[Gem]

Originally Posted by Rain95

Doesn't everyone who posts ideas do this? Every post is an assertion of belief, opinion, or truth. This is what I think. This is what I believe. This is what is true. Here is this famous religious or spiritual authority who says it. So it is true. Or, the heck with religious authorities, here is what I say is true.

Every post is a person asserting (power) an idea they (authority) have in that moment.

No, people just speak in a conversation.

But the question I would ask is, can we have no opinions, beliefs, or truths in the moment? So that there is nothing to assert or defend?

Power is played by creating positions, and takes form when one asserts a personal deficiency to the discredit of another - I become the expert on you, for example - I become the knower as you become the known - so I can say things that are 'true' about you. Sometimes it's only an anomaly so it has no significance, but sometimes it's characteristic of the discourse. I'm not the only one who notices, and I don't know what got 'cleaned up' around here, but I can assume it was narrative which was less that complimentary, which involves some level of ill-intent, and as ill-intent is the harbinger of harm, protection measures take place.


I think the desire to teach drives the positioning strategies we see in this section, and intent is quite a murky business, because my desire for your happiness is not necessarily purely intended - it can be something that appears to me as my desire to help, which may tainted by my craving for some higher spiritual status - or another thing which is isn't 'metta'.

The think with self awareness at the level of intent, it really does require a great deal of honesty, so that we really 'know what we do', as opposed to 'know not what they do', as JC put it.

The now is like a new page in a coloring book. We color it as we wish. We are the creators of our experience of what is. To a degree, we can alter what is as well. Not in all ways obviously as karma plays a role.

What if Buddha's main message was, we don't have to color the new page in the coloring book at all. We can leave it as it is. Leave everything in it's original state before we mess around with it, before we color it according to our ideas and beliefs and thoughts.