Comments on: Zen existentialism?

By: podrock

podrock — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 15:25:01 +0000

Seeking strength is pretty much all I pray for. And I’m not exactly sure to whom I am praying. Probably myself. “I can do this. I can help.” Mostly, I remind myself of my own values, my ethical code.

I hope the best for your friend. He has the right attitude.

By: ER

ER — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 13:11:02 +0000

is their notion of a caste system. I’ve hesitated to criticize them for it because I don’t know how widespread or central it is to their religion. But I find the whole idea to be an abomination.

I don’t believe all people are the same. I know for a fact that some are better than others. But I don’t believe they are born that way. No one should be condemned to a life of second or third class citizenship simply because he was born to the wrong parents.

I do believe some cultures are superior to others, but I don’t think that can be passed through the DNA.

By: podrock

podrock — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 03:12:29 +0000

Yeah, that’ll do it.

EDIT:

Is the goal to lose yourself or to find yourself?

I think the later.

By: podrock

podrock — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 02:58:18 +0000

Our brains struggle with the very small and the very big.

The rocks I have specialized in are 1,700,000,000 years old. I think I know what that means, but honestly, I really don’t.

It is too big.

I can, and have, mapped it out at scale, taking a walk where every stride is a thousand years. It’s a nice walk. But does that physical metaphor really make me understand it, to feel it; or, maybe, grok it?

I’ll be honest. I don’t.

But I try.

By: BuckGalaxy

BuckGalaxy — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 02:56:16 +0000

Quite a few people have sought enlightment from psychedelic drugs. Timothy Leary was famous for it.

Here’s a discussion on Reddit about the comparison between zen meditation and psilocybin. Most seem to reject the comparison harshly.

https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/eug6iz/zen_and_psilocybin_mushrooms/

By: podrock

podrock — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 02:14:01 +0000

will do that in a couple of hours.

By: BuckGalaxy

BuckGalaxy — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 02:13:31 +0000

I have a Hindu friend who has very advanced cancer. He has been fighting it for seven years+. About three years ago his doctors gave up on him, told him to get his affairs in order and that he had about six months to live. He found some other doctors who tried infusion treatments on him and they worked, and for about a year and half he was actually cancer free. Sadly, it’s come back since but he is still fighting.

But my point is, he said something profound to me that will stick with me until the day I die. He is deeply religious in his hindu faith, but he said he has never asked god(s) to save him, only to give him strength to fight it himself. He told me that the moment you give yourself over to the will of god and beg to be saved, you are done. The moment you take your fate out of your own hands is when you have lost the battle for life. He finds inner strength in his faith, but he has never stopped fighting for life within himself.

By: BuckGalaxy

BuckGalaxy — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 01:15:07 +0000

By: BuckGalaxy

BuckGalaxy — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 01:13:38 +0000

So in Zen philosophy, the way to get around the subjective perception of the universe is to make yourself nothing. To clear your mind so thoroughly through meditation that you reach a point where your subjective existence is gone and replaced by oneness with the objective universe. Satori. Zen masters have said this is an acheivable state for those extremely dedicated to meditation with many years of practice.

I’m not saying I buy into it but it’s certainly more believable than Jonah being swallowed by a whale.

By: podrock

podrock — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:42:02 +0000

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”