{"id":7637,"date":"2014-10-16T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/10\/16\/suggestibility-3\/"},"modified":"2014-10-16T14:00:20","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T14:00:20","slug":"suggestibility-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/10\/16\/suggestibility-3\/","title":{"rendered":"A Part-Time Monk’s Solution to Suggestibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are too open to social suggestions.  We uncritically imbibe dubious and outright wrong views and attitudes and valuations and habits of speech from our environment.  They don't appear wrong because they are in step with what most believe and say.  'Normal' beliefs and patterns of speech become normative for people.  This is the way of the world.  We are too suggestible. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thus nowadays people cannot see that lust and gluttony are deadly vices.  The weight of suggestion  is too onerous.  The counter-suggestions from a religious upbringing are no match for the relentless stuff emanating from the mass media of a sex-saturated, hedonistic society.  For spiritual health a partial withdrawal from society is advisable.  It needn't be physical: one can be in<\/em> the world but not of<\/em> it. <\/span><\/p>\n

A partial withdrawal can take the form of a holding free of the early morning hours from any contamination by media dreck.  Thus no reading of newspapers, no checking of e-mail, no electronics of any sort.  Electricity is fine: you don't have to sit in the dark or burn candles.  No talking or other socializing. Instead: prayer, meditation, spiritual reading and writing, in silence, and alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

So for a few pre-dawn hours each day you are a part-time monk.<\/span><\/p>\n

But society and technology are in conspiracy against you.  Have you noticed that the newer modems are not equipped with on\/off switches?  A bad omen for the life of the soul and the care thereof.  I cannot abide a wi-fi signal during my sleeping and monkish hours.  So I bought an extra power strip and put that in series with the modem and the main power strip.  Wifey is instructed to turn it off before she goes to bed.  And of course all computers and cell phones are off during the night and the hours of monkishness.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We are too open to social suggestions.  We uncritically imbibe dubious and outright wrong views and attitudes and valuations and habits of speech from our environment.  They don't appear wrong because they are in step with what most believe and say.  'Normal' beliefs and patterns of speech become normative for people.  This is the way … Continue reading “A Part-Time Monk’s Solution to Suggestibility”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[306,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism-and-quietism","category-spiritual-exercises"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}