#enlightenment

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Henepola Gunaratana: Mindfulness in Plain English (AudiobookFormat, 2016, Audible Studios)

With over a quarter of a million copies sold, Mindfulness in Plain English is one …

Meditating your way through the ups and downs of daily life is the whole point of vipassana. This kind of practice is extremely rigorous and demanding, but it engenders a state of mental flexibility that is beyond comparison. A meditator keeps his mind open every second. He is constantly investigating life, inspecting his own experience, viewing existence in a detached and inquisitive way. Thus, he is constantly open to truth in any form, from any source, and at any time. This is the state of mind you need for liberation.

It is said that one may attain enlightenment at any moment if the mind is kept in a state of meditative readiness. The tiniest, most ordinary perception can be the stimulus: a view of the moon, the cry of a bird, the sound of the wind in the trees. It’s not so important what is perceived as the way in which you attend to that perception. That state of open readiness is essential. It could happen to you right now if you are ready. The tactile sensation of this book in your fingers could be the cue. The sound of these words in your head might be enough. You could attain enlightenment right now, if you are ready.

Mindfulness in Plain English by 

I keep trying to tell anyone who will listen: the conservative institutionalists are dead, Creepy Weirdos™ in the form of neofeudalist reactionaries have taken over the Gallant Olde Party. They don’t want to roll things back to 1950. The idea of implementing policies of 1850 is cute.

These fascists are intent on rolling back the and the , going back to 850.

The problem is not that I’m right.

The problem is that you think I’m exaggerating.

The Dream of Enlightenment

In The Dream of Enlightenment, Gottlieb expertly navigates a second great explosion of thought, taking us to northern Europe in the wake of its wars of religion and the rise of Galilean science. In a relatively short period—from the early 1640s to the eve of the French Revolution—Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark.

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