Songtsan Posted August 15, 2014 "Hell is repetition, repetition, repetition." - from some movie I watched once. It's a fact of life that things will repeat in cycles, although we all know that nothing truly ever happens twice, as it is the mind which classifies and compares. The aversion to redundancy is what drives us onwards to refine in many respects, yet it also holds us back at the same time, as we look at things which we 'think happened before,' which they didn't in truth, and dismiss them as 'redundant' and possibly irritating, or whatnot. Remember the story of the monk who said that watching the breath was boring, and so his teacher pushes his head down into some water until he nearly drowns, and then when he comes up, his teacher says, "Is watching the breath boring now?" - It is like this. It is our tendency to gloss over things, to group things, to ignore the subtlety of things which makes things 'become redundant' - because we think we know something about them, when we don't in fact. The 'judging apparatus' - that 'thing' which labels, is the finder of redundancy. It is this very aversion to the labeled 'redundant event' which holds us back not only from completion, but even from simple enjoyment of the moment. The bottom line is: If you think you know something, someone, somewhere, somehow, or anything, you don't. If you think you have done 'this' before, seen 'this' before, or heard 'this,' you haven't. If you think something is redundant, it means you are stagnating in mind hells. All this is axiomatic, yet we all fall prey to this illness when we think we know 'anything about anything.' The desire for novelty is actually hardwired into us as a species. It is the tendency of our physiology to attenuate incoming signals that seem the same, so that novel stimuli can be better filtered to watch for new opportunities or threats. Going into new situations can spark new life. Trying new hobbies is often exciting. What is the secret to those who have learned to love a certain repetitive act? It is forgetting that they have done it before. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted August 15, 2014 (edited) Not sure if we're hardwired into a desire for novelty or not. Our ancestors sure weren't or there'd be fewer of us around. The main barrier to successful cultivation is boredom. People just become fed up of doing it and move on to the next new fad or fancy. There are plenty of distractions to choose amongst. Maybe one needs a higher boredom threshold than most in order to stick with daily and disciplined cultivation. Edited August 15, 2014 by GrandmasterP 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Songtsan Posted August 15, 2014 Not sure if we're hardwired into a desire for novelty or not. Our ancestors sure weren't or there'd be fewer of us around. The main barrier to successful cultivation is boredom. People just become fed up of doing it and move on to the next new fad or fancy. There are plenty of distractions to choose amongst. Maybe one needs a higher boredom threshold than most in order to stick with daily and disciplined cultivation. I find that although sometimes I am trapped by my own perception of redundancy, that it is merely a temporary state. Sometimes I just can't get into a song I have listened to a thousand times, and then one day, I listen to it, and I am transported to ecstasy again. Haven't quite figured out all the ins and outs of that yet. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted August 15, 2014 (edited) Writer's Block is similar. Nada for ages then BANG! ... the mojo is back. Edited August 15, 2014 by GrandmasterP Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Songtsan Posted August 15, 2014 Writer's Block is similar. Nada for ages then BANG! ... the mojo is back. I know - perhaps redundancy is when you try to fake the funk? When you try to recreate old ecstasies through the same route, as if you were executing a function? I never liked the fake it til you make it path. I think that things must be built upon in a sincere manner - in this way, there is no redundancy, even though you appear to do the same thing as before. Natural livity. Natural expression. This is how the taint of redundancy views is bypassed. Non doing certainly sees no redundancy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
