Unconditional Love & Mindfulness

     "Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) aims to develop an affective state of unconditional kindness to all people.

     Compassion mediation (CM) involves techniques to cultivate compassion, or deep, genuine sympathy for those stricken by misfortune, together with an earnest wish to ease this suffering. 

     Both LKM and CM are centrally related to, and include the practice of, mindfulness, as noted by many scholars and practitioners from varying traditions, including Theravadin, Japanese, and Chinese Zen." 

 

        Hofmann FG, Grossman P, Hinton DE. "Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditation: Potential for Psychological Interventions." Clin Psychol Rev. 2011 November ; 31(7): 1126–1132. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2011.07.003.

What Barrier?

Basis of Mental Illness & Suffering from a Buddhist Perspective

     These four are distortions of perception, thought & view:
               • Sensing no change in the changing, 
               • Sensing pleasure in suffering, 
               • Assuming "self" where there's no self, 
               • Sensing the un-lovely as lovely.

     Delusion is a mental illness that causes all sorts of suffering; mental health can be restored by correcting the flaws in how the mind operates.

       "Vipallasa Sutta: Distortions of the Mind" (AN 4.49), translated from the Pali by Andrew Olendzki. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 2 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an04/an04.049.olen.html .

ShopVac   www.dpreview.com

Mindfulness Meditation & Human Depth in the 21st Century

     "... when you take away all the religious stuff, the world's spiritual traditions have some profound things to say about the art of being human.

     ... self-transcendence - the experience of losing the sense that there's a subject in the center of experience. And when you lose that feeling of self, then in some basic sense, only the world remains. ... Given that Christians, and Hindus, and Buddhists, and Muslims, and even atheists like myself, have this (type of peak) experience in a variety of contexts, we know that this experience can't be data in favor of any religious interpretation. We know that there's a deeper principle at work, and this deeper principle has to be understood in 21st century terms that are non-sectarian, that don't endorse any kind of sectarian tribalism. And that's the challenge I see for us - to get out of the religion business and to talk about the full range of human experience in terms that are intellectually responsible and honest and therefore non-divisive.

     At age 18, I had a profound drug-induced experience that I couldn't forget which was that life could be far better than I was tending to live it. It became very clear, as I did some reading and got my first taste of meditation practice, that the problem was my own mind, the problem was how I was unable to pay attention in the present moment.
     Meditation can be an immensely powerful tool for the mitigation of psychological suffering." Sam Harris

        Sam Harris, author of "Tame Your Mind (No Religion Required)" interviewed by Mary Hines on CBC Radio's "Tapestry": http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/

Saad Faruque

Work a Concentration Meditation; Retirement an Open Awareness Meditation?

     There are interresting parallels between the relatively narrow focus of working life and concentration forms of meditation; and then a broader opening up to life in general when one retires (or is on a retreat) and open awareness forms of meditation.
     If one can sense the totality of life as one living organism, and resonates with Valera's understanding http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/06/appropriate-behavior-health-depend-on.html that communication between all parts of this one massive Self is essential, then we can appreciate the relative tunnel vision of work-life to be potentially problematic. Also, after a lifetime of specialized work, when (if) people retire, they may well find it challenging to open their mind-hearts to the big picture.
     The capacity, indeed the seamless, effortless ease of connecting deeply & being congruent with LIFE is always, throughout life, critical, IF we are to perform our small, individual, specialized roles in harmony with the one orchestra.

Venice, Italy, June 2014

Civilization Depends on Every Individual's Evolution of Consciousness

     Confucius reasoned that society's political & civil harmony, depends entirely on each individual achieving moral harmony. Unless large sheep herds are normally composed of individual horses, Confucius is correct.

     "The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the Kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.
      Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.
      From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides." Confucius (551 – 479 BC)
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/

Fowler’s Six Stages of Faith

     "Fowler’s six stages of faith *** span the spectrum of development from childhood to maturity:

     a) In childhood, faith is based on fantasy & imagination;

     b) in the mythic literal stage, stories are interpreted literally;

     c) at the conventional stage, beliefs tend to be conventional & unexamined;

     d) the individuated reflective stage is characterized by demythologizing and individual responsibility for values & beliefs;

     e) the conjunctive stage, which usually emerges in midlife, involves a recognition of the unconscious and a more paradoxical understanding of truth;

     f) universalizing faith is inclusive of all being and free from ideological shackles.

     Although development does not necessarily progress in a neat, linear fashion from one stage to another, spiritual maturity implies adequately negotiating all these stages of faith. Spiritual experiences may be interpreted very differently by people at different stages of faith."

       Vaughan F. "What is Spiritual Intelligence?" Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 2002; 42(2): 16-33.

     ***See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2012/04/developmental-traps.html

        and: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/07/367-discovering-manifesting-our-innate.html

 

One Mind-Body

     “The whole life attitude of a human being appears in his posture, in the relationship of tension and relaxation, and in breathing. Posture, tension and relaxation, and breath can never be exclusively physical factors. They are integral functions of the person manifesting himself analogously on the psychological and spiritual levels. For this reason it is possible to begin the work on the whole (person) with them.” 

       Durckheim KG. "Hara: The Vital Center of Man." Inner Traditions, Rochester VT, 2004.

     “It is only when the mind is open and receptive that learning and seeing and change can occur. In practicing mindfulness you will have to bring your whole being to the process.” 
       Kabat-Zinn J. “Full catastrophe living. Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain and illness”. Dell Publishing, NY, 1990.

Photo: Daro31   www.preview.com

Successful aging

     “The easy path of aging is to become a thick-skinned, unbudging curmudgeon, a battle-axe. To grow soft and sweet is the harder way.”                                                                 James Hillman

     "Aging is inevitable; becoming wiser with age is not. Researchers, theorists, and clinicians have noted that older adults approach their lives in one of two ways: Either they draw on their strengths and live life to the fullest, or they magnify their weaknesses and restrict their lives to succumb to life's inevitable end.
     Rigidity is a tendency to resist change, while flexibility is the ability to adapt to change. The conscious aging theory espouses late life as a period of deeper meaning and personal growth.
     As long as one remains engaged late in life, personality continues to develop. One's sense of self changes as one negotiates the conflicts proposed at each stage (of psychological development). The conflict assigned to 'old age' is that of integrity versus despair."

       Giblin JC. J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv 2011; 49(3): 23-6.

kate t. parker, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com