(Recognizing that to be here now mindfully , we must learn from the past and care for the future).
With respect to Ram Dass.
The meadow ablaze with yellow flowers. Wild color the harbinger of changing seasons.
Does it matter whether this juxtaposition of the exhortation to love next to a game of hangman was intended by those holding the chalk?
Even if the juxtaposition was not thought out and done for the purpose of later viewers, it raises much to ponder about how we act and live in relationship to the world.
Just one of the questions that comes first to mind is whether it is more ok to play hangman if you it with love?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
By now, the news of scandal has become widespread on the internet. The Huffington Post has put in its two cents in the way that modern journalism does–highlight the bad, forecast turmoil, and invite continued readership. Put John Friend or Anusara scandal into your favorite search engine and you will get a couple of dozen blog entries about broken-hearted yoga teachers feeling they need to resign from the organization (though many say they will be teaching the method, just not articulating it as the brand, which confuses me somewhat).
Last week, I chose to post only a guest blog on the District Kula website (since that posting, District Kula is no longer affiliated with Anusara). Though I have much more information now than I did last week, I am still waiting to see. I will be gradually revealing more of my thoughts here as things develop now that I believe that those far beyond the immediate (though large) community of practitioners are discussing the allegations and potential repercussions with intelligence and kindness or gleeful malice or somewhere in between.
One thing I can say, is that I have always consistently separated the man from the message, and I continue to believe in the soundness of the Anusara principles. I also believe that the situation is emblematic of the uneasy, but inseparable relationship between spiritual practice and commercial enterprise in our current market-driven world. While it is unfortunate and sad that it is in my chosen community, I am no stranger to upheaval and controversy in either workplaces or communities and there may have been no better time to have this discussion both within the community and as a broader societal matter.
I’ve been told that the tantric yoga masters said everything is the emanating light of consciousness with a capital “C” (prakasha) and through certain esoteric practices we can come to know ourselves as reflecting back on (vimarsha) this exquisite light. Then we can experience the sublimity of oneness.
Intentional stillness makes reflections easier to witness. And so we sit. And we can reorient our whole view of the world and recognize the emanating light reflected in the play of patterns from our individual and relational embodied dances. And sometimes a trio of dogs and a pond just make a great opportunity for a photo essay.
