Untitled

{"id":2640,"date":"2024-06-15T09:57:59","date_gmt":"2024-06-15T14:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bodhisattvaroad\/?p=2640"},"modified":"2024-06-15T09:57:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-15T14:57:59","slug":"the-dharma-i-learned-from-inside-out-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bodhisattvaroad\/2024\/06\/the-dharma-i-learned-from-inside-out-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dharma I Learned From Inside Out 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

We see our \u201cselves\u201d as something real, something that is important and fixed.<\/p>\n

The most important thing about anything that\u2019s ever happened is that it happened to me. But the truth is it didn\u2019t happen to me. My beliefs and my sense of self are fundamentally different from what they were 20 years ago. Am I the same person? I don\u2019t know. I know I\u2019ve changed a great deal over the course of my life. Things that used to be important to me have fallen away. Things that were never important before have become so.<\/p>\n

Our sense of self and our beliefs are dynamic and adaptable. This is even true of the things we think are at our core. This is even true of those beliefs that we think are fundamental to our being. The nature of human life is change. Which then begs the question: What do we want to change into?<\/p>\n

To me, that\u2019s the most meaningful theme in the film Inside Out 2. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m writing about today.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with Inside Out, that\u2019s okay, I will catch you up.<\/p>\n

Inside Out is a Pixar film that came out in 2015. I\u2019ll always remember it as the first movie I saw with another person after my divorce. BUT, that\u2019s not important to talk about here.<\/p>\n

In the first film we\u2019re following this girl named Riley who is navigating the difficulties of moving to a new place. The conceit of the film is that we see the emotions inside her head and they have interactions and take turns leading her and making decisions on when to push her to do things.<\/p>\n

If your my age or close to it you may remember a show that was on after the Simpsons called Herman\u2019s Head. Maybe no one else remembers that show. But Inside Out is like that but better. Anyway, the emotions sort of look like monsters to me, but not scary. Her original emotions are Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear.<\/p>\n

SENSE OF SELF<\/p>\n

We\u2019re reintroduced to Riley and these emotions and she\u2019s a teenager now going to hockey camp. And she has developed a sense of self since the first film. She\u2019s growing up, as we all must. And that identity includes a little voice that says \u201cI\u2019m a good person.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Buddhism<\/a> we talk about a teaching called Bodhichitta, or Buddha Nature. That\u2019s what Riley\u2019s sense of identity made me think of. It\u2019s the idea that at the core of our being, we\u2019re all good. Your true nature is goodness. Sometimes we can believe that about ourselves and sometimes we can\u2019t. But it\u2019s a little harder to believe that about other people, especially that one person you really don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

IMPERMANENCE AND CHANGE<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the film, as Riley reaches puberty, new and more complicated emotions appear. They are Anxiety, Embarrassment, Ennui, and Envy. These emotions take over and cast out Riley\u2019s original emotions. And they cast out Riley\u2019s sense of identity. \u201cI\u2019m a good person\u201d becomes replaced with essentially a sense that she has to do anything to win and that she needs to work hard to get the right people to like her.<\/p>\n

These feelings are really relatable because we\u2019ve all been teenagers.<\/p>\n

One of my teachers, Lama Lena, said, \u201cWe\u2019ve all been kicked in the heart because we\u2019ve all had the experience of going to Middle School.\u201d I think that\u2019s true. Teenage years are hard for a lot of us.<\/p>\n

Riley develops these new emotions that she\u2019s unable to deal with effectively. She\u2019s growing and changing and that\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

Impermanence is a Buddhist<\/a> teaching. It\u2019s the concept that everything is always changing. Change is the nature of reality. We can understand this intellectually but at the same time it\u2019s hard for us to grasp that we\u2019re changing too. All our thoughts and feelings are impermanent. They come and go. Of course it\u2019s hard to remember that when we\u2019re feeling those feelings that we don\u2019t want to feel. I think our words matter in this respect. We usually don\u2019t say, \u201cI\u2019m experiencing anger,\u201d we say, \u201cI\u2019m angry,\u201d as though that emotion we\u2019re experiencing is who we are. But it\u2019s not. Our thoughts and feelings are like clouds passing through the sky. The sky is our true nature. And it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

ATTACHMENT, AVERSION, AND IGNORANCE<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n