Practice

This post from Same Old Zen on renunciation has a Buddhist slant, but it speaks to the same "life here" vs "life with God" theme from my post yesterday. Highlights for me:

We walk the path, we know the benefits, and yet we still feel like we're missing out. We want to be be Buddhists, not BUDDHISTS.

In other words, we want to practice hard enough to realize awakening, but not so hard that we can't get trashed on weekends. We want to meditate long enough to take Instagram photos. But not so long that we get bored, or tired, or miss our favorite TV shows.

WE WANT TO HAVE OUR CAKE, AND EAT IT TOO. BUT THAT'S NOT HOW BUDDHISM WORKS.

Our path is one of renunciation. If I wanted to describe it simply, I'd say we work to stop doing the things that cause suffering for ourselves and others. ... This is the exact opposite of what our egos want us to do. Our minds are veritable cesspools of desire, and the wish to accumulate more. So we must practice. We must practice renunciation.

One way to do this is through seated meditation. ... The more we practice, the more we create a sort of container for ourselves. ...

Eventually, we become skilled enough that we can take our renunciation practice off the cushion ... we realize that we're not really losing anything by devoting ourselves to Buddhist practice. Rather, we're gaining the ability to provide peace and contentment to both ourselves and others.