You are a child of the universe
A blog piece refurbished from the archives. But no one tires of hearing about amazing teenagers and the vast sweep of the future that...
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Alistair Appleton
May 7, 20216 min read
“Being incarnate is a business”, Iris Murdoch.
Adrian’s boyfriend was telling me about epiphytic plants which are not directly parasitic on the tree they dwell on but rather hop on…
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Alistair Appleton
Mar 12, 20218 min read
Freud
This is a tidied up transcript of an answer I gave in the Live Sessions in February 2021. Tamsyn mentioned her dislike of reading Freud...
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Alistair Appleton
Mar 5, 20218 min read
Mother Nature doesn’t care about suffering. Buddha does.
I have been really deeply inspired by the experience of leading the Dharma Days for Mindsprings. After my initial introduction to the...
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Alistair Appleton
Feb 25, 20215 min read
Dynamiting the prison of the present
Karen spoke about feeling trapped in the present. As meditators, we’re always encouraged to stay in the present and “be here now”, but...
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Alistair Appleton
Jan 14, 20216 min read
Language #3: Thinking and Language as the Bridge of Love
NOTE: I think in this last blog I am in some sense arguing myself OUT of a position that I have thoughtlessly held for many years. That...
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Alistair Appleton
Jan 14, 20215 min read
Language #2: The Real, the Imaginary and the Symbolic
In the first part of this blog on language and thinking, I argued that the human experience of thinking is fundamentally grounded in...
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Alistair Appleton
Jan 8, 20215 min read
Language #1: Cutting your thinking mind some slack
I’ve been grappling with the issue of language/thinking for many decades, but lately have had a few clarifying insights that I’d like to...
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Alistair Appleton
Feb 21, 20196 min read
Mögu & My Problem with Teachers
The need to be a ‘know-it-all’ I have a problem with teachers. When I was little – for various reasons I won’t bore you with – I always...
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Alistair Appleton
Oct 24, 20185 min read
The Morning Dread: Shaking Hands with Anxiety
A horrible year of anxiety completely ruined my sleep cycle. I used to sleep like a log. Like my father in fact, who falls asleep...
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Alistair Appleton
Mar 28, 20183 min read
HEATH ROBINSON MACHINES: Uninventing the Ego Contraption
While we up on Holy Island this month, the retreatants and I were discussing the ludicrous tangles our thinking minds get into. When we...
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Alistair Appleton
Mar 27, 20184 min read
EGO TRIPS: You can’t be at your own funeral
Speaking personally, the ‘ego’ and everything to do with it was a real turn-off for me previous to this Summer. There was something about...
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Alistair Appleton
Dec 23, 20134 min read
Surviving Family Christmas – the mindful way
Christmas is the space to observe the effect the family can have on our wellbeing Meditation practice does have some good pointers for...
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Alistair Appleton
Oct 4, 20103 min read
Kick-Ass Mindfulness
Earlier this year I took up kickboxing. It was in the middle of a very grim and gloomy February when I was struggling with lots of demons...
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