what is your theory on life? - Page 17

i believe that everything happens for a reason. We may not see it, but there is. Even the bad things. I believe that i can learn from every situation in life.
I also believe that we have the power in our minds to change everything.

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Man's life on earth is a continuous flow of events, and no event seems to be lasting. There is always a desire to grasp and hold something else, something different from and better than what is possessed at the present. This longing appears to have no end, and it does not seem to lead one to any definite goal. There are only anxiety, vexation, craving and dissatisfaction visible everywhere. Unrest and pain are seen riding over all things in the world. The drama of life is but a show of shifting scenes, and no amount of worldly satisfaction does appear to save one from this ceaseless anguish which follows every failure in the achievement of one's desired end. Youth fades like the evening flower, strength vanishes like the rent cloud, and the beauty of the body quickly gives way to the ugliness of death. All things are certain to pass away either today or tomorrow. Nothing will live. The man of now is not seen in the next moment. The pleasure-centres of the human being mock at him for his folly, and he realises that all that he enjoys is not worth the striving. Earthly prosperity is not free from the tyranny of subsequent misery, and only after several kicks and blows is life learnt to be an essenceless desert where water is not to be found to quench one's thirst. There are occasions when one feels that no increase in health or wealth, no gain and no profit here can be a reason for one to rejoice. In the sorrow of the quest for the transient joys of life, man seems to die every moment and quickly regain his identity now and then, only to repeat the unhappy process endlessly. He is whirled round in the storm of life's turmoils, and tormented by the substanceless appearances of his erroneous perceptions. Tons of the loads of life seem to be weighing heavy upon his weak shoulders, and he sits forlorn contemplating his unknown future. He is gripped by fear, desire, worry and uneasiness continually. Everything hurries forward; now it is, now not.

The way out of this deplorable predicament is not clearly seen by man who has mistaken the love of the tantalising semblances of pleasure for the delights that he is seeking in his life's endeavours, though the presence of such a way is implied in the griping dissatisfaction which he feels with whatever is presented to him in experience, and the consequent urge towards something more than all that he can ever hope to think. But is there any such way, really? Yes; it lies in the turning of the tables round, the directing of our search inwards, from things that pass away from the scene quickly, to that which promises greater permanency, wider freedom and deeper satisfaction. This inward quest for the permanent is the march of man towards Truth, which is changeless existence. "It is in the nature of man to strive for happiness, but all the happiness which he can gain by his actions is only of limited duration. The enjoyments of the senses are transient, and the senses themselves are worn out by too much enjoyment; further, sin generally accompanies these enjoyments and makes man unhappy beyond comparison. Even if the pleasures of the world are enjoyed as much as their nature permits, if they are as intense, as various and as uninterrupted as possible, yet old age approaches, and with it death. And the enjoyments of heaven are in reality not more enviable than these pleasures of the senses; they are of the same nature, although more unmixed and durable. Moreover, they come to an end; for they are gained by actions, and as these latter are finite, their effect must also be finite. In one word, there is necessarily an end to all those enjoyments and what avails us beyond the moment of enjoyment. It is therefore in the nature of man to look out for an unchangeable, infinite happiness which must come from a being in which there is no change-if such a being can be found, it is only from it that man attains an unalterable happiness, and if this be so, this being must become the sole object of all his aspiration and actions. This being is not very far. It resides in your heart" (Lectures on Yoga and Vedanta, p. 97).

Human life is a process of knowledge. All knowledge implies a subject or a knower, whose relation to an object manifests knowledge. The existence of the knower in an act of knowledge cannot be doubted, for without a knower there is no knowledge, and without knowledge there is no experience. The whole of one's life is constituted of various forms of experience, and all experience is attended with consciousness. Consciousness has always to be in relation with the subject or the knower. Without a knowing self there is no objective knowledge. The experience of a world outside would become impossible if it is not to be given to a knowing subject. The fact of the known implies the truth of a knower. Even thinking would lose its meaning without our tacitly admitting the existence of our own self. This self reveals itself as the centre of all the knowledge which illumines every form of human activity. "All activities can, ultimately, be reduced to a kind of knowledge. It is some form of knowledge that fulfils itself through external action. Knowledge determines the texture of action, the course of action and even the nature of the end aimed at by action. Knowledge, here, becomes a stimulus to action, a means to the achievement of a goal beyond, and so something not valuable in itself, but valuable in relation to some other thing which it subserves. Such is the character of human knowledge. And even in human knowledge there are degrees. Some possess more of it, some less. By knowledge we evidently mean here knowledge of something other than knowledge itself. When we have more knowledge about the nature of a thing, we have also more control over it; our activity in the form of the effort of conquering it is less encumbered and so less difficult; our relation to that thing is more intimate, i.e., the psychic distance between us and the thing becomes less; and we enjoy it more fully and really. We possess the thing securely, to some extent, and are free from all anxiety about the thing when the thing is nearest to us - not merely physically but psychically, and this latter aspect is more important than the former; perhaps it is the only important factor - and it is here that our knowledge of the thing is widest and deepest. Logically, we should have the greatest knowledge of and power over a thing when it is non-distinguished from our existence, and we enjoy it the best when we become it. The thing may be any particular entity-one thing, two things, a thousand things, or even the whole universe itself. Thingness is only a synecdochical expression for the entire mass of objective existence. Here the knowledge of the thing is really not of it, but is the knowledge of our own widened and expanded self. Our knowledge and our existence are one. Hence the highest knowledge of anything consists in Self-knowledge, in the knowledge of the Self which is higher than the natural and the narrow individual self. Knowledge is not a means to some other end, but it is the end itself. Knowing is being"

There are some great ideas her but dont forget to give credit where its due-

The Philosophy of Life
by
Swami Krishnananda
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/phil/phil_04.html

"no such things as bad things"

You're right.

being raped by family members and strangers when you are a small child is a pretty "bad thing" id say. plus, you cant change it once its already happend.

and whats the lesson there? "dont be born?"

and what about a dibilitating disease? sure you can have a positive outlook and it can teach you patience and a lot of other things that dont really matter, because you're still going to have the disease no matter how happy you are.

who said life is fair?
You can't change things, but you can change the way you see them. Self pity is the worst thing that can happen to you.

ok. I'm not gonna enumerate the shitty things that happened to me, cause i don't believe in self pity but, things happen for a reason, what happened to you is not important, is what you do with that that counts, you can't blame anybody, things happen, and you gotta get over it.
this is just a matter of terminology, you wanna call them Bad things, go ahead. To dwell on things it's just a waste of time.
And i know what im talking about.

"There's no one to beat you, no one to defeat you, except the thoughts of yourself feeling bad"
And you assuming that i got it easy, just pisses me off. So sorry if i've been rude.

What possitives have you made out of your past circumstances?

Were you ever trapped in a cycle of self pity?

If so, what thought, incedent, or decision brought you out of it.

And do or did you have a support system, of any sort (friends, family, priests, etc.) that helped in any way?

And are you still around any of the old sources of these circumstances?

I prefer to hear stories and ways of overcoming than giving up or bathing in self pity.

"What possitives have you made out of your past circumstances?"
Don't dwell

"Were you ever trapped in a cycle of self pity? "
yes

"If so, what thought, incedent, or decision brought you out of it"
Myself

"And do or did you have a support system, of any sort (friends, family, priests, etc.) that helped in any way? "
No

"And are you still around any of the old sources of these circumstances?"
yes

Oh, an important question I forgot is how long has this change lasted thus far?

who said life is fair? i certainly didnt, nor did i even imply it. i know just as well as anybody how unfair things can be and are. if you read my post again you will see that all i am trying to say is that bad things do exsist and do happen, just as awakening has pointed out.

we always ask ourselves this question which we never answer.
WHAT'S LIFE??????????????????
to me life is the meaning you truly search for and the effort you persist inorder to achieve a particular meaning is what gives us the the slightest hope to continue our lives and to insist on demanding a clear meaningful statement for this journey. that effort makes us want to hold on to life and to live longer untill we discover ourselves and that meaning.

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