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    Thoughts Without a Thinker Chap. 2 Mark Epstein

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    Thoughts without a thinker.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    152 views8 pages

    Thoughts Without A Thinker Chap. 2 Mark Epstein

    Uploaded by

    annjie123456
    Thoughts without a thinker.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 8
    CHAPTER 2 HUMILIATION: THE BUDDHA'S FIRST TRUTH Tibet rind phn ini hint yr sfeera sicyearsrugale with himself. Resting efecng, snd fasting under the Bodhi ree fr seven weeks afb el ization, che Buddha sppeas co have ben embarassed by bis Alscovery. His inclination was to semain silent, to keep hit tunderstanding to himself, to asume tat noone woul take ‘him seriously: He appeared disinclined eo teach, ad it ti ‘hat only afte the great god Brahma implored im hee tee hace Finally agreed to expound his teachings ‘This Dhamma which Ihave eine indeed prof il cule co pees, dict te compecbend shoe erate, bat withi the spec foi, alti an oe waded bythe wie «IFT wee to each shir Dhamma she stbes ould nor understand me That wl be wearitme to et Tilte thane we ‘Wich fiat have Fcompeeende. These one #2 proclaim i¢ sow. Tht Dhami sn ely underiond by ‘hose who ae dominated byl and bret Thelen, Shrouded in divknes, do tse thie Dhan, which ors ‘esis the eam, which abrir, pean, el peresiveand le As reed his ymin sured into inaction sd 9 soe caching of he Da ‘The Bud wie relent, of course and set out 00 fory-fvesear period of wandering and teaching. Buc his ii tial hesiations bear remembering st we atempe to undeeseaed his dscovesies inthe context of contemporary psychology. The Bodh eachings are sil “against the seams “iia comprehend,” and “not within the sphere of logic” They ate roe wha we waa heat Inpeychological erm, te Buda firs teuth, for iastanc, i ely about the inevitability of out oven humiliation. His insights challenge ss co examine ou selves with a candar chat we would pefr to aro WHAT THE BUDDHA TAUGHT When my ace Howard, an ieligious enidl-level IBM ‘executive who loved Bach hit violin, Chinese food, and my sunt, ly dying of leukemia in the Slou-Kestering Cancee CCne several yet go, his coughs of impending death were tempered somewhat by a sudden rilistion. Wecked with pin, emaciated and fil, he body breaking down, but stil with a fine an cuefl smile, be whispered to his wife, “At lest I wou have to take anaher sit.” As Beckett would poe my i the burma condition, In his teachings on rafering, the Baha made clas tht some kiad of builiation awaits ual. This i he crth that heel could be apprehended by chose with litle dust in thee tyes” No mater what we do, he tag, we connor sustain the ilusion of oar sesficiency. Weare all sabjec to decay, old age, and death, co disappointment, ln, and disease, We tall ‘engaged in Fle serggle to maintain ourselves in our owe image. The erie in our lives inevialy cee bow impossible ‘our atemprs to concl our destinies really ae A sue poi, wwe all find aunclnes in the postion of my uncle, caught eeween decay and death "The Four Noble Truths take tis vulnerability av» starting pin, culating humiliey oe ofthe xemingly oppeesive fed iescapable humiaone of lif. Far foe the petite teligion chat Buddies has been portrayed tobe, i in fc, selenvesly opeimiec All ofthe ingles co out nari can be overcome, the Buddha proclaimed, not by eceping fom them, but by uprooting che conviction in "sel chat needs roecing, The teachings ofthe Four Noble Truths describe ‘his posibiliy explicitly; they are les about religion Cin che ‘Wester sense) than they area vision of reality consiing = racial bloeptin for pychalogial lief. Pestoniag. sur seed for 2 “oid” self squarely in the cence of human safer fing, Buddhism promises kind of rie thas ix beyond the reach ofthe paychotherapeutic method, bought aboot trough techniques ef seranination and mena training wnkeowe co the Wee. Happiness a eal polity, cag che Buda, sf yecan but peneernte our own necniam DUKKHA The Buddha gave bit fit teachings, petrved in Sara, ot severed cllection of ying, called Sige Motion be Whe of ‘ab (Dhamnacabhpporttana Sata, 2 eer pack ia vil lage ows vay a6 Sumh, outside he ancien odin cy of Benares, oan audience of Fie sue with whos he had pac iced before his ealzaton. I wa asi he was tsting bis abil Sty to eapaio his undersanding co is old ends and fellow remunciates fromm whom he bad eater broken. “Now chi, Brothers, ste Noble Truch of Suferng!” he proclaimed. Bie is string day lig, diese i stern, det Ww allering, sro leaeaton sin, gif and depen fafring 0 be united with te wnplean teing, Be tepared fom the plenan ang, to st what ene lates suing. ln the five aggrgue of sachet (be bso eh aman personality) at sein While slfring” is che conventional ranslason forthe Bud does word det, it does noe realy do the word use, A ‘more specie eranalation would be rmething on the order of petwsive unstisictories.” The Buddha is speaking on numberof levels here. Life, hess ie Eile with a sense of perwasive unscsctorine, stemming foe at lene thee First, physical illness and mental anguish ae inescapable Phenomena in or ives od age, sine, and deh clash with ue wishful fanasies of immorality and therefore contribute to ‘oe sense of division, Second, ue own like and dikes ensribute 0 cis sense of dks, Not to obtain what one desires cases dissaisiction, being stuck with whe one doe ‘ot dese causes distsicton ap being sparse fom what one cherishes causes dissatsction. Thid, out own persoal ‘ie contibie to this sense of gens uns, AS may sy~ chotherspis can cst and atthe Badal 0 ler recog- raed, our own selves can fer somehow natisfictry ¢o Weare all ruched bya gnawing tee of impereton, neub- stanley, uncer, or unrest and weal lng fr a magical resolution of that divest. From the very Begining, the human infne is walnesble to an unfchomble anxiety thet survives inthe ale at = ene offic o a a fing of ware= aliry. Hovering berween ewo oppng fete—one of isolation tnd the other of dation o menger—we ate aver certain of where we stand, We sec for definition either ia indepen ence ot in relasiontip, but the ground alway els aie being pled out from beneth ou fee, Our entity i ever fined a We tink should be THE IMAGE OF SELF “The orginal Greek mych of Nerina dvives ts pomer fram jute this coe wnersiney about the eealiey of the self. Ena ‘fed of his om image, unable #9 ear hima? away fom his reflection in pond, Narcan died of languoe. The power of his image was och hat Narita gave himself ver ft. He sa capiated bythe completes ofthe image, which alle tied bis see of uncelsy and pave hin something (app ‘ony slid eo hang onto. Nox only was the reflection illusory, ofcourse, bor Naess perished by virtue of his steacment¢0 ‘his age of pectic. Consider apuin the Budahist perspective on this capeivat ing image of self as aciculated by the Budd in that Get, seating: ALL wat sue ee sl in: thee i ike a mirage, and flee tbuliny euch wil ps vay. They lv He who hae evened i reed fmf: be bas become Boda: be knows eh tanity of al is cas, his ub, stale of his pa, Teeny happens tha «min, when taking + bah, sep ‘recomend be wil shake fen ay, niin it tind al the aniseed by the pens venomous bite Wha ari oc hie ran experince be he we eae che ope is sake," cae of hi gle in i eto Bi ignores, is ilson. the tee ar ofthe ope ie en ‘hud, hi oily of nnd wl come back ihe wl fel ecleed: be wil be jf an apo hee sel tat the che of al ha robles cn, ad Far from the narcisstic por hat many paychoanayate snd religious scholars have labeled ie, Buddhiat mediation ie father an artempt to bres throgh and expotenacisis in its every bau. The Buddha sce sala Nereis, ging at sod captinated by cot own rflecoas, lnguishing in our eempted selfsuicinsy, desperately struggling apie all ‘har would remind of or me Neen and relative nates Hi meee 2 wakeup call. He seeks ro rouse us Fm our Narciso like reverie, 0 rete our ateation fom a peoc cupaton with shoring up an inevitably flawed sense of self 0 Inowledge of wha he calls "che Noble Tat Birth old age, scknes, and death ar dirtatel ot jue because chey ate pil bur alo because they ate hamiie ing They violate ourself regard and ate Blows to oue marci sign, In one of bis fret writings about this, ord wet aed that che ibility o glemse unpleesanteruths aboot cncself was eencal to nari. The Boddbe's teachings teake this obvervtion che corserrone of his paychlogy. We all subject co chit cendency, aught che Buddha, We do tot wane co adest aur lack of substance to outtlves and, instead, strive to poject an image of completnes, or sl suiieney. The paradox is that, tothe exent that we sue amb eo this ug, we ae estranged from ourelves and ae sutra. Our sarciatim requires that we Keep the euth but ou seven at boy. THE VOICE OF THE ANALYST Paycoanalss has, of cure, come up aginst this universal Sense of inadequacy without any inp from the Budd od fas addressed fom sever important angles, each of which fleshes ost in some important way the Buds declaration about dokkha. As each new movement fis arben within the field, the explanations for this universal disaisfcion have coxzspondingly shied so that, overall, here is «eed away from a ser ecology and toward an cmaionl one. While firs eeu and chen Wilhelen Reich explored ehe genic ise for persive unstsactorins,aubuequent waves of hough have emphasized rentrisione i the capi fo love a a nore basic cause of human suring. Taking chse views into sccoun, we might zewrte the Buddha word 4 the fallow ing: "Bich is sferng, day is suering, diese i efering, death ie sferng, che etch fr ulcmate sation trough sexual i sering, not be able roves sufering, orto be loved enough i fering, not robe known i ulin, co oc kaow onsets sufeing Freud eced the univeraliy of human sufering co che co- feisenc of ewe iefble cs fst, ee young childs help lene and dependence; second, ee sme childs paychosencal prematurity. Young cilrenbave sexual urges that ae incom pile with eeie genital capacities; they dese thie parents sexually bac re unable ro achieve saisfiction with chem an so are lef with an ongoing sense of inadequacy. Thote childhood sexual desies can neve be queache, ad many al cannot secle for mature sonal scisacton ad ate compelled instead to search fr sme kind of inactunable imaged vex fall ment tha has been wited for since ely hildood. As Freud decribed i “Tis aly ePlrcence af infil eal fe comer ean cau inthe mos dsteesing cumstances and 0 the mom Pniment of he mos pin evings Lt of love and sare Teave behind chen «peace nur co e-eand inthe fren fa mite se, ich fay epson». Therapist constantly sce remnants of the condition that Freud ariultes. They een ety wes examples of wt i it ike to be suckin an Animal Realm on the Whee of Lie, A fend of mie, an accomplished acres named Amy, provides 2 {00d illusion. She was previewing in anew ply that wat probaly the mose challenging she had yer undertaken. Her arenes chose thi ime ro vacation on the Wee Coat, where her younger sre lived with her hushund and yearold chi ‘This wernt anew pater for Amy parents. They were oes noe presto fo the ajar momenes of Amy's cee and would manage ro mies the entre rn ofthis play, ro, since spending ime with theie grandchild wat more important #0 them Amy's initial reaction, quite undersandably, was 10 el seorned and inadesuate, Her parents lack of incest in het ‘wor o hee inablty eo appreciate ie couched aw nerve. At bu, it reorteeed er ete (and Fread would sy “ero ized) desire fo their undying admiration, and i thrstened to make her able receive on ration from he curent cicvemens Ie wat a if he ony feedback dat mareed wat from he paren For Fred, the core narctiie blow results rom an ‘anbridgeable gap between deste and saifiction: the adult is never able to graf bis childhood sexual facie? In Bd hie ces, thit would be» paychodynamic explanation for at les che second of wha ae eaiconlly dexribed atthe “two sickness,” namely, che belie ina fixed and abiding elf (he noma ibs) and he see fora “ea” object (the cra ‘ihm No abject or person) could ever fel saficienely rel tls i could scroll gratify the orginal dee for serial tinion withthe paren Without sah isco, the so-alld hc is alway fel co be wanting, sot el enough Reich took the ides of a sen tology for disiscton ven more conretely than Freud did. Holding open che poss bility che complecely ssisying sexual celations can oct, Reich made dcr seul gatifiation the therapeutic goal of his treatments, and be focused on the "muscular amesing” ot riggs can detent foe sting eral dichage ad fan rake “the sth of tension and eocaion impoeble Reis interest wasn how we eaty a perpen inadequacy in our very bodes. His gl wit to open up the characte, co make the person le rigid, tore “mobile” and spontaneous, more available to emotional, and especially 0 sexual expe oe, In erm ofthe Wheel 0 Life, Rech id a move rn ‘the Animal Rese deste othe Gad Realm of sisction, ‘As pachounalyic thought developed, Ric's ideas of ma cular amocing were in sone way adie fom an emphasis 00 inhibitions of sent dichrge to moe of auton iebtons ofthe human beat. Octo Rank provided an imponane, if fen overloked, bridge berween the wo views, Rank moved the theory from genital ongatm roa kind of ego orgasm, deciding how the eg seks co "unburden i” through it love rel ‘on, feng itelf fiom inner ensons and iakbiios by making use" of anccer peron in sexo low. “The ego” sid Rank, is always ready to unvve ite ego seactare in objet ‘elation a soon a finds objet and sitions table fo its rp” When he eg is notable o“anravel ies seactre. Shen the capaci fer love is hue down Becee of nsec fis, or confion, hen the person becomes ialaed by and immpraooed in individual, Where there ix no unbuedening | i i sd no shyt of ens and elation, thee can be no fe om to bond, no srtender of ego boundaries, and no merging ofthe kind that chancterizes all arms of love, Without this the person experiences helen in ation, nein cone tion and individuality becomes the equivalent of anxiety, het than one esenvial and inseparable pare of an ever-evolving proces of partion and wien, ‘As Ranke described i, oo basic slferng is word in kind original separation aes, which he called a “Fer of life” We far what has already ireocably happened—epaacion from the greater whale—and yer we alto come to ee the loi, in death, of his precious individ. “Between these ewo fest poublires” Rene wrote, “these poles of et, the individ s ‘own back and forth all his life, which accounes forthe fc thar we have aor been able to rice Fes back 0 single root of te overcome i therpetially“* Whar abou this fe of inividaton and isation? I eis ot the doormy tthe insecsite about the slf thatthe Bude

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