Belly Button Lint

Feeling Lint-y?

Tag: learning

  • Theme:

    I vs. me

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    1–2 minutes

    Let’s define our terms: the “I” is the core you, the “me” is your reactionary ego, the conditioned self.

    The “me” gets offended and overrides the “I.” The “me” is protectionist and a liar and tells you it is “I”… to protect you.

    The problem: if we claim all strong reactions arise from “me,” it implies we would cease to react.

    The core self (the “I”) must react clearly and without blinding negativity.
    However, the problem remains that we must distinguish between the “me” and the “I” as we leap into action.

  • Theme:

    you cannot understand what you judge

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    1–2 minutes

    To understand something you must be in it, and of it. It is bodily, emotive, and flowing.

    When we judge we shift from the Right brain (open and holistic) to the Left brain (rational and linear).

    To judge is to articulate and file, to create a snapshot so you can categorize.

    It is not that judgement is not useful, it is that it leaves us incomplete.

  • Theme:

    knowledge without illusions which negates everything they profess

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    1–2 minutes

    When you know you are right punishment is not rehabilatory, it is fate.

    If you know who you are, and what you love, then you know what you must do: there is no choice.

    Others may profess righteousness and attempt to drown you in punishment and exile, but this cannot be punishment since you knew the rules (accepted them) and (knowingly) accepted your fate.

    This is how Sisyphus can smile: he knows himself and the world without illusion.

    “He achieves a knowledge without illusions which negates everything they profess.” ~ Albert Camus.

  • Theme:

    Pinning down the self

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    1–2 minutes

    The self arises, and we act. Occasionally, we can examine the emotive urge before enacting the impulse, but when we explore where the urge came from, the self recedes and dissipates, leaving us confounded.

    The urge to define (capture) “the self” is scientific. The compulsion to examine is the same urge that euthanizes butterflies and pins them to a board for cataloging.

    But of course, this captured “self” cannot contain the whole self, the leftover self is still studying and reacting to context, flitting away from the collection of facts pinned down.

  • Theme:

    fixing vs. understanding

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    1–2 minutes

    We have the urge to fix things, to make them better.

    The question is: do we understand things before the impulse to alter them to our desire?

    Do we fix things not broken, simply because it’s easier than understanding and accepting?

  • Theme:

    The new is an abomination, but we will accept it

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    1–2 minutes

    When something new is born into the world, it is an abomination: a mutation.

    It may serve some utility. Utility is what makes us accept it.

    In a simplified stance, new is “evil” in terms of disruption, but after an encounter, you cannot help but accept aspects of it as a new reality.

    From that point on, removing all traces of this foreign injection from your altered life is almost impossible.

  • Theme:

    Being in love provides access to insight

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    1–2 minutes

    To be in love, like the faith of being a true believer, is to suddenly comprehend all of the insanity the outside world cannot grasp: when you are in it, the contradictions are beautiful epiphanies.

    When you are on the outside, it is all idiocy.

    Only by doing it can you access the perspective that shifts irrationality into truth.

  • Theme:

    The difference in the amateur and professional

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    1–2 minutes

    Commonly we hear: The amateur creates out of love. The professional creates for money.

    This, however, is a false distinction. If the amateur loved what they did even more, they would do it for money.

    If anything, the amateur overidentifies with what they create, declaring their identity as an artist, poet, or actor, while the professional considers it their job, and realize while it is what they do it is not how they identify who they are.

    This is what allows the professional to continue to create, while the amateur is overly anxious and sensitive to any feedback or criticism, to the extent that they will not produce or release their productions. It is as if the amateur will lose “who they are” if this hobbyist love was taken from them, while the professional has no such illusions.

    From Steven Pressfield, the war of art

  • Theme:

    future hope is a trap

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    1–2 minutes

    We all want something to lean on, if not someone some future plan.

    The problem is, leaning on anything (even hope for the future) keeps you from seeing what you have right now and enjoying it.

    Consider hope as a type of desire. We know from Buddhism desire (wanting) is the root of suffering, but we still want a better future, so we suffer.

  • Theme:

    happiness comes from reality

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    1–2 minutes

    You can try to be happy by keeping your head in the sand. That is, to live in escapism, often taking the form of idealism.

    However, reality will slap you on the ass, and once again your happiness will be stolen from you.

    The other approach is clear eyed bravery: to see reality as it is, or at least as much as you can understand. This is not being a cynical realist; it is seeing through your own illusions and delusions.

    Once you can see through yourself, you can see through anybody – and not being tricked, you can love them; then you will never not be happy.