Weirdness
Belfast Murals - Ardoyne
Sometimes I have these weird days which can turn out well or can be total disasters. Today I was going to lay 3 horses at fancy prices risking over £1000 but I backed them instead netting a healthy profit. In the last race I took it right up to the wire only changing my mind shortly before the off.
Interested in the work of Stephen Batchelor at the moment. He has written a new book - Living with the Devil which looks at how we get into destructive patterns of behaviour. He likens these cycles to the rounds of Samsara - the repeating cycle of existence in Buddhism. Both are literally the road to nowhere - we cannot grow in any way. He likens our position to the Devil in Dante's Inferno who is pictured frozen in a wasteland.
I often feel this way as I follow my urges and compulsions which ultimately get me nowhere. The trouble is you can know something but still not have the motivation or the strategies to do anything about it. Batchelor mentions Paradise Lost and the Inferno a lot as well as the Buddhist term 'mara'. Mara can be seen as the part of ourselves which tempts us off the path we know is right. It is a powerful force and not all bad. It is the part of ourselves which clings to our 'identity' and 'selfhood'
It was interesting that the Buddha never ceased to be tempted by 'mara' even after enlightenment.
My partner is still taking the nasal spray to inhibit her monthly cycle.
Tonight we head up to Cushendall to the Cave House for a short retreat. V short as we have to return tomorrow night to await the arrival of our Antipodean guests.
BTW the photo shows a mural of a mass rock. In the days of The Penal Laws (18th and early 19thC) it was forbidden to hold the Roman Catholic mass. Believers had to worship secretly outdoors often using a rock as an altar. There are hundreds dotted around the Irish countryside.
