Life

Seriously?

Marvin - is that you

Not seeen you for a while

Zaphod

I no longer think about life after death aa it is difficukt enough to figure out if there's life before death.

So why is a carrot more organge than orange?

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

I watched Oscar Wilde on saturday night

Beano

Fisbey,

Things only have the meaning we give to them. What some people consider meaningful others do not. There are many forces in the world that would have you share their view and they can't all be right as they are most often exclusive and absolute. It is up to you to find your own meaning and be free to do so. Good luck in that.

Erik

Whenever life gets you down Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you've had quite enough...

Just, remember that you standing on a planet that’s evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour
It’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power

The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way

Our galaxy itself, contains a hundred billion stars
It’s a hundred thousand light years side-to-side
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick
But out by us it just three thousand light years wide

We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point
We go round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions in this amazing and
expanding universe

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go, the speed of light you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that’s the fastest speed there is
So remember when you’re feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space
Cause there’s bugger-all down here on Earth

Errrr,

Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis?
Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?
It's swell to have a stiffy.
It's divine to own a dick,
From the tiniest little tadger
To the world's biggest prick.
So, three cheers for your Willy or John Thomas.
Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake,
Your piece of pork, your wife's best friend,
Your Percy, or your cock.
You can wrap it up in ribbons.
You can slip it in your sock,
But don't take it out in public,
Or they will stick you in the dock,
And you won't come back.

Just 'cos you've got names like Fill & Cork, eh?!
I'll just get my ointment.

Concentrate on making today the most important day in your life, yesterday is history, it cannot be undone, tomorrow is a mystery until it arrives, always make " today " the most important day.

Lesson over, payments can be made by credit or debit card, direct payments to sort code 00 00 00 account number 00000000

It's kind of wierd I don't feel down or depressed just an immense feeling of disatisfaction. I am pretty happy in my social life and am making new friends too. I just get the feeling 'there has to be more than this'...

Well there ain't and once you die your are worm food.

Best to not think about it.

Stead as you go our Fisbey or the next thing you know you will be recruited by the Jehovah Witnesses.

I think not somehow, my ex was 'exiled' (forget the proper word) from the JW's. I have tried getting the faith via a Pentecostal churchand more recently via the Alpha course (which I disliked intensely), the nearest to any sort of faith I have encountered would be Buddhism, which I met via the Vihara in Chiswick. I think part of my source of unhappiness is where I work, but suffice to say the problems I encounter here (egos, ignorance, selfishness etc) will be met elsewhere - more work to do.

The positive part for me, is actually FEELING disatisfied and acknowledging I can do and be a better person.

Over to you Eric!

quote:

Originally posted by Fisbey:
I think not somehow, my ex was 'exiled' (forget the proper word) from the JW's. I have tried getting the faith via a Pentecostal churchand more recently via the Alpha course (which I disliked intensely), the nearest to any sort of faith I have encountered would be Buddhism, which I met via the Vihara in Chiswick. I think part of my source of unhappiness is where I work, but suffice to say the problems I encounter here (egos, ignorance, selfishness etc) will be met elsewhere - more work to do.

The positive part for me, is actually FEELING disatisfied and acknowledging I can do and be a better person.

Over to you Eric!

All joking aside I know some very decent JWs who do no body any harm and who live decent virtuous lives. I don't share their views but I recognise that their moral discipline makes the world a better place but they are all rather brainwashed, narrow minded and unimaginative I think.

I went to a couple of Alpha course meetings with a neighbour (just to keep her company as she was nervous about going or so she said, I suspect however that she was secretly trying to get me to convert from Buddhism). I found it unbearably low brow, formulaic and simplistic. I find it rather tedious when they can't answer a simple question or are confronted with prestine logic that they turn all nasty and vindictive and then they reign themselves in and get all mock sad and say they will pray for me.

I am a practising Buddhist (not a very good one)and so I know little about 'dissatisfaction' being the nature of 'samsaric' exisistence. Even at the very best of times we experience subtle dissatisfaction, if we check carefully we can see that this is true.

Feeling unsatisfied and disilisioned with conventional life can lead to depression or it can lead to following a path that leads to a cessation of dissatisfaction and in that sense then your dissatisfcation can be a very positive feeling indeed.

One of the three principle aspects of this path is renunciation - renunciation for worldy activity (which is always disatisfying even though we are addicted to it).

Seeing all the ego, ignorance and selfishness at work and elsewhere has no virtue in and of itself, indeed if you focus on their negative traits too much it can lead to all kinds of negativity in yourself. The wisdom lies A/ in recognising how these negativities are the cause of suffering and B/ generating compassion for them C/ making a strong determination to diminish or even eradicate these traits in yourself or even D/ making a strong determination to help others to do so too (if they are open to it). Thus you develop ways to transform adversity into the path and your spiritual life is never separate from your work life and you experience a sense of meaning and purpose at all times. That's the (very basic)theory. Yes, we can all be better people if we do but try.

I dont know anything about Vihara in Chiswick but I wish you well there.

Yes right OK

I have actually completed the course at Chiswick and am aware of most of what you said - I think the word you omitted was 'dukkha' was it not - as I said 'more work to do' (on myself)...

quote:

Originally posted by Fisbey:
Yes right OK

I have actually completed the course at Chiswick and am aware of most of what you said - I think the word you omitted was 'dukkha' was it not - as I said 'more work to do' (on myself)...

Yes, I've just googled 'Vihara' and as I thought it is a Hinayana tradition. My lot being of Tibetan Mahayana origin we don't use the same terminolgy including the term 'dukka' so sometimes talking with Hinayanists can be confusing until translations or definitions are known and shared but it all boils down to the same thing.

Have you done a Vipassana retreat? I hear good things about those.

I had a good few weeks of banging on about Buddhist philosophy on the 'swine' thread a few months ago. It covered all kinds of things from the Bible, God, Christianity and quantum Theory and it got quite interesting in places. (Maybe it was you who made the 'dukka' remark on that thread?)

All the best to you and Vihara,

Erik

Interesting question you pose there Fisbey and it's something I have spent about 5 years working on figuring out myself. I don't think I am really that much closer to understanding any of it but I have been on something of a quest to try different things to sort out my disatisfaction with my job/life and I have learned some stuff along the way which may be of interest:

Most jobs/carer changes don't really live up to your expectations in terms of day to day pleasure. I left a career in IT, became a writer/jouralist, then trained as a commercial pilot and am now back in IT again but working for myself!

Some things you don't think you you will enjoy turn out to be the most incredibly wonderful experiences. I wasn't 100% sure about starting a family but our Daughter has brought more joy, fun, laughter and love into our lives than we ever imagined possible. In addition having a child has fundamentally shifted my view of what it means to be human and I have a much stronger sense of kinship with parents irrespective of background, race etc - it's the biggest and most amazing club in the world!!

Money most definately DOES buy happiness - primarily because it buys freedom, security, time and choice. It also buys lots of 'stuff' like holidays, a nice home etc - all of which in my experience create a greater level of contentment. I never really believed that money could buy happiness until I had a pretty worrying period of financial uncertainty recently and I can most definately say that I am a lot happier now that I am clawing my way back towards some semblance of stability. I have a Brother in Law who is a multi millionaire and he most definately is living proof that money buys happiness. I had always regarded this as unbeliveably shallow but having just spent the weekend with him, my wife and I had to rush back for work and at 10am this morning after the chaos of rushing children to nursery, commuting to Heathrow etc I was sat at work thinking how dull offices are. I also started to wonder what he was doing at that moment. The answer is that he was in a 5 star hotel having breakfast with his wife and kids wondering what to do with yet another day off in Ireland.

I do think that being close to family e.g. parents and seeing plenty of them is hugely important. It's easy to feel depressed I think in a place where you have no roots and I think this is an increasing problem for my generation who moved away from home in pursuit of opportunity.

Interested in whether others agree - just my thoughts.

Brg,

Jonathan

Jonathan

I agree, money does buy freedom and if used correctly, it buys happiness.

Regards

Mick

quote:

Originally posted by Fisbey:
Sometimes I find it hard to take life very seriously - so much of it seems meaningless.
I'm not depressed or suicidal about it, I just feel, at times, most of what we consider to be serious, isn't.

Fiseby,

I think I know where you are coming from, but is this a function of age, or a particular stage in your life?

Having stepped off the hamster wheel for a few years, following redundancy, to become a full time student, I look at previous work colleagues with a mixture of bewilderment and amusement. They are generally stressed out and miserable, slaving away, in case they become the next target for downsizing or whatever the current euphemism is.

My mates (i.e. friends that I have known for years, not ex-work colleagues) think that I am a lucky bastard, and that I am as relaxed as they have seen me in years.

The opportunity to go into full time education, instead of the daily grind, has been a wonderful experience, albeit one where I have not had to worry financially because of the income supplied by my better half.

There is no doubt that I have become less acquisitive, aside from wanting more music and a better system (mere baubles in the scheme of things), whereas most of my friends seem hell bent on acquiring the second or third home, pension security, the new car etc.

My view is that you can only live in one place at a time, and that as long as you have a pint (or glass of wine) and a pot to piss in, life is generally ok.

Not sure this is of any help, but.....

Regards

Nic

yes it does Nic - thanks

Oh and can we keep James Milner please?

quote:

Originally posted by Fisbey:
Oh and can we keep James Milner please?

No, send him home now please. Cracking little player, and we need cover/replacement for Nobby when he gets injured/hangs his boots up.

My only complaint about Sir Bobby is that he sold Solano, and as a result Villa were lucky to have his services for while. Consequently Milner had to be used as a sweetner to get Nobby back. Milner has great potential and fortunately Newcastle are not a "selling" club any more, unlike the days of Beardsley, Waddle and Gascoigne. I hope we keep him.

All the best

Nic

quote:

Originally posted by erik scothron:
Stead as you go our Fisbey or the next thing you know you will be recruited by the Jehovah Witnesses.

My good dad left me with the best tip for getting shut of them lot.
If ever they appear at the doorstep promise them that you will listen to them for the next 24 hours, buy every publication they are selling if they can answer just one question regarding the bible.
The question is, who washed the dishes at the last supper?
I can promise this one stumps them a little

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
I agree, money does buy freedom and if used correctly, it buys happiness.

It will buy you opportunities, adventures, experience, enjoyment, fun, and can even make you a better person if properly used.
But happy?