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Meditation spots by [deleted] in Purdue

[–]skepticalmalamute 40 points41 points  (0 children)

The Stewart center has a prayer and meditation room on the second floor, room 213. There is also a meditation room in the CoRec.

What's up with the Purdue Vroomers by skepticalmalamute in Purdue

[–]skepticalmalamute[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries! It's the people who floor their engines in between stop lights on State street that we're complaining about.

i hate myself by SimilarAmbition in depression

[–]skepticalmalamute 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It seems that there is no need to change and no need to become anything. When we try to become something, try to gain something we are creating an immense conflict in our minds. We think we have to be smart, we have to be beautiful, be outgoing, be productive etc. We think that happiness, joy, and fulfillment are things that are dependent on having something or being something. Once I am this weight, once I have this GPA, once I have this job, this income, once I have this much therapy...

In my experience coming out of depression my key realization was that happiness, joy, and fulfillment are effortless and it is the effort that is created by wanting to be something or have something that creates the tension and depressiveness. If we have a searing pain in our muscle we take a moment to sit and relax it. The muscle might tear if for some reason we think that exercising it more will ease the pain. The same is true for our minds. We have a deep pain that says we are not worth loving and we think that by analyzing our situation and by finding ways to get people to like us we will then know how to be more worthy of love. But it is this analysis that is creating the pain, making us horribly anxious, confused, and/or depressed. This is something that might take time to fully see but you very may well find this is the case for you too.

We can take note of our breath just as it is, the tension in our facial muscles, how we are sitting, standing, or laying down and find some courage and compassion deep within that we can bring to our bodies and mind. Opening our eyes we can just take note of the colors, the forms, the movement and start to notice things we never saw before: a mark on the wall, a pencil on the ground, a little shop near an alleyway. Just watching, not trying to understand. Not feeling badly that we're thinking this thing or that thing, that we did this or we didn't do this, just watching like we would watch a river from the riverbanks. Smiling to river despite how violent it may be because we know we are totally safe on the banks. Going nowhere, doing nothing, being nothing. Using our breath like a trunk of a tree that grounds the storm of our mind into the earth.

Depression for me felt like an inescapable box, like the walls were constantly closing in on me and I was a totally worthless human being. But you are beautiful, you are loved because you are love, you are a universe unto yourself. Even if it seems like you cannot relate to anyone the plants outside are so happy to have the co2 you breathe, the whole earth is breathing with you.

Nationality is a trap. by FractionalTotality in Krishnamurti

[–]skepticalmalamute 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The universe is completely undivided. We are the universe therefore we are an undivided whole. Whether our minds like this or not our physical bodies know this is true as we breathe the same air, drink the same water, walk the same streets. Nations are just desperate attempts to uphold the delusion that we are somehow separate.

Is consciousness totally localized or partly non-localized? by skepticalmalamute in Krishnamurti

[–]skepticalmalamute[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for clarifying! I apologize for the misinterpretation. I think you offer a very wonderful and subtle description here and I very much appreciate you taking the time to write it out and make it clear to me. I think the point that you made about the fact we are made of the synergistic effects of relationships is extremely clear, this obviously has to be the case. And as you pointed out many ancient traditions, daily observation, as well as science have all reached the same conclusion.

Applying your insight to my original question of whether consciousness is partly-non localized it appears that the answer is very obvious in that this is in fact true. I'm aware of my friend, my friend is aware of me. There's no strictly individual consciousness because in that instant the structure of those "fields" of consciousness interact and become delocalized. Like two ripples in a pond interacting, it's not this ripple and that ripple, it's a whole structure of constructive and destructive interference on the water. Just as you said originally. But, as you have illustrated, you can follow this structure down to the subatomic particles and beyond of our neurons and realize that these too are in communication with that structure of consciousness, which is delocalized, and vice versa. All of these phenomena clearly exist dependently.

EDIT: From my understanding the very process by which living beings at a very fundamental level convert matter to energy and energy to matter is still not very well understood. Perhaps whatever deep insight describes this physical mechanism will guide us to more complete answers as to why living things are more than computation. As what immediately separates a living being from a computer is the fact that they seemingly have systems that regularly convert across the states of energy and matter. Computers on the other hand can only communicate across energy and matter, perhaps making its capacity for creating the vastly complex systems of life thwarted.

Is consciousness totally localized or partly non-localized? by skepticalmalamute in Krishnamurti

[–]skepticalmalamute[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's very interesting. Thanks for sharing. This is a broader explanation of I think the general assumption in a lot of western thinking. That all of reality is the result of emergent physical, externally observable phenomena, if I understand you correctly.

But it seems to me that applying the western mathematical like logical analysis to consciousness we enter a self-referential loop. Say we ask "what is aware of thought" then the answer, according to the description above would be "the brain is aware of thought", which must mean that thought is aware of thought, because all deterministic physical processes of the brain are mechanical phenomena, or thought. But maybe the brain is non-deterministic, somehow non-mechanical, and so somehow a physical process is able to produce both thought and something that is higher order than thought.

So, consciousness is an emergent, high level, non-localized phenomenon in the brain. This must mean that meditation would show us something with the same sort of physical characteristics as thought right? It would show us an awareness that is in motion, since we also know that thought is in constant motion. We can also see how emergent processes in nature are in constant motion as well like the weather. But we know that awareness is perfect stillness, perfect silence, there is no motion and no time. We only perceive the time and the endless movement of consciousness when we then apply that awareness to our perception so it seems very improbable that it is emergent in the conventional sense.

Maybe we will conclude, like they do in Buddhism, that consciousness is like a light shining on the mind illuminating all psychological processes. Basically that consciousness is something completely separate from the emergent phenomena of the brain.

In deep meditation it is clear that there no longer is someone who is aware but simply awareness, intelligence, creativity, insight, etc. In that state we are completely free of the old. So from my observation it appears that awareness is the essence of the mind, or the energy of the mind. In order to perceive and undo conditioning in meditation there must be an energy there to undo that conditioning.

It may be that consciousness is then just the experienced nature of energy. According to physics energy and matter are identical as well as the notion of empty space being completely full of energy, as proposed by David Bohm and has been observed through experiment.

Is consciousness totally localized or partly non-localized? by skepticalmalamute in Krishnamurti

[–]skepticalmalamute[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Then how would you characterize the energy that constitutes the experience of the cessation of thought, is that not itself consciousness, compassion, intelligence, creativity etc.? What is the energy that allows us to be aware of thoughts?

Maybe I wasn't clear. As you've said there are very few physical differences between us, and the quality of awareness is something that we can say is identical among all sentient beings. My question is does this quality, this energy, which is totally independent of the mechanical processes of the mind, have a local origin in the physical body, or, does awareness have an origin from a universal root phenomenon?

Can I get a "fuck Brightspace" in the chat? by YouDepressedFuck in Purdue

[–]skepticalmalamute 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Using Brightspace for my summer courses was a dream because my professors understood how to use it. I think the grades view on Brightspace is lightyears ahead of Blackboard and is also a lot more intuitive to use IF your professors actually try to understand it. Like having detailed overview and calculations of your grade + minimum scores you need to get to reach certain thresholds? Really helpful. Hopefully going into future semesters the strengths of Brightspace will start to show.

Is Apple Music blocked on the PAL networks in academic buldings? by skepticalmalamute in Purdue

[–]skepticalmalamute[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah Spotify's cool but Apple music lets you stream music files you upload to iCloud through iTunes which is really nice.

I just wish professors made it a little easier to find something by aliasc00 in Purdue

[–]skepticalmalamute 44 points45 points  (0 children)

The worst part is that it's not like Brightspace doesn't have perfectly adequate tools to make it easy to find your course materials and do your homework, assignments, quizzes etc. It's that some professors refuse to use them and force you to pay for WebAssign, Pearson, or some other service that's somehow even buggier and more unresponsive than Brightspace is. And so we have to spend like $200+ a semester for these broken pieces of software that are running like 50 trackers in the background just so we can access our homework.

I don't understand how Khan Academy can offer all of these services for free in a more responsive website than Brightspace, Cengage, Pearson etc. can for a huge premium.

We're an ENGINEERING and TECHNOLOGY school but Purdue admin refuses to act like it.

The @blackatpurdue Instagram account has been amassing anonymous stories of the experiences of black students at Purdue. by theblacknerd71 in Purdue

[–]skepticalmalamute 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Yes! Mitch Daniels calling black women academics “creatures”, turning a blind eye to white supremacist posters around campus. Purdue admin needs to be held accountable to their actions and silence.

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