Best Of
Re: All Squares Are Rectangles...
It’s true that language has its limits. And it’s also true language can be twisted and utilized unskillfully or even maliciously. I think it all comes back to context and intention. Sometimes generalization or categorization is useful in a particular context. Taking the example of slavery and racism in the US. For two centuries, a group of people were the legal property of other people. The people considered as property were then freed, but the other people created new laws segregating them and preventing them from having equal rights. Eventually they became free of those laws as well, but were subsequently prevented from getting loans, buying certain homes, etc. There’s some easy ways to categorize these segments of the population to make it clear who each group is and which group had political and social power over the other. And we can say not all of one group agreed with the way things were and tried to change them. But if we’re intellectually honest, we’d also have a hard time time saying that those categorizations didn’t matter or have real consequences, especially when talking to someone who experienced those consequences firsthand.
It’s definitely admirable to judge each person by their actions, as well as viewing them as an individual rather than a stereotype or through a preprogrammed prejudice. But it’s also a skill to see patterns and privileges and injustices and the ways some groups benefit from the oppression of others in an effort to ameliorate that harm and imbalance.
Jason
Re: All Squares Are Rectangles...
Now that I am a bored again X-tian, a hypocrite claiming to be a vegan meat eater and one of them (as available) I can confirm:
A square is a masonic symbol (standing on the square) a them of white Cis-sers and elavated trousers and aprons. I quite like 'the-m'. Though would never join except...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Women_FreemasonsJesus is my Brain... eh 'Life of Brian' Halleluja! John 21:17 (off to get some lamb)
- As I have mentioned many times, we are not defined except by ourselves
lobster
Re: My Dharma practice today
I'll start:
Yesterday, I practised the precept of not taking what is not given.
I am moving house and the rented flat came with some old pots and pans, cutlery, glasses, and the like.
Instead of doing it half-assed, with the attitude that ultimately it does not matter much if an old butter knife is mine or of the flat, as long as I leave some behind, I put in a lot of effort to determine what is mine, and what came with the flat, for each item.
To me, since I slept poorly and was extremely busy with packing, that extra wholesome effort, counts as a win 
marcitko
Re: My Dharma practice today
- I am the Dharma Practice (and probably at least three other precious jewels)
- Went to my local libray to securely print out a page of text (10p) Was told off by the librarian and did not practice anything wrathful Buddha style
- Had a good Hotei style laugh over a cup of tea
- Fed our garden birds, compassionatley
- Helped one of my siblings (not too much - I am too humble to be thought of as good)
- Congratulated the Sun on excellent shining
- Posted usual extreme dharma and Zen tip on https://universeodon.com/home
...Oh wait have not done the last one yet.
Off to be a Busy-Bodhi 
lobster
My Dharma practice today
Dear everyone,
I thought it would be beneficial and encouraging for us to have a thread in which we could post our concrete, daily Dharma practice wins and activities.
General guidelines, at least from my perspective:
- Focus on wins. Mentioning "wins", in addition to activities, is intentional. Focusing on the wins and the progress, rather than the long distance ahead and how we fall short of our ideal, helps us get into a mindset of celebration, positivity, encouragement, determination, increased energy and commitment, etc. This promotes a positive feedback loop of further progress.
- No win or activity is too small. No win or activity, if done intentionally with wholesome intent, is "small" or "insignificant" or "not worthy of posting". Literally.
- Start where you are. The only person who can practice is us, as we are, now. There is literally no other place to practice. So, no one is too spiritually "behind" or "ahead" to not post their wins and activities. We all start where we are. Daily. Ours is a very large tent, inclusive of all aspiring to practice Dharma.
- Dharma practice is comprehensive. Finally, the idea is for this thread to be both about meditation but also all other aspects of Dharma practice.
- With comments to others, try to be encouraging. Maybe it's just me, but I get the feeling that we're all too self-critical already. Some say it's a "Western thing". Encouragement brings forth all of the aforementioned goodies: increased resolve, inspiration, determination, energy, a genuine desire to practice more, etc.
Whadyathink? Sounds good?
marcitko
Re: My Dharma practice today
Hmm, let’s see…
Today I practised awareness of the breath, as part of my ongoing year of being conscious of my breathing. There were three separate moments where I remembered I should take a moment to focus on my breath, which is not a bad start to the day.
I also practised my compassion. An elderly friend of my father sent me an email about seeing my father’s funeral ceremony online, and I sent him a mail back in which I explained to him that the ceremony hadn’t been recorded. I did also send him the text of all the speeches that were held, so that he could still get a little of the feeling.
Jeroen
Life is music, not maths
I came across this Alan Watts quote today, and thought it was unusually insightful even for him. That life is an art, not a precise problem to be solved is one of those key realisations which you may come across when you’re forty, and which make you think, I wish I knew and appreciated that when I was twenty.
When I was young, I approached life precisely as a series of problems to be solved. What do we want? Financial independence. Girlfriends. Fun. Right, how do we go about getting it… Goal-oriented living to a T. Nowadays it strikes me that that is very foolish. Often real living is more about improvisation, and not taking life too seriously.
If you consider, when you are improvising music with a group of musicians, you are generally looking to make the music better, more harmonious. Not many people live their lives like that, many instead are looking for personal gain, status, fame.
Jeroen
Re: What movies are you watching?
I was just watching this at a friends recommendation, you might get something from it.
Jeroen
Re: All Squares Are Rectangles...
Reminds me of
With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil, that takes religion.
~Steven Weinberg~
At times, religion can override a person’s natural sense of morality. People who are otherwise kind and decent may commit harmful acts if they believe their faith commands or justifies them. This is especially evident in the United States today, where some have weaponised the Bible to condemn and control others.
Shoshin1
