Local meetup for budo practitioners?
in Spirituality ·
Chris Williams said:One really ought to confront absolute solitude and whatever processes occur within us during that time.
Most people seem terrified of being alone because, to them, it feels synonymous with the suffering of loneliness. When there is no one else around, the mind tends to start dredging up all the mental refuse we have accumulated over the years. I suspect the mind doesn't truly exist; what we call the mind is merely a stream of thoughts composed of memories and fantasies.
These thoughts aren't actually ours. They belong to society. They are acquired—parasitic constructs born from social conditioning and sustained by our identification with them. This identification is what creates a personality.
When others are absent and the mind begins to fracture, it marks the beginning of the collapse of the personality, leaving us to face a revolting void. To move through that void, to enter that silence, is to cross a threshold; it is an initiation, a leap into the darkness, a plunge into the unknown. Death.
What actually occurs is quite beautiful, I guess. That death is the beginning of the birth of individuality, bliss, true happiness, and a sense of ease in existence.
Masterfully articulated! 👍