Wisdom and Immune to Reality

“Wisdom” and “Immune To Reality” In Robert Thurman’s essay the “Wisdom, he talks about ways in trying to find oneself by looking deep down inside. He also goes into detail to explain what selflessness really mean. Selflessness is a kind of a way of emptying your body of all the negative things and emotions deep down inside. Coming to realize that everything is not about you is one way of experiencing selflessness. Realizing that even though you are in your own body, you are still apart of this world, the universe, and life that surround you. Believe it or not, the fact that we struggle so much with being wrong is of tremendous importance to our task of awakening to the reality of selflessness. (Thurman, p. 464). We all know that it takes a lot of guts to admit when we are wrong. Some of us could not even bring ourselves to admit of our wrongdoings. What do we get out of being right? According to Thurman, we should take time to think about why it is so important to be right or why it feels so good. Being right means that the world affirms us in what we think we know. (Thurman, Pg. 464). If we are presented a situation that we are wrong in, we do not take the time to see if we are wrong because we simply do not want to know the truth. After reading both essays, I have to say that Thurman and Gilbert’s essay, both talks about how the human race are a self-centered kind of people. They also talk about how one should be considerate and in great concerns of those around them instead of themselves. Thurman and Gilbert both discuss how we as human always like to think that we know everything about a certain thing or situation. I think that the experience of Buddhism is a way of freeing people from the ignorance that is buried deep down inside. I also believe that as with the description of true happiness that Gilbert describes are related. I believe that before one has learned who they really are and how to come into contact with their true self that they are mostly unconscious to what it truly means to know yourself and to be happy. In both cases, human beings go by what they think they already know about happiness and who they really are. Buddhism is another way of making you see things from a different and clearer perspective, basically. You should really take time to look deep down inside and learn other ways to see things and to break from the preset thinking of our minds. I think that both men are trying to convince their audience that we should find time to meditate and see what really is going on inside our head and to change the way of our destructive thinking.