Comments on: The Tyranny of Self http://willspirit.com/2010/02/03/the-tyranny-of-self/ Where Will meets Spirit Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:05:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Will http://willspirit.com/2010/02/03/the-tyranny-of-self/comment-page-1/#comment-1009 Will Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:46:07 +0000 http://willspirit.com/?p=2934#comment-1009 Lili-- Interesting comments. In response: 1. Food, clothing, and shelter are basic needs. It is probably possible for saints to transcend severe privation, but most of us can't. Still, once we have these basic necessities, the problem does become the mind. 2. Maybe the statement about the logical mind thinking it is the center of the universe was poorly stated. Do any spiritual systems glorify self-absorption? 3. I don't think the brains of wise people are wired differently. To use the electrical analogy, I would say they have different software running on the same basic hardware. They have disciplined themselves so that their egos remain available for problem-solving, but the wiser centers of the brain make the more important decisions, like whether to help others versus helping the self. 4. My point was the latter: the ego is never satisfied. 5. Self-aggrandizement, as I am using it, refers to working to please selfish interests. Lili–
Interesting comments. In response:
1. Food, clothing, and shelter are basic needs. It is probably possible for saints to transcend severe privation, but most of us can’t. Still, once we have these basic necessities, the problem does become the mind.
2. Maybe the statement about the logical mind thinking it is the center of the universe was poorly stated. Do any spiritual systems glorify self-absorption?
3. I don’t think the brains of wise people are wired differently. To use the electrical analogy, I would say they have different software running on the same basic hardware. They have disciplined themselves so that their egos remain available for problem-solving, but the wiser centers of the brain make the more important decisions, like whether to help others versus helping the self.
4. My point was the latter: the ego is never satisfied.
5. Self-aggrandizement, as I am using it, refers to working to please selfish interests.

]]> By: Lili http://willspirit.com/2010/02/03/the-tyranny-of-self/comment-page-1/#comment-975 Lili Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:56:30 +0000 http://willspirit.com/?p=2934#comment-975 You know me and my ADD so... In terms of this part: Our biggest problem is not that we live in a difficult world. (Maybe not "our" biggest problem but for some it might possible be the biggest problem-if you have a hole for a toilet, no AC or electrical and tin for walls, no food, and no electricity maybe a difficult world IS for some people that they live in a difficult world) Our suffering does not come from outside. (On one level I agree for many have been beaten and tortured yet their internal motivations keep them going) Our biggest challenge is overcoming the verbal and logical mind’s conviction that it is the most important object in the universe. (Some religions teach the very opposite of this so I'm not altogether sure what you mean by this) Not only does the ego disregard the suffering of other people, it denies the value—and often the very existence—of older and wiser parts of the human brain. (This also makes me think. So when a person is naturally in service in terms of helping other people are their brains wired differently? For example people like Mother Teresa. Though she was Catholic and a nun. She served-sometimes to the opposition to those that trained and supported her.) It insists on satisfying its endless hungers before it permits feelings of contentment. (What are the endless hungers? Are there ever really feelings of contentment or your point was that the ego can never really be fed?) Since those appetites are rarely sated for more than a few moments at a time, the ego keeps us on an endless treadmill of striving and self-aggrandizement. (Striving I can see-but I'd need the definition of self-aggrandizement.) The best gift of altruism is that it begins to free us from the clutches of this internal and miserable tyrant.(This I have to ponder.) You know me and my ADD so…
In terms of this part:
Our biggest problem is not that we live in a difficult world. (Maybe not “our” biggest problem but for some it might possible be the biggest problem-if you have a hole for a toilet, no AC or electrical and tin for walls, no food, and no electricity maybe a difficult world IS for some people that they live in a difficult world)

Our suffering does not come from outside. (On one level I agree for many have been beaten and tortured yet their internal motivations keep them going)

Our biggest challenge is overcoming the verbal and logical mind’s conviction that it is the most important object in the universe. (Some religions teach the very opposite of this so I’m not altogether sure what you mean by this)

Not only does the ego disregard the suffering of other people, it denies the value—and often the very existence—of older and wiser parts of the human brain. (This also makes me think. So when a person is naturally in service in terms of helping other people are their brains wired differently? For example people like Mother Teresa. Though she was Catholic and a nun. She served-sometimes to the opposition to those that trained and supported her.)

It insists on satisfying its endless hungers before it permits feelings of contentment. (What are the endless hungers? Are there ever really feelings of contentment or your point was that the ego can never really be fed?)

Since those appetites are rarely sated for more than a few moments at a time, the ego keeps us on an endless treadmill of striving and self-aggrandizement. (Striving I can see-but I’d need the definition of self-aggrandizement.)

The best gift of altruism is that it begins to free us from the clutches of this internal and miserable tyrant.(This I have to ponder.)

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