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> better concentration, and better impulse control. I have not done a 10 day sit as described in TFA, but I've had a passably regular Vipassana-style meditatio

> better concentration, and better impulse control. I have not done a 10 day sit as described in TFA, but I've had a passably regular Vipassana-style meditation practice for a few years now, and concentration and impulse control have been two major benefits in my life. One thing that comes with impulse control, but I find valuable enough to merit mentioning on its own, is that I am now much better at letting go of thoughts. I used to have difficulty with intrusive thoughts--fantasies of violence or humiliation that would play on loop in my mind. Now, they appear, drift once through my mind, and are gone. This also applies to getting songs stuck in my head. For context, I grew up in the Christian church, identify as atheist, and have only a mild intellectual interest in the spiritual trappings of the tradition from which meditation comes to me.

blueprint 13y ago
When you say letting go of thoughts, how can you differentiate between getting rid of attachments, and abandoning yourself by giving up the questions you have inside?
- vidarh 13y ago
  What is the real you? To me, getting rid of attachments means to reduce the impulses that controls my actions "behind my back". It does not mean not caring, but it means noticing that you care, and noticing how that feels, and noticing what the impulses tell you, and then making a decision based on that information rather than just blindly following the impulses. Often that means acting differently than the impulses tells you because you recognize that other goals you have are better served by not giving in. Personally I don't believe that means I am abandoning myself, but on the contrary that I am living up to my belief of who I am and who I should be much better by (slowly) ridding myself of compulsions that made (and makes) me unhappy by getting me to act in ways inconsistent with how I want to be. A lot of human pain and frustration is down to the inconsistencies of self - how we want to do that coding, but end up procrastinating all day and then afterwards feels guilty about it, for example. Maybe that procrastination was nice, and good for us. But we (or I am at least) are happier when we actively make that choice. I still don't believe I am good at it, but I hope I keep getting better at it.
  - blueprint 13y ago
    To be certain, I'm asking happimess how he differentiates between consciously removing an attachment, and abandoning the problems before solving them. You said, "etting rid of attachments means to reduce the impulses that controls my actions "behind my back". It does not mean not caring, but it means noticing that you care, and noticing how that feels, and noticing what the impulses tell you, and then making a decision based on that information" What role does the fact that you care, feel, and have impulses play in your judgement about whether to perform a given action? Those facts by themselves do not reveal the matter connected to the cases that you are judging. That's why I'm trying to confirm your standard of judgement that you apply. "But we (or I am at least) are happier when we actively make that choice." What do you indicate by happiness?

blueprint 13y ago

When you say letting go of thoughts, how can you differentiate between getting rid of attachments, and abandoning yourself by giving up the questions you have inside?

vidarh 13y ago
What is the real you? To me, getting rid of attachments means to reduce the impulses that controls my actions "behind my back". It does not mean not caring, but it means noticing that you care, and noticing how that feels, and noticing what the impulses tell you, and then making a decision based on that information rather than just blindly following the impulses. Often that means acting differently than the impulses tells you because you recognize that other goals you have are better served by not giving in. Personally I don't believe that means I am abandoning myself, but on the contrary that I am living up to my belief of who I am and who I should be much better by (slowly) ridding myself of compulsions that made (and makes) me unhappy by getting me to act in ways inconsistent with how I want to be. A lot of human pain and frustration is down to the inconsistencies of self - how we want to do that coding, but end up procrastinating all day and then afterwards feels guilty about it, for example. Maybe that procrastination was nice, and good for us. But we (or I am at least) are happier when we actively make that choice. I still don't believe I am good at it, but I hope I keep getting better at it.
- blueprint 13y ago
  To be certain, I'm asking happimess how he differentiates between consciously removing an attachment, and abandoning the problems before solving them. You said, "etting rid of attachments means to reduce the impulses that controls my actions "behind my back". It does not mean not caring, but it means noticing that you care, and noticing how that feels, and noticing what the impulses tell you, and then making a decision based on that information" What role does the fact that you care, feel, and have impulses play in your judgement about whether to perform a given action? Those facts by themselves do not reveal the matter connected to the cases that you are judging. That's why I'm trying to confirm your standard of judgement that you apply. "But we (or I am at least) are happier when we actively make that choice." What do you indicate by happiness?