Meditation

How do you cope with external chaos? Just be like James, he's doing fine with his divinely ordered consciousness in the current situation. Is that not helpful? You want better advice, you want more words? Well we have a treat for you!If you don't give a pack of fudge about the indulgent, pretentious, hippy nonsense of sitting down to pay attention to nothing but what is going on inside your head, while outside thousands of people are between the crushing loins of death, then we have some reasons why it's the best thing you can do for your wellbeing, that of everyone you encounter, and the wider world in general. And it transcends all external conditions, because consciousness is something you have to put up with every moment of your life; you can switch us off, but you can't switch off your mind until death us do part.PRACTICAL INFORMATION: The useful stuff about meditation starts at the 37 minute mark (obviously it takes us more than half an hour to get to the point; what do think this is, a meme?).We've previously looked at the Flow idea in detail, and next week we will be talking about Stoic philosophy, but this week we go into more detail about the most useful technique for coping with chaos in the external world by first addressing the internal space for interpretation and experience. We define external chaos as any time ever, except maybe the late 1990s. It's not just Trump and capitalism and coronavirus that cause suffering. As you've come to expect, we promise minimal hedonistic pleasure, maximal tough enjoyment. So fasten your seatbelt for a bumpy but thrilling ride into your hideously chaotic mind.If you want to try a meditation app but cannot afford a subscription, you can use the Waking Up app for free, using this link and scrolling down to the free subscription instructions (no bank details required): https://wakingup.com/We are not sponsored by Waking Up and many other services are available, but since most provide a financial barrier, or put an emphasis on "de-stressing" (which we think is naïve) we are removing that from our recommendation. This podcast is also free, with no sponsorship or paywall, so you can recommend this episode to anyone you know who may benefit from an introduction to meditation. Just make sure you prepare them for the only price they will have to pay, which is putting up with James and his… "personality." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.