The phrase 'on the breadline' is commonly thought to have come from the time of the great depression which started in the United States in the 1930's when people had to line up to collect bread. In fact the phrase was first used well before that. The years from around 1870 to the turn of the 20th century were known in New York State as the Gilded Age due to the excessive affluence of the time. Of course not all benefitted from that affluence and many suffered great poverty. It was around that time when Louis Fleischmann, a millionaire baker opened the Vienna Model Bakery . At Christmas 1886 he established a unique charity, The Breadline to help those who were in poverty and ever since has been giving out unsold bread and in winter coffee to all who applied.
I'm not sure how you relate being 'aware' to pretentiousness. I would imagine a person who acts pretentious is far from aware. The ego-self is possibly the source of most of our problems. Wherever we get hung up in pain and confusion, (and surely a pretentious person is confused,) we’ll find the ego.
"The ego is like a petty tyrant who must fulminate on the rightness of its position as a compensation for the swamp of doubt upon which it's castle is built."
I used to but I'm a bit more cautious these days after an unpleasant experience with one many years ago. There are some more remote places in other countries though where it's the only realistic way of getting around and hitchhiking is the norm . I rarely see people hitchhiking around where I live these days.
Our lives are made up of decisions, one after another, every day. Some are small and seem quite insignificant, some of course can be life changing. But, most every decision we make affects us and sometimes others, to some greater or lesser degree. We need to know how to make the right decisions, for ourselves and those around us, but that's not always easy, especially in our formative years. It's not, though perhaps it should be, taught in most schools, our parents may never have broached on the subject and our friends might have been as clueless as ourselves. We are just left with a basic idea of evaluating a situation and then leaving it to and hopefully learning from trial and error, although many people learn little from past bad decisions. We can though, gain wisdom from our past actions and by such look to learn and be guided by those who have great wisdom and knowledge, something that used to be widely acknowledged and accepted in earlier generations. I posting this little extract below again as you asked Kaylana, it's a shame the thread I originally posted it in was deleted, but some of it had become a bit hostile.
"Venerable Dr. Rahula, outlines 10 kinds of fallacies in reasoning (from several suttas including the Kalama, Bhaddiya, Canki and others) that if one were to believe to be true could create such false view.
Fallacy 1. Reported information is true Fallacy 2. Traditional values, beliefs, and practices are actual truths Fallacy 3. Social truths are actual truths Fallacy 4. The texts are true Fallacy 5. Logical reasoning is always correct Fallacy 6. Reasoning based on imagination and speculation is correct Fallacy 7. Hypothesized reasoning is correct Fallacy 8. One should accept a view because it is compatible with one's own way of thinking. Fallacy 9. One's persuasive skill validates the message Fallacy 10. Individual authority is a dependable criterion for making decisions
The four forms of correct evaluation (from the Kalama Sutta) are:
Right Evaluation 1. Wrong motivations lead to wrong decisions
Right Evaluation 2. Absence of wrong motivation leads to right decisions
Right Evaluation 3. Consequences of a decision make it right or wrong
Right Evaluation 4. Attention to the views of qualified people lead to right decisions.
The Liberty Bell was not rung on July 8, 1776 even though its often claimed it was rung from the tower of Independence Hall summoning the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon.
Now speaking of bells, I'm off to the pub, it's getting near last orders...
I agree, it's not a state of being, more a state of mind and paradoxically, the very thing that makes you happy can sometimes be a future source of sadness or suffering.
The people who voted for Brexit will never get the Brexit they voted for, that's for sure, nor were they ever likely to. I here the term 'soft Brexit' being banded about more and more. I think that's possibly where we'll end up, not for the good of the country, more just to appease those who voted for Brexit.
bodleing2 Forum Posts (6,132)
RE: Oxmoron's
Really?How did we cope...