Gentle Spring Breeze (pastel) by Polly Castor“The real root of suffering is this never-ending and pointless pursuit of ephemeral feelings, which causes us to be in a constant state of tension, restlessness and dissatisfaction. Due to this pursuit, the mind is never satisfied.
People are liberated from suffering when they understand the impermanent nature of all their feelings, and stop craving them. When the pursuit stops, the mind becomes very relaxed, clear and satisfied. All kinds of feelings go on arising and passing – joy, anger, boredom, lust – but once you stop craving particular feelings, you can just accept them for what they are. You live in the present moment instead of fantasizing about what might have been.
The resulting serenity is so profound that those who spend their lives in the frenzied pursuit of pleasant feelings can hardly imagine it. It is like a man standing for decades on the seashore, embracing certain ‘good’ waves and trying to prevent them from disintegrating, while simultaneously pushing back ‘bad’ waves to prevent them from getting near him. Day in, day out, the man stands on the beach, driving himself crazy with this fruitless exercise. Eventually, he sits down on the sand and just allows the waves to come and go as they please. How peaceful!”
by Yuval Noah Harari, from the book Sapiens
Springtime Blues (pastel) by Polly Castor
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3 Comments
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Beautiful art work, Polly! I love the quote.
If we make happiness dependent on circumstances we will never be truly happy. We should be able to answer the question “How happy are you on a scale of 1 – 10,” with a resounding 10! As joy and happiness are a God-given right! X -
Does this work for chocolate cravings?
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Love both the painting and the quote! I’ve never thought of feelings as ephemeral, but they are unless we hold on to them. It’s tempting to want to hold on to pleasant feelings, but then we end up holding on to or contemplating negative feelings as well, and that can be exhausting!
You’ve inspired me to get out my pastels and have fun with them again.
Thank you!
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