Ancient Hindus ‘thought that the purpose of religious practice was to release the atman from the prison of the physical body’ (Okumura 2010, 189). Mahayana Buddhism, on the other hand, regards the life of the bodymind is an expression of the buddha-nature. Okumura (2010, 152) says that ‘our bodhisattva practice takes place within the world of desire, walking with all beings.’ Continue reading Sauntering to the Pole
Talk normal?
Practice makes polyversity. As you get into the habit of using a term for a more or less definite purpose within a range of situations, its connection to its object seems so natural that it requires a real effort to see that it is only one of many connections that could become habitual. This tends to blind us to the fact that someone else may be “used to” using the same sign for a different purpose, or using a different sign for the same purpose.
Musement and meditation
When you make your mind one-pointed through regular practice of meditation, you will find the supreme glory of the Lord.
— Bhagavad Gita (Easwaran 126)
Do good
In a story told by Ta Hui (J.C. Cleary 1977, 4) and Dogen, a famous elder statesman and poet visited the Zen Master Dorin and asked him, ‘What is the great meaning of Buddhism?’ Continue reading Do good
Da! Da! Da!
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad V.ii.1-3:
Gods, men, and asuras – all three descendants of Prajapati – lived with him for a time as students.Then the gods said: ‘Teach us, sir!’ Continue reading Da! Da! Da!
No fooling
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
— Richard Feynman (from lecture given at the Galileo Symposium in Italy, 1964).
Bodymind evolves
Suppose we define ‘self’ as the boundary between internal and external worlds. Its social function then is to manifest the individual person in the social milieu; but this also means concealing the primal person behind the mask of individuality. Continue reading Bodymind evolves
Watch yourself
A trustworthy guidance system must include some self-monitoring as part of its reality and source monitoring. This is necessary not only for consciousness but also for creativity, in order to prevent getting into endless loops or mindless ruts (Hofstadter 1995, 311; Sloman and Chrisley in Holland 2003, 157). ‘Jumping out of the loop’ is an aspect of resurrection, arising, revelation, recreation out of dead routine. Continue reading Watch yourself
Synself
Like Peirce, but by a route neither religious nor synechistic, the physicist Erwin Schrödinger embraced the idea of a Universal Self. Continue reading Synself
Dialogues in the brain
From Peirce’s semiotic point of view, all ‘thinking is necessarily a sort of dialogue’ between ‘the momentary self’ and a future self (recall Chapter 2). More recently, neuroscientific studies suggest that the very experience of selfhood may be grounded in a dialogue within the brain. Continue reading Dialogues in the brain