snowyowl

Sport is rather like a sanitised and ritualised version of violence; a safety valve in society to express emotions in a safer way. Also, I've often wondered why violence in popular media is more acceptable than sex. I mean, there's plenty of films, detective stories etc about murder and other violence, but sex is much more heavily censored. I'm all for protecting children from inappropriate content, but there does seem to be an inconsistency.

@Daniel Coulson hi and welcome to the forum! I'll agree to differ on the definition of war. At any rate they are a different type of conflict to country-country wars, they have governments on one side and something else on the other side, like organised crime or terrorist groups.

@Yog ha ha didn't cross my mind! @Osaid yeah, Samadhi is the name. On second thoughts the meditation object can be something internal too, like the breath, your body like a hand or your navel. or a mantra and you can become one with it too. It's got two approaches: concentration practice on the object, and insight (into no-self) which is samadhi.

@InterruptReQuest Hi, I've experimented a bit with this as a meditation technique. but not in the sense of my consciousness separating from my body and moving into another object as you describe. Its more like starting from a state of me observing the object as an external separate thing, in a subject-object relationship. And moving to a state of unity where the duality collapses, the observer merges with the observed. So there is no longer an object 'in consciousness', just pure consciousness. There's a description of a technique like this called Dhyana here: https://www.wikihow.com/Do-Dhyana (wikihow has a good section of meditation techniques for beginners https://www.wikihow.com/Category:Meditation ). Have you tried anything like this, or doing some research first?

By my count we're up to WW6 for the next world war (WW1, WW2, then the cold war, war on drugs, war on terror, all of them very bad). But no I don't think Trump will start a war. He's too busy with recounts, court cases, and fundraising right now as far as I can see. Somehow I ended up on his mailing list and I've had hundreds of emails begging for money. Isn't he running out of time to overturn the election?

This subject of the public filming the police reminded me of the furore not long ago about the increase in police CCTV surveillance of the public. We lap up footage of the police but hate being filmed ourselves! And of course we rarely take film of the police behaving well and doing a good job, so it gives a distorted unrepresentative perspective of police, hence the silly campaign for defunding.

Nice, we are one in essence

@Danioover9000 interesting insights. Conservatives are a mixed bunch too, approximately between SD blue and orange. In fact the whole reason we had the 2016 referendum was to deal with the internal battle which was ripping the Conservative party apart. Actually, Brexit could make immigration easier from non EU countries, especially from the Commonwealth. Depends on what policies the govt decides.

Why the anti-western and anti-British bias in the original question? Lots of empires in history have looted their conquered subjects. Also, how do you know which artefacts were stolen vs purchased? The Elgin marbles are an interesting case of the complexity: although taken by a Scottish aristocrat, Greece was under Ottoman occupation at the time, and with looting and fighting they were arguably safer in Britain. But now, there's a good argument returning them; the point is, each artifact needs deciding individually rather than a blanket approach.

@Yonkon thanks for sharing, that's some great progress, you're taking ownership and developing your intuition too

We're getting close to the deadline at the end of December and a trade deal is still proving difficult. My views on Brexit were pretty close to the referendum result; some good arguments on both sides with a few % in favour of leaving. I felt at the time, and still do, that there will be short to medium term problems with adjusting. but in the long term we (the UK) will have a better relationship with the EU. Because the EU has been moving slowly towards "ever closer union" (as I think it's constitution says) ie United States of Europe, which has been resisted here by a small majority. When we're properly out, that project can build up steam, the EU can fully integrate, and both sides can carry on negotiating until we finally get over this squabble and have a trading relationship which benefits the capitalist system on both sides. I also believe Joe Biden will have bigger problems to deal with than refuse a treaty and create a trade war with us. Oh, and on a lighter note, I’m looking forward to seeing imperial measures again, even if alongside metric, because the drift to metric is so anti-diversity! I'm wasting my time here converting everything back to inches and pounds.

I think we're just disagreeing over different definitions of ego. @electroBeam "Not only does an ego not exist, but you've never known what an ego truly is." That seems to say you think ego is an undefined word. But I do know what my ego is (on my terms) and felt it in my consciousness. My ego is my mind creating division and attachment. For example, I own a car, it is inside the circle of "me" compared to everyone else's cars, I am attached to it, so I'll feel upset if it's stolen, but less bothered if a stranger's car is stolen. @Moksha "The ego never exists. It is just a name we give for the state of unconsciousness, and the gravitational pull of our conditioning to staying in that state." You say the ego doesn't exist, then give a perfectly good definition of just what it is. So, I'll say an ego is a construct of feeling and thought, perhaps not very enlightened thought, but to say it doesn't exist is like saying a house doesn't exist, it's just a collection of bricks. Like the Buddhist analogy of a chariot not existing apart from its component parts. Hopefully we can agree that egos don't exist separately, don't have inherent existence. I'm just using ego as a label for a certain pattern within my mind.

Yes I agree, except that calling it "the now", "the here and now", "the present moment" etc is in the language of time and space, it assumes that "now" is a moment in a timeline from past to future. Or here is a point in space distinct from over there. Inevitable I suppose as that's how we're brought up to think. So I'm trying to wean myself off calling it Now, and opting for an alternative, like being, etc.

@Swarnim Not for nothing did the ancients believe that love is a gift of the Gods. If you desire love for your own self, you'll not get it. "Give and ye shall receive", love others first, give away your love to those in need, shine like the Sun and you'll be embodying it already. Compassion and empathy is the way.

@Forestluv yes open minded exploration free from fixed narratives and fixed dualities is the way to go As a provisional view, I see selves existing as temporary constructs of mind, tools of the mind, being born and dying moment by moment.

How about truth? If your statement is neither right nor wrong, what does it mean? Or is there a distinction here between absolute and relative truth? I dunno if my line of thinking is even capable of creating a proper insight, maybe I should just shut up and contemplate it first before mouthing off

@Forestluv yeah, it can lead to selfish competition in some situations, eg fear-driven survival mode. Also, as it's an imaginary line, it can be drawn wherever you like: my family, my community, my nation. But you're right that division easily leads to conflict. However, this body/mind exists and while I want it to continue, I need a self-identity don't I?

I get that "I don't exist" in the sense of having a little homunculus inside my mind who is the centre and controller, like the driver of a car. However, what's wrong with drawing an (imaginary) line round the edge of my skin, and calling what's inside "me", as a whole entity? I can move around, think and act independently of other "mes" after all. Corollary. What do you think about the executive function? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_functions This could be a scientific theory for our sense of self, and it's possibly located in the frontal cortex, which is approximately where I feel like "I am". Maybe something in the brain needs to organise the other functions to keep the whole system working efficiently, like the CPU in a computer.

Could be propaganda from the Chinese government who have been persecuting Falun Gong for years - just read their wikipedia page https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong you need to read between the lines with internet opinions.

@Beginner Mind yeah, I kind of get this, it's not free will as in "I am the boss of my life". More like developing the intuition to feel what is coming through to my limited form, from the infinite source.

yeah, like hedonistic happiness = conditional, impermanent; and deep happiness = unconditional, timeless. But when we start on this path, all we know is hedonism and can't imagine what unconditional happiness or love is like, being content whatever the external circumstances. Like, we think nirvana means going to heaven where's there's no challenges, but in reality it means keeping equanimity in the middle of challenges.

@Beginner Mind Thanks! But isn't it an illusion to think that I am doing a spiritual practice when in fact, I'm not in control anyway, everything is 'just happening'. What difference does it make to believe I'm on a path to awakening, perhaps I should let go of that belief too

My sense is this is what it looks like after awakening; but before, things aren't all ok, life is a mixture. So I'd say you're on a good path

I get this idea, and practice in the form of acceptance /letting be. But, a question arises, that "I" am not the instigator of all the drama. Resistance arises by itself (along with everything else), so shouldn't I be accepting the resistance energy too rather than picking and choosing what to surrender to? If I give space to everything which appears in my mind, I find it a smoother route to tranquillity.

@Shunyata hi, no I've not listened to any, is that what Shunyamurti calls it? It's just related to my username, I like owls