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We are what we see...
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
I came across this, it was interesting:
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/science-of-kindness-says-we-are-what-we-see/
Certainly the US news services are not doing people over there any favors. If you are continually confronted by examples of how harsh the world is, is it any wonder that people start thinking that way? Even though statistically you may not be very likely to encounter it.
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Yes. See, this is why I avoid programmes like the news, political issues, and visual information on all manner of human disasters (the human-made ones...)
Only this morning, for some bizarre reason, I was seeing - in my mind - an incident unfold (it all started with a memory of my daughter, my grandson and me going Christmas shopping), where someone was going mad with a gun in a supermarket, and my daughter was hiding under the checkout counter... and he found her.
At that point I shut it off, and berated myself for permitting such a bizarre 'story' to even happen...
Now, normally, I'd wonder where the hell such imagery came from, but yesterday, I happened to see something on tv about an American mass shooting, so I guess something stuck...
The problem is also audial.
I think I mentioned here some time ago, that while falling asleep, I would listen to the radio via headphones, and wonder why in the morning I felt so down, lethargic and at times, positively depressed.
Then one night, I couldn't sleep, and BBC Radio 4 joined the BBC World Service, which frankly, after listening to it for a half hour, made me feel like slashing my wrists.
But it explained the morning moods, so I quit listening to it, and hey presto, I got back to normal, literally overnight.
I don't watch horror films and avoid gore if I can help it, but the bombardment of such crap is increasingly hard to avoid.
I dedicate more and more of my time to craft work and making things, knitting, beading, and creating gifts and fancy stuff.
It's a mindful thing to do, and has positive results.
No wonder my parents had no tv.
It might be a good idea to follow suit....
You are right, it’s difficult to avoid it. I was reading a book from my stack of fiction which I remember enjoying when I was younger, and found it starts with a visceral description of war which I’d completely forgotten. Perhaps I’ll donate it to the recycling store.
But even books like the Lord of the Rings, enjoyed by millions as one of the very best, are serious and “epic” and very short on love and life and celebration. It makes me wonder about what we do on this world, really, when people don’t go looking for their happiness but are instead captivated by their ‘excitement’.
Actually it is about the 'old story' of like and dislike, i.e. feeling/vedana. Liking so called 'good' news and disliking so called 'bad' news. But it is just news. Feeling is said to be dukkha, both liking and disliking, attachment and aversion.
Buddhism has 2 approaches to this: either renounce the object that causes feelings to arise or [the methods that entail] cessation of feeling, i.e. cessation of the causation of feelings.
A few things occur to me. It made me think about the state of the news media today, it is so driven by views and clicks that it skews more and more heavily towards the negative and sensational as that is what has been shown to draw our attention more powerfully. I don't get my news and information directly from news sources anymore, I stick to weekly news discussions and recaps focusing on those sources that stick to understanding what is going on and the implications rather than relying on opinions that often rely on outrage and disgust. Or broad discussions or presentations of issues and ideas related to the world, like with TED talks, for example. There are problems in the world, so we can't really just stick our heads in the good news bubble, but there are better and worse ways to take in the negative.
I also wonder about the utility of some conservative religious practices that avoid much of the popular media in an effort to live more "proper" lives, according to their particular beliefs.
I've shared this several times before, but Stephen Pinker's work in taking a step back from the news on the world to looking at broad and consistent data yardsticks to understand the state of the world.
It would seem that some people are more susceptible than others to what's broadcast on the different media outlets (Perhaps one's amygdala has a lot to do with how one reacts) ....hence why some people have the what ifs scenarios start to replay in their heads ...more often than not where they themselves become actors in the mental reenactments...
I guess it all boils down to being mindful staying 'present' which stops the mind's thoughts from dragging the mind's eye back to past events and or to what the future could hold....both so it would seem are just illusions ( ...be they very persistence ones for some)....
It's not so much "We are what we see" I think it's more a case of "We choose to believe what we see"
We are what we see...but things are not always what they seem
like some Shakespearean play, about a dream 'within' a dream
and when one awakes the Buddha nature that abides within
the dream within the dream is thrown into the bin
(Sorry I couldn't come up with a better ending
)
And not only that ... my experience is that what is seen is taken to be true because I am taking myself to be true in the first place. In the context of imputing truth my outer perception is just a mirror of my inner perception.
Wow. We're getting a bit deep for 7am, aren't we...?
Do you steer 'the depth' of your practice depending on daytime?
No, but humour lightens the mood any time, which doesn't make practice any less serious. You'll find very few members (if any) with their heads up their arses, here....
why did you add '"mornign" (sic)? to my comment? Doesn't 'am' MEAN morning...?
Oh ... a mistake, sorry. Initially I have intended a different wording for my post and the cursor obviously was misplaced and when I have typed 'Mornign' (incl. typo) it appeared in the quote of your words and I didn't notice that.
So I will try again right below:
Do you steer 'the depth' of your practice depending on daytime?
deja vu..
I see you do not want to answer my question. Maybe it is just that you're often joking.
I can imagine that people steer 'the depth' of their practice depending on daytime due to different activities in daily life, like job or other obligations.
From @Kerome original reference in the original post (OP)
It is also chewing and digesting that aids our Right View. Some of us get caught up in dharma relish ...
Some might also be aware that seeing is not just a digesting of reality but also an outward projecting. A manifesting of Bodhi ideally ...
That’s an awesome gif @lobster... you’re right we chew and digest what we eat, perhaps our audiovisual machinery’s way of digesting what we see and hear is not sufficiently subtle? Perhaps we need a way to make audiovisual “poo”?
If you look further up, you will see that i DID answer your question, when you originally first posed it.
My entire LIFE is my practice, and I don't differentiate between morning, noon or night, serious or humorous.
@Kerome the principle that advanced adepts adapt the very environment they inhabit (the Buddha Field), is an advanced form of projected seeing/experiencing ...
I'll join. (subject to suitability, terms and conditions apply)
This sangha is a meld of people, just like IRL. If you only want intellectual discourse with no personality, this place might disappoint you...
In a sense we 'are' what we see...and what is seen is just consciousness looking at itself....more often than not through a faulty pair of eyes ( hmm or should this be through faulty "I"s )....
If you could see what another sees, that could be quite useful.
There is no communication in such forums like this one other than intellectual. Even your remark is merely intellectual. It may be accompanied by feelings and emotions and 'truth habits' but the forms of linguistic expression (characters, words, sentences) is all that can be perceived and is a product of the intellect.
...and so is humour @herbie
...and there is a lot of it mixed in with serious discussion on this forum ....as you are now finding out 
Damn and Blast!
... and not in an intellectual way. To think some of us react without thinking ? (some ideally, some undergoing refinement. Some just for the hell of it - they sure is naughty)
I goes wrong again ... mind you nobody much cares ... especially me ...
Hi @Shoshin,
let's accept each others attitude and trait. If we know each others attitude and trait and accept it then everything is fine and we can just leave it as it is. Nobody has to adapt the attitude of others .... that is at least my view.
So let me explain my attitude:
'humour mixed with serious discussion' is problematic if the 'humour' part is not marked by appropriate smilies. Without such mark my mind/brain will process the words as such and will try to synthesize a consistent meaning and if it fails I will ask - at least once - and if I still get no consistent answer I will drop it.
From my perspective communication about Dharma and related aspects should be serious only and that is why I am avoiding to merge serious communication and humorous communication. There is no merge when humorous communication is marked as such.
I do not want to push my view and attitude on someone else!
That is: you and everybody else are free to merge communication about Dharma and humorous communication but I won't do that.
Let's just leave it as is.
BTW the picture you added is obviously a joke, so there is no issue.
Isn't that called empathy....
It’s not quite the same is it? What @lobster was talking about was that advanced adepts modify the Buddha field with a kind of projected seeing, while I was saying that that might open the door to ‘seeing what they see’. Empathy seems to me to be more a kind of internal projection of what another might be feeling, and then identifying with that.
@herbie it's great that you take your Dharma practice seriously...I think most other members here do too...( including my self
)
One of my Dharma teachers ( he is Tibetan) often would say Dharma practice should be enjoyable, a thing that one looks forward to doing and not a chore so to speak...
So I tend not to take (conditioned) things ( eg my self ) too seriously (anicca often pops into mind..."this too shall pass") which I guess is part and parcel of how I see and practice the Dharma ...
However this is not to say that I don't take others whom I interact with seriously.... when seriousness is called for that is....
I like what Alan Wallace has to say about the Dharma...
When it comes to Dharma practice it's a case of Different strokes for different folks
Disagree. Have you seen the Funny Stuff thread?
Again I disagree.
From my perspective there is no difference between communication about Dharma and Dharma practice.
From my perspective there is however a difference between 'serious communication about Dharma' and 'taking (conditioned) things ( eg my self ) too seriously'.
As to enjoyment: Dharma practice may be naturally blissful. Seriousness is no obstacle in this regard.
That's exactly my position and is in perfect harmony with serious communication about Dharma aspects.
No problem. Let's agree that we disagree here.
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??
For various reasons altering the nature of others experience is fraught with dangers unless motivated by strong ingrained bodhisattva and service ideals. The first inklings of the possibility starts as we understand that we are not our self, our body of needs, our mind mess but in essence pure/empty and beyond containment ...
(I read that in a fortune cookie)
For example in Pureland projection, we create, enter and resonate with a perfect realm. Fantasy? Of course. The very nature of The Reality Matrix ...
Seed the lessen. Find the good. Be the kind lesson ...
Iz humble plan ...
of course you are what you perceive to see. as your perceptions change, your view and filters change.
Stream entrant mode eh?
Good plan.
Structure and commitment better than part time dharma. Reminding ourselves. 'How does this apply?’ Then we change. We become the nature of a transforming path. We separate the wheat from the chaff. One of the things all spiritual and many mundane activities promise is change for the better. One of the great achievements/insights of Buddhism is passive insight. We find it in the potent resonance symbol of Buddha sitting.
Passive awareness/calm becomes expression. Until the very inner stillness becomes resonant in our being.
We become [more] empty in form/movement ... and
Formed stillness (emptiness)
http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/20569/form-is-emptiness-what-does-it-mean
lobster,your on to something.siting and being can be the basis of equimity.really it is the basis,imo, to open the mind of karma-dharma.those new to buddhism,kharma can be scary,but with time in study , reflection,becomes less scary. and equimity--the four immeasurable--is a tool to see the workings of karma's dance of form-emptiness and subsequant aggregate we call life and the wisdom mind-eye to direct the karma for positive outcome through sila or virtue within the "un real"state of dukkha syndrome we are prone to.not there yet,but this psudo-zen of mine is bearing some kind fruit. so equimity affects compassion.compassion affects loving kindness or sila(the karma of love).compassion affects joy, the victory in ourselves and others.to say the buddha is genius is mild understatement.he is .
another thought arise.joseph cambell says, transparent to trancsendence.one take can be,see kharma,rise above dukkha.that is inspiring.