Is there a right way to live?

[LastThursday]

I know it's probably a very broad question and maybe the answer is no.  But there's this middle ground between pure survival and pure spirituality that isn't discussed much here.

It seems like it boils down to two things. There are systems for living: minimalism, twelve rules, religion etc. etc. But there are also ideals: pursuing happiness, caring for the environment, being grateful and so on. But to me these all feel contrived - surely there isn't a one-size-fits-all way to live?

What should be the aim for living both as an individual and as a community? Should there be an aim for living or should it just be free and unguided? Is it just a pix and mix of ideas to suit your situation?

What do you think?

 

[fridjonk]

The beauty of life is that everyone gets to be how they wish to be.

Edited January 4, 2021 by fridjonk

[mandyjw]

In feeling, yes. In thought, no. The right way to live implies that I can select a standard that I can live by now, in order to feel and be ok in the future. It comes out of a need to feel ok now. This need or lack is actually felt, but is created by the thought of future and it looks to another thought to solve itself, rather than going back to the feeling itself. It's the self created problem trying to create another problem to solve itself. It's a house build upon the sand, trying to level up the unlevel top floor of the house by adding more lumber to it. 

Thought says that if everyone follows their own feeling, that then they will inflict harm on others, so we must have moral codes to live by, but this motivation comes out of our own fear of others, which is more thought coming out of the need to feel ok now. If we just feel, the whole vicious circle doesn't occur and clear intelligent action, which is always changing per the unique situation, can be accessed. 

Because in feeling itself, we are never separate from anything or anyone else, the pure feeling of being is never separate from anything or anyone else it always is felt as and acts as Love. 

[Tim R]

"Every path is the right path. Everything could've been anything else and it would have just as much meaning."

Mr. Nobody

 

[LastThursday]

6 minutes ago, Tim R said:

"Every path is the right path. Everything could've been anything else and it would have just as much meaning."

Mr. Nobody

 

39 minutes ago, fridjonk said:

The beauty of life is that everyone gets to be how they wish to be.

Two ticks for "Do what you want".

36 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

If we just feel, the whole vicious circle doesn't occur and clear intelligent action, which is always changing per the unique situation, can be accessed. 

Does this way of living require a certain amount of spiritual development? If so should the aim of living initially be to "get spiritually developed"? And then to live life in a kind of clear intelligent improvisation moment to moment?

[mmKay]

you can watch this video that anwsers it for the most part : 
 

 

On the other hand, and the most practical and down to earth advice there is,  is learn to listen to your deep intuition.

You are literally " being told " second to second what would be the "wisest thing " to invest your limited time in before you die .

Imagine as if you were surfing though radio stations, and you gotta find the right frequency. Sometimes you tune into something that you think is right but is actually shallow, downright deluded, a waste of time , etc. This needs practice , and most of all a quite high baseline of awareness.

 

You can journal, talk to yourself in the mirror, think deeply, contemplate, take psychedelics and ask yourself questions ,etc.

The bottom line is the anwser for this question needs to be tailored specifically for yourself. Yes, there are general overarching things that make an individual of our species fulfilled ( given that is what you want to make your life about - fulfillment , )   like creative expression, meaningful contributions to others, intimacy, likeminded friends /  " tribe " etc, but the  nitty-gritty  details must be found out by yourself.

[xxxx]

49 minutes ago, LastThursday said:

What should be the aim for living both as an individual and as a community? Should there be an aim for living or should it just be free and unguided? Is it just a pix and mix of ideas to suit your situation?

Of course, God enjoys everything; however, I do think we need to be mindful of our boundaries as a species.

For example : Participating in the act of deforestation may provide some benefits - but that would be transient - and the happiness derived from it would be short-lived. It’s all interconnected- our happiness depends on a myriad of other things - it’s like a ladder - we can reach the top only if all the steps are in place; or else, we are bound to lose our balance and fall. 

Our lives are going to fall into the clutches of adversity if our survival needs aren’t met or are in danger- it’s very difficult for a population to maintain sanity if they are in the throes of intense despair. So somewhere, to walk the path of spiritual development, survival-based needs to be taken care of, too. 

Individual makes the collective, so it is in our collective best interest to help strike this balance, with personal efforts - and in my opinion, one doesn’t need to be very high up the spiritual ladder to do this. 

Hope this helps. 

 

 

 

 

[LastThursday]

6 minutes ago, mmKay said:

This needs practice , and most of all a quite high baseline of awareness.

Again, like @mandyjw's answer, I suppose the meta aim of living is simply to raise your baseline of awareness first? Or should this actually be a continual pursuit, like, where should you stop?

I suppose my original intention was thinking of broad strokes rather than nitty gritty.  But perhaps it's all personal and nitty gritty anyway?

Edited January 4, 2021 by LastThursday

[Gesundheit]

I think your actual question is whether life can ever be problem-free. And my answer is of course not. Whatever you do, whatever ideologies you adopt, and whatever the degrees of sophistication and nuance you may reach in thinking and understanding, you will still face problems EVERY.SINGLE.DAY

Edited January 4, 2021 by Gesundheit

[Tim R]

7 minutes ago, LastThursday said:

If so should the aim of living initially be to "get spiritually developed"? And then to live life in a kind of clear intelligent improvisation moment to moment?

@LastThursday No. Forget about "should". There's no way in which anybody "should" live.

Do you tell the trees how they should grow their branches? Of course not. Why not? Because all branches grow just the way they're supposed to grow, even if they're crooked, or short, or thin or whatever. And your life isn't any different from the trees.

Of course if you like, you can live your life in a way that involves "shoulds". And you can even get neurotic about it "oh no, I'm not where I should be, I'm not doing what I should do, I am not the way I should be!". You can do that. It's just another branch of the tree.

As I said: all paths are correct - because in the end, your life is of course only one path, one tree, one way of development and therefore the right path, you see? 

Whatever you do, is the Dao. And it doesn't matter whether you see this or not, it's true anyway. 

If you now say "Aha! I'm a tree that can't grow in any wrong way, therefore I can go do whatever I want to do! I can live an impulsive life full of short-term pleasure without thinking about my actions!" then you haven't understood that you are the tree, regardless of what you do. Otherwise you wouldn't try to prove it to yourself.

[LastThursday]

17 minutes ago, xxxx said:

It’s all interconnected- our happiness depends on a myriad of other things

So happiness in all its guises is important for living? If it's all interconnected then we should aim to think and act in a systemic way to ensure happiness and survival, as a minimum baseline?

[LastThursday]

19 minutes ago, Gesundheit said:

I think your actual question is whether life can ever be problem-free. And my answer is of course not. Whatever you do, whatever ideologies you adopt, and whatever the degrees of sophistication and nuance you may reach in thinking and understanding, you will still face problems EVERY.SINGLE.DAY

So living shouldn't concern itself with being problem free - because there will always be problems? Is there room for reducing the number of problems? Should that be an aim for living?

[mandyjw]

40 minutes ago, LastThursday said:

Does this way of living require a certain amount of spiritual development? If so should the aim of living initially be to "get spiritually developed"? And then to live life in a kind of clear intelligent improvisation moment to moment?

You cannot separate between life and spiritual development. There are no requirements. There's no "aim and then", because to aim in thought, you cut off what you're not aiming at and by and then you created future. And now we've got a whole lot of trouble because we have all these separate people evolving over time and some are spiritually developed and some aren't, and now spiritual development is our new code for... morality and right way to live and that means some are lacking and some are "good" and some are "bad". And we just took all this Unconditional Love and chucked it right out the window. If you insist on knowing just how things are, you cannot allow actually change or develop anything. What is change or development? Thought is always stagnant. True flow that thought translates as time, is Love, Being and Awareness. Thought actually translates time into a very dead static thing. 

[Gesundheit]

4 minutes ago, LastThursday said:

So living shouldn't concern itself with being problem free - because there will always be problems? Is there room for reducing the number of problems? Should that be an aim for living?

Concern is the only real problem. All other problems are tangents of it.

Edited January 4, 2021 by Gesundheit

[xxxx]

39 minutes ago, LastThursday said:

act in a systemic way to ensure happiness and survival, as a minimum baseline?

Yes, I believe so. Even animals have codes; they do not mindlessly invade territories or indulge in unnecessary torture for the sake of pleasure, etc. -  that is to say that their survival is not greed-based. 

Humans, on the other hand, are the only species capable of destroying its own kind and others -  and if they utilize these methods of destruction, it’s going to be disastrous — for everyone.  

Hence, yes - if we wish to ‘experience’ this in the human form, it is best we take certain mindful efforts actively, and also promote similar participation. 

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by xxxx

[LastThursday]

1 hour ago, Tim R said:

Because all branches grow just the way they're supposed to grow, even if they're crooked, or short, or thin or whatever. And your life isn't any different from the trees.

I can imagine and ask questions, that's my true nature as a human. So I'm asking and imagining. But ultimately how life is/was lived doesn't matter, the Way is the Way? However a human lives her/his life is the way a human should life his/her life?

Edited January 4, 2021 by LastThursday

[LastThursday]

1 hour ago, mandyjw said:

You cannot separate between life and spiritual development.

Is this a realisation someone must have or is it a truism? Is it enough to simply live life mindlessly or must you also mindfully develop spiritually in parallel? Is guidance needed in being spiritual or does it come naturally?

1 hour ago, xxxx said:

Even animals have codes; they do not mindlessly invade territories or indulge in unnecessary torture for the sake of pleasure

I believe killer whales play with their kills (seals), and chimpanzees go to war. What makes them different to us? Or is it just sheer scale of numbers that makes us potentially unbalanced? Isn't this just anthropomorphising animals; can we use animals (and trees for that matter) as proxies for how to live life?

1 hour ago, Gesundheit said:

Concern is the only real problem. All other problems are tangents of it.

Should we rid ourselves of "concern"? Or is that just being concerned about concern? i.e. a waste of living?

Edited January 4, 2021 by LastThursday

[mandyjw]

30 minutes ago, LastThursday said:

Is this a realisation someone must have or is it a truism? Is it enough to simply live life mindlessly or must you also mindfully develop spiritually in parallel? Is guidance needed in being spiritual or does it come naturally?

Zoom waaaaaay out and look at what you're asking here. "Is it this way OR is it this opposite way?" You create conflict by asking a question that separates into opposites. 

It's True and it can also be a realization because it's True. No conflict.

It is enough to live life however it's being lived. You are Free. You are also free to apparently give up your freedom in order to experience development and change over the restriction of "time."

Guidance is wanted and guidance comes naturally. Someone is inspired to ask and someone is inspired to answer. The reality is the inspiration itself, not the someones themselves or the apparent separation of student or teacher. 

 

 

[Gesundheit]

53 minutes ago, LastThursday said:

Should we rid ourselves of "concern"? Or is that just being concerned about concern? i.e. a waste of living?

I don't know about you. But I personally prefer not having any concerns at all, at least at this point in my life. Maybe in the future things will change, maybe we'll exchange positions, I don't know. What I do know is that we don't get to choose either way, so these questions are nonsensical.

[Origins]

@LastThursday I would focus on being (essence) over living (though just on the subject of our circumstances around the term living: dreaming is useful as long as we teach ourselves to dream well).