Pipe Smoking for Compassion

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Mtlpiper

Can't Leave
Nov 30, 2019
349
2,534
Montreal, QC
Stalin smoked a pipe you know. I wonder how that worked with the 'compassion' thing. Years ago we had a poster on here who was a Stalin fan and loved Royal Yacht so I guess he had the full set going for him. I don't smoke a pipe to find 'compassion' but to ponder some of the inner mysteries that make up our universe. Things like how do we get 'belly button fluff' and is our path to inner enlightenment blocked up with great wads of the stuff. Should we found a religion around glass naval plugs that prevent 'fluff' build up. Can you smoke it? As for 'compassion' I find this world in which we live is two drinks behind the rest of solar system!
One could put naval fluff at the bottom of the bowl to absorb moisture maybe. Mother nature's filter.
 

Epip Oc'Cabot

Can't Leave
Oct 11, 2019
482
1,332
Does anyone smoke a pipe in hopes of better understanding and practicing compassion?

Even though this question was answered pleasantly and humorously by a lot of folks, my take on the question.... IF looking at it a bit more philosophically:

For me pipe smoking is a habit/hobby (or whatever preferred descriptor you choose) that has many roles for me.... enjoyment, nicotine, relaxation.... all of the usual things.... but, yes.... I do believe I sometimes do also use my pipe smoking as a tool to help me contemplate things, and yes, when I do try to foster more compassion in my attitude, my outlook, or my actions..... I will often smoke my pipe at least in part to a) give me some quiet moments to organize my thoughts and ideas towards being more compassionate, b) to have a “break” or “separation” from what was occurring earlier in the day so that I can perhaps feel and/or prepare to be a more compassionate person in an upcoming situation.

Now.... OBVIOUSLY a pipe is not required to be a contemplative or compassionate person.... but in thinking about the OP’s question..... I can say that I HAVE used the pipe as a tool to help me try to be both on a variety of occasions.
 

Jan 27, 2020
3,997
8,123
Even though this question was answered pleasantly and humorously by a lot of folks, my take on the question.... IF looking at it a bit more philosophically:

For me pipe smoking is a habit/hobby (or whatever preferred descriptor you choose) that has many roles for me.... enjoyment, nicotine, relaxation.... all of the usual things.... but, yes.... I do believe I sometimes do also use my pipe smoking as a tool to help me contemplate things, and yes, when I do try to foster more compassion in my attitude, my outlook, or my actions..... I will often smoke my pipe at least in part to a) give me some quiet moments to organize my thoughts and ideas towards being more compassionate, b) to have a “break” or “separation” from what was occurring earlier in the day so that I can perhaps feel and/or prepare to be a more compassionate person in an upcoming situation.

Now.... OBVIOUSLY a pipe is not required to be a contemplative or compassionate person.... but in thinking about the OP’s question..... I can say that I HAVE used the pipe as a tool to help me try to be both on a variety of occasions.

I guess you Kant expect a hobby to be a panacea.
 

sittingbear

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 20, 2015
702
3,479
Olympia, WA
I think anything that makes you sit for a while with something stuck in your mouth so you keep yer yap shut naturally lends itself to a more open, receptive attitude. Having said that, I've always seen pipe smoking as a sort of "sacrament of the earth" combining root and leaf, wind (or breath) and fire, which grounds me to the earth and the natural world and allows me time to contemplate. I often smoke while praying, reading, or thinking. It's a spiritual practice for me as much as anything.
 

badbeard

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 9, 2017
284
585
Kentucky, USA
Compassion is not found in something I do for myself. Compassion is something I do for others in spite of myself(ishness).
Pipe smoking doesn't fit in that equation at all, no matter how hard I try to rationalize it. Pipe smokers may spend more time than usual, just sitting contemplating their existence than the average person. Honestly I don't think it really works out the way so many "intellectual hopeful" pipe smokers think it does. Tobacco consumption has certainly never made me understand other humans better in any way .shape, or form. If you think it has, it probably hasn't and you are just riding out a nicotine induced grandiose delusion.
 

RookieGuy

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 2, 2021
238
559
Maryland
I smoke a pipe to increase my wisdom. Those pauses before speaking, the smoking or various "fiddlings" we do with our pipes and tobaccos and tools afford the opportunity to contemplate the proper responses. In that wisdom, it's entirely plausible that compassion would make a showing if appropriate. For my varying milage, compassion is a byproduct of that wisdom.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
45,238
119,159

anantaandroscoggin

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 9, 2017
696
1,112
71
Greene, Maine, USA
Well, the Manga titled "Ningen Fushin no Boukenshatachi ga Sekai o Sukuu Youdesu" (in Romanji) a.k.a. "Adventurers Who Don't Believe in Humanity Will Save the World" a.k.a. "It Seems Skeptical Adventurers Will Save the World" doesn't get a pipe showing up until the 27th chapter. The short Wizard girl is the one with a pipe, and it's almost like she was joining in this thread.
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