Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage."
- Thucydides
"Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Why is freedom the secret of happiness? And freedom the will to be responsible to ourselves? In both of these quotes there is an inherent reference to self, which is ostensibly ironic from a Buddhist thinker who understands that true freedom could only be achieved by dropping the self. Of course, “ostensible” is the key term here because the belief that self does not exist is a fundamental misunderstanding of Buddhism. That would be nihilistic, which is opposed to existence. For me, true happiness is the awareness of awareness (the theme of this drawing): we begin with the awareness of our bodies and other bodies; that we exist. But, awareness of awareness includes and yet is that one step beyond awareness. I am aware that I am aware, and it is that awareness that frees me from the limitations of mere embodiment; of even the belief in an independent, permanent self. I am free! O what joy! But, that freedom does not come easy. It begins with courage, passion, and responsibility, the ability to respond to one’s feelings and needs. Freedom begins with self-awareness: I feel therefore I am. I am because I feel. And I will cultivate that awareness and form a language around my emotional field so that, like the drawing’s figure, I will have greater (in)sight to the ground of my being, and of the flight towards transcendence from level to level of awareness. And I, the witness, observe with discernment and skillful means this divine process before me, before the self that slowly dissolves into all selves and all beings, without exception. It is there I find love.
ReplyDeleteThere must be something in the air. The Marginal Revolution blog also discusses happiness today. As is often the case, the comments are as cogent (or more so) as the short article. Tying happiness up in a little bow with 'responsibility' + 'interesting' adds some different colored fuels to the discussion:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09/is-being-interesting-more-important-than-being-happy.html
"is-being-interesting-more-important-than-being-happy?" - very curiously phrased article. "Being interesting" vs. "being happy" seems to me like comparing broccoli vs. pears. Two completely different perspectives. Maybe they meant "being interested" vs. "being happy?! Besides that, I am VERY HAPPY to read both your comments and find them both interesting, which adds to the secret of my happiness :) Keep it up.
ReplyDelete