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Reflections on Meditation, by Charles T. Tart

Bob — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:27:30 +0000

I took two courses with Charles Tart (“call me Charlie”) when I was a student at the California Institute of Integral Studies. I really appreciated his humility, humor, and no-frills approach to studying the practical applications of mindfulness in everyday life. This nine-part video is vintage Charlie — I mean “Dr. Tart.”:

Psychologist Charles T. Tart of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology reflects on the nature of meditation, what it does, how to make it more effective, how to understand it. Tart is a pioneer in the study of consciousness, having published such classic books as his “Altered States of Consciousness” and “Transpersonal Psychologies.”

Random (yet awesome) stuff I stumbled across this week

Bob — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:04:00 +0000

First up, “Last Day Dream” by Chris Milk. A very short film simply described as “A man watches his life pass before him.” Produced for the 42 Second Dream Film Festival, Beijing China 2009. Thanks to Ze Frank for the heads-up. Something about death moves me. Loved Six Feet Under, loved this video.

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Next, a song. On YouTube, but no accompanying video footage. Not to worry. Jimi’s extended guitar solo is well worth it. In fact, in my opinion this is the best guitar solo in the history of rock music. That’s right. The best ever.

Finally, a talk given at Google Headquarters in 2007 by Jon Kabat-Zinn. If you have an hour and the interest, this is one of the best introductions to mindfulness meditation I have ever come across. Brilliant.

Relaxing with our true condition

Bob — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:13:40 +0000

Pema Chödrön writes and talks about stuff like Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness. I saw this quote over at Integral Options Café, and it really gets at the core of so many of my issues these days:

The average human being thinks that happiness lies in stability, in tying up all the loose ends and having things under control. But actually, happiness lies in being able to relax with our true condition, which is basically fleeting, dynamic, fluid, not in any way solid, not in any way permanent. It’s transient by nature.