Philosophy 04 (Jan 25 - Dec 26)

[winston]

Extending Tenderness

As you extend tenderness to others, you may also begin to recognize how it brings out tenderness in them.

Life begins to look more like a mother gazing at her infant child with deep adoration.

- Elizabeth Mattis, “Nurturing the Intelligent Heart”

[winston]

Awareness Is Not Experience

One of the powerful aspects of awareness, arises from the fact that the awareness of an experience, is not the experience itself.

- Larry Yang, “The Bare Experience of Craving”

[winston]

Taming a Wild Animal

Ancient texts compare the process of concentration to the taming of a wild animal.

It is a difficult endeavor, full of ups and downs but one that yields reliable results, if practiced diligently and with patience.

- Mark Epstein, “Meditation’s Secret Ingredient”

[winston]

A Good Fit

A good fit is not the same as a perfect fit, if such a thing even exists.

Rather, a good fit contains good imperfections, things that don’t fit, problems you can sink your teeth into.

One circles around them, going a bit deeper with each turning.

- Andrew Cooper, “The Good Fit”

[winston]

Underlying Motivation

Behind every idea is a motivation, that is shaped by hopes and fears.

If we are able to identify this underlying motivation, we will see the wish to find happiness and to be free from suffering.

- Khentrul, “Unity in Difference”

[winston]

The Illusion of Control

The Buddha realized that old age, sickness and death, are not problems in themselves.

It is the mind that makes them problems — by believing they shouldn’t happen, by insisting on figuring them out, resisting, controlling.

= Matthias Esho Birk, “To Be or Not to Be”

[winston]

Anchoring in Inner Joy

You don’t simply force yourself to become calm and equanimous regardless of events.

You first have to find an inner sense of joy that comes from virtue, concentration, and discernment.

- Thānissaro Bhikkhu, “Starting Out Right”

[winston]

Show Up Differently

We practice learning that we can show up differently, than the way that our habitual patterning often suggests that we should.

- Justin von Bujdoss, “Iron Sharpens Iron: Polishing the Mirror”

[winston]

Attention to Sensation

As we pay attention to the dance of sensation, across the field of our awareness, from moment to moment, fear and sadness sometimes present themselves to be known and healed — whether or not we have invited them.

- Kate Johnson, “Loyalty to Sensation”

[winston]

Wisdom’s Ladder

Wisdom doesn’t come when we’ve grasped the ladder’s highest rung but when looking down on our illusions, we no longer need a ladder.

- Kurt Spellmeyer, “After the Future”