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Can you help me find examples of these mind states?

Asked by thorninmud (20495points) February 17th, 2011

I’m giving a presentation to a college group about the Buddhist concept of the Six Realms, mind-states that color one’s experience of being in the world. They describe metaphorically six different ways of being entrapped in delusion.

I want to be able to illustrate these with specific examples. These could be quotes culled from the interwebs, well-known movie characters—anything really that conveys how these mind-states might manifest.

I’m hoping that if I describe these to you, they might remind you of something that you can point me too. I don’t have much time to put this together, so any help is greatly appreciated!

The Six Realms:

Hell Realm – Characterized by despair, suffering without hope. The world is painful and menacing. A negative feedback loop between one’s lashing out at the world and the world becoming more hostile in reaction.

Hungry Ghost Realm – Characterized by unquenchable desire. Addictive personality that needs some obsession to give solidity to an otherwise insubstantial sense of self. Defines self in terms of these objects of desire.

Animal Realm – Brutish inability to override one’s base impulses. Lack of reflection. Guided by urges. Inability to learn from experience.

Human Realm – Neither aloof from suffering, nor overwhelmed by it. Reflective on matters of mortality. Forward thinking. Marked by existential questioning.

Deva or God-like Realm – Aloof from suffering. Enamored of sublime pleasures, exalted experiences. Seemingly detached from the baseness of the world (note: this is not seen as the condition to be desired in Buddhism; it’s just another form of delusion)

Fighting Titan Realm – Defined by desire to attain the Deva realm. Jealous of those who appear to have “made it”. Combative and seek to take down those who have it “better” than they do. Power lust.

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