To Buddha, the second figure in the painting, life on earth was bitter, filled with attachments and desires that led to suffering.
Pooh is able to accomplish what he does because he is simpleminded.
Under Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music, prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular purpose at a particular time.
Practically everything from hairstyles to lifestyles is endorsed as some sort of drug to be taken Now for Instant Relief.
Cleverness, after all, has its limitations. Its mechanical judgments and clever remarks tend to prove inaccurate with passing time, because it doesn’t look very deeply into things to begin with.
Thousands of years ago, man lived in harmony with the rest of the natural world. Through what we would today call Telepathy, he communicated with animals, plants, and other forms of life-none of which he considered “beneath” himself, only different, with different jobs to perform. He worked side by side with earth angels and nature spirits, with whom he shared responsibility for taking care of the world.
In order to take control of our lives and accomplish something of lasting value, sooner or later we need to learn to believe. We don’t need to shift our responsibilities onto the shoulders of some deified spiritual superman or sit around and wait for fate to come knocking on our door. We simply need to believe in the power that’s within us, and use it. When we do that, and stop imitating others and competing against them, things begin to work for us.
Things may get a little odd at times, but they work out. You don’t have to try very hard to make them work out; you just let them.
Within each of us there is an Owl, a Rabbit, an Eeyore, and a Pooh. For too long, we have chosen the way of Owl and Rabbit. Now, like Eeyore, we complain about the results. But that accomplishes nothing. If we are smart, we will choose the way of Pooh. As if from far away, it calls to us with the voice of a child’s mind. It may be hard to hear at times, but it is important just the same, because without it, we will never find our way through the forest.
Do you want to be really happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you’ve got. Do you want to be really miserable? You can begin by being discontented.
Now one rather annoying thing about scholars is that they are always using Big Words that some of us can’t understand... and one sometimes gets the impression that those intimidating words are there to keep us from understanding. That way, the Scholars can appear Superior, and will not likely be suspected of Not Knowing Something.
If “good” is not necessarily good, and “bad” not necessarily bad, what is “small”?
So quite often, the easiest way to get rid of a Minus is to change it to a Plus. Sometimes you will find that characteristics you try hard to eliminate eventually come back, anyway. But if you do the right things, they will come back in the right ways. And sometimes those very tendencies that you dislike the most can show up in the right time to save your life, somehow.
As we have likely recognized by now, no two snowflakes, trees, or animals are alike. No two people are the same, either. Everything has its own Inner Nature.
A Weakness of some sort can do you a big favor, if you acknowledge that it’s there. The same goes for one’s limitations, whether Tiggers know it or not- and Tiggers usually don’t. That’s the trouble with Tiggers, you know: they can do everything. Very unhealthy.
Cleverness, as usual, takes all the credit it possibly can. But it’s not the clever mind that’s responsible when things work out. It’s the mind that sees what’s in front of it, and follows the nature of things.
It’s really great fun to go someplace where there are no timesaving devices because, when you do, you find that you have lots of time. Elsewhere, you’re too busy working to pay for machines to save you time so you won’t have to work so hard.
In the story of the Ugly Duckling, when did the Ugly Duckling stop feeling Ugly? When he realized he was a Swan. Each of us has something Special, a Swan of some sort, hidden inside somewhere. But until we recognize that it’s there, what can we do but splash around, treading water?
Knowledge and cleverness tend to concern themselves with the wrong sorts of things, and a mind confused by knowledge, cleverness and abstract ideas tends to go chasing after things that don’t matter, or that don’t even exists, instead of seeing, appreciating, and making use of what is fit in front of it.
The honey doesn’t taste so good once it is being eaten; the goal doesn’t mean so much once it is reached; the reward is not so rewarding once it has been given.
Knowledge doesn’t really care. Wisdom does.