Responding to a variety of dharma questions on meditation, effort, and impermanence, Joseph Goldstein explores the mystery of consciousness.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self

This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein responds to questions on:

• The benefits of doing walking meditation versus traditional seated meditation
• Cutting through our conceptual overlay and simply having raw experiences
• Passive voice construction: removing the self as subject when narrating the world around us
• Changing “let it go” to “let it be” when we are struggling to let go
• Being in the flow of changing experiences, the natural arising and passing away of all things
• The fine line of wholesome energy/effort versus striving and struggling
• Realizing the emptiness of thoughts and the suffering they bring to us
• The first experience of nirvana, ‘the zero’, and uprooting the view of self

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“This is the mystery of consciousness. There’s nothing there tangible to find; no color, no form, it can’t be found. Yet, the knowing is happening. It’s this union of emptiness and knowing.” –Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Illuminating different ways to free the mind, Joseph Goldstein integrates relative and ultimate truth, revealing the emptiness of thoughts.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self

This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses

• Integrating the elements of both relative and ultimate truth in our lives
• The natural compassion that emerges when we let go of self-identification
• Why our perception of reality isn’t always reliable or accurate
• Our attachment to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant
• Considering if the mind can remain unafflicted while the body is suffering
• Shifting awareness from what we want to how the wanting mind feels
• Our capability to train the mind in a way that leads to greater freedom
• Letting thoughts arise without interference or judgment
• Developing nonreactivity through seeing how quickly thoughts arise and pass
• Realizing that the past and future are only constructs of the mind

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Our only experience of the past and future is as a thought in the mind. This is tremendously liberating to see because most of us carry the concepts of the past and future as a huge burden in our lives. All the worries, anxieties, hopes, fears—all of those are arising because we’re not seeing that they’re just concepts.” –Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In part 2 of this Q&A session, Joseph Goldstein explores how to reach equanimity through investigating our mental states, recognizing when to let go, and approaching suffering skillfully.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self

In this episode, Joseph Goldstein offers his perspective on:

• Letting go of obsessive thoughts through insight and investigation
• How the seven factors of enlightenment work together to support awakening
• Knowing when to let go and when to investigate experiences for deeper wisdom
• Staying open to emotions while avoiding unskillful reactivity
• Social activism on the Buddhist path and engaging with the world in a skillful way
• Finding inner balance in the midst of turmoil, conflict, and suffering
• Maintaining a deep historical perspective on the rise and fall of all civilizations
• Remembering how small our concerns are in the face of the stars and the vastness of all things
• How equanimity enables us to be peaceful, to connect with suffering, and to offer compassion
• Considering if we can approach daily life with a motivation to help others and the world
• Going into the depths of non-self and allowing our life to be a representation of compassionate action

This talk was recorded at Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center and distributed by Dharma Seed

“In the midst of everything that’s going on, to come back to some greater place of equanimity, one way is just a deep historical perspective on things. This stuff has been going on forever. It’s not new to this time. It’s just part of the long historical unfolding and is inevitable. It’s not an aberration, this has been happening, always.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.