"We are creatures who react as we come into contact with the world through our senses.
Such reactions are entirely natural. They are neither good nor bad. Strictly speaking, they are not even "ours". They are simply what happens when an organism interacts with its environment. They are what arises.
The person who lets go of reactivity does not shun involvement with the world but moves nimbly and lightly through it.
Gotama recognized that human beings spend an inordinate amount of time absorbed in the amplifications and proliferations of reactivity.
Letting go of reactivity is a consequence of comprehending reactivity.
The practitioner sees the tricksterish wiles of reactivity for what they are: the seductive, infantile play of an organism that is primarily - and, for the most part, redundantly - preoccupied with its biological survival.
Nirvana [is] to be understood in one of two senses: either as the ceasing of reactivity or as freedom and independence from reactivity.
To behold and thus become aware of nirvana means consciously to affirm and valorize those moments when you see for yourself that you are free to think, speak and act in ways that are not determined by reactivity.
Nirvana is clearly visible the moment reactivity stops."
Such reactions are entirely natural. They are neither good nor bad. Strictly speaking, they are not even "ours". They are simply what happens when an organism interacts with its environment. They are what arises.
The person who lets go of reactivity does not shun involvement with the world but moves nimbly and lightly through it.
Gotama recognized that human beings spend an inordinate amount of time absorbed in the amplifications and proliferations of reactivity.
Letting go of reactivity is a consequence of comprehending reactivity.
The practitioner sees the tricksterish wiles of reactivity for what they are: the seductive, infantile play of an organism that is primarily - and, for the most part, redundantly - preoccupied with its biological survival.
Nirvana [is] to be understood in one of two senses: either as the ceasing of reactivity or as freedom and independence from reactivity.
To behold and thus become aware of nirvana means consciously to affirm and valorize those moments when you see for yourself that you are free to think, speak and act in ways that are not determined by reactivity.
Nirvana is clearly visible the moment reactivity stops."
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a secular age
