poll of importance

Bodhisattva · 05-06-2009, 09:35 PM

In what order do you rank the importance of the following

the poll is for Your 1#

1# The change and development of life, mankind, progress, growth

2# Happiness,pleasure,t he pleasure chemicals, the lack of unhappy chemicals call it what you will, the good stuff

3# The Preservation of life, the importance of the living thing's that you value, all life, mammal life, human life, the lives or your beloved, of your self, whichever whatever, the preservation of life

id adore any discussion on the inter-connectedness

if you have something that ranks for you ABOVE these three, share

also perhaps their is a dichotomy between your 'ideals' and your actions?

Grieves · 05-06-2009, 09:43 PM

preservation 1
progress 2
feeling 3

keeping myself alive is the number one thing followed by betterment of self followed by feeling good...

example: I eat, Go to work, Get High...

pacman · 05-06-2009, 09:59 PM

i say happiness is number one. if youre not happy, why care about preservation?

1.happiness
2.preservation
3.progress

you gotta be happy or else your just a drone wasting space and time

Grieves · 05-06-2009, 10:42 PM

Do you mean happy as in gleeful or happy as in content in one's self worth?

Bodhisattva · 05-06-2009, 11:00 PM

Do you mean happy as in gleeful or happy as in content in one's self worth?

and so the inter-connectedness begins..

**Canuck Wisdom** · 05-06-2009, 11:05 PM

I chose happiness. The others seem tied in and I could choose any to mean the same thing. Progress, preservation, are an aspect of the possibility for happiness.

Center · 05-06-2009, 11:11 PM

progress.

why preserve life if it becomes stagnant!? for progress is life. and what of happiness? happiness is to be derived FROM progress. what kind of progress is worth while?

Bodhisattva · 05-06-2009, 11:14 PM

Originally Posted by Canuck Wisdom

I chose happiness. The others seem tied in and I could choose any to mean the same thing. Progress, preservation, are an aspect of the possibility for happiness.

they are definitely not the same thing, if you choose one to mean another you would be deceiving yourself

suffering is interlanced with all of life
so is loss of life
and the backwards step in the trail of progress

inclinations, is the question

The Rev · 05-07-2009, 07:16 AM

There's no "I'm Gay" option.

Everything we do is intended toward happiness in one way or another, so I would say it's our general purpose as living beings. Progress and Preservation are just other ways of saying "Becoming happier" and "Maintaining the option of happiness".

The Rev

AfroHorse · 05-07-2009, 07:19 AM

The first 3 options are the same thing

Bodhisattva · 05-07-2009, 07:41 AM

There's no "I'm Gay" option.

are you sure?

verklingen · 05-07-2009, 08:13 AM

they're all the same to me, so i vote gay

Bodhisattva · 05-07-2009, 08:41 AM

**SageTree** · 05-07-2009, 10:45 AM

I think they are all the same thing as well.

For me mindfullness of the moment is what I value most. Being able to watch the ebb and flow of life around me and taking it for what it is. All things shall pass, being attached to them in an expecting manner opens you up to greater suffering.

Practicing persecption is what can make all those options seem good bad or both. Time will tell us what has been benficial. Judging leads to suffering. What is good now, could be bad tomorrow and good the next day. That is a rollercoaster of suffering to me.

Just staying level/mindful enough to act with good intention, moment to moment, is all I hope for.

**Canuck Wisdom** · 05-07-2009, 11:28 AM

Good post. ^

Something I have thought much about recently. If someone is there for you, bringing light into your life, and then gone the next, not there for you, leaving you alone when you could really use them, how do you react when they are there for you again for their own selfish reasons..?
Its your own selfishness that makes you suffer when they are gone, expecting them to be there for you, if you accept them again, next time their gone, what then? Its hard to not be selfish.

**SageTree** · 05-07-2009, 11:53 AM

Hmmm.....

If someone has brought light into your life, I feel it's because they have brought something out that was in you all along. And you can hold on to that. Like knowing a special place when you are high, and then finding that place on your own clear mind.

It think is okay to pay creedence to anyone who teaches you, even if they are selfish in the end. It doesn't decrease the value of lessons learned for you, does it?

Attachment for me is the root of suffering, I would agree with the selfishness makes you suffer remark. Expecting something that leads to suffering as well. Volitile realationships aren't healthy either. If you can't take it for what it is, which is being around a previous teacher, and it is hindering what you learned about yourself, it could be best to step back and really look at why you want this person again and again, even though they cause you suffering from with in and due to their actions.

It's hard not to be selfish. Truth. You can choose perspective imo. If you really can't find something to be happy in, with in the realationship that is, then why persist with it?

You sound like you have already learned something great from the experience however. Has it maintained with and without this person, regaurdless of presence?

Consider why you want this attachment, and is the good outweigh the bad? Or are you clinging to the good time and hoping it happens again?

Lots of questions, hope I offered some answers/useful opinion/catalysts?

In Loving Kindness,
SageTree

B. · 05-07-2009, 01:07 PM

I don't see them as the same... progress could be at the expense of happiness and preservation, as I believe that the system we live within has a purpose within a greater system then I rank progress as the most important.

If I was to be selfish then of course I would choose happiness, which could be at the expense of preservation... ie, eating what you like including whatever beast your feel like bbq'ing that day, central heating, collection of big cars and fast bikes regardless of environmental damage.

Rationally, I think progress is the most important... emotionally I would be torn between preservation and happiness.

verklingen · 05-07-2009, 02:07 PM

^ i see what you're saying, but i can't personally say that any one is more or less important than another because they are all so very interrelated and each has a way of leading to the other. one having temporary prominence lays the foundation for development of another and so forth. . . like an outreaching, self-propelled spiral you might say. so i feel that to be most honest i can only consider them non-linearly and therefor see them as sharing equal importance/relevance.

B. · 05-07-2009, 02:30 PM

Cool... I suppose they are the same in the sense that you can't have one without the other two, so they all share equal importance... like you say, some just have more relevance at particular times... sacrifice of personal happiness can promote overall progress, which can help with preservation... leading to potential happiness.

hehe

Its like a question I often mull over... Which is most important..? ...Individuality or Community.

I suppose the answer is a similar one, both have their moments.

verklingen · 05-07-2009, 02:33 PM

right on man, it's a lot like the chicken and egg come to think of it

which is more important: the chicken or the egg? heh