mindfulness

Ludwig Wittgenstein, the famous philosopher, reflected in the posthumously published  book "Philosophical Investigations" about the picture above; Is it a hare or duck?  He meant that we make, or must make, a statement what it is. And I suppose he meant that we often or always has to interpret the world around us. But two different interpretations can both be right! Language and thoughts controls what we see.....   You can compare with the picture of a glass. Half empty or half empty?  Who decides? Yes, it's you... And whatever you say is right.  But you can be aware of what you think. That can say more of yourself than of the glass....  You can be aware of that you always do interpretations of things that happens.  If you have a pessimistic or a naive point of view, you can be aware of the view and your statements.  Buddha and Wittgenstein were both aware of that different persons uses different perspectives.  But Buddha spoke about the "right 

Who are you? A question not so easy to answer. Perhaps you are more of a stream than a solid object... Not just  a stream of thoughts, but a stream of ancestors, and animals and memories and things that has happened to you and much more... You are connected to a long chain of ancestors, not only humans, but also to pre-human animals.  A part of the brain is called the reptile brain. And perhaps is that part of  more like the brain of a lizard than anything. And sometimes it seems that we are responding to threats like a lizard would do. In mindfulness you will learn to be more free from all this heritage. We use to say that it is good to listen to the gut feeling. But what if this feelings are inherited from long ago? Perhaps it's best to first listen to the gut-feeling and then ponder about it. An example can be; you meet a bear in the forest (you can do it in my country) and your gut feeling or instinct says; run! But that can trigger the hunt instinct in the animal. It

From the net - author unknown. First God created the Cow and said, “You must go with farmer daily to the field all day long and suffer under the Sun, have calves, give milk and help the farmer. I give you a span of sixty years.” The Cow said, “That’s surely Tough. Give me only twenty years. I give back forty years.” On Day Two God created the Dog and told him, “Sit all day by the door of your house and b ark at strangers. I give you a span of twenty years.” The Dog said, “Too long time for barking. I give up ten years.” On the third day God created the Monkey and said to him, “Entertain people. Make them laugh. I give you Twenty years.” The Monkey said to God, “How boring, Monkey tricks for twenty years. Give me only Ten years”. Lord agreed. On the fourth day God created Man. He told him, “Eat, sleep, play, enjoy and do nothing. I will give you twenty years.” Man said, “Only twenty years. No way. I will take my Twenty and give me the Forty the cow gave back, the Ten that the Monkey

If you start with mindfulness in a serious way, you surely will win a lot. But you probably will lose some things too. What? You probably will lose some of the will to identify yourself with the things you own. You can still have things that you need, things that can make every day easier. But you will not identify yourself with them. Your consciousness will probably have a broader view- it will be hard for you to use things that pollute the air or harm other beings in some way.  Sometimes  you can drive a car or go by aeroplane. But you don't want to do it too often... After you have meditated for some years your compassion will increase... It will be hard for you look at films with much violence. You will find that your view of the world have changed. You will no more see the world in black and white, but with many colours.... There will be no more completely white heroes and no more completely evil characters. You will try to understand everyone - and if you succeed,  you

Sören Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, born 200 years ago. He was grown up in a depressing environment. His father had a bad temper, and was often in a bad mood. Probably this conditions influenced Sören for the rest of his life.  But anyways his books are read all over the world: It seems that suffering is known everywhere. The pali word Dukkha, that Buddha used, cannot just be translated into suffering, It can also mean "stress", "anxiety", or "dissatisfaction". The meaning is quite broad. For instance; we get dissatisfied when things change, and with time they always will. And we all know what the world "stress" means. I seems we are we never fully satisfied. Is that true? Was Buddha right or was suffering much more common in his time, about 500 b. c.?  Perhaps we are satisfied for a short time, but soon the normal life begins. It seem that those of us who are looking for happiness outside of ourselves are in the long run doomed

Perhaps a frightening topic. But it cannot be denied. Joan Didion starts her book "The year of magical thinking" with the words.                          Life changes fast              Life changes in the instant.              You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.              The question of self pity.  She writes about the year of grief when her husband and then her daughter died. Her husband very sudden. I guess this is things you never come over... They will never leave you My father also died very suddenly. But he was sleeping then and he was quite old, at least over 70. My mother had to live alone more then 20 years after that. But even more hard for her, was when my brother died some years later. He was an adult with his own family. But to loose a child seems to be a catastrophe even if the child is old. My brother had a handicapped child, and now his former wife takes care of her. Of course I keep the contact with them as often I can. But