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Polly Young-Eisendrath

Polly Young-Eisendrath Biography

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“The goal in meditation is not to exorcise the psyche of disturbing thoughts and emotions, nor to suppress them, but to hold them in non-reactive, friendly awareness. They may not necessarily disappear from the practitioner’s psyche, but through consistent observing and witnessing of them, they cease to trouble him or her.”

PsychologyBuddhism
Book:Awakening and Insight: Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy
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“When a wide variety of mental processes are treated with bare, non-judgmental attention, they are held in an open, spacious container. This enables the meditation practitioner to befriend his or her thoughts and emotions, no matter what they are, and reduces the likelihood of being tyrannized by an inordinately demanding superego”

PsychologyBuddhism
Book:Awakening and Insight: Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy
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“Much of our reasoning about human life and other beings on this planet now rests on the theory of natural selection. Most educated people believe (at least vaguely) in the scientific principle that the living organisms on earth have evolved over billions of years from other organisms that were unlike them, and are now mostly extinct. When this story is told of humanity, it wholly eliminates the role of personal meaning and human intentions in the development of societies and the lives of individuals. The ‘master molecule’ of the gene, falsely endowed with an autonomous power, is most often used to explain personal desires, intentions, and actions. The term ‘gene’ or ‘adaptation’ has replaced intention, purpose, and meaning in most psychological accounts of the ways in which people thrive or fail to thrive in their everyday lives. All of our struggles—such as finding a mate or becoming a compassionate person—can now be recast in terms of their supposed ‘advantages’ of leaving the greatest number of offspring.”

PsychologyBuddhism
Book:Awakening and Insight: Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy
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“What does it mean to feel "in control" of your life? What I mean by control is the ability to make a choice. Personal sovereignty means that you choose from what is available in order to be intentional about your life...When you feel in control of your life, you know yourself to be the author of your own actions and know that you always have choices.”

KnowsFeelsMeanDoeActionOrderChoicesAbilityAvailableYou ChooseSovereigntyKnow YourselfHeartlessControl Of Your LifeSovereignty Means
Author:Polly Young-Eisendrath
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