12-27-2020, 08:40 PM
Bodhi of Significance
Nation: Jonewestia
Known as: "Jone" or "Jern"
Completed: December 7, 2020
BODHI:
Tasked with writing about his philosophy, the base principles that helped him get through life, and some advice that will help others get through troubling times.
RESULT:
The Way of Elefante
[Part 1 of 3]
Wisdom
What is the best way?
Often in life I find myself asking this question quite often, what is the best way?
The problem with the answer to this question is it can differ depending on the given situation. So how does one determine the best way?
First you must discern "what will not work?" to be on your way to finding the answer to this conundrum. To do this put yourself in the shoes of the proverbial problem, what will not find a solution to the best way? For instance let's say that you need to help qualm an interpersonal conflict between friends, how would you approach the situation?
Only the people involved can know exactly what will not work, so this is again situational, but given that, in most circumstances, being involved in a quarrel between two people is not always the best option in the first place, you can assuredly reason that assisting either friend in the argument will not work. It is likely that by choosing either side you will only inflame the situation and brew a temporary disdain between whichever party you choose to be against.
Secondly you must recall "has this worked before?" to help you find the best way. It gives reason that whenever you experience something in the past you can use that as a tool to recall what happened in that experience and ask yourself has the problem come across you before, and has the solution you used worked before. As humans we tend to build so much of our personality on past experiences, to the point it majorly reflects on almost every facet of our lives. Because of this we are like a book with many pages on it, and while we can't skip ahead and see what is in store for us in the future, we can look to the past and recall what has happened and use that to influence what will happen in the following chapters of our lives.
Thirdly, you must ask yourself "does this gain me wisdom?" In all actions we should be mindful of the consequences on our wisdom. Being the fabric from which we sew our lives, our wisdom is one of the most important resources we can gain. So to determine, "what is the best way" we have to ask ourselves "does this gain me wisdom?" The reason for this is because with all actions we will carry them in our wisdom and they will have an effect on how we proceed with further actions. So it is important to reflect on what the best way to problem solve that gains you wisdom and not what can tarnish it. Negative, or even happy, emotions can distort how we perceive our wisdom.
Part 2 Experience, Part 3 Truth
Experience
How do our experiences shape our present and future?
So firstly we need to distinguish the differences between Wisdom and Experience. Wisdom is something you can ascertain from your experiences, but experience is the literal history of your life through actions and consequences that have applied to you as you are living.
Why are experiences important?
Through living through events, traumatic or common, we gain experience. With experiences we can use our wisdom and intellectual resources to justify and reason our course of action in the present, or plan our course of action for the future.
I believe this is because humans are problem solvers and we use personal experience as a well of knowledge to apply to events in our life. Generally as we grow older this becomes more focused, as we look to the future further than a few weeks.
In example, one causality of living through this 2020 pandemic, especially the portions spent under quarantine, have made me especially critical of my time spent on this Earth.
In my mind I liken the 2020 quarantine to my grandmother living through the great depression, I have developed a more empathic approach to my relationships as a result of being sequestered from outside social contact for the majority of this year. I have drawn from these experiences of being quarantined alone and have used those experiences to drive how I spend my time with family and friends with more fruitful appreciation. I believe with repetition our experiences can sometimes dampen our enjoyment from them, and I believe having lived through this experience so far I have become a better human being.
Truth the final frontier
Throughout my life I have found one thing to be most important to me out of all factors guiding my decisions, seeking the truth. In my endeavor to reach the truth I have found that sometimes it hurts to know the truth of a matter. While it sometimes hurts, it is sort of a unequivocal freedom knowing anything in certainty.
John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Being raised a Christian these words meant a lot to me, and even as an atheist they still hold quite a bit of weight on my consciousness. To find truth is to find solace in your life. While sometimes you can find an easier ride through life by deceit, truth is ultimately what sets us free to ourselves and others.
Living as long as I have so far has imparted a certain degree of emotional and personal experience regarding important life goals such as friendships and relationships. In both aspects of social life I have been brought joy and pain by the truth.
Probably the best example I can give is a friend I love to this day, but hasn't sat down and had a conversation with me for over half a decade. For the sake of privacy let's call them sojourner. I grew up with sojourner, and have known them since middle school. During high school we became really good friends and this friendship lasted for another decade after. I have so many vivid memories of sojourner and I enjoying the world together; nights spent falling asleep in their parent's library talking about all matters of life, long walks downtown in the middle of the night dreaming of becoming wanderers and leaving our lives behind, and existential discussions in the middle of nowhere when our friend's car broke down. Needless to say this friend holds a place in my heart forever, that I know as much to be true. Unfortunately, a truth I also realized as time went by is that sojourner did not hold the same truth. This was one of my first friendship heartbreaks when I discovered this.
A few more such hurtful truths have been discovered in the past 5 years since sojourner and I lost touch, but with that first absolute known it has made each subsequent experience of truth easier.
My path down the enlightened experience of truth has made me a much more clear minded person; and while my heart passionately burns a flame of optimistic desire to see the world become a better place, I know in truth I can only do so much, and that is a freedom of itself.
[Wisdom, Experience, and Truth]
These are the core values of the Elefante, and I seek to hold them in high regard in my decisions and actions in life.
While the path to enlightenment has been a difficult one for me, and a bit longer than I wanted, I appreciate the time of the sages and their infinite patience in allowing me to fulfill my bodhi on my own time.
~Jone
Congratulations, Jone! See Path and Bodhi archives here.
Known as: "Jone" or "Jern"
Completed: December 7, 2020
BODHI:
Tasked with writing about his philosophy, the base principles that helped him get through life, and some advice that will help others get through troubling times.
RESULT:
The Way of Elefante
[Part 1 of 3]
Wisdom
What is the best way?
Often in life I find myself asking this question quite often, what is the best way?
The problem with the answer to this question is it can differ depending on the given situation. So how does one determine the best way?
First you must discern "what will not work?" to be on your way to finding the answer to this conundrum. To do this put yourself in the shoes of the proverbial problem, what will not find a solution to the best way? For instance let's say that you need to help qualm an interpersonal conflict between friends, how would you approach the situation?
Only the people involved can know exactly what will not work, so this is again situational, but given that, in most circumstances, being involved in a quarrel between two people is not always the best option in the first place, you can assuredly reason that assisting either friend in the argument will not work. It is likely that by choosing either side you will only inflame the situation and brew a temporary disdain between whichever party you choose to be against.
Secondly you must recall "has this worked before?" to help you find the best way. It gives reason that whenever you experience something in the past you can use that as a tool to recall what happened in that experience and ask yourself has the problem come across you before, and has the solution you used worked before. As humans we tend to build so much of our personality on past experiences, to the point it majorly reflects on almost every facet of our lives. Because of this we are like a book with many pages on it, and while we can't skip ahead and see what is in store for us in the future, we can look to the past and recall what has happened and use that to influence what will happen in the following chapters of our lives.
Thirdly, you must ask yourself "does this gain me wisdom?" In all actions we should be mindful of the consequences on our wisdom. Being the fabric from which we sew our lives, our wisdom is one of the most important resources we can gain. So to determine, "what is the best way" we have to ask ourselves "does this gain me wisdom?" The reason for this is because with all actions we will carry them in our wisdom and they will have an effect on how we proceed with further actions. So it is important to reflect on what the best way to problem solve that gains you wisdom and not what can tarnish it. Negative, or even happy, emotions can distort how we perceive our wisdom.
Part 2 Experience, Part 3 Truth
Experience
How do our experiences shape our present and future?
So firstly we need to distinguish the differences between Wisdom and Experience. Wisdom is something you can ascertain from your experiences, but experience is the literal history of your life through actions and consequences that have applied to you as you are living.
Why are experiences important?
Through living through events, traumatic or common, we gain experience. With experiences we can use our wisdom and intellectual resources to justify and reason our course of action in the present, or plan our course of action for the future.
I believe this is because humans are problem solvers and we use personal experience as a well of knowledge to apply to events in our life. Generally as we grow older this becomes more focused, as we look to the future further than a few weeks.
In example, one causality of living through this 2020 pandemic, especially the portions spent under quarantine, have made me especially critical of my time spent on this Earth.
In my mind I liken the 2020 quarantine to my grandmother living through the great depression, I have developed a more empathic approach to my relationships as a result of being sequestered from outside social contact for the majority of this year. I have drawn from these experiences of being quarantined alone and have used those experiences to drive how I spend my time with family and friends with more fruitful appreciation. I believe with repetition our experiences can sometimes dampen our enjoyment from them, and I believe having lived through this experience so far I have become a better human being.
Truth the final frontier
Throughout my life I have found one thing to be most important to me out of all factors guiding my decisions, seeking the truth. In my endeavor to reach the truth I have found that sometimes it hurts to know the truth of a matter. While it sometimes hurts, it is sort of a unequivocal freedom knowing anything in certainty.
John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Being raised a Christian these words meant a lot to me, and even as an atheist they still hold quite a bit of weight on my consciousness. To find truth is to find solace in your life. While sometimes you can find an easier ride through life by deceit, truth is ultimately what sets us free to ourselves and others.
Living as long as I have so far has imparted a certain degree of emotional and personal experience regarding important life goals such as friendships and relationships. In both aspects of social life I have been brought joy and pain by the truth.
Probably the best example I can give is a friend I love to this day, but hasn't sat down and had a conversation with me for over half a decade. For the sake of privacy let's call them sojourner. I grew up with sojourner, and have known them since middle school. During high school we became really good friends and this friendship lasted for another decade after. I have so many vivid memories of sojourner and I enjoying the world together; nights spent falling asleep in their parent's library talking about all matters of life, long walks downtown in the middle of the night dreaming of becoming wanderers and leaving our lives behind, and existential discussions in the middle of nowhere when our friend's car broke down. Needless to say this friend holds a place in my heart forever, that I know as much to be true. Unfortunately, a truth I also realized as time went by is that sojourner did not hold the same truth. This was one of my first friendship heartbreaks when I discovered this.
A few more such hurtful truths have been discovered in the past 5 years since sojourner and I lost touch, but with that first absolute known it has made each subsequent experience of truth easier.
My path down the enlightened experience of truth has made me a much more clear minded person; and while my heart passionately burns a flame of optimistic desire to see the world become a better place, I know in truth I can only do so much, and that is a freedom of itself.
[Wisdom, Experience, and Truth]
These are the core values of the Elefante, and I seek to hold them in high regard in my decisions and actions in life.
While the path to enlightenment has been a difficult one for me, and a bit longer than I wanted, I appreciate the time of the sages and their infinite patience in allowing me to fulfill my bodhi on my own time.
~Jone
Congratulations, Jone! See Path and Bodhi archives here.