All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#461

Post by tectonicfury » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 2:14 AM UTC

pknerd wrote: post #448

tectonicfury wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Muslim, I can assure you there’s no such thing as mystic Islam. Islam is foremost about clarity, simplicity and straightforwardness in its message of pure monotheism. It does not seek to lure people by mesmerising them with incomprehensible riddles. It hides nothing. The so called mystic Islam also known as Sufism, is a deviant sect, and is fundamentally a gateway to polytheism, as it borrows many practices from…

I kept reading your comments above till reach here. Your knowledge about Autism is pretty narrow and region-centric. No one considers taking drugs and shaking as Sufiism. It's opposite of that. Sufism is all about self discovery and connecting to God with Dikr. The Dikr as described as in Quran as satisfaction of heart.

Try to read the biography of the Prophet (upon him be peace) to know what his message was.

Sufism is a later invention.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#462

Post by pknerd » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:22 AM UTC

tectonicfury wrote: post #461

pknerd wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kept reading your comments above till reach here. Your knowledge about Autism is pretty narrow and region-centric. No one considers taking drugs and shaking as Sufiism. It's opposite of that. Sufism is all about self discovery and connecting to God with Dikr. The Dikr as described as in Quran as satisfaction of heart.

Try to read the biography of the Prophet (upon him be peace) to know what his message was. Sufism is a later invention.

LOL. I loved it when ppl assume others are ignorant. Why and how did you assume I haven't? I have read multiple, in Urdu And english. You didn't read what I said. Your knowledge of Suffism is narrow and wrong. No point arguing with you unless you get to know what Taswwuf is.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#463

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 7:01 AM UTC

pknerd wrote: post #462

tectonicfury wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try to read the biography of the Prophet (upon him be peace) to know what his message was. Sufism is a later invention.

LOL. I loved it when ppl assume others are ignorant. Why and how did you assume I haven't? I have read multiple, in Urdu And english. You didn't read what I said. Your knowledge of Suffism is narrow and wrong. No point arguing with you unless you get to know what Taswwuf is.

[deleted]

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#464

Post by wcoenen » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 10:57 AM UTC

kawera wrote: post #416

scns wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get Mind Illuminated by John Yates Phd. He breaks down the process into ten steps, woo free.

Or Waking Up by Sam Harris, also woo free.

Thanks, I've read the start and found that Harris does a good job of explaining from the outset why a non-religous, mysticism-averse person would still want to explore this type of spirituality. That part wasn't very clear to me in the introduction of "Mind Illuminated".

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#465

Post by wcoenen » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 12:34 PM UTC

TriNetra wrote: post #456

wcoenen wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the recommendation. I've read the the free kindle sample now, which is already a couple hours of reading. I found the introduction and and overview very difficult to get through, even to the point of falling asleep. But the "first interlude" and "stage one" captured my attention better. Although a bit verbose and repetitive at times, I liked the exploration of the concepts of attention and peripheral aware…

Try A million thoughts https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan...

This book may have value to learn something about meditation, but it also has exactly the kind of "mystic woo" I was talking about.

In the first few sentences it talks about the "soul" wanting to return back to it's source, the "supreme consciousness". Then a couple pages further, a statement about reincarnation:

"If you don’t believe in rebirth then this book will be of little use to you. As I said earlier, meditation to me is the most powerful tool to harness and channelize the restive and other tendencies of the mind we’ve been carrying with us over lifetimes."

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#466

Post by alok-g » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 3:24 AM UTC

jhedwards wrote: post #314

I really liked Konrad Lorenz's explanation of this. He said that every innate ability to learn has a corresponding innate "teaching mechanism". For example, an animal like a duck won't necessarily reason "hmm, is this a safe spot? Maybe I should find an area with more protection from [predator]", instead it will have an innate anxiety that it feels when it is in an unsafe place, and that anxiety will drive it to find…

Indeed. Reasoning based on intelligence came much later into the evolutionary scene. Emotions form a part of the optimization process for animals, creating shorter feedback loops. We feel pain because we won't attend to the injury if we didn't. The evolutionary significance of most emotions can likewise be reasoned about. (I've found relatively less for explaining jealousy in what I've casually read).

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#467

Post by tasuki » Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 9:33 PM UTC

tectonicfury wrote: post #431

tasuki wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know?

“it came to me”

From your parents or upbringing? People have an unfortunate tendency to stick to the most illogical things they learn as children.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#468

Post by decuran » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 1:28 PM UTC

ronyfadel wrote: post #449

decuran wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More than likely something is going on from the changes to the active neural circuitry. Usually the "Default Mode Network" is active. When this is quieted down, which is similar to what happens when you're on LSD, it's possible that very unusual states of mind and body (the "currents" mentioned, which I've experienced as well) can arise.

Is this a good thing? I know that meditation is lauded, and I practice it myself, but I do wonder if it is good for you. My best definition of “good” in this context is “closer to your true self”, or possibly “happier and content”. I fear that meditation will make me lose my drive (generated, in part by my ego).

That's a really good question and I worry about that myself. I think it might be incorrect to think that there is a "true self" inside you. More realistically I think there are many autonomous modules in your mind that run when needed or called. Your ego is one of these modules. This fear of losing our drive is probably the ego doing self-preservation (for itself).

Meditation helps you to see when these different modules are acting "illogically". Being run or called when unnecessary. A good example is the fear of public speaking. Whichever module is running is based on instincts learned millennia ago. Now it merely hinders us. I very strongly believe that meditation will make you (anyone) more happy and content. I haven't gone as far as I'd like to with it because of this same fear of losing my drive.