y isn't the world the way i think it's supposed to be? (Page 4) diolover71: . Here it is. Our whole society;our economy,our value system is based on feeling superior to those who have less.Why;because people are programmed to feel inferior if they are not wealthy,or do not own a house or a car.There are no other ways to be "successful". People will do anything,I mean anything for a dollar so that they can own a house and their peers will not look down on them.Can you imagine not owning a car?How embarrassing,how shameful and pathetic. I strongly believe that we all possess this feeling of inferiority because we have been brain washed since youth. Specific circumstances forced me to abandon this anything for a dollar mentality and when I did;I believed myself to be absolutely worthless.Too many people subscribe to this way of thinking;it destroys people.This is a significant factor for people turning to substance abuse. If there was a Porsche in every driveway in your neighborhood,they would be worth nothing.If you could walk down the street and pick up hand fulls of gold or diamonds;what value would they have?NONE!They only are considered valuable because not everyone can own them(only the successful,the winners.the superior ones). I found myself very eager to inform people that I am a vegetarian,that I am celibate,that I am very happy to be "poor"and that I view materialistic wealth to be of no value.This of course was my way of feeling superior(ha ha). I quickly learned that boasting these things was very antagonistic and began concealing these things.When I found myself pressed and had to divulge that I am a herbivore who is celibate and does not value material wealth;this filled people with rage.Why;because when I confessed my belief system,they could not feel superior to me. All of the institutions that I have been involved with only employ people who would do anything to keep their house their car etc.Pretenders at best!!This is what I believe is the naked emperor strutting around while everyone says wow;what beautiful attire!!  near50ohoh: in a consumeristic, capitalistic world there can be no other standard of what success is. why would you be offended by that? it is what it is. and when someone gives up every hour of their day and half their night to accumulate that, as well as their intimate relationships with loved ones, yes they may be angry and feel alienated to hear that they've done it all for nothing. or that you know better. that doesn't surprise me at all. why does it surprise you? but what's the choice? even communes have the inner circle who are wealthy and have extra privileges.it's the human beast. i understand you are just downloading, but... are your expectations realistic? i'm going to quote the bible now but it's only because it's the most applicable text i know. please don't take it to mean i'm trying to convert you. i'm not big on the bible either. here it is. a man came to JC and asked what he needed to do to get into heaven. JC said to give away everything he had. the man's face fell and he walked away. JC told his disciples that it's as easy for a rich man to get into heaven as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. yet an old poor woman came to JC and gave him everything she had. today success is defined by material wealth. the question is how do we change that? or even if we can?  chrisdlion: i beleive that and practice that if you have money and the best things in life there has to be a seperation of mind and ego, i see money as a tool of getting things we need and not a status of who i am , rich or poor, i dont look down at anyone nor do i feel im better than anyone, but i see the one who is without and going through rough time is the angry one, they put in their own mind that i think im better than them , that i seperate myself from the them,, that i should be and act and go through hard times like them, if the shoe was on the other foot id say he would look down on others because in time when you havemoney it all depends how how you see money , you can make it your reason for living and put your mind and ego to worship it , or you can just know you have it and live your life not really putting money to a great importance, i choose to think and feel that money is good to have but you it shouldnt be a reason to treat others any different , we all go to the restoom the same way we all feel pain the same way and we all die without it when its our time to go,, life is presious and letting money create and mold your ego into a selfish non caring soul will find one day you having to face life head on and finding out one day your no better than anyone one else! you are the one who put your ego up or at level with people in any form , rich or poor, so money is nice to have but its not what makes you or defines you as a person,,,,
diolover71: It is not my intent to divide people into two categories,have and have not. Moral and immoral.I believe that I have an understanding that we are all born into particular circumstances and shaped by our surroundings but that is a topic all in itself. On the topic of material wealth I could go on and on about what I think and what I know and what I have personally experienced.I am only trying to discuss one aspect of materialism as it pertains to what keeps our "system"functioning. I can think of a few quotes myself of what Jesus said about material wealth and a good one from Socrates as well but it is one of Buddha`s quotes that applies to this thread"there is one way that leads to the accumulation of things and yet another that leads to the unbinding". The unbinding.This implies something does it not? I am attempting to illustrate how the people who work in our justice system,our education system,our mental health system,drug rehab programs,homeless shelters are handcuffed and shackled.This peer pressure that tells them that if they pay low rent or ride the bus that they are worth less than those who don`t.This is what allows a fake system to exist.. I am not trying to attack people who own cars and homes.I am certainly not trying to imply that I would have been able to walk away from the ideal job or a large amount of money.There were specific circumstances that were beyond my control that forced me to stop the dollar chasing lifestyle that I was living.I did not choose my lifestyle;it chose me. Maybe I am too idealistic;but I have been through this machinery and I have seen up close what is going on and I think that we all should expect more from ourselves.Human beings have the potential to exist on a much,much higher level of consciousness than where we are now. near50ohoh: your last sentence is really profound. and some people actually do make that attempt.. i do everything i can. chrisdlion: You have a good point and i believe that its true in a way that in our local goverment we have to be catorgorized so that the flow of funds can go to one part of people and the other part can go to the other, we are told what the system requires of us to get and establish our money, i can see where you see the goverment controlling how people status remains in fact for the fair reason of having control over people, , many believe that they are not able to be succecfull in life and are pointed to a lower direction in life,, remember the more money you make the more money the goverment makes, even being poor makes the goverment rich but a balance in our society has to occur in order to keep the even flow of funding to happen, why is it when we have a war the goverment makes money the economy goes up and so does the pay of goverment officials,, we as people have to be aware that what we make and spend or own is monitored and if we get too big we are hit with a tax or questioned , there is allways be a equal balance in the world, the life we all live is governed by a higher goverment, jesus said when asked about his world '' he said im am from a different world, i am no part of this world,, meaning i dont have anything to do with the way this world is run, and that we should pay what we owe to the goverment and Gods things to God! ! near50ohoh: render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God what is God's works a bit better for your purpose chrisdlion and hello diolover71: . Do not love this world nor the things that are in it;for if you love the world than the love of the father is not in you.Because all that is of this world,the lust of the flesh,and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life is all passing away. - John(2nd line sounds very Buddhist) Do not store up your treasures on earth,where moths and dust corrupt,where thieves break in and steal.But store up your treasures in heaven where moths and dust do not corrupt ,where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is,there your heart will be also.- Jesus(the greatest rebel that has ever stood upon the earth). diolover71: When I was working as a tradesman;I believed myself to be superior to those who made less money.Although my way of thinking in that area has drastically changed.I still look for ways to feel superior to others.I`ve asked myself;why am I so conceited and arrogant?What great achievement have I accomplished to base this conceit on? ha ha My arrogance comes from a deep feeling of inferiority and I still use this conceit today as a way to counteract, to avoid,experiencing my feelings of insecurity and inferiority.I believe that with the exception of a few genuine"spiritual masters"that everyone has this feeling of inferiority,to different degrees.Every billionaire,every genius,every professional athlete,every artist,movie star,EVERYONE!! I believe this to be the true source of what is wrong with our society.This is the reason why some people will do anything to "keep up with the Jones". I also believe that I have an understanding of how this feeling of insecurity comes into existence and how it is provided the opportune conditions to grow.We actually begin to fear experiencing our shame,our guilt and sorrow.The atmosphere of competition that children are immersed in nurtures this. From the time that we are children we do not process our emotions;that is we avoid and do not allow ourselves to experience our emotions.This causes an accumulation of pain.We also counteract emotions with other emotions-we feel afraid we try to protect ourselves with anger;we feel sad we also cut off the emotion and induce anger.We feel shame,guilt,or jealousy;we counter it with anger. What do people do when they go to therapy?They are allowing themselves to experience these unpleasant emotions;THEY CRY! Crying is a capital offence in our culture.Children are taught at a very young age not to cry.This is THE beginning.Adults are afraid and ashamed to cry in front of others.THE ONLY WAY TO HEAL,IS TO CRY. I think that this macho mentality our culture has,is primitive and detrimental to us all. (Edited by diolover71) near50ohoh: we do spend a lot of time, effort and money desensitizing ourselves and this can lead to addictive behaviours but it's not just crying we're not allowed. chrisdlion: the world we grew up in or shall i say the world i grew up in was a place where we would respect our elders and kept our own feelings of disobiedence to ourselves or to a close group of freinds drinking or smoking alittle but when we were in public we watched our language and respected the people around us,and we were taught to respect women and ourselves not doing anything to harm or hurt others, the tv was a place of enjoyment and you felt it was afriend at times,, cartoons to see on saturdays and playing in the streets with your friends from school, you were disaplined by anyone who was a friend of your parents and even just strangers, and you would respect them, now as times have passed the system has beaten the idea of making money in whatever way you can illegal or not music glorifing abuse to women and killing who ever got in the way , confusing respect with fear, and demanding it from others first with out earning it ,, the goverment took out the disapline of parents and has raise everything so high that people can afford to stay home leaving children to raise them selves and leaving parents to tire out and not wanting to raise and be an example to the children they have, but yet showing them its ok to have sex without being married or to have sex at 16 and get a show on tv, the music is all about money and sex, so whats left the internet and movies filled with violence and sex,, who is the one raising our children , not us! the kids of today are being programed to have a selfish attitude and to get mines '' and who ever gets in the way will be hurt ! our world is crumbling in front of us and all we can say is what or who is at fault, the system is partly to blame but we as parents are the ones who push our problems on the court system or our parents ,, when children see what we show them then we need to take away the things that create problems in our world like cell phones internet and even tv, we need to stop the flow of whats coming in like a theif in the nght, and robbing our children of being respectable people,, we need to raise our kids and give up those things we think we need , but funny 20yrs ago we didnt even know we needed all of the things we have now, but we lived through it all ! we are blinded by big industries and told we need to have the things we use today,, the world of talking instead of texting , holding someone instead of sending a email , and writing a letter doesnt even happen anymore,, we are programed to think and want the things we can do without , the problems lie in the world as we know it in being human instead of being a machine ! the love is dieing and we have to get back to the way it was in order to save our future from destruction ,, death rate in children is gone up 300 percent , why because theres no more love and disapline being taught or given to our children! near50ohoh: i wish it was that simple but it's not. when civilizations begin it's all ideals and perfecting them. when they end it's all debauchery and pessimism. happens every time in history. perhaps we're witnessing our downward spiral? who knows. diolover71: Snaggle that last clip gave me a good laugh,thanks. No room for discussion or to challenge anything in the"education system".Everything is memorize than repeat;just like the assembly line of blank faces in the movie Pink Floyd,The Wall.No room for individuality,just trained to be a drone,a robot.In our education system they are very efficient and effective in programming us not to think for ourselves and not to challenge the status quo. diolover71: I agree 100% with every with everything you say in your most recent post chris.Excellent!! Yea, in the past 20 years alone;we have been spiraling down at an accelerating rate near50. We are being dehumanized and yes we are definitely losing our compassion and love. Many of us in western society who go deep into meditation and introspection come to the realization that we are totally repulsed by ourselves.A couple of times during meditation,I literally felt like tearing my own skin off because I could not bear how ugly I have become. What the Buddha teaches and what I can see from my own experience is that the mind can never be satisfied with sensual pleasures.Although this fact is what causes us to debase ourselves in new ways;I also think that all of the shine will wear off of our gadgets.Eventually we become more and more dissatisfied with technology;we will be bored with all of forms of entertainment. I think that this is the what Jesus referred to when he said that a time will come when mankind will hunger for spiritually.I believe that we are at the beginning of a great spiritual awakening.I am afraid that it may already be too late though.I hope I am wrong. | Self-Improvement Chat Room Similar Conversations |
