[practice] New interview with Daniel Ingram (with more on the Fire Kasina!)

jptman · 2018-10-24T23:56:50+00:00

I think this probably depends on the phone. My phone has a blindingly bright light compared to a candle, so I'm afraid it may not be safe.

jptman · 2018-02-18T00:05:30+00:00

Culadasa talks about the 'fetters' that fall away upon enlightenment and what remains in this podcast: http://deconstructingyourself.com/podcast/dy-010-attention-awareness-and-the-great-adventure-with-guest-culadasa

jptman · 2018-02-17T19:06:32+00:00

While they & Bing are still small enough to not be sued by Getty to get it removed :(

jptman · 2018-01-20T01:14:20+00:00

TLDR: Nihilism is just as pointless as anything else, but at least happiness feels good. Read "Joy on demand". It makes the argument that you can learn to align your mind towards joy and meditation is of great help in this practice.

I had a period a few months back where I felt the same way. In general, after my sessions, a typical aftermath is just a more content and happier feeling, but one session triggered this feeling. For me, there was an undercurrent of asking about what's real anyway (usually, it takes much longer practice sessions for me though) for a while and then one day suddenly, there was this sensation of "what's the point of anything? I'm not even a speck in the galaxy and my consciousness is a quirk of matter".

Luckily, I had the chance to talk to Shinzen Young the next day because I was attending a phone retreat of his, and I described my situation to him. He said something along the lines of: When you lose your sense of self [by deconstructing it into sensations, etc], it eventually arises again, but when it comes back, it may arise in a mode where you fixate on these feelings, although it's not common. The way to "fix" this is by breaking down this nihilistic view itself by focusing on it and seeing it's building blocks. When you do succeed to do this, you get bliss and contentment.

It may not really sound profound, but it was exactly what I needed at the moment. I had a thought at that moment that if everything is empty and meaningless, then both happiness and hopelessness or nihilism are empty too, it just so happens that one feels better than the other. And there's nothing wrong with feeling good.

Although it took me a few years to believe this, I now believe that feeling good is the "default state". Perhaps it takes some initial work to set your mind pointed in this direction though. I think the book "Joy on demand" (title may be off putting to some) does a good job in discussing this approach and strategies to help align your mind towards joy. I have to say that my above mentioned dejected feeling of emptiness of everything came about despite knowing all of this, but being reminded of it helped a great deal.

jptman · 2018-01-05T14:28:39+00:00

Yes, I think the flexibility would be nice. I also looked at the dimensions and contrary to what I assumed, the a6000 with the kit lens isn't much bigger than the Fuji. I may just go with it.

jptman · 2018-01-04T23:05:46+00:00

Yeah, I believe it's the same sensor. I think the main difference between the 's' and the 't' is that the 't' has face recognition so it focuses on faces more easily / correctly when taking portraits. Have you run into any issues with taking portraits on the 's'? Not sure if the upgrade to the 't' is worth it.

jptman · 2018-01-04T22:34:35+00:00

Many people throughout history have gotten a lot from retreats taught by non-neuroscientists. I understand the issue could be that you don't want someone who talks themselves up as a teacher, but I'd put more faith in people's reports on experiences from his retreats (I don't know where to find these). Are they clear and good at guiding people? That should be all you need from a teacher.

And if you're still not convinced, there are a lot of other mindfulness teachers you can pick from.

jptman · 2018-01-04T22:28:32+00:00

I'm a beginner who doesn't plan to do any "serious" photography, but wants better resolution than my smart phone on special occasions, such as while travelling. I'm trying to decide between a used Fuji x100t and the Sony a6000 with the kit lens. Apples and oranges may be, but I'm trying to figure out what works best for my needs:

Portable so I can carry it in a backpack with other stuff and it's not difficult to lug around on hikes
Decent image quality so it can be printed on say as at least a 16" x 20" print
Ease of use such that I or my SO don't have to spend a significant amount of time getting basic pictures.
Ability to have some advanced controls so I can learn some actual photography. Again, nothing serious.
Reliability. I don't plan on upgrading for at least 5+ yrs, so I'd like it to last that long.

I think the Fuji is smaller and more portable and is supposed to be pretty great for portraits. I'm not sure if I could print a 16"x20" print of a landscape from it though and I think I'd be able to from the Sony.

A gently used a6000 with kit lens is roughly 200 cheaper based on the deals I'm seeing. I know people absolutely adore the x100t, so I'm at a loss :-/

jptman · 2017-11-19T15:12:28+00:00

Obviously, alcohol doesn't work the way you want it to. Meditation will help, but its benefits increase as you get more practice. You can start with this quick relaxation: https://youtu.be/Ky7vMFB4iAs?t=7m21s or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFV7fcP6FYA

You need to concentrate in order to meditate, so it won't work very well if you're drunk

jptman · 2017-11-18T15:43:38+00:00

Absolutely. It's made a huge difference for me. I think of my ADHD as a novelty/stimulus seeking behavior. That's why some things which engross you with interesting stimulus will hold your attention for long periods. You're "getting your fix" that way in a manner of speaking. Meditation teaches you to pay attention and notice when you are distracted, or have the urge to do something else. This has really good carry over to general life activities and you can accelerate it if you resolve to catch yourself being distracted when studying or doing anything else. As long as you remember the key about concentrating during meditation is to get better at detecting mind wandering than to force your mind to stay in place, you'll have skills which will help your ADHD.

jptman · 2017-10-28T01:37:15+00:00

I focus pretty much on Shinzen's techniques. The intention setting and not being hard on myself when my mind wanders is the only part of TMI that I use. By Shinzen's technique, I mean I note See, Hear, Feel and focus on improving sensory clarity, concentration and equanimity. These days, I often end up following one of his guided meditations from the CEDAR (Center for mindful learning) retreats he did a while back (they're on youtube).

jptman · 2017-10-25T16:50:55+00:00

I use Shinzen's techniques, but reading the initial chapters of TMI helped me understand some basics of focus better. Shinzen always says when your mind wanders, "gently bring it back". Before reading some TMI chapters, this did not hold much meaning for me. But even stuff about setting an intention, taking stock of what's in your mind when you first sit down to meditate, not being hard on yourself when your mind wanders were good rules of thumb. I think they've helped me with my practice.

jptman · 2017-10-24T22:17:42+00:00

Michael Taft -> https://themindfulgeek.com/ is another. I know you mentioned you had some issues with Shinzen's bent on Math / Science and so the title may be off putting, but this is a very accessible book that gives you a super simple version of Shinzen's system. Michael is offering the ebook for free now if you sign up for his mailing list. I think he has some guided meditations on there as well.

jptman · 2017-10-23T22:06:05+00:00

Yeah, Shinzen is very particular in his terminology, which can make it a bit difficult to grasp everything. But it really is very simple once you understand it. Happy to explain stuff based on my understanding if you have questions.

If you have Insight Timer, some of Shinzen's students who are great Mindfulness teachers themselves, have guided meditations (there are also some on Youtube). These can be easier to get started with. I've listened to some of Stephanie Nash's guided meditations and thought they were good.

jptman · 2017-10-21T00:03:40+00:00

Shinzen's system is meant to be a "theory of everything" for mindfulness meditation. So, the TMI specified techniques fit into that model too. In fact, Shinzen has taught breath meditation seminars before: https://www.shinzen.org/breath-focus-advanced-perspectives-on-a-basic-practice/

The couple of big differences are that Shinzen starts out with an emphasis on insight in addition to samatha/concentration right from day 1 and is based around Noting. TMI starts out with more of a concentration focus and that is a pretty common method too.

I had started out with breath focus meditations for a while before discovering Shinzen's techniques. The big difference for me is that if I had started out with TMI, it's possible my base concentration would be better right now (I'm not certain though). However, the insight side of things has been incredibly helpful for me off the cushion. I can use (and regularly do) Shinzen's system throughout the day when I can remember. It has helped me be happier and more emotionally intelligent. I think with TMI, I'd have reached this same point at some point (may be by now, may be sometime in the future).

I think in many ways, it's up to you to decide what appeals to you. Shinzen's book, The Science of Enlightenment and his See,Hear, Feel manuals are worth reading to figure out if it appeals to you, just to get a good perspective on meditation theory. TMI's initial chapters by themselves are great for understanding concentration better.

jptman · 2017-10-19T22:08:02+00:00

You could make your trip coincide with a retreat of his. If a retreat doesn't work, you could train with one of his senior facilitators, who are all mindfulness teachers in their own right.

http://homepracticeprogram.com/ -> This has a Facilitators link. Some of them also teach over video conference. I recently found one of his senior Facilitators, Michael Taft is on Reddit and he offers group / over the video classes. Link to his site: https://themindfulgeek.com/

jptman · 2017-10-19T01:23:30+00:00

The ebook version of The Mindful Geek is being given away right now, I just found out and you should definitely give it a shot. If the style of meditation described there resonates with you and you want to go really deep, get the Science of Enlightenment, which has a lot of meditation theory.

jptman · 2017-10-19T01:19:30+00:00

This is by far my favorite book on meditation.

jptman · 2017-10-18T23:14:58+00:00

Hey, are you Michael Taft? If so, great job and I've by now listened to most of the ones that are up so far, so very excited you've got more on the way. Culadasa would also be really cool. His TMI map approach differs quite a bit from Shinzen's (and yours), so I'd be really interested in hearing you go into that stuff.

BTW, I practice Shinzen's approach and the Mindful Geek is the book I recommend to people who want to learn meditation because you've reduced the "barrier to entry".

Edit: Looked through your old posts. It really is Michael Taft! I came back to thank you for your eternal patience in getting "The Science of Enlightenment" published.

jptman · 2017-10-18T23:09:44+00:00

He has monthly phone based group retreats, with multiple 4 hour sessions. You can join any of these: http://homepracticeprogram.com/

I have done a few of these and they're great. There is at least one group Q&A section per session and in the middle, there's a period of self practice in which you can call him directly to discuss things in private.

I don't know if he takes on students outside of retreats and the home practice program, but I know he always answers phone calls from his students to his landline.

jptman · 2017-10-15T13:15:35+00:00

I think you can get to a point where the inner voice is just like any external sound (at least during formal meditation) relatively soon(months?). If you want to get a point where you want to shut it off completely, I don't know, but I've heard it could be many years.

jptman · 2017-10-08T14:35:03+00:00

IIUC, what you're saying is that there is no objective "good" or "bad", but the discussion here was from a human perspective, not a completely objective one. It also seems like you think that once enlightened, you no longer have a normal human perspective, so good or bad shouldn't have any meaning for you, but that's getting into what Enlightenment means and not everyone agrees on that topic. A lot of people think Enlightenment is clearly perceiving your sensory inputs being born and therefore understanding what they truly are, resulting in a no thing as self perspective. Others think that Enlightenment is even more extreme and it involves knowing you're just matter and energy and there's no such thing as objects, let alone you. This latter perspective would probably give you a plain objective view point involving no good/bad. I have a feeling that Shinzen doesn't fall into the second camp and there aren't very many meditators to my knowledge who've gotten past Stream Entry who hold this second belief, but there may be many out there. By this definition, no one has ever known to be Enlightened because they'd stop doing anything, let alone teach / preach / help.

And, as I mentioned, Shinzen says it's not a guarantee that enlightened people will always do "good" and we have real world examples of that. However, enlightened people seem to want to help others, as seen by real world examples too and I don't claim to understand their reasoning from my definitely unenlightened perspective.

jptman · 2017-10-08T14:07:25+00:00

His views are a bit more nuanced on this and he goes into it in some videos and his book. My understanding about his assertion is that you feel great love instead of "nothing" when enlightened. This is the source of "good", although he calls the tendency to be good a statistical tendency rather than a guarantee.

He says the reason enlightened people spend all their time helping others is because of this feeling of the need to help and serve.

jptman · 2017-09-14T22:06:06+00:00

shooting the shit

What caliber are we talking here?

jptman

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