Religious Recovery
  • Home
    • Welcome
    • Questions
    • Founders
  • Reviews
  • Meetings
    • Indiana
    • Ohio
  • Steps/Stones
  • Audiobooks
  • Books
    • Every Path Leads Home
    • Strength for the Journey Home
    • Set Your Course
    • Course Corrections
  • Social Media
    • Inspiration
    • Facebook
    • Newsletter Signup
    • YouTube
    • BlogTalk Radio
  • Contact-Donate

Cessation

11/16/2017

0 Comments

 
One goal of most religious belief systems is contentment. The Dalai Lama explains cessation by saying it is “the state of mind or mental quality which, through practice and effort, ceases all the negative emotions.”[1] We generally think of contentment as a state of euphoria or ecstasy. A place of happiness and joy. We might envision someone in a trance, or someone who seems to be in another plane of existence.

Contentment must also mean a cessation — an end of negative emotions if we are to experience only positive emotions. I suppose there are people who have achieved this, but I personally don’t know of any. I’ve been taught that our emotions have opposites, and that happiness can’t be known without sadness, love cannot be known without hate, and so on. But, is that true? Or is that a part of the illusion of our existence. Do the transcended masters still experience the negative emotions we struggle to eliminate?

I don’t know, but I want to believe — or rather, I choose to believe — that we can eliminate the negative emotions by focusing on the positive emotions. We can have heaven on earth, but it happens only in the hearts that have banished hate and accepted only love.

[1] Dalai Lama (2012-05-31). The Dalai Lama’s Book of Wisdom (p. 55). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Note: You might need to refresh your screen to see the current day's Inspiration.

    Religious Recovery

    Our purpose is to help individuals to heal who have been injured by religion or the religious. We welcome your comments and questions.

    Archives

    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
    • Welcome
    • Questions
    • Founders
  • Reviews
  • Meetings
    • Indiana
    • Ohio
  • Steps/Stones
  • Audiobooks
  • Books
    • Every Path Leads Home
    • Strength for the Journey Home
    • Set Your Course
    • Course Corrections
  • Social Media
    • Inspiration
    • Facebook
    • Newsletter Signup
    • YouTube
    • BlogTalk Radio
  • Contact-Donate