More peace = lower living standard?

[Individual]

I have known people on both sides of the lower living standard / higher living standard divide -- have / have-not and also I have personally been on both sides and can say that there is dukha on both sides and there can also be sukha on both sides. It is how you make it to be.

Exactly. And once you're like that, the question is different. Instead of thinking of whether it's better for me to live like this or that, you ask whether it's better for others, whether it's better for the world.

Until then... Dramatic changes made hastily can cause great harm. You can allow gradual changes to take place (eating less junk food, exercising more, reading more, less TV, etc.) but this doesn't mean that you should take an extreme decision, like living in a cave or rushing off to Thailand to ordain.

[salmon]

I don't know whether this is the right forum for this or even the right website.

I feel like I'm attaining more peace in life now, mostly from learning more about myself and from doing eft (which you may have heard of). But as I attain more peace I just find myself wanting to withdraw, to work less, and to do nothing. In this world that just isn't acceptable. I need to find a job but I have no motivation or inclination to do that. What do I do? How do I persue a spiritual path and at the same time work and enjoy working? I find that all jobs contain just more haste and getting whipped by your boss all the time. I really don't want to loose what I have by working.

Don't be attached to your "peaceful" life as it seems now, as even this will pass. Can you remain peaceful when the bills arrive?

PS. this is a phase that MANY meditators go through...it'll pass

[Spiny O'Norman]

Can you remain peaceful when the bills arrive?

The greatest test of equanimity.

Spiny

[khlawng]

PS. this is a phase that MANY meditators go through...it'll pass

I do suspect this is the case with many people indeed.

Any personal experience to share on what are some of the phases you guys went through and the strategies you employ to keep practicing? Personally, I went through 4 months of meditative and mindful bliss before getting all wound up in worldly matters for 6months and then coming back a little stronger in the practice the past 2 months. I am determine to keep at it this time round but have a strong suspicion that is just wishful thinking.

[budo]

PS. this is a phase that MANY meditators go through...it'll pass

I do suspect this is the case with many people indeed.

Any personal experience to share on what are some of the phases you guys went through and the strategies you employ to keep practicing? Personally, I went through 4 months of meditative and mindful bliss before getting all wound up in worldly matters for 6months and then coming back a little stronger in the practice the past 2 months. I am determine to keep at it this time round but have a strong suspicion that is just wishful thinking.

I had a job that I was working massive overtime, 50-60 and sometimes 70 hours a week, and I very much disliked it, although I meditated everyday when I got up from bed and before I went to bed. Then I got sick, had to go to the hospital and quit my job, and finally moved back in with my parents.

Then as I was back with my parents, I had all this free time, with so much free time, I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to watch TV because I didn't want to get back into bad habit, so I started getting really really bored. I read suttas for 2-4 hours, and tried to meditate for 1-2 hours, but even then I had too much time. I not only became really bored, but really depressed, and felt like I was suffering almost as much as when I had a job! So I read some suttas regarding the layperson, and now I think, well, I AM a layperson, so I will will watch TV and I will play video games, and listen to music, and so I did and now I feel balanced and content and no longer bored. I still read the suttas for 2-4 hours and meditate for 1-3 hours. So I feel much better. Now I need to transition my bad habits to good habits, like from TV to Tennis and video games to meeting people Also when I get a job again, it should be a balanced and healthy job.

Nothing wrong with indulging in worldly pleasures if you are a layperson, as long as you are mindful and stay centered. Work is a VERY good thing, a lot of people hate work, but I'll tell you this, if you find the job that's right for you, maybe a simple job with no stress, and you can build some wealth while you're at it so you can enjoy some worldly pleasure then your life will be much better as a layperson. You have to keep the middle way, stay balanced, don't get a job that will take over your life, but also don't have too much free time.

I hope that helps.
Metta
Budo!

[Rui Sousa]

I really don't want to loose what I have by working.

You will loose peace. Accept it and let it go.

And don't use fear as an excuse for inaction, do get a job and deal with it. Samsara sucks...

[salmon]

PS. this is a phase that MANY meditators go through...it'll pass

I do suspect this is the case with many people indeed.

Any personal experience to share on what are some of the phases you guys went through and the strategies you employ to keep practicing? Personally, I went through 4 months of meditative and mindful bliss before getting all wound up in worldly matters for 6months and then coming back a little stronger in the practice the past 2 months. I am determine to keep at it this time round but have a strong suspicion that is just wishful thinking.

Not quite a personal one since I have a teacher to always put me back in place. (Yes, I have thought about dropping it all and just running away into the forests to meditate many moons ago).

A friend's friend gave up his civil service job believing that he received the calling to go forth. He left his fiance, sold his apartment and made plans for a famous temple in Myanmar. His parents objected and were pleading and crying at the airport as he left. Less than one month later, he came back. He found no peace after he ordained. But he had given up his job (which he can no longer get back), his life and his house. He came back without a single cent to his name.

We met him when my friend brought him to our meditation centre to see our teacher for advise.

Sad...but a hard lesson for him, and good reminder for the rest of us.

[phil]

No obstacles to maintaining or achieving a decent standard of living, but surely on the whole less interest in seeking the bigger and better house, the fancier car, the more glorious vacation, less infatuation with the pleasure provided by material goods and more contentment with what one has. So if you define higher standard of living by consumption in dollar terms, yes, on the whole lower. But not to a dramatic degree, I'd say.

[khlawng]

I don't know if this will help OP but here is something I pulled out of Basic Themes by Ajaan Lee


D. The Ten Corruptions of Insight
...
4. Passaddhi: The body is at peace and the mind serene, to the point where you don't want to encounter anything in the world. You see the world as being unpeaceful and you don't want to have anything to do with it. Actually, if the mind is really at peace, everything in the world will also be at peace. People who are addicted to a sense of peace won't want to do any physical work or even think about anything, because they're stuck on that sense of peace as a constant preoccupation.

You can find more info here

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/themes.html

[Goedert]

I don't know if this will help OP but here is something I pulled out of Basic Themes by Ajaan Lee


D. The Ten Corruptions of Insight
...
4. Passaddhi: The body is at peace and the mind serene, to the point where you don't want to encounter anything in the world. You see the world as being unpeaceful and you don't want to have anything to do with it. Actually, if the mind is really at peace, everything in the world will also be at peace. People who are addicted to a sense of peace won't want to do any physical work or even think about anything, because they're stuck on that sense of peace as a constant preoccupation.

You can find more info here

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/themes.html

Very well posted khlawng.

Every meditator that pass through this experience can have a great help with this post.

It is short but profound teaching.

Sadhu!

[mikenz66]

Yes, that's apparently (I wouldn't know...) one of the stages where you really need a teacher to give you a good kick up the backside, otherwise you assume you're awakened...


Mike