Contentment at 2 levels

Having trained myself in a rather strict manner, I’ve came to find out more about how certain aspect of thoughts and feelings lead to many aspect of action.

Now a certain topic caught my attention, something that i’ve always wanted to address but didnt (at that point in time before) had the necessary linguistic capability that could meet the benchmark in which I’ve set for myself.

That topic is contentment.

People in general by large feels that contentment is an negative attitude – especially for those whom wants to become “Successful” . Defining success is another whole topic by itself and I’ll not delve into it now.

The foundation of contentment lies on equanimity – ability to accept things as they are (general definition). This definition of contentment is too coarse, and coarse explanations is like grabbing a bunch of sand and say “this is sand”, but , there are fine sand and coarse sand , which is it? Now contentment with a foundation on equanimity – ability to accept things as they are is akin to grabbing a bunch of sand and saying “this is sand”.

I will daringly and broadly categorise contentment into two types, one being superficial, and the other being in depth.

Superficial contentment lies in being able to accept things as they come , living on things in a way that one’s expenses does not exceed one’s income. Being able to see the value in things that we possess and not overlook them – by large it refers to family bonds, friendship etc.

While such contentment (of superficial level) is already hard to achieve, such a level of contentment isn’t contentment set upon the foundation of equanimity.

Now for readers whom is new to the concept above, I strongly suggest you do not read on as it might choke you and I would like to seek forgiveness from anyone whom will be offended as to what I am going to write below.

Now what does contentment on a deeper level means? (this is not the deepest level,however I am relating it to the level at which I’ve seen it for myself)

Contentment at a deeper level is when one is able to deal with skilfully with mental suggestions(i am using a rather diplomatic term here),

One stops all unwholesome states of mind

One stops the arising of unwholesome states of mind

One works hard at arising wholesome states of mind

One works hard at maintaining all wholesome states of mind

Now if you’re thinking what rubbish is this writer writing, isnt that a unwholesome state of mind? Is this how a contented person think & act?

Freedom At A Basic Level

Just two days into my seek of freedom, and I realise, true freedom doesnt come from things that we’re conventionally used to , like “Freedom Of Speech” etc. Although the common things like that does give us “freedom” at a superficial level, it actually strips us of another kind of freedom – the freedom of our mind falling for our thoughts.

 

 

 

 

Why do humans want a million dollars? Because then , they would be free from worrying about things like…

Food , Shelter , Bills , Handphones , Entertainment etc

Then when we get a million dollars , what do we want to be free from.. ?

Good Food, Big Shelter, More Bills, I-phone , More Entertainment..etc

Then when we get 10 million dollars , and our body starts to degenerate.. what do we want to be free from?

Disease brought by food , Disease brought by immobility , Diseases brought by working too much

So in the end, we humans make one big round to go after things that we dont have, only to later come and look for things that we already have now – pure irony.

Now the freedom I’ve experienced cannot be understood by a mere reading of words (unless you’ve experienced it yourself before) – like a person who dont know whats red unless he himself has seen it before. I’ll do a simpler illustration for the sake of those seeking such freedom,(if your intention is bend on arguing with what I am about to write, it’ll by default not be able to gain the freedom which I write of)

I love to dota (an online game) and everyday when I go home, I would at least surf some dota news and if possible play 1 game of dota – it was a staple activity for me. Now thus it appears I am free to do what I like – to dota – but actually it restricts me because if i dont dota , i suffer the results of craving for dota – what sort of freedom is this?

Hence, having abstain from dota, one does not focus on dota and observe the feeling that is produced from abstaining from dota, if one is indeed bent on observing exactly what this feeling is, one gains true freedom .

Now this may sound all blur for many, should you need to ask me about it, feel free to.

P.s To ensure maximum result, please ensure you go and abstain from something you like for 2-3 days before chatting with me ;)