Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc)
Diksa?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
-
-
Minding My Own Business–Sort Of (and Seva)
When I was walking to work this morning, I saw this man stretched out on the grass in Stanton Park. It was drizzling, but pleasant. I did not feel any need for an umbrella. The man was definitely breathing, and he had put some cardboard on the ground before lying down. Had it been sunny and had he been lying on a bench or a spread out blanket instead of on wet grass, I would not have wondered at all whether he might need help.
Would he want “help” that would include waking him up? Would it serve to call emergency services when his lying out in the rain did not seem like an immediate matter of life or death, though did raise questions about whether the man was ok? If all calling did was trigger police waking him and telling him to move actually have made things better for him? Because I could not answer these questions and because he had made himself the pallet of cardboard–leading me to think he had chosen the spot rather than fell, I decided to leave him be. I cannot know whether that was the right thing to have done.
This debate in my head did raise questions about the conundrums of offering charity and service and whether and when we can ever serve selflessly, unclouded by our own preconceived notions of what is right and good.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
-
-
Found Exhortation (2 of 2)
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
-
Found Exhortation (1 of 2)
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
-
Clover Blooming
I have never understand why some work hard to eradicate clover from their lawns (lawns being for the most part an ecological travesty) when an expanse of clover is so beautiful and easy.
How much of our strength and energy can be and is wasted by forcing conformity to notions of how things are supposed to be or look instead of what is nurturing and free.
Where could you shift away from preconceived/externally imposed ideas of what you should do or how you should be and instead bring your precious time, energy, and unique gifts to foster more growth and bring yourself and those around you more health and happiness?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
-
Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
Found Declaration
Saying such, of course, does not make it so. I just read a review of a movie about a self-proclaimed guru. According to the review, central to the movie was the question whether or not it mattered if the guru was a charlatan if she was truly helping people. Good question, but not good enough to get me to see the movie, as it otherwise is getting rather mixed reviews.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
-
State of the Garden
How exciting to see not only what is ready to eat now — the greens and herbs and strawberries — but the promise of what will come throughout the summer, so long as my dedicated attentions continue; the weather is cooperative; and the bugs, birds, and squirrels and I can negotiate my getting a decent share of what ripens. The fairy rose in the last photo was a gift from a student who was an enthusiastic participant in my gentle/therapeutic class who left his body last year. Sweet to see the rose still thriving.
-
Meditate Only for Its Own Sake
Last night I had the singular pleasure of hearing Gary Snyder read his poetry at the Folger Shakespeare Library. At the end of the reading, Mr. Snyder answered a few questions. In response to one question about advice he gives to aspiring poets, he said: “Don’t be journalists. Do hard physical labor that leaves y0ur mind open.” This is not surprising advice, coming from one who has chosen a life requiring regular manual labor. “Meditate only for its own sake,” he added, in an apparent non sequitur and without elaboration.
Gary Snyder’s poetry is evidently influenced by his dedicated study and practice of Buddhism. The insight and clarity of his poetry surely reflects not only his intellectual study, but the deep wisdom of a dedicated, long-standing, and steady meditation practice. The advice to “meditate for its own sake” seemed almost the offering of a koan by the master (poet) to his pupils. Meditation, in my experience, definitely enhances clarity, insight, creativity, and health. Meditation is not meditation, though, unless when engaging in meditation that is all one is doing and without any goal (like the “actionless action” of the Bhagavad Gita). It is the deepest of practices to engage fully, but not be doing except for the sake of doing itself (and in alignment with the deepest truths).
-
Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Body | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Gardening | Meditation
Found Exhortation
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
