Sincerity & Urgency to Know the Truth?

     “For most people … seeking the truth is not a centrality in their lives. They are not at that stage yet. They are at the stage where seeking the truth is still a hobby among other hobbies. Eventually it will become their main profession. But for the time being, it’s just a hobby. And often they kid themselves into thinking that it is the most important thing. They think it, but they don’t put their money where their mouth is, if you will. They don’t walk the walk. 
     I’m not being judgmental. It’s beautiful already to be interested. You cannot pull the plant to make them grow faster.”                                Francis Lucille

Francis Lucille - superb interview

Core Purpose, Philosophy

     The high percentage of self-reported cheating among university students, and other suggestions of an apparent decay in ethics & rise in shallow self-centered behavior is frightening. One has to wonder if individuals are losing the sense of what it means to embody a meaningful philosophy. Faking it is so much faster, easier & seemingly popular. 
     Part of the problem may well be that large companies that once earned loyalty from their life-long employees, now use their employees to train off-shore temps, who then quickly replace their (now 'downsized') trainers. The company can treat & pay off-shore temps even worse. These same companies espouse the critical importance of "customer loyalty”.

     Individuals & companies must be held accountable to embody - not just espouse & advertise - a “core purpose” & “philosophy”, regardless of who they deal with - customers, employees, employers, family, friends. A core purpose or philosophy is fundamentally valuable - way too important to fake. Individuals & companies must learn congruence one way or another. Otherwise, one's life & products are cheap fakes.

     "As Simon Sinek says in ... "Start With Why", products don't create customer loyalty. A company's core purpose does. 
     People are attracted to Apple because of what Apple stands for. Not the gizmos. There are less expensive options out there.
     Yet Apple is one of the most profitable companies in the world.
     People are attracted to Nike not because of the shoes, but because they are pulled to the philosophy of Just Do It - whether that pertains to getting fit, or popping the big question, or leaving a bad job or starting your own business."                      Terry O'Reilly, Under the Influence

        "Elevator Pitches" first aired on Monday, May 5, 2014
        http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-3/2014/05/05/elevator-pitches-1/

qhenson   www.dpreview.com

Calm, Tranquility, Serenity, Composure - Important but

     "Calm ... plays a crucial and powerful role on the path of liberation, yet it is often overlooked or underemphasized in our practice. ... It is the soothing factor of mind that quiets the disturbances. It manifests as peacefulness or coolness in both the mind & body. It is what a tired worker feels upon sitting down in the cool shade of a tree on a sweltering day, or what a child feels when her mother lays a cool, soothing hand on her feverish forehead.

     Passaddhi (Pali term for calm) encompasses both physical composure & mental tranquility. It is this quality of calm that keeps the mind composed & unruffled in times of difficulty. Buddhist psychology describes how it brings along with it other wholesome states, such as lightness, wieldiness, proficiency, and sincerity. While the first three of these associated states seem obvious concomitants of calm, it is interesting to reflect on the last. Why does calm bring sincerity? When our minds are tranquil, a natural genuineness, honesty, and freedom from duplicity are also present.

     In meditation teachings, we sometimes hear of the danger of becoming attached to this wonderfully calming, peaceful state of mind. When we first touch this space of tranquility in our meditation, there is a profound sense of relaxation, relief, and ease, especially as we contrast it with the speed and distractedness of our daily lives, and with the difficulties and struggles we sometimes experience in practice. The tranquility can be so enticing that we might start practicing only for the calm, becoming attached to it and identified with it, and forget that it, too, is a constructed state. We can easily sink into the enjoyment of it and forget to bring mindfulness to it.

     Although this is an important caution, the Buddha clearly emphasized the importance of calm in the list of the awakening factors. The happiness of a tranquil mind plays a key role in the path of awakening. Here, the instructions on the factors of enlightenment, found in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, provide crucial guidance: 

     If the tranquility awakening factor [or any of the others] is present [in him], one knows, “the tranquility awakening factor is present in me”; if the tranquility awakening factor is not present [in him], one knows “there is no tranquility awakening factor present in me.” One knows how the unarisen tranquility factor can arise, and how the arisen tranquility factor can be perfected by development. 

     It is mindfulness that knows whether tranquility is present or not. And investigation, energy, & interest — what we might call 'meditative intelligence' — lead onward to its development & fullness, but without becoming identified with or ensnared by it."

 
       Goldstein J. "Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening." Sounds True, 2013. 

       http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/Mindfulness/4436.pd

 

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com