They're paying me to meditate

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
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JamesTheGiant
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They're paying me to meditate

Post by JamesTheGiant »

Here I stand, for ten hours a day, with my STOP / GO sign. Nothing to do except hold the sign, and breathe and be mindful of everything. Breathe fumes sometimes unfortunately.
But it's the most ideal job I've had, for practising that kind of awareness or concentration. Most jobs are just too busy or complex to spend much continual time aware of breath or sensation.
It's insanely boring though. But I am getting paid.
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retrofuturist
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

Have you delegated work to the traffic cone?

:lol:

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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robertk
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by robertk »

Did you cherry pick the timing of the photo. I was in New Zealand for a couple of weeks earlier this month and I swear it rained everyday.
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DNS
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by DNS »

:thumbsup: And it's an important job at that and requires mindfulness. If you daydream and mess up the sign direction, it could cause an accident or worse, injuries.

There's something about a human holding a sign that causes people to be more careful. A sign planted in the ground doesn't have the same effect.
SarathW
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by SarathW »

It's insanely boring though.
Do you know one of the Buddha got confirmation for his Buddhahood while he was working on the road?
You are helping to build a nation so people can safely travel in the future.
Enjoy the beautiful landscape cross the road. People are travelling thousands of miles to see this.
Contemplate on Dhamma,
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
SarathW
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by SarathW »

Perhaps employ one of them.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
binocular
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by binocular »

^ ^ That's eerie.
In aesthetics, the uncanny valley is a hypothesized relationship between the degree of an object's resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to such an object. The concept of the uncanny valley suggests that humanoid objects which imperfectly resemble actual human beings provoke uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of eeriness and revulsion in observers.[2] Valley denotes a dip in the human observer's affinity for the replica, a relation that otherwise increases with the replica's human likeness.[3]

Examples can be found in robotics, 3D computer animations, and lifelike dolls among others. With the increasing prevalence of virtual reality, augmented reality, and photorealistic computer animation, the 'valley' has been cited in the popular press in reaction to the verisimilitude of the creation as it approaches indistinguishability from reality. The uncanny valley hypothesis predicts that an entity appearing almost human will risk eliciting cold, eerie feelings in viewers.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
Thus a humanoid traffic robot can elicit these negative emotions, which make it harder for the driver to pay attention to driving, thus increasing the possibility of mistakes and collisions.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
SarathW
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by SarathW »

Thus a humanoid traffic robot can elicit these negative emotions
Agree.
It is going to get worse not better.
Not long before we will have human looks law enforcement robots.

“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
binocular
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by binocular »

JamesTheGiant wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:00 pmIt's insanely boring though.
Consider the trust that drivers and other traffic participants place in you. To a considerable extent, their safety depends on you paying attention to the traffic situation and signalling properly.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
Laurens
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by Laurens »

I do a lot of litter picking in my job. Most people hate it, and it can be quite frustrating in the wrong mindset, but it's ideal if you want to practise mindfulness!
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
justindesilva
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by justindesilva »

Laurens wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 7:08 pm I do a lot of litter picking in my job. Most people hate it, and it can be quite frustrating in the wrong mindset, but it's ideal if you want to practise mindfulness!
One can make a whole day programmed for meditation. Eg: While having concentration of putting a morsel of food in to the mouth, chewing, swallowing and feeling it floor in to the belly are all steps in a meditative scheme while feeling its conversion from patavi apo tejo.
Walking again can be a another " sakman bhavana".
One can do breathing during a bus travel.
I read an article of a priest who was meditating buddanusmrti in an Indian train and escaped live when the train met with a drastic accident. This priest had got thrown out on to sand pit with no injuries.
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Sam Vara
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by Sam Vara »

JamesTheGiant wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:00 pm Here I stand, for ten hours a day, with my STOP / GO sign.
Just as a skilled STOP/GO sign-turner or his apprentice, when making a long turn, discerns, 'I am making a long turn,' or when making a short turn discerns, 'I am making a short turn'; in the same way the monk, when breathing in long, discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long...
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JamesTheGiant
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by JamesTheGiant »

Sam Vara wrote: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:00 pm
JamesTheGiant wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:00 pm Here I stand, for ten hours a day, with my STOP / GO sign.
Just as a skilled STOP/GO sign-turner or his apprentice, when making a long turn, discerns, 'I am making a long turn,' or when making a short turn discerns, 'I am making a short turn'; in the same way the monk, when breathing in long, discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long...
Haha, nicely done, and exactly true. :anjali:
Laurens
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Re: They're paying me to meditate

Post by Laurens »

justindesilva wrote: Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:19 pm
One can make a whole day programmed for meditation. Eg: While having concentration of putting a morsel of food in to the mouth, chewing, swallowing and feeling it floor in to the belly are all steps in a meditative scheme while feeling its conversion from patavi apo tejo.
Walking again can be a another " sakman bhavana".
One can do breathing during a bus travel.
I read an article of a priest who was meditating buddanusmrti in an Indian train and escaped live when the train met with a drastic accident. This priest had got thrown out on to sand pit with no injuries.
This is true and I aspire to maintain constant mindfulness, but it's one of those things that falls into the category of easier said than done.

Certain situations, such as doing something that doesn't require any thought (such as litter picking) are very conducive to bringing yourself back to awareness.
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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