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The past several years I've been trying to find some tangible philosophical ground to stand on. This (desperate) search is and has been the produce of mental il
by _myles 7y ago
The past several years I've been trying to find some tangible philosophical ground to stand on. This (desperate) search is and has been the produce of mental illness I've dealt with since my adolescence (I'm 32 now).
Quite a long story short, I managed to get the mental illness under control; something I thought I'd be living with the rest of my life.
My research has included mostly standing/walking meditation, and reading a lot on philosophy, religion, psychology, and such.
This is a personal project I've only just sort of revealed, after some persuasion by my peers. I didn't really have much intention on putting out in the public but it has turned out to be something significant. There is a lot to say about it.
EDIT: If you're curious, here is what I came up with after I started recording my research. DISCLAIMER: there is some personal stuff I talk about.
https://github.com/myles-moylan/head_project https://github.com/myles-moylan/head_project
- tuesday20 7y agoCould you please elaborate on meditation? How has it helped you, how much time do you spend, what is walking meditation etc? Thank you
- _myles 7y agoWhen I meditate all I'm trying to do is keep my attention in the present moment; if my mind starts to wander I bring it back, and so on. I've always loved going on walks, and they've just turned out to be a good way to work through mental/emotional stuff. Walking helps you stay in the moment as well, and when you're focusing your attention on the moment there's always new things to sense. Let me know if that's not clear enough. EDIT: Another important part of meditation is the analysis of your thoughts and emotions. Whatever comes up, try to understand why it did as well as you can.
- tuesday20 7y agoI go on long walks, this is something I will try. I usually listen to podcasts while walking, maybe it is time to try something different. About analyzing thoughts - I tend to over analyze everything. How do you not fall into this trap?
- _myles 7y agoIt's vital that you're honest with yourself in order to find some sort of base cause to any given thought/emotion. I honestly end up catching myself lost in thought after a minute or so more often than not. It's really a best effort sort of thing. But the more you practice, and the more effort you put forward, the stronger you'll get and the easier it will be to filter the signal from the noise.
- hanniabu 7y ago> walking meditation Walking while meditating. There's a common misconception that you need to be sitting or lying down to meditate *or even need to be in a dark candle lite room lol). Meditating is a state of mind.
- aaron-santos 7y agoDistance running gave me the space to let stressors bubble up, acknowledge them and move on. Once all of those thoughts pass it becomes easy to focus on breathing and be present in the moment. Over time it also becomes easier to recognize this pattern and expect and accept it.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoI would suggest that you read "He Is There And He Is Not Silent" by Francis Schaeffer. He tackles the three big philosophical questions (metaphysics, morals, and epistemology) from a Christian perspective. His writing is simple but deep - I had to read it several times to get parts of it. He's doing an overview of huge fields, not an in-depth, point-by-point argument. You sometimes have to fill in details of his argument yourself, because he doesn't answer every possible counter-argument.
- _myles 7y agoThanks for the suggestion, I will read it. :)