Don’t believe that you “should” meditate
Meditation or Mindfulness Practice, as the kids are calling it these days to stay more bias free, is becoming popular again. From events like Wisdom 2.0 to internet entrepreneurs like…
Who is “I”?
I seem to be a point of perception that collapses probabilities into actuality by means of observation. The probability fields that surround me seem to be archetypal (e.g. male/female, gravity,…
Meditation can make your life hell
"Man Describes How Meditating Made His Life Hell" - a catchy headline in a world where mindfulness meditation is beginning to get traction from Silicon Valley conferences to boardrooms, to…
In search of meaning…
Since becoming aware of his existence, man has sought to give meaning to it. In his comparatively short life on earth, a whole array of philosophies, cosmologies, ontologies have arisen and have been amply documented. In terms of their stance on the underlying meaning, nearly all of these models of reality fall into one of two categories: materialistic or spiritualistic.
Materialism
Materialistic models focus on matter, on this life, the tangible, sensually experiential, this life span, while spiritualistic concepts focus on spirit, the other life, the non-visible, intangible, the domains of other worlds, the afterlife.
Materialistic philosophy can be traced back at least to the Greek philosophers, who tried to find the “stuff” the world is made of. Some assumed earth, some fire, some water, some air, each providing elaborate systems which could explain why this or that particular element was superior to the others. As man began to grasp the world around him, he tried to find underlying meaning within it. Being in this life, he tried to find explanations within this life for his very existence. As matter was a core element of everyday experience, he sought to thus explain this existence with the building blocks he had available.
The Metaphorical Mind
“Every child is born an artist, the problem is to remain one once they grow up.” – Pablo Picasso
One of my favorite art stories as a child came from a documentary about Picasso. It was showing his progression in understanding and communicating his reality. The documentary started with a water color he had made of a bullfight as a sixteen year old. It was beautiful and attempted to depict the bull, the audience, the vibrant colors with as much realism as possible.