The TM corporation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi -- the Beatles', Beach Boys', and other celebrities' own guru -- used to sell "levitation" during meditation, which turned out to be a kind of flipper hopping by flapping the knees, a ridiculous compromise in the way we can bend reality and language to match. Even this wouldn't be "levitation" as we understand it even with the great hang time.
(AS) This "yogic flying" TM style "levitation" is more embarrassing than Heshers' sill trick above.
It only took us two views to see how he's doing it, and we guarantee anyone with the right camera set up can do this tonight, with less stress on his plastic drawers from the pushing.
Buddhism's Path of Purification on levitation
95. Uplifting happiness can be powerful enough to levitate the body and
make it spring up into the air. For this was what happened to the Elder
Mahá Tissa, residing at Punnavallika.
He went to the shrine terrace on the
evening of the full-moon day. Seeing the moonlight, he turned in the direction
of the Great Shrine [at Anurádhapura], thinking:
“At this very hour the four assemblies [Note 29] are worshipping at the Great Shrine!” By means of objects
formerly seen [there] he aroused uplifting happiness with the Enlightened
One [the Buddha] as object, and he rose into the air like a painted ball bounced off a
plastered floor and alighted on the terrace of the Great Shrine.
[Note 29: Four assemblies (parisá) Buddhist monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen.]
96. And this was what happened to the daughter of a clan in the village of
Vattakálaka near the Girikandaka Monastery when she sprang up into the air
owing to strong uplifting happiness with the Enlightened One as object.
As her
parents were about to go to the monastery in the evening, it seems, in order to
hear the Dhamma [144], they told her:
“My dear, you are expecting a child; you
cannot go out at an unsuitable time. We shall hear the Dhamma [the Buddha's Teachings] and gain merit
for you.” So they went out. And though she wanted to go, too, she could not very well
object to what they said. She stepped out of the house onto a balcony and stood
looking at the Ákásacetiya Shrine at Girikandaka lit by the moon.
She saw the
offering of lamps at the shrine and the four communities [assemblies] as they circumambulated
it to the right after making their offerings of flowers and perfumes. And she
heard the sound of the massed recital by the Community of Monastics. Then she
thought:
“How lucky they are to be able to go to the monastery and wander round
such a shrine terrace and listen to such sweet preaching of Dhamma!”
Seeing the
shrine as a mound of pearls and arousing uplifting happiness, she sprang up into
the air, and before her parents arrived she came down from the air into the shrine
terrace, where she paid homage and stood listening to the Dhamma.
97. When her parents arrived, they asked her: “What road did you come by, my dear?”
She answered, “I came through the air, not by the road.”
And when they told her, “My
dear, those whose cankers are destroyed [the enlightened] come through the air, but how did you
come?”
She replied, “As I was standing looking at the shrine in the moonlight a
strong sense of happiness arose in me with the Enlightened One as its object.
Then I knew no more whether I was standing or sitting, but only that I was
springing up into the air with the [mental] sign that I had grasped [apprehended], and I came to rest on
this shrine terrace.”
So uplifting happiness can be powerful enough to levitate the body and make it
spring up into the air.
98. But when pervading (rapturous) happiness arises, the whole body is
completely pervaded [like soap powder suffused with water], like a filled bladder, like a rock cavern invaded by a huge
inundation.
99. Now this fivefold happiness, when conceived and matured, perfects the twofold
tranquility, that is, bodily and mental tranquility. When tranquility is conceived
and matured, it perfects the twofold bliss, that is, bodily and mental bliss. When bliss
is conceived and matured, it perfects the threefold concentration, that is,
Of these, what is intended by happiness in this context is pervading happiness,
which is the root of absorption and comes by growth into association with
absorption [145].
CHAPTER IV
The Earth Kasina
100. But as to the other word: pleasing (sukhana) is bliss (sukha). Or alternatively:
it thoroughly... More: Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga)
Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), The Path of Purification edit
We humans are full of defilements -- lust, annoyance, delusion (the Three Poisons of the heart/mind). How could ordinary folks ever get free, much less naughty sex workers entangled in all kinds of addiction, ego, hatred, and self-esteem issues? If only the Buddha had taught this world a path of purification.
Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, in the rich courtesan Ambapālī’s mango grove. There he addressed the meditators, “Meditators!”
“Venerable sir,” they responded, and then he taught them:
“Meditators, four kinds of mindfulness meditation are the path to convergence, for the (self-) purification of beings, to get beyond sorrow and sadness, to make an end of pain and lamenting, to discover the Middle Way, and to realize the bliss of nirvana (cessation). What are the four?
“One meditates observing feelings — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.
“One meditates observing the mind — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.
“One meditates observing phenomena — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.
“Four kinds of mindfulness meditation are the path to convergence, for the purification of beings, to get beyond sorrow and sadness, to make an end of pain and lamenting, to discover the Middle Way, and to realize the bliss of nirvana.”
This is what the Buddha taught. Contented, the meditators rejoiced in his words.
Dhr. Seven (trans.), based on Bhikkhu Sujato (Thig 5.2: Vimalā Therīgāthā), "Vimalā, the Former Courtesan," Therigatha (Verses of the Enlightened Elder Nuns) 5.2
"KARMA: It's everywhere you're going to be." Deeds have the power to produce resultants.
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Pranks are fun to watch because they're funny and because it's not us on the receiving end. It must be terrifying, if even for the first moments, to be the pranked on. But it sure is funny, at least for males. Females may have more sense and sensibility, preferring to daydream about Darcy coming to save them. They are so fun, funny, and fascinating that a question comes up: Are they unskillful karma?
That is, will they result in unpleasant, unwished for, unwanted, even unbearable results when they come to fruition and ripen?
It seems to be a matter of degrees if one thinks about it just a little. What's "better," to kill one person or two people?
But isn't karma an "imponderable" and unanswerable question in Buddhism? No, what's imponderable is the working out (vipaka-phala) of karma (deeds). What we throw out by our mental, verbal, and physical actions will come back to us, but precisely HOW they will come back, that is imponderable and would drive one to madness to keep trying to figure out.
The answer is obvious only it's hard to answer because, between only those two choices, of course it's better to killer fewer people but it cannot in any way be said that it's "good" (and certainly not "better") to kill anyone.
In exactly the same way and for the same reason, a person pranked Halloween-style is going to be scared. That fear may dissolve and resolve again as catharsis, laughter, an adrenaline rush, a moment of clarity, hiccuplessness, or whatever, but for that span of time, one was frightened, experiencing horripilation, terrified, apoplectic, having a bowel movement -- and that can't be good to do to someone just for laughs.
If one imagines a motive -- such as to teach a valuable lesson or remind someone of something or to bring about sudden relief or whatever -- that may modify the karma and attenuate, but it certainly does not erase it, absolve it, make it good, or turn it into an indulgence to be paid off. It's still bad. It's like spanking someone. Whatever the motive, it is still bad (violent, insensitive, cruel, abusive) and potentially traumatizing. One may later thank you for traumatizing him or her, such as when that person grows up, joins the military, and kills many people instead of bowing out of a mission like a smarter or less traumatized person might think to do. But that thanks does not mean it was a good or neutral deed on the part of the doer, only that it had some effect for which the victim feels a necessity to have gratitude, like when you are beaten in prison on arrival, not because you did anything wrong or deserved it but only because stronger guys were looking out for your future and wanted you to toughen up, look alert, and mind your Ps and Qs. You may thank them when you avoid getting jumped by antagonistic opponents or get jumped but were ready for it because you remained hypervigilant after the first beating. But that won't make that beating "good." At best, it might make it "mixed." Mixed means at least partially bad, negative, harmful, an therefore resulting in suffering (dukkha) for the doer.
If one beats one's child with a "good" parental motive then imagines that as a karmic result, later on, perhaps in a future life, one is beaten by one's parent with a "good" motive, how is that going to be experienced, how is it going to feel, what are going to be the negative results (whether or not there are any positive ones)? Say that, indeed, one doesn't flip off the neighbor anymore but, on account of being beaten, starts seeing beating others (being physically violent and/or scolding) as a means to an end -- as demonstrated by one's own loving parent? Will one call that a win and say that beating is not bad karma? It is clearly bad karma even if it does some good or has some positive outcome in addition to all the negative outcomes. What if the child becomes nervous, fearful, introverted, shy, full of violent outbursts, closed in, untrusting...? "But, at least, does not flip off the neighbor anymore" will be a pathetic rationalization when trying to explain that spanking was "good karma."
Would that karma were so nice and limited, but each act has exponential results.
.
Reduce debt, maximize profit
What are the motives for pranks? That is another way to know whether something is skillful (wholesome, good, meritorious, proper conduct, advantageous, beneficial, harmless, in line with the dhamma): find the motives motivating it. There are six motives to choose from, and it is never really going to be just one. It will tend to be a mixed bag. At one impulsion (javana), at one mind moment (citta), it may be just one motive, but there are thousands if not millions of such impulsions and mind moments in one act (karma). The most important quality of the karma (act) is the cetana (motive, ambition, intention behind it). The six motives are easy to remember because they flipsides of one another:
greed (attraction), nongreed
hatred (aversion), nonhatred
delusion (wrong view), nondelusion.
Actions motivated by any degree of greed, hatred, or delusion we can put in the unskillful, unwholesome, harmful, producing dukkha pile.
Actions motivated by any degree of nongreed (letting go, giving up, sharing, generosity, nonstinginess, charity, compassion, caring, loving-kindness, harmlessness) we can put in the skillful pile, which produces (when it finally comes to fruition, which is whenever it meets the necessary and sufficient conditions to come to frution, much more likely later rather than sooner.
Actions motivated by aversion (FEAR, annoyance, disliking, revulsion, hatred) we can put in the unskillful pile.
Actions motviated by nonaversion (tolerance, sympathy, mercy, compassion, loving kindness, fairness, enlightened self-interest) we can put in the skillful pile.
Actions motivated by delusion (ignorance, confusion, wrong view, misplaced or blind faith, fanaticism) we can put in the unskillful pile, which produces unwelcome, unwanted results when they (those impulsions and mind moments) come to fruition and ripen.
Actions motivated by nondelusion (wisdom, direct knowing and seeing, understanding, clarity) we can put in the skillful pile.
Spite, not your boyfriend, is karma.
One thing that should be clear although it is probably not is that there is no such thing as greed or hatred without delusion. Delusion gives rise to greed. It gives rise to hatred. There could be greed without hatred, and hatred without greed, or delusion without either, but otherwise they are usually mixed up, supporting one another, producing unskillful karma.
All that one might say in condemnation of the first three mentioned might can be turned around to praise the other three, but one must understand these terms are translated from a more sophisticated and subtle language with more nuances than English. Pali, which comes from Sanskrit, has many multivalent terms, with each word having a RANGE of meanings. That's why it sounds "negative," non-this and non-that. But according to Bhikkhu Bodhi and other scholars, this is just a convention. Nondelusion (whatever it might mean in English) really does mean "wisdom" in the original languages of the Buddha (Gandhari, Magadhi, Pali, Prakrit, Sanskrit). And nonhatred (adosa) is not merely the absence of hatred but the positive aspects of loving kindness. Our English ears have trouble hearing this and we see negativity where it is not.
Another way to have looked at this question, "Is it (pranks or anything else) bad karma?" would have been to compare life to the Disciplinary Code or Rules and Regulations the Buddha set down for monastics. Bothering others, no matter the motive, is bad because it bothers them. So thoughtlessly, unmindfully, neglectfully, carelessly, inadvertently making noise that is disruptive to others is labeled "wrong" and "not to be done" in the Vinaya. One trivial example that comes to mind is that, while eating, which in olden times was done with the hand, one is not to scrape the bottom of the bowl with one's nails such as to make noise that bothers others who are eating.
There was no intention to bother them and, nevertheless, it is wrong and should be avoided. If done with the motive to disturb others, then it is clearly bad however minor it may seem or however many rationalizations we may give. So following the example of the Monastic Sangha, who are models of good behavior for Buddhists (not that they always are), we can clearly see that pranking, joking, teasing, or even unintentionally disturbing others by our walking loudly, coughing, twitches, scratching, snoring, carelessly passing wind, and so on can be deemed violations of the Code, which applies to monastics and not us but is an example to us of what the Buddha taught for the longevity of Buddhism (the Dharma in the world), the respect of others for Buddhism and the Buddha as a teacher, for the comfort of the peaceful, and for the taming of the disturbed. The Vinaya explains why each rule or regulation was set down in the first place, with a backstory to explain its necessity. Some rules are as general as just for making it comfortable to be around or for the calming of those who are not calm. Big time pranks would never be in line with this. Little teases maybe, but even that is walking the line as we never know how someone is going to take something. We might be able to know our motives, innocent or not, but they are not likely to know those motives so may grow resentful, angry, vengeful, disturbed, or motivated to strike back. For peace's sake, keep the peace. Pranks are anti-peaceful.
Karmic results
What will be the result of any intentional action? We may imagine that it is commensurate with the act, and it is, but we all fail to understand "the act." The typical misconception, based more on a popular understanding of Hinduism than what the Buddha taught, is that if we do one thing, that one thing will happen to us in return.
This is wrong for at least two reasons. One, we don't realize what constitutes "the act" (the deed, action, intention). The Abhidhamma (the "Dharma in Ultimate Terms") as a treatise of Buddhist psychology goes into extreme detail about what "consciousness" is. We may think it's a thing, but in fact it's a process, a stream of mind-moments (cittas). These are not really "thoughts" but components or "particles" of awareness. Mental formations -- such as feelings, perceptions, volitions, and 50 others -- give us "consciousness." Among these are javanas or "impulsions." If there are countless cittas streaming, there are an exponential number of javanas for each. Each of these might lay down a track, a seed, that later manifests as a karmic result. If this understanding is correct, one "deed" (with uncountable cittas and javanas) will result in an exponential number of results. The is for the good, the bad, and the neutral resulting in welcome, unwelcome, and neither welcome-nor-unwelcome results. Results are of two kinds, resultants (vipakas) and fruit (phala). It's not clear what the distinction is, but it used to be said that one referred to mental resultants and the other to physical circumstances. Thus, one can see that mental resultants might be immediate (regret, remorse, sadness, mental pain, delight, passion, joy, elation, etc.) whereas as life circumstances might be the fruit, our situation, where we are born, how our body is, our looks, health, longevity or lack of these.
Two, since ancient times, for whatever reason, people have made the mistake of thinking that if we do something in a certain way, that deed will produce the same thing for us in the same way. This is completely wrong. When the Buddha was asked about it, he said that such a view was the negation of his teachings on karma. For example, if we slap someone in public, we may worry that our deed (our karma of slapping that person in public) will result in us being slapped in public. This is so common a view that there's no convincing even most Buddhists that this is wrong. This is what sutras and stories, the media and our own thinking tell us is "fair" and proportionate. It's incorrect. The Buddha teaches a variable result of karma. For example, if someone kills, the result will not be that one is killed. That could be the result. It may even be likely that that is the result. Oh, if only it were we might learn something. The results are actually much worse. That act, that deed, because so many things led up to it, because it was motivated by so many cittas and so many more impulsions, will yield unwelcome results over and over, again and again for a long, long time. Even if the negative results are avoided in this life (we are not caught, we are not punished, we experience no remorse, regret, sadness, misgivings, worries about retribution, coarseness, insensitivity, drunkenness to try to drown the guilt or bolster the rationalizations), they will not be avoided forever.
So "live by the sword, die by the sword" is not necessarily true. It is self-evidently untrue in the way we understand it and true in another way we do not understand. We think that because this killer who killed with a sword, who killed many people because he lived "by the sword" as a soldier, cop, or criminal must die by getting stabbed or beheaded, but he died of a heart attack or disease or old age surrounded by his loved ones. How could this be? Doesn't make the famous utterer of that adage wrong? That utterer will be vindicated because there are many lives, not just this one. So what if he doesn't "die by the sword" this time? He likely will in the future, many times over, but even if he doesn't, even if that is avoided, he will reap what he has sown and it will produce many unwelcome results (resultants and fruits, multiplying, maturing and ripening). In hell realms, one may be killed with a sword many times. And, still, having been killed many times over, having had many lives shortened by this act, incurring animosity and fear from others, bad looks, an angry disposition, aversion, fear, worry, and so on, that deed is not exhausted. It keeps producing unwelcome results when it gets the opportunity.
Even if the negative results are avoided in the very next life, which is unlikely since it is a heavy karma (course of action with the power to drag us down to the downfall or niraya and condition our rebirth in an unfortunate plane of existence, among animals, ghosts, demons, or hellions), going from brightness to darkness or darkness to darkness, there is still the probability of that deed bearing its result in subsequent lives when it gets the opportunity to produce results. When it finally catches up with us, the result will not be someone kills us and that's that. It is far more likely that it will result in sickliness, a shortened lifespan wherever one is born, ugliness, and other problems, to say nothing of the possibility that the person we killed will seek revenge life after life, in a cycle of retribution because we will strike back and get in more trouble. But, say, no bad result ever came about until one life far in the future, a fortunate rebirth on a good plane of existence on or above the human plane. And there the result was that it caused a shortened life and we died prematurely: That karma is in no way exhausted by that having happened. We are likely to have many lifespans shortened, have much sickliness, much pain, many lives in the downfall (a collective term for subhuman lives which have much suffering and very little hope of escape). When we add up what happened as a result of that "one" deed of killing, we will certainly understand that it was not worth it. Conversely, a skillful deed was more than worth it. If we give, share, help others, we will be helped many times over before that karma of giving that one time, even a small amount, is exhausted. (It depends to whom and how we give, but giving is good, which is not to say that it can't be made bad or soured or used as a pivot point for negativity. Imagine if we give to shame someone, outdo someone, belittle someone, or simply to gain more for ourselves. It looks like giving and sharing from the outside, but inside we can see a negative motive for a "good" deed. So it can bear its mixed results, perhaps ironically. What if as a result of giving, we get a fortune BUT we are limited to distributing it not enjoying it ourselves? We are made the head of a trust fund for others with a pittance of a stipend for serving on the board of its distribution. So the Buddha many times advised, for the nondoing of the unskillful and the doing of the skillful, this is what a buddha teaches. Why he teaches is that we and others around us might benefit. He wished for the whole world, far beyond this human plane, to benefit.
Kar Krashes and Karens (instant karma?)
This is the strange and seemingly "unfair" thing about karma. We only killed that one time, yet we are experiencing the unwanted, unwelcome, unbearable results over and over again. Similarly with skillful or good deeds, with merit. Though we only give a little, it comes back manifold. (Cast your bread upon the water).
Finally, what is the ultimate wisdom? It is enlightenment (bodhi, satori, kensho, vipassana, insight, epiphany, dawning, knowledge, sight, knowing-and-seeing, liberating-wisdom, awakening). Why? It is because ignorance (avijja, avidya, moha, miccha-ditthi, maya) is the root of all our problems in samsara (the cycle of rebirth, "again becoming," reappearance) which is inseparable from dukkha so long as we're trapped in it. Liberation (moksha) is no longer being trapped even when we still might be in it as in nirvana-with-remainder, the living arhat or buddha who still experiences pain (dukkhata) but has overcome all that can upset (dukkha) -- a response to pain rooted in aversion or frustration in wanting something to be other than the way it is.
Less is more. We should have said far less (words) and it would have been much more (useful). But for readers who read all the way through, comment. Is there any sense in what the Buddha taught? It's not so different than our Christian, Hindu, Jain, and even Jewish teachings, only the Buddha tweaked those misunderstandings and made them so clear that in his day, he was never called a "Buddhist" but frequently called a "Karmavadin," a teacher of the efficacy of deeds.
You may think I'm "hot," but I'm d*ad cold, so the joke's on you (Ariana Viera, RIP).
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There's great hope in what he taught because in all but five situations (regarding five heinous deeds), all karma is modifiable and may even be compensated for so that it does not ruin us. Even in the case of those five deeds, and we can look at the example of Devadatta for evidence of this, karma does not rule everything. Karma is not the cause of everything. Those five have the unfortunate power to bear the result in the very next (immediate) rebirth, and it will not be good. But what else we do now will also condition the future, even if other deeds are not powerful enough to expunge or avoid this powerful result of immediate next rebirth experience. The evidence is in what the Buddha said would happen to Devadatta, the Judas figure in Buddhism. He might have much suffering ahead of him, much explaining and accounting for his horrific misdeeds, yet he would eventually become an arhat perhaps even a silent buddha.
Jimmy Kimmel breaks down the presidential debate between Donald and Kamala
(Jimmy Kimmel Live) Sept. 10, 2024: Jimmy breaks down the debate of the decade between Vice President Harris and felon Trump, and it was quite the beating, Trump spent the day posting cat memes after a debunked story that Haitian immigrants are eating pets, VP candidate JD Vance can’t stop bringing attention to these stories, Trump keeps intentionally mispronouncing Kamala Harris’ name, he seems to KNOW and NOT KNOW a lot of things, and Jimmy checks in with a panel of political experts for their thoughts on the debate: Gavin Newsom (Josh Meyers), MyPillow Mike Lindell (James Adomian), and JD Vance (Haley Joel Osment). #Kimmel
TOO CONFIDENT? We got him on the run, Girl! Just stick to the script; watch him go mental.
I'm a fire-exhausting dragon waiting to burn her
Don't expect too much from Kami. That way we can only be delightfully surprised that she studied and prepared and did method acting with a coach and a lookalike Trump to prepare. Once upon a time, in a campaign he was losing, Trump debated his female opponent. He couldn't beat her on substance, as hated as she was, so he walked up behind her at the podium like Jaws the Shark to throw her off her game. It sure worked. He's a nut and a scoundrel and has tricks up his sleeve. All he does all day is argue with people. He doesn't play fair. He just plays to win. He's a liar.
Excuse me, Sir. I'm speaking, OK? Thank you.
She's a lying lawyer, and her grift is the law, where she gets to plan tactics with reasonable opponents, other lawyers, not sociopathic nuts. She doesn't stand a chance. She's about to be mowed down by an orange weedwhacker. The only reason she didn't blow her big speech at the DNC is because she was reading what she had memorized. How will that skill in reciting prepared comments help her here? She gets softball questions all the time. If they are ever uncomfortable, she cackles. The orange monster gets hit in the back of the head with a 2x4 daily, and he seems to like it. It has made him an ugly American, a New Yorker, a con, a used car salesman with no shame or boundaries, no limits or conscience. We fear she will be so humiliated and out on her butt like her boss was the last time he went up against the ginger j*ck*ss. Beware, Kami. Tap out as soon as you can and turn it over to Tim. You're in over your attorney head.
The blood sport begins 6:00 pm (Pacific), 9:00 pm (Eastern)
Meet the writer behind those campaign fundraising emails clogging our inboxes | The Daily Show
(The Daily Show) Sept. 10, 2024: Meet campaign email ghostwriter Susan Callipenni-McIntyre (Desi Lydic), the keyboard-pushing, politician-impersonating literary genius behind the many, many desperate messages asking for just $5 to save America. #DailyShow #DesiLydic#email
Kamala and Trump prepare to debate, Dick Cheney endorses, JD Vance in pool
(The Daily Show) Sept. 9, 2024: With the election rapidly approaching, Jordan Klepper catches up on the latest stories in the presidential race, including recent telephone polling favoring Trump, JD Vance swimming in a t-shirt, and Dick Cheney’s surprising endorsement of Kamala. Plus, as Harris and Trump prepare for their first debate with starkly different approaches, Grace Kuhlenschmidt joins to break down the Republican candidate’s predictable “weaving” tactics. #DailyShow #JordanKlepper #debate
Trump says he wants to lock up late night hosts, fails to prepare to debate over-prepped Kamala because he'll just wing it like usual, and Melania has a new book
(Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Sept. 9, 2024: There has been an intense heat wave here in Los Angeles (particularly the Valley), Jimmy sends guard Guillermo to check on his wax figure at Madame Toussard’s on Hollywood Boulevard to see if it’s holding up in this heat, football players have the option of wearing protective helmet bumpers this year, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are going head-to-head in their first and only debate tomorrow night on ABC, there are various prop bets you can bet on from tie color to if they will shake hands, Trump had a very busy day yesterday posting a birthday wish to the Virgin Mary and endorsing Hulk Hogan’s beer, he is still worked up over the fact that Tim Walz keeps calling him "weird," California's Gov. Newsom's ex Kimberly Guilfoyle wowed a crowd at the Florida Republican Party Victory Dinner, Trump has been hammering the idea that Democrats are randomly chopping off kids’ private parts, Rolling Stone published a report that Donald has tried to declare anti-Trump material broadcast by late night shows as illegal, Melania (more Barron's mom than Mrs. Trump) has a new book coming out, we have a winner for tonight’s award for Excellence in Reporting and Apple gives a surprisingly honest sales pitch at their recent summit. #Kimmel
Lincoln Project (commercial); Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 9/9/24; Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper, The Daily Show; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
These breakthrough salesmen can get irritating. Everyone is offering a get rich scheme, rarely with any substance. But finally a longform commercial came across our surfing with some substance.
This trick offers real possibility. It was developed by mind expert Silva of the famous Silva Mind Control Method.
He is no longer with us. But his discoveries are being carried on by spiritual entrepreneur Vivek Lakhani of Mind Valley/ He shares this easy to grasp method to produce astonishing results.
Serene tranquility meditation is learning to let go and relax. It is close to the sleep state, but it is not sleep. The difference may be defined in terms of brainwaves. The conscious mind is very active, characterized by an alpha brainwave pattern. Beta is deeper and slower.
But if we cross our legs and sit to meditate, good luck letting go of the "monkey mind," thinking, distractions, the Five Hindrances (lust, annoyance, sleepiness, agitation, and skeptical doubt). Meditating soon becomes little more than the "chore" of bringing the mind back and beginning again and again.
Done incorrectly, we build up resentment, anger, and try to control things too much. Or we drift endlessly in discursive thoughts and fantasies. Or we pass out, particularly if we are sleep-deprived in our regular life. Nearly all of us are, and it never becomes so apparent.
If we persist, things get better. If we stay regular, it pays off. But good luck doing either. What we could use is a trick, a shortcut, a hack. Meditation instructors will say, "Don't bother with that. Stop grasping, setting up expectations, or thinking of it as a chore."
"Just sit. Just breathe. Just be." These things are easier said than done. Luck starts seeming like a real component because, due to past karma in previous lives, a few people are naturals. They take to sitting the way a stone duck in the shape of the Buddha takes to the mantle.
They let go, relax, and go deep. If the reader is such a person, carry on. There's no need to do anything more other than to persist in the practice, making it a twice daily habit until sitting for an hour at a time seems natural and comfortable.
If, however, the reader is not so luck, does not plunge into serenity, and is losing patience, what to do? Give up? Never. Try harder? No! That's a worse idea. Try easier. And the way toward that could be aided along by Silva's discovery. Fathom this.
When we wake up, most of us rush out of sleep, and this is done by checking our phone for our addictive dopamine hits.
Here is the fact. When we awaken, if we do not rush out of bed, we are still in a deeper brainwave state than our waking life, which is busy and exhausting. We awaken in beta.
The practice or self-training is this: When awakening, stay in bed for 5 minutes, emerge slowly, stay relaxed and quiet. But from now on for the next 30 days, sit up slowly into the meditation pose in bed. Stay in that pose for 5 minutes, while counting down (backward) from 100, 99, 98...all the way to 1.
The brain has something to do so it won't fall back asleep. Continue this for 10 days. On Day 11, count backward like before but this time from 50, 49, 48...all the way to 1, at the rate of about one count to one breath.
On Day 20, count down from 10 to 1: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Do over and over for those first five minutes after arising. What will happen?
A miracle will happen. And that miracle is this: We will have trained our minds -- in just 30 days -- to associate counting down from 10 to 1 to immediately put us in that relaxed beta state.
Now when we sit for meditation, we begin with a deep breath and counting down. By the time we hit 1, we are in alpha. How long did it take us to get there? Less than ten breaths. Now we can really enter a peaceful meditative state at will, effortlessly (or all the effort has already taken place during those 30 days of counting for five minutes in our waking calm). CONTINUED IN PART II
Part I: Meditation Instructor Seven, as told to Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen Bradford, Moon, Wisdom Quarterly, based on a Mind Valley commercial by Vivek Lakhani based on an idea, insight, and teaching by Jose Silva, author of Silva Mind Control
Sending an attractive lookalike to my high school reunion
(VICE) Like many (most) of us, Stephen didn’t have a good time in high school. He played saxophone in the school band, was a loser, got bullied, and struggled a little (a lot).
Can we get these two to play us as a couple?
Having graduated ten years ago, he hasn’t seen any of his former classmates since. So why not dupe them into thinking he "made it"?
Now his high school reunion is coming up and he wants to settle some scores. So he enlisted the help of VICE's Oobah Butler via his app, Oobah.
In the wake of sending doubles of himself to collect awards and be interviewed by media outlets around the world, Oobah auditioned lookalikes and sent a hotter, more successful but fake version of Stephen to attend his high school reunion to reinvent his image in front of his old classmates.
But can he get away with it?
Off the Record
LAWYER EXPLAINS: 12 Lies the Police Love to Use
(Hampton Law) Dec. 10, 2023: When the police go fishing, they're not looking for guppies. They're looking for information to use against who they're talking to. And that's you. They'll use any trick in the book to get you talking. But the more you talk, the more you try to explain, they can twist your words against you. So next time, keep your lips sealed.
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