Best Of
Re: The morals of a spiritual person
Enthalpy versus entropy for the spiritually inclined.
As a Buddhist, I think anyone who tries to "Do only good, cease from evil and purify their Heart/Mind"...is a spiritual being, despite also being a jangly ball of Karmic momentum.
Here, no person, religion, organization, tribe, race, culture, or group, has a lock on being any more particularly spiritual than anyone else.
If your cousin wishes to meet more people who are honest, upright, and principled in life, you could try telling him that likes attract likes.
If your cousin is finding a dearth of spiritual people around him, maybe he's only experiencing that same limited amount of spirituality that he is manifesting himself.
The human condition is imbued with a personal sense of separation from others.
A spiritual being is just someone trying to deconstruct the inertia of those conditioned behaviors. Even with the subtlest of attachments, those faint tugs on our heartstrings will continue to mock our morals of being spiritually accomplished at all.
Looking for others to share in our practices is understandable, given our susceptibility to the human condition.....
but
a transactional practitioner might also question just when do those meager appeasements to our social attachments end up being the actual limitation to one's progression along the path towards suffering's cessation?
Cheers all.
how
Re: What we are doing right?
A small victory today. I had an early breakfast and didn't really have time for my morning meditation. Mid day I was feeling a bit stressed and down and sat down for a 20 minute meditation. Normally if I miss my normal routine I'll have a hard time pulling myself out of the momentum of the day to do something like that.
person
Re: What we are doing right?
I find myself very low on energy these days, so mindful energy management has become a big concern. Uncontrolled reactivity, it seems, is a big energy waster, and consequently I have become much less reactive than I was previously. Most of this reactivity was entirely internal, and many internal reactions have faded away entirely. Outwardly I've stopped spewing strings of blasphemies every time I fumble or drop something. Very pleased about this generally.
Fosdick
Re: What music are you listening to?
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (Live at Montreux 1981)
Shoshin1
Re: What we are doing right?
What we are doing right?
Regularly checking in and monitoring my thoughts as they come and go helps me maintain balance. Occasionally, unwholesome thoughts—those capable of disrupting the mind's flow—slip in unnoticed. But for the most part, this practice keeps things (and thoughts, as they are indeed things) in check.
Oh and the other thing...Not taking my life too seriously....
Shoshin1
Re: What we are doing right?
@Jeroen said:
@Jason said:
@Jeroen said:
@Jason said:
seeing a psychiatristThe neurodivergent movement seems to be having a bit of a moment, that is for sure. But my experience with psychiatrists is that they are generally more interested in prescribing you pills than in genuine mental health. Music and Buddhism have done me more good in recent years than anything else.
Glad to hear it. In my case, music and Buddhism weren’t quite enough 🤷♂️
I found an investigation into my views and their origins to be helpful. Generally the stronger the opinions that you hold, the more difficult it is to live as kindness, softness, mellowness. Living with one’s being in that space means being more forgiving, holding fewer grudges, and acts as a general protective measure against much mental ill health.
Hence I practice metta even for bodhi Trump.
I think it all depends on what the opinions are as opposed to how strong one holds to them. I know the general attitude of Buddhism is to relinquish views, but some views are skillful and useful and shouldn’t be abandoned before they’re no longer useful.
Holding strong opinions on the efficacy of the principles of Buddhism (especially the precepts, teachings on interdependence, and the four brahmaviharas) has helped to make me a kinder, more compassionate, and easy to talk to person. The same goes for my political opinions. That’s why I’m able to room and treat a patient no matter who they are or what they believe, and every one feels comfortable enough to share their thoughts with me. I’ve had people go off about vaccines being a scam and how I should vote for Trump because he’ll make things good again and others who’d say the opposite. They all feel comfortable enough to share these things with me, and I treat them all the same because I care about them as people.
My own suffering partially stems from childhood trauma and some neurodivergent issues, but the majority of it stems from systemic issues and the external pressures they exert upon my life, not so much my opinions. And while Buddhism has helped me greatly over the years, there are some things that it hasn’t and I’m open to exploring other tools to help. And for mental health issues, I’ve found that finding the right therapist can go a long way towards helping one heal and overcome things that prevent them from moving forward.
Jason
Re: What music are you listening to?
I have to mention Simeon ten Holt’s Canto Ostinato after that wonderful bolero. The modesty, the natural progression of this piece is like breathing. It is typically Dutch.
Jeroen
Re: What we are doing right?
@Jason said:
@Jeroen said:
@Jason said:
seeing a psychiatristThe neurodivergent movement seems to be having a bit of a moment, that is for sure. But my experience with psychiatrists is that they are generally more interested in prescribing you pills than in genuine mental health. Music and Buddhism have done me more good in recent years than anything else.
Glad to hear it. In my case, music and Buddhism weren’t quite enough 🤷♂️
I found an investigation into my views and their origins to be helpful. Generally the stronger the opinions that you hold, the more difficult it is to live as kindness, softness, mellowness. Living with one’s being in that space means being more forgiving, holding fewer grudges, and acts as a general protective measure against much mental ill health.
Hence I practice metta even for bodhi Trump.
Jeroen