Tag: meditation
My first half-day meditation retreat
This past weekend, I attended my first half-day silent meditation retreat. I am not really interested in weeklong retreats, which I think in too many cases are western-centric money grabs (that’s a broad stroke, I know) but also, I have a family and dumping them to go away isn’t in the cards for now.
Buddhism gave me ground when I needed it most
I have spent the better part of my life as an atheist, and, to be honest, I remain one. When I use the term atheist, I use it in an agnostic sense: I don’t know for a fact that there is no god, but the evidence I have seen leads me to accept that there is no use in believing in one. I have since written a book about godless parenting, being a secular activist in a primarily Christian nation (the U.S.), and spoken on stages around the country about atheism, secularism, and the separation of church and state.
Touching peace
I've always had a fantasy about becoming a monk. I'm not wedded to a particular kind of monk, I just figure a life of peace and solitude dedicated to pursuing a relationship with God or internalizing the Four Noble Truths might be the thing that fixes me. This is an idle thought that I have not seriously pursued. I love my little treats and abandoning all material attachments sounds hard. I assume I will be stuck in the cycle of samsara for some time yet. All the different schools of thought o