There are numerous reasons we relate to others — four of them are like, adoration, surface respect, and deep respect. Of these, only deep respect has essential value in relationship. Like is when someone is agreeable to us — they are those we stand with, laugh with, share stories with, enjoy hanging out with, and…
Must…Be…Different
All of us know someone who simply thinks and acts contrarian, just for the sake of being contrary. Mind you, this person doesn’t just share their own views, but actually tries to be different, seemingly for the heck of it. Is this person just being an immature, pain in the ass? Is this person crying…
Interpreting Pain for Growth
Pain can be interpreted in a couple of different ways. The standard interpretation of pain is that it interferes with our life flow, preventing us from experiencing the lifestyle we want. This immature interpretation of pain is called dukkha — suffering. The mature interpretation of pain is that it represents nature communicating something to us…
Dismay at Other Perspectives
It’s a near universal human tendency for us to get upset when we hear perspectives that seem to conflict with our own. Even those specially trained to keep their emotional outbursts at bay get subtly dismayed when their perspective has been contradicted. Ok so what’s going on here? Our ego at play, of course. Our…
Constant and Neverending Maturity
There’s a famous self-help principle called ‘Constant and Neverending Improvement’. I think it’s a great ideal, though for the purpose of meditation, I like to tweak it and say ‘Constant and Neverending Maturity’ is what we’re looking for. Ok, so what’s the difference? Well, maturity, ultimately, is the consummate fulfillment of our life experience. It…
Resonating Perspectives
A resonant perspective is one that is in harmony with our own. In dialog for instance, when we hear a statement that in some ways taps into an experience we ourselves have, we have such a sense of resonance. Resonating perspectives might not even be the same as our own…just on a wavelength that synergistically…
Blanket Gratitude is Perverse
For years I’ve held blanket gratitude to be one of our highest virtues..a quality I felt linked to transcendence itself. But over the last year or two, this quality has changed its timbre for me. The first question is what should we be grateful for? Are we grateful for positive experiences? If so, we’re denying…
Only Correlation, No Causation
This realization simply flies in the face of pretty much all of mainstream science and popular spirituality as it exists at the time of this writing. However, it’s what I find to be the bedrock of truth after years of the deepest contemplation and meditation: There is no causation, only correlation. Nothing causes anything. Rather…
Courtesy vs. Self-interest: A Case Study
I’m going to look at a recent experience under the microscope to highlight the place of both courtesy and self interest: I was waiting in line at the local baggage counter, and a woman simply walked right in front of me and called upon the attendant for her bags. I was a little miffed so…
Respecting Alternate Perspectives
The principle I hope to share here is dirt simple…but so often neglected that I am compelled to write about it: We each see the world through different eyes. This is obvious – no one is going to challenge this principle. However, if we take a closer look at the institutions in our world, we…
Meditation Charts
Charting out my day has been a massively ego-shredding, massively elucidating process. I would say this is practically a requirement for all of us who live chaotic life patterns and pursue a meditation practice (96% of us). What I have been doing is chart, simply, what I am going through every half hour during the…
Concept Disclaimer Created
I’ve finally created a ‘Concept Disclaimer’ for the site. I intend to include this in every statement I express, kinda like below… Ranjeeth Thunga @pov_mapper Concept Disclaimer – Please Read
Past and Future — Essential in Meditation
We hear the following instruction all the time in popular meditation techniques: “Keep your mind focused on the present moment; drop all thoughts of past and future…” Yet there is a major problem with this teaching. By not properly acknowledging the essential place past and future have in our life, we are cultivating ignorance,…
Meditation is a Realization
Meditation is popularly treated as a technique. However, it becomes clear after time that it clearly isn’t a technique. One cannot ‘do’ meditation, as there’s nothing to ‘get’. There’s no ‘benefit’ after doing meditation, we don’t meditate ‘in order to’ get something, we can’t use meditation as a…
Transcending Tension AND Relaxation
Many of us meditate to become relaxed. It is so common that we often substitute the word meditation for relaxation. While I don’t discount that we often feel relaxed after meditation, we eventually realize that relaxation isn’t the point of meditation. In fact, the transposition of these terms is perhaps one of the greatest misunderstandings…
Meditation a Cheap Fix?
Meditation is most popularly thought of, as taught as, a technique that we do to relax or tranquillize our mind. However, it eventually becomes clear after time that something is off with this premise. True meditation, we might eventually discover, is not something we do ‘in order to’ get a certain feeling. Efforts to do…
Types of Self-Centeredness
There are a few types of ‘self-centered’ perspectives often confused with one another. Below are three main types: Self absorbed is being highly focused on one’s own point of view. In other words, it is a fixation on the 1st person perspective. Eg. “What do I think?” Narcissism is being highly focused on the point…
Myopia in Meditation
During formal meditation sitting, we often restrict our focus to a single internal image or phenomena, such as the vision of a candle, the sound of our breath, or the sensations in our head. Many claim, with some validity, that this leads to a feeling of tranquility or calm during the process, and afterwards. While…
Freedom of Choice vs. Choosing
Choice is highly dependent, if not exclusively dependent, on desire. Our desire is refined through transcendence. This transcendence offers clarity. And with enough clarity, we become sensitive to our inner movement. As we’re sensitive to our inner movement, we naturally proceed in the most graceful manner possible. And if we automatically, naturally, spontaneously proceed in…
Core Desire vs. Assumed Desires
There is an essential distinction between our core desire and what we assume it to be. Ignorance of this distinction leads to much suffering. Our core desire is the force or energy within us moving our life. The defining characteristic of core desire is that its form independent — it works within and through whatever…