Best Of
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Went for a skinny dip this morning. 
It's Autumn now, which is a nice time of year, the school holidays are over and most tourists/visitors have gone...Temperature's mid to low 20s during the day, cool first thing of a morning.
Shoshin1
Re: Quotes - discussion
Perhaps all we can do is talk about what helps us on our path, what has made us successful in striving for inner peace, clarity, and kindness. In the hope that perhaps we inspire someone else to try one of our techniques.
For me it began with reading Buddhist books, on the sutras by Edward Conze, on mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh and on the Dhamma by Ajahn Chah. These inspired me to pursue purity, awareness, knowing the mind. That and many beach walks started me on my path. It’s funny how something as normal as reading, when you slow it down, can become a meditation and a contemplation.
Abandoning negative mind states came a little later. It was an improved understanding of what was beneficial to me, that made me consider that negative mind states were, as is said about anger, “like holding a hot coal and expecting the other to get burnt.” They pervert the mind towards negative karma and are of little actual use. It is better to dwell in the Brahma Viharas as much as possible.
Then peace comes, and with peace and solitude clarity and kindness.
Jeroen
Re: What we are doing right?
A few things I have been doing yesterday and this morning…
- Gently tell visitors what can be done to improve communication
- Give people hugs and back rubs
- Send birthday wishes to elderly relatives
- Phone your dad who is sitting by himself in a flat
- Make coffee for house guests
- Write emails to distant friends
Jeroen
Re: What we are doing right?
Well said. Hard to fathom that one that is two...
- As Spring begins to flower, will be pruning and tidying and actually sitting in my garden, which I did over this warm weekend.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/category/good-talks/good-gardening/
So my gardening includes death and destruction of 'weeds, insects, etc. I am not as skilful as @How more pragmatic. Maybe.
lobster
Re: Earthing
The Apollo astronauts left a Chuck Berry record on the moon (part of the “We came in peace for all mankind” message offering) which pretty much caused Carl Sagan’s head to explode. This dichotomy sums up my reaction to earthing to prevent/cure disease.
Humans (actually all animals) are indeed capacitors, capable of storing a charge; that is, a DC voltage potential. This can of course be discharged by grounding. Interesting, I suppose. And with modern technology, quite measurable whether interesting or not.
Prior to the 1800s, there were many explanations/superstitions about the cause of disease, and also a few actual hypotheses. But thanks to Koch, Pasteur, and others, we now understand the “Germ Theory of Disease “ which postulates that microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi) are the pathological agents responsible for infectious illness. Since then the corroboration has been massive, to say the least. So, if someone wants to persuade me that a lifted ground, besides curing 60 Hz hum in the PA, also somehow causes disease, I would like to hear an explanation of the pathophysiology involved.
On the other hand, there are things, a great great many things, which we experience to be true but that do not yet have a plausible/verifiable physical/chemical explanation. A barefoot connection to the earth is good for me. I can feel it. I can’t explain it but I’m not sure I need to. Breathing outdoor air, on the trail by the river with the dogs, is blissfully restorative. The dogs swim in the river, even in the bitter cold (northern Colorado). They know, at their level, what it is doing for them. I know too, but not in a way, in a realm, that coexists with words, or Internet forums.
I’d love to walk barefoot in the damp sand. But I’ll skip the grounding mat. Yes, if the panel is wired correctly it will ground the static charge; I know that at the physics level. But it’s not the same as being truly connected to the natural environment; I know that at the much higher natural level.
Steve_B
Re: What we are doing right?
When I do something wrong, I'm also doing something right,
For whatever I do at the time will always shed some light.
Right and wrong are relative, they shift with every clue,
In every stumble, I find grace, and learn something new.
Shoshin1
Re: Quotes - discussion
It’s interesting, but it speaks to goals as well. The number of actual winners is small, but the number who idolise winning and wish to be winners themselves is much greater. It is almost a default in our society, especially in America, where a big part of Donald Trumps appeal is to be seen as a winner.
When I effectively ended up retiring at age 40 I was confronted by this, that when you let go of this goal suddenly most of society becomes uninteresting to you. It’s as if you discover that your own interest has been secretly largely in a form of power and self-expression through power, and that giving that up has removed a driving force that has shaped your actions.The winning mentality had entered by the back door that self-expression created.
This was really when I found out that I had been on the wrong track; that entertainment was largely dissipation but could be redeemed though what it had to say about larger ideals, but that games as a medium was largely unsuited to this. Which was when I became interested in writing.
Jeroen
Re: What we are doing right?
I stopped putting sugar in my tea. I usually have 4 cups on workdays and 2 on days off. For many years I had used Truvia sweetener, but a couple studies now have shown that it increases the clotting effect of blood in higher doses and I have a stent from an old accident. I tried allulose with monk fruit for a bit, but it was pretty expensive and would make me slightly nauseous sometimes if I had tea on an empty stomach. So I switched to sugar, which wasn't as sweet. I was away from home but brought some tea with, I couldn't locate any sweetener when I made it in the morning so I went ahead without it and it was fine. I never really drank it for the taste anyway.
It hasn't been that long, but I seem to have noticed a decreased desire for sweets and I think craving in general has been down. I think this move is likely related in some way to my recent stomach virus/food poisoning incident.
I was also persuaded by this Kurgesazt video to start buying more ethical meat (non torture meat). However, unlike the price claims in the video I'm finding all except beef to be about twice as expensive. I don't make meat a center piece of my meals and I'm not living paycheck to paycheck. But the extra cost isn't minor and is felt, so there is an internal struggle related to continuing.
person
Re: No Buddhist Quotes
"I've met many winners in history whose faces looked disgusting. Because I read you hatred and loneliness. Because they were nothing but winners and to become one they had to kill and subdue. But there is another race of men that helps us to breathe, who has always placed their existence and freedom only in the freedom and happiness of everyone, who finds the reasons to live and to love even in defeats. They, even if they win, will never be alone. "
— Albert Camus, "The Duty of Freedom"
Jeroen