Short Attn Span Theater: Strange

Short Attention Span Theater: Photos

• Eds., Wisdom Quarterly, Sept. 29, 2024

What are Buddhist monks? (video)

How to become a monk: Why or why not?

Can girls join? - Yes. Bhikkhuni Sangha lives!

Casual practitioners of the Dharma, the Teaching that Leads to Liberation, is a lot like that of a Buddhist monk or nun only more intensive, unrelenting, not easily hidden from. In our ordinary life, we can take a break and get away from ourselves (turn on and drop out), so progress is slow but easier than having to be at it, keeping our nose to the grindstone all the time. By the way, women are not "female monks" (bhikkhus). They are nuns (bhikkhunis). In referring to both simultaneously, we call them monastics. They are all samanas, "wandering ascetics," in the ideal; in practice, many have become temple priests and priestesses like the Brahmin priests of the Buddha's day.

Strive to see ultimate reality (mentality-materiality)

so "letting go" (nekkhamma) happens all by itself,

Pa Auk Sayadaw would say, agreeing with Ajahn Chah

How to become a monk: Why and why not?

(English Buddhist Monk) THAILAND. MAN GIVES UP EVERYTHING. In 2015, aged 47, an English (British) businessman gave up everything and travelled Asia to find true happiness.

Now a Buddhist monk (bhikkhu, samana, bhante), living a simple life in Buddhist Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka, he shares the continuing story.

• How does one become monastic? Ordination (pabbajjā)

ABOUT: Phra Dan (Ven. Dhammarakkhita, Bhikkhu, not yet tens years in the robe to be an Ajahn or official Thai "Teacher") is a Theravada Buddhist monk who lived in India from 2020, Thailand, and now Sri Lanka.

Dan was born in Sussex, England, in 1967. Educated by French Catholic monks, he was a successful businessman in estate agency and financial services during the 1980s and 1990s, married, divorced with three adult sons.

The year 2000 marked change and travel, including a visit to South Africa, returning to the UK in 2003 to continue different work and business activities until 2012.

Gradually materialistic values turned to renunciation (nekkhamma), intentional simplicity, and meditation, living nomadically in an old Ford Transit van full-time for three years.

This sort of van life and meditation led to Theravada Buddhism and to the ancient (back to basics movement called the) Thai Forest Tradition, a Theravada Buddhist monastery in the UK.

During 2015, travelling the Buddhist Circuit, the holy sites in India, deep faith (saddha, confidence, conviction) reinforced a zeal for Buddhist ordination.

In 2020, after five years of intensive meditation practice between Thai Forest monasteries in Thailand and England, Dan was ordained in India, where he lived for three years, until returning to Thailand in 2023, and now living in Theravada Buddhist Sri Lanka.

Sabe Satta Sukhi Hontu. Please subscribe and be HAPPY, too. #englishmonk

Phra Dan, Bhante Dhammarakkhita, English Buddhist Monk (YouTube) July 12, 2023; Pat Macpherson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Short Attn Span Theater: Levitation

• Eds., Wisdom Quarterly and (ReligionforBreakfast) Goddess Isis Mystery Cult

Short Attn Span Theater: Moon, Cats

Closing: Some advice from Eckhart Tolle

• Is it doom scrolling, TikToking, too much screen time? Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Short Attention Span Theater: genius

• The editors of Wisdom Quarterly have collected this diverse batch of clickbait time consumers that make us wonder how we lived before TikTok taught us so much. Enjoy

Short Attn Span Theatre: Shaolin Yoga

Short Attention Span Theatre: Egypt Area 51

• TOO MUCH TIKTOK, Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Knot Wisdom: Short Attention Span Theatre

Ancient Egyptians in Australia?

The Gosford glyphs (Australian Geographic)

(Wiki) The Gosford Glyphs, also known as Kariong Hieroglyphs, are a group of approximately 300 Egyptian-style hieroglyphs located in Kariong, Brisbane, Australia. They are found in an area known for its Aboriginal petroglyphs, between Gosford and Woy Woy, New South Wales, within the Brisbane Water National Park. Academics and authorities have tried to dismiss them as a hoax after their discovery in the 1970s, but there is no proof other than disbelief. These authorities are still attempting to prove the false belief that they were carved by ancient Egyptians about 4,500 years ago [1]. So far they have been unable to do so. But to think the ancient Egyptians made it not only to the Grand Canyon in the Southwest USA. More

• This can't be real, and we won't stand for it! The Gosford glyphs, debunked (Australian Geographic)

Short Attention Span Theater (viral videos)

Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again

The Middle (listentothemiddle.com)

The Middle with Jeremy Hobson is a weekly, live national call-in talk show aimed at elevating the voices of people in “the middle.”

[It is heard in Los Angeles on laist.com (kpcc.com, 89.3 FM, Thursdays at 10:00 pm), and tonight's show closed with an amazing segment by Johann Hari (johannhari.com) on cellphone and Internet addiction.]

• Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - -and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari (barnesandnoble.com)

Stolen Focus: Pay Attention (stolenfocusbook.com)

Americans who are geographically, politically, or philosophically in “the middle” are crucial in our politics, yet they are often ignored.

In the US, teenagers can focus on one task for only 65 seconds at a time, and office workers average only 3 minutes. Like many of us, author Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live.

He tried all sorts of self-help solutions — even abandoning his cellphone for three months — but nothing seemed to work.

So he went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention. He discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.

We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: Our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for their profit.

He found that there are 12 deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention.

In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD.

He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where they lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers’ productivity.

Crucially, he learned how we can reclaim our focus — as individuals and as a society — if we are determined to fight for it.

Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back. More

ABOUT: The Middle is a non-partisan, non-judgmental, non-condescending space where all can feel comfortable sharing their views and being part of the conversation. Veteran public radio host Jeremy Hobson is joined by two panel guests each week along with DJ Tolliver spinning tunes. Hosted by Jeremy Hobson Thursdays 10:00-11:00 pm.

THIS WEEK (July 11, 2024): ADDICTION TO PHONE, INTERNET, CONNECTION, SOCIAL MEDIA, COMPUTER SCREEN? IF SO, WHAT ABOUT IT? CALL (844) 4MI-DDLE (themiddleshow.radio@gmail.com) to talk to Host Jeremy Hobson, public radio journalist and former host of NPR’s Here & Now and Marketplace Morning Report. He grew up in the Midwest, where people don’t spend every waking minute thinking about politics -- but do have a lot of sway in American politics.

• Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; guest Johann Hari wit host Jeremy Hobson, The Middle, July 11, 2024 via laist.com