Isle of View

Great @Psychonaut It's a great relief to see how one can get stuck into an identity or self-created imagery of oneself (like the girl who thinks she's fat in your example). We unstuck from the identification, that's one part of the answer why you are constantly laughing... Now, is it? ~Chris

@Leo Gura Regarding your latest video... It all boils down to the "ideal level of occupation". You can occupy your attention with objects and activities that are of no actual worth at all. But some people will need to speed up and some will need to upgrade the amount (or quality) of stuff they posses to really come to the ideal that is conducive to their unique nature and life-purpose. We can do to much and to fast but we also can do to little and to slow. It all depends on where you're at and what your current situation is. I agree that in our current society most people are doing all kinds of crap that is meaningless, are owning stuff they are told to own by advertisment and going to school as society has told them. Lot's of it has no existencial meaning and little worth. But a better advice would be to tell people to find their optimum pace and optimum occupation, so that they don't waste their precious time and attention to occupy it with bullshit. And another advice along with it: what is really important to you? I had a talk the other day with a friend who told me he wants to buy another car (a second one). I asked him, why would he do that? Because his wife needs a car to be faster at her workplace as she needs to work longer now. So his wife occupies her time with working longer so they can have another car... very smart, indeed. These people are always tired and moaning about how hard they need to work and have no free time. But when you visit them at home once a year you realize that they put their money into "materialistic" stuff only. And these are people who will tell you how great "The Secret" worked for them. :-D It's OK to be faster if you know where you are heading and you begin to master your play. Kind regards, Chris

@Henri I think ethics is the consideration of what is the right thing to do. It's somehow very personal and very contextual. Also the level of spiritual maturity, education and position can have its say what decision the person will take. But that's ethics. Moral at the other hand, from my perspective, is a group-thing. And it changes. Things like gay-merriage would be unthinkable 25 years ago. Or women in churches wearing no head covering. But it's all a play with words, he calls "moral inclination" what I would call "ethics". Morals in my view are very much a part of any group (each group having their own set of preferred "beliefs" of what is right or wrong). Someone who is out of the box of the group can be still ethical (and therefore take into consideration the moral rules of the group), but would also go beyond the rules if he sees that the rules are not beneficial to the greatest good (like it was totally "morally" inacceptable in middle ages to own a bible, but Martin Luther saw that it is very detrimental to the population). The distinction is, that moral rules can be taught parrotlike (this is good, this is bad), but ethics can not. The above is of course my take on it. :-) Kind regards, Chris BTW. The book: The Sociopath Next Door has interesting passages about ethics, conscience and... spirituality (which the latter was a surprise for me).

Morals are a set of rules of a specific group on how to behave to be acceptable. It's all about right and wrong as a common denominator of this specific group. Morals change through time, therefore they're not innate. ~Chris

In one sentence: Science doesn't know :-)

Yes, breath is important. Just don't expect to be perfect from the get-go. :-)

@khalifa It's ok for you to have your attention put on your body, as you are just beginning. It's very much ok. And what do you mean by ... Mindfulness is not blankness. It's a state of clear awareness/perception (undisturbed by thoughts). Cheers, Chris

Total water we would use if we eat less animals would go down. But you may be right, I really don't understand your reasoning all too good. Thanks for the attempt to clarify your arguments. Chris

Why is it ridiculous? Your argument is flawed. You can use the same space and water that is needed to grow food for animals to grow food directly for human consumption? Don't you get it?

@Jani Yes, it's a bad idea to directly point out to someone that he is not under control of what he is saying. The automaticities have lots of defense mechanisms. But you can do it in a playful manner, without accusation, rudeness and stuff like that. ~Chris

What do you mean by that? ~Chris

Yes, lot of it is just unaware automaticity. Like a LP playing over and over again. To break the automaticity, you can ask the person (when you spot something he says over and over again): "Could you please repeat what you've just said?" And when he does: "Please could you repeat it one more time?" You could help him becoming aware of his automaticities. This is something that we become aware of when we start becoming more aware of our minds. Generally people know no disctintion, many think "mind and me is all the same". They don't use their minds awarely, their life is run by their minds. So, yes as @Ross said, one can feel ... ... but actually it is an awakening process. Some of the automaticities have been lessened. And we may feel we loose the "connection". But it is good to unplug from this shit. There is no spontaneity in this automaticities, only repetition. Just continue. It is more fun being spontaneous. ~ Chris

@Gmork Sorry, but you only talk what you have been programmed to believe... Chris

Is/was there anyone who criticized your meditation practice? ~Chris

And, by the way, only because humans eat meat for a long time, it doesn't mean it was the best thing they could do. Here are some well known persons from history who were vegans/vegetarians... Cheers ~Chris

Tell us about it. Why do you think so? What got triggered in your social life? ~Chris

@DrMatthewsausage His reasoning is plain stupid. Ask him what happenes to the rain forest in south america to grow GMO soja beans as food for your pigs and cows. Please, see the movie COWSPIRACY. You can easily find it. His comment is a testimony of ignorance. Future generations will thank us for having started the trend of veganism. Actually the only chance this planet has is when we drop meat consumption significantly. I understand when people eat meat, as it is so ingrained into our culture. But to an well informed citizen, there is no real reason to eat meat. From spiritual perspective it is not only that you kill sentient beings, you also play with your emotional vibration. But that's a totally different story. Kind regards, Chris

Muhammad, my friend, here something you can do: take a piece of paper and make a list of things that you would like to accomplish or pursue in the following 5 years; take another piece of paper and put the things that you can do now, whithin the next 6 month on the top of this list; Concentrate on the things that you feel are most important to your well being and your progress. Concentrate on the things you can do now and after 6-12 months you will be able to do more of the things from your list (1). Be alive and active. Kind regards, Chris @An actualizer

Gotcha. All the best and much love to you, mate.

Why asking me? And why leaving? You matter, don't you realize?

Nice guy. He matters.

You think about nothing? Or you try not to think? It's good to have something as an object in the beginning to put your attention on, like the breath, your forehead (between your eyebrows) or a simple chant. As soon as you spot that you "dive away" from your object, you return to the object and continue. Vipassana is good aswell, maybe you can read some theory in this book. You will recognize many thing you run/ran into in your own practice. Kind regards, Chris

@Psychonaut What @Henri said. Plus, maybe the meditation technique is not the right one at the moment. Which one do you do? And what is the purpose of the meditation for you? (Can be different for different people.) Kind regards, Chris

I'm vegan and I like it. (And the animals and the environment like it too )