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Joseph Campbell and mythology
I’ve embarked on a brief study of mythology, starting with the work of Joseph Campbell. YouTube directed me to this very influential TV interview series titled “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth” from the late nineteen eighties, which I’ve so far found very engaging as a kind of taster session of the breadth and depth of the subject.
Maybe it would be interesting because Buddhism too is a kind of mythology. The Buddha’s enlightenment is the most well known of the enlightenment stories, but the Hindu Upanishads also reference the idea. I’ve heard it said that just to hear of the possibility of enlightenment is to put your feet on the path of the seeker.
In a way the Buddha’s enlightenment story is a classic rendition of the hero’s journey, where the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree and meditated and was tempted, and eventually returned with the gift of enlightenment to share with the world.
Jeroen
Re: Covid Cabin
The lesson is very simple: do what the Swedes do. I don’t think the Western political infrastructure can be trusted to do what’s right, they are too much motivated by the media and election money.
Jeroen
Re: On giving unsolicited advice
If you’re cringing inside, are you able to discern how they’re reacting?
It’s been my experience that when a friend opens up to me, they usually want the human connection, the sharing of experiences and feelings, not a lecture on what they did wrong. I’m the friend, not Dear Abby. And if they specifically solicit advice, I usually find it more helpful to say how I interpret the situation, rather than issue instructions. Much more helpful. Overview and perspective are often what’s missing when someone is in a “situation.”
Steve_B
Re: On giving unsolicited advice
Skilful means can be employing a loud voice, sometimes. But more often not.
Jeroen
Re: Covid Cabin
@marcitko said:
As you note, the pendulum seems to have swung more towards the anti-lockdown and anti-vaxer side. Maybe to the middle, I don't know.My concerns with these new discussions are:
- these changes in sentiment seem to follow a pendulum pattern - will new findings in the future change the sentiment yet again? Does the pendulum come to rest at the middle ultimately? What is the middle for this issue?
This is still early on in the post mortem, there are many unknown factors that still need to be parsed out. For me personally, the main thing is that the voices against what Sweden was trying were so certain and moralistic in their attitudes and this says, "maybe you weren't as correct and virtuous as you were acting."
- at the beginning of the pandemic, there were many unknowns. What if some of the parameters turned out differently? Taking this into account, what can we conclude about the best response in the future?
My rudimentary understanding is that Sweden was actually following many of the guidelines that existed pre pandemic and that a lot of the rest of the world's policy was motivated by in the moment fears.
There was a lot of uncertainty and I thought acting out of precaution was wise. In my opinion some of that early precautionary stance got entrenched largely by the culture war and wasn't let go of as new information came in. My concern going forward is that if there is another pandemic and the parameters are different, which they most certainly will be, that we'll act like its Covid-19 and use it to fight all the old battles rather than seeing the new threat as it is. For example if some new pandemic does have a higher mortality rate, or effects children the way Covid effected the elderly and we act like it is Covid that could be disastrous.
I don't know, I'm just tired of the pendulum. In my life I try to avoid the wild swings and look to set a truer course. During a group walking meditation people seemed to unconsciously speed up walking out of the meditation room and slow down going in, I tried to keep an even pace, I do the same sort of thing driving in traffic. But I suppose that is just my personal annoyance and the world will do what the world does.
person
Re: On giving unsolicited advice
I can only take so much of the ‘I want to vent, be heard, accept no advice person’ ….it seems every group…friend or family…has that one who is always in crisis and wants the petting, the validation of feelings, without doing any damn thing to change their situation. No, I dont want you to emotionally dump on me, then say im wrong for offering insight or another perspective. If you know me well enough to dump then you also know I speak frankly, am a very straight shooter, and yes, will listen to the details, in order to help. If you want a spoonful of sugar, I’m probably not your person. That doesn’t make me wrong, insensitive, or pushy. And telling you the truth about your situation( as I see it) …isn’t disrespectful. And yes, I’m open to receive what I give. 💯
Vastmind
Re: Walking Meditation
It has been said that meditation practice begins when one leaves the cushion...
Shoshin1
Re: Being absent while engaged
A couple questions arise for me. What does this phenomena say about our conscious mind, the small self and free will? Were you doing the thing or was your subconscious doing the thing? Is your subconscious count as you too, or is if an action isn't in your conscious control is it considered free will?
Or is everything happening as it does when we're aware and its just a matter of when we look back the experience never got written down into our memory, so it feels to us like we weren't aware at the time?
person
Re: Being absent while engaged
Hmmm.
Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling and thinking as an all inclusive activity
or is it a simple sanctification of the mundane?
My ego or identity seems to be most commonly constructed and perpetuated when some deliberate dominance or subservience of one sense gate over all the others is occurring. I think such habituated behaviors are just the policing forces of the human condition protecting its own imagined fiefdom.
In contrast....
My ego or identity seems to be least encouraged when all of my sense gates are engaged in concert and common awareness with each other. I think such a collegial interaction of the sense gates with all of the phenomena arriving, living and passing on around us can be likened to an awakening from the very dream that the Buddha exhorted his followers to do.
If this is so...Then "being absent while engaged" may well be more representative of a sleeper's dream than of an awakening from it.
how
Re: The Other Elephant In The Room
I grew up in a city that was something of a Jewish enclave, I knew a lot of Jewish people growing up and as a kid I just assumed that was a normal experience. So I think my natural inclination is pro Israel, but I recognize there is ample blame and suffering to go around. If I really want to trace back to the original sin, I like to blame Britain for botching the handling of the country's founding. It feels relatively guilt free in comparison.
I was listening to the popular historian and author Yuval Noah Harari talk on this. He's an Israeli citizen and critical of Netanyahu. He has his long history perspective and is a serious meditator, so what I got out of it was an honest discussion on the subject without the anger and hatred that tends to infuse a lot of the conversation.
What I took from it was how Netanyahu and the conservative party had wanted extremist Palestinian factions like Hamas and Hezbola rather than more moderate forces in charge, so they could avoid peace talks where they'd have to compromise. This way they could continue expansionist and militaristic policies with the excuse that they can't work with such factions. Or something to that effect. And that they've actively taken actions to encourage extremists and discourage moderates. In many ways the October 7th attack was a consequence of his strategy.
I think listening to Harari talk also maybe highlighted why some people feel the pro Palestinian faction has an antisemitic element. They hear angry rhetoric directed at Israel and it feels very similar to antisemitism they've heard over the years. At one level a lot of that impression is on the hearer. On another level there have been actual antisemitic tropes mixed in in some circumstances, "gas the Jews" was chanted at a protest in Sydney, a Brooklyn protest was called "Brooklyn Flood" a name inspired by the attack, a Chicago protest had a hang glider as a symbol. Though that is far from the majority. At even another level, claims of antisemitism get thrown around in bad faith in an attempt to silence opposition rather than engage with the actual arguments. An all too common tactic these days.
Smarter and way more involved people than me haven't been able to untangle the spiral of violence there, I have nothing really to add. It seems to me though that the extremist forces in the region need to be marginalized and moderate forces need to be championed. People that are willing to talk rather than flip the table over if they don't get everything they want. There are several cross faction groups in the area that are focused on reconciliation. I can't remember the names off hand but one was a group of Palestinian and Israeli mothers who have lost children in the conflict.
person