a fourth candidate

so far, if you've been following :), i've attempted to prove that detachment = mindfulness = acceptance. i'd like to bring in a fourth candidate into the system: egolessness. egolessness certainly implies acceptance, for when there exists no ego, how may there be a force de resistance? what will resist? there is no 'i'. and if there is acceptance and surrender, one allows oneself to be guided entirely by divine will. there is no room for the ego to step in then, for the ego's purpose is solely to separate, to resist, to pull away instead of flowing along with.

does this work? and if it does, so? there's the question of what's really guiding me to draw these connections. well, practical reasons, for one. detachment is an ideal the gita sets forth, and mindfulness is an ideal that tnh (and zen buddhism in general) emphasizes. still far from practising these ideals every moment of my life, i find it helpful in my spiritual practice to view a situation in light of different ideals (knowing, especially, that they lead to the same outcome). in certain situations, i understand better what it means to detach, while at other times, acceptance makes better sense. when the time between a stimulus and response is short, and i need to hurry up the train of thought, it seems easier to resort to a different component of this equation. aside from practical reasons, there is also a certain joy i find in moving towards resolution and simplicity. it feels like a discrete step forward. you know?

if you have other candidates you'd like to propose, i'd love to hear. one obvious one is, of course, love. but love is everything, love is every state. it is the end and it is the journey to the end. know what i mean? so for the time being, we'll keep it outside and above all.

(nb: egolessness is substitutable by selflessness.)