tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150330670363169273.post7600874975118700829..comments2023-03-26T01:23:35.017-06:00Comments on Extreme Middle: revision of a visionExtreme Middlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665824400119790397noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150330670363169273.post-62489308179658688092012-04-03T12:01:25.770-06:002012-04-03T12:01:25.770-06:00You got it, and very much on topic. I look at it a...You got it, and very much on topic. I look at it as our motivation comes from an external reward, simply through conditioning to feel that the internal award is not enough. Some how we place little value on our own judgement as to what makes us happy. In this aspect though, we find a greater good given to the community we are a part of if we ourselves can be whole and content. We all have purpose in life, but that purpose is as varied as the individual. So it is only through SELF confidence that we can find that purpose, become in-tune with it, and accept our personal path in life. Then and only then can we accept those honored roles of external validation, such as a teacher, a lover, or a community servant. The only reason for this is our motivation is then more pure. We do not seek the gratification that are are given, but rather do the task because we know it need be done. This is how looking into the self we find how to be selfless through selfish reward.Extreme Middlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17665824400119790397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150330670363169273.post-64001555584436144992012-04-03T11:52:03.074-06:002012-04-03T11:52:03.074-06:00Some would say you speak of the Devil with all tha...Some would say you speak of the Devil with all that "satisfy yourself" nonsense. lol<br /><br />"Abandon yourself to your sense of self". I love it and might just steal that one (with the necessary acknowledgment, of course). <br /><br />One of the things people are conditioned to ignore is that we are inherently selfish. Selfishness is survival and those who are not selfish perish whether by the hand of others or by their own hand, and by that I am speaking strictly metaphorically right now.<br /><br />Survivors obviously will seize upon your weakness and exploit it. The evil ones do it deliberately while the good ones do it less dramatically and often unintentionally. It's just the flow of life. If you aren't moving and watching your step in the process you just become another stepping stone.<br /><br />This seems off subject, but it's possibly the very core of the problem you're seeing. We are conditioned to please others and seek our pleasure in the approval (pleasing) of others. It doesn't take too much insight to see the self-destructive and codependent path this leads to. Thus we get homes that are too expensive to afford and millions of people on unemployment because they just can't bear to reduce their standard of living to something less while still working for it.<br /><br />Kids don't have this problem. They see the world as it is. I like you if you have something for me if nothing other than you don't hurt me (abused kids experience a very twisted sense of "security" as defined by their abusers). Obviously, this mindset quickly leads to slavery as adults if we don't learn to PURSUE happiness beyond just secure living (in this sense we are regressing as a society).<br /><br />In "loving" relationships we sense something greater than our measurable benefits. That's a whole different spiritual discussion.<br /><br />Anyway, I might just expand on this in my own blog entry, damn it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com