Firstoff i would like to thank you for this discussion we are having, it sure is intillectually stimulating! I understand your viewpoint and you made some very valid points. When i talk about percieving things as just "being" im talking about acceptance of a situation just as it is, that means non judgementally, without bringing in thought and ego. This concept of acceptance and non judgement is the foundation of spiritualism, these concepts have been around for centuries advocated by buddha, jesus, lao tzu etc.
You said that the thing that seperates us from chimps is our problem solving abilities and thought processes and i agree with you. Intelligence and problem solving are wonderful tools of the human mind, problems only arise when the ego takes control of these processes. Look at the suffering we have on this planet, countless people lacking the necessities of life(food, clean water, shelter), war, destruction of the environment etc. If the human race doesnt survive becase of the destructive forces caused by ego i think there is an argument that the chimps are better off dont you agree? You said "i cant just sit in front of a situation and not judge it". Dont worry your not alone, most people cant. Its hard to explain these concepts but basically those thoughts and judgements are not truly you. Its your ego that is judging something as good or bad because your ego wont accept the fact that good and evil dont exist. I didnt come up with these concepts but once you understand it, the world makes so much more sense. If you are truly interested in this subject as it seems you are i highly reccomend either books "the power of now" or "a new earth" by Eckhart Tolle. He explains these concepts much better than i do.
Anyway back to the discussion. I think that children are mostly free from ego when they are young, but they learn "right and wrong" through societal conditioning and further identification with the ego. If society said that stealing was "right", even though we know it is not, children would grow up believing that stealing is right. I dont think that children knowing right and wrong is a valid argument. In reference to "if your looking down two paths.. one path leads to certain death, the other path leads to great life". I would firstoff say that both paths lead to certain death! Secondly i would ask you what defines a great life? and whose definition is that? A "great' life is an illusion, there is only life.
Accepting a situation just as it is does not mean not thinking about it. It only means accepting the situation as it is, non judgementally, then using the mind as a tool to make the best decision. Use this as an example. You are driving down the road, running late for work and your tire blows out. You have two decisions here: You can let the ego take control and get very emotional and upset. You can judge the situation as "bad" and think of countless troubles this has caused you. Or you can accept the situation as it is, without judgement, then without getting emotional and upset use your mind to make a decision whether to fix it, call a tow etc. In either cases the event is still the same: you got a flat tire. Which situation seems more appealing to you? The human mind is a wonderful tool and truly a gift to have, its just not neccesarilly the best place to live.
Again i dont do these concepts justice so if your interested look into those books i reccomended. Thank you for reading this extremely long post and i look forward to hearing a response.
