything is process.
We, western society externalize everything. Happiness comes from without. More stuff, more varieties of mustard, comparison with others. If I lived in that mode, I'd have been miserable all my life.
He mentions Alan Watts. I heard his "tapes" on the local "radical" college radio station as a teen. I believe that he spoke of life as creative. And that led me on a long journey.
A later audio lecturer specifically mentioned that our lives are creative. If you were a Creator, what power would you give your creations?
CREATIVITY, of course.
There is nothing in every one of us that is separate from the universe. There is no part of infinity that is separate from infinity.
We are the eyes, ears, and hands of this living universe. You may have a three letter word for it.
We are always looking elsewhere for meaning,when our mission is to create meaning, and enrich the universe(*) of which we are a living part. (*) or that three letter word.
A highly spiritual friend, now gone, used to read "Conversations with God", and I found some of that series for him. One thing the author said struck me. He asked: "Instead of thinking that our purpose us to go to heaven, what if we were sent from heaven to create meaning by our lives and works, that is: to transform a dingy and dirty world ( you gotta have dirt for plants to grow) into a land of tranquil light, in which we grow by helping others, and especially by helping them grow?
Once a year, I write about Groundhog Day. The movie is a Buddhist parable, and the writer/producer, Harold Ramis, thoroughly disclaimed any such knowledge. I'll repeat it here, because the protagonist experiences the same existential ennui, the same damn day after another with no meaning, until he transforms his point of view. Instead of suffering the same childish rodent worship every day for infinity, he sees opportunity to transform that by transforming himself, from a self-centered attention seeker into a tireless source of help and inspiration.
On with the "analysis"
Especially note the conclusion, when you're feeling like life is a bleak and dark winter, bereft of hope!!!
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Groundhog Day the movie is a Buddhist parable for our times.
Repost (I do this every year)
In it, weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) expresses his conceit and disdain for having to cover yet another Groundhog Day spectacle, so beloved by average people not of celebrity status like himself. And he expresses this in his sarcasm.
Staying in a hotel in Punxsutawney, he soon discovers that he is living that same day over and over, and his dissatisfaction gets no relief each time. In fact, it grows worse, and seems to culminate in believing that even his death by various means has no meaning, as another day shows up, to the tune of the world's most annoying alarm clock, which itself seems immortal, as it returns every morning despite Phil's attempts to smash it. That does not end the cycle.
It comes back in perfect order every morning.
But along the way, he learns more about people and events, and carries that to the next day in succession, though mainly as parlor tricks and ways to con others to his advantage. But he can't con his producer, the ever-radiant Rita (Andie McDowell).
The movie uses her ability to see through his games as a skillful means ( literally, a slap in the face) to make him aware of his true self. But how?
First, he realizes that troubles in this world are endless, and that you can't make them go away, but that one can transform them into meaningful moments of selflessness, bravery and compassion for others, in effect "turning poison into medicine"
Along the way he experiences breakthroughs in listening to classical music on the radio, and understanding the pleasure that it brings to others, so much so that he takes up piano lessons.
Crucially, he develops compassion for the homeless man, first seen as a nuisance beggar. Over time Phil sees his suffering in the cold streets, and takes him into a diner for an extra serving of soup. But the man dies, and knowing that this will happen every day for what might be eternity, Phil gains compassion for all.
Phil "turns poison into medicine"
Rescuing a falling boy, fixing a flat tire, saving a diner from choking, and at least bringing some comfort to the homeless man. Unfortunate circumstances allow us to demonstrate selflessness and awaken others. People awaken not by doctrine but by example.
Phil has transformed his "victimhood" as a celebrity sent to perform a routine and boring task into a mission to help others and himself at the same time.
One gigantic lesson Phil learns is that there is no need to "escape to some other place", since he has, through his own human revolution, transformed a dismal and mundane place ( in his initial impression of it) into a land of tranquil light, an endless cycle of dissatisfaction, disdain and ignorance into endless opportunities for selflessness, compassion and wisdom.
By finding the Buddhahood in others, Phil discovered it in himself. 𑁍
THAT'S why he says:
When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.
He has transformed drab reality into what Nichiren calls "The Land of Tranquil Light"