Understanding our experience of change is central to wisdom, and universally applies to all manifestation. The synonyms of change — cycles, vibration, turning, and anicca — all highlight different facets of a universal super-understanding. Change occurs in the form of health, of seasons, of mood, of status, of capacity, of looks, of relationships, of knowledge,…
Some Lives Suited for Meditation?
A question that comes up for me quite often is whether some life circumstances are better suited for meditation or not. Would we be better off with a life of wealth, broad experiences, and fame? Or are we better off with more humble means and expression? Is meditation more successful in perfect health? Or is…
The Central Perspective
Our purpose on this planet is to ensure our perspective isn’t marginalized and is sufficiently expressed. That isn’t to say other perspectives should be ignored (definitely not) — rather, our most important duty, as it relates to our role on this planet, is to ensure our perspective shines forth. This isn’t something we can consult…
Transcendence through Juxtaposition
Transcendence is realizing a cycle for what it is — a cycle. This involves seeing the cause and effect as non-separate from each other. When that realization occurs, for that moment, a new possibility arises. It’s as if our horizon expands and we can see one step further and farther. Until we realize the non-separation…
Cycles and Meditation
The universe is composed of cycles — everywhere we turn is a cycle. Day cycles, year cycles, birth cycles, sleep cycles, life and death cycles, and of course breathing cycles. Realizing the cyclical nature of universe cycles is perhaps the key insight of meditation — this is wisdom. On the contrary, getting caught up in…
Patience … not a virtue?
We often treat patience as a virtue – that it’s best to avoid riding our impulses, lest we sabotage our life goals and pursuits. Or, best to allow good things to mature on their own time, as we can’t alter the course of nature. These sound great. However, when we take a couple of steps…
Working on a Concept Disclaimer
After my post yesterday, it’s clear that a concept disclaimer is in order. I’ll be writing one up, and plan to add a link after each article, based on the points I share below… When it comes to meditation, we ultimately can’t argue for or against any concept as correct or incorrect. Rather, we can…
Conflict – to be matured, not resolved
We must be clear that conflict is not bad — conflict is actually the friction through which our perspectives mature. It is through conflict that we can mature our own perspective, and hopefully, discover its counterbalancing perspective in the world around us. By maturing our own perspective, and simultaneously discovering the counterbalancing perspective, we envision…
Life Experience Requires Reflection
Life experiences have little significance by themselves. Only through reflection does their value come forth. So then, what is reflection? Reflection is envisioning the total 360 of a given life experience. It is envisioning the good and bad, painful and pleasurable, pleasant and unpleasant, echoes of the experience. Without 360 reflection, our attempts to see…
Feeling Meditative Peace – A Fool’s Pursuit
We associate the feeling of peace with meditation. However, contrary to popular understanding, this feeling is not the point of meditation. Let me first be clear — those who have inner conflict and meditate will pass through some sense of peace. However, they might also find the sense they experienced simply does not last –…
Desire – Tainted vs. Pure
Traditional meditation heavily marginalizes desire. Even when acknowledged, it is given a secondary place, as if we have to see through it, as if somehow it gets in the way of transcendence. I find, however, that desire is our core. It represents our essence, our purpose, our defining perspectives, and our life energy. I feel…
Pain vs. Suffering…World’s Apart
What determines if a being survives or dies? Pain. If we didn’t feel stomach pain, we would eat poisonous food and get sick. If we didn’t feel pain when our leg is wounded, we would wear out it out and break it. If we didn’t feel psychological pain, we would…
The Inner Gradient
There is an inner gradient within us that seeks to keep us on the razor’s edge in life between extremes. It is the perfectly balance that constantly pulls us out of passivity when too passive, or pulls us out of effort when we’re too active. It prevents us from getting caught in any behavioral or…
Tuning into our Sweetspot
This sweetspot is the optimum state for the moment. There is a sweetspot in each and every moment. This sweetspot however is not a specific quality. It simply cannot be defined in words. That said, we can nonetheless learn to tune into it. We’re getting closer to the sweetspot when we uncover seemingly new or…
Pain is our friend
My recent contemplations have been about pain — these have been leading to a total reinterpretation of what pain is, and what its role is, on our life journey. Pain, far from being a curse, is actually our constant ally, working to transcend misery and suffering each and every moment. Pain keeps us fixed in…
Qualities of Mature Meditation
Below are a few qualities that describes a mature meditation practice. I must add the disclaimer that ultimately even these qualities are incomplete in describing meditation — no concept or quality can define meditation. However, they do seem to serve as a useful guidepost for tuning in, depending on the perspective we are at. 1) 24/7…
Collective Suffering
I conducted an online survey to inquire what types of suffering people experience in their lives. Here are a sampling of results. Visitors: Feel free to share one of your own sufferings in the comments (anonymous if desired, it goes without saying). Hey, I am studying in a Engineering college. People tend to think that…
Collective Insight
I conducted an online survey to inquire on the insights of various people. I eventually plan to create a database, but here are the first eleven results. Please add an insight of your own in the comments for now. I learned that ryanair are a massive pile of wank and make you do your own…
Three ways of ‘walking away’ from conflict
An important choice to always consider is “walking away” from a conflict. However, there are at least three types of “walking away”. First, there is “walking away, try to leave it behind”. This involves attempting to skip out on the conflict itself. This often leaves us with an unsatisfactory hole in our experience, and the…
POV type: Corporate Perspective
This is the formal perspective of the corporation, entity, or organization that one belongs to or interacts with. There might be several layers within this, most often broken up into a team perspective, departmental perspective, and top level organizational perspective. The corporate perspective is generally contained within the company’s formal documents, and are for all…