2012.06.07 _ 57

Woke in the middle of the night and watched the video passed along by Zen yesterday... appreciated it very much. My feeling is that Sam Harris has a rather simplistic view of religion, and that the thing to focus on is 'literalism' which is not confined to religious traditions. So, I think there is something yet missing in his arguments. That said, his guided meditation and explanation of such is marvelous, as are his descriptions of consciousness which remind me of a Harry Potter quote: "of course it's happening inside your head harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

mantras today and "follow ups".

Yes Eliza :) It's interesting the way Harris has difficulty with fitting transcendent experiences into an atheist framework or mindset: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/whats-the-point-of-transcendence/

I must admit I have always felt a little uneasy about the way mindfulness meditation practice just isolates and extracts the technique from the whole spiritual tradition and grounding practices of Buddhism. And when they turn it into an academic discipline where you can get an MA in mindfulness studies, it feels to me like it has been reduced to psychology. But it does help people I guess.

I'm OK when people benefit from 'extracted' techniques. We all do this to some extent. We build up rules of thumb without understanding, say, the physics or economics in order to help us live our life. And, for example, I don't care who tunes into my recording of karuna-metta meditation, whether in-world or on the web http://vocaroo.com/i/s0coleK2cLBr If one person benefits, then it is worthwhile, and the sum total of suffering in the world will have taken a small dip.

Another pizza party as my step-daughter departs back to Chicago. Lightning is forking to the ground outside and tornado warnings are in the air. In this turbulent atmosphere, I went to karuna-metta meditation. edited 03:09, 7 Jun 2012