mindfulness

Copernicus learnt that that the Sun is in the center, not the Earth. It was not a popular idea in his time around 500 years ago in Poland. Kant meant that he made another Copernication revolution when he set our representation of the the phenomena in focus, not the phenomena per se. But what have happened after Kant. Do we still understand ourselves? Probably not. What about language, do we understand,  why we speak? It´s suggested that small talk is a continuation of how the apes use to clean each other furs. They do it to creat social bonds. David P Barash suggest that language is a way to impress on each other. Why do anyway use so many different words, make jokes and write theater plays or in blogs;~} We may just use about 500 words to be understandable. But many of us use a lot more. We also use words in ironic tones to make other people feel uncomfortable. But of course there are more reasons for our language, but more than we think of the reason for lang

Another way to say it is that two different parts put together is more than the sum of the parts. Let's take the example of heritage and environment. In us they are so interrelated  that they cannot we cannot say we act in a specific way just because of one of them. Nothing can live just in its own bubble. It seems that nature are both a builder and a destroyer. Just as in Hindu mythology. But the parts from something that are destroyed can be parts of new objects. Atoms that has been in the body of Shakespeare are now in bodies around the world. Nothing can completely vanish. Shiva is the destroyer and transformer. He is dancing the earth together again. So maybe we should not be so scary about destruction. Something must die for some new to come. The metoo campaign may show this. Slowly men's behaviours are questioned. The exquise that nature made us like that is not anymore enough. Power may change people, but that exquise is neither enough. We

Immanuel Kant was right; we cannot know the thing in it self, or the noumenon, as he called it. That means, we cannot know nature with our senses and our knowledge. So let's ponder about it; are there things that we cannot understand and cannot see around us. Yes, there may be.... A bat or a bird, a dog or an insect may view the world in another way and with other senses. Some animals don't see colors and we cannot see infrared colors. There may be threads there are spun around us that we cannot see. There may be events out there that just waits for us. But we cannot know.... That is maybe the best start for many questions; I don't know. Maybe you have heard the parable of the Chinese farmer: Once there was a Chinese farmer who worked his poor farm together with his son and their horse. When the horse ran off one day, neighbors came to say, “How unfortunate for you!” The farmer replied, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” When the horse returned, followed b

If you go deep enough deeper than thought deeper than feelings and intuition deeper than you can you will go out of yourself and end up in cosmos and you will see how well ordered the universe is to create life on earth and you will appreciate all life on earth even the mosquitos  and the snakes and when you come home you are more than yourself  

There is alway another perspective to look at. If you meditate and become aware of your thoughts and feelings, you will be more able to shift perspective. And you will be aware of that your perspective changes without your will. An interesting and very broad way to look at our world is big history. Let's take the history on life on Earth. Its 65 million years since the dinos disappeared. It's just 10 000 years since we started to be farmers. We have changed the life on earth for many living beings because of that. But since 10 000 years in the history of our planets is not much, it may not mean so much in the long run. A man with an even bigger perspective is Sean Carroll. He is a cosmologist and professor of physics. He is interested in the questions that some thinks is not necessary, because they seem impossible to answer as: what happened before the Bing- Bang? Are there more universes outside our universe? And what about time? If  there are many univer

We all want to believe in world that turns better and better. For many beliefs this is central. Marx believed in progress to better world and was inspired by Hegels thought about the law of a "weltgeist"that insured progress. Capitalism seem to promise luck if we buy more and more stuff, at least does the advertisement say so.  And we all now the promise of a paradise in religious contexts. John Gray is a retired professor from London School of Economics and Politic Science and has written a lot of books. Maybe he can be seen as a pessimist, but he can also be seen as clear eyed. He is a supporter of the green movement and  Lovelock's idea about Gaia. In Grays book "Straw Dogs" he claims that humanity probably will destroy itself, but life will go on anyway. The title of the book is inspired by some words from Lao Tzu: "Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriads of creatures as straw dogs." Gray gives some examples of his view; w

What is complexity? Actually it's a complex question, cause nobody really knows. There are different interpretations of the word. Its usually compared with "complicated" that often is seen as a phenomena with many layers up on each other. Lets say a huge hamburger. If you just order it and it alone in a bar. It may be complicated  if they have to make a special one for you and what to pay would create some discussion. It may be complicated to eat because of its size. But wait, I think the hamburger can be seen in a complex light too; If we consider the cow that the meat came from. If we consider the food the cow ate, the sun and the water that was needed for the grass to grow.  Maybe fertilizers  were used too...Maybe the meat came from one of the calves that are slaughters right after they are born because they are males. And then the farmer his och hers family, maybe some kids, some neighbors, some machines and son on. Then the transport of the calves to th

Robert Wright (from meaningoflifetv etc)has written a new book; "Why Buddhism is true". (It is quite cheap to download as an e-book) He takes evolutionary psychology to explain his ideas, especially the theory of modules working in our brains. This theory, like Buddhas, don't need a self to be true. Different modules work side by side or compete.  Their task is to make us survive and to make children. So they make us afraid of foreigners, specially if they have other characteristics, as colors, than we have. They make us afraid of spiders, even in Sweden where we have no dangerous ones (for humans). They are what DNA uses to create feeling and feeling creates thoughts and thought can create ideologies and books or internet sites. Wright is not at all interested in religious stuff like karma or rebirth what he is into is mindfulness and retreats. Here is Wright discussing the book; So we are not in control of our feelings and thoughts. But with the help

It can be the first of Buddhas sutras that was written down. And if it was it may be the one that we most can trust on. It's a dialog, as the ones Plato wrote. So he may not have had many listeners. And it's very radical. The main theme is to cool down every desire. Even the one to hold on to a view. So it's a bit paradoxical... The sage or wise man, Buddha says, should live in solitude but follow the middle way, so no asceticism. He should not eat so much and not sleep too much and of course no sex. (this must be before nuns where permitted) So he has passed the river to the other shore. And his reputation will be good (seems to be important for Guatama) He will be very peaceful, for him there will be no better or worse ethics and so on as he has passed dualistic thinking. Therefore the half smile. Let's ponder over what that will mean in our days. What could we gain if more of us behaved in that way? Nowadays it a lot hate on the internet

As I have practiced mindfulness for about ten years now, I have noticed that it has helped more and more. It becomes a habit and I can do it now and then when I have opportunities for it. It can be when I go by bicycle; I can have an open mind to all that happens here and now and I will even be a safer biker. I can do it for some steps or longer when I walk. I can do it for some seconds when I open a door. In a day that can become an hour of meditation, if I end the day with some body scanning and mindful yoga. One of the useful things with short meditations is that I can do it when worries or accusatory thoughts pop up: If I for while concentrate on the breath they soon will disappear. They may come back but I then have a tool to not dwell in them. If you are deeply depressed you may need more treatment before to start meditation. And if you have a really stressful job, you may have to change the situation... But if you go on with mindfulness you sooner or later will

All of us will, sooner or later, have sorrows. Some of us will fall very deep. Pills may help. Mindfulness may help. But its important to not let the sorrow stay just inside. Joanne Cacciatore tells about the days after she had lost a child. A priest with some followers came to her home. Her sorrow was to big, she just wept. And the only thing the priest said was, "we will pray for you". He never showed up again. What Cacciatore was people that stayed with her, could hold her and listen to her She is now works as a helper for grieving people. And her messing is ; listen and listen and speak. It takes tomes for the wounds to heal. But a lot of them do.... Even if some scares remain. She has written a book about her work; Here she is; We all have to find our own ways to go along with pain in the soul and body. in the long end we cannot avoid pain and death... But we can prepare ourselves. We can accept the facts. We can be with the

Some artists are better listeners than others. Maybe its more easy when they just have to listen to themselves  and the audience; Whoever visits Way Out West now in August should not miss Tash Sultana from Australia. A one-man band that samples own loops and can sound really big. She has played the guitar since the age of three, and now as a 22-year-old full-fledged but also mastered other instruments like trumpet. The song is not to complain about either, although it may probably be even more personal. She has just released some songs yet, but they have become noticeable. Not unexpectedly, she was discovered when she posted a video where she started the song "Jungle" at home. Sultana is already playing on Friday, on a smaller stage one can suppose. She is not a coming star, because I do not think she wants to be. She is the kind that lets the music speak. But she is already big and has sold out venues in Australia. It was not long since she was living like str

But first; Maybe the best answer on why we see us as unified beings;                 We are all striving for happiness, but is it maybe not so good.  First of all happiness seems to be a side effect of other sings as, coming home after a long walk where we had lost our direction.  In meditation we don't strive for happiness but for a more subtle feeling of contentment.  We are satisfied with what is; the breath, the sounds around us, the air against our skin, to be alive, to live on earth...  we know that feelings come and go, that good and bed times come and go. We cling to neither of them.  We have an ego, but we don't cling to it too much.  We have friends, probably a home and other basic things but we have some warm distance to all that too.  We appreciate  it much as we no it can change.  We become friend with feelings of loneliness, as we no that we have to accept them as a part of life.  We do things that have a meaning for us and for others.  As

If we, or anything, havent got a intrinsic self, what is we then? What holds us together? Suggestions; other people, nature, food, an income, animals, insects, memories of other people, nature, food.... Maybe a will to live, maybe curiosity, maybe interests, maybe Love.... Maybe genes, maybe compassion.... Maybe we dont know. But it's not anything internal...                                                                                                                                MEMORIES OF SPRING                                HIDDEN IN MY HEART                                 SHADES OF GREEN                                     AND THE WIND                                         EMBRACING  MY LONGING

What would that mean?  And if it is so - is it necessary to know it?  On the second question I guess the answer is no. Not many people care about the question. An even fewer care about an answer.  Existentialism via Sartre's pen has about the same view;  existence comes before essence.  Your actions are important, not what you are.  Sartre takes the example of a man working as a porter. He is no porter, as he has no essence.  He can quit his job, and  look for a new.  He is doomed to freedom and responsible for his actions. Lets have a look at these statements.  Sartre says that if he i looking for freedom he also wants to free everyone.  His freedom is dependent on others freedom.  But this is an act without autonomous values, since no God has decided them.  First when we do our actions the freedom will be there.  It-s sounds true but there are some questions there.  If we interact with others, how can we be totally free.  And what about our actions; Isn

Am I going totally nuts? Or may it be a relevant question? Jay Garfield thinks this in his book Engaging Buddhism - Why it Matters to Philosophy  To get a clue who he is; Here he is in a conversation with Robert Wright (though he doesn't discuss "my" question here); In the book he compares Buddhist thinking to western philosophers as Hume, Heidegger and Wittgenstein. If you search on his name at Wikipedia you will find out that he's a really serious guy. he puts his finger on the fact that philosophy didn't start in Greece and is still going strong in, for instance,  Asia. I qoute from his book (p 36) "For if the Madhyamaka metaphysical picture we are sketching is correct, the world as it is is not entirely given to us independent of conceptual imputation, either. That world, and the interdependencies that obtain in it, as well as its ontology of entities and parts, comprises, inter alia, the social world we construct. Such things as nation

Are our quest for for pleasures i vain? Is fame in vain? Is likes and selfies in vain? Mattieu Ricard, the Buddhist monk born in France, quotes an ancient Tibetan master; Drinking, dancing, singing, and the pleasures of the flesh never fully satisfy.  First, those pleasures do not satisfy both the body and mind. Second, they depend on external circumstances over which we never have complete control, and as such are not always immediately available whenever and wherever we want them. [...] On reflection, pleasures are the cause of great frustration and repeated suffering. [...] However, the happiness provided by the Dha rma is quite different. It permeates the body and mind at all times and in all circumstances. [...] No enemy and no event can take it away from us, and its benefits continue into our future lives. That is why it is an ultimate goal to achieve." Asanga, extract from gdams ngag rinpoche'i mdzod, compiled and edited by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye (

What is that? Is it really possible to combine existentialism with biology and Buddhism. David Barash, professor at the University of Washington, anyway tries it in his book "Buddhist biology: Ancient eastern wisdom meets modern western science". He means that the three subjects are comparable, though not the same. By combining them it will take away the fundamental parts in each of them. For example the worship of Buddha as a God. From existentialism he takes the example from the essay "The myth of Sisyphus" by  Albert Camus. Sisyphus is is condemned to forever push a boulder up a mountain. But when the boulder comes to the top it rolls down again. And Sisyphus has to start it all over again. It's an absurd task that Camus means is our destiny. To act without a meaning and a real goal. We will all die and there is no God or eternal truth to save us. Buddha had about the same view of life, at least if we are completely driven by our desires. If

There has been a terrorist attack in the center of Stockholm. The day before I walked in that street. The terrorist, with connection to ISIS, wanted to start chaos and disharmony in our society. But he was also unemployed and stayed here without permission. In the last time he mostly "smoked and slept", according to himself. So probably he was depressed and probably angry because of the decision about expulsion  from  Sweden. So the attack was just partly motivated by religion, and just by a small part or Islam,  Fundamental Islamism. Two Swedish Muslims arranged a peace meeting just some days later - and so many came. If we had a dictatorship here, the dictator probably had used the  opportunity to accuse the whole Islamic society for the attack. Our government wont do that. But Timothy Snyder warns in his book "On Tyranny" about this scenario. Because it has happened before. Here is his message in a minimal package: Yuval Harari doesn

In a TED-dialog Yuval Harari explains why we in the future have to have some global administration or even leadership. Two of the biggest problems in the future will be climate change and artificial intelligence. The poorest countries will be the ones that will suffer most of both the threats. AI will probably make millions of people without a job. The jeans made in Pakistan that I recently bought (they are "eco-friendly") will soon be made by machines. The trucks will soon find their way without drivers. And what will then happen to the truck drivers? The economy are already global and cannot be regulated by national laws. And the greenhouse gases are mainly produced by the rich countries. So we need some global leadership. And that will probably not be a democrat or elected one, according to Harari. But he seem to mean that it no other way to solve the coming problems. I´m sure he's also influenced by trend he has written about; The world is gett

Its getting warmer in Stockholm. The ice paints nice art together with the water which can be seen from the many bridges. Of course the ice cannot choose the form of the paintings. It's depending on the wind, the temperature and the water etcetera. But how much can we choose? It seems to be so that the length on the fingers indicates how much serotonin you got in  your mothers womb. Though this statement is must be taken generally and not for everyone, and it can change when we learn more. But it seems whe cannot choose to be heterosexual or homosexual. But even in some countries in Europe, as Macedonia, its very hard for homosexuals. We are somewhat programmed. We cannot choose much of our talents and our personality. In that sense we are like the ice. When Dewey Redman, the saxophonist, visited  John Coltrane he saw Coltrane's long fingers and they started to have a conversation about fingers and saxophone skills. You cannot change the length on your

Yuval Harari has practised Vipassana meditation for 15 years. He means that it is because of this  practise  that he has been able to write  two very interesting books. They have even sold very well. The first is about our history in the long run and the other about a possible future for us. The meditation has helped him to remove some trash from his mind. We are all loaded with ideas, preconceptions and so on.... But to face the way it is can be hard. Harari saw the dark side of the meat industry and became a vegan. He faced this very cruel reality which he calls one of the biggest crimes in our time. And he also become clear of that things like humanism, liberalism, Christianity and so on just are stories or ideas, they can be good or bad. But we may have things like religion or spirituality to decide if  it's good or bad. Anyway science doesn't care about ethics. Harari's own way of  thinking about ethics is to decide if an action causes suffering or not.

Two quotes from her book For the Time Being(1999):  There is now , living in New York, a church sanctioned hermit, Theresa Mancuso, who wrote recently, "The thing we desperately need is to face the way it is." When a person arrives in the world as a baby, says one Midrash, "his hands are clenched to say, 'Everyting is mine. I will inherit it all.' When he departs from the world, his hands are open, as though to say, ' I have acquired nothing from the world.'"  ( In Judaism, the  midrash  is the genre of rabbinic literature which contains early interpretations and commentaries on the Written Torah and Oral Torah) Thank you Annie  

Is it so? We can ask ourselves.... Do we all feel a little bit alienated? A bit out of course? A ship without a port. Running for meaning, and if we don't find it; entertainment. Are we hunted by our thoughts and feelings, our desires. And if look for another way, people say that we are lost, that we are losers. We should walk the broad way. But maybe some of us don't want to see suffering inside, don't want to stop the ratrace. We are really strange creatures. Nature has made us. Yes, we are nature. As we are a part of the universe looking at it self. We are aware of death and the suffering around us, more now than ever, because of the media. It may be an idea to not look too much at the news - because they seldom talk about the good things. They say we are not interested in it. But things change for the better too. At least in the long run: https://www.facebook.com/Avaaz/videos/10154488492703884/ Now we have to let the earth be a

A rare creature under swinging palm leaves great coconuts hanging imminent  above waiting for the next                                 typhoon  her moves are singing her voice is clear as small church bells ringing from  distant   towers from east and south away, away                 they say - like a prayer - or an invocation for fertile land in her hands;  seeds  tiny but some big as her thumb to bring to foreign hands              and soil or just for the pleasure of giving  with a smile and a ”good luck” in the gaze of her eyes her names are Two one for gladness and one for sadness one necessary for the other in an never ending               dance may the sadness never stay too long may the gladness always sing along ----------- The twelfth of February the sun higher now at last above the house south of mine shining in through my open balcony door and