On the Way to William Penn House for Tuesday Night Yoga Practice
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- Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
Kashmir Shaivism (and Ecstatic Fatalism)
I have been told more than once that one cannot technically be a true practitioner/believer in the tenets of Kashmir Shaivism without believing in some form of Godhead. As a nontheist who still finds the teachings and practices informative and useful for how best to live, I ask consistently whether that is really true.
I’m sure a purist (religious or academic) would say there’s no anything to the philosophy without being a full believer. But what I think one gets from practices designed to heighten awareness of a divinely connecting universality in the wild diversity of life without a belief that what is universal a priori points to “God” is a recognition that with all that is troubling and difficult and hurtful and evil in this world, the very complexity and outrageousness of being is yet wonderful and inspiring in itself.
In a word, when all else fails, laugh (and create and live) with an ecstatic fatalism.
Painting by Sandra Dooley. Cuba 2014
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Found Quotation
Or perhaps it is enough to be open to liking. I had a yoga teacher trainer who said that he loved all of his students, recognizing their inherent shared humanity, but being human, liked some better than others.
Effulgence (and Practicing Gratitude)
This morning I walked up to Cultivate the City with a neighbor. I am going to try more fruit this year–I found a spot for a passion fruit vine; I will put strawberry towers on the sleeping porch; I may put in a golden raspberry; the Concord grape is looking promising. Meanwhile, around the neighborhood, the cherry trees are in full blossom.
Earthquake
I am finding evidence in the form of old nails coming up from the floor here and there of last night’s very minor earthquake.
Uma remains unconcerned.
