[MD] Confessions of a thinker

[MarshaV]

I am a thinker...

Ouch, ouch, ouch.  Hahahaha.  Ouch, ouch, ouch.  Hahahaha.  OUCH!

I found this word/concept: papanca.  Papanca is the perception 'I am 
a thinker.'  It seems to have three roots:  desire, view and conceit.

"Once the ego is solidified through the processes of papanca, it 
constantly seeks self-affirmation and self-aggrandizement.  Yet 
because the ego is an utter illusion, utterly empty, utterly void, so 
the appearance of selfhood itself generates a nagging sense of 
insufficiency--the ego cannot be adequate to that which it projects 
itself as being.  Consequently, on both emotional and intellectual 
fronts, the ego experiences an aching sense of incompleteness, an 
inner lack requiring perpetual fulfillment, and the lurking suspicion 
of an ultimate lack of identity.  The result is an inner disquietude 
and a chronic anxiety that is expressed in a compulsion to build and 
to fortify the sense of self.  This process lends to greed, to 
desire, to relentless craving--for pleasure, wealth, power, and 
fame--all as a means to satisfy the need for self-security.  In turn, 
this results in hatred, selfishness, and violence.  Thus through the 
process of papanca, the agent becomes a victim of his own ignorance 
and misconception."


Interesting?


Marsha


p.s.  If anyone would like to give me a good, Buddhist kick on the 
bottom, either onlist or offlist, please do.  I would appreciate the 
guidance.








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Look, there's no metaphysics on earth like chocolates.
(Fernando Pessoa)
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