Conditions of Collective Harmony

I was, uh, talking with someone the other day, uh, about the process or the practice of, uh, reflection and contemplation and, uh, some questions around how that might be different from general calmings meditation, uh, settling the mind.

Uh, and when the mind is settled, you know, we are instructed to pick up some theme for contemplation to develop insight, other qualities, and, uh, uh, just some questions and discussion around what does that actually mean.

And most of the discussion from that point on, uh, centered around one of the standard reflections that we engage in or around contemplating the three characteristics of Anicca, Dukkha, and Anatta, which m-many of you, most of you are probably quite familiar with as a standard set of reflections.

I was contemplating also, uh, that there are so many other contemplations that the Buddha offered, not just those three, even those are very quintessential topics to think about, particularly in relation to developing wisdom, developing insight.

But that actually most of the teachings in some way or another can be considered, uh, contemplations or active, uh, yeah, recollections, uh, in some cases, where we're actually using our interest and our energy, uh, to explore a topic, to investigate a topic, even with something that's soothing and settling, like the in and out breathing.

That's an investigation of some sort, looking at the qualities of the breath, putting one's attention on something that, uh, is soothing and settling.

So that in itself is a form of investigation, contemplation to see what that kind of activity can do to help settle the heart, settle the mind.