May 22, 2020
I had a go at mapping early Buddhist practice systematically. It’s over-simplified, of course, despite the fact that I couldn’t get it to look as elegant as I’d wanted. There’s a lot missing, such as the brahmaviharas’ value as concentration and insight practices, and their role in facing off against the hindrances. Some of the […]
October 1, 2019
Social media creates an illusion that the world is wrapped in layers of information. We start to think and act in accordance with the idea that reality involves posting photos of ourselves, seeing what our friends did on holiday and writing about what we’re thinking. When we abstain from doing this after some years, the world feels like a claustrophobic dream in which […]
June 12, 2019
Matthew Crawford’s book, The World Beyond Your Head, has some important lessons for maintaining clarity and sanity in a world of proliferating distractions. In meditation circles, it’s common knowledge that prolonged stability of attention can create the conditions for deep insights to arise. However, we live in societies where attention is being monetised and manipulated by […]
June 11, 2019
If we believe that consciousness is the only ground of meaning and value (i.e. a universe without any conscious beings to experience it might as well not exist) then three conclusions may follow. 1) There would be nothing more worthwhile doing than enriching the conscious experience of self and others through activities like philosophy, meditation, […]
February 3, 2016
In the co-ordinator’s office of the meditation centre where I’m volunteering, there’s a piece of wood engraved with the following: A beautiful day. It will not come again. As a call to appreciation, it seemed more urgent than carpe diem. This came home to me while looking out of the window of a bathroom on the […]
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