Ah! Greatest defilements? It has to be the greatest? It can't be a medium sized or minor defilement? 😉 But of course I get the point. Dabbling with minuscule defilements might be satisfactory, like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic into a pleasing pattern, but the real problem is that the ship is sinking and no manner of rearranging furniture is going to change that. I think the challenge is to understand what the greatest defilements in our life are. So I suppose the first step is to observe ourselves. What are my patterns? When do they lead to "suffering"? What is behind the pattern? You mentioned your need for control. I have a certain need for order. What lies behind that need? No doubt it is an attempt to control my environment. Is that need compulsive or relaxed enough to put up with disturbances? Is it some sort of magic thinking?
I don't know whether the example is relevant but having to deal with the "greatest" reminds me of all the times I clean parts of my flat. I look at the kitchen and immediately overwhelm sets in and I can't bring myself to start with the task. So I make a deal with myself: just one drawer. That's manageable. And once the first step is taken, the rest follows more or less easily. This might be an example of the "little cares". I think the difference between my cleaning the drawer and somebody rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic is that the deck chairs are not part of the real problem. The drawer is.
So what might be my "greatest defilements"? I think sometimes I'm impatient when somebody is slow on the uptake or even refuses to do what I suggest. I find myself nagging them. I also have a certain intellectual pride I admit. The solution is letting go of expectations. I'm getting better at that. But it's work in progress. 😊
Ah! Greatest defilements? It has to be the greatest? It can't be a medium sized or minor defilement? 😉 But of course I get the point. Dabbling with minuscule defilements might be satisfactory, like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic into a pleasing pattern, but the real problem is that the ship is sinking and no manner of rearranging furniture is going to change that. I think the challenge is to understand what the greatest defilements in our life are. So I suppose the first step is to observe ourselves. What are my patterns? When do they lead to "suffering"? What is behind the pattern? You mentioned your need for control. I have a certain need for order. What lies behind that need? No doubt it is an attempt to control my environment. Is that need compulsive or relaxed enough to put up with disturbances? Is it some sort of magic thinking?
I don't know whether the example is relevant but having to deal with the "greatest" reminds me of all the times I clean parts of my flat. I look at the kitchen and immediately overwhelm sets in and I can't bring myself to start with the task. So I make a deal with myself: just one drawer. That's manageable. And once the first step is taken, the rest follows more or less easily. This might be an example of the "little cares". I think the difference between my cleaning the drawer and somebody rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic is that the deck chairs are not part of the real problem. The drawer is.
So what might be my "greatest defilements"? I think sometimes I'm impatient when somebody is slow on the uptake or even refuses to do what I suggest. I find myself nagging them. I also have a certain intellectual pride I admit. The solution is letting go of expectations. I'm getting better at that. But it's work in progress. 😊