I used to make a lot of effort in trying to reconcile seemingly contradictory ideas. It was too forced and therefore mentally exhausting, fragile, and rigid. Now I mostly entertain ideas on their own terms, and let their synthesis arise naturally from my own mind or from others.
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Sometimes however, I resonate with something that seems to contradict a cherished value, and I am compelled to 'hard think' about it. This can be valuable too, but as the exception instead of the rule.
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But, I will add, the number of paradoxes that I feel painfully compelled to resolve has decreased significantly by addressing core existential anxieties at their root. I am still seeking the truth, but out of intrigue instead of fear.
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Yeah, who knows? Perhaps you are further along than you think! Are you familiar with Daniel Ingram's work? He lays out the stages of insight with excruciating clarity...
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MCTB2 is now online and freely available in Wordpress format at mctb.org. Enjoy and practice well! 





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Think there is also a tendency to confuse practitioner personality & circumstances with practitioner accomplishment.
Some people clearly suffer fewer anxieties than others. Sometimes, that's a sign of accomplishment. Other times, they're just baseline psychologically healthier.
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Most of the sorts of insight attainments people can get amount to shifts in perception & perspective, right?
How that affects you depends too much on how your perspective *was* to infer much from people's day to day about their insights, or so I believe.
I agree. Everybody's path is different, and at the end of the day, we have to diagnose our own shifts of perception. If the available maps are helpful, good. But if not, that's fine too.
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The available maps being less than helpful to outright obstructive is not fine in my book. Bad maps kill good insight.
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