mindfulness

What are your values? If you don't have any, you risk to be caught, subconsciously, in the common consumeristic culture. If you see that you are dependent on a lot of things, you will be more free and your values will probably change; It's impossible to be alone - you are made of water, the sun, mud, your ancestors and so on. And if you look closely, you can even see that you are made of the people you meet on a daily basis. They influence you, in good ways and in bad ways... If you live in an environment that  are unfriendly, you have to take actions. If you can't move away, you have to take good care of yourself; take time to be with yourself and just be with the breath. But you should also take the time to be with friendly people and with nature. If you deep inside have the value to try not to heart other beings, it will make it easier. If you have to meet unfriendly people at, for instance, work, the situation will get even worse if  also  you will lose your te

What is Ecosophy? Here is the definition by Arne Naess (dead 2009); By an ecosophy I mean a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium. A philosophy as a kind of sofia (or) wisdom, is openly normative, it contains both norms, rules, postulates, value priority announcements and hypotheses concerning the  state of affairs  in our universe. Wisdom is policy wisdom, prescription, not only scientific description and prediction. The details of an ecosophy will show many variations due to significant differences concerning not only the ‘facts’ of pollution, resources, population, etc. but also value priorities.  It's important to notice that the word philosophy in the original meaning stand for love to wisdom . Not wisdom in it self. And I think that Naess would agree in this standpoint, as the last meaning in his definition shows. I think it's possible to include, not only the world, but the whole universe in this thinking, as Naess points out.  In many ways we are conn

Spinoza thought he could reach solid answers  to philosophical and religious questions. He finished his treaties with the letters Q. E. D. - (latin for which concludes the proof). But that was in a time, when philosophy still was important.  It was so important that he didn't want to publish his last book "the Ethics, it was too dangerous to do it. He thought that God was abstract and impersonal. And that was very controversial at the 1700-century. He had  a pantheistic view; God is everything. This can be Illustrated by the animated serie La Linea (also on youtube): If God is the line, sometimes he is the man above, other times someone else. We are all just different attributes of God - the line.. Of course that means that Spinoza was for democracy and respect for other cultures. But in the 1700-century, this was something like romantic dreams in the blue. And his first published book was banned by the church. Also because the pantheistic view of God. It's ea

Sometimes we all feel sad and lost. And a dark pattern of thoughts are seeking for us. Perhaps we are familiar with the pattern, perhaps not. But we can be familiar with it. But it's best to do it with sympathy. And to do that, it's necessary to start with a smile... a smile to yourself and the world. After a while the smile will spread to your eyes. Take some deep breaths and follow them with your mind. Then look at your thoughts and smile to them too. You can say "hallo" to them, and then "goodbye"... As Thich Nhat Hanh use to say, especially  to young people; don't let one thought spoil your life. If you lose your job or your loved one, it's easy to let the feeling of despair guide you. But new feelings, new thoughts will come, perhaps next day... And perhaps the experience will deepen your compassion... Everything changes and brakes apart- even your thoughts. It's so important to know this - you are not your thought patterns.  Som

As I walk by the lake Mälaren I hear a noise from the water. It's a female gooser who makes warning sounds, and she and her chicks are paddling away in the water. Some of the kids are on her back. Another gooser answers from another shore, as to say; come here, come here! I have frightened her - I sit down on the outcrops by the waters and are thinking about the scenery. Are the birds really frightened or is it just instinct? I'm sure she feels something for her chicks, I'm not sure what, but it's not plain instinct. I'm sure we have much in common with the animals. But perhaps also with, for instance, flowers. This wonderful poem shows it: I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Alo