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@FleaMarket said:

@Jeroen said:
The fact that you are seeing these things now means you are gaining new understanding, and that is a very good thing. I would keep on asking questions, because that is the way you get answers formulated to your comprehension.

Good advice 2 out of 3 current volitions would agree with, but what good is asking if asking proliferates non-positive energy to others?
How does that differ from being a fool causing problems?
What makes asking still wholesome behavior?

not addressed to me, but this reminds me of the basic concepts of virtue and non virtue by the teachings of Lama Lena. To paraphrase, non virtue basically is narrowed down, fixated and accumulation of tensions. Whereas virtue leads to abundance and openness, the widening of attention.

In that sense, as we relate to others and situations we are contributing to either tensions or releasing of such tensions. Do we make those around us filled with more energy, more joy and more openness? Or do we make those around us filled with tension, with strife, etc.

At times we come into situations, where there is a general momentum of virtue or non virtue. Do we add to it? Do we do something else?

And that kind of sense of important to feel and see directly. No one else can do that for us so to speak. And no one can also respond in a way that produces the desired effects.

If our goal is the cultivation of virtue and the moving away from non virtue then it's fairly clear in our system what is going on. In that respect, it is that moment of seeing and responding that is the whole creative challenge of dharma. It's somewhat of a challenge because it's so black and white. Meaning there isn't room for confusion or doubt. There is tension or there is openness/flow.

Obvious capacity needs to be taken into account. Generally in the beginning it's best to avoid negative situations that cause us and others to tense. But once we are able to manage our own mind and being, we are in a unique position to create a LOT of virtue as conscious response. Sharing joy, sharing love, sharing a positive state, sharing in a smile, a kind gesture, a warmth in our tone, to how we hold the door knob, to cracking a joke, to highlighting the beauty in appearance. The ways of virtue are literally endless.

but tldr: virtue is basically energy. positive energy. a fullness of being. non-virtue is a depletion, a tension, a tightness of being, narrow focus which only considers myself. so in that sense its a very clear economics of energy and leaves zero room for fantasy or ambiguity.

just some opinions from a stranger on the internet.

In my view most everything is a balance. Take something good to its extreme and it becomes problematic, remove counterbalancing and tempering forces and that good thing becomes fragile.

Measuring the quality of an action by its wholesome feeling I believe is known as moral sentimentalism. When we do something good for someone it gives us a positive, warm feeling. A lot of what we're able to decide about the morality of our choices can stem from that.

If we let that become the sole driver for our ethics though it can lead us astray. Its important to have a clear understanding of our actions. There's the example of the person who out of kindness helped free butterflies as they were leaving their cocoons. Butterflies need the effort of wriggling out for their wings to work properly though, so his moral sentiment might have given him good feelings about helping, but in his misunderstanding he actually was causing harm.

I think I'm trying to say that while the overall feeling ones conceptual framework of the world gives can guide us in effective ways, it is still important to put effort into knowing the pixels so we're guiding in a true direction. If I'm understanding your analogy correctly.

Reminds me of feeling with the whole being rather than single point focus of attention. It's interesting to play with the boundaries of attention, and the somewhat interesting fabrication that play into binding attention. Like with vision for example there is definitely a play in how we tense specific muscles around the face and that in itself can be relaxed so that one see's in a more panoramic visual field, less focused but taking in a lot more of a visual data set. and this kind of opening of the aperture can be done via the body as well. its fascinating.

I can't remember where I first heard it but "Harmonious" seems to work best for me.

No need to get too word bound trying to perfectly describe the 8FP.

The 8FP can be approached as simply being a lemma of the 4NT.
In Buddhist parlance, the eight factors of the 4NT describe what needs to be in balance in order to steadily proceed along the Buddha's path toward suffering's cessation.
So....
The 8FP is
The understanding that supports the 4NT
The thought that supports the 4NT
The speech that supports the 4NT
The action that supports the 4NT
The livelihood that supports the 4NT
The effort that supports the 4NT
The mindfulness that supports the 4NT
The concentration that supports the 4NT

Hence, the 8FP often gets described as the eight spokes of the wheel that supports the 4NT and more importantly, that wheel only functions as well as its weakest spoke. Here is the warning that fortifying the spokes that you have strongly crafted is somewhat pointless if there are other weaker spokes that are not also being equally developed.

For those who find the word "right" to be too limiting, substituting it for "appropriate" works for many.

stray and return …