are we too greedy?

[Eva]

Hi Eva.

Yes, I agree. We have become too greedy for pretty much everything. We have to know more, have more, go faster, live lazier. Consumer society is based on how much we lust for stuff and how much debt we get ourselves into.

This is precisely why I find our Zen practice so important. When we sit zazen we let go of all this constant searching and thirst for achieving stuff. We sit and we look at thoughts come, fight for attention and then dissolve. They come and go like waves in the sea.

We sit with what is accepting life as it is. Then we live life... but in my experience, the more I sit, the less I need to be well.

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

Hello Kyonin,
thank you for your response, it's lovely to read it !
Indeed, the more I sit too, the less I want/need things to be in certain way. Life simply is and it is utterly simple, if we let it . And sometimes we can live life within this simplicity and sometimes we are unaware of it and get running after "more" just like we used to, or just like "others" do . The habit (this is the word I'm most happy with now) of understanding that more is better is just so persistent .
I once said : "more" will never end in "enough" . Funny, I myself haven't got it entirely yet .

Gassho,
eva
isattoday and also LAH

[Kyonin]

2) My favorite - OUR BRAINS WEREN'T MEANT TO HANDLE THIS MUCH INFO - ESPECIALLY THE BAD STUFF. Our minds were never meant to take in the thousands of sassy tweets, political arguments, and just outpouring of bad news. It's likely why we become numb to some of it after a while, our minds just can't process all this information.

What's the solution?

I don't know. I'll be sitting again today though, and logging off at 5:00pm.

Yes! Thank you for this Rakurei. The human mind can only take so much of this data overflow. The only social network I use is Twitter but only for work. I have no Twitter in my phone. As a matter of fact, the only place in the web where I write personal stuff is here with you guys.

I also go off line about 5 PM every day and it has been one of the best things ever. So peaceful.

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Eva]

What's the solution?

I don't know. I'll be sitting again today though, and logging off at 5:00pm.

ST/LAH

Rakurei

Rakurei,
that's awesome . Maybe not a solution entirely but definitely setting the limits is a very good way to deal with it .
I have Facebook and this Forum, no other social media; I refuse to read news since couple of years; so the emotional triggers have been reduced. Yet there is still room for improvement (thank you, Kokuu!!)

Gassho,
eva
isattoday and also LAH

[Rakurei]

Rakurei,
that's awesome . Maybe not a solution entirely but definitely setting the limits is a very good way to deal with it .
I have Facebook and this Forum, no other social media; I refuse to read news since couple of years; so the emotional triggers have been reduced. Yet there is still room for improvement (thank you, Kokuu!!)

Gassho,
eva
isattoday and also LAH

Hmm - I believe being informed and even engaged is still important.

I recall a seminar given by Anthony DeMello where he was speaking on non-attachment to a group of college students. He asked in what scenarios can they find non-attachment difficult, or more succinctly, he asked - what's a situation that gives you displeasure or makes you angry, and see if you can spot the attachment.

One replied, "Seeing someone on the street who is hungry." DeMello replied something along the lines of, "Okay, good! But do you act? Yes! You act! Feed them! But you can feed them without getting your blood pressure up, stressing yourself out, and poisoning yourself with anger."

I feel as if it's possible to partake in the news, life and social media - as long as you don't "bite the hook" as Pema Chodron would say. We can act, and we can do it without working ourselves up.

Isn't that the greatest irony?

We were wronged, or we are watching a situation that is immoral. So we get our blood pressure up, our heart beats fast, we put ourselves in a sour mood, we rant, we rave - but hey, wait! We're the innocent ones haha. Someone wronged us, but we punish ourselves by working ourselves up! It's unncessary and foolish. I think it's good to point out a wrong, but necessary that we do it without harming ourselves via our monkey minds, or creating a noisy mental movement of it all.

Or, the great philosopher Tyler, the Creator - who said, "How y'all getting cyber bullied - just.. log off".

(Okay that one was tongue-in-cheek - but it is indeed good to sometimes just ... log off.)

ST/LAH

-Rakurei

[Jakuden]

Hmm - I believe being informed and even engaged is still important.

I recall a seminar given by Anthony DeMello where he was speaking on non-attachment to a group of college students. He asked in what scenarios can they find non-attachment difficult, or more succinctly, he asked - what's a situation that gives you displeasure or makes you angry, and see if you can spot the attachment.

One replied, "Seeing someone on the street who is hungry." DeMello replied something along the lines of, "Okay, good! But do you act? Yes! You act! Feed them! But you can feed them without getting your blood pressure up, stressing yourself out, and poisoning yourself with anger."

I feel as if it's possible to partake in the news, life and social media - as long as you don't "bite the hook" as Pema Chodron would say. We can act, and we can do it without working ourselves up.

Isn't that the greatest irony?

We were wronged, or we are watching a situation that is immoral. So we get our blood pressure up, our heart beats fast, we put ourselves in a sour mood, we rant, we rave - but hey, wait! We're the innocent ones haha. Someone wronged us, but we punish ourselves by working ourselves up! It's unncessary and foolish. I think it's good to point out a wrong, but necessary that we do it without harming ourselves via our monkey minds, or creating a noisy mental movement of it all.

Or, the great philosopher Tyler, the Creator - who said, "How y'all getting cyber bullied - just.. log off".

(Okay that one was tongue-in-cheek - but it is indeed good to sometimes just ... log off.)

ST/LAH

-Rakurei

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH

[Rich]

Hi everyone,

just something I found in me the other day ..

Considering how we engage with everyday happenings mostly through the news, hearsay, forums, FB groups, friends etc . It looks like we are always at the "getting" something - getting to know, getting to see, getting to hear .. and then more, more elaborately, more in-depth, more informatively etc .
It just struck me that maybe, just maybe, we are too greedy for all the information that is available for us ? Is that much that we come engulfed by information really helpful to us ? Do we even realise when enough is enough and that we can go and sit amidst it before we become too exhausted in all that we have come to know and by all the response that stirs in us - anger maybe, frustration, suffering, pain .. Hopefully at least then we sit
I realised one day that even this innocent or rightful looking "want" - I want to understand! is a nice cover-up . Am I really clear of what I want and whats really prompting that in me ?

What are your thoughts?

Gassho,
eva
sattoday and also LAH

I think I'll go for a short bike ride and when I get back just sit and enjoy the silence or whatever appears [emoji4]

SAT


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[Jakuden]

I think I'll go for a short bike ride and when I get back just sit and enjoy the silence or whatever appears [emoji4]

SAT


Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[emoji106][emoji120]
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[Amelia]

First of all, are we talking about greed or addiction? Because reading through this the problem seems to be addiction to new and exciting information, not a greed for it. Comparing the thirst for knowledge to consumerism is a stretch.

The definition of "greed" is: intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. The definition of "addiction" is: the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.

The Middle Way might help. Everyone has a personal threshold between, "I would like to know more," and "I have exhausted and/ or depressed myself with too much news and information, and I have now wasted time."

I have often become intensely engrossed in something that I would like to learn more about, looking a the clock to discover that I have lost hours with several Wikipedia tabs open! But I have never considered these actions greedy or wasteful unless perhaps I am putting off something important, but that is rarely the case. I don't think it is constructive to look at these times as potentially "greedy." I enjoy the flow state of being immersed in something I find engaging. Access to whatever I might like to learn has greatly improved my life in the long run, even if perhaps I became sidetracked with things I didn't necessarily hold on to along the way. I never would have found Treeleaf if this was not in my nature.

If someone is spending too much time on these things at the cost of a healthy lifestyle, that is a matter of addiction, not greed.

Given that we are in the particular group that we are, most of us here seem to be pretty engaged on an informational level with what is going on in the world. Most people I know in my daily life simply aren't that interested in learning much of anything. So this is not an issue I see in real life, unless we are talking about social media addiction, which is rampant. Most people I know tend to reference their personal belief system (religious, educational, memories, assumptions, etc.) instead of facts that can be easily referenced with a simple Google search. I think it's a shame when everyone around me is arguing about who was in a particular movie while they are ALL HOLDING SMART PHONES.

So what I am seeing as the real life issue here is an addiction to distraction-- not a greed for knowledge. In fact, I WISH more people were greedy for knowledge.

Too much reading, watching, doing, and not enough being: maybe not so good.

Reading, watching, and doing in themselves: maybe not so bad.

Gassho, sat today, lah

[Joyo]

Hi Eva.

Yes, I agree. We have become too greedy for pretty much everything. We have to know more, have more, go faster, live lazier. Consumer society is based on how much we lust for stuff and how much debt we get ourselves into.

This is precisely why I find our Zen practice so important. When we sit zazen we let go of all this constant searching and thirst for achieving stuff. We sit and we look at thoughts come, fight for attention and then dissolve. They come and go like waves in the sea.

We sit with what is accepting life as it is. Then we live life... but in my experience, the more I sit, the less I need to be well.

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

Thank you for sharing, Kyonin.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today/lah

[Jundo]

The internet is a tool, gathering information on world events is education. But any tool can be used too much.

There is a time to share online, a time to turn the computer and phone off. There is a time to read the news, a time to put the news down. There is a time to think, a time to feel, a time to sit in silence.

There is a time to sit in silence, a time to get up and do something about a problem.

All in balance, all in its time. Nothing in excess, the Middle Way.

I do agree with Jishin that much of our human life, gathering mates and material goods, is about seeking to avoid death. Yes, the rocks and mountains don't worry about it, but people try to avoid their mortality. An aspect of our Zen Practice is to remind ourselves of the Wisdom of stones and mountains.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Eishuu]

I agree with Geika that addiction is part of this. In fact, social media sites were designed to be addictive. I read an interesting article about how a lot of the original designers of these sites who are now speaking out about them. I think it was this one https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...alley-dystopia

I do think that the addictive nature of them and maybe of the proliferation of information itself can stir up craving. I try to limit my use of the internet to a few sites and important news issues, but even then sometimes I notice that there is a craving for stimulation.

For me it's to do with intention - if I am able to engage with the internet because I am looking up a certain topic or learning about something then that feels more healthy than using it compulsively or because I am restless. I am trying to put it aside a bit more and read books or do something creative.

Gassho
Eishuu
ST/LAH