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Originally Posted by VinceField
The irony of how easily attachment can develop to a practice/activity that is aimed at eliminating attachment.
Imagine if the time spent debating and declaring our views about meditation were actually spent...dare I say... meditating?! 
From my own experience, it's a matter of priorities- dedication to the development of wholesome qualities of mind and the elimination of harmful qualities. The times when I've felt most drawn to expressing my views and debating on forums have been the times when my motivation and dedication to the practice have been the weakest.
There seems to be a pure aspect of my mind that desires to help others and provide practical and beneficial advice, simply out of compassion. Then there is that ego that wants to express its views for the sake of it, correct others when their beliefs don't agree with mine, assert its beliefs, and waste time reading and talking about things that the pure aspect of my mind knows will not truly be of benefit to my spiritual growth.
I say all of this so that perhaps those reading will consider these points the next time they feel the urge to get involved in threads like this one. Where is that urge really coming from? Developing mindfulness of my intentions and motivations, and learning not to act on those that are born of the ego and instead to let go, has helped me tremendously in terms of furthering my meditation practice, my self-awareness, and my spiritual development. I'm sure I'm not the only one this could help.
Take care all |
This is right... motivation is a tricky business because we really have to discern what we ourselves get out of it as well as discerning what good is it in the general sense. This is important because without that kind of self awareness one merely uses others to fulfill their own needs.
If we look at 'actions born of ego' are we really talking about blind reactions as opposed to mindful responses? I think that's at the crux of it and it relates to this self awareness whereby if one is aware of what occurs within themselves then they also respond with mindfulness. I also suggest that none of us
actually respond to each other, but rather, we only respond to what others invoke within ourselves. If this is accurate, we find that when we are mindful we rarely use 'you statements' because we don't entertain stories about the others. Instead, we tend to use 'I statements' because we speak in response to what occurs within ourselves.
The computer emocon is actually very meaningful, because I don't know about others, but social media such as this is a great distraction and mode of procrastination for me, and it's reported as a social issue generally... oh yea, and an attachment is an understatement. It's outright addiction in my case.
In the end though, there's no issue in the conversation. It issue arises because of the derisions that are below the surface currently, but still evident in language usages like 'threads like this one' and also in your prior comment about my threads and power.