The Nature of Life?

The nature of life is somewhat akin to a wave. It has its ups and downs, it's crests and troughs. However, it's a cycle. True contentment comes from learning to appreciate it as a whole.

For example:
The Vinegar Tasters is a traditional Chinese allegory depicting the three founders of China's major religious and philosophical traditions: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

Three men are dipping their fingers into a vat of vinegar and then tasting it; one man reacts with a sour expression, one reacts with a bitter expression, and one reacts with a happy, pleasantly suprised expression. The three men are Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Tzu, respectively. Each man's expression represents the predominant attitude of his philosophy: Confucianism views life as sour, in need of rules to correct the degeneration of people; Buddhism views life as bitter, dominated by pain and suffering due to desires; and Taoism views life as fundamentally good in its natural state.

I'm not trying to tell you what to believe, but in my humble opinion, it is much more bliss to view life like Lao Tzu.

Yes, it can be sour, and bitter. Yet, would we recognize the sweetness in life, the happier side, if it were not for its opposite?

Afterall, would there be up without down, light without dark?

Are these things truly separate entities, or simply just differing ends of one beautiful spectrum of totality?

(However there are differing interpretations of this allegory, some see it as favoring Taoism, some say it represents the need for the three as a complete whole. I however, am of the view that Confucianism was created for the needs of a much more Feudal sort of society than what we have nowadays; hence it is outdated and superfluous, thus in our modern times, the allegory is entailing the neccesity of only the latter two philosophies.. This is why I love Zen Buddhism. It is, in essence, the lovechild of Buddhism and Taoism.)

Delayed gratification has some interesting effects. Without it a person seems to tend to define themselves and their feelings in regards to what they want and don't have. Such that meeting that need actually only destroys that particular desire to make room for the next one. What might be really happening is that its the desire itself which needs to be met, not by recycling it but by simply not having it anymore. This then means they can start to let value lay with what they already have, and for what things actually do, how well they do it, and how long they do it. To the extent that there is a type of fulfillment that comes from a type of stability that allows an experience to endure. But I think the skill is being adaptable to shift ones focus to suit the circumstance. The benefit of animals over plants is mobility after-all
Humans just probably need to take it to the next level in how they think adeptly.

Adder wrote: Delayed gratification has some interesting effects. Without it a person seems to tend to define themselves and their feelings in regards to what they want and don't have. Such that meeting that need actually only destroys that particular desire to make room for the next one. What might be really happening is that its the desire itself which needs to be met, not by recycling it but by simply not having it anymore. This then means they can start to let value lay with what they already have, and for what things actually do, how well they do it, and how long they do it. To the extent that there is a type of fulfillment that comes from a type of stability that allows an experience to endure. But I think the skill is being adaptable to shift ones focus to suit the circumstance. The benefit of animals over plants is mobility after-all
Humans just probably need to take it to the next level in how they think adeptly.

Yes, yes, yes, resoundingly yes! Adder, my friend, you hit the nail right on it's head! Could not of put it more eloquently myself!

We must learn to live life and percieve life mindfully, lest we condemn ourselves to lives of depression and anxiety over that which is unattainable, which one could name "perfection of self".

And why this need to constantly strive for that whicb is out of reach, to the detriment of that which is attainable now, in this very moment!?

We waste our lives never truly appreciateing the beauty we experience as a result of simply being!

"Repugnant is a Creature who would squander the ability
to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here."

Just take a moment to fully comprehend and appreciate just how complex existence, life, and conciousness of such really is!

It is mind-boggingly huge!
Insanely complex!

All these intricate, subtle, varied systems that make up our simultaneously orderly and chaotic reality, and our perception of said reality!

As a small example, the very matter that makes up our bodies, and the environment that shaped and allowed for the evolution and development of our bodies was originally generated in the cosmic furnace that is the heart of a star!

And the matter that makes up the Universe we naturally capable of being aware of, visible or baryonic matter, only constitutes 11% of the known Universe!

Now think about how amazing it is that something like us, something living, even came to become aware of these processes in the first place!

I could go on and on, deeper and deeper!

It is all so amazing, and as individual humans, we only have a very short time to truly appreciate it, yet we waste our precious life fretting and stressing over inconsequential nonsense!

The only thing that is truly consequential to the individual is what you make of your reality!
Why waste it?

Would one of the internet wizards confirm that this dudes links are safe to click? Not that i will check them out, lol, i’ll just feel better knowing.