{"id":4241,"date":"2009-11-18T00:05:14","date_gmt":"2009-11-17T16:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=4241"},"modified":"2009-11-18T00:05:14","modified_gmt":"2009-11-17T16:05:14","slug":"greater-mindfulness-or-mindlessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2009\/11\/greater-mindfulness-or-mindlessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Mindfulness or Mindlessness?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Question:<\/strong> How do we discern if a self-improvement program is reliable or not, in line with the Dharma or not?<\/p>\n

Answer: <\/strong>It\u2019s not always easy to discern if a self-improvement system is reliable or not – but looking at the available materials helps \u2013 provided they are detailed and accurate enough in reflecting it. However, materials of most paid systems are usually not totally disclosed. Cult-like groups always keep their real \u2018doctrines\u2019 secret too, which makes venturing into them dangerous for the weak-minded and unwise, who might be brainwashed.<\/span> Note that brainwashing techniques need not use religious terms.<\/p>\n

Any method that plays with emotional highs and lows are dangerous. These emotional upheavals can be self-induced too, with a lot of subtle direction by charismatic leaders. It is worth noting that Buddhism is taught and learnt in a calm and rational reflective manner \u2013 which is very contrasting in nature. <\/span>The power of subtle group peer pressure created by insiders can be overwhelming too. Studies have shown that it is very easy for a group to influence individuals to conform unmindfully, thus winning them over. My usual advice is to avoid any self-improvement programs when in doubt. It is safer to read about them from third parties to find out more, than to participate in them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: How do we discern if a self-improvement program is reliable or not, in line with the Dharma or not?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[459,89],"class_list":["post-4241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mix","tag-cult","tag-mindfulness","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}