Category: philosophical counseling
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Sisyphysian Man Or A Daoist Melody?
Part 1: What Is The Doer? Let’s explore the I am the doer conception further. In what follows, I’ll call it “doership” or simply “the doer” for short. What is this concept? No one is denying that activities or even doings happen. These are, after all, readily observable. The question might then be put: “Has anyone…
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‘I Didn’t Want To Come Back Inside!’
A new meditator reflects on the “problem” of noise: “I took to my daily meditation to the river today. It was ‘noisy,’ but it gave me an opportunity to practice separating awareness of the noise from the labeling the noise. I didn’t want to come back inside!” Wonderful! When listening is very relaxed, then there’s no wedged-in thought (no…
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Is Time Real?
1. Why is the question interesting or relevant, to begin with? Because there’s a conceptual “set” consisting, notably, of ego, space, time, objectivity, and movement. One of the chief members of this set is time. For instance, how can ego exist in the absence of time? How can an independently existing world unfold in the…
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Does The First Person Exist?
From “Verse 14” of Ramana Maharshi’s Ulladu Narpadu: English translation: If the first person exists, second and third persons will exist. If, oneself investigating the reality of the first person, the first person ceases to exist, second and third persons coming to an end, the nature that shines as one alone is oneself, the state of…
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What Is Karma Yoga For The Jnana Yogi?
Karma yoga has as its central realm that of action. It is not, as is commonly believed, concerned chiefly with trying to do good on behalf of others. Instead, it’s the arena in which one seeks to transcend certain ego conceptions–two in particular. First, karma marga invites one to become detached from any results–good, bad,…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 