RE: Acceptance Is the Opposite of Arrogance
And we do not accept the situation as it is because we assume we know better how it should be. Then we feel the urge to change things, to fight the reality. And that creates the inner tension.
I agree with the first sentence, but I do not think the problem is that we feel the urge to change things. We absolutely are capable of figuring out a better way for things to be, and it is perfectly good and right that we act (within moral boundaries) to improve our situations.
The problem is that we dwell on what's wrong with now, and perhaps what we could've done differently in the past, or just complaining like the world is set against us.
It's critical that we accept and understand a situation and what caused it, without tainting our understanding with emotional/egoic attachments. But from there we should act to improve our situation based on a correct understanding.
I basically meant the same thing, yours is just a clearer and more generic formulation, thanks :-)
Glad to hear it. There's a group of people advocating a form of solipsism these days, saying all we can or should do is accept reality, perhaps understand it, but not attempt to change it. That's not only self-destructive, it plays directly into the hands of the subversives peddling that ideology. I wanted to make sure what you said didn't lead someone to that conclusion. :)
Definitely a good point. It is possible to slip to the side you mentioned pretty easily. But as S. N. Goenka said, most of the teachings are not supposed to make you into a piece of vegetable, but rather the other way around :-)
You should definitely try to do something with your life. You can spend countless hours and days just watching the world, discovering the beauties, which is great, but IMO you will inevitably notice that there is something missing in this approach to life and the time will come when you will be forced to step out. Or at least some people are lucky enough to be forced to step out :-)