Compassion

The book that I'm reading right now is pretty cool. It's called "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Over Come Them?", narrated by Daniel Goleman, and it's a scientific dialogue with the Dalai Lama. It's about a conference called by the Dalai Lama to better understand Buddhism's connection with psychology and emotional control.

I'm insanely interested in Buddhism. It's understanding of the psychological origins of suffering are so dead on that it's almost like Siddhartha Guatama (Buddha) could see into the future of science. The path of Buddhism is such that intense training can lead to such a high level of consciousness and ability to use one's brain and keep control of one's emotions and responses. It's awesome--one study in which the Dalai Lama (given the name Oser for the book for his protection) went into any meditative state (one-pointed concentration, focusing on compassion, or what Oser calls the "Open State"), he was able to stop an uncontrollable muscle spasm which accompanies the "Startle Reflex" -- like jumping when you hear a loud noise, for example. Because he was trained so much in concentration and the like, especially when Oser went into one-pointed concentration (concentrating on one point in your vision), Oser didn't flinch one bit. Only his inner workings sped up--heart rate, breathing, etc.

So cool. But now as I look at the time, I think I'll be getting to bed. I do have to get up relatively early in the morning, anyway.