Truth, beauty, happiness, health, light

Let's take two example questions, one big and one small, in order to analyze the meaning of the following five attributes.

1. Should I return to Thailand to teach yoga?
2. Should I walk home from the bus stop or call my brother for a ride home from work today?

Both of these questions are important to me; they are not random questions in which I am not invested.

TRUTH

What does it mean for a decision to satisfy the requirement of truth? What is truth? I think that each of these attributes must be interpreted on your own for each question. Why the RIGHT decision for me might be to return to Thailand to teach yoga, it may not be RIGHT for someone else according to how it fulfills these attributes for them. Remember, Olga says the RIGHT decision must satisfy all FIVE requirements. Let's try not to deceive ourselves.

What does a RIGHT decision have to do with truth? My ideas are that the right decision may: lead you toward truth, by what you truly want, in truth be the right thing to do. Lead yourself and OTHERS to the truth.

1. If I return to Thailand to teach yoga, a.) will it lead me towards truth? b.) Is it what I truly want? If I answer yes to these, then it will be the right thing to do according to truth.

2. Will taking the bus home or getting a ride lead me more towards truth? This is impossible to say. Again, what is truth? Is truth GOD? And which do I truly want, to take the bus or get picked up?

BEAUTY

I am already feeling pretty stumped here. Let's look at beauty. For a decision to satisfy the beauty requirement, how about the RIGHT decision leads you to beauty, creates beauty for yourself and others. Is beauty GOD?

1. Will returning to Thailand to teach yoga create beauty? Yes, it has a lot of potential to do that, though it depends on my ability to create beauty. Will returning to Thailand to teach yoga lead me to beauty? Again, if I create beauty, I will surely be led to beauty. If not, no.

2. Taking the bus and walking may create more beauty in my body through exercise and lead to more beauty in the environment saving on pollution of one car. However, getting a ride may create beauty in my relationship and he may go out anyway in which case it is fairly even so far; again dependent on my own ability to create beauty in whatever I do.

HAPPINESS

The RIGHT decision should create happiness and lead to happiness. What is true happiness? That which lasts forever, right? Is happiness GOD?

1. Yoga in Thailand. Although I am again struck with the same issues as above, as in, the happiness created and lead to will depend on my ability to create and lead to happiness, in this case I know from past experience that yoga is an extremely reliable tool in terms of creating happiness. I can give an almost full YES that going to Thailand to teach yoga will create and lead me to happiness.

2. Taking the bus may create and lead to happiness for myself and others if it is what I want to do, in which case I will enjoy it and smile at others and bring a positive mood. If it is not what I want, then it will potentially not create happiness. Same stands for getting the ride.

HEALTH

The right decision should create and lead to health for myself and others. This I take as physical, mental, spiritual, and psychological health. A lot to ask for!

1. Yoga in Thailand. Similar to above. Very good track record to health being created and sustained by a good yoga practice. Spiritual health is developed along with the others. Health of the planet a bit threatened by the long plane ride I take to get there but may be negligible compared to other long term benefits.

2. Taking the bus: health of body improved through walking, health of planet improved through conservation of resources, [conflict in mind: health of body improved through walking but what if i take a walk later with mom thereby improving two persons health over one?]
Getting ride: health improved over joy of getting a ride.

LIGHT

The RIGHT decision should bring more LIGHT to myself and the world.

1. Training in yoga and learning to teach will clearly bring more light to myself and the world.

2. Taking the bus may bring more light to the world as an environmentally friendly decision.

In conclusion, I realize that going through this task has not clarified so much whether the decisions I make will bring these aspects into the world as much as made it clear what I actually WANT to do. And then when I know what I want I know that that decision is the one which will satisfy all five aspects. For example, today I want to get a ride home and since that is the case, I can see that it is the decision which will satisfy all requirements. Or am I just blinded by laziness?

How about the question of should I go to visit Mai in NY before I go to Thailand. Truth is brought by being true to myself, beauty the same, happiness the same, health the same, and light the same. These questions are tools for which to understand whether a decision is what you truly desire. And because I believe that God is what we all truly desire, in fact, then discovering our true desire is discovering God. what a dream it has become!

I thought the point would be that it is not always easy to make the right decision. But that contributes to the cloud around knowing whether a decision is right or wrong when you know you want to do something which is not RIGHT. For example, have coffee. If it is what I truly want, it is right, because it will lead to the five aspects. However, if I know it will not lead to the five aspects and do it regardless.


I am beginning to realize the prison of intellectualism.