Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
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Rules For the rest of the Site also accessible on the sidebar.
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Notes on Silence
I got in to a habit of trying make more use of "spare moments" in time that made me feel a bit "overwhelmed", and I found "silence" as a remedy to this.
Is Silence "Meditation"?
One confusing thing for a while was the practice of "meditation", which is more associated with the non-Christian Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism but has become popularized in the West as a habit.
Meditation is a distinct practice of focused attention that is not the same as silence as understood here. Silence does not require attention, but can be perhaps an absence of focused attention.
So I do not consider silence to be a "form of meditation" and do think Christians could avoid "meditation" and instead pray (which will have some focus of attention) or observe silence (which might lack as much focus of attention).
"Meditation" is also kind of vague, as there are all kinds of "meditation practices" that exist, while silence is kind of "one" practice of an "abstinence from external inputs".
Silence in Religion
Silence has been recommended a bit in the Christian West, although it doesn't seem to get as much attention today. For example in the Catholic Encyclopedia, the entry on "silence" says:
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13790a.htm
Conclusion
Silence seems kind of like a "fast" from all activity, including concentration exercises like meditation. For me it's felt like an antidote to information overload, noise, and overstimulation.
Have you had any thoughts or experiences to share related to the topic of silence as a religious practice?
edit: another Catholic writing on silence: https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-562.shtml
I wanted to add a theory for discussion about why Trump is so focused on the drug issue (which to a lot of "freedom loving" conservatives, seems "totally irrational"):
I get the impression Trump has a personal vendetta against drugs: he reportedly doesn't do them himself and had his older brother die to alcoholism. So he sees fent and is unironically a neocon on steroids, looking to just off drug dealers. Drug dealers aren't popular with the general public so it's an easy scapegoat for him. It's psychologically like a way to cope with his brother's death.
Happy 70th Birthday Mel Gibson. There is only one Mad Max. God bless you 🙏💪💚.
Now that Israel has their hands on Venezuela's Oil and the Rothschilds can replace the State owned Banks, with their high interest debt Prison style Banks. Can the US get back to Making America Great Again?
Sad, but you lost the entire plot because you fell for the "Its only Israel" psyop and sorry, but you just have to come along kicking and screaming until you are delivered to the endgoal and then you can wipe your tears and smile.
NCSWIC. That applies to the whingers and whiners.
I Pray that you are 100%..I will get on a plane to New Zealand and buy you a meal and drinks at your favourite place in town. To thank you for your Sage Knowledge.
Sorry buddy but if you fly to NZ you wont find me there! I am an Aussie :)
hopefully this ends up being something of a nothingburger like the Iran bombing, I otherwise have concerns like yours about what's going on and think this really has nothing to do with a focus on improving the USA directly
Iran bombing was not a nothingburger. It literally set back decades of Zionist plan for a nuclear war.
Hanging back here because the rest of the thread has glowies and bots
I can't believe after all the money the DNC LOST on Kamala they can still afford to pay Malaysians on Fiverr to try to brigade us lol
Well, they're using our money probably.
Venezuelans celebrating in the streets!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF3soqSbcWo
Doomers and shills and black pills, oh my.
u/#trumpnope
Today's the greatest!!!! The 3 hour war.
It's amazing! Go DJT gooooo!
u/#ridetofreedom
John 14:5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Rural Revolution...In-your-face stuff from an opinionated rural North Idaho housewife
http://www.rural-revolution.com/
Erik Wesner - Ohio Thrift Shop Raises Thousands For Amish People With Special Needs
https://amishamerica.com/ohio-thrift-shop-raises-thousands-for-amish-people-with-special-needs/
Erik Wesner - Amish Communities - A Snowy Visit To Amish Country in Missouri (16 Photos)
https://amishamerica.com/snowy-visit-amish-jamesport-missouri-16-photos/
Erik Wesner - Amish Culture...New From Ben & Rose: “Lily Of The Valley”
https://amishamerica.com/ben-and-rose-song-lily-of-the-valley/
Taki - To Heck With Tech...“Abandon your screens, all you tech slaves, and magical moments await you.”
https://www.takimag.com/article/to-heck-with-tech/
Friday Poem...Adrienne Rich - “Poem III” from Twenty-One Love Poems
https://theamericanscholar.org/poem-iii-from-twenty-one-love-poems-by-adrienne-rich/
Sarah McLachlan - Possession (Live from Mirrorball)
https://youtu.be/xHvpxjQsy9c?si=G2JlNdFupymfotir
Image published with permission of Albin Sadar,
https://images.americanthinker.com/l8/l8sxxgwx0lrsixvhruio_640.jpg
My 17 year old daughter told me a few nights ago that she now realizes how smartphones are pitting people against each other. She has one, but we did not raise her with one in her hands. She didn't get one until she graduated junior high.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
"2 Corinthians 5:17"
Amen!