I dunno nothin’ ’bout Buddha …but if he abandoned his family, they must not have contributed much at all to his joy. And joy is the deal for me — if it doesn’t bring ya’ joy, why do it?

Everyone thinks/says it’s all about love, but really it’s all about joy … love is just the ultimate joy But maybe we can get too much of even that, and so the real deal may simply be in finding that perfect blend (that balance for us) of thinkin’, explorin’, laughin’ (lotsa laughin’), lovin’ and trustin’, and maybe even sometimes fearin’ and all, but most especially with a big ole helping of that “joy in being”

It’s not real obvious that I’m a southern girl, is it? lol

Peace,
Dove

Well… When you suggest that I “might have at least a tad of fear of not knowing what’s there or how it got there…and urgent or somewhat desperate need to know”… What can I say? You’re right.

I know this is true because I have attained states of non-fear, non-attachment, through meditation; and at these times there’s no desire to explore at all — just joy in being. I don’t spend all my time in this state because (a) it’s quite a bit of effort to get there (though I know the effort would decrease with practice), and (b) my regular non-ecstatic self is afraid that if I stay like that all the time, I’ll abruptly abandon my life and my family like the Buddha did, and just go off somewhere and be happy. So instead I’m sort of trying to transition my normal state into the joy-state, gradually and gently. Perhaps this journey is the source of the urgency… I dunno. But thanks for giving me a lot to think about!