Who eats the suffering?

[justdrew]

if true, there's multiple beasts, and the biggest and oldest have far greater ability to influence people into worshiping/giving themselves to it than any native opposition is likely to be able to muster.

as for poisoning it, I doubt that would be possible as energy is transformable and doesn't have an 'anti-matter analogous form' either.

if true, there is likely a whole eco-system 'up there' of entities with a variety of energy acquisition strategies. If we want to get rid of our top predators, the best way may be to call in an outside predator that specializes in eating these 'gods' - once the biggest are devoured, it will move on to another star. Leaving humanity and the rest of Earth with just minor handle-able entities to deal with. (Perhaps this is exactly what Crowley was really working on? Perhaps.)

[Alaya]

I know that Castaneda had the Voladores (sp ?) or Flyers, of which there were six types discussed in The Active Side of Infinity.

These parallel (or rip off ) Chogyam Trungpa's The Myth of Freedom ,where there are Six Bardo States.

I am an old student of CTR. I think the general idea is aggression, attachment and ignorance are the cause of suffering.

Maybe rather than eat suffering, first you cause no more, you recognize that suffering is your own thoughts (habitual thinking) and you can transform it actually into joy by recognizing the bodhcitta first in yourself and then in everyone else. fwiw.

[lightningBugout]

I know that Castaneda had the Voladores (sp ?) or Flyers, of which there were six types discussed in The Active Side of Infinity.

These parallel (or rip off ) Chogyam Trungpa's The Myth of Freedom ,where there are Six Bardo States.

I am an old student of CTR. I think the general idea is aggression, attachment and ignorance are the cause of suffering.

Maybe rather than eat suffering, first you cause no more, you recognize that suffering is your own thoughts (habitual thinking) and you can transform it actually into joy by recognizing the bodhcitta first in yourself and then in everyone else. fwiw.

Which nicely sums up the inherent problems some of us face daily as both Buddhists and survivors. Most of us who were forced into a set of insidious experiences with evil (RA/MC, genocide, state sponsored violence, etc) struggle rather alot with the teaching that thoughts cause suffering. From what I understand, many survivors struggle with the same thing in AA - in order to heal there is a necesary act of naming those who have wronged you and correctly giving back those parts of themselves they placed in you as well as your rage at them. Letting go of anger can be a form of suicide and/or re-victimization. All things in time.

[Alaya]

I know that Castaneda had the Voladores (sp ?) or Flyers, of which there were six types discussed in The Active Side of Infinity.

These parallel (or rip off ) Chogyam Trungpa's The Myth of Freedom ,where there are Six Bardo States.

I am an old student of CTR. I think the general idea is aggression, attachment and ignorance are the cause of suffering.

Maybe rather than eat suffering, first you cause no more, you recognize that suffering is your own thoughts (habitual thinking) and you can transform it actually into joy by recognizing the bodhcitta first in yourself and then in everyone else. fwiw.

Which nicely sums up the inherent problems some of us face daily as both Buddhists and survivors. Most of us who were forced into a set of insidious experiences with evil (RA/MC, genocide, state sponsored violence, etc) struggle rather alot with the teaching that thoughts cause suffering. From what I understand, many survivors struggle with the same thing in AA - in order to heal there is a necesary act of naming those who have wronged you and correctly giving back those parts of themselves they placed in you as well as your rage at them. Letting go of anger can be a form of suicide and/or re-victimization. All things in time.

There is so much to say about this but I am not as 'well-written' as many of you. I ran on anger for most of life. It kept me alive for starters.....I keep thinking I want to finally let got of it but it has been such a valuable ally for so long.

[nathan28]

I know that Castaneda had the Voladores (sp ?) or Flyers, of which there were six types discussed in The Active Side of Infinity.

These parallel (or rip off ) Chogyam Trungpa's The Myth of Freedom ,where there are Six Bardo States.

I am an old student of CTR. I think the general idea is aggression, attachment and ignorance are the cause of suffering.

Maybe rather than eat suffering, first you cause no more, you recognize that suffering is your own thoughts (habitual thinking) and you can transform it actually into joy by recognizing the bodhcitta first in yourself and then in everyone else. fwiw.

Which nicely sums up the inherent problems some of us face daily as both Buddhists and survivors. Most of us who were forced into a set of insidious experiences with evil (RA/MC, genocide, state sponsored violence, etc) struggle rather alot with the teaching that thoughts cause suffering. From what I understand, many survivors struggle with the same thing in AA - in order to heal there is a necesary act of naming those who have wronged you and correctly giving back those parts of themselves they placed in you as well as your rage at them. Letting go of anger can be a form of suicide and/or re-victimization. All things in time.

There is so much to say about this but I am not as 'well-written' as many of you. I ran on anger for most of life. It kept me alive for starters.....I keep thinking I want to finally let got of it but it has been such a valuable ally for so long.

"Suffering" is a bad translation IMO w/r/t what the Buddhists talk about vs. the gross relative suffering (e.g., pain, torment, etc.). More later, maybe.

[Searcher08]

lb, could you say a bit more about 'letting go of anger could be suicide'?

The phrase just leapt out at me.

[lightningBugout]

I know that Castaneda had the Voladores (sp ?) or Flyers, of which there were six types discussed in The Active Side of Infinity.

These parallel (or rip off ) Chogyam Trungpa's The Myth of Freedom ,where there are Six Bardo States.

I am an old student of CTR. I think the general idea is aggression, attachment and ignorance are the cause of suffering.

Maybe rather than eat suffering, first you cause no more, you recognize that suffering is your own thoughts (habitual thinking) and you can transform it actually into joy by recognizing the bodhcitta first in yourself and then in everyone else. fwiw.

Which nicely sums up the inherent problems some of us face daily as both Buddhists and survivors. Most of us who were forced into a set of insidious experiences with evil (RA/MC, genocide, state sponsored violence, etc) struggle rather alot with the teaching that thoughts cause suffering. From what I understand, many survivors struggle with the same thing in AA - in order to heal there is a necesary act of naming those who have wronged you and correctly giving back those parts of themselves they placed in you as well as your rage at them. Letting go of anger can be a form of suicide and/or re-victimization. All things in time.

There is so much to say about this but I am not as 'well-written' as many of you. I ran on anger for most of life. It kept me alive for starters.....I keep thinking I want to finally let got of it but it has been such a valuable ally for so long.

"Suffering" is a bad translation IMO w/r/t what the Buddhists talk about vs. the gross relative suffering (e.g., pain, torment, etc.). More later, maybe.

I take responsibility for that gross mistranslation. Nathan sounds like he is on the right track to better description of what "the buddha taught."

[lightningBugout]

lb, could you say a bit more about 'letting go of anger could be suicide'?

The phrase just leapt out at me.

Among other things, if given up too soon or too quixotically, it could easily put you back into a truly dangerous situation. Anger is a highly primitive defense mechanism yet if you have lived with it for decades, letting go of it, while liberating, is probably best once alternative coping strategies have been practiced and shown to work in crisis.

[Col. Quisp]

Why assume we are the "good guys" who don't feed on others' suffering? We're no angels.

What was it dbeach always said, "Bush eats loosh." "Loosh" being the human emotions that the matrix feeds on. For an interesting discussion of Loosh, see http://forum.noblerealms.org/viewtopic.php?id=1064

[Perelandra]

All life consumes other life in order to live. Perhaps our definitions of life are limited. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

[lightningBugout]

Perhaps our definitions of life are limited. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Don't take it as anything but a musing but I would wager alot that someday we will recognize non-carbon-based life forms.

[justdrew]

All life consumes other life in order to live. Perhaps our definitions of life are limited. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

not the deep sea hydrothermal vent tube worms

[lightningBugout]

All life consumes other life in order to live. Perhaps our definitions of life are limited. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

not the deep sea hydrothermal vent tube worms

Really? Wow. What do they "eat?"

[justdrew]

All life consumes other life in order to live. Perhaps our definitions of life are limited. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

not the deep sea hydrothermal vent tube worms

Really? Wow. What do they "eat?"

On the bottom of the ocean around deep-sea hydrothermal vents, there is a profusion of life that thrives on the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas released from the vents. Some of the most impressive of the creatures that live here are the giant tube-worms. In shallower waters these worms are common, growing to about the size of your hand. But down in the deep ocean these creatures thrive in this really hostile environment, growing to amazing lengths of up to eight feet long. These tube-worms grow in large clusters around the vents and live inside hard, shell-like protective tubes that attach to the rocks. They live in a symbiotic relationship with a type of bacteria that may hold clues as to how life on earth began billions of years ago. These worms lack mouths, anuses, intestines and stomachs. Scientists were at a loss to explain how these tube-worms were getting nutrients to survive and grow. It turns out their insides are lined with bacteria that oxidize the H2S, turning it into usable nutrients for the worms. The bacteria, in turn, benefit from the relationship because the worms deliver blood-containing hemoglobin, which helps the bacteria to break down the sulfides.
Up until the discovery of these incredible bacteria (able to withstand the hottest temperatures of any other living thing on earth), scientists didn't believe it was possible for anything to survive in the extreme environment around deep ocean vents (extreme pressure, high temperature, no sunlight). The discovery of the deep-sea thermal vents and the communities of life they support has completely changed the way we define life, perhaps going a long way to explain how life on earth first began.

our moral superiors?

Deep sea giant tube worms

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but the question of all life eating life to live, is an oversimplification. In the other-dimensional space here posited to exist, where the beings (and a part of "us") lives, the energy is normally freely given by the universe/(god/prime-observer/mover/etc/etc/ad-infinitum). The feeders are somehow cut off from that or want more than that.
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(when clicking through to see the full size version of the left picture note that the pics imageshack shows under 'related' are not in any way related to 'my' pics.)

[lightningBugout]

I find this incredibly sexy and propose the invention of a new sort of human sexuality that takes this as the model:

It turns out their insides are lined with bacteria that oxidize the H2S, turning it into usable nutrients for the worms. The bacteria, in turn, benefit from the relationship because the worms deliver blood-containing hemoglobin, which helps the bacteria to break down the sulfides.

Join my cult....