Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Journaling as an Aid to Spiritual Practice
Glow
Veteran
Does anyone else keep a journal/diary?
I have found it remarkably helpful in my practice. In particular, I find it a very good way to reveal the workings of the conditioned mind (or the "subconscious" as psychoanalysts call it) in a way that might not be as obvious in sitting practice. Thought patterns and cognitive connections/distortions that oftentimes go unnoticed become more obvious when on the page in black and white. Tendencies toward "selfing" (including proclivities towards the three types of conceit), the three mental poisons (hatred, craving, ignorance), etc. are much more apparent when you have a written record to work with. I also copy excerpts from books by Buddhist authors or bits of scriptures and reflect on their implications for my own life in a sort of informal personal essay format.
I have found it remarkably helpful in my practice. In particular, I find it a very good way to reveal the workings of the conditioned mind (or the "subconscious" as psychoanalysts call it) in a way that might not be as obvious in sitting practice. Thought patterns and cognitive connections/distortions that oftentimes go unnoticed become more obvious when on the page in black and white. Tendencies toward "selfing" (including proclivities towards the three types of conceit), the three mental poisons (hatred, craving, ignorance), etc. are much more apparent when you have a written record to work with. I also copy excerpts from books by Buddhist authors or bits of scriptures and reflect on their implications for my own life in a sort of informal personal essay format.
0
Comments
Our mind has mechanisms that interpret facial features. Many mechanisms. A side effect of this is that I can see faces in everything! Not so much a face with individual characteristics, but more like an ego. I can see a face ego in things. I remember this happening from when I was less than 5 years old, when looking at a fork. Something about the fork registered as a person. Weird stuff. Anyway, it's not just forks, it can really be anything, but letters have always had it strong. For me, each letter not only looks like a certain ego, but faces a certain way. E and G face to the right, Z and J face to the left.
Anyway, when I write in my journal, I think my mind puts MY ego into the letters! The particular way I write each letter has to do with what I think of myself! Funny, no?
Here are the digits that face to the left:123479 and the digits that face to the right:56 the digits that face you:80
1 is stern, 6 is chill. 5 is satisfied. 7 is kinda arrogantly cool.
Questionful,
I miss the Bay Area fiercely. I lived in San Rafael in the early 90's. I'm not sure if it's there any more but I worked at Redwood Typewriter and they said I would be back some day when I left. That was 17 years ago. Not sure if I will get back to visit but who knows. Great area of the world. Mill Valley, Tiburon, Corte Madera, Larkspur and Sausalito I would love to see agian. I hope you love it out there.
Jerbear, I too tend to experience pain when I write longhand for an extended period of time. I like the portability/availability of paper and pen (I don't have a laptop or one of the newer cell phones with a keyboard), but when I'm at home, the word processor on my computer does very well. Also, I find typing is much faster then writing longhand, so it does give a sense of greater spontaneity.
I understand the usefulness of journalling from a psychological perspective. But psychology and Buddhism have totally different end-goals. I may be mistaken, but I don't see how journalling helps the practice of Buddhism.
Thich Nhat Hanh's journals from the 1960s in a volume titled Fragrant Palm Leaves, for example, are an elegant example of how the dhamma and writing can work in tandem.
I see no harm in using a diary or journal as "props" to enhance your practice; provided that they are not kept as "brag" books.
I agree that it is neither desirable nor possible to completely dismantle one's sense of self, short of falling into a serious denial of reality. And I agree that one can become addicted to the idea of non-self. I believe it is undesirable, both from a psychological and from a Buddhist perspective, to try to dismantle one's sense of self at all. But neither do I think that it is good (from either perspective) to heighten one's identification and attachment to one's sense of self. We all need to lighten up a bit, especially regarding our selves!
Regardless of the particular school, psychology has the end goal of producing a healthy, happy, integrated being. However, those who have learned to be healthy, happy and integrated are still vulnerable to the forms of suffering (as defined by the Buddha). And Buddhism's goal is to achieve liberation from suffering. This seems to suggest that psychology and Buddhism have different end goals, or at least end goals that look different. This difference is confounded by the fact that both produce individuals who are healthy, happy and integrated ... but in psychology, this is the end goal, while in Buddhism's it is merely a secondary side-effect.
As always, it's a very fine line, isn't it?
I am not familiar with Fragrant Palm Leaves, and will see what it offers me. Thank you.