Random Dharma

shargrol wrote: I had the same thought. How do you NOT read it in two days!

The first time, that is...

Tom Otvos wrote: There is some dharma here:

theoatmeal.com/comics/believe

Awesome, Tom!

If by "some," you mean days and days worth, I totally agree with you. And that's before you start following the links at the bottom...

Oh lol Geoff who posts on here sent this to me a couple days ago. This comic is amazing.

Anybody else listening to Kenneth's and Michael Taft's podcasts?

soundcloud.com/michael-taft-5/sets/deconstructing-yourself

Kenneth seems to go off in a new direction in his noting practice.

Seems like he is basically saying that "quality over quantity" is important, which I can't argue with... but it's a classic Kenneth formulation how he packages it all up in a new/novel story/didactic (edit: I "say" this last clause with a smile on my face, the packaging isn't needed but its nice and I'm happy about how he seems to enjoy articulating his various teaching methods). Seems like Taft has a better general message of "start with quality and then really let the mind investigate all experiences".

I listened to the 1st one as well. It's funny because low quality, continuous noting worked like a charm for me.

The story of what you are doing changes as your experience and understanding advances. It seems like most of us, meaning people in general, keep acting like there is just one right story.

My first take from Kenneth's interview is that the noting practice he has taught all these years and that has taken many people to SE is not all that worth while according to him. It is glossing over real contact with an object to use his term. His new technique which he calls profound engagement happens only occasionally. One cannot stay in this state for very long,maybe only a minute. His goal is to accomplish it 100 times in a day using a clicker to count. Profound engagement is what takes us to enlightenment.

shargrol wrote: but it's a classic Kenneth formulation how he packages it all up in a new/novel story/didactic.

I was going to make a joke about this phenomenon being why we would probably never see the books Contemplative Fitness or Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha 2. Then I started wondering what's going on with MCTB2, so I did a google search. What I found out about that made me profoundly sad. And profoundly grateful for sites like this one.

Everyone keeps it cool here.

Apparently Jim Carrey got enlightened ... he has that slightly wild, very direct, far-off gaze look in his eyes that I like to call the 'guru look' ... relevant material in the first and last few minutes

Here's what happened when a meditator made a 14-day retreat in total darkness:

darkroomretreat.com/reports/lindsay-vona-darkness-retreat/

Jim wrote: Then I started wondering what's going on with MCTB2, so I did a google search.

A month ago, Daniel reported that it was almost ready to go:

www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/me...ards/message/5943042

Derek wrote:

Jim wrote: Then I started wondering what's going on with MCTB2, so I did a google search.

A month ago, Daniel reported that it was almost ready to go:

www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/me...ards/message/5943042

I sure hope so. Those "complexities" that Daniel referred to as needing to be "mitigated" before publication seemed like quite the shit-show.

I saw OtherLife yesterday in the Sydney Film Festival - premise is that a technology is developed that, through a biosoftware eyedropper, allows one to have 'virtual reality' type experiences - but can they be made interactive and what ends might they be used for?

Based on a US novel called 'Solitaire' it was a trippy, 'exploration of consciousness' (and how this interacts with emotions and human desires) film in the style of Inception, Memento etc which I really enjoyed and found very thought-provoking about the human condition and dharma-type questions.

It's funny because it's true

There's a nice Zenlike quality to this discussion on a toaster with an 'A Bit More' button, with notes on essence and interconnection:

"Philosophers call the study of knowledge epistemology, and this approach to design is entirely epistemological. Just find the proper knowledge and the right design will emerge.

But when conducted best—including in Breville’s case, and despite Hoare’s insistence otherwise—design is more related to the philosophy of what things are, called ontology. It is a discipline of essence, that great bugbear of contemporary life, not of knowledge. Pursuing greater compatibility with a thing’s essence requires that the designer focus on the abstraction formed by the designed object and its human users together—whether it be toasting, dwelling, publishing, socializing, or anything else."

www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2...-more-button/534312/

Chris Marti wrote: Me like:

How Your Brain Forms Reality

good stuff!

Another Daniel interview


... and get this: he name checks AwakeNetwork in the last minute or so. Oh noes....