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The Two Branches

  • Dec 5, 2024
  • 1 min read

Authentic meditation is the synchronization of concentration and critical thinking.




Concentration

Concentration is the ability to remain intensely focused on an object without distraction.

The more concentrated we become, the more sensitive we become to our needs and the needs of others. With heightened sensitivity, we become capable of acting to improve our shared experience.

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Concentration changes "how" we are — and therefore represents our initial spiritual makeover, catalyzing improvements in personal and professional relationships.




Critical Thinking

 

Critical Thinking is the ability to throughly investigate the cause and effect of an object without bias.

The more clearly we understand our dependence upon, interwovenness with, and relationality to other factors, people, and influences, the more we become motivated to act to improve our shared experience.

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Critical thinking changes "who" we are — and therefore represents the seed of profound spiritual discovery and the revelation of meaning.




Traditionally, concentration is referred to as "shamatha" and critical thinking as "vipassana".

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Maitreya.png

Homage to Maitreya

Why do I mistake us myself,

When your entire summit’s inside me,

Engineering miracles all around?

Just like your identity belongs,

Inherent within the bliss,

The love of all time and light,

Once we hung out and you killed me,

Saying, “Rock this triangle and throne!”

With explosions of gold old as I Am,

While humbling me around eternity,

Throughout all awe with you, as you,

I was still at home together everywhere,

But being here and there already,

Who moves, has, or plays with friends,

Or helps them know this happy marriage?

As one, who for fun’s sake to kiss?

For one thing, finally takes its time,

So leave forever peace to all the rest,

There’s nothing more forgotten or found,

Cause invitations extend here and wide,

Tickets to ride the light that’s always on.

The Meaning of Maitreya

one

Foundations exist in order to house that which is alive. That is, we do not live in foundations but upon them. Similarly, we are not born into our fullness by leveling ground and setting concrete endlessly. The game must be played, and the conception of oneself as a mere practitioner does simply limit the beauty and magnificence indwelling in each. Champions are not made in practice but in contest, and the brave who will decide to act out and embody the transcendent will reap the benefits of doing so and attain. Vigor is the hallmark of heroes, but those averse to intensity remain underdeveloped on account of misidentifying who it is that actually suffers when looking out into the world. It is not others whom we aim to uplift or protect but parts of ourselves.

two

None can say and stand in truth, “This is mine alone.” Everything we are – everything we can aspire to or feel we possess – has as its basis and cause the preexistence or contribution of something or someone else. Our bodies are not our own, they belong to the earth and are fed and watered by the efforts of others. Our minds are not our own, they belong to the sky and are fed and watered by the thoughts of others. We eat and think only what is available to eat and think. And in choosing, we empower and proliferate all the lives whose values have been similar. In this way, companies and brands and messages and lifestyles gain in prominence, lose potency, or fade into obscurity. We become what we actively support or passively allow and fail to rectify.

three

Each decision we make has as its motive force the desire to be most alive. We want to do what feels best, and what feels best is to give what is true. Health, clarity, and inspiration are gifts from the wise. This statement is validated by our own experience of having been recipients of such, for everything is made brighter by their entrance into our lives. The byproducts of wisdom are neither arbitrary nor relative, but tangible and universally desirable. In other words, we want to be wise. But in prioritizing comfort, we forfeit our reasons to unfold and unleash our own heroic essence, for the most inspiring action is that most intimate with pain, and who neither wishes nor is able to perform the task cannot simultaneously be called by that name.

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy."

—RABINDRANATH TAGORE

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