tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62806854706348758372024-03-14T19:10:57.798+11:00Dr Ian Ellis-Jones ... Living Mindfully NowNOTE. This blog is in recess. Nevertheless, you will find here over 500 of my posts exploring many aspects of spirituality, mindfulness, psychology, philosophy, literature and the performing arts. A member of the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association, I lectured at the NSW Institute of Psychiatry (now the mental health portfolio of HETI) for 14 years and at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) for 16 years. Mindfully yours, Ian Ellis-Jones PhD. 26 July 2021.Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.comBlogger504125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-64056861936029309182021-04-16T09:41:00.005+10:002021-04-17T06:38:43.543+10:00THE ESSENCE OF MEDITATION<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;">There are so many
different methods and techniques of meditation. Which is best?</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;">Well, a good answer is
that question is, whichever works for you. However, let's explore the subject of meditation a bit further.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;">As for me, I like what
that great iconoclast and saboteur of conventional wisdom <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti">J. Krishnamurti</a>, pictured below, had
to say about the matter. He warned against using any sort of method or
technique, for all such things are simply conditioning, thought and the past. In
my posts on this blog I have often recounted the following famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen">Zen</a> story. A disciple says to
the master, ‘I have been four months with you, and you have still given me no
method or technique.’ The master says, ‘A method? What on earth would you want
a method for?’ The disciple says, ‘To attain inner freedom.’ The master roars
with laughter, and then says, ‘You need great skill indeed to set yourself free
by means of the trap called a method.’</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAEf_81rywyt1_iX1o50ORl2wKCoOAm21WBIUDsRY_txdyoGwQWB__iVl9Mbct4eP-bFtvO06QJCurnqdJGVYBduUSmp3VCE_LcTVCL8nzTsGTzCUDkOwG7cS_BUlWrNgSOeYV5LYO-4/s343/jiddu-krishnamurti.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="258" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAEf_81rywyt1_iX1o50ORl2wKCoOAm21WBIUDsRY_txdyoGwQWB__iVl9Mbct4eP-bFtvO06QJCurnqdJGVYBduUSmp3VCE_LcTVCL8nzTsGTzCUDkOwG7cS_BUlWrNgSOeYV5LYO-4/s320/jiddu-krishnamurti.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Krishnamurti spoke and
wrote much on the subject of meditation even though he never taught any
particular system or type of meditation other than the awareness of both the
world and the whole movement of oneself. True meditation, he would say, is
a choiceless awareness applied it to one’s whole day, indeed one’s whole life.<span class="apple-converted-space"> In a similar vein </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Watts"><span style="background: white;">Alan
Watts</span></a><span style="background: white;"> wrote that meditation is </span><span style="background-color: white;">‘the discovery that the point of life is
always arrived at in the immediate moment’. </span></span><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">Whatever life may be, it
is all </span><em>here now</em><span style="background-color: white;">,
and all we have to do is to learn to perceive it </span><em>here and now</em><span style="background-color: white;">. We need to
see each thing as it really is – as a </span><em>new</em><span style="background-color: white;"> moment.</span></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;">Meditation is being
aware of every thought and feeling, just watching and moving with them, without
judgment, but only with choiceless awareness. It occurs when the mind
understands its own movement as thought and feeling with complete attention,
for meditation demands an extraordinarily alert mind, a state of mind which
looks at </span><em>everything</em><span style="background: white;"> with complete, but bare, attention, a state of mind
that is entirely </span><em>free </em><span style="background: white;">and </span><em>unconditioned</em><span style="background: white;">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;">Krishnamurti saw
meditation as a </span><em>lifelong</em><span style="background: white;"> inquiry into what it means to be truly </span><em>present </em><span style="background: white;">and </span><em>aware</em><span style="background: white;">. Meditation occurs when you live in the </span><em>action</em><span style="background: white;"> of the present moment, as opposed to the so-called
present moment itself, for the moment you say the </span><em>present</em><span style="background: white;"> moment you are in the </span><em>past</em><span style="background: white;">, you are involved in </span><em>memory</em><span style="background: white;">, and thus </span><em>not </em><span style="background: white;">living in the present moment. One can only be said to live in
the present when the mind is free from all ideas of ‘self’. When you have the
idea of ‘self’ (that is, mental images of ‘I’ and ‘me’) you are living either in the past or
in the imagined or expected future. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;">In a state of choiceless awareness and ever-presence, the observer
and the observed are one. Any sense of duality disappears. The one life that manifests itself in all things, as all things, is experienced in all its fullness.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #073763;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">RELATED POSTS</span><br /><br /></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/10/krishnamurti-and-mindfulness.html"><b>KRISHNAMURTI AND THE TRUE ESSENCE OF
MINDFULNESS</b></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
</span></b><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/08/mindfulness-psychological-mutation-and.html"><b>MINDFULNESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL
MUTATION AND HEALING</b></a><b><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><h3 style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2012/11/perhaps-most-important-spiritual.html">PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL
PRINCIPLE OF THEM ALL</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></i></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><h3 style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2019/11/dont-let-your-past-hold-you-back.html">DON’T LET YOUR PAST HOLD YOU BACK!</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></i></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><h3 style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/10/mindfulness-is-pathless-land.html">MINDFULNESS IS A PATHLESS LAND</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></i></span></h3><h3 style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
</p><h3 style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2014/06/what-type-of-meditation-is-best.html"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>WHAT TYPE OF MEDITATION IS BEST?</i></span></a><i><u><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></i></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXfEgfVuc76xMzsNAnPWWf6k-nX6RfHDNtveUjqYdZ11IM444grFKFhPtwY7GKj2l63eSQM3PEL04vHOOvGCbEqBYqEd5cgiBls0buuV1U1fm-22KKF3AXQIlCHkKAE60IwEPee9qdFo/s118/Green_Lotus_very_small.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="106" data-original-width="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXfEgfVuc76xMzsNAnPWWf6k-nX6RfHDNtveUjqYdZ11IM444grFKFhPtwY7GKj2l63eSQM3PEL04vHOOvGCbEqBYqEd5cgiBls0buuV1U1fm-22KKF3AXQIlCHkKAE60IwEPee9qdFo/s0/Green_Lotus_very_small.JPG" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><u><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></u></i></div></blockquote>
<h3 style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br /></h3></div></div></div>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-59393375704544491492021-02-05T09:45:00.002+11:002021-02-23T09:23:28.259+11:00BE WILLING TO BE A BEGINNER EVERY SINGLE MORNING<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">We all need to
cultivate a ‘beginner’s mind’.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">One of the
best books ever written on meditation from a Buddhist perspective is </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner's_Mind"><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind</span></i></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> by the Japanese </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%8Dt%C5%8D_Zen"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">Sōtō Zen</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">monk, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C5%8Dshi"><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">rōshi</span></i></a><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">and teacher </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Shunryu Suzuki</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">, pictured below.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3eVVmtoLfrGWYbZRw2LO9pZ3ffOfu-9Yz6COKxj-I70wn9M_6JpV8Pf8C1q9WP6w5wB0vxCaDnoLQLCgTVU2vAi5J1E1tX-oegDUYCj6gEefLUgY0LRx1PTCx96JOSP1MCkrSmmeCjQU/s497/suzuki.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="323" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3eVVmtoLfrGWYbZRw2LO9pZ3ffOfu-9Yz6COKxj-I70wn9M_6JpV8Pf8C1q9WP6w5wB0vxCaDnoLQLCgTVU2vAi5J1E1tX-oegDUYCj6gEefLUgY0LRx1PTCx96JOSP1MCkrSmmeCjQU/w260-h400/suzuki.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Having a
‘beginner’s mind’ means seeing all things as if for the first time. In truth we
are always seeing things for the very first time because everything is in a
constant state of flux, but we seldom think of it that way. Even the familiar
and the everyday—those things around us that we habitually see—they never
remain the same.</span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">When we see
things with a beginner’s mind, we see each thing in all its directness and
immediacy and freshness. Everything is new and wonderful, and you are part of
the ongoing unfoldment of life itself from one moment to the next. In that
regard, I am reminded of something the great German mystic </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meister_Eckhart"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Meister Eckhart</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> once said, namely, 'Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.'</span></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">There are many
schools of Buddhism, but there is this golden thread running through all of
Buddhism, namely, that each one of us can be—and in a very real sense already
is—a Buddha. Now, I am not talking about the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">historical Buddha</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> as such. I am talking about a potentiality within
each one of us that is always trying to burst its way into full expression in
and as us. In t</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">he </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">New Testament</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Saint Paul</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> writes
of</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"> ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Col 1:27) which, as I see it, is
more-or-less the same idea. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">This is what Shunryu Suzuki has to say about the matter:<br /><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">'To do
something, to live in each moment, means to be the temporal activity of Buddha.
To sit in this way [</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazen"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">Zazen</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">] is to be
Buddha himself, to be as the historical Buddha was. The same thing applies to
everything we do. Everything is Buddha’s activity. So whatever you do, or even
if you keep from doing something, Buddha is that activity. …'</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Suzuki refers
to this way of living as ‘being Buddha.’ He writes, ‘Without trying to be
Buddha you are Buddha. This is how we attain enlightenment. To attain
enlightenment is to be always with Buddha.’ Suzuki quotes the historical Buddha’s
statement, ‘See Buddha nature in various beings, and in every one of us.’ In that regard,</span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> a number of Buddhist scriptures state that the historical Buddha said that we are
all buddhas, a buddha being a person who is enlightened, that is, <i>awake</i>.
This is reminiscent of what </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Jesus</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> himself
affirmed, namely, 'Is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods' (Jn
10:34; cf Ps 82:6). Sadly, all too often we fail to see the world around us—as
well as ourselves—as they really are.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Start seeing
everything afresh with a beginner’s mind.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfo3qP-78RddcwAc3D10Uh0w4fgMWLDS9PO1GMWGQQJrTdTjoSEn1UeLrua1bZDYRjcCP5K8qj7iuEGI6KD0g4op-rsVYerEOHah7hUO9CxUUiJ8ufBZMsyCEadMi34bIea5mrH83_18/s118/Green_Lotus_very_small.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="106" data-original-width="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfo3qP-78RddcwAc3D10Uh0w4fgMWLDS9PO1GMWGQQJrTdTjoSEn1UeLrua1bZDYRjcCP5K8qj7iuEGI6KD0g4op-rsVYerEOHah7hUO9CxUUiJ8ufBZMsyCEadMi34bIea5mrH83_18/s0/Green_Lotus_very_small.JPG" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-67833511487245562232021-01-06T09:21:00.004+11:002021-01-06T09:24:21.018+11:00MINDFULNESS MAY ASSIST IN THE TREATMENT OF MIGRAINE<p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">A recent study, published in the </span><em style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2774130"><span style="font-style: normal;">JAMA Internal Medicine</span></a></em><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">, of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness-based_stress_reduction#:~:text=Mindfulness%2Dbased%20stress%20reduction%20(MBSR,%2C%20anxiety%2C%20depression%20and%20pain." style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">mindfulness-based
stress reduction</a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> (MBSR) has found that MBSR can assist in the treatment of
migraine.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><em style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine">Migraine</a></span></em><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-align: justify;"> is a neurological condition that can cause
multiple symptoms. It is frequently characterized by intense, debilitating
headaches. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, difficulty speaking, numbness
or tingling, and sensitivity to light and sound. T<em><span style="font-style: normal;">he condition
of migraine<b> </b></span></em>often runs in families and can affect all ages.</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #20124d; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxiraBfzqOQ5MVLr1-_-iMDgCT0WR8ir9VwnUn6KEsqPIFURhT3DZDALklfq2AovMPJkIxyngjL2ypUJjYMk-VAM6KICbKWq-m_Akaj18SZI34bP8-m-I5IXVasEVK658d8vL-k87blU/s493/migraine-headache2.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="493" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxiraBfzqOQ5MVLr1-_-iMDgCT0WR8ir9VwnUn6KEsqPIFURhT3DZDALklfq2AovMPJkIxyngjL2ypUJjYMk-VAM6KICbKWq-m_Akaj18SZI34bP8-m-I5IXVasEVK658d8vL-k87blU/s16000/migraine-headache2.webp" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;"><b>Photo credit</b>: MedicineNet. All rights reserved.</span></div><p></p><p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;">MBSR
is an eight-week program that offers secular, intensive mindfulness training to
assist people with stress, anxiety, depression and pain. Thereafter, participants are encouraged to practise mindfulness on a daily basis. For what it's worth, here is my definition--description might be a better word--of mindfulness:</span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Mindfulness is
the watchful, receptive and purposeful presence of bare attention to, and choiceless
awareness of, the content of the action—both internal and external—of the
present moment ... from one moment to the next.</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;">The outcomes of this recent study indicate that while
MBSR does not appear to reduce the frequency of migraines, pain perception and
other secondary outcomes including quality of life did improve.</span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;">Migraine is the second leading cause of disability
around the world. Unfortunately, about two-thirds of migraine sufferers discontinue
migraine medications for various reasons. In recent years there has been a growing
interest in non-pharmacological approaches to the treatment of the condition.</span></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; word-break: break-word;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;">‘For a
condition with recurrent, lifelong unexpected attacks,’ the study authors wrote,
‘improving a patient’s pain perception and ability to function despite migraine
has significant implications for overall long-term emotional and social health.’</span></span></p><p style="background: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; word-break: break-word;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p style="background: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; word-break: break-word;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium;">Reference</span></span></strong></p><p style="background: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; word-break: break-word;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></strong></p>
<p style="background: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium;">Wells R E,
O’Connell N, Pierce C R, et al. ‘Effectiveness of mindfulness meditation vs
headache education for adults with migraine: A randomized clinical trial.’ <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">JAMA Intern Med. </span></em>Published online
Dec 14, 2020. <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2774130">doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.7090</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-57884375527368223272020-12-19T11:13:00.011+11:002020-12-20T09:38:40.465+11:00ZEN AND THE ART OF CALMING THE MIND<p><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">‘Sometimes the most important thing in a
whole day,’ wrote <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etty_Hillesum">Etty Hillesum</a></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">, ‘is the rest we take between two deep breaths.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Here’s a famous bit of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen">Zen</a></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">. A pupil goes to the master
and says, ‘I have no peace of mind. Please calm my mind!’ The master replies, ‘Bring
your mind here and I will calm it for you.’ The pupil then says, ‘Yes, but when
I look for my mind, I can’t seem to find it.’ The master replies, ‘There, you
see, I’ve calmed your mind already.’</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYGLC1RYDWC2NqtYalz8WNJN0Xo7D_21iJpkqScSmA4B5XmcrWjsfRgELnQPVuestdwrprwBD_5IZWHB7095IfKAUB0v4qR5kYwYVbXwhVCrYJpO-FBBvlZJ0GslJ8Y_DSPBHeGYK08Hg/s2048/IMG_7076.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYGLC1RYDWC2NqtYalz8WNJN0Xo7D_21iJpkqScSmA4B5XmcrWjsfRgELnQPVuestdwrprwBD_5IZWHB7095IfKAUB0v4qR5kYwYVbXwhVCrYJpO-FBBvlZJ0GslJ8Y_DSPBHeGYK08Hg/w480-h640/IMG_7076.JPG" width="480" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">There are many interpretations of
this piece of Zen wisdom. Here’s my take on it, but first I want to
say a few words on the subject of the mind and the brain.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The classical materialist view asserts that the mind and the brain are one and the
same. However, recent discoveries in neuroscience and quantum physics suggest that
the mind and the brain are not co-extensive or identical. There is mind—or intelligence—throughout
the whole body. The brain uses the mind—to think, feel, and so on—but the mind
is ‘larger’, for want of a better word, than the brain. The brain is <i>infused</i> with
mind, as are all parts of the human body. In addition, mind exists outside of
and even beyond the brain. Mind is intelligence and there is intelligence wherever
there is life in any shape or form. The brain is a physical object that can be
seen by the eye. It is perceptible by the senses, and like all material objects
it has size, weight and form. Not so the mind which has no constituent parts. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxw2kFQGHNFKDp0eOgIr4JghfE_DimKcc-GMe8AzzLVOBVbk9mwmgXzzkqDAg8dXu9has51EuXYmNurRm9gBOIg3rG-nLdk5TTZMrsX5ClGrF0idXZe44AmWhyOwYWEU23wD7NWfAHi5Y/s960/40061680_10157100621478488_2197788929195769856_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxw2kFQGHNFKDp0eOgIr4JghfE_DimKcc-GMe8AzzLVOBVbk9mwmgXzzkqDAg8dXu9has51EuXYmNurRm9gBOIg3rG-nLdk5TTZMrsX5ClGrF0idXZe44AmWhyOwYWEU23wD7NWfAHi5Y/w400-h300/40061680_10157100621478488_2197788929195769856_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">In a fundamental sense, we have no <i>individual</i> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">mind at all. Hence, there is <i>no mind to calm</i></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">. So, what exactly are we, each
one of us? Well, each of us is a centre—both an inlet and an outlet—of
consciousness from which all things are a matter of observation and awareness.
We are made up of ‘mind-stuff’ and consciousness is the ‘stuff’ or very ground </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">of
our be-ing. Let me explain. You have a body but you are not that body. You
experience sensations in your body but you are not those sensations. You have a
brain but you are not that brain. You have thoughts but you are not those
thoughts. You have emotions, feelings and desires but you are not those emotions,
feelings or desires. All those 'things' are impermanent and insubstantial. So,
what are you? You are that in you that lives and moves and has its be-ing in
and as you. You are the impersonal, and you are the personal. You are your very
own be-ing. Life is be-ing, and its be-ing is your </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">very
own be-ing.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">There is no need to calm your mind.
For starters, where is your mind? Can you find it? You cannot calm it—or for
that matter do anything else with it—unless you can first locate it. </span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;">In the Zen exchange set out above the master does the only </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;">thing any teacher or so-called guru really can do. The master manages to get the pupil to have an enlightening experience in which the pupil comes to ‘see,’ know and understand for himself or herself, perhaps for the very first time. Here, the master successfully leads the pupil to experience, in that Zen direct intuitive way, the fact that they have no mind to calm. All the pupil—and all of us for that matter—has to do is to … be calm.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSZc6EIrn9_hnl5tAXNCKNe2LIVc4K1bjAk6U03TxTXg0NXap6rC8mbr3_QtX_4pPZ2ZSuVgadFmon5_GE2J8-HzMw4sSxDMqC62SUp67xw97cozm3Oe2GrrJsRpw8WEzjVHlws1BUL8/s2048/IMG_7068.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSZc6EIrn9_hnl5tAXNCKNe2LIVc4K1bjAk6U03TxTXg0NXap6rC8mbr3_QtX_4pPZ2ZSuVgadFmon5_GE2J8-HzMw4sSxDMqC62SUp67xw97cozm3Oe2GrrJsRpw8WEzjVHlws1BUL8/w480-h640/IMG_7068.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Do you want to be calm? If so,
practise calmness. Practise stillness. Practise quietness. Practise silence. The
very truth of your be-ing is calmness, stillness, quietness and silence. A good
way to start—and finish for that matter—is to get the body calm. Yes, the body.
If the body is calm, <i>you</i> will soon be calm. <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ianellis-jones/norman-vincent-peale-the-father-of-positive-thinking">Dr
Norman Vincent Peale</a> offered this gem of advice: ‘</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">Sit still, be silent, let composure
creep over you.' Got that? Sit ... be ... let ... .</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">So, stop looking for your mind.
Stop analyzing and judging the contents of what you take to be your mind (eg
your thoughts, feelings, memories and mental movies). Stop identifying with those
‘things’ as if they were <i>you</i>, the <i>person</i> among persons
that in truth you are. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">Sit. Be. Let.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">There, I’ve calmed your mind
already. You're welcome.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /><span style="color: #4c1130;">Note</span></span></b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.5pt;">. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The photos in this post were taken by the author in the </span><em><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal;">Topes
de Collantes</span></em><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 10.5pt;">, which is a nature reserve park in the Sierra del Escambray mountain range
in the central region of Cuba. The bottom photo is of the famous Vegas Grande Waterfall located in the park.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><br />RELATED POST</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-best-advice-ever-on-how-to-relax.html">THE
BEST ADVICE EVER ON HOW TO RELAX</a></span></span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvHcMED1kSrc2s5le286WkXApvXYaFOM5sgvm46xUjZAC_dvJfizroOBAKAuSAnrGDJktFvUv8zQoe_4t5HZ9O-f0kFqTtytc3CeTSdrZL2cbsCPlGjpWg5R4tUcebtwMrx47-YOXl7jI/s118/Green_Lotus_very_small.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="106" data-original-width="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvHcMED1kSrc2s5le286WkXApvXYaFOM5sgvm46xUjZAC_dvJfizroOBAKAuSAnrGDJktFvUv8zQoe_4t5HZ9O-f0kFqTtytc3CeTSdrZL2cbsCPlGjpWg5R4tUcebtwMrx47-YOXl7jI/s0/Green_Lotus_very_small.JPG" /></a></i></b></div><b><i><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></i></b><p></p>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-16280399312921122562020-12-08T13:57:00.010+11:002020-12-09T08:42:06.839+11:00WHO ARE YOU? <p><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Recently, I left my cell phone on the bus. Fortunately, the phone was
handed in to the bus driver and was taken to the lost property office at the
bus depot nearest to where I live. The next day I went to the depot to collect
my phone. Now, on the home screen of the phone was a photo of myself, taken in
July 1991. I am seen at the summit of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Head,_Hawaii">Diamond Head</a>, at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikiki">Waikiki</a>, </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">on the </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Islands"><span style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">Hawaiian island</span></a></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"> of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oahu"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">O</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ʻ</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ahu</span></a>. I am wearing a T-shirt to prove it. (LOL.) </span></span></span></p><p><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Anyway, the man at the lost property office
brought out some phones. I pointed to the one that was mine and said, ‘That’s my one.’ He looked at the photo on the home screen and said, ‘Is this your son?’ Now, I wasn’t
at all taken aback. I simply said, ‘No, that used to be me.’ I was then 36.</span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgISV4Ox5o9PPn_Q81B5gZ4oLS4QsbTpqVBYHSQZ9On4AU4HnpPg4vdyGDfxbIoDkrB2MV8ulnPkpJ5A6vMTUSDvb2pDVIALT8jDZRk-CakB8TuZ7-RXEvdKTmKX5KEtvOXaxcXIgXKpEk/s2048/Ian_Jul+1991.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1879" data-original-width="2048" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgISV4Ox5o9PPn_Q81B5gZ4oLS4QsbTpqVBYHSQZ9On4AU4HnpPg4vdyGDfxbIoDkrB2MV8ulnPkpJ5A6vMTUSDvb2pDVIALT8jDZRk-CakB8TuZ7-RXEvdKTmKX5KEtvOXaxcXIgXKpEk/w400-h367/Ian_Jul+1991.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">I remember seeing a TV show around 1983 in which the American singer </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patti_Page" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Patti Page</a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> sang a song
‘</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9HgV31WvfM" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">The Person Who Used to
Be Me</a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">’.* In this song Ms Page contrasted her then present self with
black-and-white images of a much younger Page projected on a screen behind her. The images were from some of her 1950s TV shows.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Here are some of the lyrics from the song:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 13pt;">Who is that person on the
screen?</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 13pt;">I am sure it is someone that I’ve
seen.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 13pt;">Though it's been so very long</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And I could be very wrong</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">To believe that the face I see<br />
Is the person who used to be me.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p><span style="color: #4c1130;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Time can play tricks on me, I know.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I have trouble now remembering the show.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Yet I’m sure I know that face</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">From some other time and place</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">That is lost in the used-to-be.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">It’s the person who used to be me.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, do you <i>really</i> think you are the same person you were 5 years
ago … 10 years ago ... 20 years ago? Well, in one sense you are, but in another
sense you are an altogether different person both in body and in mind. Even
your <i>sense of self</i> this very moment is different from your sense of self
10 minutes ago, or 10 seconds ago, let alone 10 or more years ago. Your sense
of self is undergoing constant change as a result of every new experience. </span></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha">Buddha</a> taught that
the so-called ‘self’ is only an ‘aggregate’ or ‘heap’ of thoughts, feelings, perceptions,
sensations and memories. The self, in the words of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manly_Palmer_Hall" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Manly Palmer Hall</a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">, is nothing more than ‘a
summary of what is known and what is not known’. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;">Each one of us
is a </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">person</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> who recognises that there was, yesterday, and even before
then, a </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">person</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> whose thoughts, feelings and sensations we can </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">remember</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;">
today, and THAT </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">person</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> each one of us regards as </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">ourself</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> of
yesterday, and so on. As a result of this, we create a sense of self. We even
come to identify with that self as us … as you and me. Nevertheless, our ‘self’
of yesterday consists of nothing more than certain mental occurrences which are
later </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">remembered</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> as part of the </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">person</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> who </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">recollects</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"> them.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;">Here is a short ‘sense of being meditation’ which I penned many years
ago. It is designed to assist you in the task of dis-identifying with ‘the self’:<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 13pt;">I am a <i>person</i> who has a
body, but I am <i>not</i> that body.<br />
I am a <i>person</i> who has a brain, but I am <i>not</i> that brain.<br />
I am a <i>person</i> who thinks thoughts, but I am <i>not</i> those thoughts.<br />
I am a <i>person</i> who feels feelings, but I am <i>not</i> those feelings.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 13pt;">I am a <i>person</i> who senses
sensations, but I am <i>not</i> those sensations.<br />
I am the <i>reality</i> of me ... the <i>person</i> who I am.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.0cm; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 26.05pt 0cm 1cm;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I am <i>not </i>my sense of
self ... the false and illusory ‘I's’ and ‘me's’ which well up and later
subside within me ... from one moment to the next.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;">Yes, you are a <i>person</i> ... a <i>person among persons</i> ... a
vital part of life’s self-expression.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;">You are a <i>person</i> who sees, thinks, feels, senses and acts. More
accurately, you are a <i>person</i> in which there occur, from moment to
moment, the various activities of seeing, thinking, feeling, sensing and acting.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjniDoD6bYa8H2N702j6F6F_v0dfcn0psLr6F3FSrRvTOySIEf8gYAPaPY7L_mBjv1U8xb86gTSM2V8o7YbZDW5l3wfwHr9PU-klzBKWb9Uxlv0t_KGm2YrJAbhaCSrW4wdX7C4WuUl2NE/s2048/P+F+Strawson.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1632" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjniDoD6bYa8H2N702j6F6F_v0dfcn0psLr6F3FSrRvTOySIEf8gYAPaPY7L_mBjv1U8xb86gTSM2V8o7YbZDW5l3wfwHr9PU-klzBKWb9Uxlv0t_KGm2YrJAbhaCSrW4wdX7C4WuUl2NE/s320/P+F+Strawson.jpg" /></a></div><span style="text-decoration-line: none;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._F._Strawson" style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">P F Strawson</a></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;">, pictured, a British philosopher, wrote much on the subject of the person. He articulated a concept of ‘person’ in respect of which both physical
characteristics and states of consciousness can be ascribed to it. Each one of
us is a person among persons—a mind-body complex. </span><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt;">The point is this. We are much, much more than
those hundreds of waxing and waning ‘I’s’ and
‘me’s’ with which we tend to identify as 'us' in the mistaken belief that they
constitute the ‘real me’, that is, the <i>person</i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> each one of us is. Only the latter is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;">ontologically</span></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> real. <i>None</i> of those waxing and waning </span></span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #20124d; font-size: 16px;">‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ are the real person each of us is. Never forget that!</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">Personal freedom, as
well as personal transformation, come when we start to see, think, feel, act
and live </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">from our personhood<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> as a person among persons. We need to get our mind off our temporary,
ephemeral ‘selves’. We need to rise above them if we are to get real. Self
can’t change self. Why? Because self is </span><i>image</i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> inside a person. It is not the real person at all. The </span><i>person</i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> each one of us is can indeed change—and change for the
better—if we want, that is, </span><i>reall</i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">y want, change more than anything else and are prepared to go
to any length to get it.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Finally, please also remember
that there is no human problem that’s not common to other persons among persons.<br /><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">* ‘The Person
Who Used to Be Me’: [from] <i>Here's TV Entertainment</i> / lyric by Buz Kohan;
music by Larry Grossman. Fiddleback Music Publ. Company, Inc. & New Start
Music. 1983. All rights reserved.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">
<br />
RELATED POST</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/11/mindfulness-and-serenity.html"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #20124d;">MINDFULNESS, THE ‘SELF’ AND SERENITY</span></span></a></span></i></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-62269041405814928792020-10-11T13:54:00.000+11:002020-10-11T13:54:23.885+11:00HOW AWARENESS OF YOUR BREATHING CAN HELP YOU IN THIS CURRENT PANDEMIC<p><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Some of the most satisfying work I’ve done in my career was lecturing in
mental health law at what is now referred to as the mental health portfolio of
the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #20124d; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://heti.edu.au/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Health Education and Training Institute</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">. When I lectured
there the body was known as the NSW Institute of Psychiatry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Our mental health is so damn important. Sadly, the current </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">COVID-19 pandemic</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is resulting in elevated
rates of stress, anxiety, loneliness, depression, harmful alcohol and drug use,
self-harm and suicidal behaviour. Now, in serious cases professional help will
be needed but there are some things we can do by way of self-help. One of them,
the subject of this post, involves simply being aware of our breathing.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now, there’s a saying, ‘Your breathing is your greatest friend. Return
to it in all your troubles and you will find comfort and guidance.’ How true
that is. What happens when you are stressed? Well, a number of things. Among
them, your heart rate increases, and so does your breathing which ordinarily
becomes more shallow as well.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">At the first sign of your becoming stressed, immediately become aware of
your breathing. Don’t try to change it. Don’t try to slow it down or deepen it.
Indeed, don’t ‘try’ at all. Sometimes effort defeats itself, and this is such a
case. Simply be aware of your breathing where your breath is most prominently
felt. Perhaps that’s in your nostrils, mouth, throat, lungs or abdomen. This
varies from person to person. Wherever your breath is most prominently felt,
simply be aware of the sensation—and stay with the feeling. Don’t attempt to
change this in any way. Just observe and be aware.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Does your breath feel warm? Cold? Fast? Slow? Deep? Shallow? Again, don’t
attempt to change any of these things. Forget all about judging yourself.
There’s no right or wrong here. Things just are.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Simply observe, be aware, and stay aware, of your breathing for 5, 10 or
15 minutes—that is, for as long as it takes for your breathing to slow down as
well as deepen.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTv44sOIP4b3e9nUQYHGWP2HkL9nAtTFzHyatA_AmPtN677vjlYU2LIOP2FzmJxHVLXnBsSafEPVAJVcJ45tfeSPaYHOZ8Ri03jU2hifEKo86ZviGJWw-knm3ZFb6NPehNBxbnghJJRw/s805/tnh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="735" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTv44sOIP4b3e9nUQYHGWP2HkL9nAtTFzHyatA_AmPtN677vjlYU2LIOP2FzmJxHVLXnBsSafEPVAJVcJ45tfeSPaYHOZ8Ri03jU2hifEKo86ZviGJWw-knm3ZFb6NPehNBxbnghJJRw/s320/tnh.jpg" /></a></div><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">That’s right. Stay aware of your breathing until it slows down and
deepens of its own accord. Your awareness of your breathing will result in your
breathing slowing down and deepening. How is this so? Well, awareness is
non-resistance—that is, non-judgmental self-observation. Awareness is letting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">be </i>and letting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">go</i>. Yes, awareness effects positive changes in your body and mind.
The Vietnamese </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Zen</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Buddhist master </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Nh%E1%BA%A5t_H%E1%BA%A1nh"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Thich Nhat Hanh</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, pictured, writes:<br /><br /></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 21.3pt; margin-right: .2pt; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Each time we find ourselves
dispersed and find it difficult to gain control of ourselves by different
means, the method of watching the breath should always be used.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now, if at any point in time during your awareness of your breathing you
become mentally or emotionally distracted by some troubling thought, feeling,
idea, memory or sensation, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gently </i>— please
note that word ‘gently’ — bring your awareness back to your breathing.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">One more thing. Don’t forget to breathe. Some people, when they become
consciously aware of their breathing, forget to breathe. I am sometimes guilty
of that.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Conscious awareness of your breathing will bring you relaxation and
comfort. Try it.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: courier;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white;">Note</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white;">. This post is a slightly reworked version of a
previous post, ‘Your Breathing is Your Greatest Friend’, published on July 5,
2015.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: courier;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white;"><b>Photo credit</b>. The photo of </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Thich Nhat Hanh is by Dana Gluckstein. All rights reserved.</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxvfDU0thIa6foiYnrnrkbESuk-xGmDOIOMVhflxc6tH0fHRE4N4B5avrk45R9Gfil5idSR51Agp8nlB64vIKhoNhUzTwXeOSzbFE-FMpQsBPU2CY0MbkiOxF2EPJmVxiwHUW-p674128/s118/Green_Lotus_very_small.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="106" data-original-width="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxvfDU0thIa6foiYnrnrkbESuk-xGmDOIOMVhflxc6tH0fHRE4N4B5avrk45R9Gfil5idSR51Agp8nlB64vIKhoNhUzTwXeOSzbFE-FMpQsBPU2CY0MbkiOxF2EPJmVxiwHUW-p674128/s0/Green_Lotus_very_small.JPG" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-44881889415829307082020-07-06T11:42:00.001+10:002020-07-06T11:49:20.431+10:00MINDFULNESS INCREASES PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167219900418" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">New research</a><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
published in </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/psp">Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin</a></i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> provides evidence that mindfulness
meditation training results in increases in prosocial behaviour, even in the
absence of explicit ethics-based instructions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The
study author <a href="https://faculty.csusm.edu/drberry/index.html">Daniel
R Berry</a> PhD, pictured, who is an assistant professor at <a href="https://www.csusm.edu/">California
State University San Marcos</a>, states:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3RCA9gfCjTFMKbEeUzwLvzzvYlS_TnwDf1Oz02ba9EBwu8U-WxHocCNsGCCvNqOidqPGbn0_jGvXNaHR3yKiScSfUt3h8-KmraEcffD-In0ysw1Lq7nGbIbbyFG4DbkxK3C5v4LaCks/s1600/drberry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="587" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3RCA9gfCjTFMKbEeUzwLvzzvYlS_TnwDf1Oz02ba9EBwu8U-WxHocCNsGCCvNqOidqPGbn0_jGvXNaHR3yKiScSfUt3h8-KmraEcffD-In0ysw1Lq7nGbIbbyFG4DbkxK3C5v4LaCks/s320/drberry.jpg" width="216" /></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Based on our lab’s
experimental research, we believed that training in mindfulness promotes
positive interpersonal outcomes through social cognitive changes that entail
how we pay attention to others’ needs in social interactions. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The
interesting finding is that mindfulness need not rely on appeals to act
ethically.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The
study does include some caveats. One such caveat is that the effects of
mindfulness training on prosocial behaviour were only reliable when prosocial
behaviour was measured immediately after the training concluded. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Secondly, Dr
Berry has stated that one must be in careful interpreting the effects showing
that mindfulness reduces prejudice. Specifically, most studies of prejudice in the
study’s meta-analysis did not use social ingroup as a reference to examine the
gap in prosocial behaviour between social ingroup and outgroup members. Thus,
mindfulness may be increasing prosocial behaviour toward others in general but
not closing the gap in helping that typically favours ingroup members. More
research is needed in that regard.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Study</b>: Daniel R Berry et al. ‘<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167219900418">Does
Mindfulness Training Without Explicit Ethics-Based Instruction Promote
Prosocial Behaviors? A Meta-Analysis</a>.’ <i>Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin</i>. Vol 46, Issue 8, 2020. </span><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">First Published <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">January 23, 2020</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-38414676989154722092020-05-14T20:32:00.001+10:002020-05-15T11:48:09.043+10:00THE PRACTICE OF SILENCE<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Silence is golden,
according to an old aphorism. There was also a </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n03g8nsaBro" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">song with that title</a><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> in
the 1960s. I remember it well.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">There are few things
more important in life than learning—yes, learning—to be silent. A wise person
knows when to be silent and not speak. An even wiser person knows how to practise
silence. Why? Well, in the words of the British historian, essayist and philosopher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle">Thomas Carlyle</a>, 'Silence is deep as Eternity.' That is so true, for when we penetrate the Eternal Now, beyond all the noise and commotion, there is perfect stillness and silence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8eR5E-eHgxaU8JRiAWDDmKIu9LhvIlSJ8GtrNGkESbWOs2vkUj8_Pz7s7Mbvbyo_ZNRhGOFJ4tzgKrk2Z2lUAMGjReaw_tyd62U_uWPPwDFHuyefe0kTDqvjj4V2Hh9wJD8PaTaTUmtI/s1600/henry_wadsworth_longfellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="691" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8eR5E-eHgxaU8JRiAWDDmKIu9LhvIlSJ8GtrNGkESbWOs2vkUj8_Pz7s7Mbvbyo_ZNRhGOFJ4tzgKrk2Z2lUAMGjReaw_tyd62U_uWPPwDFHuyefe0kTDqvjj4V2Hh9wJD8PaTaTUmtI/s320/henry_wadsworth_longfellow.jpg" width="230" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow">Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow</a> wrote of there being an inward stillness:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13pt;">Let us, then, labor for
an inward stillness, —</span><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">An inward stillness
and an inward healing;</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">That perfect
silence where the lips and heart</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Are still, and we
no longer entertain</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Our own imperfect
thoughts and vain opinions,</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">But God alone
speaks in us, and we wait</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">In singleness of
heart, that we may know</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">God's will, and in
the silence of our spirits,</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">That we may do
God's will, and do that only!</span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible">Bible</a> has a lot to say about the
importance of silence. Here are just a few of its verses on silence:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">There was silence, and I heard a voice. </span><i><span style="color: #20124d;">Jb 4:16.</span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. </span><i><span style="color: #20124d;">Ec 3:7.</span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #4c1130; font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13pt;">The Lord is in his
holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.</span> <i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hb 2:20.</span></i><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Be still, and know that I am God.</span><i> <span style="color: #20124d;">Ps 46:10.</span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord. </span><i><span style="color: #20124d;">Ze 2:13.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Those five verses on
the importance of silence are just a few such verses in the Bible. There are
many others. The important thing is this: there is a direct connection between
the practice of silence and coming to know and experience God. Now, who or what
is God? </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Some theological abstraction? Yes and no. For starters, the Bible tells
us that God is love (1 Jn 4:8). Listen to these words: ‘Dear friends, let us
love one another, for love comes from God. <span class="text">Everyone who loves
has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God,
because God is love’ (1 Jn 4:7-8).</span> The Bible also tells us that God is
Spirit, that is, the very spirit of life (Jn 4:24). Another way of
understanding the spirit of life is as pure Being. </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">All things come from the One Source
of all Being. God is pure <i>Be-ing</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">—the self-existence and self-consciousness of life itself</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">—</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">and we have our <i>be-ing-ness</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> in God. ‘For in him</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: normal;">we live and
move and have</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span>our being' (Ac 17:28).
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">So, if you think that God is a
giant man '<i>up</i> there' or '<i>out</i> there', some supra-personal Being
with a face, body, arms and legs and genitalia, you are horribly mistaken. In
short, God is love, life, truth and power—and the very ground of our being. The
English metaphysician and judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Troward"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Thomas
Troward</span></a> referred to God as undifferentiated Consciousness<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">—that is, the formless
awareness that creates by Itself and becomes that which It images Itself to be.
I like that. That makes sense to me. If <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;">quantum mechanics</span></span></a> has
shown us anything</span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">—</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">and it has shown us plenty</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">—i</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">t has shown that consciousness
or mind is fundamental, eternal and all-creative.</span> In short, God is the
one Presence and Power active in the universe and in your life right now.</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here's an Eastern story.
A king went to see his spiritual advisor and said, ‘I am very busy. In a single
sentence, how can I reach union with God?’ The king’s advisor said, ‘I will
give you the answer in a single word—<i>silence</i>.’ The king said, ‘But how do
I attain silence?’ The advisor said, ‘By meditation.’ The king was puzzled. ‘And
what is meditation?’ he asked. ‘Silence,’ said the advisor. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">You see, silence
means going beyond words and thoughts. Silence is all about <i>be</i>-ing as
opposed to <i>do</i>-ing. Silence is letting be … and letting go.</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPItqjb_PrGj9JnJ5WSB4a96fqiU7ypdBuV0wgpml63DZUgBdjPbgD9pmZH3rZXrh57Q5t96-TcEpjZBSCJFZXWzfOmz-63XyAFNajtXWteI53XoXQyNmxZGu37eq3et3H57QguJMq6Nc/s1600/NVP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="419" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPItqjb_PrGj9JnJ5WSB4a96fqiU7ypdBuV0wgpml63DZUgBdjPbgD9pmZH3rZXrh57Q5t96-TcEpjZBSCJFZXWzfOmz-63XyAFNajtXWteI53XoXQyNmxZGu37eq3et3H57QguJMq6Nc/s320/NVP.jpg" width="239" /></span></a><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now, here’s what I consider to be the best advice I ever heard on the
subject—and it comes from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ianellis-jones/norman-vincent-peale-the-father-of-positive-thinking">Dr
Norman Vincent Peale</a>:</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Sit still, be
silent, let composure creep over you.</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">That's <i>all</i> you have to do. It’s that simple.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">First, <b>sit </b>still. Let the body remain as motionless as possible. Be
conscious of your breathing, and perhaps the beating of your heart. Be
aware—just be aware, no more than that—of any bodily sensations, external
noises, and thoughts and feelings you may experience. Whatever happens … SIT
STILL. That is the only 'doing' thing in the whole procedure. That means not
moving or making a sound. The poet and playwright <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot">T S Eliot</a> wrote of the
'still centre' or 'still point' where the true reality is to be found. Yes,
stillness is indeed the name of the game.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Secondly, <b>be</b> silent. Note that word ‘be’. It is <i>not </i>something you
<i>do</i>—it is the total absence of doing—but something you <i>are</i>. What
are you? I will tell you. You <i>are</i> <i>be-ing-ness</i> itself. An inlet
and an outlet of life’s self-expression, <i>that's</i> what you are. Just <i>be</i>
… and <i>be</i> silent. Say nothing—and that includes nothing interiorly to
yourself. Silence is more than saying nothing. It means remaining as motionless
and quiet as possible. Don't try not to think (because then you <i>will</i> think). Simply be as still and quiet as possible--and then you will simply <i>forget</i> to think.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Thirdly, <b>let</b> composure creep over you. The most
important word in this third instruction—indeed, in the whole advice—is ‘let’.
It is something entirely passive. Again, it is <i>not</i> something that you
do. It is something that <i>happens of its own accord</i>—as soon as you
remove the barriers to its happening. Once you sit still, and are silent,
composure <i>will</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> creep over you. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/composure">Merriam-Webster</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> defines ‘composure’ as ‘</span><span style="letter-spacing: .5pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">a calmness or repose especially
of mind, bearing, or appearance</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">’. Here are three other words that mean more-or-less the same thing:
equanimity, serenity and imperturbability.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Sit</b></span></i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> still. <i><b>Be</b></i>
silent. <i><b>Let</b></i> composure creep over you. <i>Let</i> this happen <i>to</i> and
<i>in</i> you many times a day if necessary.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Remember—</span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">sit ... be ... let.</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> </span></i></span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It's as simple as that.</span></div>
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<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-51201026373162325912020-04-08T09:01:00.000+10:002020-05-15T11:47:21.577+10:00WE ARE PASSING THROUGH A PERIOD OF CRUCIFIXION<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">We are in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week">Holy Week</a>. This year’s </span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Holy Week has
become ‘holed up’ week for most of us, at least the lucky ones</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; text-align: justify;">.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The world today is passing through a period of crucifixion. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic">coronavirus</a> pandemic is
wreaking havoc almost everywhere. However, the message of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter">Easter</a> is that resurrection always follows crucifixion
when there is faith, which for me means living with courage and confidence,
despite any appearances in the world to the contrary.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">First, let me tell you what I don’t believe about Easter. I
don’t believe that Jesus literally and bodily <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_of_Jesus">rose from dead</a>. I like
what the now deceased <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicanism">Anglican</a> bishop <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Jenkins_(bishop)">Dr David Jenkins</a> said
about that idea. He called the notion of Jesus' physical, bodily resurrection ‘a conjuring trick with bones.’ How
wickedly funny, albeit irreverent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I do, however, know this—<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus">Jesus</a> rose <i>spiritually</i>
from the tomb. Punishment and death could not destroy the power of his
personality and his spirit and his message. Jesus lives today, <i>not</i> in
the lives of those who <i>purport</i> to follow him (but show little or no
resemblance in their daily lives to Jesus at all), but in the lives of those
persons, many of whom would not want to label themselves as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian">Christians</a>, who give constantly of
themselves to others in practical service and self-sacrifice so that the
troubles of suffering humanity might be relieved. At this dreadful time, I think especially of all the doctors, nurses and other health care professionals and workers in our hospitals and clinics. I think of those working in supermarkets and pharmacies. I think of many others as well. What incredible service and self-sacrifice we are seeing! Sadly, we also see stupidity, selfishness and greed at work among far too many members of the public.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I now want to say a few words about what I refer to as the ‘macro' and the 'micro’ of the Easter story.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In a <a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/true-meaning-of-easter-eternal-cosmic.html">previous post</a> I have
written about the ‘macro’ of Easter, namely, that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion">Crucifixion</a> is an 'object lesson' and
acted parable or dramatization of the ongoing cosmic sacrifice—the
self-limitation (crucifixion) of life itself—in which the spirit of life, the
one absolute reality which antecedes all manifested things, <i>ever</i> descends
into matter, <i>ever</i> offers itself, and <i>ever</i> gives of itself to
itself in manifestation, so that life, in all of its multiplicity of forms, may
be perpetuated. It is a mystery. It is a wonder. It is divine. What a tragic
and terrible thing it is that conventional, mainstream <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity">Christianity</a> has so totally literalized
and carnalized this truly sublime myth, distorting—even destroying—its true
meaning.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now, the ‘micro’ of Easter. Easter, as we all know, is about dying and
rising again. The end of every day is a ‘death’ of sorts. It is gone forever.
Now, that is a very good thing, for if it were not to happen there could be no
tomorrow. Every new day is a rising of sorts. But it’s even deeper than that. Every new moment is a new beginning—a resurrection of life. We must constantly
‘die’ and ‘rise again’ into newness of life. Most importantly, we must
die to self each moment of the day if we wish to be free from the bondage of
self. I have often said that we are in bondage to self. All our problems result
from that. Freedom lies in <i>constantly</i> dying to self and being
resurrected into newness of life. No, not even Jesus can do that for you,
despite what some misguided people may have told you. You, and you <i>alon</i>e,
must do ‘it’ for yourself. You, the <i>person</i> among persons that
you are, can and must break the bondage of self—the prison-house of self you
have made for yourself—if you want to really become the real person you were
destined to be.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Don’t seal in a tomb your faith, hope and love, not to mention your potential
future. All too often we shut those important things in with a stone of
indifference, despair and fear. We all need to roll away the stone and be
resurrected into newness of life. Easter means coming to know and experience personally that there dwells within each one of us an almighty power that can resurrect and remake our broken lives.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Easter is today, tomorrow, and every day. Easter is now.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Keep well. Stay safe. Do the right thing. Follow the experts’ advice. Think of
others, not just yourself.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Note</span></b><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">. This post
reproduces material contained in my previous post, ‘Beyond Traditional Religion:
The Real Miracle of Easter’, which appeared on April 18, 2014. Some new material
has been added.</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">RELATED POSTS</span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/true-meaning-of-easter-eternal-cosmic.html">THE TRUE MEANING OF EASTER: THE
ETERNAL COSMIC SACRIFICE</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/true-living-is-perpetual-resurrection.html">TRUE LIVING IS A PERPETUAL
RESURRECTION</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2014/04/beyond-traditional-religion-real.html"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><i>BEYOND TRADITIONAL RELIGION: THE
REAL MIRACLE OF EASTER</i></b></span></a></span><b><i><u><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div>
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<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-12982401297646769872020-03-12T14:21:00.000+11:002020-03-12T20:41:47.522+11:00FIVE IDEAS THAT CAN REALLY CHANGE YOUR LIFE<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">‘You are terrible,
but happily for you, you are not you.’ <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Howard">Vernon Howard</a></b>.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Words have power—for
better or for worse—and ideas have even greater power. An idea that expresses
an eternal, metaphysical truth is the most powerful thing in the world. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Here
are five empowering ideas that have made a huge difference in my life. They
have lifted me out of the depths of despair. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--></span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">You are be-ing</span><i style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Life is pure </span><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">be</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">-ing-ness
actualized. Life forever gives of itself to itself so as to create more life in
one form or another. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The tree of life is <i>be</i>-ing-ness, or <i>Be</i>-ing, itself. I AM-ness. Oneness. It
is the impersonal principle of life that is forever becoming personal as <i>you</i>
and <i>me</i> and all other persons and things.</span></span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Life</span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.333333px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> is </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">the </span><i style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">one </span></i><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">formless, source-less,
essence-less, unlimited, unsearchable, self-existent, self-knowing,
self-giving, absolute, omnipresent, indestructible, and abundant self-existence
that forever takes form<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.333333px;">—incarnating </span>as you, me, and everything<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.333333px;">—but </span>which is</span><i style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> never</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> even for a
moment absorbed by the innumerable objects of its self-expression. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The omnipresence
of life forever manifests itself as the eternal now by means of an endless
process or renewal of the present moment. Each moment is a ‘centre’, for want
of a better word, of life's own consciousness. </span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Forms of life constantly change. No form is permanent. Indeed, e</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">very form will pass away in time, but the essence of life is formless and
eternal. It <i>never</i> passes away. Yes</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, the </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">life that takes shape in one form or another can </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">never</i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> be destroyed. </span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">You are life itself</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">—</span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">a unique individualization and
expression of life. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Yes, you are part of life’s self-expression, and life
cannot other than be. </span>You are <i>be</i>-ing and you are also
<i>be</i>-coming. Indeed, you are always in a state of becoming because change is the
essence of <i>be</i>-ing-ness. </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This means that you are constantly changing whether for better
or for worse. Once you fully understand this metaphysical truth, you are ready
to take charge of your life.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--></span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">You are consciousness</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Life is
consciousness. We are <span style="background: white;">life itself</span>—an integral part of life’s self-expression.<strong><span style="background: white;"> </span></strong>Each one of us is
an inlet and an outlet of consciousness. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; line-height: 107%;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;">materialist</span></a> view that asserts that the mind and the brain
are one and the same—the so-called mind-brain identity theory</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">—is not supported by recent
discoveries in neuroscience and quantum physics as respects the nature of
reality. Those discoveries tend to show that the mind and the brain are not
co-extensive or identical, and that mind or consciousness is the creator and
governor of so-called matter. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">Because you are <i>be</i>-ing, <i>be</i>-coming and
consciousness, you have the powers of thought and observation. There is a time
to think and, yes, a time to simply observe … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">choicelessly</i>. Listen to these words of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti">J. Krishnamurti</a>, pictured
right:</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdfU5LZTvExWjTP-6N9ZNPS9ljvdVWUnOn_Lb5Rt9YkQxEYIcqSREs9xDKJ6qfELQnPsb-ty09YgxW4Tci_GyN2e11sYuteGZ4f4lTvoPBAp3UjAN4iCodz8Jo-UWqN7PhX8i0RGRl6A/s1600/Krishnamurti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="202" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdfU5LZTvExWjTP-6N9ZNPS9ljvdVWUnOn_Lb5Rt9YkQxEYIcqSREs9xDKJ6qfELQnPsb-ty09YgxW4Tci_GyN2e11sYuteGZ4f4lTvoPBAp3UjAN4iCodz8Jo-UWqN7PhX8i0RGRl6A/s320/Krishnamurti.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wonder if you
have ever walked along a crowded street, or a lonely road, and just looked at
things without thought? There is a state of observation without the
interference of thought. Though you are aware of everything about you, and you
recognize the person, the mountain, the tree, or the oncoming car, yet the mind
is not functioning in the usual pattern of thought. I don't know if this has
ever happened to you. Do try it sometime when you are driving or walking. Just
look without thought; observe without the reaction which breeds thought. </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">There will
always be a time for rational, critical thought, analysis, judgement and
interpretation but if you do these things every second of the day, you will end
up with analysis paralysis. Learn the art of choiceless awareness. Look.
Observe. Be attentive. Be aware. That is what mindfulness is all about.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">You are what
you think</span></b></span><b style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">No, I am not
contradicting myself. As I have said, we need to think. This is the first verse
of the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhammapada">Dhammapada</a></i> according to
one famous English translation: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">‘Our life is shaped by our mind, for
we become what we think.’ The same idea is expressed in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible">Hebrew Bible</a>: ‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: rgb(250 , 250 , 250); font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Be careful how
you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts’ (Prov 4:23); ‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">For as a person
thinks in their heart, so are they’ (Prov 23:7). </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">As we are consciousness, we must watch
your thoughts. Are our thoughts positive or negative? Positive thinking has its
detractors these days but I have never seen any benefits in negative thinking.
Positive thinking is good for the mind and the body. Positive thinking releases
life-affirming, healing chemicals into the brain and the body. Negative
thinking releases life-destroying, malignant chemicals into the brain and the
body. It’s clear which one is better for us. Of course, we must be realistic
thinkers. We need to always see things-as-they-really-are. The <i>true</i> positive
thinker is a realistic thinker who sees things-as-they-really-are but at the same time refuses to be deflected, let alone
overwhelmed or defeated, by that which is negative. The <i>true</i> positive thinker never dwells
on those things.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">So, in the words of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato">Plato</a>, ‘Take charge of your
thoughts; you can do what you will with them.’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">You cannot
change yourself</span></b></span><b style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGZqMgU28FhnQ705j2vlSyfa98BZ8Bx4IpWZhH9j6VSlxEzp_P-idLUQuxnMfqcBFqK4u5lKri7FZDiTcZu-D50k8_kH0X8EVut0F7tyFAKZl1Lnvo1Ta-aKyxq1f4VwpmdcFX-KaFWc/s1600/Alan+Watts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGZqMgU28FhnQ705j2vlSyfa98BZ8Bx4IpWZhH9j6VSlxEzp_P-idLUQuxnMfqcBFqK4u5lKri7FZDiTcZu-D50k8_kH0X8EVut0F7tyFAKZl1Lnvo1Ta-aKyxq1f4VwpmdcFX-KaFWc/s320/Alan+Watts.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">The ‘I’ of you
cannot change the ‘me’ of you. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">One of my all-time favourite
spiritual teachers<span class="apple-converted-space"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Watts">Alan Watts</a>, pictured left, </span>has
this to say in his book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wisdom-Insecurity-Message-Anxiety/dp/0307741206">The
Wisdom of Insecurity</a></i> about the wrong way to embark upon
self-improvement:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I can only think seriously of trying to live up to an ideal, to improve
myself, if I am split in two pieces. There must be a good ‘I’ who is going to
improve the bad ‘me.’ ‘I,’ who has the best intentions, will go to work on
wayward ‘me,’ and the tussle between the two will very much stress the
difference between them. Consequently ‘I’ will feel more separate than ever,
and so merely increase the lonely and cut-off feelings which make ‘me’ behave
so badly.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The reason the good ‘I’ can’t change the bad ‘I’ is
because they are one and the same and they exist only as self-images in our
mind. Yes, all the 'I's' and 'me's' in your mind are little 'selves' that brought about by thought. These 'selves' have no separate, independent reality in and of themselves. They appear
to be 'solid,' 'fixed,' and 'permanent,' but they are not. They are the product
of thought which divides itself. You have hundreds of little 'selves' within you. None of them are the real <i>you</i></span></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—that is, the <i>person</i> that you are. </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The <i>person</i> that you are is a mind-body complex in respect of which both physical characteristics and states of consciousness can be ascribed. Only the person is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology">ontologically</a> real. </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">'Selves' come and go; they wax and wane. They have no power and have no separate and independent existence from the </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">person</i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> that you are.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">You, the <i>person</i> that you are, can
change. First, you, the <i>person</i>, must want to change. Secondly, you, the <i>person</i>,
must do what is necessary and appropriate to change. The power to change is
within, but it is always a ‘power-not-oneself’. Self has no power. Self cannot change self. The ‘I’ of
you can never change the ‘me’ of you. Never forget that. <i>Never.</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Howard" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vernon Howard</a><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">,
a great spiritual author, wrote:</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While there is no you who can rescue you, there can be
an impartial awareness of the rescuing process. The rescue is complete when the
awareness is complete.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">What is this 'rescuing process' alluded
to by Howard? It is none other than the process of choiceless awareness from
one moment to the next, undertaken by the <i>perso</i>n that you are. Howard wrote:</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />You can begin to catch your false behaviour by asking
the question ‘Who said that?’ and you will catch false personality being pleasant,
sarcastic, and so on. As often as you can, you will interrupt yourself and say ‘Who
said that?’ and if it is negativ</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e in any way at all, that is the invented self
speaking in your name. </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">All your little, false selves <i>purport</i> to speak in your name. Give them no power over you. They have no power in and of themselves. You give them power only when you believe them to be real. Don't do that!</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"> </span><b><span style="color: #4c1130;">Acceptance is the answer to all your problems</span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘On the
acknowledgement of what is there is the cessation of all conflict,’ said </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Krishnamurti</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">.<span class="apple-converted-space"> Yes, </span>acceptance—that is,
acknowledging what is—is the answer to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">all</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> y</span>our problems. Now, I am not saying
that we should simply give in. No, not at all. However, before we can change we
must first accept the reality of what is. Alcoholics cannot recover from their
disease until they first accept that they are alcoholics. There’s more, though.
Krishnamurti has stated a metaphysical truth of supreme importance, namely,
that once we acknowledge what <i>is</i>, conflict in the form of resistance and
the like comes to an immediate end. We must surrender in order to gain victory.
Never forget that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There are many
other empowering ideas that can change your life. Many of these I have explored
and discussed in other posts over the years—ideas such as the <a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/08/spiritual-guide-to-mindful-living.html">law of indirectness</a> (</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">d</span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">on't attempt to put a thought or problem out of your mind directly but
rather let the problem slip from the sphere of conscious analysis’), </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">the <a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-practice-of-non-resistance.html">principle of non-resistance</a> (what you resist, persists), <a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/10/mindfulness-is-pathless-land.html?m=0">truth is a pathless land</a> (we are always in direct and immediate contact with truth, so there
is no separation or distance between us and truth), and <a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2015/02/mindfulness-and-truth-of-matter.html">truth is a moment-to-moment experience</a> (<span style="background: white;">truth is dynamic, not static)</span>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I love empowering
ideas. As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo">Victor Hugo</a>
said, ‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has
come.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">All power to you!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Note</b>. The substance of this post first appeared on September 2, 2016 as 'Five Empowering Ideas That Can Change Your Life Forever'. Some new material has been added while some material in the original post has been omitted.</span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #073763;">RELATED POSTS</span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/twenty-things-ive-learned-in-55-years.html">TWENTY
THINGS I'VE LEARNED IN 55 YEARS ... IT TOOK ME A WHILE!</a></span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/positive-thinking-negative-thinking-and.html"><span style="color: #4c1130;">POSITIVE
THINKING, NEGATIVE THINKING AND MINDFULNESS</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #4c1130;"> </span></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/a-practical-guide-to-mindful-living.html"><span style="color: #4c1130;">A
PRACTICAL GUIDE TO MINDFUL LIVING</span></a></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-88075999222053409432019-12-23T17:33:00.001+11:002019-12-23T17:33:58.650+11:00THE BIRTH OF THE CHRIST CHILD<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="background-color: white;">‘Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and those who love are born of God and know God. Those who do not love do not know God; for God is love.’ </span></span><i style="color: #4c1130;">1 Jn 4:7-8.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">What
are we to make of the story of the birth of the Christ child?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_of_Jesus">Nativity Story</a> is so much more than a
supposedly literal account of the birth of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus">Jesus</a>.
The story is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">myth</i> in the truest and
most sublime sense of that word. It speaks of the reality of a spiritual—that is,
a non-material—event that we all can experience, Christian and non-Christian
alike.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">What
event, you may ask? Well, it’s this—the birth of the Christ child within our
‘hearts’, that is, our minds, the latter symbolized by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_mother_of_Jesus">Virgin Mary</a>. You
see, we all need to wake up, surrender, and be born anew. The message of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha">Buddha</a>, in two English
words, is this—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wake up</i>. The message
of the prophet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad">Muhammad</a>,
in one English word, is this—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">surrender</i>.
The message of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus">Jesus</a>, in five
English words, is this—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you must be born
anew</i>. The point is this—we must change in a very radical and profound way.
Furthermore, this change must go far beyond what is ordinarily understood as
self-improvement. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Each
one of us must undergo a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernican_Revolution">Copernican revolution</a>—that
is, a deep, inner psychological revolution, transformation, and mutation—in the
way we think, act, and live. We must surrender, let go, and die to self, indeed
die to the very idea that there is a separate, independent, permanent self at
the core of our being, in order that a new sense of being—metaphorically and
symbolically, a new-born baby—may be born in our psyche.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Now,
most of what I’ve said above is rank heresy to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_fundamentalism">fundamentalist</a>
and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelicalism">evangelical</a> Christians.
That does not worry me at all. Indeed, I draw great comfort and pleasure from
the fact. You see, I am proud to be a heretic. A heretic is one who chooses,
and who chooses to think differently and be different. We need more heretics in
the world—more people who are prepared to think and live differently. Indeed, I
would go so far as to say that only a heretic can change our damaged, troubled
and threatened world. And only a heretic, who is prepared to surrender and
throw out of the window all their past thinking and conditioning on matters
religious and non-religious, can wake up and change the world for the better. And
despite what some would have you believe, only you can make the decision to wake
up and be born anew. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">May we all wake up this <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas">Christmas</a>. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-50719986180375381982019-11-26T11:11:00.003+11:002019-11-26T11:11:37.684+11:00DON’T LET YOUR PAST HOLD YOU BACK!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJqaokSWBjWXRMNsj0d_cGMwAC6MW1G_VSbwQUr_4GzMeuXl7g-X0Vyto8NWoM8d1TDMEDCp_UtIHDSZ1EUwpMGpvjOzQOCaLLAKsbzxAjen5wZJsPnVBBcJl5lGJhiFFivo43ERrrmeA/s1600/J+Krishnamurti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="521" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJqaokSWBjWXRMNsj0d_cGMwAC6MW1G_VSbwQUr_4GzMeuXl7g-X0Vyto8NWoM8d1TDMEDCp_UtIHDSZ1EUwpMGpvjOzQOCaLLAKsbzxAjen5wZJsPnVBBcJl5lGJhiFFivo43ERrrmeA/s320/J+Krishnamurti.jpg" width="283" /></a><span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Is your
past, or something in your past, holding you back? Do you keep revisiting the
past or some incident in the past to such an extent that it’s preventing you
from living fully in the now? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Listen to these wise words from the Indian
spiritual philosopher </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">J. Krishnamurti</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #20124d;">, pictured right and below:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">We are the result of the past. Our thought is founded
upon yesterday, and many thousand yesterdays. We are the result of time, and
our responses, our present attitudes, are the cumulative effect of many
thousand moments, incidents and experiences. So the past is, for the majority
of us, the present, which is a fact, which cannot be denied. You, your thoughts,
your actions, your responses, are the result of the past. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">So, how can we
be free of the past? Of course, as I’ve said many times, we should never ask
‘how’, because then we are asking for a method or technique. Methods and
techniques are forms of conditioning, which is the past. The past cannot free
us from the past. But what exactly is the past?</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Here is Krishnamurti
once again:</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">… What do we mean by the past? … We
mean, surely, the accumulated experiences, the accumulated responses, memories,
traditions, knowledge, the subconscious storehouse of innumerable thoughts,
feelings, influences and responses, With that background, it is not possible to
understand reality, because reality must be of no time: it is timeless. So, one
cannot understand the timeless with a mind which is the outcome of time. The
questioner wants to know if it is possible to free the mind, or for the mind,
which is the result of time, to cease to be, immediately; or must one go
through a long series of examinations and analyses, and so free the mind from
its background. You see the difficulty in the question.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">Self-analysis tends to fail because the
‘analysing self’ is just another manifestation of self—that is, one of the
hundreds of little selves (the ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ in our mind). How can the self
analyse the self, or one of the many other selves within us? No effort of the
self can remove the self from the centre of its own introspection and mental
machinations. Let’s say that a thought of anger arises in your mind. The part
of your mind which analyses the anger is part of the anger. There is simply no
way, by that means, to free yourself from the background. True psychological
transformation can only arise when one is entirely free of the background (the ‘mental
furniture’). Look and observe. Be aware—choicelessly. Don’t analyse or
interpret. Just look, observe and see things as they are—both the things
outside of us as well as the contents of our own mind. The insight you gain
will change you <i>forever</i>—that is, if you <i>want </i>such change in your
life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">The good news is that you can be
totally free of the past at any moment. It’s entirely up to you. No one else
can do this for you. Yes, there can indeed be that ‘total revolution’ or ‘psychological
mutation’ of which Krishnamurti often spoke. We can <i>instantaneously</i> liberate
ourselves from the past and from past conditioning including beliefs and
misbeliefs of all kinds if we <i>refuse</i> to analyse or dissect the content
of our consciousness (the ‘background’ or ‘mental furniture’) and simply see
things <i>as they really are</i>, without judgment or evaluation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs2abMXqnxPwmS0H5_3Sx-HqXgD1FHWOM4cOpcSkmBrwctZiusXBAPevXXHuOqmE2TlsxnJukUREAy5dzP-k_PnHw0-yG49DxNEYMqGJXZz1Hr41OQkY69x0N-RBJQXrbiPJyB9JfrzIQ/s1600/Jiddu+Krishnamurti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="301" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs2abMXqnxPwmS0H5_3Sx-HqXgD1FHWOM4cOpcSkmBrwctZiusXBAPevXXHuOqmE2TlsxnJukUREAy5dzP-k_PnHw0-yG49DxNEYMqGJXZz1Hr41OQkY69x0N-RBJQXrbiPJyB9JfrzIQ/s400/Jiddu+Krishnamurti.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #20124d;">In what
follows, Krishnamurti describes, much better than I could ever hope to do, the
essential features of a mind that is ‘mindful’ (or, to use his word,
'tranquil'):</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Now, to put it very simply, when you want to understand
something, what is the state of your mind? When you want to understand your
child, when you want to understand somebody, something that someone is saying,
what is the state of your mind? You are not analysing, criticizing, judging
what the other is saying; you are listening, are you not? Your mind is in a
state where the thought process is not active, but is very alert. Yes? And that
alertness is not of time, is it? You are merely being alert, passively
receptive, and yet fully aware; and it is only in this state that there is
understanding. Surely, when the mind is agitated, questioning, worrying,
dissecting, analysing, there is no understanding. And when there is the
intensity to understand, the mind is obviously tranquil.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">So, this is what you can choose to do—if
you really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">want</i> to be free, forever,
and instantaneously, from the bondage of the past. Watch, almost with
disinterest, whatever happens, <i>as if </i>it were happening to someone else.
Let there be no comment, judgment or attempt to change anything. Note the
presence of any unhealthy, painful thoughts, emotions or memories, but give them
no power or attention. Don’t suppress or deny them. Don’t resist them, for
whatever you resist, persists. Simply observe … choicelessly … and then <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">let</i> go. And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">let</i> it be.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Acknowledgment
is made, and gratitude is expressed,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> <i>to
the <a href="http://www.kfa.org/"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Krishnamurti Foundation of America</span></a>,</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><i>Ojai, California, USA.</i> </span></span><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i>Krishnamurti Excerpts: </i></span><i style="color: #073763;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Benares 2nd Public Talk, 23 January 1949.</span></i></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">RELATED POSTS</span></span></b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/mindful-mind-of-no-mind.html"><b><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">THE MINDFUL MIND OF NO-MIND</span></i></b></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/mindfulness-psychological-mutation-and.html"><b><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">MINDFULNESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL MUTATION AND HEALING</span></i></b></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/be-not-detained-dont-let-your-mind-stop.html"><em><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #073763;">BE
NOT DETAINED: DON'T LET YOUR MIND STOP</span></span></b></em></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">IMPORTANT NOTICE</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">:
See the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. The information provided on this blog is
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delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your medical
practitioner or other qualified health provider because of something you read
on this blog. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-47911719364061597522019-10-07T11:02:00.001+11:002019-10-08T17:51:24.255+11:00MARCEL PROUST AND THE ART OF MINDFULNESS<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘The true journey of discovery
consists not in seeking<br />
new landscapes but in having fresh eyes.’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Marcel
Proust</b>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Ever since I studied French
in high school I have loved the writings of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Proust">Marcel Proust</a>, pictured below. However, I have never found
his books easy to understand, even in English. Be that as it may, there is so much
to discover in his writings. After all, Proust was the first writer to explore in depth the nature of the human mind and the depths of consciousness. No high metaphysician, he reminds us that ordinarily it is in the little things of life that we find what is truly important. There is something extraordinary not just behind, but also <i>in</i>, the ordinary stuff of life<o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—and for that we should be truly grateful.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When one think of Proust,
what usually first comes to mind is his magnum opus, </span><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140706233222/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/proust/marcel/">À la recherche du temps perdu</a></span></i><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> (</span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Lost_Time" title="In Search of Lost Time"><span style="text-decoration: none;">In Search of Lost Time</span></a></i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">; earlier rendered
as </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Remembrance of Things Past</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">), which was published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927. This vast autobiographical and psychological novel, lacking in logical construction just like life which is certainly not a logical sequence of events, has been described as 'an extraordinarily penetrating study of human psychology. ... No other French novelist before Proust had explored the world of the mind with such subtlety, or analysed with greater insight the influence of our subconscious thoughts and feelings on our character and our behaviour' (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Robinson-Val%C3%A9ry">J Robinson</a> and <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/arms/archives/media/me_objects/6412">A Martin</a>, <i><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10159832?">France Today: Background to a Modern Civilisation</a></i>, Sydney: Novak, 1964, pp 140-1).</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHXgrkSyRIhZ3AwEC0svetztR8i9fnbAfeASSxRkmjjNrdotqhSgiSll7E2oN9oLYI95yXNWMXurLXg9UQFlTIDTModoutHBNOfYldfgSdiy-WCktI9BrIDOce_BGr43FqsDwVRRkjvw/s1600/Marcel+Proust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="336" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHXgrkSyRIhZ3AwEC0svetztR8i9fnbAfeASSxRkmjjNrdotqhSgiSll7E2oN9oLYI95yXNWMXurLXg9UQFlTIDTModoutHBNOfYldfgSdiy-WCktI9BrIDOce_BGr43FqsDwVRRkjvw/s640/Marcel+Proust.jpg" width="523" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">For Proust, and for us, time
is perhaps our greatest enemy. We are all subject to time from the very beginning of our lives to their end and so much is lost through the changes wrought by the unstoppable march of
time. Memories fail over time. We return to a place—a place which, say, we once loved
as a child—only to find that it is no longer the same place. Most if not all of
the pleasure associated with the place has gone, and much of that is due to the
passage of time. Over time, we manufacture innumerable 'false selves'</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">'I's and 'me's</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">in the form of our likes, dislikes, attachments and aversions. All these selves have no permanent, fixed identity. They are all transient and ever-changing. Time, in conjunction with the notion of the illusory self, is a major theme </span></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">of </span><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In Search of Time</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">. Here is the </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">final sentence of the novel:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">If
at least, time enough were allotted to me to accomplish my work, I would not
fail to mark it with the seal of Time, the idea of which imposed itself upon me
with so much force today, and I would therein describe men, if need be, as
monsters occupying a place in Time infinitely more important than the contrary,
prolonged immeasurably since, simultaneously touching widely separated years
and the distant periods they have lived through—between which so many days have
ranged themselves—they stand like giants immersed in Time.</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Now, can the problem of time be overcome? Well, time can be
transcended. How? Through mindfulness, that's one way. If we can see things-as-they-really are,
we are no longer bound by time. We then experience the eternal now. Those
familiar with Proust—and even some who aren’t—will know of the following
oft-quoted experience from early in Part One (‘Combray’) of the <a href="https://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Proust-1.pdf">first volume</a> of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Search of Time</i>, titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Swann’s Way</i>. The subject-matter
recounted is the first episode concerning the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_(cake)" style="font-style: italic;">madeleine</a> (a tea-cake or bun)</span></span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—the first so-called 'madeleine moment'. There is a</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> second 'madeleine moment' which is recounted in the final moment of the novel. Anyway, the first 'madeleine moment' is described thus:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I raised to my lips a spoonful of the
tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid
mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shiver ran through me and I
stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An
exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no
suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become
indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory—this new
sensation having had the effect, which love has, of filling me with a precious
essence; or rather this essence was not in me, it was me. I had ceased now to
feel mediocre, contingent, mortal. Whence could it have come to me, this
all-powerful joy? I sensed that it was connected with the taste of the tea and
the cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savours, could not, indeed,
be of the same nature. Where did it come from? What did it mean? How could I
seize and apprehend it?</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I cannot stress this enough.
Mindfulness is not a ‘method’ or ‘technique’. If anyone says that you must use
some so-called ‘method’ or ‘technique’ in order to practice mindfulness—that is,
to live mindfully—tell that person to get lost (or words to that effect). </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There is no
method or technique’ for seeing things as they really are. In order to see
things as they really are all you need to do is remove the obstacles to seeing
things-as-they-really-are. Then we can truly 'seize' and 'apprehend' the moment, something that Proust sought to do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Seeing things-as they-really-are.
That is what the </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81li" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;" title="">Pāli</a> </span></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">word </span><i><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassan%C4%81"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;">vipassanā</span></a></span></i><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> ('insight meditation' or
mindfulness) means. The word is composed of two parts—namely, v<i>i</i>,
meaning ‘in various ways’, and <i>passanā</i>, meaning seeing. So, <i>vipassanā</i>
means ‘seeing in various ways’ as well as <i>seeing things-as-they really-are</i>.
Proust refers to this as ‘having fresh eyes’, which is the very same thing.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;"> </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">For Proust, and for us, we
tend to experience life episodically. A present experience often brings into
play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_memory">involuntary memory</a>, w</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">hen something
encountered in everyday life evokes recollections of the past without there
being any conscious effort on our part. As readers of Proust will know, the theme of involuntary memory is all throughout the French writer's text. For Proust, it is the preeminent way of 'defeating' time. In the section on Proust in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Eight-Centuries-French-Literature-Chanson/dp/1258401126">Eight Centuries of French Literature: From the Chanson de Roland to Sartre</a></i>, edited by R F Bradley and R B Michell (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1951), we read: '...using spontaneous or involuntary memory as an instrument, Proust evokes the sensations, emotions, dreams, and experiences that lie dormant in the subconscious mind' (p 555). All these Proust seeks to understand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Now, returning to the episode
of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">madeleine</i>, and without wishing
to be overly analytical, the writer (that is, the narrator of the novel) recounts the following:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">First, he raises to his
lips a spoonful of the tea in which he had soaked a morsel of the cake.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Secondly, no sooner does the
warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touch his palate than a shiver runs through
him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Thirdly, he stops, ‘intent
upon the extraordinary thing that [is] happening to [him]’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Fourthly, an exquisite
pleasure invades his senses, something isolated, detached, with no
suggestion of its origin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Fifthly, the
vicissitudes of life thereupon become indifferent to him, for the new sensation has the
effect of filling him with a ‘precious essence’. This essence is not <i>in</i> him. It <i>is</i> him. In other words, he is one with the content of the experience, both inner and outer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There is more to the </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">episode of the </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">madeleine </i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but let's leave it there. Now, </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">for Proust and for us,
something tends to get in the way of </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">seeing and experiencing things-as-they-really-are.
What is that? Well, it is pretty obvious. We stop. Yes, we stop—and we start analysing,
judging, comparing, and so forth. Then the newness and freshness of the experience
dies on us. In order to penetrate the core of reality, the illusory ‘I’ of us, the
so-called ‘perceiving self’ needs to disappear. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti">Krishnamurti</a> wrote:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">When you
look at a flower, when you just see it, at that moment is there an entity who
sees? Or is there only seeing? Seeing the flower makes you say [i.e. think], ‘How
nice it is! I want it.’ So the ‘I’ comes into being through desire, fear,
ambition [all thought], which follow in the wake of seeing. It is these that
create the ‘I’ and the ‘I’ is non-existent without them.</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRv3XfUKMEukras5_K9Qqm4gYYI6SuaOAN02oTpoKBFxmpVvE5Z1fRzvLJYidQNwVO0SSKbB_5hO4fPJaWq-xP-TPBe8Rfv8QmuL7E_eabCGSkwsWN8h1xxpGNjSYHPyIIjGddL3DxbY/s1600/31MdRg7Z2zL._SX295_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="297" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRv3XfUKMEukras5_K9Qqm4gYYI6SuaOAN02oTpoKBFxmpVvE5Z1fRzvLJYidQNwVO0SSKbB_5hO4fPJaWq-xP-TPBe8Rfv8QmuL7E_eabCGSkwsWN8h1xxpGNjSYHPyIIjGddL3DxbY/s400/31MdRg7Z2zL._SX295_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="238" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">In truth, there are only the following three
‘relational’ elements in order for a stimulus to be perceived: first, the
sense-object (or simply the <i>object</i> in question); secondly, a sense
organ; and thirdly, attention or consciousness. It is more-or-less the same
with our thoughts and thinking, except we have no sense-object and sense-organ
involved as such. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Now, <span style="background: white;">in order for there to be
an <i>immediacy </i>and <i>directness</i> about our moment-to-moment experience
of life, those three occurrences need to occur more-or-less
simultaneously---that is, no separation. If those three events are not
simultaneously experienced---and that will happen if we engage in thinking,
analysis, comparison, interpretation, or judgment in connection with the object
in question (be it external or internal)---then the chances are that what will
be experienced will be nothing but ... the past! Yes, the reality of the
immediate experience will subside. Indeed, it will die! Any consciousness of it
will be in the form of an <i>after-thought</i> or <i>memory</i>, as we glance
back to re-experience, and (sadly, yes) evaluate, a <i>past </i>experience.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Back to Proust. Another
memorable encounter in the first volume of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
Search of Time</i> is that concerning the hawthorn hedge and flowers. The
incident is also recounted in Part One of the first volume:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">… I found the whole path throbbing
with the fragrance of hawthorn-blossom. … But it was in vain that I lingered
beside the hawthorns—breathing in their invisible and unchanging odour, trying
to fix it in my mind (which did not know what to do with it), losing it,
recapturing it, absorbing myself in the rhythm which disposed the flowers here
and there with a youthful light-heartedness and at intervals as unexpected as
certain intervals in music …<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">And then I
returned to the hawthorns, and stood before them as one stands before those
masterpieces which, one imagines, one will be better able to ‘take in’ when one
has looked away for a moment at something else; but in vain did I make a screen
with my hands, the better to concentrate upon the flowers, the feeling they
aroused in me remained obscure and vague, struggling and failing to free
itself, to float across and become one with them. They themselves offered me no
enlightenment, and I could not call upon any other flowers to satisfy this
mysterious longing. And then, inspiring me with that rapture which we feel on
seeing a work by our favourite painter quite different from those we already
know, or, better still, when we are shown a painting of which we have hitherto
seen no more than a pencilled sketch, or when a piece of music which we have
heard only on the piano appears to us later clothed in all the colours of the
orchestra, my grandfather called me to him, and, pointing to the Tansonville
hedge, said to me: ‘You’re fond of hawthorns; just look at this pink one—isn’t
it lovely?’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">And it was
indeed a hawthorn, but one whose blossom was pink, and lovelier even than the
white. ...</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8g_W89M8eK2kbm7K5St1CpmCG2ssdzNgIfbud-uUrbfam7haQ5k2lhMLcu-JuJe3naFMz_Ga-FBurGoNc8UkANC-JfIeVehtTTUNnrpNFTP2YYCW6dPYms028a5x34DF67bbxTCDM-WU/s1600/hawthorn+hedge+and+flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8g_W89M8eK2kbm7K5St1CpmCG2ssdzNgIfbud-uUrbfam7haQ5k2lhMLcu-JuJe3naFMz_Ga-FBurGoNc8UkANC-JfIeVehtTTUNnrpNFTP2YYCW6dPYms028a5x34DF67bbxTCDM-WU/s400/hawthorn+hedge+and+flowers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Proust/the narrator recounts that </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">as a young boy </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">he found the whole path throbbing with the fragrance of
hawthorn-blossom. What a wonderful experience! But look what happens.</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> He </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">breathes in the
invisible and unchanging odour of the hawthorn flowers and tries to ‘fix it in [his]
mind (which did not know what to do with it)’. Ugh. He then loses the
directness and immediacy of the experience, then briefly recaptures it, and so
on. The young boy</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> receives some unexpected help from his grandfather, who says, ‘You are fond of
hawthorns; just look at this pink one; isn’t it pretty?’ <i>That</i>, my friends, is the essence of mindfulness. I</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">f we can just look and see, that
is, <i>observe</i> without judgment, analysis or interpretation, we
come to see the ‘formlessness of things’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Ordinarily, the conditioned,
undisciplined mind wants to attach itself to something, that is, some object or
thought. It is wants to grab hold of something. Actually, our mind is pure
consciousness in its pure, unconditioned state, so that when we <i>truly</i> observe
there is no observing self, there is simply awareness—pure unadulterated
awareness. Is this direct and immediate experience possible? Yes, indeed, but
it takes practice. That’s where the practice of mindfulness comes in handy. We
need to learn to give our full attention to the ever-fleeting present moment by
removing the hindrances or obstructions to our so doing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Begin now. There is no time like the present. When
you look, just look. When you hear, just hear. When you smell, just smell.
When you taste, just taste. When you touch, just touch. Avoid the temptation to
grab hold of something, that is, attach your mind to something. In truth, your
mind can <i>never</i> attach itself to the present. If you try, you
will always end up losing direct and immediate contact with the present moment
as it unfolds ceaselessly into the next present moment and the next and the one
after that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will finish with these words of Proust. </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘My
destination is no longer a place, rather a new way of seeing.’ A new way of
seeing. That is what mindfulness is all about.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent;"><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent;"><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RELATED POSTS</span></i></b></div>
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<a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/mindfulness-in-action-paul-valerys.html"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">MINDFULNESS IN
ACTION: PAUL VALÉRY’S ‘SEASIDE CEMETERY’</span></a></span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/living-in-now-with-french-poet-jacques.html"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;"><br />
LIVING IN THE NOW WITH FRENCH POET JACQUES PRÉVERT</span></a></span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/what-we-can-learn-about-mindfulness.html"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">WHAT WE CAN LEARN
ABOUT MINDFULNESS FROM CHARLES BAUDELAIRE</span></a></span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/the-red-balloon-study-in-mindfulness.html"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">THE RED BALLOON: A
STUDY IN MINDFULNESS</span></a></span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/mindfulness-and-monsieur-hulot.html"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">MINDFULNESS AND
MONSIEUR HULOT</span></a></span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/albert-camuss-good-advice-on-living-for.html"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">ALBERT CAMUS’ GOOD
ADVICE ON LIVING FOR THIS PRESENT MOMENT</span></a></span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/the-little-prince-lives-mindfully.html">THE LITTLE PRINCE
LIVES MINDFULLY</a></span></span></i></b></div>
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Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-35225468445936502722019-09-03T13:02:00.002+10:002019-09-03T13:02:44.373+10:00MINDFULNESS REQUIRES A SOLID ETHICAL FOUNDATION<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #20124d;">Mindfulness meditation, without
being embedded in a solid ethical foundation, may be of little benefit,
according to the results of a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.2570">recent study</a>
published in the <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">European Journal of Social Psychology</span></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #20124d;">The study provides preliminary [sic]
evidence that brief mindfulness exercises may not automatically increase
prosocial and moral behavior but can produce a mixed pattern of moral
consequences, perhaps depending upon the context.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #20124d;">The corporatization of
mindfulness, in the pursuit of wealth and profit, worries me greatly, as it
does many others. Mindfulness may help a firm’s bottom line but unless the
practice is grounded in a solid moral and ethical foundation, it is an
abomination. I have worked in the ‘big end of a time’; it is very much a ‘dog
eat dog’ environment. For the most part your work colleagues are your
competitors in a merciless ‘race to the top’. Unfortunately, this race is all
too often devoid of ethical values. I see a lot of people who end up broken through all of this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #20124d;">Mindfulness, whether Buddhist,
Christian or secular, must be accompanied by a mindset that is open to the
needs of others and suffering humanity generally. The basic rationale of
mindfulness must be a genuine desire to become a better, more caring human
being. In the words of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti">J. Krishnamurti</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #4c1130;">We are talking of something entirely different, not
of self-improvement, but of the cessation of the self …</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />Study</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">: Schindler, S et al. ‘Potential
negative consequences of mindfulness in the moral domain.’ <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.2570" target="_blank"><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">European Journal of Social Psychology</span></i></a></span><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">. </span></i><span class="epub-state"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">First published: </span></span><span class="epub-date"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">21 Jan 2019</span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
Issue online: 8 Jul 2019. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2570"><span style="text-decoration: none;">https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2570</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #20124d;"> </span></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">RELATED POSTS</span></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><br /><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-not-so-healthy-corporatization-of.html">THE NOT-SO-HEALTHY CORPORATIZATION OF MINDFULNESS</a></span></span></i></h2>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><br /><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/02/living-mindfully-in-world-full-of.html">LIVING
MINDFULLY IN A WORLD FULL OF NORMOPATHS</a></span><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></h3>
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Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-61157420973220194872019-06-25T09:42:00.000+10:002019-06-25T09:42:52.355+10:00AUSTRALIAN STUDY SHOWS THAT MINDFULNESS WORKS IN THE WORKPLACE<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ajpy.12255" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">New research</a><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> from </span><a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Griffith University</a><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> in Australia provides support for the thesis
that mindfulness helps to maintain and improve relationships in the
workplace. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><a href="https://experts.griffith.edu.au/academic/a.hawkes">Dr Amy J Hawkes</a> from <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/griffith-health/school-applied-psychology">Griffith’s School of Applied Psychology</a> and
co-researcher Carla Neale were inspired to conduct the research due to the
limited evidence supporting mindfulness in the workplace. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Most
of the 496 team workers surveyed noted that they interacted with
their teams daily or a couple of times a week. The respondents were of various
ages from various industries including retail, admin, hospitality, health,
education. In collating the responses, the researchers found
that being higher in mindfulness was significantly and positively
related to team-member exchange, and that this relationship
was mediated by emotion regulation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘There’s
already a lot of evidence that suggests if you have a mindful approach towards
life then you generally have better relationship satisfaction with your
partners or with your friends,’ Dr Hawkes said. ‘However, our study looked
at this in relation to relationships with colleagues at work, and that’s the
leap that hasn’t been documented very much previously.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The study
examined ‘dispositional mindfulness’, which is a person’s trait or natural
level of mindfulness. Practising mindfulness in meditation or tasks could
potentially boost your baseline mindfulness. Survey respondents rated
their own level of dispositional mindfulness, which indicated the level at
which they were naturally aware or unaware of what was happening
around them in a nonjudgmental way. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘Our
study looked at whether people’s dispositional mindfulness had an impact on how
they rated their co-worker relationships as cooperative and supportive,’
Dr Hawkes said. </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">‘People
who are more mindful reported higher quality relationships with
their colleagues, and that that seems to be explained by how they’re
processing and responding to what is happening. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘This
ability to process emotions, how they’re feeling in that moment, and then
respond appropriately and not snap, is something is that is starting to appear
strongly in mindfulness literature as being an explanation for why mindfulness
might help these relationship processes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Dr
Hawkes said the next step for this research could be to observe workers within
an organisation then run some mindfulness interventions to track
improvements to co-worker relationships. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Study</span></span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">: Hawkes A J, and
Neale C M. ‘Mindfulness beyond wellbeing: Emotion regulation and team?member
exchange in the workplace.’ <i>Australian
Journal of Psychology</i>. First published: 6 June 2019.
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12255">https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12255</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-51323052400406402262019-05-07T10:44:00.002+10:002019-05-09T11:05:31.117+10:00HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PUBLIC SPEAKING WITH MINDFULNESS<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘In the beginning was the word …’ (Jn
1:1).</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Words are <i>so</i> important.
Words are <i>things</i>. Words <i>create</i> reality. Powerful
stuff! A good public speaker needs to be a good wordsmith. Without that, no one
can be an effective public speaker. In order to be a good wordsmith, you must
love words, love books and love reading—and be a good and well-informed reader as
well.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br />
A public speaker is a purveyor of information through the medium of
performance. Yes, <i>performance</i>. What is ‘performance’? Well,
it refers to the act of presenting of some work (eg a play, concert,
recitation, lecture, etc) as well as the completion of<i style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"> </i>a
task with the application of knowledge, skills and abilities. Public speaking
is both an art and a skill, or rather a combination of skills including but not
limited to good vocal quality, a good sense of pitch and a good sense of
rhythm. With its extension in the form of debating, public speaking is one of
the ‘lively arts’, together with such others as music, theatre and ballet.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Public speaking has always been a big
part of my life. I first studied elocution with <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198423504/lucy-may-bruntnell">Lucille
Bruntnell</a> (late <a href="https://www.rada.ac.uk/">Royal Academy
of Dramatic Art</a>, London, being the original dramatic interpreter
of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Milne">A A Milne</a>'s
classic characters). Later, while still at high school, I studied voice
production for speech with Sydney’s original voice and radio coach <a href="https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/bryson_taylor/speech_for_australians/">Bryson
Taylor</a>, <span style="background: white;">who tutored many famous
Australian broadcasters. More recently, I have been studying speech and drama
at the <a href="https://www.nida.edu.au/">National Institute of Dramatic
Art</a> (NIDA) in Sydney. I have spent years and years lecturing to
thousands of university students, reading lessons in churches, delivering
monologues (poems and speeches from plays), and participating in several
high-level public debates. In recent times, I have been facilitating training
sessions on public speaking. What's more, I still have to work on my own voice;
in March 2002 I had a <a href="https://www.uhb.nhs.uk/Downloads/pdf/PiAdviceVocalFoldSurgery.pdf">microlaryngoscopy</a> and <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319757.php">polypectomy</a> to
repair a torn, haemorrhagic left vocal fold and remove a polyp that had grown
on the fold. After the operation, I had to see a speech pathologist for some
time to learn to use my voice again. It wasn’t fun! And my voice is no longer
as strong as it once was and I can become hoarse fairly easily.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Public speaking does not
appear to come naturally to most people. Most people seem to have an aversion
to public speaking. Indeed, it has been said that our three greatest fears are
death, being asked for money, and speaking in public. I’ve already mentioned
that public speaking is both an art and a skill. Now, as respects it being a
skill, public speaking is for the most part an acquired skill. In addition
to having a well-organised and tightly structured speech, and being
one’s <i>own</i> personality, an effective public speaker has
developed a number of speaking skills which collectively produce a high
standard of speech. Those skills include<span style="background: white;">, of
course, the ability to</span> speak well. <span style="background: white;">In order to improve the quality of your speech you need to learn to
breathe using your diaphragm. </span><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/10/diaphragmatic-breathing.html">Diaphragmatic
breathing</a> gives the voice depth and conveys a sense of assurance and
authority, which is extremely important for a public speaker. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #20124d;">The ability
to speak well also </span><span style="color: #20124d;">requires,
among other things, good articulation (the proper use of the moveable
organs of speech which form our consonants and vowels), enunciation (the art of
speaking clearly so that each word is clearly heard), resonance (v<span style="background: white;">ibrations that create tone through and within your
mouth, throat, and nasal passages</span>) and phonation (<span style="background: white;">the process by which the vocal folds produce certain
sounds through quasi-periodic vibration</span> and resonance). You
must also have a certain presence. <span style="background: white;">The word
‘presence’ refers to a certain charisma and charm that a speaker, actor or
performer possesses that draws in an audience and commands their full
attention. You must also </span>say what the audience wants to hear. You
must also be natural—and <i>yourself</i>—for it is only by being yourself
that you will ever be original. Learn from others but don’t copy them. They are
not you.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Now, where does mindfulness fit into all
this? Well, </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">mindfulness plays a vital
role in public speaking. Some commentators take the view that it is perhaps the
most important ingredient of the art and skill of public speaking.
Anyway, </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">it is essential that you</span><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"> </b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">remember to be
mindfully present at all times during your speech or presentation. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">You will know your audience better and
connect better with your audience when you are more aware of
yourself. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Awareness is an integral part of mindfulness. However,
mindfulness is not simply awareness but <i>awareness of awareness</i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">—that
is, reflexive awareness or ‘two-dimensional awareness’. </span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mindfulness is also all
about <i>remembering</i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">. Never forget that. Remembering what? Well,
mindfulness is remembering what is present, remembering to stay present in the
present moment from one moment to the next, and remembering in the present
moment what has already happened. In other words, mindfulness is all about
keeping the present in mind, remembering to <i>be</i></span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"> </i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">here, and
remembering to <i>stay</i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> here</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">—<i>now</i>.</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Mindfulness is the
work of reminding yourself not just to be aware, and to say aware, but that you
are aware. First and foremost, remember this—you must <i>practise</i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> mindfulness. When it comes to public speaking—as well as acting</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">—</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">presence</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> work,
as well as voice work and proper breathing, is important. Say to yourself, ‘I
am here … I am present … I see you and I let you see me.’ Remember those words
before you start speaking—and also when you're speaking.</span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Now, before you start speaking, free and align your body, especially your head, neck, back, hips, legs and feet.</span><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"> </b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Release tension in your body, especially your jaw, and in your mind. One way of doing that is to stretch and gently massage your shoulders, chest, neck, jaw and face. Don’t forget to free your breath with some vocal warm-ups, and breathe deeply. Deep diaphragmatic breathing is good for the voice and also helps to relax your whole body as well as your mind. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">During your speech or presentation, avoid going on auto-pilot. It is so easy for us to become hypnotised by the flow of words. So, how does one avoid going on auto-pilot? Well, there are several ways.</span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">First, remember to maintain good eye
contact with your audience. Look around your audience and gauge their reactions
to your speech or presentation. It is essential that you a</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">void visual
information overload and overkill. Research indicates that it is more difficult
to process information when it is coming at us in both the written and spoken
forms at the same time (eg using PowerPoint). The human brain processes and
retains more information if it is digested in either its verbal or written
form, but <i>not</i> both at the same time. If you do decide to use
PowerPoint, avoid death by PowerPoint. Make sure the slides don’t take
over; it is so easy to overload your slides with too much information. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Don’t be trendy and faddish just for the
sake of it; the weight of evidence is now very much the other way. Secondly,
remember to vary the vocal elements of pitch, pace, tone, volume and speed.
Thirdly, remember to make good use of pause. Fourthly, remember to stay aware
of your posture and your breathing at regular intervals—and make any necessary
adjustments. (Note. <span style="background: white;">Correct posture is
really about poise which involves correct head-neck-back relationship and good
core muscle support.) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Here’s something else. Although we
tend to focus most of our attention on the words of our speech or presentation,
research suggests that the total impact of a communication is as follows: 7 per
cent words, 38 per cent vocal noise, and 55 per cent non-verbal. The latter
includes such things as our body language, the way we dress, the time allowed for
our communication, the seating arrangements, and the physical environment<i>.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQt-YygKxsRxSwYBxVFE72lNgnxNCBX-NZwmsfCyVQ47nvr6u6grkCufXyIxfWzfoVkAb3zDs7TGow7UACXIYWR0qy5vbcKtoa7SxDiJA_liOqnj56qxTJUPhe2fRRYmIwMjICxY3i1aU/s1600/IMG_8840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1268" data-original-width="1280" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQt-YygKxsRxSwYBxVFE72lNgnxNCBX-NZwmsfCyVQ47nvr6u6grkCufXyIxfWzfoVkAb3zDs7TGow7UACXIYWR0qy5vbcKtoa7SxDiJA_liOqnj56qxTJUPhe2fRRYmIwMjICxY3i1aU/s400/IMG_8840.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The author delivering a lecture some 19 years ago.</i></span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;">Key elements of mindfulness practice, such as attention and observation, as well as intention, are also very important when it comes to public speaking. Those elements can be applied to all aspects of what is known as <i>vocal progression</i></span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">—namely, <i>presence </i>work, <i>breath</i> work, and <i>voice</i> work, with the latter involving capacity, support and placement for expressive communication, phonation, resonance and articulation. </span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Always keep in mind your intention. For example, y</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;">our intention may be to impart knowledge and information or perhaps to entertain. Don't forget to </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">remain attentive and observant. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">When it comes to public speaking, mindfulness requires an </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">alertness of mind, which is the instinctive ability to sense the text and the structure of the work being read. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The secret is to stay focused on the action of each moment as it quickly becomes the next moment, and then the moment after that, and so on. The attention of your mind moves with the flow of action, word by word, phrase by phrase, line by line, and so on throughout your speech or presentation. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Never get stuck in the moment, unable to move on to the next, even if you make a mistake. Make the necessary correction, if such action be required, and move on. Life moves only in one direction. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And
while I am on the subject of mindfulness and observation, if you really want to
improve your speech, start by observing others and, most of all, yourself. I
love these words from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Ouspensky">P D Ouspensky</a></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> (<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_the_Miraculous">In Search of the Miraculous</a></i>)</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">, who is quoting his teacher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gurdjieff">George Gurdjieff</a>:</span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Self-observation brings man to the realization of the
necessity for self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that
self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes, he
begins to understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a
means of awakening. By observing himself he throws, as it were, a ray of light
onto his inner processes which have hitherto worked in complete darkness. And
under the influence of this light the processes themselves begin to change.</span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Good public speaking takes
practice—lots of it. </span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Seek feedback from
your audience</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> and learn from your mistakes. Most importantly, don’t
take yourself too seriously. Indeed, you will be a better public speaker if you
don’t.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><br />RELATED POSTS</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><b><i><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/10/diaphragmatic-breathing.html">DIAPHRAGMATIC
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-major-cause-of-bad-postureand-even.html"><o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p>THE
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<b><i><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2013/11/mindfulness-and-method-acting.html">MINDFULNESS
AND METHOD ACTING</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMAOdzLgqBxh5LgvZXy0W0BwMCKbS1ph2O8RdC7oUZBLUwWojHDYrB6c7gUgpJtJ8o3Bk7IhomnklkUDevLtTg4wXub6W8f5FjabE2pngZ8T93E6Unr8JLojDsN8gQ5vAh7PE9bZuMOtA/s1600/IEJ_2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="277" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMAOdzLgqBxh5LgvZXy0W0BwMCKbS1ph2O8RdC7oUZBLUwWojHDYrB6c7gUgpJtJ8o3Bk7IhomnklkUDevLtTg4wXub6W8f5FjabE2pngZ8T93E6Unr8JLojDsN8gQ5vAh7PE9bZuMOtA/s200/IEJ_2019.jpg" width="123" /></a></div>
<b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><i><br /></i></span></b>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-11865478621308614052019-04-11T08:55:00.001+10:002019-04-11T08:55:40.662+10:00YOU DO NOT EXIST!<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Now
that's a provocative title for a blog post, if ever there was one.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Well,
<i>do</i> you exist or don’t you? ‘Of course, I do, you silly fool,’ I hear you say.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Well,
it all depends on what we mean by the word ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘you’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">One
of the themes—if theme be the right word—of my blog posts is what is known as
self illusion. It is a teaching of Buddhism but the idea is by no means
exclusively Buddhist. Indeed, when I was in rehab many years ago, the
psychologist-in-charge, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA49AE64CEEF6A02B">Jim Maclaine</a>,
taught self illusion therapy. I have been expounding its virtues ever since. Why? Well, it worked for me! It still does.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now,
when I say that self is an illusion, it is important to bear in mind what I
mean by the word illusion. It simply means that the ‘thing’ in question is not
what it seems. We tend to think that our sense of self (‘I’ and ‘me’) is something
that is real and permanent and stable—perhaps even something that is separate
and distinct from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">person</i> that
each one of us is. The truth is otherwise. Our sense of self seems to be incredibly
real. In a sense, it is, although it is not a ‘thing-in-itself’, so to speak.
However, there is now </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">a wealth of scientific evidence attesting
to the fact—yes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fact</i>—that the notion
of an independent, coherent self is an illusion, that is, it is not what it
seems. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU9qIkpODhaFsGlr_oxhRdZXmfvT6QrOCKPVILOoqcyFuy8k2iRFPtDN9sbNCkJy3CkyNVpT8BZjk-cxdCJWIrQLh4cAXtSSHVZIScdwxoGb3-Ge0KldoPW8WJKi442NrCu6orZMcz8x0/s1600/Bruce+Hood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="227" data-original-width="160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU9qIkpODhaFsGlr_oxhRdZXmfvT6QrOCKPVILOoqcyFuy8k2iRFPtDN9sbNCkJy3CkyNVpT8BZjk-cxdCJWIrQLh4cAXtSSHVZIScdwxoGb3-Ge0KldoPW8WJKi442NrCu6orZMcz8x0/s320/Bruce+Hood.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dr Bruce Hood</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Hood_(psychologist)">Bruce Hood</a>, pictured
left, a developmental psychologist, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Thompson">Evan Thompson</a>, pictured
below, a philosopher and cognitive scientist, are just a few experts who propound
the non-existence, that is, the illusion, of the so-called self. I thoroughly recommend
their books <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Self-Illusion-Social-Creates-Identity/dp/0199988781">The
Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity</a></i> (2011) [Hood] and
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Waking-Dreaming-Being-Consciousness-Neuroscience/dp/0231136951">Waking,
Dreaming, Being</a></i> (2015) [Thompson]. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">According
to Hood, our brains generate, that is, construct, this illusion of a self—it’s a
kind of a matrix—to deal with and respond to ‘a multitude of different
processes and decisions that are often in conflict with each other, often occurring
below our level of consciousness’. Our sens</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">e
of self emerges during childhood and is built up andconsolidated thereafter. </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thompson refers to
an ‘</span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">enacted self’ (that is, ‘I’ as a
process) and </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">explains
that we confuse the interplay of our ever-changing mind—which is a body-brain continuum
of sorts—as a supposedly stable, core ‘I’ or ego. He writes:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">… the mental
repository is a subliminal data bank, not an ego, and it’s constantly changing
process, not a substantial thing. Hence this impression that there’s a self is
a mental fabrication and what the fabrication represents doesn’t exist.</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
bottom line is that t</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">here is no a distinct ‘I’ or ‘me’
in charge of our thoughts, feelings and actions. In the words of Hood:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">[O]ur brain creates the experience of our self as a
model—a cohesive integrated character—to make sense of the multitude of
experiences that assault our senses throughout a lifetime and leave lasting
impressions in our memory. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #20124d;">In other words, the self is an illusion
created by our brain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Now,
you may ask, ‘Well, so what? Why is any of this important, assuming that it is?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Well,
let me explain, but first listen to these words of <a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/10/krishnamurti-and-mindfulness.html">J.
Krishnamurti</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #4c1130;">The very nature of the
self is to create contradiction.</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCtX6S5XkiyGLYfZnZaCnL7qiZFysxmcYldZsqjTLVJbS53Hi520dta93iWSAXQOy5WNgPst0tlJjfkHSpASOa2UbYHWuWHcsVwhoMoEJF_xgRw31q14577Vju3SFgsxXnZ_WV-irXArA/s1600/Evan+Thompson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="377" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCtX6S5XkiyGLYfZnZaCnL7qiZFysxmcYldZsqjTLVJbS53Hi520dta93iWSAXQOy5WNgPst0tlJjfkHSpASOa2UbYHWuWHcsVwhoMoEJF_xgRw31q14577Vju3SFgsxXnZ_WV-irXArA/s320/Evan+Thompson.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dr Evan Thompson</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Krishnamurti also wrote: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">You know
what I mean by the self? By that, I mean the idea, the memory, the conclusion,
the experience, the various forms of namable and unnamable intentions, the
conscious endeavor to be or not to be, the accumulated memory of the
unconscious, the racial, the group, the individual, the clan, and the whole of
it all, whether it is projected outwardly in action, or projected spiritually
as virtue; the striving after all this is the self.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />If
you have ever struggled </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">with an addiction, you will know all too well that
there is, for example, the ‘self that wants to drink [</span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">or</i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> smoke, </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">etc</i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">]’ and the ‘self
that doesn’t want to drink [</span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">or</i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> smoke,
</span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">etc</i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">]’. The two selves—and we generate
hundreds of these selves every day of our lives, some of them becoming very persistent
over time—are in conflict. At any moment of the day, one of them is fighting
for supremacy.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Recovery
begins when you come to the realization that none of these selves are what they
seem to be. </span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, the so-called ‘self’ is nothing
more than an aggregate or heap of perceptions and sensations. It is, in
reality, a non-self. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">What <i>is</i> real is the <i>person</i> that you are. A person can change. You do what is
appropriate for a <i>person</i> in your
condition. You do not try to change the self that seems to you to be the
problem.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Know this. Your sense of self is a
constructed narrative that your brain has created. Do not try to change your ‘self’
or the particular little self that seems to be the source of your problem (eg
the ‘self that wants to drink’). Work on the </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">person</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> that you are. Give your pesky little self no attention. Give
it no power over you—for it has no power in and of itself. You, the </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">person</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> that you are, have power—the power
to change your life for the better.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #4c1130;">RELATED POSTS<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-illusory-mind-part-1.html">THE ILLUSORY MIND [Part 1]</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="color: #4c1130;"> </span></o:p></span></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-illusory-mind-part-2.html">THE ILLUSORY MIND [Part 2]</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></h3>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/12/giving-up-smoking-with-mindfulness.html"><span style="text-decoration: none;">GIVING UP
SMOKING WITH MINDFULNESS</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></h3>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/11/mindfulness-and-serenity.html">MINDFULNESS, THE "SELF" AND SERENITY</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></h3>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="color: #4c1130;"> </span></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ian/Desktop/KRISHNAMURTI%20AND%20THE%20TRUE%20ESSENCE%20OF%20MINDFULNESS">KRISHNAMURTI AND THE TRUE ESSENCE OF MINDFULNESS</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></h3>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="color: #4c1130;"> </span></o:p></span></i></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2014/06/are-you-in-prison-chances-are-you-are.html"><span style="color: #4c1130;">ARE YOU IN PRISON? (CHANCES ARE YOU ARE BUT DON’T KNOW
IT)</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-53426062428827532342019-03-02T10:39:00.001+11:002019-03-26T15:00:38.528+11:00WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT MINDFULNESS ANYWAY?<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Mindfulness is no
longer the flavour of the month. I’m not entirely sure why that is the case
but, as the <a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/05/mindfulness-in-bible.html">Bible</a> says, ‘</span><em style="color: #20124d; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal;">To everything there is a season</span></em><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="float: none;">’ (<a href="https://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/3-1.htm">Ec 3:1</a>).</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, don’t get me wrong. Mindfulness is still very
popular and it’s taught and practised everywhere. Anyway, to get to the point,
some people say to me, ‘What’s so good about mindfulness anyway?’ Hence, this
post.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Mindfulness is really
<a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2016/04/mindfulness-is-simple-just-be-present.html">nothing
extraordinary</a>. It is certainly nothing <a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2013/10/mindfulness-and-mysticism.html">mystical</a> or otherwordly, whatever
the latter means. Mindfulness is simply living with awareness—and with the
<a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/07/awareness-of-awareness.html">awareness of one’s awareness</a>. How often do we get in our car and drive from
place A to place B. We drive along certain roads. However, is it not the case
that all too often, when we get to our destination, we have no recollection of
going down Road X or Road Y. Our awareness while driving was intermittent and
there was little or no actual awareness of our awareness.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6khf3koZ-oXIZGbnsmjaku1RuBt5NOl_QicL2VfPm70VvjNwSP0vaEaTxR6-TxZL2CVAOrkGZ6EWjdkhLhGy2jDI0i5Smhz6Lxy_OfiXSui442Z28LNkyN3fu6lmFyI3nJkNLSgVHtrI/s1600/London_Dec+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6khf3koZ-oXIZGbnsmjaku1RuBt5NOl_QicL2VfPm70VvjNwSP0vaEaTxR6-TxZL2CVAOrkGZ6EWjdkhLhGy2jDI0i5Smhz6Lxy_OfiXSui442Z28LNkyN3fu6lmFyI3nJkNLSgVHtrI/s640/London_Dec+2018.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mindfulness is being grounded in the here-and-now.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Golden Jubilee Bridges over the Thames. London, United Kingdom. </span><span style="color: #20124d;">December 2018.</span><i style="color: #20124d;"><br />Photo taken by the author.</i></span></span></b></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Mindfulness is the
direct, immediate and unmediated perception of what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i>. By ‘direct, immediate, and unmediated’, I mean that our
perception of both internal and external reality is no longer filtered (‘mediated’)—and
in the process distorted—through such things as our beliefs, conditioning,
analysis, interpretation, and judgment. Mindfulness helps us to not identify
with, or build up a resistance to, those mental images in our brain that
deflect us from the task of being and remaining in direct, immediate and
unmediated contact and relationship with what is happening in us and outside of
us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mindfulness is being
grounded in the here-and-now, in what<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> is</i>.
Mindfulness has nothing to do with ‘expanded consciousness’, so-called higher
orders or levels of reality, and supposed notions of transcendence. Mindfulness
is grounded firmly in everyday reality—the only reality that there is—that is,
in the <a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/search?q=anderson"><i>one</i> order or level of reality</a> in which we all live and
move and have our be-ing-ness. I am sure you have heard of the words, the ‘<a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2012/02/it-was-spiritual-psychologist-and.html">eternal
now</a>’. We have our presence, our very be-ing-ness, in the eternal now. </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The eternal now is that ‘present’
which is forever renewing itself in and as each new moment. The regular practice of mindfulness enables us to live more fully</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—and, yes, more mindfully</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—in the eternal now.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSw4g-w0Tjgx3qkICYdZTQ3SrH_XtmNL-LOJ_LbsPyhwJlLVArfQpKxN6y9HWZUVnm5rJo5-2yvElp5r6h0oiOUo_OjOScS46QLSDO4yr-YNBkGoTWvTs39TS1UbPLjOaurUM5BB5AP9E/s1600/Lapland_Dec+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSw4g-w0Tjgx3qkICYdZTQ3SrH_XtmNL-LOJ_LbsPyhwJlLVArfQpKxN6y9HWZUVnm5rJo5-2yvElp5r6h0oiOUo_OjOScS46QLSDO4yr-YNBkGoTWvTs39TS1UbPLjOaurUM5BB5AP9E/s640/Lapland_Dec+2018.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">Mindfulness is a journey in self-discovery.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: small;">Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland. December 2018.</span></b></span><br />
<b style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><i>Photo taken by the author.</i></span></b></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">To the extent that the
practice of mindfulness is concerned with knowing and understanding what <i>is</i>, and observing (among other things)
the content of one’s consciousness—that is, our thoughts, feelings, desires, and
so on—the practice is a spiritual one. By ‘spiritual’, I mean non-material or
non-physical. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">The English word ‘spirit’
comes from the Latin <i>spiritus</i> meaning, among other things,
breath, breathing, air, inspiration, character, spirit, life, vigour, and
courage. Spirituality does not require or depend upon notions of ‘<a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2013/12/mindfulness-naturalism-and-spiritual.html">supernaturalism</a>’.
On the contrary, spirituality is all about the development of the mind, the
emotions and the will.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">Mindfulness is not<i> </i>a religion or even a philosophy
but rather a way of being, a way of life, a journey in self-discovery, and an education. Mindfulness, being devoid
of all notions of religiosity, is entirely <i>experiential</i> and unlike most
if not all religions it is <i>empirically based</i>. When the </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://www.dalailama.com/">Dalai Lama</a> addressed the concluding
session of the International Congress on Mindfulness in 2011, he reiterated
that mindfulness is not a religious practice.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"> He also </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">made the point that
all of us, whether religious or non-religious, needs to <i>practise</i> mindfulness every day. In saying that, the Dalai Lama is
simply urging us to live with non-judgmental, choiceless awareness, from one
moment to the next.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">Of
course, there are many tangible benefits in the regular practice of
mindfulness. </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">Changes
in the body associated with the practice of mindfulness include but are not
limited to a reduced heart rate, reduced blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, reduced muscle tension,
increased cardiovascular efficiency, improved circulation of blood and lymph,
improved gastrointestinal functioning, reduced sensitivity to pain, an enhanced
immune system, improved posture, and an overall relaxation of the body and
sleep. Changes in the mind include</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"> an </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">increased
cortical thickness in the grey matter of the brain, a calmer, more patient,
stable and steady mind, overall relaxation of the mind, an enhanced feeling of
wellbeing, an improved ability to cope with and release stress, enhanced
cognitive functioning and performance, improved concentration and attention to
detail, faster sensory processing and increased capacity for focus and memory,
increased learning and consciousness, increased openness to new ideas, greater
responsiveness in the moment, reduced mental distractedness, increased verbal
creativity, and delayed ageing of the brain.</span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXktWKUbqNZijlhT7exCczT1dWf82gZHAo8gAEspUTuGQGz70BQMBNELhMyWjLLWx-YJUQKTk6Ak1uyU42OH091btVCeYlKR4142GMiUEOkUkYO1rE07w62B3ODzdK7HKO6SLUR6Z0BNo/s1600/Easter+cactus_Bilgola+Plateau_IEJs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="717" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXktWKUbqNZijlhT7exCczT1dWf82gZHAo8gAEspUTuGQGz70BQMBNELhMyWjLLWx-YJUQKTk6Ak1uyU42OH091btVCeYlKR4142GMiUEOkUkYO1rE07w62B3ODzdK7HKO6SLUR6Z0BNo/s640/Easter+cactus_Bilgola+Plateau_IEJs.jpg" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">Mindfulness is the choiceless awareness of what is.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: small;">Easter cactus (Hatiora gaertneri). Bilgola Plateau NSW Australia. November 2016.<br /><i>Photo taken by the author.</i></span></span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As a
spiritual practice, living mindfully makes us more aware of who we really are.
By self-observation we gain invaluable insight into our thoughts, feelings, and
actions. We become more directly aligned to the flow of life of which each one
of us is a part. That can only be a good thing. Let me read these words from</span><span class="Heading4Char"><i><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> </span></i></span><em><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanmyay_Sayadaw">Sayadaw
U Janakābhiva<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">ṃ</span>sa</a></span></em><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theravada">Theravada</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism">Buddhist</a> monk from Myanmar
and</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
a leading authority on meditation and mindfulness: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Why
should we observe or watch physical and mental processes as they are? Because
we want to realise their true nature. [That] leads us to the right
understanding of natural processes as just natural process. ... When our body
feels hot, we should observe that feeling of heat as it is. When the body feels
cold, we should observe it as cold. When we feel pain, we should observe it as
it is—pain. When we feel happy, we should watch that happiness as it is—as
happiness. When we feel angry, we should observe that anger as it really is—as
anger. When we feel sorry, we should be mindful of it as it is—as sorry. When
we feel sad or disappointed, then we must be aware of our emotional state of
sadness or disappointment as it is. </span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">In
short, mindfulness is simply living naturally and realistically—and with
choiceless awareness of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what is</i> …
from one moment to the next. The influential Indian teacher and lecturer <a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/10/krishnamurti-and-mindfulness.html">J. Krishnamurti</a> spoke of 'meeting everything anew, from moment to moment, without the conditioning reaction of the past, so that there is not the cumulative effect which acts as a barrier between oneself and that which is'. That, my friends, is what living mindfully is all about. So, if you're not into mindfulness, you're not <i>truly</i> living from one moment to the next.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">RELATED POSTS<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/10/is-mindfulness-religion.html">IS
MINDFULNESS A RELIGION?</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2016/04/mindfulness-is-simple-just-be-present.html">MINDFULNESS
IS SIMPLE: JUST BE THE PRESENT MOMENT</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-1437213374718927672019-02-28T12:26:00.000+11:002019-03-01T06:54:58.305+11:00IS TRUTH A MATTER OF OPINION?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64gcSGbL1Rj8ZI5RWFhNd9pkPPpZf3TXXmS9WXLrb2AVNOc_hQhEtv-NastbdnFitcso6Bzkq9ofBfG0zHjgQUBuVW45Sw0tFPPOUZIeSHBSYUOtvWfAo2yH29ec3p-buIDe95NdQdWY/s1600/truth-dictionary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="367" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64gcSGbL1Rj8ZI5RWFhNd9pkPPpZf3TXXmS9WXLrb2AVNOc_hQhEtv-NastbdnFitcso6Bzkq9ofBfG0zHjgQUBuVW45Sw0tFPPOUZIeSHBSYUOtvWfAo2yH29ec3p-buIDe95NdQdWY/s400/truth-dictionary.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One question that is
often asked of me — actually, it’s more of a statement — is, ‘You assert that
truth</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that is, reality, actuality, fact</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is what </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in;">is</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. Surely it’s a case of what is truth for
one person may not be truth for someone else? It’s a matter of opinion or
belief. You have your version of truth. I have mine.’</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghXTYm8WvR3WG_tjZcX-7nDty3i_jKTJ1JkEkCgKSiPg_NUrnhJGhFu29v7ecA0LSuTjsIwnihuI9Fh2cDLlHogp0EV9sSOc-P7YPeYeC5z2MKhNFm_8jvfMba_pu3y7fb_BUuDs5MRA/s1600/William_S_Gilbert_%25281878%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghXTYm8WvR3WG_tjZcX-7nDty3i_jKTJ1JkEkCgKSiPg_NUrnhJGhFu29v7ecA0LSuTjsIwnihuI9Fh2cDLlHogp0EV9sSOc-P7YPeYeC5z2MKhNFm_8jvfMba_pu3y7fb_BUuDs5MRA/s320/William_S_Gilbert_%25281878%2529.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><b>W. S. Gilbert (1836-1911).</b><br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Photographed by Elliott & Fry in 1878.</i><br />Source: New York Public Library's<br />Digital Library.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">Now,
some people — especially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjectivism">subjectivists</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism">relativists</a> — love to say, ‘Well, I
believe the sky is blue, but it is open to you or anyone else to believe that
it is green or red or whatever colour you believe.’ Yes, in the words of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._S._Gilbert">W. S. Gilbert</a>, pictured, of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_and_Sullivan">Gilbert and Sullivan</a> fame, this 'disease' of wrong thinking </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">means:</span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">‘And I am right, </span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And you are right, </span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And all is right as right can be!’ </span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We are
all right, none of us is wrong, we are all equally precious, we are all
winners. Winners in what, I ask? A contest to determine who is the most stupid?
(Sorry.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">I
usually say to those who assert that truth is a matter of opinion or belief,
‘What has <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">opinion</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">belief</i> got to do with any of this?’ I
can still hear the voice of my old philosophy lecturer. He would say, ‘The sky
is blue. The sky does not become any bluer because you believe it to be blue.
Further, the proposition — "the sky is blue" — does not become any truer
because you believe it to be true.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">Let’s
explore a little further the idea that we all have our own ‘version’ of truth,
so truth is not something objective or ‘out there’ to behold. Well, I don’t
doubt that people do in fact have their own versions of truth. However, you
cannot have a version of something (i.e. truth) unless that something (truth) exists
in its own right. An objective issue is always raised. Let me explain. Let’s
say that truth is for Sam <b>X</b>, whereas
truth for Sheila is <i>not</i> <b>X</b>. (She thinks truth is, say, <b>Y</b>.) Now, if we leave the disputants,
Sam and Sheila, right out of it, we come back to a real contradiction turning
on an objective issue, namely, is truth <b>X</b>
or not?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYBaoYC9lSCzroWAzIKVjBAQW17IsS8dcuuXgeUl7CApdMdsf53Z7-_KUymHnt_HnypMSOK3x5Ss8x2zwl1z1aSk9nvbUGuhlct3UIxRzdOiX6AMXxlo42iGlKD5FX43Bl06L8QzbTRC0/s1600/Playa+Cayo+Santa+Maria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYBaoYC9lSCzroWAzIKVjBAQW17IsS8dcuuXgeUl7CApdMdsf53Z7-_KUymHnt_HnypMSOK3x5Ss8x2zwl1z1aSk9nvbUGuhlct3UIxRzdOiX6AMXxlo42iGlKD5FX43Bl06L8QzbTRC0/s400/Playa+Cayo+Santa+Maria.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>A blue sky</b></span>—<b style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">with a few clouds. </b></span><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Playa Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba.<br /><i>Photo taken by the author in August 2018.</i></b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">One
more thing. Here’s another problem with subjectivism and relativism. If things
are as one believes or thinks them to be, then that implies that each person,
or in the case of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_relativism">cultural relativism</a> each culture, is infallible in their
judgments and opinions. In other words, they cannot err. And it would also mean
that there can never be any real difference. Thus, if I think the sky is blue,
and you think the sky is red, there is no disagreement or real contradiction.
It is simply a case that, ‘The sky is for me blue,’ and ‘The sky is for you not
blue.’ Those two propositions are not in contradiction to each other. Isn’t
that wonderful? After all, we don’t want conflict or disagreement, do we?
Nonsense, I say! Bring it on! I’m ready!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">You
may think that I am a little dogmatic about all this, but am I? Who is the one
who asserts infallibility—that people cannot err in their judgments and
opinions? Not the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_realism">realist</a>, but the subjectivist and the
relativist of which there are far too many these days, thanks to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism">postmodernism</a>
and what has flowed from it. If only they would think things through —
logically!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">That’s
my rant for the day.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VmHK8MMCGQCLHLnR5mvqfOqbEQS2-kwjwvtZSZpEk1yaIPBlrjXdg4_JPzkA_DmqTjrYYYXJuofeGaC3ANIk5ATjjTYqaINBqs7N4bLR9jpfRwNjVm8Mn0cj_Mp4jTr5NHF9n5d6Riw/s1600/sky+is+blue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="96" data-original-width="448" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VmHK8MMCGQCLHLnR5mvqfOqbEQS2-kwjwvtZSZpEk1yaIPBlrjXdg4_JPzkA_DmqTjrYYYXJuofeGaC3ANIk5ATjjTYqaINBqs7N4bLR9jpfRwNjVm8Mn0cj_Mp4jTr5NHF9n5d6Riw/s320/sky+is+blue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-17298249649135860832019-02-01T06:41:00.001+11:002019-11-10T08:42:05.208+11:00THE LITERARY MINDFULNESS OF T S ELIOT<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">‘We
must be still and still moving.’</span></span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">T S Eliot</span></b><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, ‘<a href="http://oedipa.tripod.com/eliot-2.html">East Coker</a>’ (from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Quartets">Four Quartets</a></i>).</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qwRV4D_JYlk-DmoKuKrKZeiwHNHJQL6ed0RBGvIL0snGjRNtdiBPzJ8Q2GgmeHbHCiOfm4F6v7fqb7HsI7cyNhL5Qab6MHJekpZowQiaT5cQ3xYYnVE3KCfzkv03Dn9TzGaziwD-QrI/s1600/T+S+Eliot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qwRV4D_JYlk-DmoKuKrKZeiwHNHJQL6ed0RBGvIL0snGjRNtdiBPzJ8Q2GgmeHbHCiOfm4F6v7fqb7HsI7cyNhL5Qab6MHJekpZowQiaT5cQ3xYYnVE3KCfzkv03Dn9TzGaziwD-QrI/s1600/T+S+Eliot.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Thomas Stearns Eliot OM (1888-1965)</i></span></b></td></tr>
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<em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Whenever I am in
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London">London</a>—and it is quite often these days as my wife and I have a son living and
working there—I usually stay in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Kensington">South Kensington</a>, very close to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester_Road_tube_station">Gloucester Road Tube station</a>. I am familiar with the area and its hotels, shops, restaurants
and churches. </span></span></em><br />
<em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></span></em>
<em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">One such church, where my wife and I have attended services several times,
is <a href="http://www.saint-stephen.org.uk/">St Stephen's Church, Gloucester Road</a>. It’s a traditional <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Catholicism">Anglo-Catholic</a>
parish—‘bells and smells’ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicanism">Anglicanism</a>, if you will, but I like it. My favourite
modern poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot">T S Eliot</a>, pictured, was a churchwarden there for 25 years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">I first read the
poetry of T S Eliot when I was at high school. It was compulsory reading. (In June 1964 Eliot said to the American comedian <a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-gospel-according-to-groucho.html">Groucho Marx</a>, whom he admired, that he [Eliot] had no wish to become compulsory reading.) Anyway, I</span></span></em><em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"> fell in love with Eliot's poetry almost 50 years ago and I have loved it ever since. How often have I said to myself interiorly these lines from '<a href="https://www.shmoop.com/hollow-men/poem-text.html">The Hollow Men</a>' ...</span></span></em><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />We are the hollow men</span></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="text-align: start;">We are the stuffed men</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="text-align: start;">Leaning together</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;" />
</span><span style="background: white;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Headpiece filled with straw. …</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">... as well as these and other lines from ‘<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/44212/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock">The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock</a>’:</span></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Let us go then, you and I,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">When the evening is spread out against the sky<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Like a patient etherized upon a table …<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">…<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I grow old ... I grow old ...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a
peach?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">… … …</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJYIgtxI7QEaKRRFTPImMHT6tU7BMEnPGT_1EbilBuafmwFhxip0QTlBJGFAEQjeL2lpguqe4RNnvFOMRS-7okiviNVHshtwEoxse-g0DcojLH5B3Lt8xWyAi8vG0UzUEB0Tpay1lCcE/s1600/St_Stephens+Gloucester_Road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="640" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJYIgtxI7QEaKRRFTPImMHT6tU7BMEnPGT_1EbilBuafmwFhxip0QTlBJGFAEQjeL2lpguqe4RNnvFOMRS-7okiviNVHshtwEoxse-g0DcojLH5B3Lt8xWyAi8vG0UzUEB0Tpay1lCcE/s400/St_Stephens+Gloucester_Road.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>St Stephen's Church, Gloucester Road, South Kensington</i></span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />T S Eliot played a key role in the transition
from 19th century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_poetry">romantic poetry</a><em><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"> </span></em>to<em><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"> </span></em>20th century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernist_poetry">modernist poetry</a>. Like many writers he explored the nature of time and eternity and, in
so doing, one get glimpses of the nature of mindfulness. Now, if you had
mentioned the word ‘mindfulness’ to Eliot when he was alive he would probably
have asked, ‘What is that? Being mindful of others?’ Be that as it may,
mindfulnes</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">s is explored in his poetry in the context of time and eternity. </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Take these lines from</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;">‘<a href="http://www.davidgorman.com/4Quartets/1-norton.htm">Burnt Norton</a>’ (No 1 of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Quartets">Four Quartets</a></i>):</span></strong></div>
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<b><span style="background: #f8f7f2; color: #373737; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">... … …<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">...<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Only through time time is conquered.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">... … …</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCMvlb0rPH2p6b0n8kCFPq8OSAlGyK_jcLxh8zmGoGq3qM-N3jtNC9Sha_d9XyGUtsD-q6YYF8gasECf8quQyI3-uBPpEVlpLvft_CLuCEW5k7Z1lJ_DxpvmajgX_IJybiIJMzU48KCU/s1600/st_-stephen_s-gloucester-rd_-5-london2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCMvlb0rPH2p6b0n8kCFPq8OSAlGyK_jcLxh8zmGoGq3qM-N3jtNC9Sha_d9XyGUtsD-q6YYF8gasECf8quQyI3-uBPpEVlpLvft_CLuCEW5k7Z1lJ_DxpvmajgX_IJybiIJMzU48KCU/s320/st_-stephen_s-gloucester-rd_-5-london2010.jpg" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i><b>T S Eliot memorial plaque,<br />St Stephen's Church,<br />Gloucester Road, South Kensington</b></i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There is indeed a ‘still point’. It is
the ‘stillness’ between the inbreath and the outbreath and between one heartbeat and
the next. It is palpable and non-palpable. It is a timeless moment and yet it is also a
moment of time, or rather a moment <i>in</i> time, as well. The still point involves no actual physical movement forward or
backwards—there is just stillness. There is no past and no future but just the
eternal now.</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Everything is contained within the eternal now. All
duration—or time—is total and complete in the eternal now. There is an eternal
quality about the now. It is <i>forever</i> new. The present moment
has its unfolding in the eternal now for it is nothing other than that which
presents itself before us in and as the now, which embraces past, present and
future. It is in the eternal now that we have our presence. Indeed, the eternal
now is omnipresence and we are immersed in it.</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We live, move and have our be-ing-ness in the eternal now.
These ideas are explored in the first few lines of </span></span><strong><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;">‘Burnt Norton’</span></strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">:</span></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Time present and time past<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Are both perhaps present in time future,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">And time future contained in time past.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">If all time is eternally present<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">All time is unredeemable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">…<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Words move, music moves<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Only in time; but that which is only living<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Can only die. Words, after speech, reach<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Can words or music reach<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">The stillness, as a Chinese jar still<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Moves perpetually in its stillness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Not the stillness of the violin, while the note lasts,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Not that only, but the co-existence,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Or say that the end precedes the beginning,<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">And the end and the beginning were always there<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Before the beginning and after the end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">And all is always now. …</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvuaTax-dsF0NHOsiY92TrZ_eGwhbo17ghPwiio3sRPPEyFQHNSwhah1ffnI7gUB_292rjsoWssPdS7ntzInSTWB4Sx4uDDsXfevAkZtjz1986Au7X10bJWxWMSwM0jJj1uX_lBMDHTw/s1600/eliot-ts-plaque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvuaTax-dsF0NHOsiY92TrZ_eGwhbo17ghPwiio3sRPPEyFQHNSwhah1ffnI7gUB_292rjsoWssPdS7ntzInSTWB4Sx4uDDsXfevAkZtjz1986Au7X10bJWxWMSwM0jJj1uX_lBMDHTw/s320/eliot-ts-plaque.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">English Heritage blue plaque,<br />3 Kensington Court Gardens,<br />Kensington</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Mindfulness,
which is the art and practice of being fully present and choicelessly aware in
the eternal now, from one moment to the next, involves no words, no speech, no
music and no movement. Mindfulness is stillness. There is no judgement or
interpretation of the context, internal and external, of one’s moment to moment
experience of life. The only movement, ever onwards, is the movement or flux of
life itself. In Eliot’s words, ‘all is always now.’ So, forget the 'burnt-out ends of smoky days' ('<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44214/preludes-56d22338dc954">Preludes</a>'), the 'butt-ends of [your] days and ways" (<o:p></o:p></span></span><em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/44212/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock">The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock</a>’)</span></span></em><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—and start living mindfully.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Life
may be movement but there is always that ‘still point’ which is to be found
everywhere and between one moment and the next. To use a Biblical phrase, the
still point is ‘the refreshing’ (cf <a href="https://biblehub.com/isaiah/28-12.htm">Is 28:12</a> [KJV]). Unceasing movement is
tiring—even exhausting. We need to find that still point which, paradoxically,
can only be found in the midst of the unceasing movement. So, get quiet, calm
the body, and feel the stillness—or, as <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/norman-vincent-peale-9435749">Dr Norman Vincent Peale</a> wrote, </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Sit still, be silent, <em><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-style: normal;">let</span></em> composure <em><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-style: normal;">creep over you</span></em>.’ </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Do you want to be calm? If so,
<i>practise</i> calmness. <i>Practise</i> stillness. <i>Practise</i> quietness. <i>Practise</i> silence.
You see, the very truth of your </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">be</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">-ing
is calmness, stillness, quietness and silence. A good way to start—and finish
for that matter—is to sit stil and get the body calm. If the body is calm, your mind will
soon be calm. </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Be</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> still.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZc4wxotJs6U53rI1L4mxkAkE6SiXigducYD1-_8_DJtzJgdfgeCv-_BMyWN7N9gLMIZimxpnSi-tz3rFn8uve50fJF1f84Dmit7pNmVrs4aBPkLeTk4r5PRTg9mGHgaUGopYTB8E3xOM/s1600/T+S+Eliot+every+moment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="936" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZc4wxotJs6U53rI1L4mxkAkE6SiXigducYD1-_8_DJtzJgdfgeCv-_BMyWN7N9gLMIZimxpnSi-tz3rFn8uve50fJF1f84Dmit7pNmVrs4aBPkLeTk4r5PRTg9mGHgaUGopYTB8E3xOM/s400/T+S+Eliot+every+moment.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><strong><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;">Most have heard, sometime or
other, these lines from the final stanza of ‘<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/winter/w3206/edit/tseliotlittlegidding.html">Little Gidding</a>’ (No 4 of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Four Quartets</i>):</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">We shall not cease
from exploration<br />
And the end of all our exploring<br />
Will be to arrive where we started<br />
And know the place for the first time.</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">However, the lines that follow take up once
again the idea of the still point:</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Through the unknown
remembered gate<br />
When the last of earth left to discover<br />
Is that which was the beginning:<br />
At the source of the longest river<br />
The voice of the hidden waterfall<br />
And the children in the apple-tree<br />
Not known, because not looked for<br />
But heard, half heard, in the stillness<br />
Between two waves of the sea.<br />
… … …</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWns5vNLg90O-NGrOys8pXNMFlt2BmizoE1VUaRbl2r_sFt3DKJEmKfLzuxoe5GW5iKqbLLwAEDo6pUBVDkAfP3GIh0tFMqsVVeYiMmdk93Jnhlh2gNm5RiezQBAz7-YicywG9xE0_ZaQ/s1600/31172062_10156782059208488_4361421843207290880_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWns5vNLg90O-NGrOys8pXNMFlt2BmizoE1VUaRbl2r_sFt3DKJEmKfLzuxoe5GW5iKqbLLwAEDo6pUBVDkAfP3GIh0tFMqsVVeYiMmdk93Jnhlh2gNm5RiezQBAz7-YicywG9xE0_ZaQ/s400/31172062_10156782059208488_4361421843207290880_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Gloucester Road Tube station,<br />Gloucester Road, South Kensington</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The
stillness between two waves of the sea. The voice of the hidden waterfall. The
source of the longest river. Powerful imagery.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Find
the stillness within you—indeed, within all things. The still point is to be
found everywhere because it is everywhere. Mindfulness, in my humble opinion,
is the best way to find that still point. Listen. Observe. Watch. Be alert.
Remain choicelessly (that is, non-judgmentally) aware. Be fully present from
one moment to the next.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Notes</span></b><span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">1.</span><span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 7.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The line, </span><span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">'Every moment is a
fresh beginning,' comes from Eliot's play <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cocktail_Party"><span style="color: #403152; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #403152; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=50000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;">The Cocktail Party</span></a></i>. </span><span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">2.</span><span style="color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 7.0pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">BBC Radio 3 has aired <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046cpvb"><i><span style="color: #403152; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #403152; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=50000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;">Dear Mr Eliot: When Groucho
Met Tom</span></i></a>, a musical fantasy woven round the real-life meeting of
T S Eliot and Groucho Marx in June </span><span style="background: white; color: #403152; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">1964 after a three-year correspondence. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-30838599056217901712019-01-08T07:57:00.002+11:002019-01-08T09:27:44.157+11:00SELF-IMPROVEMENT IS A MYTH!<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">At this
time of the year many people make or have already made a resolution, which is
often short-lived, to embark upon some sort of self-improvement program or to
give up some bad habit. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am all for personal
transformation, but there is a right, and a wrong, way to go about it, both in
thought, word and deed.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2aL4-OCnIm2wC_A-LDN4ni6OWWiGENHrYS5Z68SL9_5ESkkBdwnoHcSPf9jIbIeHvdWwSWrnMxLbRlDEwPb-2sOEu6y9ZLz8xUdcfJN-fywjkzaYn_Q0blyNvklBZCf7Wks1XtjTb48/s1600/Alan+Watts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="402" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2aL4-OCnIm2wC_A-LDN4ni6OWWiGENHrYS5Z68SL9_5ESkkBdwnoHcSPf9jIbIeHvdWwSWrnMxLbRlDEwPb-2sOEu6y9ZLz8xUdcfJN-fywjkzaYn_Q0blyNvklBZCf7Wks1XtjTb48/s320/Alan+Watts.jpg" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Alan Watts</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One of
my all-time favourite spiritual teachers <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Watts"><span style="color: #002060;">Alan
Watts</span></a>, pictured left, in his book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wisdom-Insecurity-Message-Anxiety/dp/0307741206"><span style="color: #002060;">The Wisdom of Insecurity</span></a></i>, has this to say
about the wrong way to embark upon self-improvement:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;">I can only think seriously of trying to
live up to an ideal, to improve myself, if I am split in two pieces. There must
be a good ‘I’ who is going to improve the bad ‘me.’ ‘I,’ who has the best
intentions, will go to work on wayward ‘me,’ and the tussle between the two
will very much stress the difference between them. Consequently ‘I’ will feel
more separate than ever, and so merely increase the lonely and cut-off feelings
which make ‘me’ behave so badly.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;">The reason the good ‘I’
can’t change the bad ‘I’ is because they are one and the same. Worse still,
both ‘I’s’ are illusory. When I use the word 'illusory' I am not saying these
'I's' do not exist. They <i>do</i> exist—but <i>only </i>as
self-images in our mind. The 'I's' are, however, illusory in the sense that they
are not what they appear to be. They <i>appear</i> to be 'solid,' 'fixed,' and 'permanent,' but they
are not. Nevertheless, a</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #002060; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -1px;">ll the 'I's' and 'me's' in your mind are brought about by thought, and they have no reality in and of themselves. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #002060; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;">They are, as the Indian spiritual philosopher </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;"><span style="color: #002060;">J.
Krishnamurti</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #002060; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;"> used to say, the product of thought which divides. They are certainly not you, the <i>person</i> that you are.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;">Yes, despite appearances to the contrary, and our own
misbelief, these ‘I’s” do not have any separate, independent, discrete and
permanent existence from the <i>person</i> each one of us is. The
great Scottish philosopher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume"><span style="color: #002060;">David
Hume</span></a> came up with what is known as the </span><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘bundle theory,’ which postulates that our mind constructs
hundreds of waxing and waning selves. None of these selves ever come together
as a single unified entity. They are no more than a bundle of thoughts,
feelings, perceptions and sensations. Neuroscience has shown that Hume, along
with a considerable number of other eminent philosophers, was right.</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Alan
Watts explains how the phenomenon of self occurs:</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The notion of a separate thinker, of an ‘I’
distinct from the experience, comes from memory and from the rapidity with
which thought changes. It is like whirling a burning stick to give the illusion
of a continuous circle of fire. If you imagine that memory is a direct
knowledge of the past rather than a present experience, you get the illusion of
knowing the past and the present at the same time. This suggests that there is
something in you distinct from both the past and the present experiences. You
reason, ‘I know this present experience, and it is different from that past
experience. If I can compare the two, and notice that experience has changed, I
must be something constant and apart.’</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Over time our sense of self hardens, but it is
never more than image—self-image—in our mind. And the bottom line is this: ‘I’
can’t change ‘me.’ You see, the ‘I’ that wants to stop smoking or drinking is
the ‘me’ that wants to keep smoking or drinking. What’s more, all such ‘I’s’
and ‘me’s’ are in the <i>past</i>. They are all the result of past
thinking and past conditioning. They can <i>never</i> result in the
attainment of something in the <i>now</i>, let alone the <i>future</i>.
When we work and rely upon only our ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s we will never, never
succeed in our endeavours. As <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Temple_(bishop)"><span style="color: #002060; font-weight: normal;">William Temple</span></a></b>, a
former <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbishop_of_Canterbury"><span style="color: #002060; font-weight: normal;">Archbishop of Canterbury</span></a></b>,
said, ‘For the trouble is that we are self-centred, and no effort of the self
can remove the self from the centre of its own endeavour.’</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The only program of self-improvement that has any chance at all of being
successful is one where the <i>person</i> that each one of us is
makes a decision to invoke the power of one’s own personhood. That power is not
of self; it is a ‘power-<i>not</i>-oneself.’ Self can’t change self, for all
our mental selves are in and of themselves not only powerless but also
contradictory and in opposition to each other. Hence the need to rely upon a
power-not-oneself</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">the power that comes from being a </span><i style="color: #002060; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">person among
persons</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPMWLOCQ56tT7RX-H0mpUfbmpGVrfR5BxBgzUjU7Ha7VGMraAN9Eu5OwTt_N3n7jh3oyEBvME_qJHrmE8aG7Lo5PaHqgo02Tdj5ErgfRwO7SqVOHV9LX1wug_rlzdPdTF53YMM6v6yOz8/s1600/51dEoRk-CFL._SL500_SX326_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="242" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPMWLOCQ56tT7RX-H0mpUfbmpGVrfR5BxBgzUjU7Ha7VGMraAN9Eu5OwTt_N3n7jh3oyEBvME_qJHrmE8aG7Lo5PaHqgo02Tdj5ErgfRwO7SqVOHV9LX1wug_rlzdPdTF53YMM6v6yOz8/s400/51dEoRk-CFL._SL500_SX326_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>P F Strawson</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, what is a person? Well, the well-known
English philosopher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._F._Strawson"><span style="color: #002060;">P F Strawson</span></a>, pictured right, wrote much on
the subject. Strawson articulated a concept of ‘person’ in respect of which
both physical characteristics and states of consciousness can be ascribed to
it. Each one of us is a person among persons—a mind-body complex. We are much,
much more than those hundreds of little, false selves---all those waxing and
waning ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’—with which we tend to identify, in the mistaken belief
that they constitute the ‘real me,’ that is, the <i>person</i> each
one of us is. Only the latter is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology"><span style="color: #002060;">ontologically</span></a> real.
Personal freedom and real personal transformation come when we <i>get real</i>,
that is, when we start to think, act and live <i>from our personhood</i> as
a person among persons. We need to get our mind off our ‘selves’ and rise above
them if we are to get real. And remember this: there is no human problem that
is not common to other persons among persons.</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now,
here are the steps involved. You begin by making up your mind and make a
decision to do X [X being whatever positive thing you wish to
see actualized in your life]. Great power arises from the making of a decision.
Then nail that decision up in your mind and don’t look back. A big part of not
looking back means that when any thought, feeling, perception or sensation
arises that is to the contrary of the doing of X, you proceed to reaffirm
and thus</span><span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> strengthen your original decision and resolve to do X by
performing some action—the important word is <i>action</i>—that is not
only consistent with the doing of X, it will actually help to bring
about X. In the words of the American essayist and minister <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson"><span style="color: #002060;">Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></a>, ‘Do the thing and you will have the
power.’ The power is in the <i>doing</i>—the power of the <i>person </i>that
you are. It’s the ‘act as if’ principle taught by the great American
philosopher and psychologist </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James">William James</a>, pictured below. He said, ‘If you <i>want</i> a
quality [of personhood], <i>ac</i><i>t as if</i> you already had it’
[emphasis added]. Now, who must act? Yo</span><span style="color: #002060;">u, the </span><i style="color: #002060;">person</i><span style="color: #002060;"> that you
are, must act.</span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQBkuz-JjHed7Kwpxnva9hcDlq-nI1gs2rmmSxEcUjBTU_NdwnOVYlaQxJB7KwhIs6qC9sDTGCsZVJ95fWnchdEOfGXYkzq8QFuZjUEVfz8A5PQbGmyrI8fmEyJw8frvx4nTq_iSoITs/s1600/William+James.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="284" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQBkuz-JjHed7Kwpxnva9hcDlq-nI1gs2rmmSxEcUjBTU_NdwnOVYlaQxJB7KwhIs6qC9sDTGCsZVJ95fWnchdEOfGXYkzq8QFuZjUEVfz8A5PQbGmyrI8fmEyJw8frvx4nTq_iSoITs/s320/William+James.jpg" width="258" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">William James</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For
example, if your decision is to give up smoking, and a thought arises that a
cigarette would be nice right now, you immediately do something that is
consistent with being a non-smoker. For example, you go somewhere, or mix with
someone, where smoking is simply out of the question. Forget all about
so-called will-power, for there is no such thing. The ‘will’ is simply your
ability to make a decision; it has no power in and of itself. We will always do
whatever is our strongest want. It’s <i>want</i>-power—fortified
with <i>enthusiasm</i>—and not will-power that we need. Another problem
with so-called will-power is this—it is simply the imposition of one illusory
‘self’ over another. It’s the old problem all over.</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One more
thing, motivation is essential for successful personal transformation.
Motivation is motive plus action, the latter being the doing of all that is
necessary for X to actualize. What is your motive for doing X?
(There may, of course, be more than one such motive.) Your motive must relate
to you as a person. For example, if you want to give up smoking, your motive
may be to be a healthier person or a wealthier person (as smoking is, among
other things, damn expensive). Keep your motive upfront in your consciousness.
Your motive is your want-power. For all intents and purposes they are one and
the same.</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So,
remember this. Self can’t change self, because self is <i>image</i> inside a person, but the <i>person</i> each one
of us is can indeed change—and change for the better—if we want, that is, <i>reall</i>y
want, change more than anything else and are prepared to go to any length to
get it.</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Note</span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">. This
post was first published, in substantially the same form, as ‘The Myth of Self-improvement’ on January 11, 2015.</span></span></div>
Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-87709731477670318312018-12-11T09:49:00.000+11:002018-12-13T11:01:50.000+11:00THE JOY OF RUNNING MINDFULLY<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 28.35pt; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: .25pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘There is something magical about running; after a
certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the
mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul.’—</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Armstrong"><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><i>Kristin Armstrong</i></span></a></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: .25pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><i><b>.</b></i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">I have been jogging for
over 40 years. I’m also into mindfulness in a big way, as my blog shows.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Some say that jogging is
the shortcut to the cemetery, but I’m still here. Indeed, although I have no
way of knowing whether this is true, I strongly suspect that if I had not
jogged all those years I would have died years ago as a result of other bad lifestyle
choices I made. Despite those bad choices, I kept on running throughout the years, my heart is
strong and healthy and I have an athlete’s heart rate—at 63 years of age. I jog three times a week, for 30 minutes on each occasion, making sure that my heart rate is between 75 and 85 percent of my maximum heart rate. I don't run as far, or as fast, as I used to, but I remain fit. Further, despite the warnings of <i>some </i>physiotherapists and chiropractors that I would do damage to my ankles and knees as a result of my running, X-rays and scans reveal that no such damage has occurred in my case. (I've always run in good running shoes. Maybe that has helped. Who knows.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Source</b>: Shutterstock.com.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">One of the great things </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">about running is that, at its most basic, it’s </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">just one foot in front of the other. The repetitive nature of the activity is akin to numerous mechanical activities and makes running ideal as a vehicle for meditation. Instead of listening to the sound of a <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">metronome, your body becomes one, so to speak.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">The phrase ‘mindful running’ is gaining wide acceptance. Well, why not? <a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-do-walking-meditation-mindfully.html">Mindful walking</a> has been around for a long time.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"> Mindful running simply means running mindfully, that is, running with awareness of all that is involved in your running from one moment to the next. As you run, you are present to all of the action within you and outside of you that relates to your running.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.333333px;">Your awareness of anything else is not so much non-existent but diffuse. By that, I mean you are aware to the bare extent necessary of, for example, passing motor vehicles, the occasion siren or bird noise, but you do not direct the focus of your attention and awareness to those sorts of things. On the contrary, you remain fixed and focused on such things as the act and pattern of your running, the sensations engendered by your running (for example, your posture, your heart rate, heartbeat, the pattern of your breathing, the sensation of your feet hitting the ground one at a time, and so on), and the feel of the surface upon which you are running include its flatness or steepness as the case may be. You are aware of the hill that you are climbing, of the various little holes in the road surface, of the driveways you cross over, and so on. In other words, you are fully present while you run.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBudpSs3gqqnheKa856_zbdYvRgXgvj53Ve-V-BysgSpumJ1QvgVer-1ui5DWRFXW-0SjzWI30KQmaw-Ph07YbmPH0btQFSChheJpMTro1nO7ArvTaEpVcZX4Ukn9vSkwywGwAc1hKO4/s1600/Credit+Getty+Images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBudpSs3gqqnheKa856_zbdYvRgXgvj53Ve-V-BysgSpumJ1QvgVer-1ui5DWRFXW-0SjzWI30KQmaw-Ph07YbmPH0btQFSChheJpMTro1nO7ArvTaEpVcZX4Ukn9vSkwywGwAc1hKO4/s400/Credit+Getty+Images.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="color: #20124d; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">Source</b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">: Getty Images.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.333333px;">Mindful running is like all mindful activity. You are mentally and physically connected with the activity. You listen to, and are one with, the activity of your body and mind. Should thoughts, feelings and sensations unconnected with the immediate activity of running enter your mind—as they will from time to time—you simply let them go. You give these little distractions no power and, without force, bring the focus of your attention and awareness back to the activity of running and all the sensations involved in that activity as they arise from moment to moment. Your running then becomes a mindful meditation in and of itself—and a very powerful one at that.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">I do not listen to music
or an audiobook when I am running, although I am aware that many do. You cannot
do two things at once. Forget all about so-called ‘<a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/07/power-of-practical-mindfulness.html">multitasking</a>’, for there is
no such thing. There is only ‘switch-tasking’, that is, toggling from one task
to the other. F</span><span class="ft"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">ollow the advice of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Saint Paul</span></a><span class="ft"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> who said,
‘This one thing I do’ (</span></span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Phil%203:13&version=KJV"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Phil 3:13</span></a><span class="ft"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> [KJV]). </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Zen</span></a><span class="ft"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> says the same thing. When
you’re washing the dishes, just wash the dishes. Do nothing else. Think of
nothing else. Just wash the dishes. Ditto when you’re running. Just run—with choiceless
awareness of what is happening inside of you both psychologically and
physiologically. You have enough to do just doing that. So, my strong advice
is—get rid of as many external distractions as you can. That way you can focus
on the activity of running and the sensations engendered by that activity.<br /></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Source</b>: Pressmaster.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">When you run mindfully,
you are aware when your breathing becomes laboured or too fast. Ditto your
heartbeat. Listen to your body and make the necessary adjustments in the
pattern of your running. Obviously, you have to maintain a general awareness of
what is going on around you. For example, if you are running on a road, close
to the gutter, you need to be aware of the imperfections in the road surface
that might cause you to stumble. You also need to listen to the sound of any
motor vehicles coming up in the rear, and so on. As I say, there is enough to
do in simply running mindfully. You cannot assume that others will look out for
you. It annoys me when I see runners and even pedestrians listening to their
earphones and being totally oblivious to what is going on around them and close
to them. That sort of behaviour is tantamount to lunacy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">You
may not be into running or jogging, but some sort of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise">aerobic exercise</a> is
extremely important. Find something you really enjoy that is especially good
for your heart—and do it regularly and mindfully.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Note</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.
<span style="background: white;">You should consult </span>your physician or other health care professional before starting running or any other fitness program to
determine if it is right for your needs.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">RELATED POST</span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-do-walking-meditation-mindfully.html">HOW TO DO A WALKING MEDITATION ... MINDFULLY</a></span></span></i></b>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-76784631666688518272018-11-06T18:03:00.000+11:002018-11-06T18:03:09.027+11:00MINDFULNESS REDUCES ANXIETY ASSOCIATED WITH BREAST BIOPSY<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #20124d;">A brief session of
guided mindfulness-based meditation may help women undergoing a <a href="http://stereotactic%20breast%20biopsy/">stereotactic breast biopsy</a> to feel less anxious, according to a <a href="http://recent%20study/">recent study</a> published in
the Journal of the American College of Radiology.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #20124d;">Large-core needle
stereotactic breast biopsy, sometimes just called ‘core biopsy,’ is used to
sample tissue deep within the breast and is done with only local anesthesia.
High distress before and during the procedure is uncomfortable for patients and
can contribute to appointment cancellations, incomplete procedures,
complications, and longer procedure times, the study authors write.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPFDtLkE8hkIezDVmmN_AgEGb6Ls589Ww797EcGzOpPCKo0GA0kixmJ0oS_nAXhFQReILLzSjGQWMJY03dtjBTWLG7kh6JyDgDdVXDFNuc88Iu5f5o4i8XHWhQQIxjizxgWt-U72PPvfg/s1600/DigitalMammo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="320" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPFDtLkE8hkIezDVmmN_AgEGb6Ls589Ww797EcGzOpPCKo0GA0kixmJ0oS_nAXhFQReILLzSjGQWMJY03dtjBTWLG7kh6JyDgDdVXDFNuc88Iu5f5o4i8XHWhQQIxjizxgWt-U72PPvfg/s400/DigitalMammo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘A stereotactic
breast biopsy is a procedure that has a high frequency and is really
stressful,’ said lead author <a href="http://dr%20chelsea%20ratcliff/">Dr Chelsea Ratcliff</a>, an assistant professor of
psychology at <a href="http://sam%20houston%20state%20university/">Sam Houston State University</a> in Huntsville, Texas. The study,
albeit a small one, suggests that short-term mindfulness meditation can be
effective in such a setting. However, Dr Ratcliff has said that the study needs
to be replicated and expanded.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Journal reference</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Ratcliff, C G <i>et al.</i> ‘</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A
Randomized Controlled Trial of Brief Mindfulness Meditation for Women
Undergoing Stereotactic Breast Biopsy.’</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>Journal
of the American College of Radiology</i>, online October 12, 2018. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">DOI: </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2018.09.009"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2018.09.009</span></a>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Photo credit: </span><span style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.presencehealth.org/presence-st-marys-hospital-kankakee">Presence
St Mary's Hospital</a>.</span></span>Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-17326541358852279272018-10-07T14:27:00.002+11:002020-05-07T07:22:15.604+10:00ERNEST HEMINGWAY AND THE ART OF MINDFUL LIVING<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway">Ernest Hemingway</a><span style="color: #20124d;"> went out in
style—with a <em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;">double</span></em><span style="background: white;">-barrelled <em><span style="font-style: normal;">shotgun</span></em>. In
saying that, I don’t wish to be seen to be making light of suicide. In my own
family, I lost a grandmother, a great-aunt, and a great-grandfather,
and possibly one or two others as well, to suicide. </span></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal;">Those left behind</span></em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> after the <em><span style="font-style: normal;">suicide</span></em> of a family
member or close friend ordinarily struggle with a particularly <em><span style="font-style: normal;">difficult</span></em> grief, yet I learned
long ago that it is <i>always</i> wrong to pass any form of judgement on the deceased in relation to their decision to end their life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In his final years Hemingway was beset with
physical and psychological troubles and was not helped by an American
government that incessantly trailed him with FBI agents, in both Cuba (where he lived in the 1940s and '50s) and the United
States, and which in 1960 basically told him to denounce the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro">Castro</a> regime and leave Cuba or face the consequences, namely, being declared a traitor by Washington authorities.<br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHp98hvz_Rfz319wn8mQyE5op3_r4zfn_5P2M9cVWUv0-dCbGkQStYaqivwbWrjQ3PsUCSz4ZtAM6jEbAYi5cJ4lPPRLh-7ZM3D2t3ffX9QQcnhsXp2vkDuNKjRDTEVAaVrS4FXmPK7es/s1600/Bell+Tolls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHp98hvz_Rfz319wn8mQyE5op3_r4zfn_5P2M9cVWUv0-dCbGkQStYaqivwbWrjQ3PsUCSz4ZtAM6jEbAYi5cJ4lPPRLh-7ZM3D2t3ffX9QQcnhsXp2vkDuNKjRDTEVAaVrS4FXmPK7es/s1600/Bell+Tolls.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hemingway refused to denounce the Castro regime. He had declared his solidarity with Cuba in January 1959. He wrote that he believed completely in the 'historical necessity' [sic] of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution">Cuban Revolution</a>. He knew that the Castro regime was far from perfect but he had also lived through the years when, for all intents and purposes, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Mafia">American Mafia</a>, in cahoots with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency">CIA</a>, ran Cuba. At least Castro got rid of the Mafia from Cuba, even if they went elsewhere, and he gave the Cuban people universal health care</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">a damn good thing</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">and a decent education system. (No, dear reader, I am not a Commie. I simply believe in giving credit where credit is due</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">and putting the boot in as well when that is necessary.) </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Anyway, H</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">emingway and his fourth wife <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Welsh_Hemingway">Mary</a> left the Cuba they loved for good on July 25, 1960, leaving behind thousands
of books, personal papers and memorabilia. Hemingway found his own solution to
his troubles on July 2, 1961. Even on that last fateful day, the dreadful </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">J Edgar Hoover</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">’s
agents were located just 150 metres from his house in Ketchum, Idaho.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0WLcGe8CP2wnMGtc1lS3eE30ONZ7LCnzvM8q5ID8KQ0B6b75SMIpEBr8CLQRBqlJ524jHhRxbLPje01ZtcO-UWRHZPSoXc8VSJRESLz41PVRe5Ga_0yabc07znoK12mjiBWnf4wtMLAs/s1600/Castro+and+Hemingway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="600" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0WLcGe8CP2wnMGtc1lS3eE30ONZ7LCnzvM8q5ID8KQ0B6b75SMIpEBr8CLQRBqlJ524jHhRxbLPje01ZtcO-UWRHZPSoXc8VSJRESLz41PVRe5Ga_0yabc07znoK12mjiBWnf4wtMLAs/s400/Castro+and+Hemingway.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Fidel Castro and Ernest Hemingway.<br />Havana, Cuba, May 1960.</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUKJEyh-T67x7AxkcaOTkO9icSTjLZ3RlOCzv1q2M-RRDxG2LbLhQvqObMIzL-fhLidfurRE1fUQDyQg6MsM7eomDeoehjrTlAlWrO5TrN8hDav-qk-CHe1JVCbcZnwZDQ6bpk_Fubng/s1600/Picture1q.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="841" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUKJEyh-T67x7AxkcaOTkO9icSTjLZ3RlOCzv1q2M-RRDxG2LbLhQvqObMIzL-fhLidfurRE1fUQDyQg6MsM7eomDeoehjrTlAlWrO5TrN8hDav-qk-CHe1JVCbcZnwZDQ6bpk_Fubng/s400/Picture1q.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Local fishermen erected this monument<br />in memory of Hemingway at Cojímar,<br />a town east of Havana.</i></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br />My wife, youngest son and I were
recently in Cuba for a holiday. It was a great trip and we travelled all over
Cuba. I loved the people, the architecture of the buildings, the mountains and valleys,
and the music. The hotels we stayed in were grand and we also stayed with some
delightful Cuban families in their own homes. The people we met were happy for
the most part, despite many problems, made much worse by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba">American embargo</a>.
That the latter continues to this day, after almost 60 years, is a disgrace. It
does not speak well of the United States. </span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The embargo, which has </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">been</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">condemned by the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/index.html">United Nations</a> with overwhelming support every year since 1992, has been called a sustained act of
genocide against the Cuban people—and it </span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">is</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. T</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">he accumulated cost of the embargo to Cuba over almost 60 years
amounts to close to <a href="http://www.cubanews.acn.cu/economy/8456-cuba-us-blockade-caused-losses-for-4-billion-dollars-in-a-year">934 billion United States dollars</a>. The purported aim of the embargo is 'regime change'. Well, the embargo has failed miserably in that regard and others.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The Cuban people, especially in
Havana, revere Ernest Hemingway, and while we were in Havana we went to
Hemingway’s former home and farm <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finca_Vig%C3%ADa">Finca Vigía</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> (now a museum),
the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Ambos_Mundos_(Havana)">Hotel Ambos Mundos</a>, where he resided in 1939, the hotel <em><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.lahabana.com/guide/la-terraza-de-cojimar/">La Terraza</a></span></em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.lahabana.com/guide/la-terraza-de-cojimar/"> de Cojimar</a> at </span></span></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coj%C3%ADmar">Cojímar</a></span></em><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, the little port
town 9.6 km east of Havana where Hemingway kept his fishing boat, the <i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilar_(boat)">Pilar</a></span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">, which was the inspiration for the village Hemingway depicted in <i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_and_the_Sea">The Old Man and the Sea</a></span></i></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">,
and the restaurant-bars </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floridita" style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">El Floridita</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-style: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodeguita_del_medio">La
Bodeguita</a></span></em><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; float: none; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodeguita_del_medio"> del Medio</a>,
where Hemingway ate and drank (mostly the latter, its seems). In all these
places, and many others, there are photos and other memorabilia recalling
Hemingway’s presence in Cuba. Books or parts of his novels were written on the
island. Copies of those books, as well as many biographies of the man and his life in Cuba, can be purchased in
Havana book shops and elsewhere in Cuba.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhONu0OZEUt_7pNDNKOko3jXrqVIuh-loeFRHKAc50y6bG80sp5QU3RFot_3rd0D7sspjz0wYEubds3Em0F1SOXajYjm5NfM4pAbPJLjsbLQwoNKL46CS3GKpjcnEJsTVTJH2Ha_rOLTV0/s1600/Picture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="1500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhONu0OZEUt_7pNDNKOko3jXrqVIuh-loeFRHKAc50y6bG80sp5QU3RFot_3rd0D7sspjz0wYEubds3Em0F1SOXajYjm5NfM4pAbPJLjsbLQwoNKL46CS3GKpjcnEJsTVTJH2Ha_rOLTV0/s400/Picture1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Entrance to Finca Vigía</span></i></span></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My wife and son outside Finca Vigía</span></span></i></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Yours truly at the top of the tower at Finca Vigía</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Hemingway’s writing style has been
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_theory">much written about and discussed</a>. A former journalist and war correspondent, Hemingway is the master of the short, unadorned sentence, direct speech and simple dialogue. He uses no unnecessary words. His vocabulary is often tight but expressive and charged with meaning, even when reduced to only a few words. Sentences tend to be arranged in sequence rather than in a logical pattern. Take, for example, this exchange from chapter 10 of </span></span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Whom_the_Bell_Tolls">For Whom the Bell Tolls</a>. </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">(Some of that novel, which arose out of Hemingway's own experience, was written in Cuba.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><br />‘What are you
going to do with us?’ one asked him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Shoot thee,’
Pablo said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘When?’ the
man asked in the same gray voice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Now,’ said
Pablo.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Where?” asked
the man.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Here,’ said
Pablo. ‘Here. Now. Here and now.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Have you
anything to say?’</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">‘Nada,’ said
the man. ‘Nothing. But it is an ugly thing.’</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Hemingway's study in Finca Vigía</span></i></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxuYEs1n0yAl9Y_lUoK-XQ-Z2v28DXhhGiGi1LAftWxrW_DFHzMy8nU483Z8ABAargxwsBJ5dCWwkOOvoYZuPofbCnjjM8H65YRsEadsm7zcL9tpvOjBi_cVG3TbZthZ5ZSY3VpTCkcY/s1600/Cuba-Hemingway-800+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="800" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxuYEs1n0yAl9Y_lUoK-XQ-Z2v28DXhhGiGi1LAftWxrW_DFHzMy8nU483Z8ABAargxwsBJ5dCWwkOOvoYZuPofbCnjjM8H65YRsEadsm7zcL9tpvOjBi_cVG3TbZthZ5ZSY3VpTCkcY/s400/Cuba-Hemingway-800+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Hemingway's study in Finca Vigía</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjC3caNwz6bZu3MAcXAlZFs7zbE64mLCYwVnS6S3TqvddCJpRGZBDR6b1JMOf1Ptd15UXHYw5Zlda6Nyl8lgotYK1oGm_q7hHOgJ41p7pJF4aTyZcYF4fVR71gruupk8GURo0VlwjbILo/s1600/Picture111111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1500" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjC3caNwz6bZu3MAcXAlZFs7zbE64mLCYwVnS6S3TqvddCJpRGZBDR6b1JMOf1Ptd15UXHYw5Zlda6Nyl8lgotYK1oGm_q7hHOgJ41p7pJF4aTyZcYF4fVR71gruupk8GURo0VlwjbILo/s400/Picture111111.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Vestibule and room where Hemingway<br />received his family and friends at </span></i></b><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Finca Vigía</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In Hemingway’s famous short story ‘</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killers_(Hemingway_short_story)"><span style="background: white; color: #888888;">The
Killers</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #20124d;">’, the author makes
effective use of tight, machine gun-like exchanges such as the following to create an
atmosphere of impending doom:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘What's he going to do?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Nothing.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘They'll
kill him.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘I guess
they will.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘He must
have got mixed up in something in Chicago.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘I guess
so,’ said Nick.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘It's a
hell of a thing.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘It's an
awful thing,’ Nick said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">They did
not say anything. George reached down for a towel and wiped the counter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘I
wonder what he did?’ Nick said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Double-crossed
somebody. That's what they kill them for.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘I'm
going to get out of this town,’ Nick said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Yes,’
said George. ‘That's a good thing to do.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘I can't
stand to think about him waiting in the room and knowing he's going to get it.
It's too damned awful.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">‘Well,’
said George, ‘you better not think about it.’</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">His themes and ideas arise from and out of
the story and its imagery, as opposed to being thrust upon the reader as is the case with many
writers. The emphasis is on action rather than introspection (although the latter is there as well). His aim, in his own words, is to record 'the way it was'. He is a master of mindfulness, recording what happens more-or-less as
it happens or as it happened not that long ago. Even when one of his characters recalls something that has already happened,
the remembrance of the event generally takes place in the context of <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">the character remembering</span>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">present</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span>moment</i> what has <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">already</span> happened. That is the essence of
mindfulness, along with remembering to stay present in the present moment, from
one moment to the next, and <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">remembering</span> what is <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">present.<br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixjjtOqBkfvcmiFSkVYMTlmNVeRE3EymDa54WGMjRvwWP4j_n7CWHep5GtxXdhOEuR4ePwdT0Qf-2uyd3QU2HhP5-1Hm-ZUFCF-MSmZzx_rNT5Ax-dllH4cufpCRArza8d2wPsG47rF7g/s400/1_L08Krch6zk92YSm8AcvwHg.jpeg" style="color: #20124d; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="300" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Some of the 8,000 books in<br />Hemingway's library at Finca Vig</i></b></span></span><b style="color: #20124d; font-size: 12.8px;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">í</span></i></b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>a</i></b></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkL83aMyG0bzXiqrLOf5lhPowkXm2gC-7iWvOqhE3nW05dFDRDCpii_JVZlpnlEHwMOvIe1sZ8gn5gMe229wPec5Wue48U4AJ5JA73a3Qzu7tWRSlfg_MlzGC8Iuo_rVQMQxTEM_VkiY/s1600/Pilar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1009" data-original-width="1600" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkL83aMyG0bzXiqrLOf5lhPowkXm2gC-7iWvOqhE3nW05dFDRDCpii_JVZlpnlEHwMOvIe1sZ8gn5gMe229wPec5Wue48U4AJ5JA73a3Qzu7tWRSlfg_MlzGC8Iuo_rVQMQxTEM_VkiY/s400/Pilar.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The 'Pilar'</i> </span></b><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">a</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">t </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Finca Vig</span></i></b></span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">í</span></i></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>a</i></b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Listen to these words from chapter 11 of <i>For Whom the Bell Tolls. </i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hemingway contrasts the directness and immediacy of life itself, experienced mindfully, with an experience of life that falls short of that:</span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><br />You only heard the statement of the loss. You did
not see the father fall as Pilar made him see the fascists die in that story
she had told by the stream. You knew the father died in some courtyard, or
against some wall, or in some field or orchard, or at night, in the lights of a
truck, beside some road. You had seen the lights of the car from down the hills
and heard the shooting and afterwards you had come down to the road and found
the bodies. You did not see the mother shot, nor the sister, nor the brother.
You heard about it; you heard the shots; and you saw the bodies.</span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In chapter 13 of the novel, the combatant Robert Jordan, a young American fighting in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Brigades">International Brigades</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War">Spanish Civil War</a>, and Maria, a young woman who has been captured by the Fascists, have just made love in the heather.
Shortly thereafter, we get these words from Hemingway, words that are more openly philosophical than is usual for him:</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #4c1130; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />You have it now and
that is all your whole life is; now. There is nothing else than now. There is
neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be
before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days
is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a
life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you will
never get, you will have a good life.</span><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> A
good life is not measured by any biblical span.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnsJGNVVUIb-2rGMmQLWxHifuOxSBcqrfKmHOqJpSGfJi8odPA0S053KhzKqLGu2RFL06b0wvHzqETSYAPqg4ab-C5FfgOgcfc5NzU-lQJ5EYWvTX7FmgRl-UztWZ7E8TwLIVpASI_9c/s1600/DSC06466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnsJGNVVUIb-2rGMmQLWxHifuOxSBcqrfKmHOqJpSGfJi8odPA0S053KhzKqLGu2RFL06b0wvHzqETSYAPqg4ab-C5FfgOgcfc5NzU-lQJ5EYWvTX7FmgRl-UztWZ7E8TwLIVpASI_9c/s400/DSC06466.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div>
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<em style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 14.72px;"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;"><b><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: small;">My wife and son at La Terraza de </span></b></span></span></em><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Cojímar</span></i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZInCTrN3hbGbuNarPdXj9DNas7rX3_mxVXSoI2nVs764R47McWQ96PB6Xl2KSDBCyUylO4SohVSzVDe9EyzNpQm8yZobCFfErAMR4wxLjm7sCofk5HnSpD4-nTNz-9VnCAaJsxQoLss/s1600/Picture3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="1499" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZInCTrN3hbGbuNarPdXj9DNas7rX3_mxVXSoI2nVs764R47McWQ96PB6Xl2KSDBCyUylO4SohVSzVDe9EyzNpQm8yZobCFfErAMR4wxLjm7sCofk5HnSpD4-nTNz-9VnCAaJsxQoLss/s400/Picture3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b><i><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: small;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Hemingway lives on at La Bodeguita</span></span><span style="float: none; text-align: justify;"> del Medio</span></span></i></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDIGZ1Iv-Q5tKeBlDmHnF5IGJfa-iMqpgpUYWo56w2NRT1vQKBLu8iAZrmQ2mTxy6Z8r1M9LU8AFxXYBD2KfdeY7XSxcScqka8PXZL8NsLJH3nr7pilhr_wXXZbNLtEd8Ki2On5QZHCI/s1600/04-hemingway-dreams-in-cuba-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="500" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDIGZ1Iv-Q5tKeBlDmHnF5IGJfa-iMqpgpUYWo56w2NRT1vQKBLu8iAZrmQ2mTxy6Z8r1M9LU8AFxXYBD2KfdeY7XSxcScqka8PXZL8NsLJH3nr7pilhr_wXXZbNLtEd8Ki2On5QZHCI/s400/04-hemingway-dreams-in-cuba-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>A life-size bronze <span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">statue</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> of Hemingway<br />at the end of the bar in El Floridita</span></i></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Each one of us is an inlet and an outlet of life's self-expression. Life is forever renewing itself, and expressing itself, as the present moment</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—from one moment to the next and ever onwards. Life <i>is</i> this moment and life is the reality of our very selves. We are the action of life that is always taking place. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We live in the eternal now—the present moment </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">forever </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">renewing itself. The past? It exists only as a present memory. The future? It exists only as a hope. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Life is endless movement—from one moment to the
next. Any meaning we find must be found in the moment-to-moment
experience of the eternal now, which is that ‘present’ which is forever
renewing itself </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">in</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">as </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">each new moment. Eternity—the eternal
now—is not the present time plus all the past and all the future, nor is it a
postmortem experience. It is a present—indeed, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">ever-present</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">—reality. In
truth, there is no time </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">after</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> time </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">after </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">time. The eternal now transcends
time altogether. There is a ‘present’ </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">in</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> the present as well as a ‘present’
</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">beyond</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> the ‘present’. Of course, in a very real sense the eternal now and the
so-called temporal now are one and the same! Everything is—</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">here now! </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Life </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">is</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
eternal, and we are alive in eternity—now! Well, at least we </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">should</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> be.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So, cherish this present moment. It is more than enough, even though it is so fleeting and ephemeral. Nevertheless, seize the moment—and </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">live</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DvJcbftzHhfzxHqeEJ5evxYJkPTaSzn9-dFPDadWArXMToIqfKp3G5Tggni9kH1nHNp3zuD2ANqiTKVCXQ6efX7spdksH4Ev6niTwy3a3yfuURXT1-5mXJeMsUdd7_fYs4w8abFBiZ0/s1600/cuba-flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="114" data-original-width="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DvJcbftzHhfzxHqeEJ5evxYJkPTaSzn9-dFPDadWArXMToIqfKp3G5Tggni9kH1nHNp3zuD2ANqiTKVCXQ6efX7spdksH4Ev6niTwy3a3yfuURXT1-5mXJeMsUdd7_fYs4w8abFBiZ0/s1600/cuba-flag.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6280685470634875837.post-80938719987728218202018-09-15T07:57:00.000+10:002018-09-15T07:59:02.495+10:00MINDFULNESS FOR PAIN RELIEF<br />
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">A <a href="https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00006396-900000000-98899">study</a> conducted at
<a href="https://school.wakehealth.edu/">Wake Forest School of Medicine</a> has shown that an individual's innate or natural
level of mindfulness is associated with a greater tolerance for pain. In other
words, they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feel</i> less pain than
others.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMeIiD4gWsepDCmEyb5uDcMisjJRUZQWcItMUFloGMo8TET-eHkL0uToKyMC2SjKdQdZgjlYGQu7OERd1retVOeePcUYZ1p_VkipIxyP1xBr7xVzvm2leFfcJniOQqm6fV_oTI90zPiTA/s1600/Fadel+Zeidan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="392" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMeIiD4gWsepDCmEyb5uDcMisjJRUZQWcItMUFloGMo8TET-eHkL0uToKyMC2SjKdQdZgjlYGQu7OERd1retVOeePcUYZ1p_VkipIxyP1xBr7xVzvm2leFfcJniOQqm6fV_oTI90zPiTA/s320/Fadel+Zeidan.jpg" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Dr Fadel Zeidan</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The researchers
analysed data obtained from a study published in 2015 that compared mindfulness
meditation to placebo analgesia. In this follow-up study, </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">the study's lead author, <a href="https://school.wakehealth.edu/Faculty/Z/Fadel-Zeidan">Dr Fadel Zeidan</a>, assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the medical school,
part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center,</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> sought
to determine if dispositional mindfulness—that is, an individual's innate or
natural level of mindfulness—was associated with lower pain sensitivity, and to
identify what brain mechanisms were involved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">In the study, 76
healthy volunteers who had never meditated first completed the <a href="http://www.mindfulness-extended.nl/content3/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Freiburg-Mindfulness-Inventory.pdf">Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory</a>, a reliable clinical measurement of mindfulness, to
determine their baseline levels. Then, while undergoing functional magnetic
resonance imaging, they were administered painful heat stimulation (120°F).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Whole brain analyses
revealed that higher dispositional mindfulness during painful heat was
associated with greater deactivation of a brain region called the posterior
cingulate cortex, a central neural node of the default mode network. Further,
in those that reported higher pain, there was greater activation of this
critically important brain region.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The default mode
network extends from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_cingulate_cortex">posterior cingulate cortex</a> to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefrontal_cortex">medial prefrontal cortex</a> of the brain. These two brain regions continuously feed information back
and forth. This network is associated with processing feelings of self and mind
wandering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘As soon as you
start performing a task, the connection between these two brain regions in the
default mode network disengages and the brain allocates information and
processes to other neural areas,’ Zeidan said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEKzIQqZh6xa6UHlSw3ZoHrPcyp6JxYvwftZ4rCXRuP66bBLRvIRLv_rXjxq-tDD3vlgOmnx6vqzcfeNqM9SZdrKFvWeHQVfvSCGGW6Q_lOcn_9nSWoke7SdKBFxwzHu_E0OVsa0dNM4/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEKzIQqZh6xa6UHlSw3ZoHrPcyp6JxYvwftZ4rCXRuP66bBLRvIRLv_rXjxq-tDD3vlgOmnx6vqzcfeNqM9SZdrKFvWeHQVfvSCGGW6Q_lOcn_9nSWoke7SdKBFxwzHu_E0OVsa0dNM4/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘Default mode
deactivates whenever you are performing any kind of task, such as reading or
writing. Default mode network is reactivated whenever the individual stops
performing a task and reverts to self-related thoughts, feelings and emotions.
The results from our study showed that mindful individuals are seemingly less
caught up in the experience of pain, which was associated with lower pain
reports.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">The study provided
novel neurobiological information that showed people with higher mindfulness
ratings had less activation in the central nodes (posterior cingulate cortex)
of the default network and experienced less pain. Those with lower mindfulness
ratings had greater activation of this part of the brain and also felt more
pain, Zeidan said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘Now we have some
new ammunition to target this brain region in the development of effective pain
therapies. Importantly this work shows that we should consider one's level of
mindfulness when calculating why and how one feels less or more pain,’ Zeidan
said. ‘Based on our earlier research, we know we can increase mindfulness
through relatively short periods of mindfulness meditation training, so this
may prove to be an effective way to provide pain relief for the millions of
people suffering from chronic pain.’</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Journal reference</span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13pt;">:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Zeidan F et al. ‘<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Neural Mechanisms Supporting the Relationship between Dispositional
Mindfulness and Pain</span>.’ <i>PAIN</i>, 2018; 1 DOI: </span><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001344" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13pt;">10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001344</span></a></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: #20124d;">RELATED POSTS<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2010/10/mindfulness-meditation-and-pain.html"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">MINDFULNESS MEDITATION AND PAIN
MANAGEMENT</span></i></b></a></span><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><a href="https://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2016/09/mindfulness-and-post-operative-pain.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">MINDFULNESS
AND POST-OPERATIVE PAIN RELIEF</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/04/mindfulness-meditation-can-reduce.html"><b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-decoration: none;"><br />
</span></i></b><b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">MINDFULNESS
MEDITATION CAN REDUCE THE SENSATION OF PAIN</span></i></b></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><i><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"> </span></i></b></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br />
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</span><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/03/irish-study-supports-use-of-mindfulness.html"><b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">IRISH STUDY SUPPORTS THE USE OF MINDFULNESS
FOR CHRONIC PAIN</span></i></b></a></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br />
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</span><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2011/01/mindful-stretching-for-neck-and.html"><b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">MINDFUL STRETCHING FOR NECK AND SHOULDER
PAIN AND ASSOCIATED HEADACHES</span></i></b></a></span></span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-size: 10.0pt;">IMPORTANT NOTICE</span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #20124d; font-size: 10.0pt;">: See the
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blog is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="googqs-tidbit1">or
treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from
your medical practitioner or other qualified health provider because of
something you have read on this blog.</span></span><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Dr Ian Ellis-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13158091959759426208noreply@blogger.com0