mindfulness

  Well, Wittgenstein didn't write directly about mindfulness.  But his first book.  Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus,  ends with the world;" Whereof  one   cannot     speak , thereof one must be silent." That resembles meditation; If you want to experience the absolute reality you have to stop thinking. If you will have some space between your thoughts you will feel less separated from everything else.  And then again -we always have to return to the conventional truth – it's where we live. In the book Wittgenstein also claim that religion and science speaks different languages and shouldn't be mixed up.  As religion is about myth's it show us way to live our lives.  That can also be said about mindfulness in the Buddhist context.   It is for sure shown in the five mindfulness trainings. A version of the eightfold path prepared by Tich Nath Hanh in Plum Village.  It is meant for a guide for...

In her book, "Are you an illusion?" Mary Midgley supports holism She argues that the thoughts we have, the longing and the choices we make are important - it's i not only signals in the brain. Perhaps obvious, but not if you are a 100% reductionist... We also have some freedom, I can lift my arm when I decide to do so... So our will  seems to influence the brain and the muscles in the arm - we are not totally ruled by the genes, as Dawkins seems to mean. A Buddhist would say that the  brain and the mind is interrelated. Without the brain there would be no mind. But without the mind - no brain. Or; the brain has been developed to construct mind - without the mind the brain would have no function and would therefore be smaller and smaller  like our smallest toes are... - because of that we now seldom climb trees, There must for sure be a self in each men, she argues. and mocks the philosophers  that  claims that the self just is an illusion, though ...

If we have no permanent or separate self, we probably would change quite often. And we do... Our mood swings not just with aging - less testosterone in men and more in women - but also over days or weeks. So the teenager and the old man cannot be really the same... But some things in us seems to remain the same - do you for instance like the same music now as when you were seventeen? Or some of it? Or maybe some music  are timeless... (doesn't matter what genre) ? Anyway - in this guys there are many hormones acting - but there must be something more... I suppose we are not just matter.... For instance - what is music?

We all tell stories, don't we. I do. I suppose we have to.  But we are not always aware of that we do it. Perhaps we think we talk about the Truth or facts. I tell stories around mindfulness, tries to make it meaningful, tries to make fit into a discourse. But I cannot leave the context and language that my clients feel at home with. I try to make my own life meaningful and therefore I tell a story about myself where mindfulness fits in. I'm really not sure if I tell the truth, but I anyway need the story, not at least for my own identity. Even parties need stories; In the Swedish election yesterday. The parties have to tell coherent stories about themselves, that may attract the voters. In politics we all now that the leaders make promises and often exaggerate. But we anyway sometimes are seduced by the stories. What we always don't see is that even such things that courts and judges are influenced by stories. Stories about what is a criminal behavio...

In a talk with Robert Wright at bloggingheads.tv Miri Albhari (from The University of Western Australia) suggests that something seems to be permanent. http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/30344?in=13%3A12&out=20%3A20    Does i matter?  Well, when we meditate we are aware of our thoughts and feelings and our body.  So what is it then that is aware?  Some kind of witness consciousness? Is it the part of the brain called the reptile brain? But it seems to be so calm, it have some kind of warm distance or humbleness. Witnessing a play without judging.  As we all are actors on an global stage... Is it a part of consciousness that every creature have?  Really interesting questions - better not hurry up with the answers...  It seems that everything else really is impermanent. To see this is to accept death and for instance global warming. If we accept death we may will take care of our s...

Bill Bryson (from his book "A short story of nearly everything" - my poor translation from Swedish): " without the the moon's stabilizing impact, the Earth would swing like a sinking ship. The moon´s gravitation makes the Earth rotate with the right speed and the right angle that is needed for the Earth to develop life. This will not go on for ever. The moon is going away from us with  four centimeters a year. In about two billion years it will be so far away that we have to find another solution to have the right speed and angle. Before that I think you can think about the moon as a good fellow in the night sky." We are often very anthropocentric not thinking about all the circumstances that make it possible for us to be here. For instance, the bacterias that in the beginning fixed the right level of oxygen on Earth, When the level was right they suddenly stopped the process. No one knows why.... If we meditate or stop thinking for a while we ca...

Same place - another kind o light To get a grip of the saying; "all is one", it´s adequate to say that all is energy, I guess. As Einstein showed, even matter and light can be seen as energi... Of course, in the daily life we have to líve in the conventional reality. But perhaps we can be aware of that in another and parallel reality we are all equal. Even stones and cliffs seem to enjoy the sunshine..