Wisdom of the Ancients

A lot of cultures today around the world, which include India and Tibet, consider masturbation as not a normal everyday thing to do. I am sure it was the same in ancient Rome. It is the commodification of women in the Western World that has led us to the situation we find ourselves today.

What is the point in wanting something that is not there and then building and reinforcing that want? Why not build one's own self esteem instead?

From that point of view books that show us how to cut out porn and porn subs etc are hard to find and this requires a discipline that only NoFap can provide.

 

Stoicism.
You already have heard of Marcus Aurelius, and maybe you could also try Epictetus and Seneca.

 

me too im getting into fitness and meditation too

 

I don't know that much about ancient philosophy, but I'm pretty certain Eastern cultures were highly into improving the mind and body as much as possible. Yin and Yang, Taoism, Yoga, Meditation... A lot of these ideals come from those cultures. I especially love the idea of flowing like water. Water is the source of all life as we know it... The central ingredient to everything... So anything likening to water gives me motivation. Water has no bias, it flows in even the darkest places. It can even be used as a discipline tool (look at cold showers).

 

Hope This Ancient Knowledge of Lord Buddha, is Helpful for Someone...

Five Aggregates

Today I want to discuss, about Five Aggregates, and how they are responsible for Addictions or Phobias.

Part I:

When we come across an object of like or dislike, these are the five factors, through which we undergo, which decide whether we will acquire Addiction or Phobia about the Object. This understanding may greatly help in overcoming the Addiction / Phobia. I have tried to explain the concept with the help of two examples simultaneously, viz. Mango giving rise to Attachment and Snake giving rise to Detachment.

1. Attention – Sound of Mango falling from tree / Hissing of Snake

2. Chasing – Search and Approach the Source of Sound

3. Evaluation – Pick up the Mango and Smell it / Get the Clear Vision of Snake

4. Conclusion – Mango is Good to Eat / Snake is Dangerous for Life

5. Action – Eat the Mango / Run Away from Snake

It is step 4, where we decide whether we like or dislike the object, thereby creating the space for development of Addiction / Phobia. These five factors are known as Five Aggregates, in Buddhism.

When we are addicted, what is happening is, we jump to Step 5, Right after step 1, whichever the case may be, whether like or dislike. And the action is totally subconscious, whereas for the first time the action was conscious.

Part II:

Consider there is a beautiful painting in a room, and there are two person sitting in front of it. One has great taste for paintings and the other is blind.

Here, the Person interested in paintings will definitely want to own the painting, whereas for the blind, there is no such thing as painting. Even if the blind person touches the painting to know its existence, there is no way for him to know how beautiful it is.

For the blind person, the very first aggregate – Attention is missing.

Part III:

When we try to quit an addiction, what we are doing is, we holding ourselves, from Fifth Aggregate – Action. But the example of a blind person states that, it is the First Aggregate - Attention, that finally leads us to involuntary and uncontrolled actions.

In actual life, it is bound to happen, that we consciously or unconsciously come across the First Aggregate - Attention. It is essential to be prepared for such conditions beforehand. It is done by developing Wisdom, of how bad are the consequences of the addiction. Then we consciously contemplate upon five aggregates, and substitute the wrong information with right, at Aggregate 4 - Conclusion.

Lastly we put this Wisdom into use, at the point between First Aggregate – Attention and the Second aggregate - Following. For achieving this, Lord Buddha has taught the Awareness Meditation, which is highly effective for keeping a constant guard over thoughts.

 

Plato and Aristotle. Founders of everything good in western culture.

 

The Tolteca Phylosophy, Krishnamurti's books...

 

Socrates - GLAUCON

And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: --Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.

I see.
And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.

You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.
Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?

And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?

Yes, he said.
And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?

Very true.
And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?

No question, he replied.
To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.

That is certain.
And now look again, and see what will naturally follow it' the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, -what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them, -will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?

Far truer.
And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him?

True, he now
And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he 's forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities.

Not all in a moment, he said.
He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?

Certainly.
Last of he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is.

Certainly.
He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold?

Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him.

And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?

Certainly, he would.

 

Yoga definitely helps!

 

My most recent owner reset my modus operandi.

 

I give you the United States Navy Seals training documentary. Not ancient at all, but something tells me you're gonna get a kick out it.

 

There is a detailed book written by an Indian Swami (Sivananda) on the practise of celibacy. Even many aspects of it are for monks and some may not be acceptable to many of us, there are definitely lot of points we can pick. He also mentions several yoga poses, specific foods which can help.
http://www.dlshq.org/download/brahma_nopic.htm

 

+1 to all of this. There is a beautiful harmony of ancients, East and West, on letting go the illusion of control and the desire for serial satisfaction. They were the first step in my own recovery many years ago and probably have prevented me from having a much deeper addiction.

I do note that the East is far more advanced than the West when it comes to praxis, though. I'm a devout Catholic and my tradition is the longest sustained intellectual tradition in moraiity and discipline, but its writings are almost entirely intellectual. Eastern traditions often devoted tracts on praxis. There's been a lot of wonderful research lately, though, suggesting that the western tradition had praxis (like mindful prayer) but tended to pass specificities on orally, not in its literature.

Anyway, it's just amazing to see the overlap. Really brings home Epictetus' notion that the mindful life is most in accord with our nature.

I love all religions, despite my own utter conviction by Catholicism, and I have much enjoyed the wisdom they seek and find, particularly when it mirrors or parallels other traditions.

For NoFap, mindfulness meditation and Epictetus give me the practical tools to actually accomplish some level of discipline, while Paul and The Gospels give me the motivation and probably the strength of spirit to follow-through. Socrates too. His line that he'd been preparing his whole life for death has always inspired me to appreciate today. Christ's admonition to let tomorrow worry about itself has always inspired me to let go and trust. And Epictetus' admonition to appreciate the festival of life has always inspired me to be more humble and joyful.

 

Reading meditations at the moment,I really reccomend it!After I finish it I've got books from Aristotle,St.Augustine and Machiavelli to read.