[sadie]

what you're reading as a mandate on how best to live, i've always read more as comment on the way things are, which of course is up for debate.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

This is essentially saying that the good way is found through equal amounts of the two extremes. The Enlighted Path, as any Buddhism newbie can point out, is also that, the tranquility found in balance of passions.

i see what you're saying. maybe, though, he's not saying we should strive for the middle ground. i've always taken it to mean that, yes, sorrow and joy are parts of the whole (the duality thing, which rings true for me), and we are always at some point between the two.

Go tell 'extinguish the light of passion, young one!' to a starving kid in africa.

i'm not sure what this means in practical terms.


Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

I do not seek to be empty. I do not seek balance.

i never read this as his espousing emptiness as the favorable course. i'd rather live my life in pain and sorrow than to be empty. balance, however, is something i've grown to seek.
when i was younger, happiness was my highest goal. now, peace is. but does peace necessarily mean a lack of passion? i have a peace at my core, but a tornado still swirls around it.

I will not give you my money nor will I carress your cock, thank you very much.

i was hoping you would.