Best Of
Re: What documentary are you watching?
At 55 minutes long I think this qualifies as a documentary. I know almost nothing about coding, but I found this story captivating. A post hoc analysis of an almost globally catastrophic hack to the linux system. For those who do understand coding ( @linc @Iobster ) I imagine this would be very interesting.
person
Re: The Plant Medicine Path
It was a very interesting piece, from what I recall. Pollan basically said caffeine was an ideal factory workers drug, because it is a significant stimulant and heightens concentration, and he speculates that is why it has remained unregulated — it is beneficial to the economy. He talks about the history of the coffee break, which was successfully negotiated by unions as being necessary for the long working day. Pollan says that after three months of complete abstinence, his first coffee was “like a psychedelic experience”.
Jeroen
Re: Cherishing and protecting one’s joy
Cherishing and protecting one’s joy
Joy is like a flowing stream: it remains fresh while it moves, but stagnates the moment we try to trap it.
Joy and sorrow come and go; they are part of the natural fluctuation of life’s flow.
Shoshin1
Re: Cherishing and protecting one’s joy
@Jeffrey said:
From my understanding having joy in our daily life is a good sign and keep doing things that bring joy in balance with hearing, contemplating, meditation.
Yes, that is so. Generally advanced practitioners are happy people, so if you feel you are losing your joy, you have probably taken a wrong turn somewhere on the path. For me it feels like perhaps I have let go of things that were not meant… I am losing joy in things that I have always felt were joyful, like observing the sunrise.
When interests get obsessive then the joy goes away right? There's still a physical feeling but it's out of harmony I guess.
From what I remember of my time of obsessively playing games, you are correct, the joy turns into a compulsive feeling.
But daily awareness can have: nature walks, sex (for lay person), reading, movies, performances, etc
I considered whether to go view more movies, but I think movies are less food for the soul than books. The being who is watching the movie is less involved in the act of inner creation, than someone who is reading the book of the same story. Movies can be more surprising, more awe inspiring, but they are also more passive.
Jeroen
Cherishing and protecting one’s joy
Over the last ten years I have done a lot of letting go: news, television, novels, computer games. Recently though I was considering many of these things were distractions from the spiritual path, but they also lent my life a joyful quality, and I found I was losing my joy in life. Many things that used to give me joy, were now appearing as merely neutral. Even my morning coffee is no longer the joy it once was.
The process of letting go eventually leads one to live a life that is lean and devoid of the juicier aspects of lay life. For example, for a long time I read The Lord of the Rings every year, and I used to take great pleasure in that book, which Tolkien intended as a mythology for our times. So it now appears to me that being too drastic in letting go is also a danger on the path — we don’t have to live as monastics, even though our tendencies may take us in that direction.
I find it interesting, that when I was focussed on Buddhism all these things disappeared from my life, and now I am finding my life is too lean, and I’m seeing the need to cherish and protect the things that give me joy. That doesn’t mean I will go back to computer games, I think there are too many negatives to that, but I may broaden my reading somewhat, for starters.
Also I thought it useful to pay more attention to what gives me joy. One thing I noticed was that I feel more joyful when I am not thinking, like when I am focussed on my breath, or when I am riding my bicycle and am too engrossed in the feel of my tires on the path. When I’m busy being in the moment.
Jeroen
Re: Does reading about spirituality make any sense?
I think engaging with the words and speech of wise, compassionate people does have some influence on our minds.
However, teachings and words are the finger pointing to the moon and its important to engage in practice so they are able to actually get us to the destination.
person
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Today - 8th of March - is International Women’s Day.
Jeroen
Re: Good news
What was that thing about wisdom?
The wiser one gets, the more foolish one becomes.
A corollary (?):
Wisdom is earned
Stupidity is free
Lionduck
Re: Combining business with spirituality
I think its a matter of degree. SN Goenka, who taught the likes of Jack Kornfield was a business man before becoming a spiritual teacher. Dan Harris of 10% Happier doesn't promote himself as a teacher (in fact he makes a point of saying he's not and being self depricating) but is a big promoter of spiritual and psychological work and makes a living off of it.
And to echo @marcitko in the west there isn't enough financial support generally for someone to support themselves teaching and having an income stream from it is often necessary.
But in the example you give, it does seem like this person is more than trying to be of service in the spiritual arena, using spirituality as a means to earn a living.
Though I have a "wide net" sort of attitude. I'm fine with people using spirituality in a shallow way, it can bring more people in. It will offer some level of more superficial benefit to a greater number of people, that might not otherwise have met with the teachings, than only having a pure offering. And for some it will be an entry point to the deeper end of the pool.
person
Re: Combining business with spirituality
I am wary of those that promote spirituality as a means to business or material advancement, thus making spirituality secondary and merely a means to a wordly end.
That said, some or even many seem to believe that being a businesperson somehow disqualifies one from being spiritual. I don't think that's true. Lay people are not monks and need to support themselves + it can be just another arena for practice. I know of many higly advanced or even realized people who just so happened to be businespeople.
marcitko