Thursday, January 9, 2025

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Via White Crane Institute // OSCAR WILD

 

Noteworthy
Wilde's Lecture Tour: Before and After
1882 -

OSCAR WILDE gives his first lecture on "The English Renaissance of Art" in New York. It was on this visit-slash-publicity tour that Wilde famously responded to a customs official’s request if he had anything to declare with “I have nothing to declare except my genius.”

In December 1881, Oscar sailed for New York to travel across the United States and deliver a series of lectures on aesthetics. The 50-lecture tour was originally scheduled to last four months, but stretched to nearly a year, with over 140 lectures given in 260 days. In between lectures he made time to meet with Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Walt Whitman. He also arranged for his play, “Vera,” to be staged in New York the following year. When he returned from America, Oscar spent three months in Paris writing a blank-verse tragedy that had been commissioned by the actress Mary Anderson. When he sent it to her, however, she turned it down. He then set off on a lecture tour of Britain and Ireland.


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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Mental Action

 


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RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Mental Action
However the seed is planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing good deeds; bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too mental action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)

When you are doing an action with the mind, reflect on that same mental action thus: "Does this action I am doing with the mind lead to my own affliction?" If, on reflection, you know that it does, then stop doing it; if you know that it does not, then continue. (MN 61)
Reflection
The body has a natural capacity for proprioception, for knowing what it is doing as it is doing it. What about the mind? How often do we know what we are thinking as we are thinking it? Not often, it appears. Mindfulness of the body is being aware of the body while breathing, for example. Mindfulness of mind is being aware of the activities of the mind as they are unfolding. This takes some getting used to, but it can be done.

Daily Practice
This particular text is encouraging us to notice the ethical quality of our mental activity and in particular whether it contributes to some sort of self-harm. Sometimes we are our own worst critic, our own most undermining voice, our own adversary. When we pay close attention to what the mind is doing, we can catch it in the act of hurting us and gently let go of that in order to point the mind in a more positive direction.

Tomorrow: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
One week from today: Reflecting upon Social Action

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Via Daily Dharma: Take a Step, then a Breath

 

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Take a Step, then a Breath

Mindfulness emphasizes stopping and pausing in daily life so that we can be fully present in each moment. Through pausing, we can learn to release tension in the body, embrace our experience, and cultivate happiness and joy.

Valerie Brown, “‘The Teachings Are Alive in Us’”


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How to Sit—And Why It Matters
By Will Johnson
In this excerpt from the classic guidebook The Posture of Meditation, author Will Johnson details the best posture for meditation and why it’s so important.
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