The problem I have with this analogy, is the necessary implication that ‘God’ (or whatever one chooses to call the spiritual reality—I prefer to think in terms of ‘Mind’, or better yet, ‘Self’, because that’s not associated with a plethora of religious baggage) doesn’t want, tolerate, or cause suffering. Being a ‘spiritual singularity’ it has no name (like the Tao says) but manifests as the material universe(s?) in order to have someone to ‘play’ with, so to speak. Materiality evolves and diversifies over billions of years (time doesn’t exist for Mind) to the point of true independent sentience where “ . . . the Self awakens from his many dreams and fantasies and remembers his true identity, the one eternal Self of the Cosmos who is never born and never dies.” [This taken from the poem “A Hindu Myth” by Reginald Horace Blyth] So . . . the point being that material existence inevitably involves suffering. So it is incumbent on all sentient beings to love one another, and minimize suffering for ourselves and others. And by extension, we should be the guardians and protectors of all life on this ‘pale blue dot in space.’
Bruce, you might prefer the analogy of river (for God or Life)
Imagine you’re swimming in a river. The current is far stronger than you thought, pulling you downstream toward the ocean.
Some swimmers realize immediately: I can’t win this battle. They stop thrashing, turn onto their backs, and let the current carry them. The water supports them. They breathe, float, and relatively quickly reach the ocean, vast, limitless, peaceful.
Others fight. They swim furiously upstream, exhausting themselves, swallowing water, going under repeatedly. Eventually their muscles give out. Only then, depleted and desperate, do they finally stop resisting. The current carries them to the same ocean the others reached long ago.
The egoic glove metaphor is increadibly sharp. What got me is how we literaly dress up suffering as character building or necessary growth. A few years back I caught myself doing exactly this with a toxic job situation, convinced the pain had somedeeper purpose. Once I dropped that narrative the relief was instant. The tiger analogy might ruffle some feathers but it nails the futility of resisting what's already happening.
The problem I have with this analogy, is the necessary implication that ‘God’ (or whatever one chooses to call the spiritual reality—I prefer to think in terms of ‘Mind’, or better yet, ‘Self’, because that’s not associated with a plethora of religious baggage) doesn’t want, tolerate, or cause suffering. Being a ‘spiritual singularity’ it has no name (like the Tao says) but manifests as the material universe(s?) in order to have someone to ‘play’ with, so to speak. Materiality evolves and diversifies over billions of years (time doesn’t exist for Mind) to the point of true independent sentience where “ . . . the Self awakens from his many dreams and fantasies and remembers his true identity, the one eternal Self of the Cosmos who is never born and never dies.” [This taken from the poem “A Hindu Myth” by Reginald Horace Blyth] So . . . the point being that material existence inevitably involves suffering. So it is incumbent on all sentient beings to love one another, and minimize suffering for ourselves and others. And by extension, we should be the guardians and protectors of all life on this ‘pale blue dot in space.’
Bruce, you might prefer the analogy of river (for God or Life)
Imagine you’re swimming in a river. The current is far stronger than you thought, pulling you downstream toward the ocean.
Some swimmers realize immediately: I can’t win this battle. They stop thrashing, turn onto their backs, and let the current carry them. The water supports them. They breathe, float, and relatively quickly reach the ocean, vast, limitless, peaceful.
Others fight. They swim furiously upstream, exhausting themselves, swallowing water, going under repeatedly. Eventually their muscles give out. Only then, depleted and desperate, do they finally stop resisting. The current carries them to the same ocean the others reached long ago.
Much better analogy; eliminates the arcane idea of a vengeful, paternalistic God.
Bruce, it's our ego or mind that doesn't want surrender. God, our inner Being, is all-loving. Its nature is love, joy, and peace.
The egoic glove metaphor is increadibly sharp. What got me is how we literaly dress up suffering as character building or necessary growth. A few years back I caught myself doing exactly this with a toxic job situation, convinced the pain had somedeeper purpose. Once I dropped that narrative the relief was instant. The tiger analogy might ruffle some feathers but it nails the futility of resisting what's already happening.
True.