mindfulness

The title above relates to a sculpture by Thomas LeRooy:  When we meditate we try to make the thoughts be fewer. Its seems impossible to totally stop them. If we focus of something else, as the breathe or  a mantra we can reduce them. very skilled meditators can do meditate without any focus.  It is said that experienced meditators can reach a higher kind of consciousness that make them loose desires and thoughts for a very long time.  Of course you also can shift from different kind of meditation. If you are beginner is good to start with training concentration. You can do it while walking or eating breakfast too. Don't let the mobile phone or radio disturb you. Here you can learn about different kind of meditations, some of may indicate that time and space, as Kant pointed out, is an illusion (even though an illusion we cant live without). Ruben Laukkonen is looking at meditation in both an scientific and practical way. ( You can find his Doctoral Thesis online): ...

 I have been told by a woman that she couldn't imagine that people lived inside of all buildings. they were more like a the scenography in film: Just thin walls with nothing inside of it. She was autistic. I think its the same when we meet other people - we are not able to see the complexity behind the mask. After having meditated for many years it has really come in to my mind that all things have a depth and it is impossible to understand everything about a phenomena. I see more see whole than the small parts when I take my daily (sometimes mindful) walk, Everything is connected to everything else. There are really people behind windows in the buildings, but we don't know much about them .  In the next year there may be other people behind the walls.: everything changes. So don't stick to anything too much. There is a speculation about the chance that life came to our planet with asteroids from other corners of our universe. In that case all life is connected. Of course l...

I read the book in my younger days, and I hesitated to reread it. It is said to be a book for hippies, together with Steppenwolf. Well when i read it now it seems to more of a parable, it has a didactic smell from the beginning to the end. But it is still worth reading ( Steppenwolf is more complex). And the end of Siddharta it has a likeness of what people who have had an NDE mentions. I will come to that, but first a short summary of the plot in Siddhartha  The main character has the same name as is used on Buddha and some other things are also quite similar. He is born in a rich family in India but leaves to live in asceticism. He does this with a man called Govinda who soon leaves to follow the real Buddha and to follow the middle way. Siddhartha wants to go his own way, so he stays with Kamala, a rich woman who becomes his lover. He even works so he can buy fancy clothes and presents to her. But he leaves her after a while not satisfied, even if Kamala is pregn...

What David Chalmers named "the hard problem" has not been solved: How can the brain produce  consciousness? No one seem to have the answer for that yet. Although consciousness maybe is the phenomena witch we can be most certain of that it exists. The definition of  consciousness here is; the way we experience things. In this definition it's quite obvious that even a bat has  om kind of experience, even if  Thomas Nagel and others mean that we can never imagine the "umwelt" of a bat. But even if the experiences for the bat is different from ours its still  consciousness. But is an ant  conscious - or a plant? We now know that a plant can react to the bite from insect and warn other plants. We know that som flowers can send electric signals to a bee that says, I have a lot of nectar here, come and eat", the bee can answer with another electric signal and when he or she comes both signals fade away. Descartes meant that animals where machi...

 Quantum physics is weird but it works. There are many explanations for what happens in the really small parts of the world - but non are proved to be the right one yet. Maybe the many-worlds solution is the most known. Carlo Rovelli has another solution - everything is relational, even in the quantum world. That means, when you measure something you also are in a relation with it - you interact.  In a video conversation with Brian Green, another well known physicist, Rovelli points to a bottle at the table and says, that for us the bottle stand still, but from the view of the sun it moves. He also says entanglement may be what holds the timespace together.  An in the end Green summarize Rovelli´s view : We are mistaken relative qualities for being intrinsic qualities, like mass or charge.    But both of them also concludes; even if quantum physics really works, we still don't how.  Entanglement or spooky action on distance is quantum phenomena, that s...

 Nowadays you watch a lot of films with people who have had a near-death-experince  At least in the west they all have a similar pattern: They come to a beautiful place and feel unconditional love and so on (but its always hard to describe the sensations with words).  But when they come back to this world they may feel trapped both in the body and in the environment.  There is where mindfulness comes in.  I sometimes silently say to my self while a meditate - I´m (inbreath) perfect (outbreath ) or I´m (in) light (out). This is influenced by the NDE that people have told. There is also another  message from the after-life: All is one.  When I meditate on that theme I use to visualize the Earth and say I´m (in) thankful (out). Then I visualize, in turn, the solarsystem with the planets, the moon and of course the sun, our galaxy and then the whole Universe and send, in turn thankfulness to all of  then. When I try to visualize the Universe a smile a...

  Let´s say we all are like marionets. Some hidden things are guiding us. It may be many causes to our actions and thinking. Let´s say it´s our brains in combination with the environment.  In that case it would be good to stay in a good environment that is good for us. It seems that Trump is going in that way, if he again becomes president his co-workers will be ones that are lojal.  His brain is of course very much made by his mother and father´s genes. And we know quite much about his father. I seems that Trump has very much followed the environment he was raised in.  Let´s say that we have no, or just a little free will, and that evolution also has shaped us. Evolution (so far) seems to favour tall white men with some esprit and courage. We want strong leaders. I they cheat or pay less taxes that they should, also shows that they are strong and are like the most of us.  This may slowly change, or our democratic era may be an exception. Let´s say meny women li...

 The major theory about the universe today is that there was a Big Bang that made up everything from a very tiny spot.  And then we have the boring story about the forever expanding universe that will be colder and colder and fade away.  But still we have no proof of that Anna Ijje is a researcher that is looking at another possibility - an infinite universe. Í use to meditate on the whole universe and when I do it I feel well and are always smiling. As if the universe in some way is connected to us and wants us to go on. This is of course feelings but very deep ones.  When i meditate on the Earth and our solarsystem I don't feel the same.  Anna Ijje shows us a picture of an universe that is expanding but that has an end and after that it is contracting until i will be very small (but not as small as in a Big Bang). According to Ilje the universe will now expand again and form a new and more complex one. And probably with life in some way.  (Even Roger Penr...

  Here in Sweden, its raining in the middle in winter, the temperature is jumping up and down, Nature likes diversity. Then at least some creatures will survive if a catastrophe like a big climate change will occur.  It has happened before and it will happen again, man made or not.  For a long time we have adapt to weather changes. But for extrem weather it will be much harder to survive. In the landcape near Tjernobyl wild animals are coming back.  I'm reading Ed Yong's book   An Immense World and its obvious that we have to handle the destruction of habitats for trees, insects, medical herbs and so on.  Maybe Yuval Harari has an answer for all of is. In this interview he in the end talks about boredom and meditation: If we don't learn to handle boredom without running away from it we will be in big trouble. Harari says meditation has made him more happy (and learned him to stay in the boredom). Though we don't have to meditate as much as Harari, its ...

  Let the soil pay its simple part.  We have for thousands of years worshipped the shepherds, The priests, the farmer, the cowboys, not the least in the pastorals, from the antic Greeks until today.  Well they didn't know in past times, but we do know; the farming of cows, sheep, deer and so on need a huge area of land where there could have been grasslands or forests (to take up the carbon acid. The cows shit and burp methane  that makes the climate effect even stronger. If we stopped eating meet, we would have a lot more time so respond to the climate effect and wildlife would flourish in the new areas So what would we eat instead. George Monbiot has an answer; 

 Some things you shouldn´t know to early in your life. But if your curious. like me, you might end here, and that's all right. Is the free will problem solved? Robert Sapolsky says yes.  He is an   "American  neuroendocrinology  researcher and author. He is a professor of  biology ,  neurology , neurological sciences, and  neurosurgery  at  Stanford University . In addition, he is a research associate at the  National Museums of Kenya . " (Wikipedia) The knowledge might cool you down, and say to your children, like Neil de Grasse Tyson´s father said when people had shouted the n-word to him: Stay cool, the don´t understand, they are raised like that. He could have concluded; that's what dopamine do to us - and that are where the chemistry of the brain come in. Dopamine makes us friendly to our friends and family but hostile to strangers.  Of course culture interact in the situation too, and that was what de Grasse Tyson´s ...

 Yes, she is pissed of  and really straightforward in this video: https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2020/09/follow-science-nonsense-i-say.html She want climate-change deniers to be straightforward too. that means, don't hide the egoism behind the talk.  But its the governments who should react to what science says and put higher taxes on Carbine-oxid polluters.  Why cant she hide her temperament i this video? In other videos she can.  I think she is right in most of her talks, and she´s very intelligent and can easily summarize others texts. But her expression in her face doesn't change much in her talks.  Yes, many people ask her if she has autism because of her behaviour, for example the angriness in the first video.  Here she takes up the topic and in the and give an ambiguous answer to the question: If people with autism wants to meditate (as Sabine suggests) one most for certain remove all religious and mythological stuff from it, and why not...

 Brian Greene, the well known physicist and mathematician, points out the here and now as the most precious moments.  We are made of stardust and in som ways the  macroworld emerges from microworld. Even consciousness  does - but we don't know how. Its clear that we share this gift with animal, insects ans maybe plants and trees too. But we are the only specie that are intelligent and self-aware. we can make stories and art. Greene is aware that the stories are man made, but if they work and make you mentally good, why not keep them. he admits that his work, for instance about string-theory are a kind of stories too. (string- theory is not validated and is not so popular these days).  The books we write, and for sure the tings we write in the internet will be forgotten.  So maybe the attention we give to our family, neighbours, friends, beggars and a deer near your backyard may be the most precious moments in your life.  Listen to the vegan Greene in a...

 The site to represent the site is already selected.... Here in Scandinavia its warm but not hot. Very dry in some places. Not so many swallows after the most dry weeks. But on a nearby field I use to laydown and admire their flying skills. I have planted flowers for the bees. Hope its not too late.  Passed a more than thousand years old runestone made by the Vikings. Is says its for the father of Udd who made a road in the area. Nowadays there ought to be runestones raised for the people caring for the insects and birds.  The climate change has started and its time to choose how to handle it. Its said that some Indians cooperated with the intruders in the US. As they didn't fight the white people they were treated better later on. The chief of one tribe were he had seen the white men coming and what happened later.  So the tribe was adapting to that scenery.  Its time for us to adapt too. The representant for the declaring of Anthropocene (August -24) will be C...

  Elon Musk wants to send people to Mars and  even start a colony there, He has also launched a satellite; Starlink I call this super capitalism that may be capitalism on its peak.  Zizek, the philosopher seems to mean this in this Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06KiOj6gjbs&t=215s But what will come after that phase? well, the late capitalism may also be a peak for a masculine phase.  In that so it may be slow decline. Anyway more and more women creates great jazz-albums nowadays : Here´s a good example - many listeners have noticed the space in the tunes Jasmine Myra composes.  

 Semi-final in world cup in soccer tonight. France versus Morocco. The Le-Pen family mean that you cannot have double nationalities.  But a lot of people with Moroccan ancestors celebrated in France after the quarter-final. I guess many of them have double identities; a bit French and maybe at bigger bit Moroccan (maybe some sees themselves a international citizens too),  I think you can can have many identities, Zygmunt Bauman used the word fluid instead of postmodernism to categorize out times.  We live in fluid times. If there's a war in Ukraine, it influence the whole world.  Th queer movement is in the loop now. I think Bauman is looking for something steady, too much information nowadays, too much changing in job market. You have to be flexible, too flexible like plankton, moves around by waves and winds. (If you read about Bauman's life you will see that he seems to have been moved around quite much too). Bauman is mostly kno...

 What is that?  It can mean many things dependent on the discourse.  But here is the definition from Oxford research encyclopedias:  Posthumanism is a philosophical perspective of how change is enacted in the world. As a conceptualization and historicization of both agency and the “human,” it is different from those conceived through humanism. Whereas a humanist perspective frequently assumes the human is autonomous, conscious, intentional, and exceptional in acts of change, a posthumanist perspective assumes agency is distributed through dynamic forces of which the human participates but does not completely intend or control. Posthumanist philosophy constitutes the human as: (a) physically, chemically, and biologically enmeshed and dependent on the environment; (b) moved to action through interactions that generate affects, habits, and reason; and (c) possessing no attribute that is uniquely human but is instead made up of a larger evolving ecosystem. There is littl...

 In a comment to one of Anna Thorvaldsdottir´s compositions a listener makes the remark in the headline above.  Maybe it is so. Depends of what we mean with the word "nature".  I guess the writer means that nature is one thing and human another.  But if we say that all is nature, nature is if course not indifferent.  Unfortunately mankind sometimes acts like the most evil creature on Earth;  Uses and exploits the rest of nature but are not indifferent to it.  Other animals does not exploit us, and we are for sure not neutral to our pets.  Often we  also look at wild animals with wonder.  We can interact with them too: I meet two deer in a nearby forest yesterday.  I spoke to them in a friendly voice, as pet owners speaks to their dogs. And the deer stayed just some meters from me and the biggest one started to lick the other in the face. Showing some kind of goodness. Maybe I influenced them a bit - they are quite used to meet peopl...

 A mix of different personalities on the scene.  Zisek, as usual, a bit controversial. Harari, as usual, very mindful - meditates more than an hour every morning and goes on long retreats.  Please, make a comment if something bothers or upsets you..  Mother nature is a bitch says Zizek and means all the suffering on Earth because  of droughts, floods, climate change and so on.  Well, maybe the Earth can be nasty, but of course also beautiful.  I guess Zizek wants to start a debate. Even so when he condemns Buddhism, or the extreme parts of it.  

 I'm a bit ambiguous desires - are they good or bad? Desire is the opening track on the album Harmony of differences by Kamasi Washington. Kamasi explains that if you want to find truth you have start with a desire for it. This peace is named "Desire": Kamasi says i an interview   “I’m always studying, always searching, always trying to find something new to inspire me.”   He also says that he wants to unite people, even if diversity is needed.  that means not condemn the ones that are not like you.  Desire is also what makes the eagle good to fly and the rabbit good at running from the eagle. But as Kamasi's words explains; Desire will never be satisfied.  Joseph Goldberg, author about and practitioner of meditation write about dreaming of things in the future; "Certain kinds of expectations are so seductive because they masquerade as dharma aspirations. But there’s a big difference between aspiration and expectation. Aspirations can inspire us. We mi...