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For what it's worth, I feel a lot of empathy for what people are going through right now regarding current events and politics. I am feeling a lot of negative emotions on a daily basis and do my best to bring it into my spiritual practice. We are living through unprecedented times and events and I wish there was a way we could offer each other more support here. Debating current and events and politics has proven not to work out well here, but perhaps there's a way we could discuss the impact they are having on us and support each other in dealing with them as effectively as possible. To some degree, I think this thread is having somewhat of a positive effect and I appreciate everyone who added their comments and the mods keeping it open so far.

pops needle in arm of chair where I sew, peaceful calm embroidering.

Hello my friend CD, always nice to disagree with you.

Emotions are like any other phenomena in the sensory universe - they appear and disappear. They are impermanent. From a Buddhist perspective, we want to learn to allow all phenomena to arise in consciousness and pass from it without attachment or aversion to it. The way to train in this is meditation initially. It is fine and quite normal to have emotions arise, but when we cling to them, or make a story about ourselves from them they cause suffering and struggle.

Religions in general are most often created by mystics. A mystic has a first hand experience of the "deeper reality". They are compelled to share that experience, and people around them begin to write it down, sharing it as a story. Unfortunately mystical experience is nearly impossible to impart in language, and the new story of the experience and realizations is slightly corrupted in the retelling. People mistakenly believe that by emulating the story of the mystic, sometimes painstakingly imitating every detail, they themselves will become "enlightened" about the nature of reality. Organizations form (monastics), and rules are formulated by the (mostly) unenlightened followers - the mystical understanding is further and further diluted by those that think that the story of the experiential events are an instruction manual without understanding that: True, transformational mystical insight is NOT precipitated by practices of any kind. All of the overhead of interpretation and retelling of the mystics story should be minimized in my opinion. The emphasis should ALWAYS be on personal experience and transformation. Does the practitioner find that the practices are transformative in a way that can be qualified experientially? THAT is what matters. This is just MY opinion.

I'd say the extreme reactionary denial or nixing of politics at this site is more or less baloney... the problem is not politics although how such is discussed can become so. There are aspects of "politics" in various forms in everything, including the air we breathe and the water we drink. (via environmental issues or through politics related to same carried out by mankind) There are politics of various forms in all religions and spiritual ways since mankind is involved. Religions and spiritual ways are not divorced from politics, their leaders and students need the ability to exist safely in this world which is not possible in a vacuum of non-politics among human beings. So I'd say its time to get real on the subject which is really covered/protected by the already existing site guidelines for interactions among members...thus the knee-jerking should stop if someone dares to bring up things that affect all of us...and which may be uncomfortable to some.

Absolutely! In Buddhism, we are attempting to see through the delusion of the existence of a "self". When we don't identify with anger and it simply passes through us it creates no karma. When you grasp it, or try to push it away, it becomes part of your story, which is what karma IS. The arising emotion is liberated - free to be what it actually IS - a fleeting flash in consciousness. This is the difference between "practice" and "actualization". We need more actualizing!

For RC, Jesus definitely is not a magician and psychic powers is not what it’s about.

In recovery I learned this regarding anger. True anger flares like a match when it is first lit, and then sputters out after a few seconds. So that is the duration of anger, sputters for a few seconds and then is gone. If it goes beyond that and lasts longer (the anger) then that is me pouring gasoline on the fire and making it a conflagration. it has been very helpful for me in knowing what portion of anger is "OK" (a few seconds only) and what portion is "me pouring gasoline on the fire" (anything beyond a few seconds) that is then my responsibility to well stop doing.

i would be interested to hear from practitioners in those paths mentioned (bold above) regarding the view that Jesus and Buddha are "magicians." My understanding is that while psychic abilities may (and often do) develop as a byproduct of this or that path, they are a byproduct and not the destination. Whereas in magic, the "psychic power" (or "supernatural" power) to control and manipulate IS the goal and destination . I had it explained to me this way some time ago: The development of psychic powers is not considered the primary goal but rather a by-product of the spiritual journey toward Nirvana. The Buddha cautioned against becoming attached to or seeking out these powers, as they can be a distraction from the ultimate goal of spiritual liberation.

I think ‘magic’ thinks it can control, which imo is an illusion. My way (RC) is surrender to the divine.

Exactly. And so imo it is also for the ‘game of life’. That’s why Wuji (無極 the origin, undifferentiated state) goes to Taiji (太極 existence, the state of differentiation/Yin and Yang [also “black and white” ].

calm embroidering but crotchety while at my daily crocheting

I also feel empathy for what people are going through right now and think it would be great if we could support each other without arguing about the merits of any given view. My mom marched in a recent "No Kings" event, her first political protest in her more than eighty years. She sent me a picture of herself out in the sunshine, smiling and waving a tiny American flag. She said it felt good to be there, in the world amongst so many other people who felt as she did. I was happy for her. Although I´m wary of much that is going on in the US politically these days, my own politics has slid somewhat rightward since Covid and I wouldn´t of wanted to march in No Kings myself. But that doesn´t mean I don´t care about the thoughts and feelings of those who disagree with me. Those who disagree with me are not "idiots." In fact, many of them are smart and well-informed, kind and thoughtful -- some of the best people I know. I gather from another thread that the mods are currently debating Old3bobs status in the forum. He consistently brings up political topics, even though it´s the current policy of the board not to do so. It´s not my place to comment on his future here, but one thing´s clear: he´s a person that cares about the state of the world and he´s hurting. I think so many of us are hurting. I´m not much of a Buddhist but sometimes a Buddhist saying fits the moment. May all beings be free from suffering.

yeah that stuff, whatevs. I'm not overly picky pops needle in arm

And how is that noteworthy for you? In what way?