Sex is the oddest thing. A pleasurable thing, like eating, laughing and sleeping; fun. However, unlike other pleasures, sex is often adulterated and conditional, requiring fidelity vows (disguised as proclamations of love) as a precondition to engaging in sex. This leads to less sex and less fun, though it's funny as it reflects that we don't know love and can't enjoy unadulterated sex....
"They were looking for love everywhere but couldn't find it because they had none of it to give." What does this mean? (1) If we don't have it, we don't know it and therefore we can't identity it when it comes our way. Hence, we should not seek what we don't know. (2) We can't find something outside of us that which is not us. Us and everything else is one thing, infinite manifestations of the universe. Upon realizing our oneness with everything, we realize our seeking is like a dog chasing its tail to the point of frustration and exhaustion. (3) We need to give in order to get. Love is about sharing with others, treating others as we would wish to be treated. There is no love unless we can give and receive it. (4) Whatever you think it means....
"No man is as pitiful as one who doesn't wish others happiness." However jovial one might appear, one is profoundly unhappy if one doesn't wish happiness for others. Or as John Lennon wrote: "You can shine your shoes and wear a suit You can comb your hair and look quite cute You can hide your face behind a smile One thing you can't hide Is when you're crippled inside You can wear a mask and paint your face You can call yourself the human race You can wear a collar and a tie One thing you can't hide Is when you're crippled inside...
Politicians are forever seeking, at the lowest cost to them, the public's attention. They do so by fabricating for journalists outrageous stories from minor events. Hoping to catch the public's attention, viewers and in turn advertisers, journalists publish these stories in the free press. Then the politicians act, presumably for the benefit of the public, in reaction to the stories they read. Their reactions make real news, at the cost of making many lives difficult....
The average CEO at a United States company makes 250 times more than the average worker. Some workers and ideologs complain about this apparent income inequality and call the CEO selfish. Perhaps, but not necessarily. More likely, if the CEO has any sense, he is happy; grateful for his good luck. However, complaining workers and ideologs are selfish; anger, envy and greed are the faces of selfishness. They take their ideological thoughts seriously instead of being thankful that in reality they have a higher standard of living than most people in this world. Likewise, when a CEO gets angry at a worker who could care less about how he is treated as he is grateful he's making a living, the CEO is selfish and the grateful worker happy and thankful for the bonus of a good laugh at the fatuous CEO who can't appreciate his good luck. Complaining is selfishness which precludes happiness. Happiness come from being grateful for one's good fortune....
Personal, commercial and social relationships can be characterized as "give and take" or "take it or leave it." In a give and take relationship, each party views the other as a package with positive and negative characteristics, needs and behaviors. To have a viable relationship with minimal conflicts, each party represses certain aspects of themselves or does things they would otherwise not do to please the other. Mostly give and take is done implicitly but sometimes there is an explicit accounting: "I did this for you, what have you done for me lately." Give and take relationships are more of a job than a joy. Most commercial relationships are a give and take; otherwise, people wouldn't need to be paid to work. For example, in a personal relationship one party may desire to have sexual relations with others outside the relationship. However, their relationship mate might find that unacceptable. Thus, for the sake of limiting conflict in the relationship, the one who desires sex with others refrains from doing so. In a take it or leave it personal relationship, each party loves the other and their relationship and accepts the other as they are. Each party does not necessarily view the other as perfect. Moreover, they don't perceive the other in terms of their individual positive and negative features. They accept each other as a package deal, as the totality of who they are outweighs any aspects that might otherwise be problematic. This allows each party the freedom to be themselves. This is love; all is perfect, including each other's shit. While give and take might seem like a good operating system for two agreeable people, take it or leave relationships are founded on love which better braves time....
Wisdom is having multifold perspectives which allow us to understand a situation and the ramifications of choices we make. Beyond our personal perspective, additional perspectives can be had when we truly connect with others and view the world as they see it. However, doing so is not easy. Easier may be taking the perspective from the end of our days, the death perspective. The death perspective allows us to consider how we would feel in light of the possible consequences from the choices we make today; thus, allowing us to make choices we will least regret at the end of our days, the choices that realize wonderful lives. The death perspective reveals how we will remember our lives and by extension how others will remember us when we are no longer in bodily form. It is wise to leave everyone with happy memories. Moreover, the death perspective awakens us. With little time remaining before bodily death and not distracted by mortal pain, everything is intensely beautiful. This informs our experience of the present. It awakens us to gratitude, a key element of happiness. As well, as we frequent the death perspective, the prospect of bodily death is not as fear-fraught as it would be otherwise. Once we avail ourselves of the death perspective, we can more easily access the perspective of others, wisdom....
We are asleep together in the winter in the clouds between heaven and Earth and awaken as snowflakes falling on mountains high up. In the spring we melt into water flowing into distant rivers. When the rivers meet in the ocean we are together again, one with the ocean which seems all there is. Which is it but for those who know we are one with everything before evaporating into the clouds....
Those who are conventionally smart have telescopic or microscopic minds. They can see farther or closer than most of us can see. Those who are wise can see from many different perspectives, not just their own. While a telescopic or microscopic mind is clearly more powerful and would hence seem more valuable than a wise mind, the wise mind has many perspectives which is almost always better than one....
Wisdom is having many disparate and often contradictory perspectives. Wisdom allows us to know the nature of things which makes for a relatively easy and entertaining life. Most people find wisdom elusive, hard to access as they have great difficulty letting go of their selfish perspective. Yet, living a life without wisdom is the most difficult thing of all....