https://www.integrateddaniel.info/
https://www.ecstaticintegration.org/p/daniel-ingram-on-emerg...
If you take everything as a task to be done and life as goals to achieve, then that might be a good book
Otherwise Reddit’s /r/meditation, /r/streamentry or just the Calm app might be better starting points
Love Alan Watts lectures, the way he explains things they just seem to make sense. He’s very good at translating the meaning of eastern philosophies into western concepts
rosemary-steve.org
The word Sangha gets bandied about like nobodies business these days.. and nobody seems to care either.. talk about cultural appropriation! In my opinion westerners who are not ordained and are not true aupasikas have no right to use this word, but alas they do, in droves. I think in this context it means Maha-Sangha .. that is 8 pairs or individuals 4 types of special people:
Supatipanno Bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho. Ujupatipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho. Ñāyapatipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho. Sāmīcipatipanno bhagavato sā- vakasaṅgho. Yadidaṁ cattāri purisayugāni aṭṭha purisapuggalā esa bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho. Āhuneyyo. Pāhuneyyo. Dakkhineyyo. Anjalikaranīyo. Anuttaraṁ puññakkhettaṁ lokassā’ti.
Of pure conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One. Of upright conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One. Of wise conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One. Of generous conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One. Those four pairs of persons, the eight kinds of individuals, that is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One. They are worthy of offerings. They are worthy of hospitality. They are worthy of gifts. They are worthy of reverential salutations. The incomparable field of merit for the world.
That is where to start in my opinion. find the true Sangha. there are millions of Buddhist Monks, especially in Asia. I have heard though unfortunately there are only a few thousand perhaps, a handful, practising the true way now. That sadly is the times we are living in. The end of days.. But that is where to start in my opinion. Good luck finding them.
_/!\_
It is fairly easy to conclude that existence is bullshit. The evidence is that the whole world is a soup of atoms and any particular group of atoms that believes it is distinct from the rest is just confused.
If that makes sense to you, then either you don't exist now and you won't exist again ... or you do exist now and you will exist again. Or, to repeat that with different words, if you exist now you will reincarnate later. This perspective meshes extremely neatly with Buddhist philosophy. Although the idea that people can remember past lives is highly suspect.
how do you get started with this? any particular resource? what do you exactly do when practicing this meditation?
First impression may not be great. It's kind of cringey at first. It helps to think about this on biological level - there are parts of brain that give meaning to our lives, and this is how we train them.
I'm atheist, pretty sure reincarnation is bullshit, but the method described in this sutta works. In mundane terms, you can train your brain to be happier and more joyful by those simple visualizations.
I'm not quite sure what is the role of spreading kindness in all directions, perhaps it somehow ties our perception of space and time, which is always present, with good feelings - what fires together, wires together - making them more likely to appear in future.