Mindfulness

[PartTimeBrewer]

              I am starting a new thread here mainly for purposes of my own catharsis. It is my intention, at least at this point, to make regular contributions. Of course, if anyone else has anything to add, they are more than welcome. If you have any input, please contribute.

              Over a year ago I decided to deal head-on with my self-diagnosed adult attention disorder, (ADD). The inability to stay focused was becoming too stressful. I found myself sitting around watching the clock tick, yet I couldn’t keep “on task” with any project I started. Nothing was getting done and just starting something was becoming depressing.

              The smart thing to do was probably to get professional help, so instead I decided to try to heal myself, at least as a first try. Cognitive therapy and pharmaceuticals (UGH) might be the approved way to go but I decided to try meditation first.

              18 months and countless self-help books later, I still can’t bring myself to a regular, formal meditation program. But, along the way, I discovered informal mindfulness. Yes, I know it is the “Fad” right now. It is hard to navigate modern social trends without “tripping over” somebody extolling the benefits of mindfulness.

              Let me add my voice to the chorus.

[PartTimeBrewer]

This one digs a bit deeper into the Buddhist world-view where we don’t have direct contact with any external entities, but can only directly perceive a model of those entities reconstructed and presented to us by our mind. It can undermine our sense of objectivity, as reality becomes more subjective. Buddhists claim that this leads to a unique sense of Unity and Oneness. But as a Western Materialist, I can't help but think that they are smuggling in their cultural expectations. And yet, if you can just "road-test" this perspective for a while, you can see that it leads to a much more practical, calm and equinamous personal way of living your life.

[PartTimeBrewer]

Is this a case of accepting the truth of a position more on its ability to make you emotionally happy than on any strength of Truth claims? I have always been critical of many Christians for selling out to a feel good philosophy instead of doing the hard work needed to resolve Truth. But how far should the search for Truth be pursued? Is it even attainable? I feel like I'm tilting windmills. Right now, the idea that the only reality that we can directly perceive is our mental model seems reasonable. I don't know if that leads necessarily to a big Unity of All Entities, but in absence of facts, the Buddhist's personal plan is working better for me. Until I hear a better analysis...

[PartTimeBrewer]

"What does the world mean to you if you can’t trust it to go on shining when you’re not there?"
~ Mary Oliver

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Genuine empathy comes not from thinking that we are perfect and others are having a hard time, but from recognizing that we are all struggling: that we’re all in the dark, groping for a sense of happiness, well-being, and meaning in our lives."
~ Bodhipaksa

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Challenges are gifts. Emotions are gifts. They tell us what we want and provide personalized wisdom, if we have the openness to listen."
~ Poppy Jamie

[PartTimeBrewer]

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Differences in skin color, language, wealth, and many other things can serve to divide communities from one another, but no division ran—and none today runs—as deep as the belief that one is in sole possession of revealed truth."
~ Stefan Klein