Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
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jo6359,
Have you ever done a body survey in your meditation? I start at the crown of my head and concentrate on relaxing the area, then move down slowly relaxing each area of concentration until I reach my toes. I sit on a chair for this. If I am lying down flat, I fall asleep.
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ananda- yes I have. I can do it in a seated position but I cannot do it in a supine position. If I'm lying down I tend to fall asleep.
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Of course the body survey does help with insomnia.
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My yoga teacher would have us start with our toes. First tense them and then relax. She would move slowly up the body. DD says she does that to sleep and never gets above her hips. We did it lying down and there were a few times when people snored.
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Woohoo, I just saw a PSA/ad for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with Ron Reagan, on CBS. Awesome! It ran during Stephen Colbert. Interesting. He's Catholic, but seems very open-minded.
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I agree that Buddhism/mindfulness is a good fit for nontheists. I used to be much more involved and went to several weekend retreats at a place in the NC mountains called Southern Dharma and also a weeklong retreat with Thich Nhat Hahn. When I went more regularly to the Quaker Meeting, I always felt it was essentially a mindfulness meditation. I’m working now to recapture that part of my life. I asked a zen teacher at a retreat once how to fit in meditation when I was so busy with wok and two young kids. She said, “Don’t worry about that - let your parenting be your practice.” So now some of my best mindfulness times are when I’m walking or gardening or chopping vegetables for dinner.
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AliceBastable, Colbert gives me the impression that he truly loves his religion but loves it like he loves an old friend.
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I just ran across this quote by Hitchens. Thought it worth sharing.
“There are, after all, atheists who say they wish the fable were true but are unable to suspend the requisite disbelief, or who have relinquished belief only with regret. To this I reply: who wishes that there was a permanent, unalterable celestial despotism that subjected us to continual surveillance and could convict us of thought-crime, and who regarded us as its private property even after we died? How happy we ought to be, at the reflection that there exists not a shred of respectable evidence to support such a horrible hypothesis.”
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good point!
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santa...appreciate the reminder and reread some of his other ideas.
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Hitchens is always spot on.
We got out in nature three days in a row - went to see the Elk herd just north of us Friday, took a long hike along the river at a bird sanctuary yesterday (and saw a beaver swimming), and walked through a park today. That's all the religion I need.
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I had to hire an Elder (Indigenous) on Friday. I struggled to understand where culture ends and where spirituality begins. Their culture is embedded in their spirituality. So I asked several questions not necessarily approved by HR. What I did love was how nature represents their beliefs and values. It stemmed from the appreciation of the basics of life. The need to survive, not the need to control and dictate. Nor even the desire to impose their beliefs on others. In my profession, I cannot dismiss spirituality and the relevance to well-being, and although I am not at all spiritual in the sense of a greater being, many of their beliefs and practises make such great sense in terms of a people's struggling to exist and survive. Love to hear others thoughts
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TB90 - That's really interesting - I'd have asked questions, too. I have such a deep reverence for nature that I respect that sort of belief system even if it isn't my own.
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Indigenous beliefs are very interesting and worthy of respect. They feel they're in charge of taking care of the earth rather than exploiting it. And often they describe an animal rather than imposing a name. Or the name reflects what the animal does. I think we would be better off if more of us had that attitude. We might even do something to try to stop global warming.
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The best spiritual practices are tools to focus the mind and silence the talk that chatters away in the background while we go through daily life.
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Definitely not a spiritual practice, but one of the ways I reduce my mental chatter is by engaging on this site. I participate in most of the word games and a few other threads and find that much of my 'noise' is eliminated. Tonight was a bit noisy for me and could not sleep, so here I am as out in nature is not an option. :~)
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Sorry you can't sleep.
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Ananda: great image. Thanks
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Magiclight, I agree that this site can be calming, especially the word games. Concentrating on word formations can be a form of meditation. Another form of ommmmm🧘🏻.
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magiclight- that's the reason I see you on the word games. I discovered the word games a few months ago. And when I need to clear my brain I go to the word games. Most of the time the word games clears my brain of noise. It's only been recently since I've had issues with insomnia.
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I know so little about indigenous culture, I would love to know more. TB90, I see you are in WinterPeg, I hope you are keeping warm. Ontario has been bad enough, I see you have been colder there.
I need to check out the humour and games threads, so far I use Netflix, reading and exercise for the "noise". Lots going on in my brain with health, job and family stuff so need lots of distractions.
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Wikipedia has an excellent article on the plains Indians and an index to articles on other tribes and nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_Indians#Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Great_Plains_and_Canadian_Prairies
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for anyone suffering from sleeplessness, my solution has been Sleep with Me podcast. It's essentially a ~ one hour boring story told by the most boring person. I was sceptical it would work for me and when I heard first his voice I though it definitely wouldn't, but it totally works for me. Some nights now when I'm stressed about school I have 9h of his podcasts (a mix of old favourites and new episodes) cued up in a playlist so I never run out. I wake up, he's still droning on, & I roll over and fall back asleep. I wear headphones to bed... I'm thinking of getting a headphone headband. https://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com/
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I read a book by John Kenneth Gailbreth about him being ambassador to India. Evidently he is very tall and beds in India are meant for average Indians. He went into great length saying how each place dealt with this problem. His writing was so hypnotic I would be asleep in about 1 page. I can't imagine taking a college class from him and managing to stay awake.
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I had a few professors like that Wren...the worst was one I had for art history right after lunch. He turned the lights out so we could see the slides...He would turn the lights on and most of the class was sound asleep.
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I remember trying to stay awake in art history, too. I took it at night after working all day.
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Could we all have had the same professor?
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too funny😁
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Nan: It has been incredibly cold, minus 55 Celsius with wind chill. I worry so much about the wildlife. They do not always make it. Where in Ontario are you. Although it says Winnipeg for me, I am actually an hour and a half north in beach country. With our current temps, I cannot even believe myself when I say beach country. Found out today my thyroid needs to be removed. I hate the thought of dealing with cancer again and surgery although this is a very treatable cancer. Seems I am lucky to get the "good" ones. No pity party here, just frustration. But it could be much worse.
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TB: my thought is that there is not a good cancer, just one on the continuum of bad to %$#@ So maybe you are not at &%$# for no piece of cake.
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