serenity...
Ashbyia, whose blog was once public, and who is not being quite the failed buddhist that I am, wrote this:
In about 1991, during a particularly interesting channelling session in which Lynn (who has since "crossed over") channelled an entity calling itself David, I asked David to define serenity. He defined it thus:
"Serenity is the absence of the perception of threat."
(a) I was stunned.
(b) It's the best definition of serenity I have come across in the 58 years I've been lurching lightward.
(c) I have not the faintest hope of being able to get even close to this experience.
P.S. I've just run "lurching lightward" through Google, and it seems I've said something original, Googlewise that is... So, until further notice "lurching lightward" is the copyright of this blog owner. (giggle)
Seems to me that in order to have peace in the world, every person needs to be at peace in the world.May Hakuin bless her little cotton socks...
It's no good jumping up and down demanding peace. It's no good shouting about war and injustice. It's no good being angry and demanding that governments do something.
No. The way to world peace is through peaceful thoughts and actions. Spreading kindness. Spreading understanding. Spreading acceptance.
Putting away anger. Banishing hatred from our thoughts and speech. Acting from the soft place in our heart. Walking a peaceful path, with determination and effort.
Because anger and demanding and recriminations have not worked anywhere in the world so far. Hatred leads to more hatred. Violence leads to more violence. Anger leads to more anger.
What we need, as the man said, is to give peace a chance.
In about 1991, during a particularly interesting channelling session in which Lynn (who has since "crossed over") channelled an entity calling itself David, I asked David to define serenity. He defined it thus:
"Serenity is the absence of the perception of threat."
(a) I was stunned.
(b) It's the best definition of serenity I have come across in the 58 years I've been lurching lightward.
(c) I have not the faintest hope of being able to get even close to this experience.
P.S. I've just run "lurching lightward" through Google, and it seems I've said something original, Googlewise that is... So, until further notice "lurching lightward" is the copyright of this blog owner. (giggle)
posted by The Editor at
3:32 PM
5 Comments:
That's a rotten definition of serenity: "Having no perception of threat" also applies to insensitivity, stupidity or just total lack of perception.
As for "give peace a chance", it's about as profound and wise as all the other gobbets of pop philosophy, like "All you need is love". They sound cute but don't actually mean anything.
It is, however, absolutely true that if everyone were, like, nice, and loved everyone else, the world would be, like, a better place. True but, like, unhelpful.
Anonymous, you seem to have a problem with the tenets of buddhism. As to your problem with the definition of serenity, please come back and give me an update AFTER you've attained this state of mind - I'd be most interested in whether your story would still be the same then. In any case, thanks for your comment. :-)
No, Gerry, I have no problem either with the ethical precepts or the philosophical tenets of Buddhism; they seem to me to be admirable, though I have not yet (I am only 24) been able to fully adhere to the former or master the latter. Nor have you, evidently, since you say you are a failed Buddhist.
As for serenity, I have no problem with its definition, for there are several good ones in the dictionaries, it's just that I don't think much of the concept that it's a matter of being oblivious to threat. I'm pretty serene nearly all the time, even in the face of provocation, but if I am in the middle of the road and I see a bus hurtling towards me then I stop being serene for long enough to get out of the way. I cannot believe that this is unacceptable to moste Buddhists.
If in these circumstances I remained serene by your definition then I would be dead and wouldn't be able to come back and give you an update, except as some other being.
Sincerely
(A theological student in Alexandria)
It's the theo student again.
Since I wrote the last post I've just picked up on the word "channelling" you used, which I hadn't noticed. If this means that you were talking about some spirit voice, and you were taken in by this garbage, then that explains why you never made it as a Buddhist. I'm sorry I took you seriously.
Dear theo student, what I think is meant by "the absence of the perception of threat" is just that. It is not possible to be serene whilst one perceives a threat.It does not sya you should sitt in the middle of the road practicing serenity whilst a Mack truck is hurling towards you. It points more towards the many perceived threats each of us imagines, even though they are not based on rationality, and this definition, I think, suggests that a great part of what stops us experiencing serenity might be merely inside our own heads. But what would a failed buddhist know, eh?
As to you comment about channelling I ask you this: Are you sure? I was sure too when I was your age. I'm no longer so sure though... And Alexandria is where?
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