The Buddha says that pain or suffering arises through desire or craving and that to be free of pain we need to cut the bonds of desire.

All cravings are the mind seeking salvation or fulfillment in external things and in the future as a substitute for the joy of Being.

As long as I am my mind, I am those cravings, those needs, wants, attachments, and aversions, and apart from them there is no "I" except as a mere possibility, an unfulfilled potential , a seed that has not yet sprouted.

In that state, even my desire to become free or enlightened is just another craving for fulfillment or complettion in the future.

So don't seek to become free of desire or "achieve" enlightenment.

Become present.

Be there as the observer of the mind.

Instead of quoting the Buddha, be the Buddha, be "the awakened one," which is what the word buddha means.

Humans have been in the grip of pain for eons, ever since they fell from the state of grace, entered the realm of time and mind, and lost awareness of Being.

At that point, they started to percieve themselves as meaningless fragments in an alien universe, unconnected to the Source and to each other.

Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your mind, which is to say as long as you are unconscious, spiritually speaking.

I am talking primarily of emotional pain, which is also the main cause of physical pain and physical disease.

Resentment

hatred

self pity

guilt anger

depression

jealousy, and so on, even the slightest irritation, are all forms of pain.

And every pleasure or emotional high contains within itself the seed of pain: its inseparable opposite, which will manifest in time.

Anybody who has ever taken drugs to get "high" will know that the high eventually turns into a low, that the pleasure turns into some form of pain.

Many people also know from their own experience how easily and quickly an intimate relationship can turn from a source of pleasure to a source of pain. seen from a higher perspective, both the negative and the positive polarities are face of the same coin, are both part of the underlying pain that is inseparable from the mind identified egoic state of consciousness.

There are two levels of pain: the pain that you create now, and the pain from the past that still lives on in your mind and body.

Ceasing to create pain in the present and disolving the past - this is what we want to work on.

What would you consider a desire or craving and what is your philosophy or religious idealogy in ending it if it becomes destructive?

One craving I can't stop and I know will have bad effects if I don't stop is the addiction to sweets such as fine chocolates.

If I keep at this rate I will eat more then the average Swiss man who eats 24 pounds of chocolate per year.

By the way Americans eat approximately half that amount per year.

I might go as far as 40 pounds.

The pain and craving to stop is stronger then the desire to do so.

So therefore I have to work on letting go of this somehow.

Fortunately this is just a small problem compared to so many bigger problems others have.

Moderation is the key to happiness unless you are addicted...lol

finding that middle way. I agree.

I think my case it is addiction. Love fine sweets and chocolates. Love baking them also.

Not good ..not good...shouldn't be laughing I know

LOL, there could be worse thing to be addicted to though

true like spending endless hours on mingle2 and asking yourself later "why?" lol

Today I feel the need to scream. I have a lot to do over at my mom's house, but I can't stand the television programs she constantly watches over and over.

Little house on the Prairie and Seventh heaven.

All the time.... all day.... constantly.

How can they show those shows all day long? I hate them.

So, I get my chores done as quickly as possible and leave. I feel bad, because I want to stay and do more but I can't stand being there.

She insists on having the television on those channels all the time.

I prefer to not be there. I can't stand it. It drives me to the brink of insanity.

So I'm thinking about doing my house hold chores at night after she goes to bed. But then I won't get any sleep.

Or maybe I will get a CD player and wear earphones and listen to music while I am there.

Any suggestions? It's driving me nuts.

I was that way with Mingle when it was Just Say Hi. I can now spend time on here and then leave it for a day or two. I think it is that way at first for a lot folks.

Again I will say there are a lot worse things to be addicted to though...lol

memorize each episode and mock them while your mother is watching them until she goes crazy and leaves when you come to clean the house

yes I can imagine what worse things could be. lol

Have a great day dragoness and I always enjoy reading your well thought out posts.

Whats up with little house on the prarie, I swear women here seem to be focused on that program for some reason, they all watch those old reruns. Maybe they can't handle the present? That would drive me nuts if I lived there but there seems to be something else behind your anxiety, maybe it's not the tv programs but some unresolved issue with your mom? Could be wrong of course...

Having been here a short time now, I was a bit addicted to Mingle but now, like the news on TV, I have to get away from it or become depressed with all the arguments and conspiracy theories being posted. Grin! Most days I can handle the craziness of it all, but some days I have to back off for my own sanity.... lol

I just thought of something else, why not just tell your mother when you are cleaning that you can not listen to the tv? Would she be pissed? Hell if someone was cleaning my house I would shut down the TV happily. Wanna come clean mine? I'll even go buy your favorite music, and help out as well... grin!

Ok I will admit here and now that I am probably addicted to cigarettes. Chocolate is great but I don't crave it like a cigarette. I like to smoke, or at least I tell myself that. I am intolerant of being told not to smoke, though no one is asking me to, that doesn't help I am sure, but if I could give it up with out becoming a raving b$tch and thinking I am about to die....

Not sure the Budda could help with that one, much less the chocolate craving if one is really addicted even just in the mind.

No, seriously, I love my mom. I enjoy her company. It is Little House on the Prairie I can't stand... and reruns.

Seventh Heaven is not a bad program, but I get tired of it being on all the time. ... then Little House comes on and I want to shoot the television.

It is too goody goody two shoes, too preachy, always a stupid moral at the end of the story, and it does grab your attention when you don't want it to. I hate it. It tries to show people what the perfect family is supposed to be like and what people are not supposed to be like. Its judgmental and preachy. And that's all she likes to watch.

She also watches reruns of certain kinds of movies similar to that. (Sara plain and tall, Parent trap, etc etc.) I know them all by heart. It is like slow Chinese water torture to be in the same room with that television.

Also she likes ... "Touched by an Angel." I don't like that one either.



Give me my favorite programs and I would be okay.

Law and Order, Leverage, The Closer, Psyche, Burn Notice.

I love those shows.

Can you just tell her you hate the shows and its unbearable? Is she the type that will be understanding of that or not? My mom is a little eccentric also so thats partly why I moved 3000+ miles away. Family is fine at a distance. Im a firm believer in quality time, not quantity.

Jeannie just do what you said you will do. Get some headphones and listen to your ipod or walkman without having to listen to Little House on the Prairie while cleaning the house.

I mean that is what your mom enjoys to watch. Don't take away something she enjoys and makes her happy and content.

Good music can lift the spirits. I am sure it can do this.

Nope. She says, its her television, and she gets angry if you change the channel. I change it when she takes a nap, and even then she has been known to complain. (She says she was listening to it.) I don't care. I will change it if she is taking a nap.

She claims that my Dad likes those shows. That's a laugh. He don't even know what is on and can't hear the tv anyway.

So I don't spend as much time over there as I should cause I can't stand it.

I think that is what I am going to have to do. It is getting to the point where I really have to do something.

Yep, I will do that tomorrow.

Then I guess like smiless said, the earphones is your best bet. Just go over there and get what needs to be done over with and leave. Old people can be difficult. I mean very old. Parent age.