I tend to think feelings are truth! I've learned to check myself and notice they are a passing show and often have no relationship to facts or truth. For example, someone tagged me on Facebook and made what seemed like a judgmental comment. I felt outrage! I wanted to blast this person back, skewer her with sarcasm. What's up with that? Where are feelings in the bigger picture of spirituality?
Another time, my brother noticed that I was bashing the Michigan State football team (being a Michigan fan) and just below that I had posted a Buddhist statement about accepting all comers, something like that. My "fan" feelings seemed to contradict my Buddhist beliefs. Why IS that? Why were we even given feelings? What is their spiritual purpose?
Checking out the cartoon I posted just below, I wonder if the Universe has a wicked sense of humor. Can't you just hear some minor god begging the Big Dude as follows? "Oh, c'mon. Let me stir things up a bit. These humans think they're so important and smart; let me give them, I don't know, some kind of inner gadget that messes up their thinking and makes them do ridiculous things. What d'ya say, Big Dude?" Obviously, the Big Dude said yes and here we are stuck with the ebb and flow, face it, sometimes the MAYHEM of feelings.
As a result of feelings, I tend to think I'm in a state of grace when I feel serene and connected. Most of my friends see it that way too. What if feeling serenity has nothing to do with my overall spiritual health? I'm pondering this because 10 minutes later I can be livid at my dog because it ate my ham sandwich. Serenity and anger are both feelings, right? Why is one considered "better" in the spiritual world? I think about the Course in Miracles staple that you can't feel love and fear at the same time and, of course, its belief that love is the greater state of being. Is that true? Or, are feelings just the passing show and pretty much unrelated to spirituality?
When I look around me at the Universe, I see diversity which runs on a spectrum from decay to birth. Even black holes are now shown to spew creative elements back into the universe whereas they were previously seen as only sucking energy our of the universe. Everything seems to be on a cycle of decay, death, rebirth. So, one is not greater than the other, just another face of the whole. I wonder if feelings are like that. They, too, seem to cycle around from serenity/joy to fear/anger and everywhere in between. Our human need to judge and compare makes us decide that one set is better than the other
Somehow, we get from there to equating positive emotions with spirituality and "negative" emotions with chaos that ought to be gotten rid of. Yet, the Universe seems to encompass all with equanimity. Possibly emotions of all kinds are gateways or lessons to spirituality and are not to be confused with spirituality itself. Serenity feels wonderful but it isn't the God. Fear feels terrible but it isn't some demon to be exorcised. Maybe I could see my ever-changing feelings as elixirs on the spiritual journey. A flask of serenity now and then can renew my commitment to the spiritual journey. Truth be told, a bit of terror in the old wineskin can renew it in a different way.
This needs more thought. Any ideas, my readers? Roxie
Another time, my brother noticed that I was bashing the Michigan State football team (being a Michigan fan) and just below that I had posted a Buddhist statement about accepting all comers, something like that. My "fan" feelings seemed to contradict my Buddhist beliefs. Why IS that? Why were we even given feelings? What is their spiritual purpose?
Checking out the cartoon I posted just below, I wonder if the Universe has a wicked sense of humor. Can't you just hear some minor god begging the Big Dude as follows? "Oh, c'mon. Let me stir things up a bit. These humans think they're so important and smart; let me give them, I don't know, some kind of inner gadget that messes up their thinking and makes them do ridiculous things. What d'ya say, Big Dude?" Obviously, the Big Dude said yes and here we are stuck with the ebb and flow, face it, sometimes the MAYHEM of feelings.
As a result of feelings, I tend to think I'm in a state of grace when I feel serene and connected. Most of my friends see it that way too. What if feeling serenity has nothing to do with my overall spiritual health? I'm pondering this because 10 minutes later I can be livid at my dog because it ate my ham sandwich. Serenity and anger are both feelings, right? Why is one considered "better" in the spiritual world? I think about the Course in Miracles staple that you can't feel love and fear at the same time and, of course, its belief that love is the greater state of being. Is that true? Or, are feelings just the passing show and pretty much unrelated to spirituality?
When I look around me at the Universe, I see diversity which runs on a spectrum from decay to birth. Even black holes are now shown to spew creative elements back into the universe whereas they were previously seen as only sucking energy our of the universe. Everything seems to be on a cycle of decay, death, rebirth. So, one is not greater than the other, just another face of the whole. I wonder if feelings are like that. They, too, seem to cycle around from serenity/joy to fear/anger and everywhere in between. Our human need to judge and compare makes us decide that one set is better than the other
Somehow, we get from there to equating positive emotions with spirituality and "negative" emotions with chaos that ought to be gotten rid of. Yet, the Universe seems to encompass all with equanimity. Possibly emotions of all kinds are gateways or lessons to spirituality and are not to be confused with spirituality itself. Serenity feels wonderful but it isn't the God. Fear feels terrible but it isn't some demon to be exorcised. Maybe I could see my ever-changing feelings as elixirs on the spiritual journey. A flask of serenity now and then can renew my commitment to the spiritual journey. Truth be told, a bit of terror in the old wineskin can renew it in a different way.
This needs more thought. Any ideas, my readers? Roxie
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