Space Oddity Ground Control

There is something so amazing hearing this and seeing the earth spinning below. It's almost like having a foot in 2 dimensions. I can really feel how we are on a bridge spanning two worlds of knowing; one veiled, the other more clear. Can we manage to cross the bridge of knowing and leave behind our ignorant ways?

The Misguided Monk

The Black Dog Learns New Tricks

This is a wonderful and important video for everyone to watch. We can all relate to the Black Dog in our lives.

Wendell Berry and His Hopes For Humanity

Tao Te Ching

webspace.webring.com

When people see things as beautiful, 
ugliness is created. 
When people see things as good, 
evil is created. 
Being and non-being produce each other. 
Difficult and easy complement each other. 
Long and short define each other. 
High and low oppose each other. 
Fore and aft follow each other.
(Tao Te Ching; second chapter)



 Recently I found myself in a conversation around the topic of "hope". And curiously I found  myself defending the concept. I think this was more a product of habitual thinking. After all, how could anyone possibly have anything negative to say about hope?

As I reflected more on the conversation, the Buddhist exhortation "Abandon all hope!" came to mind. Then I came across this teaching from the Tao Te Ching. This helped clarify my own thinking around the concept.

The fact of the matter is "hope" is a flimsy reason on which to base one's actions because in some ways it sets up a conditional relationship between the act and the result. I will do this because I know something will result, presumably something that is positive and fits one's particular idea of "good". On the surface this seems to be reasonable enough. But as a Buddhist, the rub is the conditional relationship between act and result. Indeed, the very idea of "result" removes one from the present moment and catapults us into the illusory future.

So on what do we base our actions, if not the "hope" that it will bear positive fruit? It seems to me our actions must be grounded in unconditional love, which is to say compassion. We act to reduce the suffering that is in front of us at the moment, both internally and externally. It is a moment to moment, constantly renewing practice. No matter how much we practice, there will constantly be opportunities to reduce suffering. Things will never come to a point where suffering ends because of all our positive action. We, nevertheless, act because it is enough to be the compassionate, loving, non-judgmental presence no matter how seemingly fruitless or insignificant it might seem. This is more an act of trusting than of hoping. Trust is centered in the moment whereas hope is centered in the future. The act exists outside of expectation. It is unconditional. It is pure and untainted by "result".

Gratitude

The Big Thing

We can actualize the Big Thing only through loving small things; loving small things, conversely, is the way of realizing the Big Thing.

Henry Shukman (from the Tricycle article How To Be In The World)

An Experience of Surpassing Preciousness

                                                                                   I came across this passage recently taken from Eugene O'Neill's novel Long Day's Journey Into Night that I find perfectly describes the experience of losing oneself on the journey of self discovery. The imagery is sublime. Enjoy.

 I was on the Squarehead square rigger, bound for Buenos Aires. Full moon in the Trades. The old hooker driving 14 knots. I lay on the bowsprit, facing astern, with the water foaming into spume under me, the masts with every sail white in the moonlight towering high above me. I became drunk with the beauty and singing rhythm of it, and for a moment I lost myself—actually lost my life. I was set free! I dissolved into the sea, became white sails and flying spray, became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and the ship and the high dim-starred sky! I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the life of Man, to Life itself! To God, if you want to put it that way. 

Another seminal experience that Shukman had which ultimately became the opening chapter of The Lost City is described below.

It was on the last afternoon of a boat tour in the islands that I found myself alone on a beach. The sun was low enough to shed a broad, scintillating path of light on the ocean. I stared at it, fascinated. I had recently finished writing what would become my first book and was inordinately happy. I had not only found my metier but had begun to put it into effect. I was also happy to be alone. It felt like I had put down a great weight I didn’t realize I’d been carrying. I hadn’t known until then to what extent I normally trammeled my mind, steering it in channels that enabled communication with others. Suddenly a great liberation opened, blissful. I forgot all plans for the future; all hope, all fear vanished. The joy somehow carried a promise of eternity, as if I were nose-up against the beginning and end of time.

I was staring at the shifting, dazzling scales of light on the surface of the sea. Water was transparent, as was air, and come to think of it, so was light. The three substances were in effect invisible. The surface of the sea was nothing but the sheet, infinitesimally thin, where they met. How come I could see anything at all?

As I stared in amazement, it felt as if I—the center of my consciousness—were not where I thought I dwelt, in my body, but had been swallowed by the world. An extraordinary feeling of belonging arose. I belonged utterly, right where I was, and everywhere, and always had.

Then I looked at my hand. It too was no different from everything else. It was one and the same as the sand, the sea, the rocks. It felt like everything, hand included, was engaged in one single declaration of love. The whole world was the single hand. There was nothing else. And somehow, I could hear not only it, but everything. It was the only sound in the universe.

Moonwalk at Cathedrale Peak

SOU 630

Yesterday, November 16, 2013, I had the good luck to be stopped at the Biltmore Village rail crossing as the steam locomotive SOU630 made its scheduled stop in Asheville during its final autumn excursion from Knoxville, TN. What a unique opportunity to view up close this marvelous 19c technology at once impressive, dramatic, and strangely captivating. These machines seems to resonate with something human, indeed almost possess a human quality as they huff and puff, groan and creek. There is a kind of connection, almost affection which is quite different to the relationship we have with "modern" technology which I find incomprehensible. If you want to see a steam locomotive in action the following clip has excellent footage of the locomotive I saw. Especiall7 from 7:37 where you have about 3 minutes of a working locomotive at speed. Fascinating! Enjoy the following

Global Warming

image from ghazaa.tumbler.com

An Interview With The Happiest Man In The World

Often called the most happy man in the world (though he stresses that this is simply a tag created by the press for their own reasons)Matthieu Ricard (the Dalai Lama's chief French translator) speaks with Krista Tippett in this free ranging discussion about the nature of reality and the source of happiness. Though the clip takes 90 minutes, it is well worth the time since there is a tremendous amount of wisdom here explained in layman's terms; a discussion we can all understand and relate to deeply.

Cabin Inspiration

I came across this lovely little story on Houzz.com. I especially like the little personal touches that make the space so organic and human. Touches like the collected bird's nests above the door and the inverted bed frame as canopy. above the bed! When you let the human spirit dictate the way forward and pay attention to the language of the heart the result is always beautiful. The end result may not conform to accepted ideas of what is practical, but that does not matter. The language of the heart does not always have a practical translation.

The Travail of the New World Order

 

The Travail of the New World Order

From the Discourses of Meher Baba

The world-storm which has been gathering momentum is now having its greatest outburst,* and in reaching its climax it will work universal disaster.  In the struggle for material well-being, all grievances have assumed fantastic proportions, and the diverse differences of human interest have been so accentuated that they have precipitated distinctive conflict.  Humanity has failed to solve its individual and social problems, and the evidence for this failure is very clear.  The incapacity of men to deal with their problems constructively and creatively reveals a tragic deficiency in the right understanding of the basic nature of man and the true purpose of life.

The world is witnessing an acute conflict between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness.  On the one hand there are selfish persons who seek their happiness blindly through lust for power, unbridled greed and unrelieved hatred.  Ignorant of the real purpose of life, they have sunk down to the lowest level of culture.  They bury their higher selves in the wreckage of crumbling forms which linger on from the dead past.  Bound by material interests and limited conceptions, they are forgetful of their divine destiny.  They have lost their way, and their hearts are torn by the ravages of hate and rancour.  On the other hand there are persons who unveil their inherent higher selves through the endurance of pain and deprivation and through noble acts of bravery and self-sacrifice.  The present war is teaching man to be brave, to be able to suffer, to understand and to sacrifice.

The disease of selfishness in mankind will need a cure which is not only universal in its application but drastic in nature.  Selfishness is so deep-rooted that it can be eradicated only if it is attacked from all sides.  Real peace and happiness will dawn spontaneously when there is a purging of selfishness.  The peace and happiness which come from self-giving love are permanent.  Even the worst sinners can become great saints if they have the courage and sincerity to invite a drastic and complete change of heart.

The present chaos and destruction will engulf the whole world, but this will be followed by a very long period in which there shall be no war.  The passing sufferings and miseries of our times will be worth enduring for the sake of the long period of happiness which is to follow.  What will the present chaos lead to?  How will it all end?  It can only end in one way.  Mankind will be sick of it all.  Man will be sick of wanting and sick of fighting out of hatred.  Greed and hatred will reach such intensity that everyone will become weary of them.  The way out of the dead-lock will be found through selflessness.  The only alternative which can bring a solution will be to stop hating and to love, to stop wanting and to give, to stop dominating and to serve.

Great suffering awakens great understanding.  Supreme suffering fulfills its purpose and yields its true significance when it awakens exhausted humanity and stirs within it a genuine longing for real understanding.  Unprecedented suffering leads to unprecedented spiritual growth.  It contributes to the construction of life on the unshakable foundation of the Truth.  It is now high time that universal suffering should hasten humanity to the turning point in its spiritual history.  It is now high time that the very agonies of our times should become a medium for bringing a real understanding of human relationship.  It is now high time for humanity to face squarely the true causes of the catastrophe that has overtaken it.  It is now high time to seek a new experience of Reality.  To know that life is real and eternal is to inherit unfading bliss.  It is time that men have this realization by being unified with their own Self.

Through unification with the higher Self, man perceives the Infinite Self in all selves. He becomes free by outgrowing and discarding the limitations of the ego-life.  The individual soul has to realize with full consciousness its identity with the Universal Soul.  Man shall reorient life in the light of this ancient Truth, and they will readjust their attitude towards their neighbors in everyday life.  To perceive the spiritual value of oneness is to promote real unity and cooperation.  Brotherhood then becomes a spontaneous outcome of true perception.  The new life which is based upon spiritual understanding is an affirmation of the Truth.  It is not something which belongs to utopia, but is completely practical.  Now that humanity is thrown into the fire of bloody conflicts, through immense anguish it is experiencing the utter instability and futility of the life which is based upon purely material conceptions.  The hour is near when men in their eager longing for real happiness will seek its true source.

The time is also ripe when men will ardently seek to contact the embodiment of Truth in the form of a God-Man, through whom they can be inspired and lifted into spiritual understanding.  They will accept the guidance which comes from divine authority.  Only the outpouring of divine love can bring about spiritual awakening.  In this critical time of universal suffering, men are becoming ready to turn towards their Higher Self and to fulfill the will of God.  Divine love will perform the supreme miracle of bringing God into the hearts of men and of getting them established in lasting and true happiness.  It will satisfy the greatest need and longing of mankind.  Divine love will make people selfless and helpful in their mutual relations, and it will bring about the final solution of all problems.  The new brotherhood on earth shall be a fulfilled fact and nations will be united in the fraternity of Love and Truth.

My existence is for this Love and this Truth.  To suffering humanity I say:

 “Have hope. I have come to help you in surrendering yourselves to the cause of God and in accepting His grace of Love and Truth.  I have come to help you in winning the one victory of all victories—to win yourself.” 

*Originally written and published in 1941-1942.

Prayer For Nature

photo by Joel Bedford/flickr

Prayer for Nature
by Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918)

O God, we thank you for this universe, our home; and for its vastness and richness, the exuberance of life which fills it and of which we are part. We praise you for the vault of heaven and for the winds, pregnant with blessings, for the clouds which navigate and for the constellations, there so high. We praise you for the oceans and for the fresh streams, for the endless mountains, the trees, the grass under our feet. We praise you for our senses, to be able to see the moving splendour, to hear the songs of lovers, to smell the beautiful fragrance of the spring flowers.

Give us, we pray you, a heart that is open to all this joy and all this beauty, and free our souls of the blindness that comes from preoccupation with the things of life, and of the shadows of passions, to the point that we no longer see nor hear, not even when the bush at the roadside is afire with the glory of God. Give us a broader sense of communion with all living things, our sisters, to whom you gave this world as a home along with us.
We remember with shame that in the past we took advantage of our greater power and used it with unlimited cruelty, so much so that the voice of the earth, which should have arisen to you as a song was turned into a moan of suffering.
May we learn that living things do not live just for us, that they live for themselves and for you, and that they love the sweetness of life as much as we do, and serve you, in their place, better than we do in ours. When our end arrives and we can no longer make use of this world, and when we have to give way to others, may we leave nothing destroyed by our ambition or deformed by our ignorance, but may we pass along our common heritage more beautiful and more sweet, without having removed from it any of its fertility and joy, and so may our bodies return in peace to the womb of the great mother who nourished us and our spirits enjoy perfect life in you.

Because A Blue Heron Flew Overhead by Dick Allen

Because a Blue Heron Flew Overhead Because a blue heron flew overhead, It was a good day to butter bread, To listen to James Taylor, Stockbridge to Boston, And visit the Garden of the Unsuccessful Politician. A good day to ask a clock what makes it tick, Or place one brick upon another brick, To remember that if you think, there are ripples, But also if you don’t think, there are ripples. And because a blue heron flew overhead, We swept up the porch, we made up the bed. We bought packaged shirts, then took out their pins. We placed gray umbrellas in clear storage bins. There was a road, a lake, a moonlit field, A brow to be soothed, a wound to be healed. Stockbridge to Boston. Sweet Baby James. The glory, the wonder, the sheer joy of names! And my life was a story of thread and unthread Because a blue heron flew overhead.

Saints Among Us

The holiest among us have no need to shout their connection to God. They simply allow love and spirit to flow through them and out into the world. Here is one such Saint.

A Different Drum

JACK from Grace Jackson on Vimeo.

Walking on Earth

photo credit Martin Gommel (license flikr)

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh, from The Miracle of Mindfulness

Vipassana Teacher S.N. Goenka passes at 90

                                                                               
Goenka was responsible for promulgating insight meditation (vipassana) throughout the West. He believed that learning how to live a good life was also learning how to die a good death. Here is a quote I found regarding that. Find out more on this pioneer here

“Everyone has to observe one's death: 

coming, coming, coming, 

going, going, going, gone! 

Be happy!”

What Love Is

Here is a quote from an article written for Tricycle Magazine by Ayya Khema

If one likes or loves oneself, it's easier to love others, which is why we always start loving-kindness meditations with the focus on ourselves. That's not egocentricity. If we don't like ourselves because we have faults, or have made mistakes, we will transfer that dislike to others and judge them accordingly. We are not here to be judge and jury. First of all, we don't even have the qualifications. It's also a very unsatisfactory job, doesn't pay, and just makes people unhappy.

Read the article here

Bouyancy

Buoyancy 

Love has taken away all my practices And filled me with poetry. 

I tried to keep quietly repeating No Strength but yours, But I couldn't. 

I had to clap and sing. 

I used to be respectable and chaste and stable,

 but who can stand in this strong wind and remember those things? 

I am scrap wood thrown in your fire, and quickly reduced to smoke.

I saw you and became empty. 

This emptiness, more beautiful than existence, it obliterates existence, 

and yet when it comes, existence thrives and creates more existence. 

The sky is blue. 

he world is a blind man squatting on the road. 

But whoever sees your emptiness sees beyond blue and beyond the blind man. 

A great soul hides like Mohammed, or Jesus, moving through a crowd in a city where no one knows him.

 To praise is to praise how one surrenders to the emptiness. 

To praise the sun is to praise your own eyes. 

Praise, the ocean. What we say, a little ship. 

So the sea-journey goes on, and who knows where!

 Just to be held by the ocean is the best luck we could have. 

It's a total waking up! 

Why should we grieve that we've been sleeping? 

It doesn't matter how long we've been unconscious. 

We're groggy, but let the guilt go. 

Feel the motions of tenderness around you, the buoyancy. -

Rumi

Cultivating a Heart of Compassion

Could a greater miracle take place, 

than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant? 

 Henry David Thoreau.

Metta Blessing

Changing the world from within.

Woodland Magic

The clip explains it all.

Death Regrets

A palliative care nurse, Bonnie,  in Australia was in the habit of asking her patients if there was anything they would do differently in their lives, or if they had any regrets. "The thing about deathbed regrets is that it is too late to do anything about them. We have to change things now," she said.  The five most common themes that surfaced time and again were as follows:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.  

Our Cosmic Connection.

This article written by Jack Haubner beautifully captures the essence of our cosmic connection and is reflective of Thich Nhat hahn's "Interbeing" teaching. If you are feeling somehow disconnected and isolated, it is a wonderful reminder. Read the article here.

Eagleeye's view

If you hitched a ride on the back of an eagle, this is what you would experience.

Same Love

Wonderful video to the rap lyrics by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Precious Life. All One!

Let there be an end to the madness of war and killing! This father thought his son had died in the chemical attack. Many of the people in the video did in fact lose family in the attack. The video shows the human side devoid of all the spin and rhetoric. We are all the same on this level. We all want peace and security. May our leaders make the right decisions based on true humanitarian concern and may the actions we take have a lasting and positive influence on this volatile region. If we want to credibly stand on the moral high ground then we must act accordingly. We can not condemn chemical warfare and still supply the means to wage it. We can not talk peace and sell bullets.

Something to Share With Your Teenagers

Please show to any young driver.

All Paths

All paths lead nowhere.

Choose one with heart. 

A quotation heard on NPR today which I enjoyed. Much truth simply stated. 

Fear

Fearlessness is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to walk into it. When I walk into my fear, practice there, sit upright in the middle of it, completely open to the experience, with no expectation of the outcome, anything is possible. When our circumstances look impossible or terrifying, there is a way.

Hundred Acre Field Hike

We had a splendid hike today to a high meadow in Madison County called Hundred Acre Field. After walking around the contour of the mountain the rather overgrown track spilled out onto the bottom of the field. We hiked the fence line up a ways then crossed over into the filed to make our way to the top where we had a picnic lunch on some granite outcroppings, several of which appeared to be menhirs of Celtic origin, which of course was just a fantasy thought. The weather was cool with a few sun rays peeking through the clouds. We even felt a few raindrops, but thankfully that did not really amount to anything (we had not thought to bring rain gear) Accompanying us (Jane and William) were Richard, Astrid, Horst, and Ray who served as guide to the spot. Much enjoyed by all!!

One Photo Sums It Up

It seems so obvious. How could these two men not enjoy the same civil protections and rights? Denying one of them rights based on sexual orientation is simply unconstitutional.

Letting Go Of The Paradigm Of Control

This clip helps understand Thich Nhat Hanh's idea of Interbeing. Anytime we step out of the mindset that we are separate from our surroundings or others we experience an opening to the intelligence of the heart which allows us to live in a state of grace.

Nice Quotation

Making a life change 

is a scary thing. 

But whats even more scary 

is living a life of regret.

Can We Please Have A Few Politicians Like This!

Kevin Rudd, PM of Australia, responds to a Pastor's question about gay marriage. Brilliant!

How "Let It Be" Came To Be

I was going through a really difficult time around the autumn of 1968. It was late in the Beatles’ career and we had begun making a new album, a follow-up to the “White Album.” As a group we were starting to have problems. I think I was sensing the Beatles were breaking up, so I was staying up late at night, drinking, doing drugs, clubbing, the way a lot of people were at the time. I was really living and playing hard. The other guys were all living out in the country with their partners, but I was still a bachelor in London with my own house in St. John’s Wood. And that was kind of at the back of my mind also, that maybe it was about time I found someone, because it was before I got together with Linda. So, I was exhausted! Some nights I’d go to bed and my head would just flop on the pillow; and when I’d wake up I’d have difficulty pulling it off, thinking, “Good job I woke up just then or I might have suffocated.” Then one night, somewhere between deep sleep and insomnia, I had the most comforting dream about my mother, who died when I was only 14. She had been a nurse, my mum, and very hardworking, because she wanted the best for us. We weren’t a well-off family- we didn’t have a car, we just about had a television – so both of my parents went out to work, and Mum contributed a good half to the family income. At night when she came home, she would cook, so we didn’t have a lot of time with each other. But she was just a very comforting presence in my life. And when she died, one of the difficulties I had, as the years went by, was that I couldn’t recall her face so easily. That’s how it is for everyone, I think. As each day goes by, you just can’t bring their face into your mind, you have to use photographs and reminders like that. So in this dream twelve years later, my mother appeared, and there was her face, completely clear, particularly her eyes, and she said to me very gently, very reassuringly: “Let it be.” It was lovely. I woke up with a great feeling. It was really like she had visited me at this very difficult point in my life and gave me this message: Be gentle, don’t fight things, just try and go with the flow and it will all work out. So, being a musician, I went right over to the piano and started writing a song: “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me”… Mary was my mother’s name… “Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.” There will be an answer, let it be.” It didn’t take long. I wrote the main body of it in one go, and then the subsequent verses developed from there: “When all the broken-hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be.” I thought it was special, so I played it to the guys and ’round a lot of people, and later it also became the title of the album, because it had so much value to me, and because it just seemed definitive, those three little syllables. Plus, when something happens like that, as if by magic, I think it has a resonance that other people notice too. Not very long after the dream, I got together with Linda, which was the saving of me. And it was as if my mum had sent her, you could say. The song is also one of the first things Linda and I ever did together musically. We went over to Abbey Road Studios one day, where the recording sessions were in place. I lived nearby and often used to just drop in when I knew an engineer would be there and do little bits on my own. And I just thought, “Oh it would be good to try harmony in mind, and although Linda wasn’t a professional singer, I’d heard her sing around the house, and knew she could hold a note and sing that high. So she tried it, and it worked and it stayed on the record. You can hear it to this day. These days, the song has become almost like a hymn. We sang it at Linda’s memorial service. And after September 11 the radio played it a lot, which made it the obvious choice for me to sing when I did the benefit concert in New York City. Even before September 11th, people used to lean out of cars and trucks and say, “Yo, Paul, let it be.” So those words are really very special to me, because not only did my mum come to me in a dream and reassure me with them at a very difficult time in my life – and sure enough, things did get better after that – but also, in putting them into a song, and recording it with the Beatles, it became a comforting, healing statement for other people too. - Paul McCartney

Sometimes...

When All The Others Were Away At Mass by Seamus Heaney

Noble Prise winner (1998) Seamus Heaney died at 74 at the end of August. Here is one of my favorite poems. I love how intimate these few lines can be, and how poignant. May the smiling face of God shine on your journey as you go. For more on Seamus heaney follow the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13930435

Misplaced Priorities

Daffy Duck In Hollywood by John Ashbery

For lovers of language! I am smitten by the impeccable use of language so beautifully recited by Tom O'Bedlam (SpokenVerse). I love the line:
Achievement is only to end up less boring than the others. Enjoy!

Living Each Moment with Gratitude.

My Last Days by Zach Sobiech
Spending 20 minutes with Zach makes you feel the awesome power of LOVE.

Special Moments!!

The Language of Love

Connecting to the Whole; The Wisdom of the Heart

We have all experienced the feeling of being more unified with our surroundings and with other people. Some people call this being in the zone or being in the flow. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with "thinking" but rather more centered in the heart region. We feel an expansiveness and a connection that allows us to access or creative potential and to feel more deeply. We naturally feel more empathy for people and it is easier for us to communicate with deeper compassion and understanding. We are not so centered in our own perspective but see more clearly the bigger picture. In fact we feel very much a part of the bigger picture and not apart from it and this makes us naturally more cooperative and less competitive. How can we be in this place more often? Is this the direction we should be moving toward as a way to save the planet? Watch the video (7 minutes) to learn more about how to access the heart's intuitive intelligence.

The Coming Dystopia

Internal Struggle by ~Lor

The news from Egypt is anything but good. The "Arab spring" seems to be morphing into a nightmare. Why is this? What are the fundamental conditions driving this spiral into hell? What role do we have in all of this? Is this a local, regional, or global crisis? What is our personal stake in this? Is there anything we can do to stop it or at least improve the situation? What is in the minds of the people directly affected by the unraveling of their society?

Chris Hedges has brilliantly dissected the causes of this violent episode in Egypt, but the implications for the entire planet are clearly drawn and explored. Read the article hear on TruthDig. 

So What's Up In Russia?

image via Autoheart video for "Moscow"

Lately there has been much debate about what stand to take concerning the pervasive human rights abuses in Russia, particularly in light of the up-coming Olympic games to be held there. How should we feel about that? Does participating in the games in some way lend credibility to the host country? Is boycotting the games over politicizing an event that is essentially billed as non political? Is there a more effective way to focus light on the problem there?

As a way to help focus the light on human rights abuses in Russia, particularly as it applies to LGBT people, it might be instructive to read the account of someone who grew up there and who was gay. This account certainly did help me see in a clearer light just what that involves.

Please note that this article appears in OUT magazine and clicking on the link will bring you to the magazine and access to other material directed to the LGBT readership.


Stranger in my Homeland: Growing Up Gay in Russia | Out Magazine

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver

Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last!
What a task to ask
of anything, or anyone,
yet it is ours,
and not by the century or the year, but by the hours.
One fall day I heard
above me, and above the sting of the wind, a sound I did not know, and my look shot upward; it was a flock of snow geese, winging it faster than the ones we usually see,
and, being the color of snow, catching the sun
so they were, in part at least, golden. 
I held my breath as we do
sometimes to stop time
when something wonderful
has touched us...
The geese flew on.
I have never seen them again.
Maybe I will, someday, somewhere.
Maybe I won’t.
It doesn’t matter.
What matters
is that, when I saw them,
I saw them as through the veil, secretly, joyfully, clearly.

How do we define ourselves collectively?

Given that government, in theory at least, is our common will, representing us as a people, how do we define ourselves? Will we come to the aid of those among us struggling to get by or will we throw the needy back upon their own meager resources? Is the prevailing philosophy of governance one of mutual concern and collective help, or one of stark individualism in which everyone has to fend for themselves, or at best rely on charity? This is not so much a political question as a moral one, a question pertaining to the moral basis of our common life. Much depends on how we answer it. (Taken from an article in Tricycle magazine by Bhikkhu Bodhi) read article here.

When We All Get Together, What A Day!!

The Reverand William Barber speaks at Mountain Moral Monday in Asheville. If you are paying attention you can't help notice how regressive North Carolina has become in such a short time. Although the reasons for this are complex, it should be noted that weak voter turnout among democrats, especially young democrats in the last legislative elections and aggressive gerrymandering and redistricting efforts paved the way for huge gains by ultra right conservative politicians. The result is a loss of hard won gains over many decades and on many fronts including education, women s rights, voter rights. Although Obama may not have been able to bring about the sweeping changes so ardently desired by so many, staying home on voting day is not an option. We must exercise our constitutional and democratic responsibility and vote, even when it seems hopeless. To stay home is to give in to the forces that will drag us back in time and put us out of step with the ever evolving march to a more perfect union.

The Fantasy We Can Have It All

This video clip from TruthDig is part 3 of a seven part interview with Chris Hedges. In it, Chris discusses how global society has arrived at the brink of disaster. Chis discusses the concept of inverted totalitarianism and how corporations have contributed to this rapidly deteriorating situation.

Camino de Santiago (part 6); My Five Favorite Photographs.

This photograph captures the vibrancy and resilience of the human spirit. This colorful collection of buildings  is located along a stretch of road that passes through an old and abandoned village. On both sides of the way a profusion of stone buildings once held the sounds of families but today sit forlornly in piles of rubble, utterly abandoned to the wind and sun. And then suddenly one sees these cheerful flags fluttering and this expression of human resilience in these reclaimed structures. 

This church and attached monastery seemed mysteriously timeless. Just inside was a Franciscan monk who stamped the "credentiale" of pilgrims. He was straight out of a Cervantes novel.  

This picture captures the feeling of distance. In the beginning of the journey we felt impossibly far away from the destination. The mile markers painfully ticked off our progress kilometer by kilometer. Sometimes the distance was overwhelming. Seeing the road stretch out in front of you like this when you are already tired was at times depressing. No place to shelter. No place to escape the blistering sun. And yet by staying present with each step we did make progress. 

Walking in the Galician mountains reminded me of home! The lushness of the fields seemed soft and welcoming. Often one could hear the gentle babble of a creek singing its way down the valley. The air was fresh and unpolluted. The cows were the most beautiful I have ever seen and they really did have a contented look about them. Everything had a human scale about it as if hand made with love. 

Many of the roads in Spain are small. There is an intimacy with what appears on either side of the road. Because one moves slower toward one's destination, one has time to appreciate the beauty, the moment, the setting. Here in the US we are very goal driven. We often focus on the destination and miss the journey.

Buddha's Fire Sermon; Everything is Burning!

This article by Andrew Olendski was included in the Wisdom section of Tricycle magazine. I rarely read articles twice, but this one so clearly explains our present situation in the world that I was drawn to read it repeatedly. Knowing (or beginning to know) the causes of our suffering we do have a chance to reduce it.  WPS

“Everything is burning!” said the Buddha almost 25 centuries ago. “Burning with what? Burning with the fires of greed, hatred and delusion.”(Samyutta Nikaya 35.28) These words seem prophetic today, as our planet is slowly warmed by the fires blazing in our furnaces and engines, by the explosion of our bullets and bombs, and by the raging delusions around which our entire world seems to be organized. There is not a single problem we face as human beings—other than the tectonic (earthquakes), the astronomical (meteor strikes), or the existential (aging and death)—that does not find its origin in greed, hatred, or delusion, whether of people or their institutions.

Like a fire, greed is more a process than a thing. It is the state of combustion, the activity of consumption, the procedure by means of which organic resources are quickly reduced to a heap of ash. It is insatiable by nature, since the moment one desire is gratified another flares up, demanding also to be sated. Greed drives an unquenchable compulsion to consume, and as the guiding hand of our economic system, its reach is rapidly becoming global. As it burns it throws off a compelling light, dazzling us with the pleasure of its shapes and colors. We delight in playing with this fire.

Hatred is a hotter, bluer, more sinister flame. It seethes among the coals, preserving its heat over time, until blasting forth suddenly with a surge of the bellows. It can simmer as discontent, smolder as suppressed rage, or lurk hot underground as a molten river of loathing. When it does flare up, the fire of hatred scorches all in its path indiscriminately, often searing the innocent bystander with the ferocity of its angry flames.

Delusion is subtler. Like the lamp behind the projector or a reflection in a mirror, delusion shines with a soft light and illuminates indirectly. It shows things as other than they are—as stable, satisfying, personal, and alluring. Its optical tricks are endearingly creative, so much so that sometimes we hardly know where the light leaves off and the darkness begins. Delusion leads us to revel in wielding the fires of greed and hatred, oblivious of the harm inflicted both on ourselves and on those around us.

The Buddha identifies these three fires as the origin of both individual and collective suffering. Things do not become the way they are by chance, for no reason, or because a deity makes them so. It is the quality of our intention that shapes the world we inhabit, and our world is burning up because of the fires smoldering in our hearts. Resources are being depleted because people greedily consume them and lust for the money produced thereby. People are being killed, raped, tortured, and exploited because they are hated, because other people do not regard them as worthy of respect or basic rights. And the world blindly, stupidly, deceptively plods along this path to destruction because people do not know—or do not want you to know—any better.

And you know what? This is good news. Why? Because the causes of all the trouble have been exposed, and by knowing them we stand a chance of overcoming them. Just think if our problems were due to continental drift, or to an approaching meteor—then we would really be cooked. Fire is actually a very fragile phenomenon. Diminish its heat, starve it of oxygen, or take away its fuel, and it cannot sustain itself. In fact, it is entirely dependent upon external conditions; change these conditions, and it will go out. The Buddha put out the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion in himself and showed us all how to do the same thing. Perhaps we can use this knowledge to quench the fires that are heating our planet and devouring our world.

Something empowering happens when we begin to see these problems as internal rather than external. We have access to ourselves. We have the ability to make internal changes when the mechanisms for change are within our reach. A slight shift of attitude, a minor adjustment of priorities, an occasional opening to a wider perspective, the glimpse of a good greater than the merely personal—these all contribute in a small way to turning down the heat. And since we are faced not with a single enormous fire but with billions of little fires, each one ablaze in one person, miniscule changes in one mind here and one heart there can add up to a dramatic reduction of greenhouse defilements.

All it would take is a gradual increase in generosity and an incremental reduction of the need for gratification to begin to turn down the heat of greed’s fire. Planting a tree rather than cutting one down engages a different quality of mind, an attitude of giving rather than of taking. Appreciating when we get what we need, instead of demanding always to get what we want, removes fuel from the fire instead of stoking it. The flames of hatred are banked when we shoot a picture instead of an animal, when we fight injustice rather than our neighbor, when we include someone different in our circle, or even when we relinquish our hold, ever so slightly, on something that annoys us in a mundane moment of daily life. Just as heat is pumped into the system each and every moment through inattention, so also can heat be consistently and inexorably extracted as we bring more mindfulness to what we think, say, and do. A tranquil mind is a cooler mind, and the Buddha has described the movement toward awakening as “becoming cool” (siti-bhuta).

The solution to all our (nonexistential) problems is very close at hand. Look within, reach within, each and every moment—and turn down the thermostat just a degree or two. The fires consuming our world are not sustainable. If we do not feed the fires, they will go out.

Andrew Olendzki, Ph.D., is executive director and senior scholar at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the editor of Insight Journal.

Camino de Santiago (part 5)

In order to get the most out of the experience of walking the Camino it is best to drop expectations. The journey is different for each pilgrim and there really is no way to predict how you will respond to the different things that happen to you on your unique journey. A good practice is to remain open to everything that happens and know that there will be highs and lows. It is unrealistic to think it will be wonderful the whole way. Stay open to all the little surprises that rise up to meet you and try not to judge them as good or bad. They are just surprises for you.

We met a young German man, Michael, who was 21. Although it seemed that he would walk much faster than us, we kept running into him, which surprised us. "Why isn't he further along?" we would ask ourselves. Then one day we found out. Michael was on the lookout for surprises and he took the time to savor them. After all,  these were special gifts offered up just for him. Why should he ignore them or not give them his full attention?  

One day he told us, with an elfin twinkle in his eye, that there was a conjunction of three little surprises that caused him to sit down and take his shoes off; butterflies on a flower, the singing of birds, and a perfect rock to sit on nearby. This was an invitation to contemplate the beauty of that special moment; a gift for him. We often would hear how various "surprises" would delay him on his journey. For Michael, the goal was the journey. Santiago was just a point on the compass, a general direction to follow. 

We were captivated by this young man who seemed so connected to the present and so unlike  many who miss the present moment completely, especially at 21 years of age. To us he seemed both childlike and wise well beyond his years. I will always remember the last time I saw him. We bumped into each other at the Cathedral of Saint James in Santiago. He jumped up, threw his arms into the air, and with a huge smile of recognition, hugged both Jane and I with great enthusiasm. His refreshing enthusiasm had won us over for he seemed to embody a kind of childlike curiosity and wonder  for life. For us, he was one of the wonderful little surprises we had during our journey. 

The following photographs have an element of surprise. 

Michal (on left) Penny and Jan, William and Jane.

This pooch observes the commings and goings of the Camino from a second story window. 

Such a beautiful statue of Saint James sits in the open.

The bee hive shape intrigued us and there was no explanation to be found. 

How many pilgrims did it take to create this labyrinth? It was at least 100 feet in diameter. 

The roof over El Cid's tomb (Catherdral of Burgos) seemed light enough to float away

Such a touching bedroom scent for their royal resting place...

...with their little dog eternally at their feet. 

Political graffiti 

So much for electrical code!

These plain trees have joined hands to create a leafy tunnel (when they leaf out that is) 

Last honors for worn out boots

A harbinger of spring

This albergue had an interesting facade 

Inner courtyard adorned with potted plants

I cant imagine how hard it was to paint this wall!

More political/environmental sentiments found on a rock along the way

These bells would ring out the hour...all night long!

A reclaimed rock structure in an abandoned village serves as an make shift albergue. We heard bed bugs might be an issue here, so we passed it up. 

A small offering of refreshment for pilgrims. Take what you need and give what you can. 

Ornamentation on a wall

If you don't have straight boards, use curved ones.

The oldest tree (a Chestnut) on the Camino is more than 800 years old and has protected status. 

A curious horse looks in to our dorm room

These were the happiest cows I have ever seen. 

A little hidden Roman bridge seems magical

Every house has its own rodent proof grain storage 

A morning stroll with the herd

Another beautiful Saint James statue carved from a standing stone

Walking clothesline

Spring effigy figure in Santiago 

Jet contrails and street festival

The halo around Saint James is beautiful

An octopus awaits the final hour in a wine glass