RE: Are You Living For Temporary Relief From Your Mind? (Part 2)
Beautiful thoughts! I found you in the MAP disord and decided to come check you out! I have some ideas I'd like to share about your post.
"The cessation of any form of habit/addiction is going to cause uneasiness and fear to arise. Don’t fuel these feelings either with your attention. You have to allow whatever arises to arise freely while abstaining from focusing or putting your attention on it."
"You can't 'do' a 'Don't"
I believe that all addictions stem from unmet needs attempting to be met by something that acts as a replacement. This is true from a biochemical addiction standpoint as it is in our physical actions. So, to say "don't do drugs" is literally the most ineffective strategy to prevent utilizing harmful substances, as it brings attention and awareness to what you "don't" want opposed to what it is that you're seeking (clarity of mind, drug-free, etc). So, it's a much more effective strategy (I believe) to instead focus on the positive outcome you're seeking. If you're wanting happiness, don't focus on not having bad thoughts, focus on having happy thoughts etc...
Also, just for fun, I believe the notion of 'giving up the ego' or 'killing the ego' stems from the ego, as another form of separating the whole being that we are and causing us to reject aspects of ourselves. Trying to 'kill the ego' is, in my opinion, an egotistical endeavour ;)
I see what you are saying about the ego but I wouldn't consider the ego a part of ourselves. The ego that i refer to is a structure that has formed overtime to cover up our insecurities. What exactly would your definition of ego be in this context?
I look at our spiritual body as being infinite, the 'true us' so to speak, the being behind the ego. I see the ego as a fraction of this infinity, a lens through which we relate to our world. This ego has many fractions and different "faces" for different forms of relating, all various aspects of the whole being in which we are. My goal is to expand a singular ego into being more whole (a quest that may or may not ever end), not to reject or kill various aspects of myself but to embrace and expand upon all aspects or 'egos'.
I would just call this biases, different words for different purposes. In which case I would wholly agree with you then on trying to rid us of biases :)
Ya i think we are on the same wavelength, just a different way of explaining it.
Perfect! Different ways of explaining things are how we see a larger whole :) Thanks for sharing!
Good thoughts!