Yesterday’s Sunset
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- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
My Own Personal Cloud (and the Malas)
Last night another storm front passed us by with only a trace of rain, leaving us deeper in drought. The wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and the clouds scattered, leaving the sky scrubbed bright blue and the air fresh. Though this morning on my walk to work there was hardly a cloud in the sky, a rather menacing gray cloud hovered directly over the building where I work. Observing this odd cloud led me to ponder about how I often feel that I have my own personal cloud–everyone else has purpose in their lives and is worthy of love, but not me (this is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea).The reality is that all of us get such feelings to a greater or lesser degree some of the time. It can be a helpful step in clearing away feelings of unworthiness to remember that it is part of the human condition. The tantric yogis say that there are three cloaks or malas (anava mala, mayiya mala, and karma mala) that result from the manifestation of diversity from the pure universal out of its own play. The sense of unworthiness we sometimes feel (anava mala) comes from forgetting that we are spirit, and anava mala– in whatever form it appears to manifest–is just because of the loneliness of not remembering our true self. When we experience or create conflict or unhappiness out of the illusion (maya) that separateness and distinction are the only state of all that is real then we are in thrall to mayiya mala. When we think we are completely in charge and responsible for everything we do and how it impacts the world, that is karma mala at work.
We practice to pierce through the clouding of our individual consciousness by the malas. By inviting ourselves to open to the luminous space of consciousness and to surrender to the very fullness of our being, we reduce the impact of the malas on how we conduct our lives. Our practice helps us to remember our worthiness so that we can be happier and freer and do our work and engage in our relationships with more love and light. It helps us remember the light in each being so we are naturally drawn to respond with more compassion and friendliness to everything on the planet. The grace of dissolving kriya mala is that when it is not obscuring our vision, we can engage fully on our path, but still accept that we are ultimately not in charge and do not know what the universe truly has in store.
A Favorite Sculpture (and the missing mentor)
I have been walking past this sculpture regularly ever since I was a judicial clerk in 1987-1988. It is in the plaza between the Federal and DC court houses. It is dated in the subject matter. The partner-associate relationship has shifted over the years, both from the inclusion of women in the law place and the changing economics. The shift in economics to assume that most associates will not be partners because the firm simply does not have the space for more partners and because the associates feel freer to move around and for a whole host of other reasons, some more benign than others, has left new workers bereft of the support of a mentor. In the disruption of the continuity of the workplace, those who stay are less motivated to serve as mentors and lose the delight and strength that comes from the action of mentoring. Those who come into a workplace without a mentor never learn the way they could. Although some of the changes are good, the missing mentor is indeed a loss.
Though the sculpture reminds me of something lost, I love this sculpture, especially where it is set. It is absolutely suited to its location and was made with great skill and love.
Tropical Storm and Gratitude
While I do not believe in hoarding wealth — that’s a significant contributor to our current social problems, I am grateful that I have always been disciplined enough to save for emergencies. So far no one has been hurt. The cat box has been moved to the edge of the room, and the contractor will bring me a sheetrock expert this week.
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“What Is It?”
As I squatted on the brick sidewalk to take this photo during my lunch time walk, a nice-looking older man stopped and asked “what is it?” He was quite tall and standing at an angle that would not have showed the shape as well as from where I was positioned.
“Stand on this side; what do you see?” I asked. He looked from my perspective. “A leaf,” he said with a quizzical expression, wondering why a dessicated bit of English ivy would have captured my attention sufficiently for me to take a photograph.
“Look again,” I suggested. “Can you see anything else?”
“Ah,” he said with delighted recognition: “it’s a heart.”
“Yes. I see them and other interesting shapes in all sorts of things–litter, blackened chewing gum, the pavement itself.”
“Everything has more than one form,” he rejoined. “You are blessed.”
And thus we went our separate ways, having brightened our day with this small connection. If he lives in the neighborhood, no doubt we will recognize each other enough from this encounter, at least to smile and say hello.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
