The Habitual Body is like an exoskeleton of thoughts, preconceptions, karmic traces, emotions and aspirations. Some are obvious and familiar. Others are hidden and delicate but no less powerful.
Perhaps Karma is embedded in the universe in the same way gravity, electromagnetism and Newton's laws of Thermodynamics. In which case why ask why? But still, I do.
My dog (Reggie) died recently which makes me very sad and reminds of two other good dogs. Argos ( who waited for Odysseus's return and was the first being to recognise him) and Kazak, the Space Dog, who along with Winston Rutherford phases in and out of the galaxy in a Chrono-synclastic infundibulation ( Vonnegut, Sirens of Titan).
The state of Bafflement gives rise to realisation, wonders, concerns, confusion, theories, hypotheses and notions. I'd suggest that the intent of a dialogue with Socrates is to give rise to that phenomenon of Bafflement - rather than to actually answer any possible question. And that this Bafflement is also the necessary precursor to approaching the role of the observer in Quantum physics.
I often clarify ideas for this podcast during my morning meditation. But during meditation I am trying to reach a state of equipoise. Surely, following thoughts and realisations is a Wobble away from that intent? Indeed it is. So how does the activity of 'ordinary Mind' fit with the objectives of meditation? Are we trying to halt thouse thoughts? Arrest the process of mentation?
167: dreams, sine waves, and a testable hypothesis
A sine wave exists only because there is a periodic trough as well as the peak. Maintaining equanimity through those transitions ( inhale/exhale...wake/sleep....birth/death) feels like a testable hypothesis.
166: meditation notes: Alan Watts, Being/Dying and a Head-Tailed Cat
Alan Watts wrote _The Book_ to plant a seed of an idea about the ongoing cycles in our Being. What he calls the 'head-Tailed Cat' of 'GoWithing'. How does this fit into meditation practice? Let's see!!