ajasatya

the proper way to practice mindfulness can hardly be spoken. there is a HUGE difference between observing thoughts and dwelling in thoughts. the former is a practice of detachment and the later is imaginative. i would say that concentration is a more general term. mindfulness is concentration on what happens NOW. they are more of less the same thing. self inquiry is something else. it's a linguistic process that leads to the absence of language. which one is better? it depends on your current specific cause of suffering. "ego is causing me suffering" does not qualify as a specific cause of suffering.

3~4 years of diligent practice. 24/7 mindfulness + retreats.

it doesn't surprise me. they probably suffer more than bankers as well.

yes. but that's just one example.

the wisest and most conscious people can be gardeners, chiefs, monks, academics etc... it has very little to do with the profession. it's much more about how you define (or rather, not define) yourself. there's nothing wrong/bad/diminishing as long as you do good service to society. there are some corrupted professions, though. a wise person would never pay the bills by selling pleasure through his/her body.

yes. contentment is a byproduct of enlightenment work. but it's not the whole thing.

@SoonHei what says goodbye?

@Kiko your "boss" is completely lost in the ego game. just because you're new in the company, he's feeling superior to you, as if he were a superior human being or something like that. there are no superior human beings. we're all born from mother and father and doomed to death. your boss to will die and so will you. everyone is on the same boat.

@Satchidananda ready to let all of that go?

@theking00 who is it that wants to "remove the ego"? you can have some experiences of ego death. but in the end, you can only learn to appreciate Life.

@Cody_Atzori the heart and the guts are big nodes of the nervous system and they heavily influence the decisions "you make". intelligence is ALL OVER THE BODY.

i couldn't have said it better than you did. thank you. this is so complicated to explain that i don't even try.

you have to understand who you are. that's it... the actions of your parents, grandparents, grandgrandparents and their friends and parents and sisters and brothers... that's karma that influences your life. and what you do will influence the life of many to come. what is the relationship between you, your parents and your grandparents? who are you? who are your parents? who am i and who is the dog? what is Life?

challenge them. be scientific about it. ask people why they did or didn't do certain things. you'll see that if you just sit down and close your eyes, the world will keep spinning by itself. it's not working against you nor for you. the world just is.

no thoughts

@Major Tom big ego time. it will pass. "everything around me is trying to fuck with me" "everything around was made to serve my purposes" most people pick one of those 2. both of them are huge traps. but very common traps indeed.

nah i just use my pc. i don't like devices with touchscreens either.

@kieranperez i'm uncomfortable with non-digital material in general. pdf files are true gems of mankind!

@LoNatural when it comes down to breeding and raising children, don't do it if you don't have a crystal clear understanding of what you're doing. that is my piece of advice.

@Jkris it's too easy to understand. the easiest (and, of course, paradoxical) way is by giving up.

@Aakash i think you are too identified with this idea of identification give up already. you're falling for a mind game.

as we mature and grow older, the concept of "attraction" changes a lot. physical attraction is light-years away from being enough to make an intimate relationship last. this is my perspective: if both aren't fully engaged in personal development and self-mastery, the relationship is already doomed.

nope. you have to find it yourself. if you haven't found it yet, look somewhere else.

@CreamCat don't get emotionally involved. you don't seem to be doing much better than them...

@EternalForest how come you are alive right now? figure that out and you'll know about death.