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Impossible for the HN crowd: Do nothing for 2 minutes

donothingfor2minutes.com

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Re: Impossible for the HN crowd: Do nothing for 2 minutes

#101

Post by hugh3 »

mattm wrote: post #97
NyxWulf wrote: post #82

This used to be impossible for me too. Even on adderall this would have been fairly challenging at times. Recently however my stress level was getting so bad that I started looking for ways to remain calm, even under extreme pressure. Long story short, I came across a book on Amazon called "Zen Meditation and Wisdom for a Better Life: A Gift to Busy People, Regardless of Religion". I'm a skeptic when it comes to "Rel…

I don't see how meditation is connected to religion. Religions want you to seek answers from them. Meditation encourages you to seek answers from within.

Nonetheless, most forms of meditation, and most practitioners of meditation, and most folks that will teach you about meditation, come with religious baggage.

Re: Impossible for the HN crowd: Do nothing for 2 minutes

#102

Post by nostromo »

Did anyone else catch Sam Harris' response to Edge's 2011 question, "What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?"? I found it quite interesting. http://www.edge.org/q2011/q11_12.html#harriss

"I invite you to pay attention to anything — the sight of this text, the sensation of breathing, the feeling of your body resting against your chair — for a mere sixty seconds without getting distracted by discursive thought. It sounds simple enough: Just pay attention. The truth, however, is that you will find the task impossible. If the lives of your children depended on it, you could not focus on anything — even the feeling of a knife at your throat — for more than a few seconds, before your awareness would be submerged again by the flow of thought. This forced plunge into unreality is a problem. In fact, it is the problem from which every other problem in human life appears to be made."

Re: Impossible for the HN crowd: Do nothing for 2 minutes

#105

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

hugh3 wrote: post #101
mattm wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how meditation is connected to religion. Religions want you to seek answers from them. Meditation encourages you to seek answers from within.

Nonetheless, most forms of meditation, and most practitioners of meditation, and most folks that will teach you about meditation, come with religious baggage.

And that's because the only ones considered to master Meditation are those told in historical religious documents.

The Buddha was the only one to provide a direct roadmap on how to do it, with prior textural help from the Hindu Vedas. The Vedas were closely guarded by the Brahmins (Hindu Priest class) and therefore hard for the 'average man' to get a hold of.

So yes, there is a great deal of 'religious detrius' to remove, but I believe the benefits are still there for the here and now, not some future afterlife/reincarnation. Clear and quiet thoughts have no monetary worth, but I'd trade no physical objects for them.

Re: Impossible for the HN crowd: Do nothing for 2 minutes

#107

Post by carols10cents »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #44

1. The birds aren't moving. This is driving me insane. 2. I stopped because I became paranoid that with 0:15 seconds, the website was going to rick-roll me.

I was getting paranoid that it was going to be one of those sites that flashes a scary face and screams at you.

Re: Impossible for the HN crowd: Do nothing for 2 minutes

#109

Post by [deleted] »

TheAmazingIdiot wrote: post #89
NyxWulf wrote: post #82

This used to be impossible for me too. Even on adderall this would have been fairly challenging at times. Recently however my stress level was getting so bad that I started looking for ways to remain calm, even under extreme pressure. Long story short, I came across a book on Amazon called "Zen Meditation and Wisdom for a Better Life: A Gift to Busy People, Regardless of Religion". I'm a skeptic when it comes to "Rel…

Along with the viewpoint of being skeptic about religious stuff, I can most certainly understand. But of all these religions that exist, there must be some sort of truth between them all, considering the many congruencies. One document I have been treading through is this one: http://hermetic.com/crowley/book-4/aba1.html The premise that is argued is a very strong one, being "Is there any truth at all in the claims o…

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