Moment by moment we create and recreate ourselves through what we think, say, and do. Over time, we develop distinctive habits: a recognizable self that makes us more likely to perpetuate those habits rather than adopt others. We get stuck in a rut.
This is how most of us experience our lives most of the time: trapped in patterns of thought and behaviour that we can neither break out of nor see beyond. Our habits become the limit of our world and our range of choices become very narrow.
But our lives are so intimately connected to others. We are not detached selves isolated from everything and everyone but interconnected selves whose actions influence, and are influenced by, those around us. To be human is to relate to other human beings. Not only do our actions have implications for others in the present but they can also affect people who have not yet been born. Recognizing this helps us to understand that how we conduct our lives is a serious matter. Our conduct can add to the sum total of goodness in the world or it can eat away at that goodness by adding to what is base.
It may often seem as though our lives have no lasting value, and this can encourage us to cling to some consolatory hope of a life yet to come, but it is difficult to see our own life in perspective, difficult to recognize exactly the impact we have had for better or for worse. It is difficult to see what our life might have been like if we hadnt performed good deeds (or bad). It might be a useful thought experiment to imagine what life would have been like had we never been born: would the world be a better or a worse place?
() It is easy to underestimate the impact of everyday kindnesses and cruelties. It is often only with time that the true character and influence of such actions can be seen. While the traditional Buddhist doctrines of Karma and rebirth may present themselves in a somewhat archaic, even nave, guise, they nevertheless communicate timeless truths about what it means to be human. We bear a responsibility to our future self and to other human beings through what we do. We have the power to transform the world for good or ill. It is through the compassionate exercise of this power that we fulfill our responsibility to life and transcend the confines of our ordinary mind. We place a feather on the scales of life that tips them towards goodness.
From "Exploring karma and rebirth" by Nagapriya.
to all
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Edited on the 14th of July to add:
So many things about to change in the coming months, so many incoming problems that me and N will have to face... Let's just try to take them one by one, I am sure it will all work out for the best.
Speculation is not a friend
Fear is useless
Stress is your worst enemy
Be good, people.
This is how most of us experience our lives most of the time: trapped in patterns of thought and behaviour that we can neither break out of nor see beyond. Our habits become the limit of our world and our range of choices become very narrow.
But our lives are so intimately connected to others. We are not detached selves isolated from everything and everyone but interconnected selves whose actions influence, and are influenced by, those around us. To be human is to relate to other human beings. Not only do our actions have implications for others in the present but they can also affect people who have not yet been born. Recognizing this helps us to understand that how we conduct our lives is a serious matter. Our conduct can add to the sum total of goodness in the world or it can eat away at that goodness by adding to what is base.
It may often seem as though our lives have no lasting value, and this can encourage us to cling to some consolatory hope of a life yet to come, but it is difficult to see our own life in perspective, difficult to recognize exactly the impact we have had for better or for worse. It is difficult to see what our life might have been like if we hadnt performed good deeds (or bad). It might be a useful thought experiment to imagine what life would have been like had we never been born: would the world be a better or a worse place?
() It is easy to underestimate the impact of everyday kindnesses and cruelties. It is often only with time that the true character and influence of such actions can be seen. While the traditional Buddhist doctrines of Karma and rebirth may present themselves in a somewhat archaic, even nave, guise, they nevertheless communicate timeless truths about what it means to be human. We bear a responsibility to our future self and to other human beings through what we do. We have the power to transform the world for good or ill. It is through the compassionate exercise of this power that we fulfill our responsibility to life and transcend the confines of our ordinary mind. We place a feather on the scales of life that tips them towards goodness.
From "Exploring karma and rebirth" by Nagapriya.
to all
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edited on the 14th of July to add:
So many things about to change in the coming months, so many incoming problems that me and N will have to face... Let's just try to take them one by one, I am sure it will all work out for the best.
Speculation is not a friend
Fear is useless
Stress is your worst enemy
Be good, people.
VIEW 13 of 13 COMMENTS
catcher01:
One of the biggest problems you'll have to face is that your face has taken on feline features recently. 
rainwolfkin:
very true. it was nice to see satan as such. i still like gabriel a lot, but more because it was the perfect role for that person who played it well, rather than breaking free of those concepts of who's perfect for what role and should the wear black/red if they're a baddie...