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Deconstructing yourself!

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
Greetings fellow earthlings!

I hope your day has been enjoyable so far and may it continue.

I found this site in my recent wanderings in cyberspace. It has a lot of info about meditation and similar topics that may be of interest to at least a couple of my loyal readers ...

Here is a taste from one page at the site -

I remember as a teenager, feeling that the Monty Python joke “my brain hurts” was talking about me. It was clear to me that my biggest problem in life was my own mind. I was very anxious, sometimes experiencing paralyzing anxiety attacks. Have you ever been so afraid you couldn’t move? But most of all my mind was filled with negative self talk. It was like having a person who hated me inside my brain, criticizing, mocking, and attacking me almost constantly. By the time I was eighteen, I had heard of meditation, and felt some hope that it could help me deal with the unpleasant situation inside my skull. As soon as I tried meditating, I felt some relief, and from that point on I was hooked. Little by little (over the years since then) this negative, destructive mental self was dissolved, shown to be an imaginary (albeit actually painful) creation, and let go of. Slowly it was replaced by openness, freedom, and clarity.

Read more here -

Deconstructing the Self with Mindfulness Meditation | Deconstructing Yourself

Enjoy the rest of your day!

:)
 

YoursTrue

Faith-confidence in what we hope for (Hebrews 11)
Greetings fellow earthlings!

I hope your day has been enjoyable so far and may it continue.

I found this site in my recent wanderings in cyberspace. It has a lot of info about meditation and similar topics that may be of interest to at least a couple of my loyal readers ...

Here is a taste from one page at the site -

I remember as a teenager, feeling that the Monty Python joke “my brain hurts” was talking about me. It was clear to me that my biggest problem in life was my own mind. I was very anxious, sometimes experiencing paralyzing anxiety attacks. Have you ever been so afraid you couldn’t move? But most of all my mind was filled with negative self talk. It was like having a person who hated me inside my brain, criticizing, mocking, and attacking me almost constantly. By the time I was eighteen, I had heard of meditation, and felt some hope that it could help me deal with the unpleasant situation inside my skull. As soon as I tried meditating, I felt some relief, and from that point on I was hooked. Little by little (over the years since then) this negative, destructive mental self was dissolved, shown to be an imaginary (albeit actually painful) creation, and let go of. Slowly it was replaced by openness, freedom, and clarity.

Read more here -

Deconstructing the Self with Mindfulness Meditation | Deconstructing Yourself

Enjoy the rest of your day!

:)
You know, that's an interesting thought. I thought about what you said. I know I'm here because (1) I see myself, (2) I'm pretty sure I'm here...but there's more of me than I see (3) it's a bit of a scary thought because I know I'm here and I see myself. Isaac Newton said that he knows gravity by happenstance. I know I'm here also by happenstance. Does that make sense to you? But it's an interesting thought. Meantime, I'm in my living room, I'm watching an old tv show. An old Twilight Zone episode. Very interesting. The older I get, the more I am aware of. I'm here because I'm here. (Happenstance.)
 

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
You know, that's an interesting thought. I thought about what you said. I know I'm here because (1) I see myself, (2) I'm pretty sure I'm here...but there's more of me than I see (3) it's a bit of a scary thought because I know I'm here and I see myself. Isaac Newton said that he knows gravity by happenstance. I know I'm here also by happenstance. Does that make sense to you? But it's an interesting thought. Meantime, I'm in my living room, I'm watching an old tv show. An old Twilight Zone episode. Very interesting. The older I get, the more I am aware of. I'm here because I'm here. (Happenstance.)

Yes - that does make sense - you are there and I am here :)

Enjoy your Twilight Zone.

Cheers!

:)
 

YoursTrue

Faith-confidence in what we hope for (Hebrews 11)
Yes - that does make sense - you are there and I am here :)

Enjoy your Twilight Zone.

Cheers!

:)
It was good. Yes, you're there and I'm here. And I'm alive. I'm pretty sure you're alive, too, Although Twilight Zone might have it slightly different. :) (Have a good night.)
 

Roguish

Member

I have finished reading it. I could now refute the various grossly misguided (and misguiding) claims that it makes, but unless someone here tells me that they are actually interested in that, I'll save myself the trouble and keep it (somewhat) short.

Any "deconstruction" of one's mind (which this author uses as a synonym for mindfulness meditation) requires detachment from one's mind. But detachment is precisely what prevents the working out of karma, for karma is worked out through full engagement (which is the opposite of detachment) of experience; that is, the total suffering of experience without the intermediation of the reflective faculty. So, the "better" one gets at deconstruction and the detachment that it requires, the less one is working out one's karma. And failing to work out one's karma, one gets stuck with it (i.e. with one's karma), which leads to (potentially endless) reincarnation, which is the very opposite of Liberation (labeled "Enlightenment" by the author of the article).

The advice given in the article is deceptive, for indeed one can improve one's mental "comfort" by means of mindfulness meditation. But mental comfort does not lead to enlightenment; it leads to the opposite: failure to work out one's karma, and concomitant entrapment in an endless cycle of reincarnation.
 

Martin

Spam, wonderful spam (bloody vikings!)
I have finished reading it. I could now refute the various grossly misguided (and misguiding) claims that it makes, but unless someone here tells me that they are actually interested in that, I'll save myself the trouble and keep it (somewhat) short.

Any "deconstruction" of one's mind (which this author uses as a synonym for mindfulness meditation) requires detachment from one's mind. But detachment is precisely what prevents the working out of karma, for karma is worked out through full engagement (which is the opposite of detachment) of experience; that is, the total suffering of experience without the intermediation of the reflective faculty. So, the "better" one gets at deconstruction and the detachment that it requires, the less one is working out one's karma. And failing to work out one's karma, one gets stuck with it (i.e. with one's karma), which leads to (potentially endless) reincarnation, which is the very opposite of Liberation (labeled "Enlightenment" by the author of the article).

The advice given in the article is deceptive, for indeed one can improve one's mental "comfort" by means of mindfulness meditation. But mental comfort does not lead to enlightenment; it leads to the opposite: failure to work out one's karma, and concomitant entrapment in an endless cycle of reincarnation.

Yes, this is a valid criticism of some modern approaches to mindfulness meditation. Though Buddhist satipatthana, upon which many of these meditations are based, is about developing insight rather than mental "comfort".
 
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