Best Of
Re: The Other Elephant In The Room
From the article
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in parliament that “something unfortunately went tragically wrong” with the airstrike. “We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions, because this is our policy,” he said
What a load of crap..
All the killing of innocent Palestinian men. women children and babies by the IOF are deliberate acts...
The US, Israel’s staunchest ally and weapons supplier, described the images from the aftermath as devastating.
....Then shipped more weapons to Israel...
France, a European ally of Israel, said it was outraged by the Rafah strike. “These operations must stop,” the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, posted on X. “There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.”
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, posted: “Horrified by news coming out of Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of displaced persons, including small children. I condemn this in the strongest terms.”
..And they continue to support Israel and supply them with more weapons...
After criticism of the Rafah strike, the IDF said it had not anticipated civilian casualties, and had bombed an area outside the latest “evacuation zone” to where Palestinians have been ordered to move, although that claim appeared to contradict a previous “safe zone” map from 22 May
Several rightwing Israeli journalists celebrated the Rafah attack in appearances on Israeli television and on Twitter, likening it to this week’s Jewish bonfire festival, Lag B’Omer. Commentator Yinon Dromi retweeted another user’s post which showed a fire in Rafah, adding her own: “Happy Holidays.”
Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue
Shoshin1
Re: Letting go of games
Well, I was wrong. When casually reading this thread over the past few months I thought: "at least I don't have that problem". Ay carumba, I just realized I do. Not the first time this has happened. So, I join the letting-go-of-games circle.
The thought that I am free of the negative aspects of games was not totally deluded - I was really not playing much during this time so forgot or felt there was no danger going forward. But my "thing" is that I periodically get "hooked" for a few days or even weeks and then go overboard, negatively impacting my sleep, duties, relationships, state of mind etc. With all the dopamine-dumping from the gaming I later feel like shit. What a clear example of chasing pleasure leading to suffering. Ugh. (is it obvious that I just had a relapse?)
Some preliminary thoughts:
- I think my fascination with games happens because I can have the upside without the downside. If I win, I feel great, if I lose, who cares. And I feel like I'm doing something worthwhile/intelligent/applying myself (I nearly only play various strategy games).
- Should I apply myself to my actual life with the same passion as I do towards games I'd be a happy camper.
- Games are an avoidance of my actual life. Life is difficult, it's easy to succumb to wanting to hide from it in games.
- To quote our friend @genkaku the addictive mindset is "if one's good, two's better". This is the trap I fall into with games.
I think going forward I'll try to just not play games - and focus on my actual life - instead of analysing it too much.
marcitko
Re: Letting go of games
We are not the first, nor will we be the last to have a brush with addiction. Whether it’s games or alcohol it can hook you and convince you that ‘more is better’. I loved @genkaku’s down to earth wisdom on this.
I think going forward I'll try to just not play games - and focus on my actual life - instead of analysing it too much.
A sound plan. Until it really penetrates that games are just an expression of mind, an inaccurate abstraction of something that is pretending to be real but is not, and then you can really let go. If you can let go of the idea of winning then you’ve made a big step.
My experiments with mindful playing have also largely stopped. I still have not played recently either a computer game or D&D, all of it was just stuff coming back up from when I used to play. Once in a while I return in my thoughts to it, just to unfold it a little further.
Gaming is not necessarily negative for everyone. @person seems to have found a happy way forward with it, and my cousin uses it to unwind for a few hours a week. And the social aspect of pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons is a major redeeming feature. But for me, the things I am most drawn to are the things that are least healthy — MMORPGs and compulsive strategy games such as Civilisation or Panzer General for example.
Jeroen
Re: Buddhist quotes
"The Buddha said that karma is intention. In other words, the important point is not so much what we do, but why we are doing it, in other words, our motivation."
~Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo~
Shoshin1
Re: US MEMORIAL DAY
I like the Mexican idea of a Dias de los Muertos. Kinda egalitarian, do all the dead in one sweep. But it sounds like a good party!
Jeroen
The old death contemplation redux
I’ve been in a reflective mood and revisiting some of my old posts, seeing what new things I would like to add, as a lot of these topics are cyclical. Here’s the original post from 2020:
https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/26453/the-nine-contemplations-of-atisha
To recap, Atisha stated the body was fragile, death was inevitable, and nothing could help. It’s a great meditation for bringing home the immediacy of life, bringing you into the present moment (which is all there ever is). It also focuses you on the spiritual life as the one thing that can possibly help.
But there I think we go astray. Priests since time immemorial have traded upon the afterlife, getting people to do things in today’s world in return for favours in the afterlife. But there is no hard evidence for such things, the mists of psychedelic vision are notoriously fickle and full of illusion. I’m no longer inclined to believe priests, or their asking after real-world payments.
Where does that leave us, with no well defined afterlife or cosmology? Well, it seems to me the result of the death contemplation is to focus on living life. Trade in money for free time, enjoy life, live a little. It may be better to go on a bicycle ride around the forest on a sunny day than to spend time in the office, you never know how many good days you have left.
Jeroen
Re: My Don'ts And Dos
Like so many others:
I dos a lot
I dont's a lot
I stumbles a lot
I gets up
I dusts myself off
What a view from this mountain top
What's that?
Another mountain?
Let's go!
Keep an open mind
Keep an open heart
Presevere
Lionduck
Re: Buddhist quotes
' If all things that came before your eyes were agreeable, and all sounds that met your ears were pleasant, your whole life would be poisoned and wasted'
this is among my favorite sayings, but, embarrassingly, I can not now remember its source. As a matter of fact, I do not even accurately recall precisely how it is worded - the 'poisoned and wasted' part is all I am completely certain about. If anyone can fill in the blanks, I'd be much obliged if they did so.
Fosdick