Back in the days when my knees still worked, I practiced Tai Chi. Now Tai Chi informs my every movement and every step I take is Tai Chi. The practice has been very beneficial, and in ways I had not anticipated.
It occurred to me yesterday that not only games are virtual environments, but so are smartphones, tablets and computers. A web browser is a virtual environment, a forum is a virtual environment. Looked at it that way I still spend a lot of my time on virtual environments. Especially if you also add reading, which I mostly do on my iPad.
So I was wondering how this speaks to spiritual practice. If I think of other things to do, I could try my hand at mindful gardening, or some form of volunteering, probably helping out some spiritual organisation. I could start going for regular walks in the woods. Or I could start outdoor swimming. I wonder if I would be happier, more joyful, more free…
and to welcome @federica back ...
• An Oxford comma walks into a bar where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.
• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.
• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.
• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.
• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”
• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.
• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.
• A question mark walks into a bar?
• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."
• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.
• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.
• A synonym strolls into a tavern.
• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.
• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.
• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.
• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.
• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.
• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.
• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned a man with a glass eye named Ralph.
• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.
• A dyslexic walks into a bra.
• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.
• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.
• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.
• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.
The other day I received an email in my inbox from a name I had not heard in a long time, from a place I had not visited in a long time, that being Lobster from Newbuddhist.
If you are newer you probably don't know me, but others may remember me from as far back as 14 years, first as Jayantha, and now as my monastic name.
I am building my own organization these days (www.maggasekha.org) https://youtube.com/@Maggasekha ) as an almost a senior monastic, so I don't spend much time at all in my old haunts of dhammawheel, r/buddhism, and this wonderful place. But I often tell people(especially new buddhists) of this forum and community as I have fond memories of a very chill community that doesn't fall into a lot of debating, arguing, and sectarianism.
I may end up disappearing again, but if you every want me to reply to a post on here, feel free to tag me or send me a PM. I have much gratitude for this place and wish to give back what I can .
Euthanasia is legal in Switzerland. Someone we knew from there, who was in constant nerve pain, decided after visiting us to end her constant pain. She had aready decided we wer not causal ... You think she should just suffer incurable pain?
We looked after my mother at home with Alzhiemers/Dementia until a week before her death in hospital. She could not drink and was barely responsive. Two doctors recommended taking her off drips and support. Me and my siblings agreed to this. We did not have to BUT she would never have wanted to be a burden. She was very well looked after by the NHS.
So to answer your question. Suffering is optional. Not for you? OK, don't!
Job done.
You are not offensive. Did you want everyone to suffer for your preferences? Just askin'.