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Posted by on Jan 9, 2013 in Uncategorized | 4 comments

What I Plan to Do With My Life.

Happiness starts on the inside. I will be happy with myself no matter what. Buddha thought that the key to happiness was to get rid of all your desires. Throwing off all desires is probably impossible for all human beings, but I believe he was 99% right. We tell ourselves that we aren’t good enough until we get that new car, that high salary, and that hot girl. We then tell ourselves that since we don’t have that now, we aren’t good enough. The self-inflicted self-hatred makes us crazy, and our normally rational view is distorted by the negative emotion. The distorted vision defeats our purposes and causes us not to be able to attain the things we want. The defeated desires come back full circle even worse than before, and the cycle continues until we die or decide to end it. As Ludacris once put it, “Just be happy with yourself and it’s so simple to grow.”

I will have no fear. All of us rightly avoid certain things because of the potentially negative consequences. Trouble is, rational avoidance sometimes turns into a neurotic or irrational emotion of fear that hurts us instead of helping us. Avoiding snakes is (generally) a good idea. Nonetheless, if you are so fearful of snakes that you can’t even hold a tame pet snake, you’ve got a problem. The emotion of fear that you have for snakes has grown so large that it paralyzes you from doing something harmless. I will have no fear.

I will be cool, calm and collected at all times, even when dealing with people or problems I dislike.

I will apply natural selection/trial and error to solving problems.

I will always adopt the working hypothesis that the problem I face has a solution, no matter how hard or insurmountable the problem seems.

I will constantly seek self-improvement.

  • An Ardent Skeptic

    I can’t say that I consider “I will be cool, calm and collected at all times, even when dealing with people or problems I dislike.” to be a great idea “at all times”. It is certainly good to do one’s best to engage with others rationally which requires keeping one’s cool.

    OTOH, passion is a great motivator. Those who become the greatest experts at what they do, have passion for what they do. Their pursuit is not only intellectually stimulating but also emotionally stimulating.

    And, if we want to enjoy the pleasure of deep physical and emotional intimacy with one or more of our fellow human beings, we need to be able to inspire passion for ourselves from them which we can only do if we are capable of exhibiting that same passion in return.

    I’m not sure I am making myself abundantly clear. Writing was never my passion because I’m dyslexic. Sorry!

  • Jack_Ma

    I agree with you that one is free to be happy, no matter what. What’s more, I greatly admire those who can cultivate and sustain that insight, since to do so clears away the single greatest obstacle to a natural flow of compassion for others.

    However, in my view, Buddha was wrong to identify desire as the problem. To me, he threw out the baby and kept most of the bathwater as well. I see nothing the matter with desiring and doing so as intensely as one may. In my experience, passionate desiring can be zestfully joyous. It seems to me instead that the big mistake causing unhappiness is believing we are no longer free to be happy when we don’t get what we desire.

    Cheers.

    • Ronlawhouston

      Actually, it’s not really correct to paraphrase the Buddhas as desire causes suffering. His first truth was that there is a dissatisfaction in life. The second truth is the origin of this dissatisfaction. Many people use the word “desire” but in reality a more accurate translation is more “craving.” It’s perfectly normal to have desires, but it’s when those desires turn to cravings that we can have problems.

      The other common misconception is that we should get rid of our desires, which as you said is not realistic. In reality, his advice is to see our cravings and evaluate the problems they cause in our lives.

      Anyway, just a little input from someone who considers themselves more a secular Buddhist than really an “atheist.”

  • Ronlawhouston

    I get where you’re going with the fear idea, but having no fear is probably not realistic. I like the idea of knowing and having a deep understanding of our fears. That way you are far less likely to act on them.