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Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Just to say, I've been on retreat for a week, at Gaia House in the UK. Now I'm back online and looking forward to reading what you've all been up to ❤️ 🙏
@adamcrossley said:
Just to say, I've been on retreat for a week, at Gaia House in the UK. Now I'm back online and looking forward to reading what you've all been up to ❤️ 🙏
@adamcrossley said:
Just to say, I've been on retreat for a week, at Gaia House in the UK. Now I'm back online and looking forward to reading what you've all been up to ❤️ 🙏
My retreat was lovely, thank you. We practised some metta meditation, which I tend to neglect in everyday life, and I learnt a lot about "meeting well whatever arises in my experience". But there wasn't actually a lot of nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum...
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Glad to hear you had a good time, if learning was there it was time well spent. But retreats disagree with some people, unfortunately.
Happy summer solstice to my Southern friends!
Happy winter solstice to my Northern friends!
May we all be happy, well and live our lives in peace
🙏🙏🙏
6
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I was just reading a bit on the impeachment of Trump, and what I don’t understand is why all these republicans keep backing him. Surely they realise that doing so exposes them for corrupt, power-mongering sycophants? I’m amazed anyone votes for Trump or his backers...
@Kerome said:
I was just reading a bit on the impeachment of Trump, and what I don’t understand is why all these republicans keep backing him. Surely they realise that doing so exposes them for corrupt, power-mongering sycophants? I’m amazed anyone votes for Trump or his backers...
Being able to see things from the perspective of another person is difficult for sure.
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
@Bunks said:
Being able to see things from the perspective of another person is difficult for sure.
It is not just being able to see things from another perspective, but particularly from a perspective that one considers unreasonable. There is what you believe, and what accords with reason, and the two do not necessarily coincide. Then, when you discover an unreasonable belief in yourself, you allow your reason to correct it...
What surprises me is that so many people in America seem to have been carried along by Trump’s ‘fake news’ narrative that they no longer seem to believe in reason. To me that is throwing out the baby with the bathwater... Yes there are instances where there is fake news, but the necessity for reason to correct those areas of one’s thinking that are not reasonable to me sounds paramount.
This thinking is three hundred years old and goes back to the Age of Reason or scientific enlightenment. One should not stick purely with the beliefs one has acquired in childhood from parents and grandparents.
While I am not a fan of Donald Trump, I can see why people vote for him and support him and I respect their right to do so.
Who are we to tell them it’s the wrong thing to do?
As Ajahn Brahm often says “Good, bad, who knows?”
None of us can predict the legacy he will leave in 10, 50, 100 or 1,000 years.
Hmmm... I'm not so sure... while I entirely endorse yout "Who knows what is Good/Bad?" stance, there's little doubt Trump is a bit of a rum package to deal with...
In similar ways - although certainly not via similar methods - we're currently enjoying a huge wave of cynicism here, with regard to our opinions on Politicians. In short, we don't trust them as much as we'd like to....
But hey, Brexit looks a dead cert, and that's time enough to worry about that problem , if need be, in the New Year... which prompts the old Buddhist Chestnut on how to handle Problems: If there is/isn't a solution, why worry? What's the point?
@Bunks said:
Happy summer solstice to my Southern friends!
Happy winter solstice to my Northern friends!
May we all be happy, well and live our lives in peace
🙏🙏🙏
Yup, shortest day here, tomorrow... Time to celebrate the Bringer of Light, whomsoever you consider that to be!
Isn’t it funny that we celebrate the new year sometime after the shortest day... you’d think all the fireworks visible from space might serve to demonstrate some basic intelligence to a passing spacefaring species, if it was on the shortest day.
38C here today! It’s a stinker. Cooling off at the pool
4
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited December 2019
It’s going to get even hotter in years to come with climate change...
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited December 2019
My stepfather knew I was into Buddhism so he thought to buy me a Buddhist book. He got ‘the Buddha pill’, a scientific debunking of meditation and mindfulness, about the closest you will find to an anti-Buddhist book! Thanks step-dad, looking forward to reading all the scientific arguments about why not to meditate.
@Kerome said:
My stepfather knew I was into Buddhism so he thought to buy me a Buddhist book. He got ‘the Buddha pill’, a scientific debunking of meditation and mindfulness, about the closest you will find to an anti-Buddhist book! Thanks step-dad, looking forward to reading all the scientific arguments about why not to meditate.
Ah yes, from my experience the science / athiest types are more dogmatic than any religious folk I’ve met
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Both spirit and body, with all attendant pleasures and sufferings, are to be cherished as a divine gift.”
— Sufi saying
Just returned from my local monastery......good progress on the building works.
Ajahn Brahm’s Kuti
Main Meditation Hall for monks
Monks kuti
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️
2
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Beautiful. Oh that I had such a peaceful location nearby....
On a different (but associated) note, if I thought Christmas 2018 was bad, this one took the biscuit.
Two words:
NEVER
-
AGAIN.
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
For me, it was a very peaceful Christmas, no stress, giving and receiving fun and small gifts, a few fun family visits. I enjoyed it, every Christmas could be like this one and I wouldn’t complain.
The smoke from the Australian bush fires has reached the island....
Yesterday late afternoon I could smell smoke and my eyes became sore...So I had to close all the doors and windows...And this morning the sun had an orange glow to it...according to the weather people, the smoke should clear later today...
Yesterday the skies over the South island had turned orange and people could smell the smoke....It must be hell for those living in NSW VIC & SA ...
Amongst the turmoil and devastation below, observing the fires from above would be a spectacular sight...
It's interesting, aside from the devastation, loss of life & property caused by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, bush fires, etc etc, the unfolding event itself must be a spectacular sight to see...from a safe distance...
On my way home yesterday I spotted more doves sitting on the branches and sitting around the base...
The olive tree must be their favourite tree...
Hmm I wonder if they are they trying to tell me something ... May peace be with you
When the world becomes a message, we massage back ... 😉
In other words
[words redacted due to redundancy]
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Read today on Facebook, on a Vegetarian page.
I kid you not.
"My new years reselution was to go vegitarien and I told my family I was becoming a vegitarien and i dont eat meat cus their animals and I love animals, so I am now a vegitarien and I havent eaten any meat since then, apart from chicken and macdonalds burgers and sausages for breakfast on sunday and a roast and I feel so much better now i dont eat animals! Yay!!!!!!"
@federica said:
Read today on Facebook, on a Vegetarian page.
I kid you not.
"My new years reselution was to go vegitarien and I told my family I was becoming a vegitarien and i dont eat meat cus their animals and I love animals, so I am now a vegitarien and I havent eaten any meat since then, apart from chicken and macdonalds burgers and sausages for breakfast on sunday and a roast and I feel so much better now i dont eat animals! Yay!!!!!!"
@federica said:
Read today on Facebook, on a Vegetarian page.
I kid you not.
"My new years reselution was to go vegitarien and I told my family I was becoming a vegitarien and i dont eat meat cus their animals and I love animals, so I am now a vegitarien and I havent eaten any meat since then, apart from chicken and macdonalds burgers and sausages for breakfast on sunday and a roast and I feel so much better now i dont eat animals! Yay!!!!!!"
I will never forget what I overheard late into the night at a diner one time. Two people were ordering their meals when one said to the other, "I thought you were a vegetarian. Why are you ordering fish?". The other replied, " Because fish don't feel pain but bacon do.".
I once met a quasi vegetarian who claimed chicken was a legitimate food source for him as chickens were not much more than a mobile form of corn.
Of course, he was also the same guy who asked me as a vegetarian what vegetables had done against me to earn so much of my enmity.
3
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
To some people, Dickheadedness comes so naturally...
A vegetarian definition I like is someone saying "I won't eat anyhing that has a Mother".
That said, I argue that even vegans can eat eggs and/or honey, providing they know the provenance...
I buy honey from a gentleman who has his own beehives in his garden.
Eggs I get from a local farm; they have 35 chickens. And they're all jolly happy little cluckers...
Around this time of year events are held on the property where I live...And today, judging by the music I was hearing as I walk along the path, it's an Irish wedding......
...well I take it one or both of the couple are or have an Irish connection...
The wedding ceremony...taken from the kitchen window of my apartment...
The wedding party is now in full swing....I'm even tapping my feet to the Irish music the band is playing ...as I (the uninvited guest) sit in my apartment listening...
@Shoshin said:
The wedding party is now in full swing....I'm even tapping my feet to the Irish music the band is playing ...as I (the uninvited guest) sit in my apartment listening...
Maybe you can wander down later when it’s in full swing....they won’t notice an extra person I’m sure 😁
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited January 2020
Yeah, just mumble things like, 'Begorah!' 'Top o' the Mornin' to ya!' 'To be sure, to be sure', 'So 'tis, so 'tis' and 'Now where did I put that leprechaun?' and nobody will be any the wiser. They'll probably be blind drunk on whiskey and guiness anyway...!
Comments
Just to say, I've been on retreat for a week, at Gaia House in the UK. Now I'm back online and looking forward to reading what you've all been up to ❤️ 🙏
How was your time on retreat?
I bet he just sat around doing nothing
My retreat was lovely, thank you. We practised some metta meditation, which I tend to neglect in everyday life, and I learnt a lot about "meeting well whatever arises in my experience". But there wasn't actually a lot of nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum...
Glad to hear you had a good time, if learning was there it was time well spent. But retreats disagree with some people, unfortunately.
Happy summer solstice to my Southern friends!
Happy winter solstice to my Northern friends!
May we all be happy, well and live our lives in peace
🙏🙏🙏
I was just reading a bit on the impeachment of Trump, and what I don’t understand is why all these republicans keep backing him. Surely they realise that doing so exposes them for corrupt, power-mongering sycophants? I’m amazed anyone votes for Trump or his backers...
Being able to see things from the perspective of another person is difficult for sure.
It is not just being able to see things from another perspective, but particularly from a perspective that one considers unreasonable. There is what you believe, and what accords with reason, and the two do not necessarily coincide. Then, when you discover an unreasonable belief in yourself, you allow your reason to correct it...
What surprises me is that so many people in America seem to have been carried along by Trump’s ‘fake news’ narrative that they no longer seem to believe in reason. To me that is throwing out the baby with the bathwater... Yes there are instances where there is fake news, but the necessity for reason to correct those areas of one’s thinking that are not reasonable to me sounds paramount.
This thinking is three hundred years old and goes back to the Age of Reason or scientific enlightenment. One should not stick purely with the beliefs one has acquired in childhood from parents and grandparents.
i think you missed my point @Kerome.
While I am not a fan of Donald Trump, I can see why people vote for him and support him and I respect their right to do so.
Who are we to tell them it’s the wrong thing to do?
As Ajahn Brahm often says “Good, bad, who knows?”
None of us can predict the legacy he will leave in 10, 50, 100 or 1,000 years.
Yup, shortest day here, tomorrow... Time to celebrate the Bringer of Light, whomsoever you consider that to be!
Hmmm... I'm not so sure... while I entirely endorse yout "Who knows what is Good/Bad?" stance, there's little doubt Trump is a bit of a rum package to deal with...
In similar ways - although certainly not via similar methods - we're currently enjoying a huge wave of cynicism here, with regard to our opinions on Politicians. In short, we don't trust them as much as we'd like to....
But hey, Brexit looks a dead cert, and that's time enough to worry about that problem , if need be, in the New Year... which prompts the old Buddhist Chestnut on how to handle Problems: If there is/isn't a solution, why worry? What's the point?
Agree @federica, no use losing sleep over the whole Brexit thing.
Australia has ridden a wave of cynicism about politics for the best part of a decade. People here don’t trust any of them. Regardless of the party.
Trump is just a noisy peacock blah blah blah. He’ll be gone soon only to be replaced by someone else who doesn’t know what she or he is doing.
noisy peacock = good description of many struts
peahen = drab but essential turkey substitute ...
Isn’t it funny that we celebrate the new year sometime after the shortest day... you’d think all the fireworks visible from space might serve to demonstrate some basic intelligence to a passing spacefaring species, if it was on the shortest day.
I vote we travel back in time and force the father of the person who invented polystyrene to have a vasectomy! 😡
Greed strikes again!
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-24/westfield-parramatta-christmas-shopping-crush/11824942
Yes, @Bunks, wherever there's an 'Up' you'll always get the 'Down'...
Ram Dass died today, he was 88.
Good for him.
Best teaching ever. Oh I am so wikid - must be the Spirit of Christmas Humbug!
Always remember, Death is fun. Quentin Tarintino, Bugs Bunny and Baby Jesus made a career out of it ...
38C here today! It’s a stinker. Cooling off at the pool
It’s going to get even hotter in years to come with climate change...
My stepfather knew I was into Buddhism so he thought to buy me a Buddhist book. He got ‘the Buddha pill’, a scientific debunking of meditation and mindfulness, about the closest you will find to an anti-Buddhist book! Thanks step-dad, looking forward to reading all the scientific arguments about why not to meditate.
Ah yes, from my experience the science / athiest types are more dogmatic than any religious folk I’ve met
“Both spirit and body, with all attendant pleasures and sufferings, are to be cherished as a divine gift.”
— Sufi saying
Just returned from my local monastery......good progress on the building works.
Ajahn Brahm’s Kuti
Main Meditation Hall for monks
Monks kuti
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️
Beautiful. Oh that I had such a peaceful location nearby....
On a different (but associated) note, if I thought Christmas 2018 was bad, this one took the biscuit.
Two words:
NEVER
-
AGAIN.
For me, it was a very peaceful Christmas, no stress, giving and receiving fun and small gifts, a few fun family visits. I enjoyed it, every Christmas could be like this one and I wouldn’t complain.
Dare I ask what happened?
Happy 2020 folks!
Same to you @Kerome
Ah-Hah! Wouldn't that be telling...?!
The smoke from the Australian bush fires has reached the island....
Yesterday late afternoon I could smell smoke and my eyes became sore...So I had to close all the doors and windows...And this morning the sun had an orange glow to it...according to the weather people, the smoke should clear later today...
Yesterday the skies over the South island had turned orange and people could smell the smoke....It must be hell for those living in NSW VIC & SA ...
What's it like where you are @Bunks ?
Hi @Shoshin - apart from Xmas Day none of the smoke has affected us here in Geelong / Melbourne.
I spent a few days at my parents place last week and you could definitely see the smoke haze around (they live on the border of Vic / NSW).
I’m flying to Sydney tomorrow for the weekend so will experience it up there. Will be interesting to see the fires from 30,000 feet
Amongst the turmoil and devastation below, observing the fires from above would be a spectacular sight...
It's interesting, aside from the devastation, loss of life & property caused by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, bush fires, etc etc, the unfolding event itself must be a spectacular sight to see...from a safe distance...
Smoke from the Aussie bush fires surrounds the island (Oneroa beach on my walk at lunch time)...
This may be worth noting:
(Although of course, the 'new decade' doesn't actually start until 2021....)
On my way home yesterday I spotted more doves sitting on the branches and sitting around the base...
The olive tree must be their favourite tree...
Hmm I wonder if they are they trying to tell me something ... May peace be with you
LOL @Shoshin 💗🙏🏽😌
When the world becomes a message, we massage back ... 😉
In other words
[words redacted due to redundancy]
Read today on Facebook, on a Vegetarian page.
I kid you not.
"My new years reselution was to go vegitarien and I told my family I was becoming a vegitarien and i dont eat meat cus their animals and I love animals, so I am now a vegitarien and I havent eaten any meat since then, apart from chicken and macdonalds burgers and sausages for breakfast on sunday and a roast and I feel so much better now i dont eat animals! Yay!!!!!!"
Someone shoot me.
I fear someone is taking the pi55 @federica
Judging by the many responses and to-and-fro bitching, I sadly fear not...
I will never forget what I overheard late into the night at a diner one time. Two people were ordering their meals when one said to the other, "I thought you were a vegetarian. Why are you ordering fish?". The other replied, " Because fish don't feel pain but bacon do.".
I once met a quasi vegetarian who claimed chicken was a legitimate food source for him as chickens were not much more than a mobile form of corn.
Of course, he was also the same guy who asked me as a vegetarian what vegetables had done against me to earn so much of my enmity.
To some people, Dickheadedness comes so naturally...
A vegetarian definition I like is someone saying "I won't eat anyhing that has a Mother".
That said, I argue that even vegans can eat eggs and/or honey, providing they know the provenance...
I buy honey from a gentleman who has his own beehives in his garden.
Eggs I get from a local farm; they have 35 chickens. And they're all jolly happy little cluckers...
Around this time of year events are held on the property where I live...And today, judging by the music I was hearing as I walk along the path, it's an Irish wedding......
...well I take it one or both of the couple are or have an Irish connection...
The wedding ceremony...taken from the kitchen window of my apartment...
The wedding party is now in full swing....I'm even tapping my feet to the Irish music the band is playing
...as I (the uninvited guest) sit in my apartment listening... 
Maybe you can wander down later when it’s in full swing....they won’t notice an extra person I’m sure 😁
Yeah, just mumble things like, 'Begorah!' 'Top o' the Mornin' to ya!' 'To be sure, to be sure', 'So 'tis, so 'tis' and 'Now where did I put that leprechaun?' and nobody will be any the wiser. They'll probably be blind drunk on whiskey and guiness anyway...!
(Stereotyping, much?! )
Farewell Harry and Meghan.
For their sake (and ours) I hope I never hear anything about them again 🙏🙏🙏
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-19/harry-and-meghan-markle-drop-royal-highness-titles/11880384