The Straight Path of Wisdom

 

OTW29012016

 

The Straight Path of Wisdom

And the Blessed One thus addressed the Brethren, “It is through not understanding the four noble truths, O brothers, that we had to wander so long in the weary path of samsara, both you and I. Through contact, thought is born from sensation, and is reborn by a reproduction of its form.

“Starting from the simplest forms, the mind rises and falls according to deeds, but the aspirations of a Bodhisatta pursue the straight path of wisdom and righteousness, until they reach perfect enlightenment in the Buddha.

“All creatures are what they are through the karma of their deeds. The rational nature of man is a spark of the true light; it is the first step on the upward road. But new births are required to ensure a continuation of our species. The enlightenment of mind and heart, where the immeasurable light of moral comprehension is gained, this is the source of all goodness.

“Having attained this higher levels of mind I have found the truth, and have taught you the noble Way that leads to peace. I have shown you the way to the lake of spiritual ambrosia, which washes away all evil. I have given you the refreshing drink called the perception of truth; and he who drinks of it becomes free from false excitement, misplaced passion, and wrongdoing.

“All unenlightened mankind envy the bliss of him who has escaped from the floods of passion and has climbed the shores of nirvana. His heart is cleansed from all defilement and free from all illusion. He is like unto the lotus; which grows in the water, yet not a drop of water adheres to its petals.

“The man who walks in the noble Way lives in the world, and yet his heart is not defiled by worldly desires. He who does not see the four noble truths, he who does not understand the three characteristics and has not grounded himself in the Uncreate, has still a long path to traverse, by repeated new beginnings, through the desert of ignorance, with its mirages of illusion, and through the morass of wrong.

“But now that you have gained comprehension, the cause of further migrations and aberrations is removed. The goal is reached: the craving of selfishness is destroyed, and the truth is attained. This is true deliverance; this is salvation; this is the bliss of a life.”

The Hallowed Book of Man: The Straight Path of Wisdom

Ask yourself

old-key

We are born through pain, and we live in it, and with it. We die in pain. Pain of body, and pain of mind. Neither can be avoided. All that matters, is how we deal with it. We can whinge, or we can laugh at it; get your head down, and carry on regardless. We can bear it, however bad, because we have no option.

We can use it to gain sympathy. And what good is sympathy? None at all. It doesn't help, and cures nothing. Yet people use it on a regular basis, to gain something, if it's only to help them to feel in control of something. Control of others, who are generous enough of nature, and foolish enough to fall for it. It's called hypochondria: the pretence of illness, and its constant invention.

Illness and pain comes to us all, so why pretend when you are in fact well? Is it madness, or manipulative evil? We are sad, and bad creatures either way. The things we do, and the harm we do, are all mixed up in a sort of soup: a soup made of right and wrong, good and bad; good minds, and downright evil ones. Jealously, and hate that burns us up, and wastes our days, that are few enough.

I know I'm not a boy anymore. In my mind I'm still as I always was, but in body, I'm a burnt out old man. Yet I cannot accept it in my deeper mind, even though I know it in my conscious mind. So I'm a fool, not being able to accept my own reality. But who amongst us old fogies can? Who thinks that he's a tough guy, yet shivers if danger of any kind approaches? That goes for young as well as old. Who amongst you will know fear as death approaches, but who will show it? Best side out, and all that.

At the ending of your days, ask yourself, who is fooling who; and is there any point to it? Have you actually made a difference in this miserable greedy world; and if you think that you have, then what difference have you actually made? Can you put your hand on it? Can you feel content with your achievements; and what exactly are they, or were they worth?

What were you worth to anyone, or are you worth anything? A pay check perhaps, if you’re a male? A slave, if female? Were you in fact worth anything in reality to anyone? Who loves or even cares about you, and who will care about you when you're dead? What has your life mattered, or has it mattered at all?

What of the wealth you have worked so hard to get; and lied, and cheated so often to get? Was, or is it worth it, when you hear that footstep of the grim reaper? When you see that shadow of death, coming upon you, at the very moment when the force of life leaves you, how will it be? What will the bookkeepers of life make of your existence? Are you in the black, or are you in the red?
What have you done and what have you left undone? Were you evil, or just stupid? What is the difference, as they both do the same harm?

Were you, or are you evil, of just foolish? Clever or stupid? Perhaps a mixture of both? To the young I say, the clock is ticking, and faster than you think. Every day you wake up is a day less, a day closer. So why waste it in neurotic behaviour? Why waste it, in frivolous behaviour? Why waste it? If you’re old, don't worry about it. If you’re young, you’re too stupid to realize anything whatever you haven't experienced really is. Fight against old age if you must, but remember that there is a sure fire cure for it, just around the next corner. It's sure, certain and permanent. It will go away.
It's amazing that we have to wait till the light dims, in order to see more clearly. They say to “live one day at a time”. What do “They” know? And who are “They” anyway? Young, old, what? Think about it.

Bob Crosbie.

10/1/16 ©

On Humanity

gargoyle overlooking city

As humans, we do the best we can to overcome the beast that is within: the base nature, which all of the human race carry inside them. This weakness of base nature, and genetic inheritance, is used by the more cunning amongst us to control us. Not for our benefit, as they so often claim, but solely for theirs. The more power some get, the more they seem to want. And the more they get, the more they fear losing it. Yet what do we actually need? Shelter, food, clothing, a little love in our lives; and the companionship of those we love. Sometimes, of those we don't love, but need for some reason, or lack of reason. Perhaps just the fear of the unknown, or of simply being alone. We are, by nature, gregarious.

When I mention those we love, I don't mean those we want to have sex with, as love and sex are not in any way connected. They are different and separate. Love is of the humanity that lies within us. Lust, or sexual attraction, is the pure beast-like desire to copulate.

Within women there is a deep-rooted need to bear a child or children. This is why the human race, as with most animals, has managed not only to survive, but to reach the point where we are now overpopulating the earth.

We cannot go on as a viable species without incurring a great deal of death and suffering. Mankind has always multiplied, and probably always will, as long as he manages to survive. His lust and emotions are just answering the ancient bell of instinct. When he is under pressure, he goes to war, and kills. War tends to control numbers. Either one man, or in a group, they kill; and so reduce the population. So maybe war is a necessity? It all depends on how you look at it, but surely there must be better way?

Whatever man doesn't understand, he searches his mind for what he knows, or thinks he knows, and so he imagines all sorts of things. Some are fearful; and fear, being attached to his psyche, is about survival. It is the most powerful thing within him, next to love, which is the opposite side of the same coin.

The lower beasts amongst us have managed to play on that fear; that deep, emotional thing, in order to profit from those they consider to be lesser men, in need of their guidance, or protection. Mostly so that they can profit.

We are of two main types: those who prefer to follow, and those who wish to rule. It would be preferable if men would rule themselves, but if this was the case, and we lived without rules, we would not survive. We would be at war, of one kind or another, all the time. We tend to like to fight, just like any beast. Even the lowest of beasts have their inborn rules; so we must have them.

Rules that allow us to go on living together must be fair and just. Unfortunately, they are not, as we often see today. All are ruled today, by an unholy trinity of religious cults, politicians and bankers. Politicians and religions all claim that their beliefs are the truth. Yet how can that which is only believed be truth?

Bankers, otherwise known as money lenders, or usurers, make the decisions: and so many die. Because of this form of human greed, stupidity, arrogance and guile, we will not survive much longer. As we die off from lack of food, disease, chemical blunderings, and base stupidity, we will do what we have always done: begin to kill each other. As base animals, we appear to be unable to overcome our problems in any other way.

We must endeavour earnestly to overcome the Beast. I don’t mean some Christian god, such as Satan. Did you even know that Satan was a Christian god? We must overcome the beasts that we are. You can see it every day, as you watch the news. It must be controlled: and only the use of knowledge, reason, logic, and provable fact, can do this. Must we fight and kill for beliefs beyond reason, that have no basis in fact, and cannot be truthful or factual? The priests of all religions will try to convince you that such things as gods, as portrayed in books such as the Bible and the Koran, are true and factual. Yet the evidence, and reason, say otherwise. This is why belief is used; as belief, by very design, overcomes reason.

So, do you think you're a reasoning person? Well then, tell me that you believe in nothing and then I may accept that you are showing some semblance of reason. Show me reason, and I will be convinced. Otherwise you're just a fool that believes all, and knows no reason.

Look at the world today, and tell me where lies reason? Muslims killing, Christians killing, as the faceless ones set them against each other for oil, or some other monetary profit. Everybody is trying to kill the other because of what they only believe, or are led to believe; and still they call themselves men of reason. They prove themselves, by their own actions, to be men without reason, and way beyond reason: unable to rationalise and work it all out.

No one poops any more, as we are above that sort of thing. We don't pee either. Women don't have hormonal problems. They don't have a menstrual cycle any more. They don't give milk any more; instead they get it from a factory that makes it for them. After all, they are the same as men nowadays. Why do they want to be like men? Another point: why do men want to be as women? Neither of them have the right equipment for such nonsense, either physical or psychological.

The world of men has gone mad, through beliefs that are based on nothing, with nothing to support such conclusions. Such is the mind and the thinking of the beast called man. That destructive creature, considering himself aloof over all other animals, is only an animal himself, as he shows so clearly to the few who watch him, and use his stupidity to get him to kill others.

Mankind is basically the same, regardless of origin, gender, religion, or colour. So, why all the suffering? Money, and a sense of power, that's why. The few remain faceless, as they dare not show themselves. Sooner or later, people will start to get the actual picture. Sadly, only when the pain reaches the brain. You know what I mean? Those two cranial cells, that sometimes spark at the same time. Then, more slaughter.

That's why you are not allowed to hold any weapons, or carry them. How many people who were murdered last year, were carrying a weapon to use in their own protection? Damn few, if any. The powers that be know damn well that the time draws near, and they are justifiably afraid of the very people they have been shafting for thousands of years. Some for just a few generations, but kings will be kings, of whichever genus. Where there are kings, there are corpses.

It’s all down to politicians, corporate directors, and their larger shareholders, along with merchant bankers and others of the self-serving, manipulative gender. Yet they believe themselves to be men of reason; or at least they want you to believe them to be. Even women have joined in on the act. You can believe anything; and most do, regardless of how ridiculous that belief may be.

Then again, there is usually a supposed reason for what people believe. It allows them to feel a little better about themselves, especially those of the purest metal of mindless evil.

Why do women join in this baseness, and want to act like men? For the same reasons, or lack of reason, as men.

When you look back over the millennia, since we came down out of the trees, we haven't changed very much. We have the wheel, and even computers, and all sorts of planes and bombs. But we haven't moved beyond the level of chimpanzees. We are, in the main, still mindless, still worshipping imaginary gods that obviously don't exist, still on our knees, begging, praying, grovelling, still blind to our own reality ,” still killing mindlessly.

When will we ever learn? When will reason rule, instead of blind belief and all this rubbish? Will the greedy, power-hungry ones quit? How far will they go before they are stopped? When will the rest of us wake up and drop the fantasy? Will it end, before mankind ends? Will it?

What do you think?

Bob Crosbie

© 30/12/2015