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Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

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Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#351

Post by cdaven »

pqs wrote: post #279
tisdy-01 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you simply can't reach salvation and union with God without starting from right morals. This is almost the opposite of Christianity, depending on what you mean by "right morals". Christianity says you simply can't reach salvation and be with God unless you are flawless, which is humanly impossible, so unless God does something... hence Christ.

Where did you get that? Christianity teaches that God is merciful, you don't need to be perfect to receive his love.

You skipped some parts.

God has always wanted humans to "be perfect", if by that we mean without sin. We have always failed at this, and God has always gotten angry. This starts in Eden, and even Jesus told us to "be perfect" (e.g. see Sermon on the Mount), and was really upset at sinners _who did not want to change their ways_.

Romans 3: "... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Yeah, it's humanly impossible not to sin.

It is crucial to Christianity that humans are saved "freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom 3), "and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph 2).

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#352

Post by bowsamic »

zmgsabst wrote: post #349
bowsamic wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think so, words have meanings, Buddhism refers to a group of sets of ideas and doctrines. Buddhism encourages disconnection, in fact the Buddha said that withdrawing is good and that sense pleasures are dangerous. What you said is wrong because it implies that suffering is NOT something we should seek to be free from. I take it you're a beginner to the practise?

> Buddhism encourages disconnection, in fact the Buddha said that withdrawing is good and that sense pleasures are dangerous I don’t think that’s what the Buddha teaches — rather, that we should be intentional in our attachment. (Sense pleasures are unrelated to what we’re talking about — but I agree it says eg, intoxication is bad.) > What you said is wrong because it implies that suffering is NOT something we shoul…

Are you actually a beginner though? There are a lot of misunderstandings here. The Buddha never said that attachment is good. Also what is “True Self” or “Intentional Self”? Those are not Buddhist teachings. Buddhism isn’t about acting intentionally based on attachments, it’s about being totally liberated from them. Where exactly did you learn his interpretation of Buddhism?

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#353

Post by manmal »

WalterSear wrote: post #340
manmal wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you are discrediting without giving the actual reason?

No: you are dissembling.

I have no idea what you are hinting at. Making guesses at other people‘s intentions and spewing one-liners doesn’t exactly invite a discussion. If you don’t like to discuss, why post here?

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#354

Post by kibwen »

criticaltinker wrote: post #181
kibwen wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite often I find that Man suffers only because a second Man finds joy in the suffering of the first. Detachment will serve you well in alleviating the suffering that would otherwise arise from the uncaring, undirected whims of the universe, but will leave you unprepared at dealing with willful and directed malice.

In the spirit of curiosity and playfulness I would like to respond with a bold claim: The distinction between self and other is simply a concept. Certainly useful in many situations, but ultimately just one perspective - one tool at the mind’s disposal. One could reasonably argue this is the central teaching of Buddhism. Alan Watts helped articulate these ideas to western audiences in many of his lectures: “You see,…

I will respond with a bold claim of my own: vague platitudes such as this are a great way to instill a sense of learned helplessness that rationalizes suffering as "just the way the world is" while failing to acknowledge that the world can be changed to reduce the causes of suffering and not merely reduce the personal effect of suffering. This helplessness is perpetuated by those in positions of power as a means of effective societal control, which is to say, those who would stand to lose the most if their adherents realized the truth about who is the source of their suffering.

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#355

Post by rygxqpbsngav »

_bfhp wrote: post #59
rygxqpbsngav wrote: post #36

Bound to happen. Why do you think Buddha has to leave all his wealth and kingdom before even starting the journey of mindfulness, leaving everything behind? The western adaptation is reducing meditation and mindfulness to a "tool" of relieving stress and better ones mental well-being. As easy as downloading an app and stay calm for few minutes. Unfortunately, this is not ideal. The traditional way is to seek a guru w…

What a comment. A feast for the inner reply guy: > The traditional way is to seek a guru "The" way? According to whom? Did you do it? > Some even leave everything and go to forest or mountains to practice for years. Except the Buddha and his stories explicitly advised against asceticism... > they should practice "Raja Yoga" which is also a spiritual path where one raises their spiritual plane Again, according to who?…

- Why not Jesus? Because church bastardized Jesus so hard, they filled the whole fucking book with prruuuufs of his existence instead of teaching the essence of his thinking.

Stop wasting your time on Church and find better alternatives from the east.

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#356

Post by rygxqpbsngav »

unmole wrote: post #213
rygxqpbsngav wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you checked BiteCode_dev's response? And still think meditation is a "scientifically quantifiable practice"? Swami Vivekananda has a dedicated book on "Raja Yoga" in detail. I recommend - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.abdula.pra... app. I am a subscriber for years and this one has the authentic breathing patterns.

> authentic breathing patterns I'm sorry, what?

Yeah. I know even living in B'lore you are blind to your own culture. The authentic breathing techniques are passed on by so many practitioners and time-tested, unlike modern western crap.

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#358

Post by mtrower »

photochemsyn wrote: post #63

This is so subject to interpretation that it's almost meaningless. For example, consider the case of someone who takes up meditation and comes to the realization that they really hate their job. If they then quit their job and seek another position at the same or lower pay, are they being 'selfish'? On the one hand, if they've bought into the notion that "we are all a family here" and that loyalty to their employer i…

I don't really understand or agree with their focus on guilt as a motivator. They claim that a reduction in feelings of guilt led to a reduction in sincerity of apology.

> The practice had muted their feelings of guilt and, as a result, their willingness to make amends

Personally, I would say a sincere apology would be motivated by a person's objective belief that they had done wrong, not by their desire to soothe their feelings of guilt. But the whole situation seems of dubious value, as the person is being requested to write an apology (vs. offering one of their own motivation), and to a person they feel most guilty towards. In other words, this study seems pre-constructed (intentionally or not) to produce these results...

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#359

Post by rjh29 »

infogulch wrote: post #6
rjh29 wrote: post #5

10-20 minutes/day was enough to teach me how to be 'mindful' on demand and mitigated a lot of mild ADHD-type problems in my life (impatience, anger, finding queues unbearable, high sensitivity to noise etc.). I spent a few months doing more, and it may not be related, but I became increasingly detached from the outside world, more self-absorbed and less motivated. Spent a lot of time just sitting and being content wi…

A recent Dr K video tries to address this problem. I Meditated, Now I Don't Care Anymore - https://youtu.be/NnTLJtBr1zo

Kind of disappointed that the advice is basically "become spiritual, do your karmas, then you have a higher meaning to your life". So anyone who isn't spiritual should just stay depressed? My brain is incapable of thinking spiritually. There must be a way to achieve higher meaning to life, but I guess I'll have to look to others for guidance there.

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#360

Post by zeristor »

NateEag wrote: post #238
zeristor wrote: post #154

A bit off beam but I always thought it odd that Darth Vader used a meditation chamber to meditate in The Empire Strikes Back. It just seemed so strange that the key villain was practising mindfulness, yet not being very mindful.

...minor Star Wars nerd here: It's a pressure chamber. He uses it so he can take off his pressure suit / armor for a bit without dying. IIRC it wasn't about meditation at all.

Yes I was checking up after posting, it has been referred to as a meditation chamber, but was actually a way for hime to take the life support system off.

What is he going to do in there though? Does he have a PlayStation set up?

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