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Arbitrary and unexplained moderation is certainly a test of patience. Are you actually a mod, or just guessing? :p

It feels arbitrary, and I haven't posted any links. Oh well.

Small world, I used to attend London Buddhist Centre many years ago. They teach mindfulness of breathing and mettabhavana. But yes, there are all sorts of meditations, with various assumptions and purposes.

My last couple of posts have come up with this message, but not the previous ones. Why is this? It seems arbitrary, and I don't feel I've said anything which actually needs moderation.

Bring emotionally vulnerable doesn't seem like a good reason to take on religious beliefs.

I've known quite a few gay people, and have never met one who "chose" to be gay. But many of them have been adversely affected by homophobia, including the religious variety. We've made some progress here in the UK, we have gay marriage and gay vicars and such.

The downside of that is that people can just make stuff up, and pass it off as Zen. It can all get rather "new-agey".

I find that when reading ancient texts it's good to allow for both literal and metaphorical interpretations. It's not always easy to know what the original authors intended.

I meant arguing about something which cannot be proven or disproven. Something which is not amenable to the scientific method, not falsifiable.

Sure! I am quite lazy about it all really. ;) I do find mindfulness illuminating though.

Theism v. Atheism seems like a pointless argument to me. It's not an intellectual thing.

I don't get how you can "forbid" homosexuality, it's like trying to forbid blue eyes. Attitudes like this only hurt people.

Yes, there is walking meditation, though I prefer to call it "mindful walking", since it's dynamic. While walking you could focus on the changing sensation of pressure in your feet, or perhaps the warmth of the sun on your face when outside, ie bodily sensations. You could also focus on your...

In my experience people "fix" themselves. Sometimes other people can help with that, but not always.

But it's the act of judging which creates the problem here, and I still think that in this case it's humans rather than God making the judgement that homosexuality is "wrong".

Absence of evidence doesn't prove non-existence, but it might raise major doubts.

Yes, you could say that meditation is seated mindfulness. It involves paying attention to particular aspects of experience.

There are many Buddhist schools, and many practices. You could just try some simple breathing meditation to calm the mind.

I think it's anatta (not-self) which is unique to Buddhism.

Yes, I find all these concepts quite confusing! Isn't everything Brahman in the final analysis?