~~~~
It's hard to be optimistic about humanity's ability to pull ourselves out of our current global environmental mess - especially when we're barraged daily with more bad news from the mainstream media. It's also hard not to succumb to discouragement and despair and to feel that our rather pitiful individual attempts are way too little, way too late.
I've just started reading Hope Beneath Our Feet: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World, a collection of essays by thinkers and doers including Paul Hawken, Frances Moore Lappe, Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva, Alice Walker, Wendell Berry and others. The essays all speak to one question:
In a time of environmental crisis, how can we live right now?
Here's an excerpt from the Commencement Address to the Class of 2009, University of Portland by Paul Hawken
~~~~
"When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same; if you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote:
So much has been destroyed / I have cast my lot with those / who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, / reconstitute the world.
There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refugee camps, deserts, fisheries and slums.
"You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in ideas, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the president of the United States of America and, as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way."
"The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful."
~~~~
Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even if you can't prove that it will.
~ Michael Pollan
~~~~
Friday, July 13, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
The Moment
~~~~
The moment when, after many yearsof hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,
is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can't breathe.
No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.
-- Margaret Atwood
~~~~
Saturday, April 14, 2012
An Unholy Trinity: Original Sin, Capitalism and Drug Wars
~~~~
But what, you may well ask, do these three have in common?
~~~~
One of my current favorite authors, Michael Pollan, has some intriguing thoughts on their relationship which he shares in the chapter on marijuana in The Botany of Desire*. In this snippet he's talking about Paracelsus, a sixteenth-century Swiss alchemist and physician. (Among his many accomplishments was the invention of laudanum, the tincture of opium that was perhaps the most important drug in the pharmacopoeia until the twentieth century.) In the decades following Pope Innocent's fiat against witchcraft, Paracelsus set to work transforming cannabis, opium, belladonna and other "pagan potions" into healing tinctures, bottling the magic plants and calling them medicines. Michael writes:
"Paracelsus's grand project, which arguably is still going on today, represents one of the many ways the Judeo-Christian tradition has deployed its genius to absorb, or co-opt, the power of the pagan faith it set out to uproot. In much the same way that the new monotheism folded into its rituals the people's traditional pagan holidays and spectacles, it desperately needed to do something about their ancient devotion to magic plants. Indeed, the story of the forbidden fruit in Genesis suggests that nothing was more important.
"The challenge these plants posed to monotheism was profound, for they threatened to divert people's gaze from the sky, where the new God resided, down to the natural world all around them. The magic plants were, and remain, a gravitational force pulling us back to Earth, to matter, away from the there and then of Christian salvation and back to the here and now. Indeed, what these plants do to time is perhaps the most dangerous thing about them - dangerous, that is, from the perspective of a civilization organized on the lines of Christianity and, more recently, capitalism.
"Christianity and capitalism are both probably right to detest a plant like cannabis. Both faiths bid us to set our sights on the future; both reject the pleasures of the moment and the senses in favor of the expectation of a fulfillment yet to come - whether by earning salvation or by getting and spending. More even than most plant drugs, cannabis, by immersing us in the present and offering something like fulfillment here and now, short-circuits the metaphysics of desire on which Christianity and capitalism (and so much else in our civilization) depend.
"What, then, was the knowledge that God wanted to keep from Adam and Eve in the Garden? Theologians will debate this question without end, but it seems to me the most important answer is hidden in plain sight. The content of the knowledge Adam and Eve could gain by tasting of the fruit does not matter nearly as much as its form - that is, the very fact that there was spiritual knowledge of any kind to be had from a tree: from nature. The new faith sought to break the human bond with magic nature, to disenchant the world of plants and animals by directing our attention to a single God in the sky. Yet Jehovah couldn't very well pretend the tree of knowledge didn't exist, not when generations of plant worshiping pagans knew better. So the pagan tree is allowed to grow even in Eden, though ringed around now with a strong taboo. Yes, there is spiritual knowledge in nature, the new God is acknowledging, and its temptations are fierce, but I am fiercer still. Yield to it, and you will be punished.
"So unfolds the drug war's first battle."
~~~~
*Take a peek at the book HERE or view a full-length PBS video HERE
~~~~
The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.
- Carl Sagan
~~~~
But what, you may well ask, do these three have in common?
~~~~
One of my current favorite authors, Michael Pollan, has some intriguing thoughts on their relationship which he shares in the chapter on marijuana in The Botany of Desire*. In this snippet he's talking about Paracelsus, a sixteenth-century Swiss alchemist and physician. (Among his many accomplishments was the invention of laudanum, the tincture of opium that was perhaps the most important drug in the pharmacopoeia until the twentieth century.) In the decades following Pope Innocent's fiat against witchcraft, Paracelsus set to work transforming cannabis, opium, belladonna and other "pagan potions" into healing tinctures, bottling the magic plants and calling them medicines. Michael writes:
"Paracelsus's grand project, which arguably is still going on today, represents one of the many ways the Judeo-Christian tradition has deployed its genius to absorb, or co-opt, the power of the pagan faith it set out to uproot. In much the same way that the new monotheism folded into its rituals the people's traditional pagan holidays and spectacles, it desperately needed to do something about their ancient devotion to magic plants. Indeed, the story of the forbidden fruit in Genesis suggests that nothing was more important.
"The challenge these plants posed to monotheism was profound, for they threatened to divert people's gaze from the sky, where the new God resided, down to the natural world all around them. The magic plants were, and remain, a gravitational force pulling us back to Earth, to matter, away from the there and then of Christian salvation and back to the here and now. Indeed, what these plants do to time is perhaps the most dangerous thing about them - dangerous, that is, from the perspective of a civilization organized on the lines of Christianity and, more recently, capitalism.
"Christianity and capitalism are both probably right to detest a plant like cannabis. Both faiths bid us to set our sights on the future; both reject the pleasures of the moment and the senses in favor of the expectation of a fulfillment yet to come - whether by earning salvation or by getting and spending. More even than most plant drugs, cannabis, by immersing us in the present and offering something like fulfillment here and now, short-circuits the metaphysics of desire on which Christianity and capitalism (and so much else in our civilization) depend.
"What, then, was the knowledge that God wanted to keep from Adam and Eve in the Garden? Theologians will debate this question without end, but it seems to me the most important answer is hidden in plain sight. The content of the knowledge Adam and Eve could gain by tasting of the fruit does not matter nearly as much as its form - that is, the very fact that there was spiritual knowledge of any kind to be had from a tree: from nature. The new faith sought to break the human bond with magic nature, to disenchant the world of plants and animals by directing our attention to a single God in the sky. Yet Jehovah couldn't very well pretend the tree of knowledge didn't exist, not when generations of plant worshiping pagans knew better. So the pagan tree is allowed to grow even in Eden, though ringed around now with a strong taboo. Yes, there is spiritual knowledge in nature, the new God is acknowledging, and its temptations are fierce, but I am fiercer still. Yield to it, and you will be punished.
"So unfolds the drug war's first battle."
~~~~
*Take a peek at the book HERE or view a full-length PBS video HERE
~~~~
The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.
- Carl Sagan
~~~~
Friday, April 13, 2012
Forget This Post
~~~~
Michael Pollan speaking (in The Botany of Desire) about one particular effect of cannabis use:
"The scientists I spoke to were unanimous in citing short-term memory loss as one of the key neurological effects of the cannabinoids. In their own
way, so were the "poets" who tried to describe the experience of cannabis intoxication. All talk about the difficulty of reconstructing what happened mere seconds ago and what a Herculean challenge it becomes to follow the thread of a conversation (or a passage of prose) when one's short-term memory isn't functioning normally.
"Our mental health depends on a mechanism for editing the moment-by-moment ocean of sensory data flowing into our consciousness down to a manageable trickle of the noticed and remembered. The cannabinoid network appears to be part of that mechanism, vigilantly sifting the vast chaff of sensory impression from the kernels of perception we need to remember if we're to get through the day and get done what needs to be done. Much depends on forgetting.
"The THC in marijuana and the brain's endogenous cannabinoids work in much the same way, but THC is stronger and more persistent than anandamide, which, like most neurotransmitters, is designed to break down soon after its release. What this suggests is that smoking marijuana may overstimulate the brain's built-in forgetting faculty, exaggerating its normal operation.
"This is no small thing. Indeed, I would venture that, more than any other single quality, it is the relentless moment-by-moment forgetting, this draining of the pool of sense impression almost as quickly as it fills, that gives the experience of consciousness under marijuana its peculiar texture. It helps account for the sharpening of sense perceptions, for the aura of profundity in which cannabis bathes the most ordinary insights, and, perhaps most important of all, for the sense that time has slowed or even stopped. For it is only by forgetting that we ever really drop the thread of time and approach the experience of living in the present moment, so elusive in ordinary hours. And the wonder of that experience, perhaps more than any other, seems to be at the very heart of the human desire to change consciousness, whether by means of drugs or any other technique.
"Boethius, the sixth-century Neoplatonist, said the goal of our spiritual striving was "to hold and possess the whole fullness of life in one moment, here and now, past and present and to come." Likewise in the Eastern tradition: "Awakening to the present instant", a Zen master has written, "we realize the infinite is in the finite of each instant."
Yet we can't get there from here without first forgetting.
~~~~
Cheerfulness, the good conscience, the joyful deed, confidence in the future - all of them depend... on one's being just as able to forget at the right time as to remember.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
~~~~
Michael Pollan speaking (in The Botany of Desire) about one particular effect of cannabis use:
"The scientists I spoke to were unanimous in citing short-term memory loss as one of the key neurological effects of the cannabinoids. In their own
way, so were the "poets" who tried to describe the experience of cannabis intoxication. All talk about the difficulty of reconstructing what happened mere seconds ago and what a Herculean challenge it becomes to follow the thread of a conversation (or a passage of prose) when one's short-term memory isn't functioning normally."Our mental health depends on a mechanism for editing the moment-by-moment ocean of sensory data flowing into our consciousness down to a manageable trickle of the noticed and remembered. The cannabinoid network appears to be part of that mechanism, vigilantly sifting the vast chaff of sensory impression from the kernels of perception we need to remember if we're to get through the day and get done what needs to be done. Much depends on forgetting.
"The THC in marijuana and the brain's endogenous cannabinoids work in much the same way, but THC is stronger and more persistent than anandamide, which, like most neurotransmitters, is designed to break down soon after its release. What this suggests is that smoking marijuana may overstimulate the brain's built-in forgetting faculty, exaggerating its normal operation.
"This is no small thing. Indeed, I would venture that, more than any other single quality, it is the relentless moment-by-moment forgetting, this draining of the pool of sense impression almost as quickly as it fills, that gives the experience of consciousness under marijuana its peculiar texture. It helps account for the sharpening of sense perceptions, for the aura of profundity in which cannabis bathes the most ordinary insights, and, perhaps most important of all, for the sense that time has slowed or even stopped. For it is only by forgetting that we ever really drop the thread of time and approach the experience of living in the present moment, so elusive in ordinary hours. And the wonder of that experience, perhaps more than any other, seems to be at the very heart of the human desire to change consciousness, whether by means of drugs or any other technique.
"Boethius, the sixth-century Neoplatonist, said the goal of our spiritual striving was "to hold and possess the whole fullness of life in one moment, here and now, past and present and to come." Likewise in the Eastern tradition: "Awakening to the present instant", a Zen master has written, "we realize the infinite is in the finite of each instant."
Yet we can't get there from here without first forgetting.
~~~~
Cheerfulness, the good conscience, the joyful deed, confidence in the future - all of them depend... on one's being just as able to forget at the right time as to remember.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
~~~~
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Why Bother?
~~~~
by Michael Pollan
The New York Times Magazine, April 20, 2008
~~~~
"Why bother? That really is the big question facing us as individuals hoping to do something about climate change, and it’s not an easy one to answer. I don’t know about you, but for me the most upsetting moment in “An Inconvenient Truth” came long after Al Gore scared the hell out of me, constructing an utterly convincing case that the very survival of life on earth as we know it is threatened by climate change. No, the really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to . . . change our light bulbs. That’s when it got really depressing. The immense disproportion between the magnitude of the problem Gore had described and the puniness of what he was asking us to do about it was enough to sink your heart."
I can relate exactly to the discouragement he's talking about. Reducing, reusing, recycling and composting have become second nature, my car is energy-efficient and driven only when necessary, and yes, most of the bulbs in the house are fluorescent. My diet more and more consists of whole foods, locally and sustainably grown (to the extent that that's possible during the winter). And as Michael says, there is some virtue in reducing my personal footprint, and the feeling of doing something positive, however small, is incredibly satisfying. But still, with the global environmental situation deteriorating at an ever-increasing rate, I wonder if it's really making any difference other than for me personally.
But that personal connection is precisely where it has to start. Wendell Berry believed that nothing was likely to change until we healed the split between what we think and what we do...
For Berry, the “why bother” question came down to a moral imperative: “Once our personal connection to what is wrong becomes clear, then we have to choose: we can go on as before, recognizing our dishonesty and living with it the best we can, or we can begin the effort to change the way we think and live.”
Michael offers some really good suggestions for how we might answer the "why bother?" question, but the one he is most passionate about is growing some - even a little - of our own food.
Measured against the Problem We Face, planting a garden sounds pretty benign, I know, but in fact it’s one of the most powerful things an individual can do - to reduce your carbon footprint, sure, but more important, to reduce your sense of dependence and dividedness: to change the cheap-energy mind...
But there are sweeter reasons to plant that garden, to bother. At least in this one corner of your yard and life, you will have begun to heal the split between what you think and what you do, to commingle your identities as consumer and producer and citizen. Chances are, your garden will re-engage you with your neighbors, for you will have produce to give away and the need to borrow their tools. You will have reduced the power of the cheap-energy mind by personally overcoming its most debilitating weakness: its helplessness and the fact that it can’t do much of anything that doesn’t involve division or subtraction. The garden’s season-long transit from seed to ripe fruit - will you get a load of that zucchini?! - suggests that the operations of addition and multiplication still obtain, that the abundance of nature is not exhausted. The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.
Here's the link again to the full article. I find Michael Pollan a delight to read. He shares his truth with compassion and humor and I like how he talks more about soul and spirit than about science.
And in case you think it's too complicated, too much trouble, you don't have room, blah blah, here are some pics of my "world's smallest organic vegetable farm" I started a couple of years ago. I had to move it up onto the deck because critters ate most of the produce when it was down at ground level.
Strawberries, cucumber, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, beets, red potatoes, snow peas, sugar snap peas, pattypan squash - green onions, garlic and herbs are on the back steps.
Pattypan squash just starting to form - each one begins as a huge yellow flower.
This year will see more of the above and some new varieties - Pak Choi, romaine lettuce, spaghetti squash (all dwarf varieties suited to containers) and Blue Curled Scotch Kale. Purple Ruffles basil, cilantro and the first crop of broccoli have started indoors, will plant out late May. Might go totally wild and crazy and plant some corn too. Take that, Monsanto!
~~~~
Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.
- Wendell Berry
~~~~
by Michael Pollan
The New York Times Magazine, April 20, 2008
~~~~
"Why bother? That really is the big question facing us as individuals hoping to do something about climate change, and it’s not an easy one to answer. I don’t know about you, but for me the most upsetting moment in “An Inconvenient Truth” came long after Al Gore scared the hell out of me, constructing an utterly convincing case that the very survival of life on earth as we know it is threatened by climate change. No, the really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to . . . change our light bulbs. That’s when it got really depressing. The immense disproportion between the magnitude of the problem Gore had described and the puniness of what he was asking us to do about it was enough to sink your heart."
I can relate exactly to the discouragement he's talking about. Reducing, reusing, recycling and composting have become second nature, my car is energy-efficient and driven only when necessary, and yes, most of the bulbs in the house are fluorescent. My diet more and more consists of whole foods, locally and sustainably grown (to the extent that that's possible during the winter). And as Michael says, there is some virtue in reducing my personal footprint, and the feeling of doing something positive, however small, is incredibly satisfying. But still, with the global environmental situation deteriorating at an ever-increasing rate, I wonder if it's really making any difference other than for me personally.
But that personal connection is precisely where it has to start. Wendell Berry believed that nothing was likely to change until we healed the split between what we think and what we do...
For Berry, the “why bother” question came down to a moral imperative: “Once our personal connection to what is wrong becomes clear, then we have to choose: we can go on as before, recognizing our dishonesty and living with it the best we can, or we can begin the effort to change the way we think and live.”
Michael offers some really good suggestions for how we might answer the "why bother?" question, but the one he is most passionate about is growing some - even a little - of our own food.
Measured against the Problem We Face, planting a garden sounds pretty benign, I know, but in fact it’s one of the most powerful things an individual can do - to reduce your carbon footprint, sure, but more important, to reduce your sense of dependence and dividedness: to change the cheap-energy mind...
But there are sweeter reasons to plant that garden, to bother. At least in this one corner of your yard and life, you will have begun to heal the split between what you think and what you do, to commingle your identities as consumer and producer and citizen. Chances are, your garden will re-engage you with your neighbors, for you will have produce to give away and the need to borrow their tools. You will have reduced the power of the cheap-energy mind by personally overcoming its most debilitating weakness: its helplessness and the fact that it can’t do much of anything that doesn’t involve division or subtraction. The garden’s season-long transit from seed to ripe fruit - will you get a load of that zucchini?! - suggests that the operations of addition and multiplication still obtain, that the abundance of nature is not exhausted. The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.
Here's the link again to the full article. I find Michael Pollan a delight to read. He shares his truth with compassion and humor and I like how he talks more about soul and spirit than about science.
And in case you think it's too complicated, too much trouble, you don't have room, blah blah, here are some pics of my "world's smallest organic vegetable farm" I started a couple of years ago. I had to move it up onto the deck because critters ate most of the produce when it was down at ground level.
Strawberries, cucumber, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, beets, red potatoes, snow peas, sugar snap peas, pattypan squash - green onions, garlic and herbs are on the back steps.Pattypan squash just starting to form - each one begins as a huge yellow flower.
This year will see more of the above and some new varieties - Pak Choi, romaine lettuce, spaghetti squash (all dwarf varieties suited to containers) and Blue Curled Scotch Kale. Purple Ruffles basil, cilantro and the first crop of broccoli have started indoors, will plant out late May. Might go totally wild and crazy and plant some corn too. Take that, Monsanto!
~~~~
Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.
- Wendell Berry
~~~~
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Why Mow?
~~~~
From Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
by Michael Pollan
~~~~
"Mowing the lawn, I felt like I was battling the earth rather than working it: each week it sent forth a green army and each week I beat it back with my infernal machine. Unlike every other plant in my garden, the grasses were anonymous, massified, deprived of any change or development whatsoever, not to mention any semblance of self-determination. I ruled a totalitarian landscape.
"Hot monotonous hours behind the mower gave rise to existential speculations. I spent part of one afternoon trying to decide who, in the absurdist drama of lawn mowing, was Sisyphus. Me? The case could certainly be made. Or was it the grass, pushing up through the soil every week, one layer of cells at a time, only to be cut down and then, perversely, encouraged (with lime, fertilizer, etc.) to start the whole doomed process over again? Another day it occurred to me that time as we know it doesn't exist in the lawn, since grass never dies or is allowed to flower and set seed. Lawns are nature purged of sex or death. No wonder Americans like them so much...
"Gardening, as compared to lawn care, tutors us in nature's ways, fostering an ethic of give-and-take with respect to the land. Gardens instruct us in the particularities of place. They lessen our dependence on distant sources of energy, technology, food, and for that matter, interest. For if lawn mowing feels like copying the same sentence over and over, gardening is like writing out new ones, an infinitely variable process of invention and discovery. Gardens also teach the necessary if un-American lesson that nature and culture can be compromised, that there might be some middle ground between the lawn and the forest - between those who would complete the conquest of the planet in the name of progress, and those who believe it's time we abdicated our rule and left the earth in the care of its more innocent species. The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway."
~~~~
Michael Pollan is currently the editor of Modern Library's gardening series, a contributing writer for the New York Times magazine, and on the faculty of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. His other works include The Botany of Desire, A Place of My Own, The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules and In Defense of Food.
~~~~
From Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
by Michael Pollan
~~~~
"Mowing the lawn, I felt like I was battling the earth rather than working it: each week it sent forth a green army and each week I beat it back with my infernal machine. Unlike every other plant in my garden, the grasses were anonymous, massified, deprived of any change or development whatsoever, not to mention any semblance of self-determination. I ruled a totalitarian landscape."Hot monotonous hours behind the mower gave rise to existential speculations. I spent part of one afternoon trying to decide who, in the absurdist drama of lawn mowing, was Sisyphus. Me? The case could certainly be made. Or was it the grass, pushing up through the soil every week, one layer of cells at a time, only to be cut down and then, perversely, encouraged (with lime, fertilizer, etc.) to start the whole doomed process over again? Another day it occurred to me that time as we know it doesn't exist in the lawn, since grass never dies or is allowed to flower and set seed. Lawns are nature purged of sex or death. No wonder Americans like them so much...
"Gardening, as compared to lawn care, tutors us in nature's ways, fostering an ethic of give-and-take with respect to the land. Gardens instruct us in the particularities of place. They lessen our dependence on distant sources of energy, technology, food, and for that matter, interest. For if lawn mowing feels like copying the same sentence over and over, gardening is like writing out new ones, an infinitely variable process of invention and discovery. Gardens also teach the necessary if un-American lesson that nature and culture can be compromised, that there might be some middle ground between the lawn and the forest - between those who would complete the conquest of the planet in the name of progress, and those who believe it's time we abdicated our rule and left the earth in the care of its more innocent species. The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway."
~~~~
Michael Pollan is currently the editor of Modern Library's gardening series, a contributing writer for the New York Times magazine, and on the faculty of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. His other works include The Botany of Desire, A Place of My Own, The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules and In Defense of Food.
~~~~
Friday, March 23, 2012
Trust or Fear - A Lesson in Accounting
~~~~
From The Tribes of Eden, by Dr. Bill Thomas
~~~~
Tribes of Eden is a compelling adventure story that begins in the not very distant future. Here's a very short synopsis from one of the book's sites:
On the run after America's sudden and total collapse, a family finds sanctuary in the heart of a community thriving "off the grid". But when the lure of a virtual new world order divides the family, the elders of the community recognize that humanity's fate rests with a chosen girl and a surprising alliance between the least powerful - the young and the old.
In this scene two young brothers, Zach and Virgil, have ridden on horseback through the night to seek advice from Professor Ned Wolff, their uncle, who now lives within the walls of a Demo (demographic unit) set up by the GRID on the former university campus. Ned's talking about the "old system", before The Fall...
"The whole system was built on just two things: trust and oil"
"Then the oil ran out", Zach volunteered.
Ned shook his head. "Not really, there's still plenty of oil in the ground. The problems started when cheap, easy to get oil ran out. Even so, the old republic could have survived, even till today, if it had kept people's trust. The old republic was founded on the idea that people in search of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' could solve even the biggest problems. In order for it to work, people needed to believe in each other, trust each other, work with each other. You know...", he prodded them, "We the people...".
The brothers stared blankly at Ned. Rusty mantras from the old republic's glory days didn't matter, not any more.
"OK", he sighed. "You want the take-home message? Someone or something, I'm not sure who or what, decided to transfer assets from the trust account to the fear account."
Virgil nodded. "Xenos are afraid. As far as I can tell, that's the whole point of the GRID."
"I think it started when those lunatics flew airliners into the World Trade Center. They acted with the intention of creating fear - terror. Here's the thing, though. They also provided a world-class lesson in how thin and brittle trust could be. For the first time, the old republic abandoned its faith in people, its trust in trust - it surrendered completely, totally and without reservation, to fear."
"Yeah", Zach said, "they scared the airplanes right out of the air. That was the first time I saw the blue sky without the white streaks."
"Contrails", Virgil added for the sake of accuracy.
"Right, contrails."
Ned Wolff took a deep breath. "I've been thinking lately about the last days of the old republic. You fellas probably don't remember that much about it but it was a great thing, a fine thing, and it lasted more than two hundred years. Then it was gone."
"The old republic was a mess, didn't deserve to survive." Zach spoke with certainty.
"Lots of people say that", Ned agreed, "but I don't think it's true. I've been reading about this, really digging in."
"I don't think the old republic fell - I think it was pushed. Powerful people decided their investments would be more profitable if they transferred them, so to speak, from the trust account to the fear account."
The Master Herdsman leaned forward.
"How'd they get away with it?"
~~~~
Dr. Bill Thomas is an international expert on elderhood and geriatric medicine. He is the founder of the Eden Alternative and Green House Project, a writer and musician.
~~~~
From The Tribes of Eden, by Dr. Bill Thomas
~~~~
On the run after America's sudden and total collapse, a family finds sanctuary in the heart of a community thriving "off the grid". But when the lure of a virtual new world order divides the family, the elders of the community recognize that humanity's fate rests with a chosen girl and a surprising alliance between the least powerful - the young and the old.
In this scene two young brothers, Zach and Virgil, have ridden on horseback through the night to seek advice from Professor Ned Wolff, their uncle, who now lives within the walls of a Demo (demographic unit) set up by the GRID on the former university campus. Ned's talking about the "old system", before The Fall...
"The whole system was built on just two things: trust and oil"
"Then the oil ran out", Zach volunteered.
Ned shook his head. "Not really, there's still plenty of oil in the ground. The problems started when cheap, easy to get oil ran out. Even so, the old republic could have survived, even till today, if it had kept people's trust. The old republic was founded on the idea that people in search of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' could solve even the biggest problems. In order for it to work, people needed to believe in each other, trust each other, work with each other. You know...", he prodded them, "We the people...".
The brothers stared blankly at Ned. Rusty mantras from the old republic's glory days didn't matter, not any more.
"OK", he sighed. "You want the take-home message? Someone or something, I'm not sure who or what, decided to transfer assets from the trust account to the fear account."
Virgil nodded. "Xenos are afraid. As far as I can tell, that's the whole point of the GRID."
"I think it started when those lunatics flew airliners into the World Trade Center. They acted with the intention of creating fear - terror. Here's the thing, though. They also provided a world-class lesson in how thin and brittle trust could be. For the first time, the old republic abandoned its faith in people, its trust in trust - it surrendered completely, totally and without reservation, to fear."
"Yeah", Zach said, "they scared the airplanes right out of the air. That was the first time I saw the blue sky without the white streaks."
"Contrails", Virgil added for the sake of accuracy.
"Right, contrails."
Ned Wolff took a deep breath. "I've been thinking lately about the last days of the old republic. You fellas probably don't remember that much about it but it was a great thing, a fine thing, and it lasted more than two hundred years. Then it was gone."
"The old republic was a mess, didn't deserve to survive." Zach spoke with certainty.
"Lots of people say that", Ned agreed, "but I don't think it's true. I've been reading about this, really digging in."
"I don't think the old republic fell - I think it was pushed. Powerful people decided their investments would be more profitable if they transferred them, so to speak, from the trust account to the fear account."
The Master Herdsman leaned forward.
"How'd they get away with it?"
~~~~
Dr. Bill Thomas is an international expert on elderhood and geriatric medicine. He is the founder of the Eden Alternative and Green House Project, a writer and musician.
~~~~
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The Revolution is Love
~~~~
A short film directed by Ian MacKenzie, co-produced with Velcrow Ripper.
~~~~
"Love is the felt experience of connection to another being. An economist says 'more for you is less for me.' But the lover knows that more for you is more for me too. If you love somebody their happiness is your happiness. Their pain is your pain. Your sense of self expands to include other beings."
~~~~
A short film directed by Ian MacKenzie, co-produced with Velcrow Ripper.
~~~~
"Love is the felt experience of connection to another being. An economist says 'more for you is less for me.' But the lover knows that more for you is more for me too. If you love somebody their happiness is your happiness. Their pain is your pain. Your sense of self expands to include other beings."
~~~~
Friday, November 11, 2011
This We Have Now
~~~~
Rumi: Dancing in Fullness
presented by Integral Life
~~~~
There are many ways to hear Rumi's poetry - here are two:
As the Buddha finds his enlightenment by sitting in immaculate Emptiness, Rumi finds his by dancing in radical Fullness.
~~~~
What you just experienced is part of a sixty-minute performance available as an audio collection from Integral Life. To learn more about Rumi, about Coleman Banks and about David Darling or to order the full audio collection, click HERE.
~~~~
Rumi: Dancing in Fullness
presented by Integral Life
~~~~
There are many ways to hear Rumi's poetry - here are two:
As the Buddha finds his enlightenment by sitting in immaculate Emptiness, Rumi finds his by dancing in radical Fullness.
~~~~
What you just experienced is part of a sixty-minute performance available as an audio collection from Integral Life. To learn more about Rumi, about Coleman Banks and about David Darling or to order the full audio collection, click HERE.
~~~~
The Vine of the Souls
~~~~
I watched this fascinating episode of The Nature of Things on CBC last night. Here's the introduction from the website:
~~~~
~~~~
The Jungle Prescription took me far physically, but even further in the spiritual realm where our deepest humanity resides... Seeing people open to themselves, even temporarily, has been a teaching and an inspiration.
- Gabor Maté
~~~~
I watched this fascinating episode of The Nature of Things on CBC last night. Here's the introduction from the website:
~~~~
The Jungle Prescription is the tale of two doctors treating their addicted patients with a mysterious Amazonian medicine rumored to reveal one’s deepest self.To follow this incredible inner and outer journey, a simple click HERE lets you watch the entire episode, offers more information about ayahuasca and provides links to a wealth of resources should you want to explore further...
Dr. Gabor Maté has a revolutionary idea: to treat addicts with compassion. His work as the resident doctor in Vancouver’s Portland Hotel - a last-chance destination for lifelong drug abusers - has been courageous, but incredibly frustrating. Maté hears of an ancient medicine beyond his imaginings: one that could provide his patients with a solution. Its name is ayahuasca: the vine of the souls. Deep in the Amazon jungle, French doctor Jacques Mabit is using this medicine to treat hardcore addicts. Mabit runs a detox centre in the Amazon (Takiwasi or "The House That Sings"), using the plants and methods of traditional medicine.
Ayahuasca is a visionary formula that unlocks emotional memory; causing life-changing catharsis in those who drink it. The reported success rates for curing addicts at Dr. Mabit's detox centre are quadruple the average.
Dr. Maté returns to Canada with a plan to work with a group of healers to treat patients struggling with various types of addiction. At these sessions they will serve ayahuasca: the acrid tea that occupies a grey area of Canadian law. But without a detox centre or support structure for his patients, will it work?
~~~~
The Jungle Prescription took me far physically, but even further in the spiritual realm where our deepest humanity resides... Seeing people open to themselves, even temporarily, has been a teaching and an inspiration.
- Gabor Maté
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Monday, November 7, 2011
What's Your Preference?
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To let go of both Buddha and Dharma is to be truly free from all attachments, free even from not being attached. This is Zen.
~~~~
Another jewel from Genpo Roshi's Big Mind blog... a good followup to the previous RK post, Big Heart Zen Trumps the Middle Way
This one's kinda slippery, so apologies to Roshi but I'm presenting it here in its entirety...
Having No Preference
Student: We often hear the comment, “Just have no preference and everything will be fine.” It sounds straightforward and yet it seems impossible to practice in today’s world. Can you say more about this?
Roshi: There was a time in the 80’s and early 90’s when I saw it this way. Today, more than 20 years later, I now see that this advice to have no preference is still holding a preference — the preference being to have no preference.
If we use the triangle to visualize what I’m saying, at the left corner of the triangle is our dualistic mind and way of thinking, which has preferences for and against all kinds of things. We are full of likes and dislikes, should’s and should not’s, do’s and don’t’s, ought’s and ought not’s. Here at the left side of the triangle we are stuck in a dualistic view and suffer due to our preferences.
Then if we shift to the right side of the triangle, which we can call the absolute, we see clearly without preferences for and against all things. This is also what I call holding a Buddha view. It frees us from suffering and allows us to live a life with no fear. However, we are now stuck in the absolute and in liberation. We hold on tightly to this preference because it appears to free us from suffering. This is also called an enlightened view or being stuck in the absolute at the top of the summit of the mountain.
When we drop this Buddha view and drop our hold on the preference of having no preference, we are shifting from the right hand corner of the triangle to the Apex. From the Apex we see clearly that we were holding on to a deluded view that having no preference was superior to having preferences. This is a trap we can fall into whether we’ve had only a glimpse of enlightenment or even a true enlightened experience. It is only when we are free from enlightenment that we see the stuckness of this position. From the Apex we have no preference for or against having a preference or for or against having no preference. We treat both views as we would our own two children, with no preference for one over the other. We embrace both children equally.
From the Apex the next step is to divorce or go beyond even identifying with these two views. Now we create a separation and distance from embracing both having a preference and having no preference. At this point we are at what I call Me, or jokingly, me.com. This is where we are coming from being oneself truly not knowing, beyond knowing and not knowing, beyond dual and non-dual. This is neti neti. This is gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate. The most difficult thing in our practice is to go beyond both the Buddha and Dharma. To let go of both Buddha and Dharma is to be truly free from all attachments, free even from not being attached. This is Zen.
Here's that link again...
~~~~
I have met people who believe they have achieved a state of non-preference or non-attachment, when to me it looks like what they have done is disengage. That doesn't make them bad or stupid. Most of us learn at a very early age to try to please and to avoid conflict at all costs, and sitting on the fence or just going along can seem like a safe way to navigate through life. But I think we suffer from our dis-connection, we suffer in our coccoon, we suffer when we can't offer our gifts to the world, and those who care about us suffer when we won't let ourselves be known. - M.H.
Related RoadKill Post:
~ The Friction of Being Visible
~~~~
I have not yet attained non-attainment.
- Tofu Roshi
~~~~
To let go of both Buddha and Dharma is to be truly free from all attachments, free even from not being attached. This is Zen.
~~~~
Another jewel from Genpo Roshi's Big Mind blog... a good followup to the previous RK post, Big Heart Zen Trumps the Middle Way
This one's kinda slippery, so apologies to Roshi but I'm presenting it here in its entirety...
Having No Preference
Student: We often hear the comment, “Just have no preference and everything will be fine.” It sounds straightforward and yet it seems impossible to practice in today’s world. Can you say more about this?
Roshi: There was a time in the 80’s and early 90’s when I saw it this way. Today, more than 20 years later, I now see that this advice to have no preference is still holding a preference — the preference being to have no preference.
If we use the triangle to visualize what I’m saying, at the left corner of the triangle is our dualistic mind and way of thinking, which has preferences for and against all kinds of things. We are full of likes and dislikes, should’s and should not’s, do’s and don’t’s, ought’s and ought not’s. Here at the left side of the triangle we are stuck in a dualistic view and suffer due to our preferences.
Then if we shift to the right side of the triangle, which we can call the absolute, we see clearly without preferences for and against all things. This is also what I call holding a Buddha view. It frees us from suffering and allows us to live a life with no fear. However, we are now stuck in the absolute and in liberation. We hold on tightly to this preference because it appears to free us from suffering. This is also called an enlightened view or being stuck in the absolute at the top of the summit of the mountain.
When we drop this Buddha view and drop our hold on the preference of having no preference, we are shifting from the right hand corner of the triangle to the Apex. From the Apex we see clearly that we were holding on to a deluded view that having no preference was superior to having preferences. This is a trap we can fall into whether we’ve had only a glimpse of enlightenment or even a true enlightened experience. It is only when we are free from enlightenment that we see the stuckness of this position. From the Apex we have no preference for or against having a preference or for or against having no preference. We treat both views as we would our own two children, with no preference for one over the other. We embrace both children equally.
From the Apex the next step is to divorce or go beyond even identifying with these two views. Now we create a separation and distance from embracing both having a preference and having no preference. At this point we are at what I call Me, or jokingly, me.com. This is where we are coming from being oneself truly not knowing, beyond knowing and not knowing, beyond dual and non-dual. This is neti neti. This is gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate. The most difficult thing in our practice is to go beyond both the Buddha and Dharma. To let go of both Buddha and Dharma is to be truly free from all attachments, free even from not being attached. This is Zen.
Here's that link again...
~~~~
I have met people who believe they have achieved a state of non-preference or non-attachment, when to me it looks like what they have done is disengage. That doesn't make them bad or stupid. Most of us learn at a very early age to try to please and to avoid conflict at all costs, and sitting on the fence or just going along can seem like a safe way to navigate through life. But I think we suffer from our dis-connection, we suffer in our coccoon, we suffer when we can't offer our gifts to the world, and those who care about us suffer when we won't let ourselves be known. - M.H.
Related RoadKill Post:
~ The Friction of Being Visible
~~~~
I have not yet attained non-attainment.
- Tofu Roshi
~~~~
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Big Heart Zen Trumps The Middle Way
~~~~
"According to The Buddha, the Middle Way is a
life lived between the extremes of self-denial and
self-indulgence. Neither hedonistic nor ascetic are to be imitated, for the Noble Eightfold Path weaves its way through life avoiding both these unenlightened lifestyles. To see the world in light of the Buddhadharma is to have Right View, not only recognizing the suffering that is caused by desire, but also the path that leads to the ending of all such suffering, based in the Right Intention to let go of lust, ill-will and cruelty - to lead a harmless life through practicing mindful meditation and cultivating a moral lifestyle.
~ from The Middle Way: Commentaries on Meditation, Zen, Buddhism and Mindfulness
This traditional view is based largely on discrimination between opposites - self-denial vs self-indulgence, hedonistic vs ascetic, right vs wrong - making possible the avoidance of unwholesome states and the cultivation of wholesome ones. Its promise is "...it is in the walking of this Middle Way that one discovers Nirvana, releasing the pain and anguish of the ego into the serenity of our Buddha-nature."
~~~~
Contrast that view with Zen Master Genpo Roshi's perspective:
Transcend discrimination of opposites
Discover total reality
And achieve detachment
This is true freedom
~ Shinjingakudo - Dogen Zenji (1200-1253)
Transcend discrimination of opposites is what I mean by include and embrace the opposites.
Discover total reality in Big Heart Zen is what is meant by the Apex
And achieve detachment is what I mean by detaching from the opposites
This is true freedom
In this amazing blogpost entitled Zen for the World Roshi observes that all major spiritual communities, including Buddhists, experience internal conflict between fundamentalists with ideas of what is right and wrong and good and evil and liberals who feel or believe that they are free from such rigid distinctions, neither side being willing to accept or include the other. In his words, "Either view is limited and incomplete and one without the other destroys a relationship that respects the natural order of things."
While accepting the inevitability of distinctions such as good and bad, right and wrong, he cautions us to remember that these are concepts, not absolute fixed realities, and are completely dependent on circumstances. He uses the term Apex to describe the point from where we can hold the tension of opposites and go beyond them - including and transcending all perspectives. (Can we say Integral?) This is what he means by the visionary perspective - that we can understand and appreciate opposites without being bound by either one. "Then we can detach from both and declare our ownership and mastery of our own life."
"Using Dogen Zenji's phrase, this is what I call true freedom, which transcends free and unfree, which is freedom in the midst of suffering."
~~~~
To enjoy the entire blogpost, and to step into the boundless world of Big Mind/Big Heart, just click HERE.
~~~~
There was one who was human and his humanity was thought to be his weakness
but it turned out to be his greatest strength.
- Richard Bach in Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
~~~~
"According to The Buddha, the Middle Way is alife lived between the extremes of self-denial and
self-indulgence. Neither hedonistic nor ascetic are to be imitated, for the Noble Eightfold Path weaves its way through life avoiding both these unenlightened lifestyles. To see the world in light of the Buddhadharma is to have Right View, not only recognizing the suffering that is caused by desire, but also the path that leads to the ending of all such suffering, based in the Right Intention to let go of lust, ill-will and cruelty - to lead a harmless life through practicing mindful meditation and cultivating a moral lifestyle.
~ from The Middle Way: Commentaries on Meditation, Zen, Buddhism and Mindfulness
This traditional view is based largely on discrimination between opposites - self-denial vs self-indulgence, hedonistic vs ascetic, right vs wrong - making possible the avoidance of unwholesome states and the cultivation of wholesome ones. Its promise is "...it is in the walking of this Middle Way that one discovers Nirvana, releasing the pain and anguish of the ego into the serenity of our Buddha-nature."
~~~~
Contrast that view with Zen Master Genpo Roshi's perspective:
Transcend discrimination of opposites
Discover total reality
And achieve detachment
This is true freedom
~ Shinjingakudo - Dogen Zenji (1200-1253)
Transcend discrimination of opposites is what I mean by include and embrace the opposites.
Discover total reality in Big Heart Zen is what is meant by the Apex
And achieve detachment is what I mean by detaching from the opposites
This is true freedom
In this amazing blogpost entitled Zen for the World Roshi observes that all major spiritual communities, including Buddhists, experience internal conflict between fundamentalists with ideas of what is right and wrong and good and evil and liberals who feel or believe that they are free from such rigid distinctions, neither side being willing to accept or include the other. In his words, "Either view is limited and incomplete and one without the other destroys a relationship that respects the natural order of things."
"The visionary perspective disappears as soon as we believe that we are some particular thing, or our lives are about something particular, and we disown or invalidate what we are not about or believe that we are not. So for example if I believe that I am a good person, I suppress or disown my badness. If I am an aware or conscious person, then I disown and make wrong the lack of awareness or consciousness. If I think I am an enlightened being then I make those whom I believe to be unenlightened inferior and less than me. If I believe that I am a good and ethical person then anyone who appears to me as unethical and bad I judge and make wrong.Roshi believes it's time for a perspective which sees clearly and without preference the pairs of interdependent opposites: yin is dependent on yang, Easterners on Westerners, and in this case fundamentalists on liberals. "It is the natural order of things that exist because of their position relative to their polar opposites. Zen calls this co-dependent origination."
"So if I see myself as spiritual and otherworldly, then I put down worldly and so-called non-spiritual endeavors and actions. They become shadows of the spiritual person. In other words I disown everything that I consider to be not spiritual, like being greedy, competitive, an asshole, egocentric, boasting, selling oneself, undisciplined, sexual and arrogant. Then what happens is my shadow, or those parts of myself that I consider to be unspiritual, are disowned. I then project these non-spiritual aspects onto other people and make them wrong, or even hate them for being so unspiritual. I divide the world into good and bad people, meaning spiritual like myself and non-spiritual like those 'others'. I begin to equate success with being closer to the spiritual teacher or enlightened beings, or to having a position of some small degree of power, like getting to hand the teacher a cup of coffee or a tissue."
While accepting the inevitability of distinctions such as good and bad, right and wrong, he cautions us to remember that these are concepts, not absolute fixed realities, and are completely dependent on circumstances. He uses the term Apex to describe the point from where we can hold the tension of opposites and go beyond them - including and transcending all perspectives. (Can we say Integral?) This is what he means by the visionary perspective - that we can understand and appreciate opposites without being bound by either one. "Then we can detach from both and declare our ownership and mastery of our own life."
"Using Dogen Zenji's phrase, this is what I call true freedom, which transcends free and unfree, which is freedom in the midst of suffering."
~~~~
To enjoy the entire blogpost, and to step into the boundless world of Big Mind/Big Heart, just click HERE.
~~~~
There was one who was human and his humanity was thought to be his weakness
but it turned out to be his greatest strength.
- Richard Bach in Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
~~~~
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The Deep Positivity of Life
~~~~
A wonderful new video from Andrew Cohen - here's the introduction from Joel Pitney at EnlightenNext:
These days, everyone knows that we're facing unprecedented challenges as a species—the threat of terrorism, the disastrous effects of climate change, and the global economic recession, just to name a few. In the midst of such complexity, it can be all too easy to become cynical and lose touch with our higher spiritual ideals.
But as Andrew Cohen explains in the following video, recorded at a talk he gave in Boston last spring, the fundamental essence of life is inconceivably positive, no matter how difficult things may be at any given moment:
~~~~
Spiritual self-confidence is the heaviest anchor in the midst of the unending storm that is life and death.
~ A.C.
~~~~
A wonderful new video from Andrew Cohen - here's the introduction from Joel Pitney at EnlightenNext:
These days, everyone knows that we're facing unprecedented challenges as a species—the threat of terrorism, the disastrous effects of climate change, and the global economic recession, just to name a few. In the midst of such complexity, it can be all too easy to become cynical and lose touch with our higher spiritual ideals.
But as Andrew Cohen explains in the following video, recorded at a talk he gave in Boston last spring, the fundamental essence of life is inconceivably positive, no matter how difficult things may be at any given moment:
~~~~
Spiritual self-confidence is the heaviest anchor in the midst of the unending storm that is life and death.
~ A.C.
~~~~
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Same Song, Prettier Arrangement
The Subtle Trap of the Messianic Meme
~ from the EnlightenNext Editors' Blog
~~~~
Here's his take on the hype around 2012:
2012 is the progressive version of traditional eschatological thinking. It’s the idea that an event is going to occur that is dramatically outside the normal processes of history and change everything, lifting the majority of humanity to a higher level of consciousness and creating a more enlightened future. There are darker versions as well, where a sort of mini-apocalypse has to occur before we get to the better side of the future, but generally 2012 represents a positive version of eschatological thinking. It’s a more benign strain, we might say, but it’s still the same basic song, just a prettier arrangement."When our eyes open up to the reality of evolution in human nature and culture and we can look back and see not five thousand years of stasis but centuries and centuries of difficult and hard-won evolution in the interior of human lives and in the exterior of human society, we will stop hoping for messiahs. We will embrace a different vision of the future, one that requires the challenging but ultimately much more rewarding work of contributing to a process that transcends our own lives and that, miraculously, we can impact with our own actions."
Please check out the full article with links HERE.
~ End Times thinking is one of those mind viruses that simply won't bow to the reality of failure. ~ C.P.
I also highly recommend reading Elizabeth Debold's companion piece entitled In Search of True Scenius*: 5. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. Here's a clip from that post:
Why is it ... that we so often romanticize the past, believing that there was a time when human life was so much better than now? Why do we create these ideas of a Golden Age where everything was more and better than the present?Find that article, with more links, HERE.
*Scenius ... is the collective form of genius. Coined by musical savant Brian Eno, it refers to his discovery that genius doesn’t simply arise in extraordinary individuals but geniuses emerge out of vibrant, cutting edge scenes or cultural niches where a group of people, often crossing disciplines and areas of expertise, are pushing into something new and rewarding each other for taking risks and challenging the status quo."
~ Scenius is the Golden Age of the evolutionary who wants to take responsibility for and create that which has not yet happened. ~ E.D.
~~~~
Thanks again to the folks at EnlightenNext for calling us to think beyond the concerns of our individual existence to the future of the very cosmos that created us and that is continuing to evolve. For not only do we have a personal stake in what unfolds, every single thing we do or don't do affects the totality of that unfolding. It's at once an awesome responsibility and a miraculous opportunity. Bring it.
~~~~
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Only The Beginning
~~~~
A Quote of the Week from Andrew Cohen:
~~~~
In traditional mystical teachings, enlightenment means it's all over. You have reached the end of becoming. But in an evolutionary teaching, enlightenment is where it all begins. Everything begins when you become enlightened. That's when you become available - free from narcissism and self-concern and available for the noble endeavor of creating the future. That's when a new life opens up before you. That's when the work of evolutionary becoming starts.
So you want to get to that point quickly, because there is so much you want to do once you get there. There is so much you want to take responsibility for. There is so much you want to create.
~~~~
A Quote of the Week from Andrew Cohen:
~~~~
In traditional mystical teachings, enlightenment means it's all over. You have reached the end of becoming. But in an evolutionary teaching, enlightenment is where it all begins. Everything begins when you become enlightened. That's when you become available - free from narcissism and self-concern and available for the noble endeavor of creating the future. That's when a new life opens up before you. That's when the work of evolutionary becoming starts.
So you want to get to that point quickly, because there is so much you want to do once you get there. There is so much you want to take responsibility for. There is so much you want to create.
~~~~
It's Better to Burn Out ...
... than to fade away.
Who could forget those famous lyrics from Neil Young, who has, over his amazingly long and varied career, managed to do neither. This quote from his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame bio tells it all:Young has consistently demonstrated the unbridled passion of an artist who understands that self-renewal is the only way to avoid burning out. For this reason he has remained one of the most significant artists of the rock and roll era.
~~~~
Just in from Lateral Action: How Neil Young Became the First Artist to Get Sued For Not Being Himself. The author, Susan Alexander, begins with a quote from Rolling Stone:
Neil Young is the only artist in the history of modern recording to be sued for refusing to be himself. The suit, filed by Geffen Records, Young's label for much of the 80s, charged that he was violating his contract by recording 'unrepresentative' albums. In other words, Neil Young wasn't making Neil Young music.This fascinating and delightful article explores how Young has managed to "...maintain an ongoing state of creative flow throughout his career - even when he was creating to order for a record company, and even during the litigation that ensued - ... by mastering the art of self-renewal, which is something we can all learn to do."
Susan looks at what Young does (and doesn't do) to maintain this state of self-renewal and the creative flow it brings, and what this has to do with you and me. Here are the highlights:
~ He doesn't use the F word
~ He knows why he's doing it
~ He gets himself
~ He creates his own groove
Here's that link again.
~~~~
You learn that no matter how hard you try to please, some people in this world are not going to love you, a lesson that is at first troubling and then really quite relaxing.
~ John W. Gardner: Self-Renewal
~~~~
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Between Fine and Dead
~~~~
Everybody wants to believe that their parents - and even on some level, more importantly, themselves - are going to be perfectly healthy, climbing the Himalayas one day and dead the next ~ Jane Gross.
~~~~
A lot of us think we have come to terms with the inescapable fact of our own death and the death of those close to us. But what I think we fail to accept, indeed often vehemently deny, is that there will most likely be another stage of life in between fine and dead. And that stage will probably be much longer than we imagine.
~~~~
In another excellent On Being broadcast entitled The Far Shore of Aging, Krista Tippett speaks with Jane Gross, journalist and founder of the New York Times' New Old Age blog. In this conversation Jane shares her experience of caring for her mother, who, "...was fine and then all of a sudden in a hundred small ways, none of which were going to kill her, not fine."
~~~~
I have seen in you what courage can be when there's no hope.
~ May Sarton - As We Are Now
~~~~
Everybody wants to believe that their parents - and even on some level, more importantly, themselves - are going to be perfectly healthy, climbing the Himalayas one day and dead the next ~ Jane Gross.
~~~~
A lot of us think we have come to terms with the inescapable fact of our own death and the death of those close to us. But what I think we fail to accept, indeed often vehemently deny, is that there will most likely be another stage of life in between fine and dead. And that stage will probably be much longer than we imagine.
~~~~
In another excellent On Being broadcast entitled The Far Shore of Aging, Krista Tippett speaks with Jane Gross, journalist and founder of the New York Times' New Old Age blog. In this conversation Jane shares her experience of caring for her mother, who, "...was fine and then all of a sudden in a hundred small ways, none of which were going to kill her, not fine."
...you have no idea how long it's going to last. You have no idea what's going to happen next and I think, for so many of us, and, you know, this obviously is an upper-middle- class thing to say in a certain way, but we're mostly people who have been enormously successful in our professional lives and are used to feeling in control of what we're doing. You know, you make a to-do list and you check everything off the to-do list and then, when you get to the bottom of the page, whatever your task is, you're done. This doesn't work that way.This piece really tore my heart open because Jane's story so closely parallels my experience with my own mother's decline, and she speaks directly and honestly about the raw emotions that permeate that in-between time - the denial, the overwhelm, the helplessness, the guilt and the exhaustion. And the other, softer feelings that are unexpectedly awakened...
It takes a while to learn that some decisions are far more important than others; some things are actually in your hands and some not. What is vital, and well within your control, is being present in a consoling way and respectful enough to bear witness to the inevitable. This, too, is about slowing down. At first it's hard to walk at a snail's pace beside your mother or father when they can no longer keep up, at least without impatiently rolling your eyes. Or to kneel at their level when they're in a wheelchair. But the pace and the vantage become more natural and annoyance softens into tenderness if you let it.For me it was a time of great sadness and yet also a time of great tenderness and healing. As with Jane, my relationship with my mother was strained for most of our life together - again like Jane, my father (my source of unconditional love) died young. Being forced into the role of my mother's caregiver put me right up against all the wounds and resentments that I had been carrying around for 50+ years but which I was no longer able to cling to as I watched this person, who to me had always been larger than life, slowly fade away before my eyes. And as layer upon layer of who I thought my mother was fell away, I began to glimpse a beautiful, radiant being underneath, until I could finally see my mother as a person in her own right, not just who she was in relation to me. It remains a great sadness, though less of a burden of guilt, that it took me so long to wake up to that. I can't really say that there was complete resolution. There has certainly been acceptance and forgiveness, although in those moments that I most strongly feel my mother's presence in my heart, through the tears I still tell her I'm sorry.
If there's any advantage at all to them having this long slow dying, there's a lot of time to get things right that you didn't get right earlier. I mean, it definitely changed the architecture of my family. It definitely changed what the nature of my memories of my mother are and I imagine will be forever. I mean, on the one hand, it makes me more scared and, on the other hand, it makes me less scared.Access the full program (podcast or transcript) HERE.
I learned what I was made of; I found my better self. I found my mother. I found my brother. But all of that came later.
~~~~
I have seen in you what courage can be when there's no hope.
~ May Sarton - As We Are Now
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Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The Friction of Being Visible
~~~~
From The Book of Awakening: having the life you want by being present to the life you have, by Mark Nepo
~~~~
I found this wonderful book through our local library. It is a daybook, a collection of 365 short insightful offerings that speak directly from, and directly to, the spirit. It begins with an invitation from the author:
This book is meant to be of use, to be a companion, a soul friend. It is a book of awakenings. To write this I've had to live it. It's given me a chance to gather and share the quiet teachers I've met throughout my life. The journey of unearthing and shaping these entries has helped me bring my inner and outer life more closely together. It has helped me know and use my heart. It has made me more whole. I hope it can be such a tool for you.
Gathering the insights for this book has been like finding bits of stone that glistened on the path. I paused to reflect on them, to learn from them, then tucked them away and continued. After two years, I'm astonished to dump my bag of broken stones to see what I've found. The bits that have glistened along the way are what make up this book.
Essentially, they all speak about spirit and friendship, about our ongoing need to stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships we encounter. From many traditions, from many experiences, from many beautiful and honest voices, the songs herein all sing of pain and wonder and the mystery of love.
I was drawn to this form because as a poet, I was longing for a manner of expression that could be as useful as a spoon, and as a cancer survivor, daybooks have become inner food. In truth, over the last twenty-five years, the daybook has been answering a collective need and has become a spiritual sonnet of our age, a sturdy container for small doses of what matters.
All I can ask of this work is that it comes over you the way the ocean covers a stone stuck in the open, that it surprises and refreshes, that it makes you or me glisten, and leaves us scoured as we are, just softer for the moment and more clear.
It is my profound hope that something in these pages will surprise and refresh you, will make you glisten, will help you live, love, and find your way to joy.
~~~~
Here's a taste:
January 17
The Friction of Being Visible
Living through enough, we all come to this understanding, though it is difficult to accept: no matter what path we choose to honor, there will always be conflict to negotiate. If we choose to avoid all conflict with others, we will eventually breed a poisonous conflict within ourselves. Likewise, if we manage to attend our inner lives, who we are will - sooner or later - create some discord with those who would rather have us be something else.
In effect, the cost of being who you are is that you can't possibly meet everyone's expectations, and so there will inevitably be external conflict to deal with - the friction of being visible. Still, the cost of not being who you are is that while you are busy pleasing everyone around you, a precious part of you is dying inside; in this case there will be internal conflict to deal with - the friction of being invisible.
As for me, it's taken me thirty of my forty-nine years to realize that not being who I am is more deadly; and it has taken the last nineteen years to make a practice of this. What this means, in a daily way, is that I have to be conscientious about being truthful and resist the urge to accommodate my truth away. It means that being who I really am is not forbidden or muted just because others are uncomfortable or don't want to hear it.
The great examples are legendary: Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Sir Thomas More, Rosa Parks. But we don't have to be great to begin. We simply have to start by saying what we really want for dinner or which movie we really want to see.
~~~~
"I used to think that the reward for understanding truth was wisdom, but I've come to understand that the reward for experiencing truth is joy. And while I'd really like to have both, if I'm forced to choose, at this time in my life I'll choose joy."
~~~~
About the author: Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over thirty years. A New York Times #1 bestselling author, he has published twelve books and recorded six CDs. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.
~~~~
From The Book of Awakening: having the life you want by being present to the life you have, by Mark Nepo
~~~~
This book is meant to be of use, to be a companion, a soul friend. It is a book of awakenings. To write this I've had to live it. It's given me a chance to gather and share the quiet teachers I've met throughout my life. The journey of unearthing and shaping these entries has helped me bring my inner and outer life more closely together. It has helped me know and use my heart. It has made me more whole. I hope it can be such a tool for you.
Gathering the insights for this book has been like finding bits of stone that glistened on the path. I paused to reflect on them, to learn from them, then tucked them away and continued. After two years, I'm astonished to dump my bag of broken stones to see what I've found. The bits that have glistened along the way are what make up this book.
Essentially, they all speak about spirit and friendship, about our ongoing need to stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships we encounter. From many traditions, from many experiences, from many beautiful and honest voices, the songs herein all sing of pain and wonder and the mystery of love.
I was drawn to this form because as a poet, I was longing for a manner of expression that could be as useful as a spoon, and as a cancer survivor, daybooks have become inner food. In truth, over the last twenty-five years, the daybook has been answering a collective need and has become a spiritual sonnet of our age, a sturdy container for small doses of what matters.
All I can ask of this work is that it comes over you the way the ocean covers a stone stuck in the open, that it surprises and refreshes, that it makes you or me glisten, and leaves us scoured as we are, just softer for the moment and more clear.
It is my profound hope that something in these pages will surprise and refresh you, will make you glisten, will help you live, love, and find your way to joy.
~~~~
Here's a taste:
January 17
The Friction of Being Visible
Living through enough, we all come to this understanding, though it is difficult to accept: no matter what path we choose to honor, there will always be conflict to negotiate. If we choose to avoid all conflict with others, we will eventually breed a poisonous conflict within ourselves. Likewise, if we manage to attend our inner lives, who we are will - sooner or later - create some discord with those who would rather have us be something else.
In effect, the cost of being who you are is that you can't possibly meet everyone's expectations, and so there will inevitably be external conflict to deal with - the friction of being visible. Still, the cost of not being who you are is that while you are busy pleasing everyone around you, a precious part of you is dying inside; in this case there will be internal conflict to deal with - the friction of being invisible.
As for me, it's taken me thirty of my forty-nine years to realize that not being who I am is more deadly; and it has taken the last nineteen years to make a practice of this. What this means, in a daily way, is that I have to be conscientious about being truthful and resist the urge to accommodate my truth away. It means that being who I really am is not forbidden or muted just because others are uncomfortable or don't want to hear it.
The great examples are legendary: Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Sir Thomas More, Rosa Parks. But we don't have to be great to begin. We simply have to start by saying what we really want for dinner or which movie we really want to see.
~~~~
"I used to think that the reward for understanding truth was wisdom, but I've come to understand that the reward for experiencing truth is joy. And while I'd really like to have both, if I'm forced to choose, at this time in my life I'll choose joy."
~~~~
About the author: Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over thirty years. A New York Times #1 bestselling author, he has published twelve books and recorded six CDs. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.
~~~~
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The World is not "Out There"
~~~~
A quote from Andrew Cohen:
~~~~
If we are interested in the evolution of consciousness and culture, one habit that we need to break is the tendency to speak about the world as if it exists "out there". From the perspective that I call evolutionary nonduality, we don't want to separate our self from the world process because when we do we fall into a false or dualistic way of thinking.
We are not separate from the world process. In our own small way, we're all contributing to where we're going. The choices we make, the actions we take, what we say, what we don't say, are all adding to the momentum of the vast cosmic unfolding. When we really embrace the truth that we are not separate from the process that created us, then we need to become very clear about all the ways in which we are actually affecting the process, so that we can begin to more consciously impact its momentum in positive and evolutionary ways.
~~~~
A quote from Andrew Cohen:
~~~~
If we are interested in the evolution of consciousness and culture, one habit that we need to break is the tendency to speak about the world as if it exists "out there". From the perspective that I call evolutionary nonduality, we don't want to separate our self from the world process because when we do we fall into a false or dualistic way of thinking.
We are not separate from the world process. In our own small way, we're all contributing to where we're going. The choices we make, the actions we take, what we say, what we don't say, are all adding to the momentum of the vast cosmic unfolding. When we really embrace the truth that we are not separate from the process that created us, then we need to become very clear about all the ways in which we are actually affecting the process, so that we can begin to more consciously impact its momentum in positive and evolutionary ways.
~~~~
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Just Like Me
~~~~
from Leap Before You Look
~~~~
Whenever a judgment or evaluation arises within you, whether positive or negative, add the three words "... just like me"
You can go ahead and judge another
as lazy, but be inclusive with it:
He is so lazy, just like me.
She is arrogant, just like me.
They are incompetent,
She is unreliable,
He is angry,
Just like me.
Call back positive judgments in the same way:
The Dalai Lama is so wise, just like me.
She is so compassionate,
He is so strong,
Just like me.
~~~~
It is the habit of the mind in separation to want to externalize everything. If we have not fully accepted the anger or hurt or rigidity we carry in our own hearts, we seek it out in others and blame or judge the qualities we see. We project our disowned ghosts onto other people or situations. We judge another as lazy or rigid or cold or closed only when we do not want to see those tendencies in ourselves. It is in this way that we create division between a you and a me, an us and a them.
On the other hand, if we can feel the judgment and immediately call it back, we can turn it into an opportunity to pass through a small process of expansion and growth.
The three simple words, "just like me", will transform judgment to self-acceptance.
Practice this as often as you can. You can use this practice silently inside yourself, or you can speak it out loud. Either way, you will start to laugh at what previously seemed so serious and begin to celebrate the areas of yourself that had been hidden by your judgments.
~~~~
touch your body, touch the fragile part,
but don't break the mirror in your heart.
~ And One
~~~~
from Leap Before You Look
~~~~
Whenever a judgment or evaluation arises within you, whether positive or negative, add the three words "... just like me"
You can go ahead and judge another
as lazy, but be inclusive with it:
He is so lazy, just like me.She is arrogant, just like me.
They are incompetent,
She is unreliable,
He is angry,
Just like me.
Call back positive judgments in the same way:
The Dalai Lama is so wise, just like me.
She is so compassionate,
He is so strong,
Just like me.
~~~~
It is the habit of the mind in separation to want to externalize everything. If we have not fully accepted the anger or hurt or rigidity we carry in our own hearts, we seek it out in others and blame or judge the qualities we see. We project our disowned ghosts onto other people or situations. We judge another as lazy or rigid or cold or closed only when we do not want to see those tendencies in ourselves. It is in this way that we create division between a you and a me, an us and a them.
On the other hand, if we can feel the judgment and immediately call it back, we can turn it into an opportunity to pass through a small process of expansion and growth.
The three simple words, "just like me", will transform judgment to self-acceptance.
Practice this as often as you can. You can use this practice silently inside yourself, or you can speak it out loud. Either way, you will start to laugh at what previously seemed so serious and begin to celebrate the areas of yourself that had been hidden by your judgments.
~~~~
touch your body, touch the fragile part,
but don't break the mirror in your heart.
~ And One
~~~~
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