par4dcourse Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 So the wife and I are watching the network news sunday night, and ET shows up (pun intended) and 'splains how him and Oprah are like this. So I listen to the little schmuck, and he's basically taking the buddhist "desire is the cause of all suffering", westernized it, added a little Freud psychobabble, and now Oprah's all but blowing him. In order to find inner peace. That got me thinkin' again. State law be damned. I've gotten to the point now that when all those annoying little thoughts try to distract me, I simply ask "What good would this thought train accomplish?" If, as usual, the answer is nothing, then I'm able to move along. Cut way back on the idle chatter that used to drive me nuts. Then it struck me, I 've only been able to do this after being out of religion for more than a decade. My theory is that when I finally said, "Ok God, I've been listening intently for some message here for a decade, and I ain't heard shit from your side, so if you want me, you should know where to find me" something in me started to calm down. No more listening for the big guy or even caring what he thinks, I could think for myself. It's been slow progress and I'm not totally in control yet, but I'm getting there. Peace, brethren....and, uh, sistren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PandaPirate Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 It's not just ET that's been doing it. It's Wayne Dyer, Deepak and his ilk. I'm sorry but I can't stand either one of them. They make it sound like it's so easy to just "think" your way happy. Easier said than done. They don't take into account that I might be a psychopathic schizo with severe mental issues. Nope. Everyone can just be happy as a clam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowabunga Jones Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Sorry if I'm not quite with it on the names mentioned above. Are we talking about "The Secret" and crap like that? This idea that there is metaphysical spirituality that just so happens to work to our benefit for no apparent reason? If so, its called optimism and people have been choosing it as a way to cope with life ... well, at least since self awareness developed. Its nothing new and people are fools for wasting minutes and dollars on something they already have readily available to them. If thats not what we're talking about ... well then maybe I need to look away from my computer for a bit and really really focus and hope that it is. Then it will become that and I won't look like a fool. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Sorry if I'm not quite with it on the names mentioned above. Are we talking about "The Secret" and crap like that? Not really. Eckhart Tolle was the author of a book called "The Power of Now". It is different from "The Secret". Years since I read it, but I liked it at the time. I think Mr. Tolle has developed into sort of a money making enterprise, but I still like him. Don't like Oprah, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted February 17, 2009 Super Moderator Share Posted February 17, 2009 Sorry if I'm not quite with it on the names mentioned above. Are we talking about "The Secret" and crap like that? This idea that there is metaphysical spirituality that just so happens to work to our benefit for no apparent reason? If so, its called optimism and people have been choosing it as a way to cope with life ... well, at least since self awareness developed. Its nothing new and people are fools for wasting minutes and dollars on something they already have readily available to them. If thats not what we're talking about ... well then maybe I need to look away from my computer for a bit and really really focus and hope that it is. Then it will become that and I won't look like a fool. Cheers. I think you're basically right. What all of the aforementioned people do is repackage Eastern philosophy for the Western lifestyle. There's a fortune in doing that. Each new guru emphasizes a particular aspect of spiritual/metaphysical subjects. Tolle is into the Buddhist focus on being here now, fully embracing the present. Others dwell more on visualization, meditation and happy thoughts. They take what they consider to be Truth from the supposed sayings of Jesus (who has been misunderstood!), Buddha, etc. and explain it all to us framed in more modern references. Of course there is evidence in the power of belief, placebos being the classic example. A positive frame of mind helps in a lot of concrete ways regarding healing and succeeding. Living for today makes perfect sense, as this moment is the only one in which we exist. Apparently, however, these ideas are a new revelation to a lot of people, hence the New Age industry. So, hoping really hard that you wouldn't look like a fool has worked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 If all these housewives want peace I have the system: quit listening to Oprah's spiritualistic bull and get the hell away from religion. All I need now is an ad: send $19.95 plus $43.95 shipping and handling.......... now I need is something for the "but wait, there's more" part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prysm Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 If all these housewives want peace I have the system: quit listening to Oprah's spiritualistic bull and get the hell away from religion. All I need now is an ad: send $19.95 plus $43.95 shipping and handling.......... now I need is something for the "but wait, there's more" part. Instead of "the secret" you could market it as "the illusion" eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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