Good day people, I hope you’re enjoying your week.
This reflection came to mind recently: nowadays, big companies make us believe that we’re incomplete if we don’t purchase more, buy more, be more, and so on… I don’t think that’s only from this time, but now it feels more heavy.
Keeping that in mind, I was wondering how can you prioritize what’s essential and not attractive (sensual) in your daily life? How can you stand firm living with what’s already here rather than feeling low (or even being pressured) to be part of that stream of acquiring more? Did the Buddha approach this particular topic (or similar)? If so, what would be his approach?
The reason of asking this questions it’s because of this: does (or did) somebody else feel that pressure of getting more just because others do it?
We always prioritize what we think is essential/attractive for us, and deprioritize what is not essential/not attractive for us. That is how we work. The first step is to question what are we considering as essential and atttractive, to see if it’s really essential and atttractive to begin with. And a lot of people fail to see this. They might think that the Dhamma is essential, nibbana is attractive, but if they really think that they would already have right view. What we are assuming is hiding right below our eyes, and exactly because of that we take it for granted. That is why it needs to be the first step.
After that, there is no much secret. You would need to actively prioritize that thing which you know it is essential, although you don’t really think/feel it is. That means going against the current of your own mind, and subsequently going against the current of society in general. If you are not already, at a certain level, disenchanted by what this society expects from you, there is where the work should be done first. This is what we call authenticity and most people, even old time buddhists, do not have.
Exactly by being authentic you will feel the pressure to conform, to follow, to do it because others do it, so it’s fine. And that is no escape to this pressure. It is actually good for training the mind and it is something you will take to your grave, whatever path you choose.
In another note, a big part of this pressure, no matter how much you become accostume to it, will be inherent to the household life. That is why the Buddha said that it is dusty, full of challenges. You will need to work extra hard to get the same benefits as a householder. And there is no escaping this extra work. It is exactly because you choose to be a householder that that pressure is there, so the only thing to do is to live with that discrepancy. I’m saying this because people tend to sugarcoat this life. They look for ways to cover that discrepancy, to manage your way through it without suffering too much, and end up covering that discrepancy under layers and layers of assumptions. And by covering it they also cover the way out of it.
Thanks for your comment! May you clarify this part a little bit, please? First time I heard that phrase, “sugarcoat this life” Did you mean escaping responsibility or something?
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I mean that Buddhist people tend to overlook/forget how the household life is inherent challenging, demanding and a thorn on their path. And they usually create excuses to why they did not gave up this life. Of course, one still may not gave up this path even though they are not creating these excuses or justifications. They know it is a weakness and they know that is gonna be harder than it should be because of that.
In brief, one knows what is rightly essential and rightly atttractive by developing right view. So, through the practice.
