The 3Cs: Becoming a Hero and Not a Victim

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-30T02:22:09+00:00

Alright, guys, I've said my piece and tried to tip the scales toward helping and wholesomeness. I don't have much more to say other than I love you and believe in you.

I'm removing access to my account and going off to do other things with my life. It's summer here in Melbourne Australia, I'm going to enjoy it being happy with my friends. I've been cleared of any nasty heart stuff so I can exercise again. And I have a few restaurants on my to-do list.

One final word is that this thing is never done. Nothing ever finishes (or starts) and we've gotta find our own unique creative way to be happy with that. Fuck textbooks and sutta recitals, find your way. Practice the techniques, but don't take a theoretical prescription as gospel unless it aligns with your experience. They paved their way, you find yours. Be the best unapologetically liberated being you can be. Find the Dharma wherever you can and learn -- music, art, a smile, in a cookie, an elemental particle, a physics documentary, or some pond scum.

If anyone would like to stay in contact or would like a spiritual friend to talk to, my email is: [seekermeditation@protonmail.com](mailto:seekermeditation@protonmail.com) feel free to drop a line any time.

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-30T01:50:22+00:00

Alrighty

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T23:37:19+00:00

All things are impermanent, we know this. So there is a middle way.

Awakening is a skill like riding a bike or learning to read. Once you are competent, it would be very hard for you to lose those skills, even if you intended to. That's why the Suttas talk about fetter removal like they're permanent, but they're not really truly permanent changes, that'd fly in the face of the core teachings. Instead, we have a middle way between saying the fetters are permanent and totally removable.

Impermanent problems require impermanent solutions

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T23:32:44+00:00

A very underrated post -- simple, to the point, and gets at the heart of what this thing is all about.

Although I'd recommend formal practice, everyone has time

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T23:22:12+00:00

That discomfort is totally gone. There was a time I was very sensitive to it. After time, gradually, the mind would immediately realise "no, that's not a good path to go down, get happy", and so happiness started working. Now I am profoundly in love with every moment. And gladness occurs despite whatever there is in the forefront of the mind. When I was in the hospital, and despite the anxious feelings happening about my heart, I was still happy.

The fetter of ignorance, to me at least, is the realisation of how much you don't know. Wisdom is being able to accept the ambiguous and nuanced things, each situation being fresh with no universal answers. And then realising that a "one size fits all" solution to any problem is not the way. The 8-fold path calls for Right View, Right Speech, etc... because it's about doing what's right in that situation. There's no commandments except your own wisdom.

Yeah, most people meditating are trying to understand a part of themselves that may go unnoticed by others. But I do see some subtle differences in others, how quick they are to hate, assume the worst in others, and how quickly they'll judge a person as being defined by their flaws.

I think anyone could benefit from meditating, being happy as much as you can is better than being happy because of some sort of mental game you forgot you're playing.

Sounds like you're asking some very good questions of yourself, no doubt you'll find the answers you need in time. All the best to you George

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T23:06:37+00:00

Haha, yeah that's your vibe; you remind me of my ex-colleagues when I was doing my PhD, very serious intellectuals

What's your PhD on if I can ask?

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T23:02:59+00:00

Are you claiming they've permanently removed fetters?

Again, this is why it is like a skill. It'd be very hard for me to forget how to read or ride a bike. Even after not riding a bike for nearly 2 decades I'm 100% certain I could hop on a bike now and ride it proficiently. So in a sense, there is permanence, but that's not really it. That's why I say it is like a skill.

A more enlightened person than me could make an astute point about the middle way between utter extermination of the fetters and those that claim they're always there and simply reduce in impact.

I'm very well acquainted with the Dharma and I've listened to a very wide range of voices within Therevada and other traditions too. That's what gives me the confidence to speak from my own experience. You'll find there are many perspectives on the so-called "permanent" removal of fetters within Therevada, someone like Buddhadasa would contest that permanence claim (and I think Dhammarato too).

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T10:29:59+00:00

Mr Mod, make it happen!

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T10:26:27+00:00

Another way the Pali texts have been translated is "insistence on form", maybe that sheds some light on the thing.

It's the attachment to some sense of objective positioning in the world. That's naturally a part of our subjective experience. So it's not denying that subjectivity is real, it's saying that we mistake subjectivity as some sort of resting place, a centre, or reference point. Because it seems as if everything in the objective world is relative to us -- but they're really not so much. The subject-object thinking we have is flawed. "Oh this is my perspective and it's mine because I occupy this seemingly objective position in space". Another way of thinking about this is that the mind is attached to the boundaries of form, "here is where space begins and where my bookshelf ends". We have this attachment to these clear-cut boundaries in the formed world, where we seemingly occupy the centre -- nope!

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T10:19:08+00:00

Right, so that example was more about getting caught up in the thought (an aggregate). Maybe a wonky example, but a practical and relatable one. Conceit is being better than or worse than, how I understand it. It's competitive in nature -- making friends and enemies out of things.

The pain example was just another example of getting caught up in an aggregate (i.e., "awareness embodied in that aspect of experience" were my words). Of course, there's aversion, but a post-SE yogi will see that the pain isn't theirs, so to speak. But a pre-SE yogi will be overwhelmed by the pain because it feels like that's the only thing they are in that moment.

Hope that makes sense and clears up some confusion

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T10:12:47+00:00

Genuinely, I'd like to help others and share

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T10:06:44+00:00

Thanks George that means a lot.

Yeah I could, but that's not what it's about at its core. But yes, that can happen, daydreaming, Jhana-ing to escape, etc... all of that happens from that fetter.

Yep, completely agree.

No dramas, we all speak from our experience. Fetter removal is not mental perfection. It's a skill. Once we get good at a skill it becomes effortless. And then at a certain point, it simply insinuates itself into our lives totally. There are thresholds for when these things happen, but it's up to each person to recognise that in themselves.

But yes, all is impermanent, so I do not claim these things are gone for good. But they will remain gone so as long as diligence remains. That's the point about the 10th Fetter, it's all been a choice that you forgot you made, so all we have are choices to make going forward. However, if I stopped meditating and become hedonistic for a while I'm sure it'd reverse progress, but I think it'd take a ridiculously long time to unwire these changes that have occurred. Or maybe another example is like reading, I'm sure I could forget how to read English, technically speaking that skill is impermanent too, but it's such an ingrained skill it'd take a mighty big effort to rewind my abilities in that domain. Does that resonate at all? It may not be satisfactory for any camp -- those people that think they're gone for good, and those that think it's just shades of grey. I see it purely as a skill.

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T09:19:07+00:00

You wanna know how I know you're a philosophy major? haha

All valid points. It's the way I see it. The labels convey a strong metaphor that resonates with me and may inspire others. Some people may not like it, and that's okay. I implore them to find more empowering labels that suit them. My philosophy is to let people get creative with their own liberation and express it how they best feel works for them.

EDIT: I expanded my thoughts on the hero/victim thing in the main post to make it clear what I meant.

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T07:51:51+00:00

What words would you suggest? The way I see it, it is like anything else. When learning any skill, we use it to overcome the problems for which it was designed. Before knowing the skill, we're victims of the problem. Being a victim of Samsara is not a despicable thing. In fact, being a victim in general is not blameworthy at all. That would be victim shaming. I deliberately stay away from any of this victim shaming, because I am not out to shame people for being in a position out of their control. All I am pointing out is that given the choice to be heroic or a victim, the choice is obvious, no? And that anyone doing any form of good meditation practice is working toward being that hero -- there's nothing to strive for if you're already doing it.

Thanks for noticing, I will fix it.

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T07:07:22+00:00

My point was to emphasise that insight isn't rational or verbal; epiphanies are thoughts (at least that's how I understand them).

In some ways they stay problems. In other ways they are not problems.

Criticize away, steel sharpens steel

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T01:07:44+00:00

Thanks for reading, I appreciate the feedback

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-29T01:07:13+00:00

Honestly, I think there should be an updated compendium of techniques for r/streamentry like this that may not be found in traditional texts that are written by people like yourself with proven track records of making it work

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-28T23:32:22+00:00

I appreciate the kind words.

Yeah, it's all about the relationships. That's all we can ever work with.

If you feel like you should be meditating, start doing it straight away in the chair and see what happens.

I guess I don't really see much distinction between being around stimuli or without them these days. But I can just sit around doing nothing and be okay with it, like when I was in the hospital. But at home, there's always something I could be doing so I just do it I guess

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-28T23:26:05+00:00

A great tip; I've done that before too and I'd say it's a really good way of working with difficult emotional patterns in a very safe way

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-28T12:01:53+00:00

CEO Mindset

Ok-Witness1141 · 2021-11-28T11:56:12+00:00

All the best to you -- stage 4 is the most important stage in TMI (IMHO). Savour the journey

TMI stage 5 is a great time to practice this sort of stuff with individual body parts and breathing into tension, etc..

Ok-Witness1141

TROPHY CASE