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They did ask the question in snarky way, and it isn't cool to disrespect people's spiritual/contemplative practice, but in fairness to them it does sound a litt

They did ask the question in snarky way, and it isn't cool to disrespect people's spiritual/contemplative practice, but in fairness to them it does sound a little silly. Especially if you haven't had any powerful experiences with meditation, I would have had a hard time taking the suggestion seriously a year ago. And I think they were genuinely curious about the answer. We don't know if they're gunnuh use the app or not, either. They're here and asking questions, right? So they're at least curious about it. I have no idea if this is the case for them, but sometimes snark is even a defense mechanism for people who are a little embarrassed to be curious about something. I think telling a story about them like that makes things personal and confrontational in a way that's unhelpful. In order to understand your point, they'd first have to discard any feelings of insult that might arise. Which I at least find taxing. But all that said, I understand why it upset you, and in truth the snark did bother me as well.

kelnos 3y ago
> it isn't cool to disrespect people's spiritual practice Scrolling Twitter is a spiritual practice now? (I assume that's not what you meant, but I didn't see any disrespect of spiritual practices from that post.)
- maxbond 3y ago
  I think it was the minimization of meditation, not the part about Twitter. There's a subtext that meditation is too trivial for anything bad to happen. Or at least, that is one reading.
- hnfong 3y ago
  It wasn't any disrespect, at least I don't have any spiritual practice to disrespect, but rather the cavalier attitude against a reasonable warning. Imagine somebody warns you about "don't open random email attachments" and a random guy shows up and says "well, explain to me how my grandma's christmas card email is going to make my computer explode". The cavalier attitude can cost lives. I honestly have nothing against that person who made the comment, I just felt I had to make it clear one must be aware what they are getting into before dismissing something as trivial, and also don't negligently make comments that might put others at risk. I wish I could have phrased my original comment better, but once it's out there on the internet... :-/ I mean, maybe I should have filtered it through ChatGPT to make it less abrasive since I couldn't force myself into the "speak nicely" mode when I was writing it...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - maxbond 3y ago
    > It wasn't any disrespect, at least I don't have any spiritual practice to disrespect, but rather the cavalier attitude against a reasonable warning. Sorry for misreading you, I was presumptive.
    - hnfong 3y ago
      No worries. If anything it means I somehow failed to get my point across in the first go. Much to learn. Thanks for giving me a chance to clarify.

kelnos 3y ago

> it isn't cool to disrespect people's spiritual practice Scrolling Twitter is a spiritual practice now? (I assume that's not what you meant, but I didn't see any disrespect of spiritual practices from that post.)

maxbond 3y ago
I think it was the minimization of meditation, not the part about Twitter. There's a subtext that meditation is too trivial for anything bad to happen. Or at least, that is one reading.
hnfong 3y ago
It wasn't any disrespect, at least I don't have any spiritual practice to disrespect, but rather the cavalier attitude against a reasonable warning. Imagine somebody warns you about "don't open random email attachments" and a random guy shows up and says "well, explain to me how my grandma's christmas card email is going to make my computer explode". The cavalier attitude can cost lives. I honestly have nothing against that person who made the comment, I just felt I had to make it clear one must be aware what they are getting into before dismissing something as trivial, and also don't negligently make comments that might put others at risk. I wish I could have phrased my original comment better, but once it's out there on the internet... :-/ I mean, maybe I should have filtered it through ChatGPT to make it less abrasive since I couldn't force myself into the "speak nicely" mode when I was writing it...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- maxbond 3y ago
  > It wasn't any disrespect, at least I don't have any spiritual practice to disrespect, but rather the cavalier attitude against a reasonable warning. Sorry for misreading you, I was presumptive.
  - hnfong 3y ago
    No worries. If anything it means I somehow failed to get my point across in the first go. Much to learn. Thanks for giving me a chance to clarify.