-he says that nowadays people are less religious and therefore lack the certainty and purpose religion can bring. That purpose is eluding us. Shifting away from religion lead us to feel a sense of emptiness or a void. People turning away from it leads to consumerism as a way to fill this void but unfortunately leaving toxicity in there instead. Or to put it a different way we a leading ourselves on a goose chase where we chase the next consumer fix without an ending.
Fulfilment is as good as it gets, the way a man can endure the worst of times is by saying he is a fulfilled man. In futile times there can be the sense of lack of well-being, this is caused by an overarching problem or series of problems. The journey of life can have few of these times where the worst is yet to come, and all we can delay is an attack of the point. The information we get that we can fill our void with consumerism can lead us to welcome a throw-out culture and a cycle of unfulfillment and guilt that is by no means easily lifted.
-he’s saying there is a way we can end the trauma of consumerism. Essentially that the consumerist cycle has no end and that we are not able to complete ourselves with material possessions or lifetime events. Such as a new vehicle or mortgage.
The doctrine of life is loose, and we are not always told how to go about it. The schedule includes education, work, bank holidays, marriage, parenting. No-one told us how simple it was but the task is finding fulfilment whilst you’re working on it. The path includes a lot of material possessions and a lot of bars raised, a new mortgage won’t always bring you what you want as it takes something away, you’re sense of striving for that mortgage in the first place. Best thing to do is to have gratitude, humility and sanctity when you reach a goal.
-he says there no pleasure without the extremity of pain. Comparable to Aristotelian virtues that there is a scale of the sensation possibly satisfaction that causes us to be in either the positive or negative end. The best way to look past the negativity in life is to see both happiness and sadness as temporary events that will pass and not a astute endings. Adapting a level head will allow you to lead a life that can bypass negativity through life’s events.
The greatest challenge in life is learning to appreciate the experience of pleasure and not resist the experience of pain. These two skills can be acquired by learning to rely upon the present now and not entertaining anything over-thinking. We say that pain should be avoided and in such lack we find a peace of mind and a feel of welcome, good, sensation.
-he says there is not enough happiness and that awareness and living in the moment can help. Almost all misery can be put down to our thoughts about that situation, We’re too much in our heads. There’s a cure for feelings over past moments and something yet to happen in the future and that is to focus on the present moment, on the here and now. Life’s unsmooth ride can be endured by being at the now and not becoming lost in the negativity.
This is the best cure for me, the only link I have to this is when I lost bicycling to a white van man. Plenty of negativity followed and I lost myself in that chaos. The best thing for me now is to reflect on how the negativity passes and that being here and now will be the best cure. We can all get lost in our heads with it and pursue pleasure and try to forget about painful experience or in my case pain enduring. I don’t think I could cope with the thoughts about surgery and it removed me from having a peaceful present moment, which can be the cure for any sensitive events.
-he says that the mind and body are symbiotic or a continuum. That wester ideas are good in this regard however somehow there is still a fallacy that they are somehow separate from one another. He uses an example to prove this fallacy; that if you from or slouch you will affect your mood to reflect the change in posture. Also notice when you stand straight and take a deep breath your mind soon follows the good feeling. These incidences prove the mind is one with body. He wants us to reflect and use the body’s experiences to help slow the mind. Taking a breather will help. And listening to the body will help to teach your mind.
It is clear to me that the mind is symbiotic with the body, it’s a no-mere fact that biological functionalism proves that the mind is a product of biology working. Alan states that when we slouch or frown we loose our mood, and that we gain mood when we stand up and take a breather. These are nice examples of when we can use a simple body trick to help us maintain a happier way. The best idea is to take it slow and take little mood enhancing steps to slow the mind and stop it racing. Listening to the moment and helping it pass, whether it is a good or negative one. Listening to the body and helping it teach the mind is a good practice and will let you enable the best of your body and free mind.