/lit/ - Literature

I've said it before in these threads, but these insights are for nought if they're not also coming from a place of a genuine desire to grow emotionally and in your capacity to emit kindness.

https://youtu.be/kPZekGtwWxU

>>11587782
Some primers, depending on what you're looking for:

>What the Buddha taught by Walpola Rahula
A good introductory book that outlines the fundamental teachings of Buddhism (mostly coming from a Theravada perspective)

>The Dhammapada
A short book of aphorisms from the Buddha thats only about 60 pages long, but with a lot of wisdom value

>The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva
A good book outlining the Mahayana approach to life and ethics and how one can embody the Bodhisattva ideal (beings who delay their own enlightenment to assist others)

>The Tibetan Book of the Death
A good introduction to Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) and Buddhist cosmology and ethics in general

>Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way by Nagarjuna
One of the clearest elaborations on the Mahayana concept of sunyatta ("emptiness") and dependant origination

I'd personally recommend the first three, but again, it's what you're looking for mostly. These books will give you a good idea of what you're dealing with when it comes to the Buddhist way of life.

>>11273915
From a very simplistic, relative point of view, the answer would be "yes", OP.

The problem is, however, is that even this point of view is still contingent on arbitrary psychological conditions ("I've exposed myself to more eastern philosophy than Bernard, therefore I'm more enlightened than Bernard") and as a result doesn't actually mean anything from the point of undefiled consciousness Itself.

From an ultimate, totally-generative point of view, there has never been an "I" and a "Thou" for one to compare, no matter if in terms of intelligence, artistic capability, or even conscious awareness itself. And to begin thinking so is to open yourself up to all sorts of nasty things, such as the oppressive caste system in India, to the barbaric enslavement of Africans during the colonial period, or the slaughter of countless innocents by Japanese warriors following an extremely bastardized version of Zen metaphysics.

So, from my rather limited perspective, my advice to thee OP would be "you're asking to the wrong question." Worry not whether others are as "conscious" as you or not; instead, focus on how you can refine and transcend your own consciousness, always.

You are the non-conditioned No-thing at the source of all creation. This is and always will be the truth-above-truths; the reality-beyond-reality.

The only reason you don't realise this is because of the karma accrued over countless aeons, keeping you bonded to dualistic thinking.

You are both infinitely meaningless and infinitely meaningful at the same time. Everything in your heart you know to be true is more true than you realise. Kindness is the cosmic equaliser. Honesty leads to liberation. Courage will always be rewarded in full.

Never give up OP, because you can never fail. You have nothing to lose and nothing to gain. You are exactly where you need to be.

The Enlightenment, and shortly afterwards the Industrial Revolution, cast away with most of the metaphysical and physical concerns placed upon humanity for most of its existence. Since (for the most part) people no longer had to worry about whether there'd be enough food in this years harvest or whether the Crown was going to lock them up for speaking out against them, people instead began to look towards meaning in finances, aesthetics, secular philosophy, fashion, nationalism, celebrity, and so on.

Such conditions are not conducive to a noble, world-weary lifestyle. Now the most egostical could demand recognition and push their ideas because society now had the luxury of listening to them. Transcendent concerns were gradually pushed to the wayside. Living in harmony with Nature and finding simple pleasures in austerity was drowned out by a flood of social, material and ideological concerns.

That is not to say that men and women of noble statue ceased existing. They certain did (and still do), and there are probably a few notable examples you could think of off the top of your head. The ones who didn't receive recognition are no poorer for it - they lived their lives, helped their fellow man, died as they did, and sought no recognition for any of this.

There will always (ALWAYS) be room for the "ideal Greek man" as you put it, OP. There are countless of them out there as we speak. Yes, their position in society may have gone the way of the dog, but the Greek man was never doing it for social status in the first place.

Find your inner nobility. Struggle for the sake of the truth. Seek no fame or praise. Your life shall reward itself.

>>11161221
Or you could realise that the material world is simply a construct of the intellectual and spiritual worlds and that you are, in your truest essence, already totally and utterly free.