T21 - Impasses - C 6
Every once in a while I experience a plateau. Sometimes it's in between jobs or even careers, sometimes between relationships. These are usually good times for me. They're times for reflection and usually fairly free of aggravations and dissatisfactions. Actually I almost wish they could be extended forever but I always choose another path and take initial steps which at first are exploratory and fun but eventually lead to running ever more swiftly towards more and more envelopment and dissatisfaction. Of course this leads to burnout and I end up at another plateau. Religion and spirituality are good to have along the path because they help me endure the path for a longer period of time therefore extending my capability to educate myself further and refine my perceptions. However, you can't beat burnout forever and eventually it overtakes you and changes have to be made again. It's actually a little fascinating, this cycle. Gableplunk says we can break this cycle by abandoning it but how do we abandon something which seems so deeply intrinsic to life?
posted by Russ | 5:06 AM
2 Comments:
Bart from Indianapolis
Good *&@^#%* question. How can we not cycle? Sure, there're the ‘spiritual’ ways, which all lead to asceticism. What do ascetics do for anyone else? Well, they’re role models for enlightened, spiritual lives, but that’s about it. We don’t need
role models for that. We can find it ourselves. Then there’s the work ethic. Be productive and God will reward you. Maybe. Maybe not. Then there’s the drop out model but even if you drop out, you can’t escape what’s in your head. So maybe the need for enlightenment is the need to escape from your own head. This would eliminate cycling and is close to asceticism but isn’t. It doesn’t necessarily eliminate being productive, for ourselves and others and also isn’t necessarily dropping out. So, how do you escape from your own head? I guess you could just ignore it and all the symptoms that arise from ignoring it, too. Or you could psycho-dramatize it and analyze it for twenty years. That would help clear your mind but you’d still be cycling. None of these really work. What we need is zen. Or Zen. Or Zen-zen, which is alliteration for zazen, Japanese for mediatation. Gableplunk gets it.
Suzanne from Adelaide (Australia)
I was on a plateau for years. Rather I was in a depression, a ravine, a gorge, an abyss. Then I got out of it. You know how? By doing something different. Call it fate or choices or disgust.... whatever. I call it changing location: physical, mental,
emotional, mental, literal. Just go somewhere else. Of course you can’t do that until you actually do it.
Post a Comment
<< Home