Understanding Selflessness and Enlightenment - and How Meditation Effects on Dissociation

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idea of selflessness and enlightenment. Therefore, I think that Stout’s patients should be imparted Thurman’s idea of selflessness and enlightenment so that they are able to get understandings.

For instance, one of Stout’s patients, Julia, who announced: “ When I woke up Tuesday morning it was Friday.” to Stout at a session (Stout 431). For Julia had a dinner with her friend, Elaine, on Monday night’s, Elaine mentioned the word “Los Angeles”, where Julia was abused and led to her dissociation while talking to Julia. That is a reason why Julia did not remember anything after Monday night’s.

Let’s imagine that Julia tries practicing meditation exercise for only a few minutes every single day and then works up to longer periods. Julia sits or lies comfortably, closes her eyes, breathe naturally, and focuses her attention on the breath. In addition, Julia must choose an object of attention each time, or just let Julia tries to think of her childhood and take her mind back to Los Angeles. Rather than escaping the fear thoughts, Julia should simply let them go. Through this process, her ability to concentrate memories will be improve. While Julia is meditating, Stout is be there with her in order to help her face to fearful, give her directions, make her feel safe, and take her to focus back to natural breath, when her mind wanders.

On the other hand, nobody can help her treat emotional detachment and dissociation, even psychologists. Although Stout, who vetted Julia by using medicines or physical therapy was Julia’s psychologist, definitely, Stout cannot clear Julia’s childhood memories completely. The only person can help Julia come over the traumatic events is herself.

It is not possible either that meditation as Thurman describes it could actually produce dissociation in healthy people or that dissociation is actually more widespread than most people even realize. Because realizing selflessness and enlightenment would be hard to attain, as long as we find ourselves struggling with our selfishness, and instead maintains a calm mind and sense of inner harmony. However, people are not able to avoid certainly which only aging, sickness, and death in the end, and after all the cycle of rebirth according to Buddha’s statement (“What is Buddhism?”). Therefore, let’s live together in peace, give out the forgiveness, give the sinner a chance to fix their sins, share what we have unconditioned, and have compassionate heart.

Works Cited

“Robert Thurman.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 08 Sep 2016. Accessed 26 Oct 2016.

Thurman, Robert. "Wisdom." Ed. Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer. The New Humanities Reader. 5th ed. United States: Cengage Learning, 2013. 440-455. Print.

“Martha Stout.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Mar 2016. Web. Accessed 26 Oct 2016.

Stout, Martha. "When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday." Ed. Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer. The New Humanities Reader. 5th ed. United States: Cengage Learning, 2013. 420-437. Print.

“What is Buddhism?”. About Buddhism, 2007. Web. Accessed 26 Oct 2016.

"Meditation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Oct. 2016. Web. Accessed 26 Oct 2016.