Posted by Hal on June 28, 1999 at 09:25:46:
In Reply to: Re: being a healthy 4; to the extent that I am posted by Derf on June 27, 1999 at 15:20:48:
Comments coming... just on the ones I'm not sure I agree with.
: Average: I appreciate others insofar as they can affirm my idealized notions of self and life.
: Healthy: Since I appreciate others without burdening self-reference, my appreciation is both broader and deeper.
Okay, I agree with this one completely, but just wanted to echo its sentiments. Accepting other, and accepting yourself, is vitally important, and exceptionally difficult. It's our tendency toward self-absorption that gives us trouble here, and makes us see everything in relation to ourselves. The "Tao Te Ching" says, "See the world as yourself; then you can care for all things."
: Average: I am not like others. I actively seek to be different, for the sake of being different in itself.
: Healthy: Whether I am like others is of secondary concern; primarily, I consider myself tactful, tasteful, and spiritually enthusiastic.
I'm not sure seeing yourself as tactful and tasteful is really healthy. Both of these imply concern with how others perceive you, which again falls into the typical 4 traps. Maybe healthy would be better as, "I consider myself caring, loved, and spiritually enthusiastic."
: Unhealthy: I yearn for the little trappings of the external world, and for external self-distinguishment.
: Average: I yearn for enlightenment. Someday I will attain it.
: Healthy: I am on the path of enlightenment. It never ends, though I am enriched constantly.
It's not that I don't agree with the aim of this, but I'm not quite sure how different "yearning for Enlightenment" and "on the path of Enlightenment" are. There is certainly an aspect of "doing" in the path that is not necessarily in the yearning, and this is a good thing, but does the yearning disappear when we start doing? And do healthy people never have doubts about what they will attain, or even their ability to be constatnly enriched? The spiritual path is not constant, but is always changing; sometimes fast and furious, sometimes calm and peaceful, somtimes stagnant. A healthy person would need to realize this, and understand that even these periods are part of the path to Enlightenment.
- Hal -