You bring up some interesting topics, but I am more interested in your view, and not some author that you refer to. If I was on her site, I would speak with her. I am assuming that Bowler disavows the "prosperity gospel"? It is a devastating notion that slavery, and then apartheid are God's plan for mankind, at least in the US Deep South. (And many other world-wide atrocities.)
I think the kindest way to look at this "Ms. Kate" is that she is not really peeved by estate planning or PTA meetings, as she jokingly calls them the bane of her existence, but that she is using them as "click bait" for the assumed level of her readership.
This is a lady that has no idea of how feelings are created (or uncreated), and chooses to escape into her future fantasy world for relief. Of course realizing that fantasy, only happens when that future dream turns into the present reality. Which apparently, she will jump out of, back into her endless future postponement. Really, she the one who needs help, and has nothing to offer except her existing disorders.
There are many meanings of mindfulness, so first we ought to define it. The epitome of mindfulness might be in realms like "non-duality", where after striving with meditation, thoughts might stop long enough that you notice the entity called "ME" has disappeared. OH MY GOD, the "I" must be an illusion. So everything else is an illusion also. (Suffering does stop). Let's call that one mindlessness, (or no-mind).
Other people tell you what mindfulness is too, like sitting there and counting your breaths. (Except the laundry has to be done.)
But let's say that there is a door, or a valve to reality. The closed position is that "I already know that", done that, been there. So mindfulness could be to leave a crack in that closed door, even in the middle of a PTA meeting. Something just might seep in and become "mindful". You could start concrete steps toward that reassuring future dream-world right now.
You said it, that all suffering is from painful stories that run through your mind. Carl Jung said “Whatever you resist not only persists but grows in size.” OR, MAYBE IT DISAPPEARS, because it was just your stupid fabrication, that you stopped creating.
In one section you say "we all yearn for more". I do think we want a more perfect understanding. But that can't be a dogma, like "in God's perfect world, everything happens for a reason". The search for more understanding can also lead to detachment, because humans seek most of all agreement and verification. So eating dinner-with, or meeting-with someone who doesn't seek a new understanding, but only the verification of what they already know, will eventually be avoided. Love is not a fixed declaration, but it's a daily discovery. When friends and relatives no longer support your growth, you move apart.
I am not a Buddhist, but I am interested in considering the "near-enemies" of the four immeasurables. Immeasurable means to me, that it is a daily discovery, not possible as a definition. Ever deepening.
For me, love, compassion, and sympathetic joy conflate. What would really be 4 separate immeasurables?
Hello Dan Ehrenkrantz,
You bring up some interesting topics, but I am more interested in your view, and not some author that you refer to. If I was on her site, I would speak with her. I am assuming that Bowler disavows the "prosperity gospel"? It is a devastating notion that slavery, and then apartheid are God's plan for mankind, at least in the US Deep South. (And many other world-wide atrocities.)
I think the kindest way to look at this "Ms. Kate" is that she is not really peeved by estate planning or PTA meetings, as she jokingly calls them the bane of her existence, but that she is using them as "click bait" for the assumed level of her readership.
This is a lady that has no idea of how feelings are created (or uncreated), and chooses to escape into her future fantasy world for relief. Of course realizing that fantasy, only happens when that future dream turns into the present reality. Which apparently, she will jump out of, back into her endless future postponement. Really, she the one who needs help, and has nothing to offer except her existing disorders.
There are many meanings of mindfulness, so first we ought to define it. The epitome of mindfulness might be in realms like "non-duality", where after striving with meditation, thoughts might stop long enough that you notice the entity called "ME" has disappeared. OH MY GOD, the "I" must be an illusion. So everything else is an illusion also. (Suffering does stop). Let's call that one mindlessness, (or no-mind).
Other people tell you what mindfulness is too, like sitting there and counting your breaths. (Except the laundry has to be done.)
But let's say that there is a door, or a valve to reality. The closed position is that "I already know that", done that, been there. So mindfulness could be to leave a crack in that closed door, even in the middle of a PTA meeting. Something just might seep in and become "mindful". You could start concrete steps toward that reassuring future dream-world right now.
You said it, that all suffering is from painful stories that run through your mind. Carl Jung said “Whatever you resist not only persists but grows in size.” OR, MAYBE IT DISAPPEARS, because it was just your stupid fabrication, that you stopped creating.
In one section you say "we all yearn for more". I do think we want a more perfect understanding. But that can't be a dogma, like "in God's perfect world, everything happens for a reason". The search for more understanding can also lead to detachment, because humans seek most of all agreement and verification. So eating dinner-with, or meeting-with someone who doesn't seek a new understanding, but only the verification of what they already know, will eventually be avoided. Love is not a fixed declaration, but it's a daily discovery. When friends and relatives no longer support your growth, you move apart.
I am not a Buddhist, but I am interested in considering the "near-enemies" of the four immeasurables. Immeasurable means to me, that it is a daily discovery, not possible as a definition. Ever deepening.
For me, love, compassion, and sympathetic joy conflate. What would really be 4 separate immeasurables?
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