synthesis

Stock traders? Are you telling me that you have bought into the narrative that everybody who is successful is so because they were born into it? You a...

According to St. Augustine, time is everything.

There are many types of meditation and some are designed to bring joy, but this is not Zen (which I believe gets to the core). The idea in Zen is to s...

This is why it is (generally speaking) important to have (qualified) teachers attempt to explain things which resist intellectualization (which is pre...

There are many interpretations of "release" in Eastern thought. To me, the only one which makes sense is it's essence, the mind which is still, accept...

I believe you equate success with wealth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most wealthy people I have known over the years are pretty miserabl...

Because it can be a stepping stone to more important endeavors. The study of philosophy should not be taught in universities but instead it should be ...

Right-wing propaganda? No, I believe this is common sense. Do you see everything through your political spectacles? If you have achieved any success i...

Miguel, there is good and bad in all things. You chose to see only the bad in that which you don't particularly like and only the good in that you do ...

Meditation, like everything else, is a circle game. You end up back where you started with a new perspective. One of the last things to let go of is t...

You can not intervene in 8+B people's lives to secure whatever outcome you believe would be ideal, but you can work towards maximizing opportunity and...

Exactly. And what does the university have to do with it?

One of the issues many meditators deal with is the divide you accurately describe above, that is, existing in the relative (intellectual) when in the ...

I came to Zen after a very intensive five year philosophical journey that rendered me completely spent (intellectually). My introductory (Zen) reading...

The key here is, "end up."

Interesting. There is no doubt that a great deal is going on outside of our consciousness (and as a matter of pure speculation, I would suggest that p...

It is said that you end up with the partner you truly deserve.

Even if you thought it to be advantageous, there is no way to equalize outcome. The more people try, the worse things get. What you can do is maximize...

What do you mean by this?

cp, you need to grow-up. Thanks for the conversation.

Of course it is. The intellect can only point toward meaning, never convey truth. Have you ever been in love? Can you TELL me what that is about? Ther...

cp, thank you for making my case. Cause and effect. Considering the idea that even the simplest of things is caused by an infinite number of events pr...

Says who? Sounds like psycho-babble to me. What you can learn, takes place before your critical thinking mind engages. Once it kicks-in, it alters rea...

You are correct in a real sense, what the point?, but we don't live in the real (either reality or reality), we live in the intellectual human world, ...

Let's say you are driving down the freeway with thousands of other happy motorists. On this particular morning, traffic is moving quite rapidly (say 8...

Facts only exist momentarily (as all things are changing). This means that by the time you are able to conceive of such, then process such into a fact...

I didn't say that truth doesn't matter. I just said there are different versions of the truth (aren't you married? :) You only see one truth. I see tw...

These would be questions best posed to a teacher, but... Please understand that Zen is nothing special. The student is cultivating awareness and it is...

I can only relate my own meditation experience (please keep in mind that I am not a Zen teacher and there are many types of meditation). In Zen, the o...

I don't know anybody who does not take science very seriously (even the devoutly religious). Perhaps it is you who has raised science above the gods, ...

Despite the trillions in reserves, I believe this is going to continue to be a deflationary depression-like event (excepting asset prices) for all the...

So far, you have established that you are an expert in both Zen practice and medicine. I. OTOH, who have practiced Zen over three decades and medicine...

...the 11th year. What most people fail to realize is that the crisis (the lying, cheating, and stealing that has defined the past 50 years) has alrea...

Trying to explain Zen to somebody is like attempting to explain Love to somebody who has never experienced it. I apologize for doing a poor job. I am ...

When things get this ugly, the trick is to become as independent as you can by simplifying your life economically and otherwise. If possible, tune it ...

What a mental midget. This guy should be on the Mt. Rushmore of complete and total dirt-bags.

Now we have arrived at the heart of the matter. "How do you know?" I don't know. But then again, I don't have to know. What you do know (getting back ...

It would be difficult to imagine that there is an activity more over-rated that thinking.

There are two types, Reality and reality. If we can agree ( for this conversation), Reality is things just as they truly are. The problem is that we h...

Let me help you out a bit. I consider myself a philosophical anarchist (neither right nor left) and, as well, have been a dedicated Zen student for ov...

I see two types of reality. The first is Absolute Reality, unknowable intellectually, unchangeable, existent outside of time. The other is our persona...

Nothing wrong with that. So many people have no idea what to believe in. You might want to balance that burden with something a bit lighter...nearly a...

There is moral relativism (to which you refer) and just plain ole relative (to which I refer). You cannot deny that things are relative. And although ...

Yeah, I think we have, but I do understand. And I am responding but it's not what you wish to hear. cp, you're a smart guy, so I could argue with you ...

There's an equal amount of good and bad in everything.

Perhaps this is just your experience. It makes a great deal of sense to me that what you can know happens before your critical thinking engages becaus...

What kind of personal privileges?

It would seem to me that most "overt" prejudice is ignorance or fear. We all suffer from ignorance to a great degree but it is fear that seems to caus...

Please excuse my torpor as I have not read every post but I believe you must make the distinction between pre-judging and judging. Pre-judging would s...

Absolutely. Watching your thoughts come and go is a critical learning process. In the meditation process itself, the historical Buddha chose sitting m...