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Rationalisation versus Openness? Can You Differentiate? (Philosophy)

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Rationalisation versus Openness? Can You Differentiate? (Philosophy)

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Tonight's meeting is on the topic of "rationalisation".

Here is a definition taken from dictionary.com: "the act or process of ascribing one’s actions, opinions, etc., to causes that seem reasonable and valid but are actually unrelated to the true, possibly unconscious and often less complimentary ones".

Why do I rationalise?

If I build my life on rationalisation, is it sure to be vulnerable to some future collapse?

What is openness? Is openness an ingredient of intuition and rationalisation an ingredient of the ego-self?

How can I open fully in a way devoid of rationalisation?

Does rationalisation require feeling a certain way in response to something? Is it therefore a reactory mechanism relative to external influences?

As I am a "stimulus response machine" do I psychologically orient myself by rationalising my reactions and therefore future actions?

Here are some notes from the meeting Wednesday, 30th July:

- What is real hope versus cooked up survival driven hope?

- Passivity versus being proactive? Is there a healthy balance?

- How do we connect in to ourselves more throughout our day?

- Trouble may come from external events causing internal reactions.

- Non-acceptance versus acceptance. Can acceptance happen volitionally?

- What type of hope leads to negative false expectations?

- How do I face my own meaninglessness, my own evanescent existence?

- Finding the treadmill of life very difficult to manage? How do we make time for ourselves to check in with our heart felt desires in life so as not to let go of our only glimmer of hope in this lifetime?

- Is there something greater than us that brings us through tough times?

- Are you someone who experienced the bottom before you could bring change into your life?

- Can you benefit from "talk therapy"? The effort to talk with others to unload your baggage? Can this be helpful? When do you know the process is over for you or is it ever over?

- Do you romanticize your meditation practice? Or do you see it practically as a means to an end? Do you have an appraisal system of what a good meditation practice means to you?

- Are ascension and descension actually synonyms?

Photo by juliane Monari: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-enjoying-mountain-view-from-wooden-balcony-30654371/

Check out the "What we are about" section in the groups' main page for some guidelines we work to adhere to. Meetings are run on the popular Zoom platform. Please contemplate the topic in advance of the meeting to get the best out of it and bring your views and convictions to the meeting, if possible have a pen and paper close by to record anything useful that may come up that you resonate with on the night, little things you may want to contemplate further.

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