Proust nails the phenomenon of “involuntary memory”. This is the way that a sensory experience can suddenly bring back a hidden recollection.This is now seen as a key insight into the way the senses work – particularly in scent and olfaction.

Proustian effect or ‘Proustian moment’


It bypasses the thalamus, which relays the sensory information, and works directly on the hippocampus and amygdala. These parts of the brain deal with emotional memory.

Smell - the most ‘buried’ of all the senses

Olfactory memories tend to come from earlier in life than other means. And as Proust found, they are deep and complex. Hard to identify and harder to put into words, but intensely powerful.

Olfactory memories 

"An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin.” What makes the Proustian effect so important?

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

The Proustian Effect

Guilt often comes from being fixated on some past event. We think our actions or inaction negatively affected ourselves or others.Guilt can also be tied to a specific event or thinking that we didn’t live up to our standards.

Guilt

We can change anything, regardless of what happened in the past. Instead of focusing on yesterday, we focus on today and how our actions now can create a bright future.There is no guilt in Buddhism. Thinking that our lives are defined by an event in our past is tragic. Instead, we can decide that what we do today will create the future we want.

Past vs Present vs Future 

Some short ideas about Guilt from Buddhism perspective

Buddhism is about seeing our value on the deepest level. But with the messiness of life, our value can be hard to remember.

mentalhealth

Mental Health

meditation

Meditation

Guilt - Buddhism View

The “existential” bit has to do with your own existence — specifically, the meaning of your existence.Questions like “who am I?” and “why am I here?” and “what are my values?”There are two modes — two different ways to come at the questions of your own existence and understand who you are:<ol><li>“reflective self-definition” &</li><li>“coherent being.”</li></ol>

What Is The Existential Mode

Let’s just assume that you understand that you’re not defined by your reflection in the physical mirror, or at best that’s a limited definition of “me”.Well… it turns out that there are other kinds of mirrors:<ul><li>Not the physical glass kind, though — there are various ways in which the human mind fabricates mirrors as it goes along.</li><li>These are cognitive, psychological, perspective-switching processes in which the mind uses its experience, concepts, memories, and interpretive plumbing in a particular way to try to get a view of “the self.”</li></ul>

Reflective self-definition

Even without other people, the mind keeps putting up mirrors.

The reflective self-definition that is generated automatically by ancient psychological processes, the machine that seems to want to turn everything into “it’s about me” in some way. That’s the first kind of identity or the first existential mode: reflective, in that there’s some kind of mirror — physical or abstract, and self-defining in that the process yields a semi-stable definition or concept of what “I” refers to.

The Ego

Imagine that you’re playing a board game like Monopoly.The game is a given — something we are born into — and our existence is framed such that it’s only meaningful in the context of the game’s rules and elements and processes.That’s how the ego relates to life: “life is a given, and I am an object born into that given environment.”The model of reality is like the Monopoly game — our “knowledge of what things mean”, including our own existence.

Coherent being

We sleep-walked through the process which built the gameboard that gives meaning to our existence as a cannon or scotty dog or ship.

What if someone becomes aware of their own production of the meaning that gives them their identity? You’d be on the way to being the owner of the game, because naturally the author is the owner… the one who put the walls up owns the room they live in.People sense that being the owner of the gameboard means that they have vast freedom and are not bound by the limitations of the ego and so sometimes they get carried away and don’t understand the nature of their freedom or “awakening”, and they make up nonsensical metaphysics and “New Age” beliefs and so on. Garbage-think, it should be called.

Owner Of The Game 

You really are “a thing in a given context”: your life is bound to your body and you will die and that’s the end of any useful meaning of “you”.If we understand that the Monopoly game metaphor does not refer to the physical universe, it refers to the “realm of meaning” which gives the self its context, then we’re back on solid ground and we’re not trying to violate the laws of nature.Reality is what it is. We create the meaning, and being unaware of our own role in that we “see ourselves” reflected in the meanings that we have assigned to our experience and model of objective reality.

Useful Meaning Of You

When you only know yourself by reflective self-definition, and don’t appreciate the vast possibilities and natural freedom that comes from being the owner or source of the gameboard, you’re stuck.

Trap of the ego

To be the owner is truly being, and to understand and sustain that relationship to your own existence is where the “coherent” bit comes in: <ul><li>like a candle that can make its own wax, owning yourself as the source of meaning in your life empowers you to light it up as you see fit, without worrying about landing on Boardwalk and being wiped out by the given game.</li></ul>

Be The Owner

Found this topic fascinating. All ideas belong to Les Matheson. He is the author that inspired me. 

philosophy

Philosophy

habits

Habits

Getting rid of my ego

<ul><li>Most manipulation is unconscious.</li><li>Most thinking is unconscious.</li><li>Most beliefs are unconscious.</li></ul>

Is it possible to unconsciously manipulate someone?

“Awareness is the exception, rather than the rule.”

You think “oh no, maybe I’m a manipulative person and therefore bad and I should stop being like that so I’ll be OK.<ul><li>You have psychological mechanisms, just like everyone. Yours may be different than others, but you can bet that you share those mechanisms with millions of humans — they’re not your personal catastrophic flaw, they’re just the way ego maintenance machinery works, for you.</li></ul>

Unconscious manipulation vs. Your Identity  

What you want is to become more aware of those mechanisms, recognize them for what they are, and “manage” or supervise them. <ul><li>My “adult relationship” with this involves learning to be aware, manage, and restrain my temper — and naturally, that includes telling the truth about it and not fooling myself or justifying it. </li></ul>It also includes being willing to apologize and “take it back” when I’ve said something I shouldn’t have said.

Having an adult relationship with your ego

Self-observe, so you can see how it occurs, be aware so you can supervise and restrain it, and don’t give in to the temptation to think that this is what defines you. There’s always a bigger you, beyond those limitations.

There’s always a bigger you

Some interesting ideas from Les Matheson about the unconscious manipulation topic extracted from Quora.  

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

mindfulness

Mindfulness

Unconscious Manipulation

Letting go has a lot of similarities to quitting, but one big difference.<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">When someone quits it’s generally highly emotional and filled with frustration or anger that something isn’t going as well as they thought.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Letting go no longer has an emotional attachment. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">It’s a moment where you realize this person, thing or situation isn’t serving you anymore, it’s not something you want anymore, and it no longer causes you stress. It’s a feeling and action of peace, of freedom.</li></ul>

Letting Go Vs. Quitting 

Quitting is a bright red faced, loud, screaming toddler while letting go is an old woman with long white hair sitting in a peaceful green garden smiling.

The only question you need to answer to know the difference : Why am I doing this?<ul><li>When you can really clarify why you’re doing something, why you’re doing it for you, not anyone else, it will either make you realize you need to keep working hard to get what you want and you’re feeling a little moment of wanting to quit or it will make you realize there is no reason why. </li><li>When you can’t clarify why you’re doing something, it means it’s time to let it go.</li></ul>

How do you recognize the difference

The difference between letting go and quitting 

When you’re a kid, you hear things like, “Winners never quit and quitters never win” (Vince Lombardi). Then suddenly as an adult you start to think that any time you stop doing something, you’re a…

career

Career

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

The Difference Between Giving Up and Letting Go

The philosophy of Zen greatly differs from Western concepts. ✔️Zen Buddhists do not believe in one deity, they believe in the notion of reality, which is all-encompassing and affects everything in the world. They are aware that they are an extension of reality in the universe.

Zen vs Reality 

✔️ Meditation is the key religious practice for Zen Buddhists and allows individuals to reflect upon the nature of the universe while attempting to become enlightened.✔️ Meditate alone, without distractions, so that you can focus upon reflection, self-study and learning about the nature of the world.✔️ The word "Zen" emphasizes the importance of meditation and self-study.

Meditation practice

How to Convert to Zen Buddhism

✔️ Neo-Confucianism gained popularity in China during the Song Dynasty in the 11th century. ✔️The roots of Neo-Confucianism date back to the Tang Dynasty when the spread of Buddhism necessitated a reaction from Confucian thinkers.✔️As Buddhism and the reemergence of Taoism began to take hold within China, scholars reevaluated and reinterpreted Confucian philosophy into a new system of belief that addressed not only social and intellectual concerns but also spiritual ones. Neo-Confucian teachings took hold in China and soon spread to Korea and Japan.

Neo-Confucianism - History

✔️ The central belief of Neo-Confucianism like classic Confucianism is the idea of teaching oneself to become a better person. Neo-Confucians believe that the correct way of living is expressed in two forms: principle (li) and matter (qi). ✔️ Another important addition to Neo-Confucianism introduced the idea that the principle of all things exists within every individual. Because of this, individuals can understand the external world through introspection an meditation.

Neo-Confucianism - Beliefs

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Neo-Confucianism Beliefs - Synonym

True community is not formed by demanding other people to understand us nor by expecting them to make us happy. If we find each-other's company pleasant and useful, then we'll enjoy it without clinging to it. No obligations, no pressure. True community is about connection first: We should connect before react. And true connection comes from a deep understanding first and foremost."

Mixing Christian spirituality, Buddhist parables, Islamic sayings, Hindu breathing exercises, and psychological insight, spiritualist and Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello challenges readers to identify our most submerged, darkest feeling, accept them, not let them rule us, and allow this new awareness of ourselves to change us. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

Awareness

Patterning, finding connections between points, is the whole operation of life.

A transcript from listening Alan Watts talk about the nature of space

3.6.2 The Importance of Space

White labeling involves the production of a good or service that is rebranded and sold under the name of another company.

What is White labeling?


is a business-to-business (B2B) approach involving a manufacturer and a reseller. There are 3 core components of the model:<ul><li>a manufacturer creates a white label product that has no name, label, logo, or branding.</li><li>the manufacturer then sells the unbranded product to a reseller who is free to customize the product to suit their brand. In some cases, the same white label product may be sold to multiple resellers. </li><li>the reseller then sells the now branded product to its customers. For the white label business model to be effective, it is important customers are unaware of this process.</li></ul>

The white label business model

<ul><li>The white label business model is a win-win situation for the manufacturer and the reseller.</li><li>Reduces costs for the reseller and allows them to rapidly expand their product range to take advantage of market trends. </li><li>The model facilitates a long-term relationship between both parties.</li><li>Responsive expansion – the model also allows a company to rapidly expand its product offering to take advantage of market trends and boost brand visibility. </li></ul>Since the product is already manufactured, more resources can be directed toward marketing and distribution.

Benefits of the white label business model

A white label strategy:<ul><li>involves the brand being removed from a product or service and replaced by the brand of the purchasing company.</li><li>the retailer of a white label product only has control over what the label looks like.</li></ul> Private labeling:<ul><li>involves one company selling the products of another company using its own branding and packaging.</li><li>the manufacturer acts as a private label, not showing its brand toward consumers.</li><li>the retailer of a private label product has control over the process except the manufacture of the product.</li></ul>

White labeling and Private labeling

White labelling vs Private Labeling Business Models in a nutshell

A white label product is any that is manufactured by one company and sold under a different brand name by another company. Services can also be white-labeled. In this case, the company purchases a service from another company and then sells the service as its own. White labeling, therefore, involves the production of a good or service that is rebranded and sold under the name of another company. The strategy is named after the white label on a product's packaging that can be customized with the selling company's trade dress.

The Proustian Effect

Guilt - Buddhism View

Getting rid of my ego

Unconscious Manipulation

The Difference Between Giving Up and Letting Go

Ade Oane