Think differently :0

General Chat
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Heraclitus apparently limited his philosophy to the relative, that which always changes. We have the ability to think in new ways, particularly in how we play go. Just analyzing some of our games after playing them can show us how to think better: how to protect our groups, how to sketch out defendable territory, how to kill opponent groups, and so forth.

As to techniques, I say yes to all of them. Some work better for one person than another, and some are universal. Myself, I practice Transcendental Meditation™, which is pricey, but has dramatically inexpensive alternatives such as Natural Stress Relief (NSR). This technique eliminates the stress from the nervous system that creates distracting thoughts, anxiety, and other stress-based disorders, leaving the mind fresh and clean, energetic, peaceful, loving, and happy. This is a fine state to visit for a few minutes twice a day, and helps direct our life naturally in a better direction.

Disclaimer: I am probably biased since I lead the USA-based nonprofit organization that teaches NSR.

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“I practice Transcendental Meditation™, which is pricey”

I just looked up a list of mantras (apparently they’re simply dished out according to the age group), picked one that I liked, and went for it. :slight_smile: There’s not really anything else to it than sitting comfortably, closing your eyes and saying the mantra in your head, right?

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Your homegrown practice will almost certainly not work. This is actually a good thing, because if it just barely worked you would continue it and rob yourself of the full experience. I would hope that any intelligent person would be able to understand the value of learning anything correctly.

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I just don’t understand why the learning would have to be pricey. If there’s more to it than what I mentioned, you could help enlighten me. :slight_smile: Or at least explain why what else there is to it can not be conveyed on screen.

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I need some of that in my life probably
does seem pricey nvm imma just grow my happiness :evergreen_tree:

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Everyone needs inner peace and happiness. Don’t use price as an excuse. You’d pay anything for what you can have in a simple, natural, effortless mental technique.

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When I am in my easy chair with my kitty curled up on my lap, purring and content, I am truly at peace and happy.

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If we’re talking about inner peace, I have found a personal relationship with Jesus. To truly know Him intimately and have his assurance of not only eternal life but also have Him by your side through every one of life’s trials is the greatest Peace on Earth <3

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“Everyone needs inner peace and happiness. Don’t use price as an excuse. You’d pay anything for what you can have in a simple, natural, effortless mental technique.”

I feel like that’s what I should be telling you. :slight_smile: Everyone needs inner peace and happiness. If you truly believe that, you’d teach me that simple, natural, effortless mental technique without putting a price tag on it.

I’ll try again: What else is there to it other than closing your eyes, sitting comfortably and reciting a mantra in your head? CAN you not teach what goes beyond that with words on a screen, or don’t you WANT to because you’re using price as an excuse? :slight_smile:

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It is a fair question: should skilled teachers, those with training and experience, those who have knowledge and the ability to inspire,be paid?

Should elementary teachers, who teach only elementary topics, be paid?

Everyone knows that apples fall to the ground. Should physicists be paid to teach physics?

It is obvious how to read. Anyone can do it. Should grade school teachers be paid?

I want to teach people only a technique that works. That takes special skill, first to reject all the many techniques that do not work, and next to know enough to teach anyone, in spite of differences from student to student.

Do I deserve a reasonable salary for such work?

Go ahead and chant some mantra to yourself. See if it works. See if an ignorant person can teach themselves. You believe that one sentence is enough to teach a technique that can bring a deeper rest than that of sleep at night, that can dissolve stored stresses due to overloads of the nervous system (About Stress - Natural Stress Relief/USA)? Good luck with that.

I teach a system of meditation different from most others. I have 2500 clients all over the world. Some even take the time to give me feedback on their experiences. It’s on my website, all of it positive. Why is it all positive? Did I pick only positive testimonials? No, I offer support too, so those with questions or problems can get rapid help. Once they get help to correct their errors, their practice works once again. That is part of my skill of teaching, something you will never get by imagining how transcending must work and then formulating a one-sentence instruction.

ADDED: One additional point: people who pay nothing for instruction don’t value what they receive. I’ve learned this the hard way, by giving NSR instruction for free to those in financial distress. They don’t practice, they may not even take the course. They don’t get the results. I know this because I enter into an agreement with them that they must report their results in return for getting the course for free, and then I hear nothing from them, Having a small course fee really helps people learn better.

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Most of that is absolutely fair enough, and I agree that people should be paid for their work. It’s just that the price tag put on learning transcendental meditation (™, as you put it so nicely) is absolutely ludicrous. I don’t know anything about NSR, but I HAVE read up on transcendental meditation. Most practitioners agree that it’s great, but they also say that it really basically DOES come down to being given a mantra that you recite with your eyes closed in a sitting position. It’s suggested that everyone is given an individual mantra, but a list of mantras has “leaked” and a lot of people have found that they are simply given out according to the age group of the practitioner. So in my opinion, if the mantra you are given is chosen arbitrarily, then it’s ultimately irrelevant what mantra you use. Based on that conclusion, I’ve just picked one I like.

“Go ahead and chant some mantra to yourself. See if it works.”

Feel free to laugh at me, but it absolutely does. :slight_smile: It brings me rest (maybe not deeper than sleep) and it dissolves stored stresses. Sure, maybe NSR would work even better for me, but as someone with almost no money, I can attest that transcendental meditation with any kind of mantra absolutely does the trick, even if doesn’t do so as expertly as your method does. I encourage everyone to try this out for themselves. :slight_smile:

Now I might be chided for relying on the wrong means to achieve transcendence, but when it comes to transcending, LSD and psilocin are a LOT more powerful than my own little version of transcendental meditation. Of course it’s nice to have that available to me at any time I like, but man, psychedelic trips are the most profound experiences I’ve ever had, next to intimacy with a loved one and making music. To each their own, of course.

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I guess I’ll keep responding so long as you continue to have an open mind.

I don’t kniow who these practitioners are. I have never heard of anyone who says such a silly thing. Transcendental Meditation™ (the ™ means that they have spent the money to trademark their name so no one else can misuse it to mean something else) is a course that teaches a specific way to use the mantra.

You keep focusing on how the list of mantras was leaked. It doesn’t actually matter, since the mantra is only a meaningless sound. It is how the mantra is used that is so revolutionary. There is no comparison with LSD and other psychedelics–they give flashy experiences but do not eliminate stored stresses. So their impact on life is minimal. In fact, they cause their own stresses that can make life more difficult. This is seen most clearly in the abuse of “hard” drugs such as alcohol and cocaine, which leads to so much suffering that there are many medical and other organizations devoted to helping drug abusers get clean.

What you are missing is that transcending is not thinking. In fact, it is a process in which thinking becomes more abstract and eventually stops entirely.

Again, an ignorant concept of a mental technique is not going to be effectiive. If you want the full results of a technique like TM™, you really are going to have to take the three-day course.

And again, I don’t believe you when you complain about the cost. There are alternatives, as I’ve said. Your laziness in failing to do any research shows so clearly, and is so telling about your motivations here. You just want to be right, even if it means actually being wrong. That is the kind of contradiction that arises when we allow our ego to lead us about, as you have been doing. It is a poor choice.

The real problem is that you want to feel like you are in control. So you make up a very simplistic view of the subject being discussed and make claims cxinsistent with that view. It makes you automatically right, even in a discussion with someone having many years of experience in the topic of discussion. It is what willful 2-year-olds do to win arguments. You are better than this!

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t care. But the stakes are higher when you post publicly and may be influencing others with your incorrect opinions that are stated as fact. As someone devoted to helping the world with my teaching, I cannot ignore such behavior.

Please bring up any further points. It’s really valuable that I get this chance to respond with truth.

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“I guess I’ll keep responding so long as you continue to have an open mind.”

Ditto. :slight_smile:

“I don’t kniow who these practitioners are. I have never heard of anyone who says such a silly thing.”

Fair enough. Hearsay on my part.

“You keep focusing on how the list of mantras was leaked. It doesn’t actually matter, since the mantra is only a meaningless sound.”

Which was my point exactly.

“There is no comparison with LSD and other psychedelics–they give flashy experiences but do not eliminate stored stresses. So their impact on life is minimal.”

I have to disagree with this completely based on my own experience and reading about the experiences of many others.

“In fact, they cause their own stresses that can make life more difficult. This is seen most clearly in the abuse of “hard” drugs such as alcohol and cocaine, which leads to so much suffering that there are many medical and other organizations devoted to helping drug abusers get clean.”

You’re throwing all drugs in the same basket here. In response to that, I could say the same things you’ve said to me. (“So you make up a very simplistic view of the subject being discussed and make claims cxinsistent with that view. It makes you automatically right, even in a discussion with someone having many years of experience in the topic of discussion. It is what willful 2-year-olds do to win arguments. You are better than this!”) Psychedelics have little to nothing in common with drugs like alcohol and cocaine. Just because those lead to a lot of suffering when abused doesn’t mean that the same would hold true for psychedelics, which are seldom abused in the first place except maybe by first-time users who don’t know what the experience holds in store for them. I’ve experienced people having bad experiences on psychedelics (“bad trips”) first-hand, but all of them were eventually grateful for the experience and said that they still learned something from it.

“What you are missing is that transcending is not thinking. In fact, it is a process in which thinking becomes more abstract and eventually stops entirely.”

I don’t know when I would have said something that suggested otherwise.

“That is the kind of contradiction that arises when we allow our ego to lead us about, as you have been doing. […] The real problem is that you want to feel like you are in control.”

You’re making all kinds of assumptions about me. I’d appreciate if you didn’t.

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“And again, I don’t believe you when you complain about the cost. There are alternatives, as I’ve said.”

Yes, and I’ve stated that my alternative is to practise my own humble version of transcendental meditation, or the hearsay I’ve acquired about it, anyway. You can ridicule it or call it “incorrect” if you like, and I’m not disputing that paying for a proper course by a teacher like you will have better results. All I’m saying is that it works for me. It calms me down, helps me get rid of stored stresses and makes me feel in touch with my higher self. Like I said, I encourage others to try this out for themselves. What’s the harm in it? If it doesn’t work for them, they can still look up a teacher like you.

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Incidentally, I’ve just sent you a go challenge. :slight_smile: We can talk more in the game chat if you’re interested.

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@ Adam
Meditation is natural, you just need to practice it. One does not need(!) a teacher, its only nice to have, cause he can increase the learning curve (and for that he should get paid of course).

@Sarah: you dont need a (leaked) mantra to make it happen (but its okay too, of course). Just be aware of your breathe and you can do it anytime and anywhere. I practice this for some years and I can say for me it works very fine.

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“you dont need a (leaked) mantra to make it happen (but its okay too, of course). Just be aware of your breathe and you can do it anytime and anywhere.”

That’s what I was trying to say. :slight_smile: Any mantra works (or even conscious breathing, like you say).

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And there’s always room for Jello.

Mogadeet

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39

A few NSR clients have problems that need support. Most of these have learned breathing awareness previously, but didn’t think it worth mentioning. Actually, breathing awareness interferes with transcending. It is the most common activity that does so. It robs people of the instant peace and happiness that they can have in the very first lesson in transcending. If I had my way, I’d inform the world of the problems that come along with breathing awareness, so people know the whole story before they even start.

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Have your way then and inform us! :slight_smile: I don’t do breathing awareness per se, just a mental mantra that sometimes coincides with my breathing and sometimes doesn’t. Like I said above, it calms me down, helps me get rid of stored stresses and makes me feel in touch with my higher self. If I should stop doing it, I’d like to know why. :slight_smile: