Why We're Here

This is going to be incorporated into my personal growth manual at some point
https://jaydancingbear.wordpress.com/writings/personal-growth-manual-gradual-reformat/

As best as i understand right now, we are here to:
a) realize the Self, experience ourselves as a part of all-that-is, as a wave is part of the ocean, and
b) have our human experience, make the best of it, do our best to be healthy and happy, but still, whatever our circumstances, as difficult as they may be, realize that we chose to be here for some reason. Embrace the world, be tantric.

I've read a lot of spiritual books, especially from the Indian traditions, which basically view our time here as an opportunity to do the work to not be here, not get reborn, not get sucked into the world. Often they are very anti-pleasure, anti-sex, anti-engaging with the world, anti- in the sense that they think that worldly pleasures are, at best, wasted time. The ascetic approach has a lot of fulfillment and satisfaction in it, but only for those truly drawn to it. For others it is torture.

So i don't agree with the anti-worldly view, and yet i do recognize that the world often distracts us from the experience of our true nature, which is the greatest bliss there is. We get pulled outward, and lose our inner experience. The experience of meditation can be far more satisfying than the experience of drunkenness, and it's ok to get drunk, just try not to say or do anything harmful to yourself or others. Worldly pleasures and possessions are transitory, they inevitably end, "this too shall pass", but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with them, they are a part of life.

Just remember, as the Buddha observed, that sickness, old age and suffering are inevitable parts of life, certainly not all there is, but inevitably come to us at some point. When storms come, trees with deep roots survive. When the storms of life blow, if we have resources based on experience, which we get from time spent doing practices, resources such as intuition and mental focus, then we see opportunity and growth where others see calamity and disaster. Beyond just being tools to deal with adversity, being in these states feels "good". Again, all these happen as the result of hours and hours and hours of practice, not talking about it.

So for this reason i think the tantrics have it most correct, not necessarily the sexual tantrics, but the people who believe in finding their enlightenment through engaging with the world in a sacred way. I am using the word tantric in a general way, specific sects would probably find issues with what i am writing. Personally i have been torn between the monk and the pleasure seeker. It's been hard to reconcile the two. This post may be the peace treaty.

What i am saying is, that it is not either/or, either spiritual practices or a total worldly life, and it both/and, two halves of one whole. To be in the world, have our human lives, and not get so drawn outward that we live only on the surface. To meditate, and to party. To make love, and to pray. To earn a living, and to realize it's all a game. The tibetans seem to understand that best, although i am not a tibetan buddhist.

All a game, Maya, illusion, masks of god. To see spirit in everything is a lot harder in New York City than on a mountain. To go back and forth from the city to the mountain, and back again.
Namaste,
Socrates