I started a new post on this topic, got about three paragraphs into it, tried to skip over to another website to check a quote, and the post disappeared. Annoying! But I’ll try to recreate it now.
I started out by saying that while I’m still reading a book called “The Thinking Life,” by P.M. Forni, I haven’t made much progress lately. I cited too much work, too many distractions, and the recent extremely cold weather (sometimes sub-zero) that seems to have made me very tired in the evenings after getting home from work.
I continue to be struck by two things about the thinking book: One, author P.M. Forni still hasn’t defined what he means by serious thinking. Two, I keep seeing a lot of parallels between the Forni book and other works I’m reading about meditation and mindfulness.
For instance, in a chapter on attention, Forni quotes M. Scott Peck, who (Forni says) reminds us that through attention we give of ourselves for the sake of others. “The principal form that the work of love takes,” Peck writes, “is attention.”
To me, that virtually duplicates the following quote from Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam: “The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.”
Subsequently, Forni talks about how meditation can help improve concentration and attention. “Through meditation you can detach yourself from toxic worries and obtain the relaxation, calm, and peace of mind that are otherwise so elusive today. A positive outcome of regular meditation is the sharpening of attention skills.”
So — good. I agree with that. Meditation practice can sharpen the mind for the serious thinking that Forni wants us to do — whatever he means by that. I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually.
Wordnado 