I’m very critical on what kind of information I even need on daily basis. If my only reason for getting information on something is To Be Right On The Internet, I don’t bother. I don’t need to know shit about how a particle accelerator actually works and it has no bearing on my personal life. If I want to satisfy an intellectual curiosity about something, I can get some pop-science about it from a source that seems credible enough after a cursory glance (they need to cite studies/statistics at the very least, and I take a look at the studies too depending a bit on the gravity of the matter. I’m not going to scrutinize a cooking video about a historical dish too deeply, I’ll assume the general idea is close enough - but I will be very critical of anything talking about politically divisive topics, especially ones where there are people who have a very strong idea of what the “correct” opinion is), but I keep the awareness that it does NOT make me an expert and I should NOT inject myself into conversations about the matter (except to ask questions). And if some smalltalk touches on the topic, I can frame my comments appropriately like “I’m not familiar with the topic but my understanding was…”. Though even then I’d consider the critical thinking capabilities of the person I’m talking to. If I think they’re dumb enough to take what I say as a fact despite the framing, I’ll not say anything.

As for actually important information: local news, universities of good reputation, science organizations of good reputation. All the while keeping in mind that they’re not infallible. There’s just a greater probability that the information there is accurate and unbiased. In general I’ve taught myself to think of the world in terms of probabilities, not in binary “true/false” statements.

Welcome ☺️ if you’re really interested, I frankly recommend trying meditation rather than try to understand the theory. The Way App from Henry Shukman is pretty good.

Op’s analogy isn’t about verifying meditation experiences as scientific facts, but about how both Zen and science are rigorous, disciplined studies of reality, just through different lenses. Zen isn’t about abstraction or quantification; it’s about direct, unmediated experience (and “peer review” happens with sangha and the teacher). The comparison is poetic, not literal. It’s kinda highlighting that both paths require clarity, humility, and a willingness to see things as they are, not as we wish them to be.

Yeah, if you really start breaking down sentences, to their individual words and their respective concepts, everything falls apart.

Yes.

Yes.

Go on. Read that again. Or write that again, slowly.

Yes, this is pretty much exactly what happens. It’s the map-territory problem, but with every single word. We have rough agreements on what some words mean. Easy enough with what we take to be solid objects. This X is a cross, like two objects intersecting. Yes, we know what X is. Okay, now do the same thing to every word in this sentence. And then again to every word in this sentence. Oh… how about subjective experiences? Love. Sadness. What are those? How did you come to think of those words when describing love? Were you born with language? You don’t inherently know what anything is. You just have a bunch of code in your head.

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/62171465

thank you thank you. I’m not a fan of Christianity, mainly because of the kind of Christians most people imagine when they think about conservatives. But after I got into Zen Buddhism, I heard some of Jesus’ teachings and understood them in a different light. I don’t even know if Jesus was a real person or not, I know there’s a lot of motivation to push that idea though. But that’s all besides the point. His teachings are generally beneficial for human well-being. If people live by them, and embody them, there’s good chance of a fairly healthy community. Not sure if this is actually a quote from Buddha (which is, again, besides the point) but people think so:

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”