Quote:
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Originally Posted by FallingLeaves
of course you know that is just another kind of conditioning we foist upon ourselves?  |
Trying to express things verbally may be impossible!
But I press on.... at times...
If one wants to pursue selflessness, one must give up the self. Insects can't help themselves, they gather around lights at night. If one path leads to conflict and suffering, and another leads to peace, eventually all will choose the path that leads to peace. It's how we are made. So at the very core of our being and as a part of consciousness itself, is built in conditioning. Our unselfish nature, below ego and all this selfish stuff, will eventually be chosen. We are conditioned to do so.
There in only one path, and it is narrow, and few find it...
Matthew 7:13-14 King James Version (KJV)
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Buddha's narrow path and "conditioning"....
THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
Right understanding (Samma ditthi)
Right thought (Samma sankappa)
Right speech (Samma vaca)
Right action (Samma kammanta)
Right livelihood (Samma ajiva)
Right effort (Samma vayama)
Right mindfulness (Samma sati)
Right concentration (Samma samadhi)
We always will choose higher intelligence and awareness, we are conditioned or programmed to do so. There is a type of "pleasure" associated with insight into the self.
Why would someone choose ego? Well because it is pleasurable. It's fun to be the "boss," to get power over others, to be respected, worshiped, put on a pedestal. To be right and prove others wrong. But it is a very low form of "pleasure."
Imagine somebody who is extremely selfish and self-centered. They get lonely and want a partner. So they eventually find someone and they live together and the fights or conflicts start. Why? Well because both people want things only their way. Eventually, after many failed relationships, one learns to get what they want, a partner, they have to not always get their way. They have to compromise and think of the feelings and desires of their partner as well as their own. Children are another reality that can make one give up being selfish.
The point is one starts out wanting the lower forms of pleasure, ego, drugs, alcohol, sex, power, greed, money, and after many incarnations, one eventually becomes more refined, more into the subtle forms of pleasure which come from more understanding and awareness. One learns to be selfless, giving, putting others first, because the pleasure one gets from this is superior to the lower forms.
Most base lower pleasures have a down side. But the higher pleasures don't. We are conditioned to learn and grow and move from the lower pleasures to the higher ones, the highest one of all possible to a human I would say is connecting to the source of consciousness itself.
But in this growth, is self discipline. It is not forced though. One freely chooses to give up things, become one likes the states of consciousness this leads to.
Linear Mode
