Thanks for the opportunity to respond. I can vividly remember an experience in an undergraduate college philosophy class (in 1953) when I said to myself: "This is the first time in my life I have thought." After reading a number of philosophy books, I notice I have difficulty in expressing authentic, transformative, life-changing experiences in words. Prior to becoming a Zen Buddhist over 20 years ago, I would kill woodchuck's in my backyard. I now take harmless small spiders off the wall and place them outside. I believe I am one with everyone and everything but I frequently forget that in my daily living. Believing I am one with everyone and everything is an experience that is beyond emptiness and fullness. When I empty my mind I have a greater chance of becoming more full. I'm placing below a quote from Sharon Begley and a psychiatrist named Schwartz. Believing l am one with everyone and everything, helps me notice my noticing while I am noticing. “Through mindfulness you can stand outside your own mind is if you are watching what is happening to another person rather than experiencing it herself….Mindfulness requires direct willful effort, and the ability to forge those practicing it to observe their sensations and thoughts with a calm clarity of an external witness….One views his thoughts, feelings, and expectations much as a scientist views experimental data - - that is, as a natural phenomena to be noted, investigated, reflected on and learned from. Viewing one’s own inner experience as data allows (one) to become, in essence, his own experimental subject.” Warm and kind regards to everyone
On Apr 21, 2012 Conrad P. Pritscher wrote :