Best Of
Re: Life creates order
@Jeroen said:
You may have heard that impermanence creates suffering. That because of the nature of continuous change, we find that that which we wish for is taken away from us, and that which we wish not to have is given to us.
I don't think impermanence makes us suffer. Our wanting things to be different makes us suffer. Impermanence is what gives us life and the possibility of awakening.
But what also happens is life creates order, and things fitting together, and life also maintains organisms. So in a way life keeps suffering at bay, until it becomes old and can no longer fulfil its function.
Does life create order or does order create life?
Re: Life creates order
Order often gets a bad rap because of the harmful ways it can express itself socially. But order is also taking the randomness of nature and turning it into food crops that feed us. Or harnessing the wind for a sail or electric power.
Most of the universe moves in ways that don't promote life. But in the extremely rare set of conditions where life has arisen life itself has the ability to maintain and sustain itself.
person
Re: Words cannot encapsulate reality
Against a background of chaos, a temporary compilation of skandhas, as ethereal a structure as the karmic momentum that instigated it, try to connect with other skandhic compilations .......through words.
As near or as far from reality, as a finger is from the moon that its trying to point at.
how
Words cannot encapsulate reality
I was listening to a short meditative reflection by John Astin about language on the Waking Up app, and it made me realise that words are just a model of reality. You say tree, but in fact the word tree falls far short of the reality of a tree. It doesn’t tell you if it is tall or short, young or old, blossoming or in leaf. The word cannot encapsulate the reality of the tree, which always has more detail to be examined.
Also, what you see in your mind when you read or hear spoken language is a collection of impressions from the past. You may have a specific idea of a tree, tall, deciduous and healthy and in full leaf. But the author whose word tree you just read may have had a very different image and idea of a tree; it may have involved palm leaves and coconuts. So your impression of a read passage of words is pretty unique, based on the past encounters you have had.
Poetry deserves a special mention, because poetry is like an impressionist painting made out of words. It forms an image in your mind which is only loosely related to the actual words used.
Jeroen
Life creates order
You may have heard that impermanence creates suffering. That because of the nature of continuous change, we find that that which we wish for is taken away from us, and that which we wish not to have is given to us.
But what also happens is life creates order, and things fitting together, and life also maintains organisms. So in a way life keeps suffering at bay, until it becomes old and can no longer fulfil its function.
Jeroen
Re: as we progress …
sooner or later, with few exceptions, we realize that progression for progression sake is not progression. Then we really begin to move in the direction of progress.
Peace to All
Lionduck
Re: Healthy Habits
@Tosh said:
Mine are:
- Weight lifting with some cardio, about five times a week.
- Refraining from sugary foods (I love sweet stuff).
- Staying on top of the small stuff; too often in the past I've let the small stuff slide by and it's developed into something BIG.
- Not spending too much time talking nonsense on the internet.
Seems very sensible Tosh, especially small bills mutating into big obstacles unnecessarily can be a pain.
My healthy habits…
- Getting enough sleep
- Staying hydrated — drinking water is good for you
- Daily evacuation of the bowels aided by morning coffee
- Regular medical check-ups
Jeroen
Re: Buddhist related or inspired art
Isn't all art kinda 'Buddhist related' as in you're mindful when creating it?
I understand Buddhism doesn't own 'mindfulness', but one of the reasons I love photography is that you're very much in the present moment when I'm doing it.
I know by taking a camera for a walk that I'll be more present during the walk and really 'look' at what's around me.
Tosh
Re: Making amends for past wrongs...
@lobster said:
I've tried being gentle and forgiving myself; I know I'm not a monster; but it doesn't work.
If you have any tips, I'd be all ears.So after 12 years, what worked?
Just muddling through life staying sober, trying not to harm others, trying to be compassionate, and time I guess.
Tosh
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
@Jeroen said:
Yes I find it very interesting that many people of the sixties and seventies had their interest in meditation sparked by psychedelics. Sam Harris said “psychedelics provide a glimpse of the end state of meditation, freedom from the ego, and without knowing that that state was possible I wouldn’t have been nearly as motivated to try meditation.”
I suppose after the glimpse, the next logical step is to seek it in greater and more sustained ways which meditation seems to provide.
Certainly that these experiences can be so positive for depression, addiction and other mental health conditions just shows that they are key to many people’s wellbeing. But i also think it was telling that in many primitive cultures these experiences are regulated by shamans and ritual and taken only rarely.
A perfect underline of the need for legal oversight by knowledgeable people vs the haphazard current approach. Maybe once the scientific community moves beyond the prejudice of not being able to measure these experiences with current scientific tools. Or maybe when such tools to measure it are developed.
