I think i may be going over to the dark side

Everyone has a dark side... but what happens if you just ain't \"dark side\" material?

The answer:



On a more serious note, I wanted to point out that there are some very interesting ideas about the way that the universe works (and doesn't).

Paradox (especially self-nullification) seems to be the highest truth. Yet when human beings go through a self-nullification process, I've noticed that they sometimes ignore the truths which are within them at the expense of balance. You see, perfect enlightenment has been said to be a state of relaxed awareness, and one which has become natural as the result of understanding the world and completely releasing the self.

And then there's the koan about the person who achieved enlightenment, and someone asked him how he felt now that he'd achieved it. His answer: \"As miserable as ever.\"

When we look at things in terms of absolutes, we tend to miss that 99.999999999999% (or more) of things in the universe are in that \"grey\" area. But that still, to me, doesn't negate that there is light or dark; merely varying degrees of it. It's hard for me to understand a world without the same duality that exists everywhere. We don't say (and I've written this before) that there's neither hot nor cold, because it's all temperature. There just has to be a universal constant of duality which exists (extremes vs. moderation, for example).

I just wish I could \"get it\" where the prior argumentation was concerned, and understand at least how a universe with the Force that has no duality. My problem is, my brain doesn't have anything to really compare it to.

And then there's the koan about the person who achieved enlightenment, and someone asked him how he felt now that he'd achieved it. His answer: \"As miserable as ever.\"

He's not saying that Satori does not change things only that afterward you'll still laugh, cry and be hungry. But you won't be the same and you'll no longer be bound by dualities. It's not The Force that is bound by dualities. You are. And I'm taking an educated guess that the way you'll get beyond them is to go through them. Hang on to your thoughts and your 'position' but put more effort into it. Keep proving it to yourself and to everyone and seek better proof relentlessly. You are on the right track and an excellent student but I don't want you to die and as long as you are trapped with dualities and sides you must one day die.

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It was early in spring and I was walking in the park by the church with my master. Her name was Esther and she had a Ph.D. in molecular biology and she was a Zen Master.

I'd been studying with her and attending her group mediation classes for some time. All the trees and bushes were coming back to life and I picked a new leaf from one of the bushes and was looking at how new and soft it was.

She said \"What is that?\" and I said \"It's a leaf.\"

\"How could it ever have been a leaf\" she said.

At that moment I experienced Satori.

checking in - has this thread assisted with the original question?

Anyone who has read this entire topic probably does not have the time or energy left to go much of anywhere so yes it likely took care of the original issue.