# you are awareness? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 19, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-awareness/821565 "2018-09-19T04:24:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-awareness/821565/61 "2018-09-21T15:06:07Z")
> [@Weedy](#): > > It’s true that Buddhism has goals and values. The point of the whole philosophy is to end suffering, which is a goal, and entails the value that it is desirable to not suffer. There is also the value of _metta_ which is the wish for all beings to be happy and well. Since the goal of Buddhism is to end suffering, you might find it incompatible with other goals you might have, like, be financially successful, or be an involved family member. > > Of course you don’t move or act when you are meditating. Why is that a problem? It only goes for 20 minutes. You can also do walking meditation, and working meditation if sitting still is an issue (but why is it an issue?). > > Dropping everything (i.e. mental chatter) yields direct experience by definition. Most people find it quite difficult to do, and also find it pleasant and freeing when they do manage it. If you find it easy but boring, I wonder if you are suppressing your thoughts in order to achieve a still mind. Thoughts are part of life. A lot of the talk in Buddhism (or maybe just Western Buddhism, I don’t know) is about how to have thoughts, but not have them take over everything, which they tend to do. > > I haven’t read everything you’ve posted but it’s readily apparent that your beliefs are strangling you. You come up with these theories about how the mind works, but no matter how much you theorise, you still aren’t happy. The Buddhist answer to this, is to turn your attention to the theory-maker. How does it work, what triggers it, what steps does it take, how does everything else react to it, what happens next, etc. There is an experience to be had, of watching this process unfold, watching this theory-maker at work. I think that the guy in your OP is trying to suggest you have the experience rather than create a theory. That’s not at all what he is getting at. It was mostly how I showed him that you aren’t awareness but the brain behind it. All I got was really being called closed minded for it (a common theme there). But again I don’t think you get what I’m saying here. There isn’t a direct experience, just the perception of it. If I dropped all my values and judgments then I wouldn’t do anything, because there would be no action more valuable than another. As such to do so would be paralysis. Knowing how the mind works and being at peace don’t really go together. Neither do peace and truth always do. What the guy in the OP is getting at is that if you don’t feel the same or experience what they do then you are the problem, that their position is unquestionable. The point I’m getting at is that one cannot achieve such a state and still live life. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-awareness/821565/62 "2018-09-21T15:21:05Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > The point I’m getting at is that one cannot achieve such a state and still live life. Unclear-Are you saying that you wouldn’t live, or that you would live something other than life? ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-awareness/821565/63 "2018-09-21T20:28:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Unclear-Are you saying that you wouldn’t live, or that you would live something other than life? I mean that by dumping all values and judgments you aren’t different from a corpse. But at the surface the argument seems sound since all you really know is that awareness is there. Of course we know that the brain is responsible for it, but back then at the time this philosophy was formed they didn’t know so from mere observation it would seem so ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-awareness/821565/64 "2018-09-21T21:51:32Z")
What gets me the most is this little excerpt: "There is nothing personal happening anywhere whatsoever. All is as it is, a stream of phenomenal “appearances” arising in awareness, as awareness. Let it all go. Rest effortlessly in the silence of your untainted Self, empty of the mind. Your present view seems to be very nihilistic. I can assure you that if you release your hold upon the concepts that you have become preoccupied with, you will find relief in inner silence. Ultimately, any view is the wrong view. No belief is true. Let it all go." The term concept comes up a lot, but even if you didn’t call a brain a brain it still would produce awareness. Science tends to work regardless of what you want to call it, we just name things to make it easier. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-awareness/821565/65 "2018-09-22T08:34:51Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > That’s not at all what he is getting at. It was mostly how I showed him that you aren’t awareness but the brain behind it. All I got was really being called closed minded for it (a common theme\*\* there\*\*). > > But again I don’t think you get what I’m saying here. There isn’t a direct experience, just the perception of it. If I dropped all my values and judgments then I wouldn’t do anything, because there would be no action more valuable than another. As such to do so would be paralysis. Knowing how the mind works and being at peace don’t really go together. Neither do peace and truth always do. What the guy in the OP is getting at is that if you don’t feel the same or experience what they do then you are the problem, that their position is unquestionable. > > The point I’m getting at is that one cannot achieve such a state and still live life. Who said the goal is to live life? The Buddhist goal is to end suffering. If people with different goals to you also use different methods than you, that’s hardly surprising. That said, I think a lot of people are happy with using Buddhist-type techniques to relieve some of their here-and-now suffering without ever following it through to the reaching Nirvana stage. Do you mind sharing where ‘there’ is? PM me, if you don’t want to post it. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-awareness/821565/66 "2018-09-22T19:49:53Z")
> [@Weedy](#): > > Who said the goal is to live life? The Buddhist goal is to end suffering. If people with different goals to you also use different methods than you, that’s hardly surprising. That said, I think a lot of people are happy with using Buddhist-type techniques to relieve some of their here-and-now suffering without ever following it through to the reaching Nirvana stage. > > Do you mind sharing where ‘there’ is? PM me, if you don’t want to post it. By “there” I mean among the “spiritual” types. They say to question everything but when you question them they call you still in ego or deluded. It’s sort of passing blame in a sense. But they seem to think that anything less is just choosing to suffer or to live a lie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-awareness/821565.md?page=3)