Stephen Dunn, poet
This morning’s New York Times includes the obituary for the poet Stephen Dunn. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/books/stephen-dunn-poet-dead.html Even though I’m not reading much…
Category: The three kiss-offs
Thinking can be dangerous to your health
A number of posts in this blog have mentioned the irony that Laura’s brain cancer first struck in the left…
I’ll be glad when the midterm elections are done so we can talk about Ebola without bouncing between defending incompetence and exploiting fear.
If you spend too much time on social media, you might get whipsawed between two opposing narratives about Ebola in…
Suffering may not be inevitable, but that doesn’t make it optional.
I kicked up a bit of a firestorm this summer when I questioned Jon Kabat-Zinn’s saying: “Pain is inevitable; suffering…
Skillfully
Buddhists call questions that lead towards ending suffering “skillful.” Methods that lead to an end of suffering are “skillful means.” …
When do we begin to hurt?
When I posted “Pain, sensation, suffering and self” on my Tricycle blog, I introduced it with the question, “When does…
Misery’s shadow
Religions teach us to blame ourselves for our suffering in a number of ways. It is true that part of healing…
Pain, sensation, suffering and self
“Pain is a sensation, and as such, is impersonal. Pain leads to suffering when it is seen as ‘my’ pain….
One more comment on “optional”
The exchange about “pain is inevitable; suffering is optional” included in the last post took place on the Community section of…
Exchange on suffering is optional?
The post challenging the saying “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional” gave rise to a lively exchange of comments. The…