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Ask yourself whether it’s just sadness, or is it actually despair, grief, misery, agony, rejection, insecurity, sorrow or defeat? Is it just anger? Or is it resentment, rage, irritation, jealousy, annoyance or bitterness?
Why should you get more specific? Barrett, who wrote the book How Emotions Are Made (2017), found that higher emotional granularity was associated with lowered needs for medication, fewer hospitalisation days for illnesses, and greater flexibility in regulating emotions. Barrett doesn’t recommend that we dwell on the feeling, but rather that we try to explore its shape and boundaries to increase its definition.
she observes that some cultures don’t have a unified concept for the experiences that Westerners lump together as ‘an emotion’. She lists as examples the Ifaluk of Micronesia, the Balinese, the Fulani of West Africa, the Ilongot of the Philippines, the Kaluli of Papua New Guinea, the Minangkabau of Indonesia, the Pintupi of Western Australia and the Samoans as cultures that characterise emotions not as something that occurs within the individual, but as interpersonal events that require two or more people
Facing death might allow us to feel more accepting and grateful for being alive
he difference between meditation and the techniques of exposure is that the latter intentionally encourages bringing to mind worst-case scenarios, whereas meditators are commonly instructed to simply observe and accept whatever appears – positive or negative – and then watch it pass.
Yet, the distinction between exposure and meditation might be thin. A meditation called maranasati (death awareness) encourages individuals to frequently think about their own mortality. As the Buddha is reported to have said: ‘Of all mindfulness meditations, that on death is supreme.’ Facing death might allow us to feel more accepting and grateful for being alive. It might remind us that – despite life’s pain and complications – it’s better than the alternative. And if you want to practise facing your inevitable passing, there’s an app for that called We Croak (seriously).
There’s increasing evidence that cultures with high rates of social inequality such as those found in the United States, China or India have much higher rates of depression and anxiety than those with low social inequality such as Germany, Japan and the Scandinavian countries.
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READING X BRAIN
ecently, neuroscientist Kristen Willeumier, PhD went on mindbodygreen’s podcast and talked about how reading for just 15 to 30 minutes a day can help you see impressive brain-boosting health benefits. “[When] the brain learns, [it] forms these cognitive maps,” she explained on the program. “So the more reading you’re doing as you age will still keep your brain sharp.” The more of those neural connections you make over time, the healthier your mind is in the long run.
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B So the Buddha said, ‘The Tathāgata is merely one who shows the way.’#
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TA A
What a wonderful question.
No.
Awareness/Consciousness does not have a voice.
And unfortunately, in the realm of ‘spirituality,’ it’s all too ‘spiritual, new-agey, and wooey-wooey to give What Is flowery names, distinctions and human-like qualities.
What Is is What Is. It’s not Awareness or Consciousness or Atman or Soul or even pure Being, a term which I myself have used too many times (sorry🙄 ) to explain the un-label-able.
You could say It’s just Is-ness, but It is the Is-ness of Is-ness.
You could say It is the Empty Space in which everything can exist, but to the ‘mind,’ which is absolutely incapable of grasping non-duality, that would immediately be interpreted as subject-object…The Space (subject) holds or knows about This Everything )object.) There is absolutely no subject or object at the core of What Is.
You could say It’s Nothing being Everything, which is more accurate, but even more greek to the mind.
Nothing, of course, has, nor needs, no voice.
A voice would only be good for subject-object.
A voice would only be good for giving guidance & direction towards some ‘goal,’
But there is nowhere to go, nothing to change or attain, and no ‘goal that’s ‘righter’ or ‘better’ than anything else…because Wholeness is already Whole…so Nothing needs to speak to Nothing Else to ‘make sure it’s on the right track.’
For our hopelessly-limited ‘human’ understanding, you may say everything is all just Energy. Not only ‘spirituality,’ but even ‘science’ would agree with this. Just energy that appears to coalesce into form for a while, then dissolve back into the formless.
Does pure energy have a voice? No. When it temporarily takes a form, certain attributes might seem to be real & present - like a body, arms, a voice that comes from the throat, a voice inside our head, etc.
I have had students say that, in deep meditation, they went totally behind the constant narration in the head to total Silence…and even there they heard a Voice - The Voice of Silence 🤣. Obviously, they were hallucinating :-)
In all compassion, what they heard was nothing more than their ego-mind desire to keep their illusory ‘separate identity’ going by identifying “themselves” as a real ‘subject’ (“I”) that heard something separate from their “I” (a voice.)
I would recommend ceasing to use the words Awareness and Consciousness, because of the mind’s irresistible tendency to make this into a subject-object relationship, then start asking questions like, “Is Awareness aware of Awareness?” or “Is Consciousness conscious of Itself? or most absurdly “Can we, as ‘seekers’ or ‘practicers,’ be aware of Awareness?
It’s all illusory distinctions. Wholeness is already whole, complete and immaculate. It therefore has no purpose, no meaning (as “we” understand those words,) and no voice. It just Is.
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R MARTINI
Take a look at his research. All of his peer reviewed studies are on line at the University of Virginia website. He was of the opinion that hypnosis was not a valid tool of science (something I argue about in my book “Hacking the Afterlife”) but as a scientist his role was not to believe or disbelieve. Actually it was the founder of giant corporation whose wife was a Buddhist who said to her husband “Why don’t you put your money to proving or disproving reincarnation?” He set up the endowment and invited Ian Stevenson to run it.
Stevenson was interested in the topic - not a disbeliever per se, but used scientific methodology in all his cases - and for 30 years wrote peer reviewed studies on the topic. (One could argue that even if he had been a skeptic, 30 years of consistent results tends to change one’s belief system.)
If you’re interested in what the follow up has been, Dr. Jim Tucker now runs his department (“Return to Life”) and he’s reported on a number of verifiable cases. (See his youtube talk with John Cleese on the topic of his 1500 cases.) All of this research is available on line, and I recommend taking a look at it.
Disbelief, belief, opinion, theory - are all conjecture for the most part. Science does it’s best to look at data without prejudice and come to some conclusions. The DOPS group of UVA (Dept of Perceptual Studies) is on the forefront of this research (referring to Dr. Bruce Greyson, Ed Kelly (“Irreducible Mind”) and other scientists) and they are putting their PhD’s (Harvard, Princeton, Yale) to good use by studying a topic that is as misunderstood as quantum mechanics - easily misinterpreted by materialist science, but when the results stay consistent no matter what they report - we all benefit.
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A VRITTI IS PEC
There are many ways to explain this depending on the several ways of meditation.
I may tell, meditation is to burn the mind totally, burn the ashes too, and dissolve yourself in the fire. Nothing more to resurrect! But, it doesn't sound useful!
‘I want mental clarity’ means ‘I want to prioritise the best thoughts that will give maximum productivity in terms of a conditioned output and happiness. I want success on the current terms of my conditioned mind.’ ???
However!
For this result, you practice ‘detached witness’ mode meditation.
Consider the following scenario-
- You are in a state of mess. You couldn't figure out the way. But, someone who is not a stakeholder of the mess, a friend, a mentor, easily figures out and suggests you the right way. But he/she couldn't do the same to his/her own personal mess.
- You prepare a document sitting through several hours. You re-check, and everything seems perfect. You leave it then, and check again two days later, only to find a few drastic errors.
In the first case, the other person is detached from your mess, and this detachment gives an unemotional panoramic perspective of your mess, and there is mental clarity.
In the second case, you are psychologically detached from your work when you re-check later, and you gain the same broader and detached perspective, as if a third person is reviewing your work.
This is the meditation. You look at your own thoughts as a neutral third person. No evaluation. No emotion. Just observation. No conflict. Even if conflict arises (which will), this too is observed neutrally as just another thought.
Being aware of all the floating mental junk without being overwhelmed by any of these junks!
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TREENESS
The next time you find yourself yearning & striving for “your own personal enlightenment,” consider this:
Recently I had the opportunity to retreat deep in the woods, being with the earth, the birds, and especially the trees. I was in a part of the West Coast redwoods where many of the 250+ feet-tall redwoods were as much as 2,500 or 3,000 years old. That means these trees were rising, fully expressing the Beingness and Is-ness of Life (which is what ‘enlightenment truly is), before Buddha or Shankara were advising newly-arrived humans about some ‘human’ path to freedom and enlightenment, before Jesus spoke his sermon on the mount, before Prophet Muhammad ushered in Islam, and long before any latter-day gurus were tempting ‘seekers’ with the promise of personal moksha and ‘individual human enlightenment.’
Long before “I” or any other human were contemplating, or even aware of, the concept of enlightenment, these trees were giving a master class in the true meaning & fulfillment of life. Sitting in a circle of these redwoods, I was being ‘enlightened,’ guided and illuminated by these perfect primeval expressions of majesty, nobility, nowness and Beingness.
A tree extends its arms to heaven, yet never seeks ‘enlightenment.’
A tree stands strong & still in one place for centuries, never yearning for achievements, ‘life improvements,’ or collecting experiences by going ‘elsewhere.’
A tree gives freely, without prejudice, of its fruit, seed, or shade to all who approach, yet ask nothing in return except a small bit of water at its base.
Each unique tree exudes its own design, form, grace & beauty, yet never asks to be named, recognized or singled-out for its accomplishments, reputation or ‘specialness.’
A tree is just What Is. It doesn’t question whether its life is good enough, aware enough, free enough, devoid enough of ‘problems’ & suffering. The tree is simply Life-Light-Enlightenment Itself. Pure Energy. Pure Being.
Yet everyday we ‘humans’ say, “Life’s not good enough, here & now. I want to go everywhere, experience everything. I want my experiences of pleasure and wealth to increase by the maximum, and my ‘problems’ and ‘suffering’ to decrease to nil. I want to make my mark in this dream-world, and have everyone recognize how special my contribution has been. I want to give to others, but not if they don’t nurture me in return or meet my standards of ‘worthiness.’ Most of all, I want to attain personal ‘liberation,’ ‘enlightenment,’ permanent, unshakable peace, for ‘myself.’”
Such is the illusion of the “personal me” and how dominant it is in our lives.
So the next time you find yourself wondering how “you” can attain freedom, moksha, enlightenment, remember these noble, nameless, always-Now, always-Enlightened trees. You, too, are already Now, already enlightened, but you don’t know it. You think you are a separate, lonely drop, when in fact you are All of Water, the whole Ocean. You think you are a separate, windswept leaf, when in fact you are the roots, the trunk, the branches, the shade and the sap, All of the Tree of Energy.
Simply:
Stretch your vision to the sky
Sink your roots of stillness deep into your here & now.
Give freely to all unconditionally without requesting reciprocation
And forget about all that other ‘enlightenment’ stuff
Just tree-t everybody and be magnificent!
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Meditation is a pinnacle and by reaching where one's thoughts and self become void from within.
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aA wise Sage once said: “The only happiness worth the name is the natural happiness of Conscious being and Universal living. Not to separate, not to oppose, but to understand and love whatever contacts you, is what it means to live Universally. To be able to say truly: I am the world. The world is me. I am at home in the world. The world is my own. Every existence is my existence, every consciousness is my consciousness, every sorrow is my sorrow and every joy is my joy. Living your life with affectionate detachment, enormous goodwill, without expectation of return and constant giving without asking. This is Universal Life. In your marriage you must realize that you are neither the husband nor the wife but the Love between the two. You must become the clarity and kindness that makes everything around you orderly and happy. All that lives, works for perpetuating and expanding Consciousness. This is the world’s sole meaning and purpose. It is the very essence of Yoga - ever raising your level of Consciousness to higher dimensions from where you see everything much clearer and with greater intensity.”
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K AN INTENT FOR AN INTENT
When you think about the consequences of your karma it is not as much an eye for an eye thing, but more an intent for an intent thing. Consider that you find a wallet on the street and immediately know that it is not your property but you discover it has two $100 dollar bills inside and you could really use the money as your rent is due and you are short of the amount, so you keep the money and toss the wallet into a mailbox. You have just acted with selfish intent to steal another’s wealth to benefit yourself. This creates a negative intention or karma, which at some point will be reflected back upon you in equal measure. The following week you experience mechanical difficulty with your car and take it to a mechanic praying it’s a minor problem and won’t be very expensive to repair. When investigating the problem the mechanic determines you have a loose spark plug wire but instead of simply reconnecting it and telling you what he found, he takes it upon himself to replace all the wires costing you $200 for the job. Now this may be a simple analogy but I hope you get the point. If you desire that people treat you with proper intent then you must treat them likewise. This does not mean that you won’t ever again be taken advantage of by others, but it does mean that your karmic account built of selfish intentions will be significantly less, and the selfish intent waged against you (as long as you are forgiving of it) will have the effect of reducing your storehouse of karma by a portion equal to the selfishness directed toward you.
There is a story of a man who for every selfishness he committed found the next day that a pile of horse poop would appear in his yard. After committing much selfish intent toward others soon he had a great pile of poop in his yard. Feeling distressed at the problem he asked a wise man what he could do to stop it from growing. The sage told him to first cease his selfish ways so the pile would grow no larger, and then to begin eating the existing balls of poop until they disappeared. Being disgusted by this suggestion he asked if there was any other way to be rid of the pile. The sage then told him that if he desired to not eat the poop he created, he could admit to everyone he acted selfishly toward what he had done and if they forgave him, the associated portion of the poop would disappear. The man then asked what if they didn’t forgive him and ruined his reputation by speaking ill of him to others. The sage replied; then not only would the portion of poop related to his initial selfishness disappear, but as long as he accepted that he was the source of their distain because of his past actions, and as long as he didn’t harbor resentment against those that spoke the truth about him, an additional equal measure of poop would also disappear from his pile while being added to theirs.
So be careful with your thoughts, words, and deeds in life that you don’t build a pile of poop that you must one day eat, and so you don’t make it necessary for you to have to eat the poop of others.
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