When I say 'bring the spiritual world to the physical world' what I am pointing at is how the physical world would benefit from applying spiritual values and principles. IMO, sitting in meditation all day just for the bliss buzz is so much spiritual masturbation. It's real value is when one brings back the clarity, the peace, and the insights to share with the rest of the world.

Personally, I also feel the world was always this 'ungrounded', but because of the internet and other multi-media that has spanned the globe, humanity is truly meeting itself for the first time - and it isn't pretty. This has made our current unrest and constant controversy an inevitability.

I don't think it's a stretch to say people are not anywhere near as grounded or rooted like they were 50, 100 years ago. That's not even arguable IMO: people used to work one job their entire lives; had one family; many if not most lived and died in the same town they were born in.

The internet absolutely has contributed. Information overload, it's affecting peoples' minds and will and hope. People drift in life now, both physically and intellectually. They go from job to job, relationship to relationship; they're distracted by celebrity and dreams of fame; they've lost the ability to penetrate into a question with their anayltical thinking and common sense; they can't tell the difference between truth and reality, versus lies and YouTube conspiracy videos.

And of course the internet is not "to blame"; it's a symptom and just one manifestation of the larger societal illness. Illness isn't the best word either, this seems to be part of some great evolutionary event and transition for the human collective.

You seem to be assuming that one who is sitting in meditation is not communicating or sharing with the rest of the world in some manner. Depending on the entity, that may or may not be true.

Grounded, or simply entrenched? 'Rooted' certainly applies.

Just what does 'grounded' mean to you? To me, it is the cultivation of a mental space centered on one's earthly connection, one's physical incarnation. It's NOT just about avoiding change, or obtaining security, or maintaining some sort of nostalgia.


Well, yes and no, but I have to ask - how are you feeling, yourself?

Well, we agree there, for the most part. The internet is just a communication medium. What is put on the medium is going to be a combination of what exists, and what influential parties want to appear to exist. Both are very revealling, properly viewed.

Yes, it may or may not be true.


And...?

I hear this a lot! People saying that meditation, sadhana and spiritual work on oneself is being totally selfish and self-centred because the person is not helping anybody else by doing that...completely forgetting/avoiding the fact that unless they can help themselves, they will be of absolutely no use to another whatsoever!...then, I just have to keep reminding myself mentally over and over that this is Kali Yuga and every prediction made by the scriptures thousands of years ago is finally coming to fruition before my very eyes...so why should I be shocked, when all of these 'false judgments' are merely symptomatic of Kali Yuga.

C'mon now, one could toss a comment like that into any discussion taking place on this forum. This isn't about me. We're exploring observations about society in general, and tendencies in people in general. Yes, I myself am doing just fine, but that doesn't invalidate any of the points I was making.

Regarding helping from afar during meditation, I have a book given to me years ago by a Sri Lankan Buddhist friend. It's called "The Buddha and His Teachings" and is the same book that they use at the local Burmese Buddhist monastery except that mine is in English for obvious reasons.

There is a chapter on the Buddha's "daily routine". It says that the Buddha attains the Ecstasy of Great Compassion each morning from 5 to 6 AM.

"At this early hour He surveys the whole world with His Buddha-Eye to see whether He could be of service to any. The virtuous and those that need His help appear vivid before Him though they may live at a remote distance. Out of compassion for them, he goes of His own accord and renders necessary spiritual assistance."

The book does not elaborate on how this is done.

P.S. With this response, I am also addressing Kioma's question. :smile:

That's the ticket :smile:

All day meditation isn't all that blissful, but the opening of loving kindness as consequence to purification in dedicated meditation radiates in the world through every thought, word and action.