I'm getting better at recognising when when am becoming aggressive or defensive in reaction to an external stimuli or internal thought and being aware of how it limits my thinking to one-track responses. When I do see this I will often do Tara Brach's pause meditation and bring myself back to...
The practice itself doesn't have a dark side. Individual practitioner and teacher have fallen short of what is generally considered to be ethical practice but that isn't a result of the teaching themselves but rather human fallibility.
I don't and also don't believe it particularity enhances the practice. It's the present moment that matters, not future or previous lives if you choose to believe in that.
It's hard to pick one as the most helpful but I do like the one about that monk who comes home to find his cave full of demons, gets rid of most by making them welcoming them and finally defeats the last one by putting his head into it's mouth. Good way of explaining how best to deal with your...
The Labour Party in the UK is shifting back to it's socialist roots despite concerted opposition from MP's, the party hierarchy and media.
Fully expecting Corbyn to win the leadership challenge and likely with a higher proporation of the voters despite cynical and undemocratic attempts to block...
I think its unhelpful to label concerns about Brexit and subsequent attempts to reverse the decision as 'whining'. There are many reasons to be worried about what is going to happen if/when Britain leaves the EU and those don't disappear because 1.9% of the population swung the outcome of the...
I think that Liberals are generally concerned with ensuring that rights that ensure peoples freedoms are put in place and protected. Socialists do the same but also work towards addressing inequality in society.
If you subscribe to a particular religion then you could argue on the basis of scripture either way depending on how ambiguous it is.
Generally speaking I think it's wiser to review it on a case by case basis and I suspect that there are religious people who would agree regardless of the...
From a Buddhist perspective suffering is an inevitable part of life in the sense that bad things will happen to you irrespective of how you choose to live your lift. You do however have a choice in how you react to negative experiences and can choose not to perpetuate the suffering. For example...
My view is that the Brexit argument was largely based on false information and capitalised on a general dissatisfaction with the existing political and economic systems within the UK that often had little to do with the EU. I was pre-disposed to voting remain and all the research I did into...