The Moment

Medicine of the Moment
Jon Kabat-Zinn is modest. He is too much of a scientist to rely on one perspective. He is too interested in the work and the world to take his own story too personally. He says, I could concoct this story a thousand different ways depending on my mood and what I want to convey, and none would be absolutely true. A quantum particle doesn't have one path; it has a probability for an infinite number of paths.

When asked what his innermost motivation has been, he will tell you it is a love of science. He goes on to say, "When science is at its best it asks deep questions about the nature of reality and then puts them to the test." In Coming to Our Senses, he posits the Buddha as a great scientist and also unearths several of Albert Einstein's more Buddha-like pronouncements, such as "the separation between past, present, and future has only the meaning of an illusion, albeit a tenacious one."

(Via Shambhala Sun)

TV News

Fox News misidentifies innocent family as terrorists
Xeni Jardin:
Fox News contributor and former US prosecutor John Loftus read the address of a 'terrorist' residence in California on-air. Oh, wait -- whoops -- no terrorist home, just an innocent family of five who are now the target of angry threats.

Since the report aired on Fox News on Aug. 7, people have shouted profanities at Randy and Ronnell Vorick and spray-painted 'terrorist' (spelling it 'terrist') on their property.

Link to LA Times story, Link to followup on newshounds.us with news that Loftus has been sacked.
(Via BoingBoing)

Oh my. How long before people tip off TV News about anybody they dislike. I find that the Net is a better source for news than the TV and can't even remember the last time I sat down to watch the News on the telly.

Big Mind Santa Fe

This stage is my life (and yours). Only there are no rehearsals, and there is no dialog I can learn by heart. I may have various acting coaches that can inform my decisions, my dialog, my actions and my movement on this stage. But they are peripheral to my position on the stage. These teachers stand on the sidelines, while I am in the spotlight. And, unlike a movie which could theoretically last forever, my performance has a deadline called death.

The impermanence is the key, because it makes every moment and every decision I make on that stage (life) count. It makes the whole experience more precious. Just as a blossom that opens for a few hours only, seems so much more precious to us than a flower that blooms for months at a time.

The teacher can only point at the moon - if we stare at his/her finger instead of finding the moon not much can be done... except to try again, and again.

I had a great weekend. On Friday I met Genpo Roshi and a couple of friends for lunch at Maria's. From there we went to Temple Beth Shalom, where he gave a quick demonstration of the Big Mind process, which he is offering to facilitate in Israel in order to improve the dialog between Israel and Palestine. Watching Roshi facilitate the Big Mind process is especially fun when one can observe people who are skeptical or resist the idea, because in the end everyone gets it... From the temple I took Roshi to my acupuncturist and then about five of us ended up at my house with me trying to throw a quick dinner together before Roshi went to Upaya for the first part of the workshop.

On Saturday I attended the Big Mind workshop at Upaya, which I enjoyed very much.

At lunch-time I rushed home to practice guitar before returning to Upaya for the afternoon workshop. In the evening I took Roshi and a couple of friends to Andiamo, another local restaurant I like.

After that we drove back to Upaya and I played guitar in the Zendo, which was a rare treat for me. No microphones, no speakers, no stage - just a guitar, myself and around 60 people sitting on the floor, listening. I played 6 or 7 songs, including Silence: No More Longing of course. I also played a Solea Por Bulerias (from Winter Rose), Snakecharmer, a new Buleria, and Santa Fe among others. Then I asked whether anybody had questions and we talked for about half an hour before I ended with Bombay. The encore was a medley consisting of Querencia, Spring Rain and a little improvisation.

Of course there is no way to do something like this on a large stage, but I started thinking about the dialog with the audience. Two things came to mind: I have never enjoyed talking during my shows, claiming that it was difficult to switch between music-mind and talking-mind... that much is true, but I suspect it shows my own inability to switch perspectives and that is something that I should be able to learn to do. If I can switch between little self and Big Mind I can switch between music and talking. The other thing that came to mind was that one could facilitate a dialog with our audience as follows: have a whole lot of little index cards at our merch table and encourage people to write down any questions they might have for me - this would be encouraged by the folks at the merch table and I could mention it before the intermission as well... during the second half of the show I could select two or three of the indexcards/questions and could answer them between songs...

After my concert the roshis (Genpo Roshi and Joan Halifax Roshi) and three friends ended up in my kitchen again for drinks and talking. I sat on the kitchen counter top, because I don't have enough chairs (note to self!!) and had a wonderful time listening to my guests. Joan Halifax Roshi is a truly captivating person. I encouraged her to start a blog, because she travels so much and in November will be a panelist at the Investigating the Mind 2005 conference with the Dalai Lama - you can ask him a question for that conference HERE. She could blog straight from her Blackberry, which would be fascinating...

from an email I received

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry"

I don't know whether this is a true story, but that really doesn't matter. Found this web site of Leo Buscaglia.

Mindfulness Retreat

Mindfulness Retreat
Liberty, Responsibility & the Pursuit of Happiness.
September 28 - October 2, 2005
Deer Park Monastery, Escondido CA

In this retreat Thich Nhat Hanh will give daily Dharma Talks, and everyday we will practice sitting meditation and outdoor walking meditation in order to develop our calm, stability, peace and joy.

Escondido is not far from San Diego - see Google Map

Art of Peace

The Art of Peace
Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) was the founder of Aikido, which can be translated as "The Art of Peace."

The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter
(Via eternal awareness)

All roads lead to Rome. Eventually.
But, we have to choose a road, we have to start walking down that road, and we have to walk far enough...

Black and White

Let's return to our problem of good and evil and make use of the common white hat/black hat analogy which originated in the old movie Westerns. In these movies, the good guy wore a white hat [first aspect], whereas his mirror opposite, the bad guy, wore a black one [second aspect]. We have one of the simplest, most clear-cut mirror oppositions...

But what is the True Opposite (third aspect) of both of these fellows? It's the man who, metaphorically, wears no hat at all.

The person who wears no hat is the person who's not taking sides - the person who does not see himself or herself in opposition to others.

The black hat/white hat view of good and evil can make an entertaining movie because the moral lines it draws are so simple and obvious that the story remains easy to follow right through to its poignant finish. In real life, however, the lines are infinitely complex, and the story has no ending. The black hat/white hat theory of good and evil doesn't reflect our actual experience of life's moral difficulties.
(Via Dashh: A Day In The Integral Life)

Read more HERE

Wearing a white hat must be so exhausting. As exhausting as wearing a black hat, maybe. Wearing any hat is tiresome. Better to say may be like the old chinese farmer.

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "May be," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "May be," replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "May be," answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "May be," said the farmer.

I found the story HERE and have quoted it before.

Life and Death

Discipline Global Mobile
In an obvious sense, life and death are reverse sides of the same coin. Without life there cannot be death, and without death life lacks its imperative. Death, in this view, is an inevitability.

But death is far more than a mere inevitability: it makes a contribution to life which enables life to continue. At the completion of a life lived well, something of what has been acquired is returned to life and living things.

Our contemporary culture seems to be the only culture in history which doubts that an individual consciousness, concentrated within one particular life, is an ongoing and continuous action contained within the growing overall human consciousness.

From Robert Fripp's web notes regarding his CD A Blessing of Tears: 1995 Soundscapes Volume II. The music is dedicated to the memory of Fripp's mother and he ends with these beautiful words:

I have not lost my mother, but I miss her company.

Death makes life more precious. It urges us to live our lives well, because death follows our footsteps and can appear at any moment. What would a life be worth, without death and disease hovering near or far? Isn't a flower that blooms for a few hours more precious than one that blooms for months on end and whose sight becomes so commonplace as to be forgotten? The ability to live in your body for a thousand years - would that make you happy or miserable?

Mindfulness Bell

from PBS.org
Thich Nhat Hanh even suggests meditating while driving. En route, when we focus only on arriving at our destination, red lights can cause anxiety and frustration. Instead, he suggests using a red light as a bell of mindfulness, which reminds us to return to the present moment. Instead of muttering curses or flooring the accelerator, next time you see a red light, smile at it, and go back to your conscious breathing. It is easy to transform a feeling of irritation into one of pleasure. This same red light becomes a reminder that it is only in the present moment that we can live our lives.

from Plum Village
On your arrival you might hear a bell sound and suddenly people around you have stopped still, stopped talking, and stopped moving. It might be the telephone ringing or the clock chiming, or the monastery bell sounding. These are our bells of mindfulness. When we hear the sound of the bell we relax our body and become aware of our breathing. We do that naturally, with enjoyment, and without solemnity or being stiffed.
When we hear one of these mindfulness bells ring, we stop all of our conversations and whatever we are doing and bring our awareness to our breathing.

Idea: design a software application that rings a virtual mp3 bell every 15-90 minutes, or maybe every 30-90 minutes? This could be a web page (see clock) which would be the most universal application as any computer OS could use it. In order to use the Mindfulness Bell page, one would only have to leave that page of the browser open. A Mac OS Tiger Widget would be cool, of course, and a Palm app would be nice, but that is not nearly as universal. I imagine one would sit down at one's computer to start some work. Normally time can really fly by and hours later the eyes can't quite focus, and our shoulders are hunched over... but if we begin by opening the Mindfulness Bell web page before we start work, we will get reminded to take a deep breath, relax our back, look into the distance... I can supply a nice bell mp3, if somebody else can code a web page to ring it at random intervals between 15 and 90 minutes - or maybe we slider that allows the user to select a range of time intervals... just a thought

Inter-Are

Thich Nhat Hanh began with a story:
One day I was practicing mindful movement in a wood with the people of our community, he said softly. Everyday we practice this, walking slowly, mindfully, to enjoy every step; then we sit down. One day, I suddenly realized that the tree standing in front of me allowed my movement to be possible. I saw very clearly that I was able to breathe in because of its presence in front of me. It was standing there for me, and I was breathing in and out for the tree. I saw this connection very profoundly.
In my tradition we speak of interbeing. We cannot be by ourself alone; we must be with everything else, he continued. So, for example, we inter-are with a tree: if it is not there, we are not there either. In the Diamond Sutra the Buddha advises us to consider four notions: the notions of self, of humanity, of living beings, and of life span. He also advises that the practice of removing these notions from mind is not difficult; anyone can do it.
(from Shambalasun.com)
can also be found here

Mind and Life Institute

Dashh: A Day In The Integral Life

Mind and Life Institute XIII is the latest in a series of dialogues between scientists, the Dalai Lama, and other Buddhist contemplatives on areas of mutual interest at the intersection of western empirical science and the contemplative traditions and their associated methodologies, psychologies, and philosophies.
(Via Dashh: A Day In The Integral Life)

Spiritual Practice

Eckhart Tolle on Spiritual Practice

'I wouldn't say that the practice itself has the power to liberate. It's only when there is complete surrender to the now, to what is, that liberation is possible. I do not believe that a practice will take you into complete surrender. Complete surrender usually happens through living. Your very life is the ground where that happens. There may be a partial surrender and then there may be an opening, and then you may engage in spiritual practice. But whether the spiritual practice is taken up after a certain degree of insight or the spiritual practice is just done in and of itself, the practice alone won't do it.'

- WIE: Ripples on the Surface of Being - An Interview with Eckhart Tolle

Like I said, meditation schmeditation >;)
(Via coolmel)

Meditation schmeditation - on the other hand: maybe that's just your ego speaking, because it doesn't want you to sit and shut up for a few minutes!

Every single one of the "spritual teachers" hopes that his/her method is the one that will save x amount of people and starts preaching that method. Take the guy you are quoting: he might think what made him "get it" was his "surrender to the now!". So, maybe he trademarked that phrase "Surrender to the Now" and is traveling around telling people just that.

But this phrase "Surrender to the Now" is just his conception, his idea of what happened. Just an idea, just another method, just another finger pointing at the moon. Might work for some people, not work for others. A lot of it is just accident-like. Meaning - when all of the ingredients come together in the pot the result can be tasty - or not.

Some methods make the accident more likely than others and all of those methods involve dissolving the ego, softening up the ego, making it translucent or whatever terms we want to use. Meditation is just a great practice to dissolve the ego - that's all. So is love and service/devotion...

Maybe because I am a musician, practicing is very natural to me. Nothing happens between a musician and his instrument without practice. I feel that anything to be done well needs to be practiced and that practice in itself is liberating.

"practice alone won't do it"

That's just very silly, IMO. Nothing "alone" or isolated will likely do anything. It is one of the funniest human traits... we love to latch on to the one thing that will make us happy, make us successful etc. blablah. A very masculine trait, I think.

"practice alone won't do it " - that's a lot like saying heating the pans won't cook a meal, or cutting the vegetables won''t cook a meal. Yeah, damn right.

"practice alone won't do it" - OTOH maybe that's not as obvious as I think it is...

Conversation

Posted by Victor at August 6, 2005 05:43 PM
Perhaps clinging to personality traits is a dead end. Yet we tend to think that "favorable" traits are a good thing and we are all too happy to be defined by those. But to what extent do I blind myself if I think that I'm "smart", or "funny", or "attractive"? There is also a tendency to cling to "negative" traits. For example, what am I excusing myself from if I don't think I'm "smart", etc.? Either way, we don't allow for the possibility of what we're supposedly "not"!

Exactly. These traits are simply how the Ego defines itself, making itself appear solid, attempting to prove its existence - to itself. If I am smart/not smart, I must be real. If I am rich/poor, I must exist. By defining what we think we are or are not, we are cutting off possibilities as you wrote, and we are also making ourselves more solid, less flexible, less adaptable. Life will simply roll over our rock-hard ego, but that ego will shatter if the current of life throws us against something hard - and in the end nothing is more fragile than a rock-hard ego.

With regard to critics... Their job is what, to determine if some work measures up to their collection of preferences and opinions?? I guess they're supposed to uphold some standard of measure... But it's a little like trying to hold up a yardstick to measure a moving wave... And over time the yardstick changes too (maybe "metric" is popular this year)!

Being a critic is a hard job. Since a healthy set of preferences has to change over time, the great critic might revisit a piece of music or a painting and be brave enough to change their mind about it. But yes, I imagine it would be quite hard to run around with a permanently attached yardstick. It's not a job I am envious of.

Personality

At 6:16 AM, Just Me said...
there was an article in national geographic eons ago that always stuck with me. it talked about memory and personality. as much as we think our personality is unique and the only one we're capable of "owning" apparently amnesia victims who never regain their past memories will actually develop completely different personalities, different likes, dislikes, etc. so it raises the question: could we be different than who we are? how much of our personality is inherent in our brain and how much is affected by environment.

A personality is a random occurrence, built by Time and Ego on the basis of genetic inheritance and the environment. If you wipe out the memory of that personality, Time and Ego will work together to create a new personality. In fact, this little construct we call personality depends on so many random factors that it is hilarious how much we tend to hold on to it. We hold on to that personality more than we hold on to anything else... We say: this is me - take IT or leave IT! ...when we should wisely leave IT ourselves...

Realizing that a personality is a random construct should enable us to let it go, but instead we often cling to it because we feel it is all we got...

The author of the book Translucent Revolution uses the words transparent vs translucent, and I think they would be useful here. While a human could certainly become transparent, or disappear, i.e. without an ego or personality - holy men in India are known to have achieved this - it might not be at all useful in our society... so, becoming translucent is the choice that makes sense. It means there is an ego, there is a personality but the human is aware that it is a random collection of stuff (likes, dislikes, preferences, opinions etc.) that can be adjusted when necessary.

Dealing with understanding the randomness of one's personality is particular interesting for designers, artists and musicians - because we are valued exactly for our TASTE, our little collection of preferences... That private collection is what makes us sound a certain way if we are musicians, or what makes our designs or artwork look a certain way. And imagine how strange this is for a critic! While an artist can lose himself in his work sometimes and afterwards have no idea how or why I did that what does a critic do?

Gift

Music: Slave to the Rhythm - Grace Jones

I know the feeling very well, that sense that the self is gone, when any comment or preference has vanished and all that remains then, is the act of making music...

I have been intimately familiar with that sensation since I was a boy of around 12, when I started to get lost in my guitar and the music. In the beginning of the nineties the success of NF gave me the opportunity to get addicted to that sensation. I arranged my life to create and prolong those moments. People shopped for me, cooked for me, took care of business for me, because any moment without music felt like a wasted moment...

The birth of my son put an end to that. I could not ignore him and yet he made me miserable. When I changed a diaper, I thought about the music I could be making instead. This led to the biggest despair of my life, which led to misery, which led me to Ken Wilber's house to experience Big Mind with Genpo Roshi in February of 2004, which led me to asking Roshi to be my teacher last August, which led me to my first sesshin in December and my second sesshin in May, which led my to receiving Jukai.

Now I enjoy every precious moment with my son. I am able to experience the self being gone while not making music... I can be in the moment with my son - without thinking that I would rather be making music. What a gift.

Sitting

I sit every day, not to be enlightened, but because it refreshes me. It is the glass of cold water after a long walk. It is the fresh breeze on a hot day.

It suspends me, that odd collection of stories and preferences that I know as Ottmar or Zenho, for 30 minutes or an hour every day. For the duration of my sitting, there is nothing to do, but to be present in the moment, the moments... to breath, and to watch the brain spin its stories and tales... sometimes the brain gives up for a while and stops making up stuff... those are delicious moments... no better than the other moments, mind you...

Golden Ratio

Golden Ratio
Golden Mean
Fibonacci
The Golden Mean

Robots

Remember all of those Sci-Fi stories of robots or computers becoming aware... well, that's happening on this planet right now... but it's humans...

Flexible

It seems to me that it is of utmost importance to train our minds to be very supple and flexible. We need to ride that beautiful edge between the impersonal oneness and that very human personal expression - and if we are able to switch perspectives easily, and if we are comfortable with moving back and forth quickly, that works beautifully.

At this moment in time the evolution of consciousness is limited by our brain, the filter that regulates our human experience. Those limits can be beautiful or, well, limiting. If I choose to draw with black charcoal, then I will love that experience. If I choose to work with bright oil paints, then I will love that experience. But, if I draw with charcoal and expect to see bright colors I will be disappointed, I will suffer.

But there is so much we can do with the charcoal... we just need a little guidance, a little practice, and some experience! Imagine if we taught children how to change perspectives like that... most of them would probably think it was completely natural...