Does the first world need stress?

[Sara H]

Well, I don't know about the first world "needing" stress (or it's opposite, not needing stress)
But the first world has stress.

I think it's a part of our basic function of existence;
If we have none, we want some, if we have some, we want more, if we have lots, we're afraid of loosing it.

That's stress. In a nutshell.

And the human condition.

In Gassho,

Sara H

[GarcherLancelot]

it needs hardworking people and the desire of those people to work, whatever the reason. Stress is an unfortunate byproduct of our circumstances. If we were able to view everything as an illusion stress wouldn't exist. And we would still work all the same.

Work appears to be the main ingredient of both life and becoming enlightened.

Allowing the mind to dissipate rather than to focus must eventually affect its subtlest levels - i.e. it leads to lower realms, in this life at the very least. I can't see an ultimate difference between not working in some way and committing suicide.

What does that mean?.. .

[undefineable]

it needs hardworking people and the desire of those people to work, whatever the reason. Stress is an unfortunate byproduct of our circumstances. If we were able to view everything as an illusion stress wouldn't exist. And we would still work all the same.

Work appears to be the main ingredient of both life and becoming enlightened.

Allowing the mind to dissipate rather than to focus must eventually affect its subtlest levels - i.e. it leads to lower realms, in this life at the very least. I can't see an ultimate difference between not working in some way and committing suicide.

What does that mean?.. .

When I observe my mind while working, I sense it both linking up with aspects/details of the universe at the outer level, and building an inner clarity as a support for that. I've meditated little in the formal sense, but the effects of meditation on my inward state of mind appear similar to the effects of work. On the other hand, 'not working', in the sense of avoiding such directed mental activities, puts my mind into freefall - It starts to implode.

Work in the sense of a full-time job (which in 19'th-century Britain meant around 100 hours per week rather than 40, by the way ) can almost meet the definition of 'not working' I gave above, so I admit being perverse to make a point. However, I can't see that managerial or similar work is likely to leave the mind inactive for any but the most talented, and wonder if Huseng has been thinking of relatively menial jobs. {In the UK during the boom, native-born men were expected to progress quickly to professional or managerial work.}

[undefineable]

Well, I don't know about the first world "needing" stress (or it's opposite, not needing stress)
But the first world has stress.

I think it's a part of our basic function of existence;
If we have none, we want some, if we have some, we want more, if we have lots, we're afraid of loosing it.

That's stress. In a nutshell.

And the human condition.

This - with my emphases , as in:

In theory, we could run on eustress as opposed to distress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress

To strike a balance, I wonder if I'm speaking from a perspective that's unique to my own psyche, besides speaking about insights I expect to gain from meditation before they've had a chance to form properly. I guess that's the nature of debate here, though - The point is to try and see beyond one's own limited view