I’m off to New York City for a few days. Since I’ve never been there before, it should be fun. I’m going to see Avenue Q tomorrow night, visit museums, and see an old friend from high school. So probably won’t be blogging til next week.
Images on the altar,
Or imagined within:
We pray to them,
But do they answer?
The wise tell us how important adoration is. So we kneel before altars, give offerings, and make sacrifices. In our meditations, we are taught to see gods within ourselves and to make supplications to receive power and knowledge. This we do with great sincerity, until the masters say that there are no gods. Then we are confused.
The statue on the altar is mere wood and gold leaf, but our need to be reverent is real. The god within may be nothing but visualization, but our need for concentration is real. The attributes of heaven are utopian conjectures, but the essence of these parables is real. The gods, then, represent certain philosophies and extraordinary facets of the human mind. When we devote ourselves to gods, we establish communion with these deeper aspects.
The thought that we are worshiping symbolism may make us uncomfortable. We are educated to accept only the tangible, the scientific, and the material. We doubt the efficacy of adoring the merely symbolic, and we are confused when such reference brings about genuine person transformation. But worship does affect our feelings and thoughts. When the wise say that there are no gods, they mean that the key to understanding all things is within ourselves. External worship is merely a means to point within to the true source of salvation.
Some scientists have begun exploring the links between the brain and religion. In “The God Gene”, Dean H. Hamer discusses his findings about brain chemistry and religion:
What he found was that the brain chemicals associated with anxiety and other emotions, including joy and sadness, appeared to be in play in the deep meditative states of Zen practitioners and the prayerful repose of Roman Catholic nuns — not to mention the mystical trances brought on by users of peyote and other mind-altering drugs.
At least one gene, which goes by the name VMAT2, controls the flow to the brain of chemicals that play a key role in emotions and consciousness. This is the “God gene” of the book’s title, and Hamer acknowledges that it’s a misnomer. There probably are dozens or hundreds more genes, yet to be identified, involved in the universal propensity for transcendence, he said.
Certainly spirituality and religion has inspired much of the world’s great architecture, art, music, and other areas of creativity. It also has inspired wars, hatred, and destruction. Clearly there is a powerful link between religion and spirituality and the way it affects our thinking.
Perhaps it is the process of worship that provides the chemicals the brain needs in order to function, or perhaps the brain inspires the feeling of the religious trance that is attributed to god. For me, it was always the music that led me to feel most spiritual in church. Singing choral music or listening to it is very pleasurable for me, and can lead me to a rapturous state of mind.
But I also had a very rapturous experience when I went crazy, and I’ve had them when I’ve had sex, so perhaps the areas of the brain that control all these things are related. Maybe religious people get so hung up on sex because they experience those rapturous feelings during sex - or maybe because they don’t and become jealous that others do?
Religion has to be seen as more than a mythology, but as a pathway to something else that is deeply spiritual and so transformative. Those who have no interest in transformation, only in the security of their own belief system, miss the point of connecting yourself with a higher power and a deeper way of life — the need to learn to be more aware of yourself and the world around you, and more compassionate to other beings.
Daily Kos is calling for bloggers to join their no vote stand on Gonzales. I certainly oppose him, and have encouraged my Senators to vote “NO”. Please do the same, if you oppose Gonzales.
We, the undersigned bloggers, have decided to speak as one and collectively author a document of opposition. We oppose the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to the position of Attorney General of the United States, and we urge every United States Senator to vote against him.
As the prime legal architect for the policy of torture adopted by the Bush Administration, Gonzales’s advice led directly to the abandonment of longstanding federal laws, the Geneva Conventions, and the United States Constitution itself. Our country, in following Gonzales’s legal opinions, has forsaken its commitment to human rights and the rule of law and shamed itself before the world with our conduct at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. The United States, a nation founded on respect for law and human rights, should not have as its Attorney General the architect of the law’s undoing.
In January 2002, Gonzales advised the President that the United States Constitution does not apply to his actions as Commander in Chief, and thus the President could declare the Geneva Conventions inoperative. Gonzales’s endorsement of the August 2002 Bybee/Yoo Memorandum approved a definition of torture so vague and evasive as to declare it nonexistent. Most shockingly, he has embraced the unacceptable view that the President has the power to ignore the Constitution, laws duly enacted by Congress and International treaties duly ratified by the United States. He has called the Geneva Conventions “quaint.”
Legal opinions at the highest level have grave consequences. What were the consequences of Gonzales’s actions? The policies for which Gonzales provided a cover of legality - views which he expressly reasserted in his Senate confirmation hearings - inexorably led to abuses that have undermined military discipline and the moral authority our nation once carried. His actions led directly to documented violations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and widespread abusive conduct in locales around the world.
Michael Posner of Human Rights First observed: “After the horrific images from Abu Ghraib became public last year, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld insisted that the world should ‘judge us by our actions [and] watch how a democracy deals with the wrongdoing and with scandal and the pain of acknowledging and correcting our own mistakes.’” We agree. It is because of this that we believe the only proper course of action is for the Senate to reject Alberto Gonzales’s nomination for Attorney General. As Posner notes, “[t]he world is indeed watching.” Will the Senate condone torture? Will the Senate condone the rejection of the rule of law?
With this nomination, we have arrived at a crossroads as a nation. Now is the time for all citizens of conscience to stand up and take responsibility for what the world saw, and, truly, much that we have not seen, at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. We oppose the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States, and we urge the Senate to reject him.
Welcome to the Broad Band, where you can see Broads of all Widths (and Bandwidths) on the internet. Did you know that Vogue imported the word “cellulite” into the United States in 1973 as a pseudo-medical term for what was once healthy female flesh? (Thanks, Naomi Wolf, for this info!) Sick of Vogue and Seventeen? It’s time to reinvent our notions of beauty.
Via Brutal Women
An ancient gnarled tree:
Too fibrous for a logger’s saw,
Too twisted to fit a carpenter’s square,
Outlasts the whole forest.
Loggers delight in straight grained, strong, fragrant wood. If the timber is too difficult to cut, too twisted to be made straight, too foul-odored for cabinets, and too spongy for firewood, it is left alone. Useful trees are cut down. Useless ones survive.
The same is true of people. The strong are conscripted. The beautiful are exploited. Those who are too plain to be noticed are the ones who survive. They are left alone and safe.
But what if we ourselves are among such plain persons? Though others may neglect us, we should not thing of ourselves as being without value. We must not accept the judgment of others as the measure of our own self worth. Instead, we should live our lives in simplicity.
Surely, we will have flaws, but we must take stock in them according to our own judgment and then use them as a measure of self-improvement. Since we need not expend energy in putting on airs or maintaining a position, we are actually free to cultivate the best parts of our personalities. Thus, to be considered useless in not a reason for despair, but an opportunity. It is the chance to live without interference and to express one’s own individuality.
I think a part of what Tao teaches me is that nothing is really useless. Even a tree with no other purpose takes in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen, allowing us to breathe.
The weeds I remove from my garden are put into the composter, to make soil for future plants. My recycling output usually equals my trash output now, and I keep working to generate less and less trash. I look for recyclable containers or tins or other things I can use again. I give away my used goods to the Salvation Army or Amvets when I can. So what seems useless to some, I try to find some use for.
Even my nephew and sister, who are mentally disabled, have their purpose. My nephew now lives with a kind woman who tries to help him, and so she feels useful in helping him with his life. They both are useful to me in providing me with more compassion and understanding for the disabled, and someone for me to care for. My mother found her purpose in life in caring for them and for so many other people.
The best way to get out of feeling useless is to help someone else with their problems. Right now, I’m helping my sister-in-law and her husband, providing bridge loans while they get moved and resettled. I don’t mind helping out. It makes me feel useful. I care for my family and my pets, taking my cat to the vet today. Seeing people caring for all those pets, you can see how useful even a pet can be to someone, providing love and affection that person might not get otherwise.
It’s easy to just dismiss someone or something as useless. But it’s a lot more fulfilling to take another look, and respect that person or thing as a part of Tao, and prehaps see the true usefulness. At least, it’s worth a try.
When the soviets withdrew from Central Europe, U.S. constitutional experts rushed in. They got a polite hearing, and were sent home. Jiri Pehe, adviser to former president Vaclav Havel, recalls the Czechs’ firm decision to adopt a European-style parliamentary system with strict limits on campaigning. “For Europeans, money talks too much in American democracy. It’s very prone to certain kinds of corruption, or at least influence from powerful lobbies,” he says. “Europeans would not want to follow that route.” They also sought to limit the dominance of television, unlike in American campaigns where, Pehe says, “TV debates and photogenic looks govern election victories.”
So it is elsewhere. After American planes and bombs freed the country, Kosovo opted for a European constitution. Drafting a post-apartheid constitution, South Africa rejected American-style federalism in favor of a German model, which leaders deemed appropriate for the social-welfare state they hoped to construct. Now fledgling African democracies look to South Africa as their inspiration, says John Stremlau, a former U.S. State Department official who currently heads the international relations department at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg: “We can’t rely on the Americans.” The new democracies are looking for a constitution written in modern times and reflecting their progressive concerns about racial and social equality, he explains. “To borrow Lincoln’s phrase, South Africa is now Africa’s ‘last great hope’.”
MaxSpeak, You Listen!: INVEST THIS
Quotable is Barkley Rosser, Professor of Economics at James Madison University, January 20, 2005, in the Harrisonburg Daily-News Record (print version only):
“Second involves the private accounts proposal, with the stock market forecast to rise annually at 7.8% per year forever. However, if economic growth decelerates [as projected by the Social Security Trustees--mbs] we should expect stock market growth to slow down much more. We had a mild recession in 2001 and the economy is now growing above its historical rate. However, all stock market indices remain below their March, 2000 peaks, the NASDAQ below half that peak, even though President Bush pushed through tax cuts favoring stock market investment. We hear that the stock market has always increased over periods at least 20 years long. But many people die less than 20 years after they retire, possibly facing negative returns. The Dow-Jones hit 1000 in July, 1966, not reached again until the end of 1982. The Nikkei in Japan remains below half its level of more than 15 years ago. The impending retirement of baby boomers may worsen this as their stock market investment for retirement ran up stocks in the 1990s. As they retire, they will start selling stocks, putting downward pressure on the market (price-earnings ratios remain above historical averages).”
[MaxSpeak] A basic assumption in the debate about Social Security is that everyone should be invested in equities, or private sector assets in general. We beg to differ. Most people — meaning those whose ability to accumulate wealth is limited — need title to low-risk assets. This means pension plans with defined benefits, wherein the risk lies with the party better able to shoulder it — the employer. Such employers need to be properly regulated to ensure responsible fiduciary behavior. The trends have been in the other direction. For people who want to save for bequests, there are already tax-favored vehicles available.
Most people won’t beat the market. Neither can most highly-paid fund managers. You pay them extra for a sub-market rate of return. Pick individual stocks? Forget it. You’re playing against people with much better information, and the time to make the best use of it. “Control over your own money” is jive.
GreenBiz News | Japanese Burger Chain Powers Steel Mill with Food Waste
Maybe our government could support projects like this, if we weren’t busy plundering another country for oil…
________
Japanese Burger Chain Powers Steel Mill with Food Waste
Source: Japan for Sustainability
TOKYO, Jan. 19, 2005 - Mos Food Services, Inc., a Japanese burger chain with 1,467 stores across the country and 120 stores overseas, is actively promoting the recycling of food waste. The company says it has started recycling food waste and warehouse waste (used packaging material such as cardboard boxes and plastic bags) in the Kanto region (Tokyo and six neighboring prefectures). The food waste includes products that are unsellable due to breakage or damage and a portion of expired food products, and amounted to nearly 0.14% of the total annual food purchases of all chain stores in fiscal 2003.
In the Kanto Region, about 26 tons of food and warehouse waste from Mos Food have been processed at the Chiba Biogas Center operated by Japan Recycling Co. Food waste is recycled into methane gas based on Japan’s Food Recycling Law and used as fuel at a steel mill next to the center.
In the Kinki and Chubu regions (western and central Japan), the company has been recycling food waste into animal feed since 2003 in cooperation with Kyoto Prefecture’s Yasuda Sangyo Co., which has one of the largest food recycling plants in Japan. Mos Food expects about 50% of the total annual warehouse waste from its chain stores will be recycled at the two plants in the Kanto and Kinki regions.
Hilly village lanes,
Whitewashed sunlit walls.
Cerulean sea.
The laughter of children.
No matter where in the world you go, no matter how many languages are spoken, and no matter how many times cultures and government clash, the laughter of children is universally uplifting. The mirth of adults can be variously jealous, insecure, sadistic, cruel, or absurd, but the sound of playing children evokes the ideal of a simple and pure act. There are no concepts, no ideologies — only the innocent pleasure of life.
We as adults dwell upon our grizzled complexities, our existential anxieties, and our preoccupation with responsibilities. We hear the merriment of children and may sigh over our lost childhood. Although we can no longer fit into our old clothes and become young again, we can take comfort in the optimism of children. Their rejoicing can gladden us all.
We are too often in a rush for our children to grow up. It is far better for them to fully live each year of their lives. Let them learn what is appropriate to their time, let them play. And when their childhood is spent at adolescence, help them in a gentle transition. Then their laughter will continue to resonate with cheer and hope for us all.
Laughter is truly the best medicine. In taking care of your health, it’s important to relax and enjoy life as much as possible. Drink some green tea in the morning instead of that coffee, and see if your spirits don’t lighten up. Practice meditation and yoga. Make time for yourself, and plan special outings that you look forward to and enjoy. It doesn’t have to be fancy - a trip to the fabric store to admire different fabrics. A walk in your neighborhood, taking care to smile and greet your neighbors. A visit to a garden center to admire the flowers in bloom.
Take time for laughter - the laughter of nature, the laughter of your own spirit, the laughter of your friends and family. Not sarcastic or cynical laughter, but real, honest, friendly healthy laughter. Namaste.
from a previous post on laughter
I don’t think I feel much differently about laughter now than I did then. I always take time to notice children when I see them, watch how they act and am amused by their antics. Sometimes they see me and smile, and those children get a big smile back. Sometimes we will then play peekaboo or just looking at each other and then looking away, giggling. Other children become shy when they see they are being looked at, and I try to respect their privacy then. Others almost immediately look guilty and stop what they were doing. Those children I feel sorry for, since they obviously think adults are always judging them. I wonder what their parents have done to make them feel that way.
I miss my own children being small; I miss playing with them. I’m always glad I took time away from work to be with them. I have a golden retriever now and we play a lot, but he is getting older and playing less. So now I long for a puppy to play with.
Enjoy and appreciate the children in your life - and in yourself. If you find yourself playing and laughing, don’t feel guilty and think you should be doing something else. Enjoy the play and the laughter and hust have fun. We all need more fun and laughter in our lives.
City on a hill,
Untouched lands beyond.
A fallow field is
The secret of fertility.
In the city, we see millions of lives represented in the windows, doors, and many floors of each building. We see excitement and the glories of civilization. But no matter how much those who follow Tao may enjoy the city, they understand the need for retreat into nature.
In the countryside, they find the nurturing quality of freedom. They can see new possibilities and can wander without societal impositions. In the past, pioneers saw the open prairies and were filled with dreams of dominating nature with the glories of man. Now we know different: We must preserve the wilds for our very survival.
We need time to lie fallow. If you cannot leave the city, just find a little quiet each day to withdraw into yourself. If you are able to walk in fields or in the hills, so much the better. But none of us can maintain the fertility of our beings without renewal.
We all need time to rest and reflect, to renew ourselves physically, spiritually, and mentally. Being out in my garden does this for me, or being in nature anywhere. Other ways I achieve renewal are soaking in the spa, quietly relaxing, or sometimes just taking that mental second to ask myself if something is really that important before getting upset.
I’m off to New York this week so will definitely enjoy the city. And appreciate my 70 degree weather and my garden when I get back! I always like coming back from a trip because the garden will have changed. The roses are just starting to put out new growth; they will be covered in it when I get back. And the bulbs may start to bloom. And it will be a new month, so I will get to flip all the calendars to a new month - yet another renewal!
Zither, chess, book, painting, sword.
These symbolize classical skill.
There was once a wanderer who cared nothing for fame. Although he had many chances for position, he continued to search for teachers who could help him master five things: zither, chess, book, painting, and sword.
The zither gave him music, which expressed the soul. Chess cultivated strategy and a response to the actions of another. Books gave him academic education. Painting was the exercise of beauty and sensitivity. Sword was a means for health and defense.
One day a little boy asked the wanderer what he would do if he lost his five things. At first the wanderer was frightened, but he soon realized that his zither could not play itself, the chess board was nothing without players, a book needed a reader, brush and ink could not move on their own accord, and a sword could not be unsheathed without a hand. He realized that his cultivation was not merely for the acquisition of skills. It was a path to the innermost part of his being.
Too often people seem to stop learning once their official education is over. But like the wanderer, the reality is we need to be constantly seeking new teachers and learning in order to really be ourselves. Acquiring things is not the purpose of life; it is to become more ourselves, and one way of doing that is by constantly working to better our skills and abilities.
Life is about growth. If you’re not busy growing, you’re busy dying. To become set in your ways, never changing or learning anything new, is to start dying. From the Ko Yuen Translation of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching:
A Warning Against Rigidity
1. At the birth of man, he is elastic and weak; at his death, rigid and unyielding. This is the common law; trees also, in their youth, are tender and supple; in their decay, hard and dry.
2. So then rigidity and hardness are the stigmata of death; elasticity and adaptability, of life.
3. He then who putteth forth strength is not victorious; even as a strong tree filleth the embrace.
4. Thus the hard and rigid have the inferior place, the soft and elastic the superior.
So we need to stay flexible and adaptable, not become hard and rigid. By practicing our skills, and learning from those who can teach us, we stay alive. If we refuse to learn and grow, we become dead inside. Even the oldest of trees still have new, tender, soft growth.
Soul, strategy, education, sensitivity, and health. Things that keep you alive…
Let us not follow vulgar leaders
Who exploit the fear of death,
And promise the bliss of salvation.
If we are truly happy,
They will have nothing to offer.
Some leaders use threats to win adherents. They invoke death to force good behavior and to herd people toward paradise.
Others woo with grand promises. If you have no satisfaction, they offer bliss. If you feel inadequate, they offer success. If you are lonely, the offer acceptance.
But if we do not fear death and are happy, what will such leaders have to offer? Spirituality is an organic part of daily life, not something dispensed by a professional. True spirituality is liberation, not just from the delusions of reality but from the delusions of religion as well. If we attain freedom from the fear of death, a sound way of health, and a path of understanding through life, there is happiness and no need for false leaders.
Let us not be confused
With kaleidoscopic reality.
Using wisdom and courage to act,
Let us not add to the confusion.
The world is a storm of myriad realities, yet we cannot allow ourselves to be swept into the vortex. To do so is to be lost and to lose the true center where all understanding will come. We must act, but in the right way.
Action must be guided by both intellect and experience. We learn from teachers, elders, and others. But we must also test what we learn in the world. It is not enough to simply meditate, and it is not enough just to have theoretical knowledge. We need both in order to be wise.
Only when wisdom, courage, timing, and perseverance are combined can one have a sound basis for initiative. The action must be complete. It must burn clean; it cannot leave any bad ramifications or lingering traces. An act that leaves destruction, resentment, or untidiness in its wake is a poor one. Then initiative is insufficient, and Tao has not been attained.
Hmmm. Well, I certainly do lots of things that leave untidiness in their wake, although I usually clean them up… certainly have caused a few resentments in the past, although I try not to do that too much now. I try to avoid destroying things, it’s probably better to leave that sort of thing to Shiva, after all. But this untidiness, got to work on that one.
But those are good things to keep in mind before taking a major action. Is it going to hurt anyone, or cause resentment? Is it going to destroy anything? Am I able to clean up the mess this is going to make? Think if we would consider such questions before a country takes an action like going to war… that would make a difference, wouldn’t it? Or maybe before you say something snarky to someone, or start an argument, or just try to prove you’re right about something… is it worth it to lose a friend because you have to be right?
We can’t always wait for the perfect moment to act, or wait to know what is the perfect thing to do, but I think we can keep those questions in mind and consider what results our actions will create before we make a mess of things. I don’t expect everything I do to perfectly “achieve Tao”, whatever that actually means. But I can certainly try to keep Tao in mind and work to create balance and harmony, and not destruction or resentment. Untidiness, well, we gotta work on that…
In honor of the dark times for democracy…
Pure light is all colors.
Therefore, it has no hue.
Only when singleness is scattered
Does color appear.
When we see pure sunlight streaming down on us, it is a pure radiance so bright that we can discern neither details nor hues from its source. But when light strikes the gossamer wings of a dragonfly, or when it shines through misty rain, or even when it shines on the surface of our skin, it is polarized into millions of tiny rainbows. The world explodes with color because all the myriad surfaces and textures fracture the light into innumerable, overlapping dimensions.
The same is true of Tao. In its pure state, it embodies everything. Thus, it shows nothing. Just as pure light has all colors yet shows no color, so too is all existence initially latent and without differentiation in Tao. Only when Tao enters our world does it explode into myriad things. We say that everything owes its existence to Tao. But really, these things are only refractions of the great Tao.
Colored light, when mixed together, becomes pure, bright light again. That is why those who follow Tao constantly speak of returning. They unify all areas of their lives and unify all distinctions into a whole. There cannot be diversity within unity. When our consciousness rejoins the true Tao, there is only brightness, and all color disappears.
Look at the dust particles floating in the sunlight, like little bits of glitter. See the gnats shine as they zig zag in the light. Look at the light shine off the leaves of the plants. Look at it glisten on the coat of the cat in the window. Watch light reflect off glass, refract off everything. Tao is the same, reflecting and refracting everywhere.
I often think how fortunate we all are, to have such a wide variety of things to see and do in the world. Yet people are so unhappy, feeling stuck in their jobs or their lives. Even I feel stuck sometimes, until I look up and realize how much great stuff there is going on all around me. Quit thinking things will be better if you were doing something else, and learn to appreciate where you are and what is around you. Even a prisoner can go inside and explore what is within themselves - what is within us reflects what is around us and refracts the Tao as much as anything.
There is so much in life to enjoy. And yet it is really all part of the same thing, the Tao. It all seems so different, but it is all made from the same stuff, electrons, protons, neutrons. And so with people as well - all of us seeming so different, but really all so much the same. Why can’t we just learn to enjoy the differences, celebrate our wonderful diversity of interests and ideas instead of believing we are right and they are wrong, or we are better and they are worse, or we are good and they are evil. We are one, yet many, together, yet always alone. And we fear being alone as much as we fear being together. Perhaps we need to get over the fear and accept that once we overcome the fear of diversity, we can overcome the fear of unity as well.
We all come from and return to the same source. Even the gnat. Isn’t it time we use the magnificent brains we’ve been given to at least enjoy life as much as the gnat? Live in the light. Zig zag around and see what you find. Whee, you can fly. Yeah! Like that.
You do the things that make you feel like a rock star. You stop berating yourself around the clock for everything you aren’t doing, and start congratulating yourself for the little things you get right consistently. You recognize just how worthy of love you are. It’s not that difficult, just pay a little attention to some of your nicer qualities for once. Do the things that make you proud of yourself.
And then, other people have nice qualities, too, and you notice these more than you notice how they fit into one or another cliché. You open your eyes a little. The green-eyed waitress might not like you, but her friend really does, and she’s sort of funny and actually pretty cute and it’s not really that scary when she cries, for some reason. It’s touching, even.
A good director can make an audience fall in love with anyone, just by revealing this or that little quality that makes the person glow, or this or that weakness that makes the person feel small. Start looking at the people you meet through a filtered lens. That doesn’t mean you’ll date the alcoholic or the mother with three insane kids who just filed for bankruptcy. It just means you’re open to what’s there, you’re interested, you want to know more, you’re not rushing to categorize and label every human you meet according to how they’re sure to eventually disappoint you.
Cooperation with others,
Perception, experience, tenacity.
Know when to lead and when to follow.
When we become involved with a fellowship, we must gradually become an integral, organic part of that organization. The relationship will be one of mutual influence: We must carefully influence the collective, and in turn, we will be shaped by the company we keep.
Influencing others requires perception. We need to know when to act, when to be passive, when others are receptive to us, and when they will not listen. This takes experience, of course, and it is necessary to take part in a great many relationships — from our families to community asociations — to cultivate the proper sensitivity. In time, there will be moments of both frustration and success, but in either case, a certain tenacity is crucial. If we are thwarted in our initiatives, then we must persevere by either maintaining our position or changing it if a better one prevails. If we are successful, we must not rely on charisma alone, but we must also work to fully realize what the group has resolved to do.
True leadership is a combination of initiative and humility. The best leader remains obscure, leading but drawing no personal attention. As long as the collective has direction, the leader is satisfied. Credit is not to be taken, it will be awarded when the people realize that it was the subtle influence of the leader that brought them success.
I’m not really much of a leader or follower most of the time. When I’ve been in leadership positions, I think I pretty much followed the Tao advice to gently lead a group towards making decisions but feeling they did it themselves. Sometimes I did get overlooked for that, and others got the recognition, but that was all right. I’m definitely more comfortable as a leader or equal participant than as a follower. I can be persuaded, but if I know I’m right about something, I will maintain my position and try very hard to persuade others, sometimes too hard. I definitely haven’t always known when others would not listen - or maybe, knew it but plowed ahead anyway in a desperate attempt to save things.
I try very hard not to feel desperate about anything these days. Yet I still have my passions, and I can push too hard at times. Mostly I very much let things run themselves, and try to trust Tao to take care of things more often than not. I’ve had lots of initiative in the past, but right now, not so much. And I’ve had little humility in the past, but now I find myself a lot more humble in life. Perhaps I’m approaching something of the right balance, but at this point, I definitely lack initiative.
Groups are not something I come to easily. I am far more of an individual, and work with groups as I need to, but don’t really seek them out. I tend to see people as individuals rather than as part of a group, and I think it affects how I think of groups. Perhaps I’m too wary of groupthink, or not comfortable with the influence of a group. Or maybe I just don’t want the association of a group. Whatever it is, it’s something I know I need to work on and get over.
Umbrella, light, landscape, sky –
There is no language of the holy.
The sacred lies in the ordinary.
No one is able to describe the spiritual except by comparing it to ordinary things. One scripture describes the divine word as an “umbrella of protection.” Another says a god is light. Heaven is supposed to be in the sky, and even ascetics who have rejected sex use erotic images to describe enlightenment. People have to resort to metaphor to state the divine.
Even esoteric languages have been invented, and they mystify the outsider. Holy words always appear that way to the uninitiated. After one learns to read them, their message becomes assimilated. We no longer worry about the images, for we have found the truth that the words were indicating.
When you buy something that has assembly instructions, you follow the directions, but you do not then venerate the instructions. Spiritual attainment is no different. Once you’ve gained it, instructions becomes secondary. Spirituality gained is no different than the ball game you play, the work you do, the car you drive, the love you make. If you constantly regard Tao as extraordinary, then it remains unknown and outside yourself — a myth, a fantasy, an unnamable quantity. But once you know it, it is yours and part of your daily life.
All religion, as theologians - and their opponents - understand the word, is something other than what it is assumed to be. Religion is a vehicle. Its expressions, rituals, moral and other teachings are designed to cause certain elevating effects, at a certain time, upon certain communities. Because of the difficulty of maintaining the science of man, religion was instituted as a means of approaching truth. The means always became, for the shallow, the end, and the vehicle became the idol. Only the man of wisdom, not the man of faith or intellect, can cause the vehicle to move again.
- Alauddin Attar (Shah 261)
Chao-Chou asked Nan-Ch’uan, “What is the Way?” Nan-Ch’uan answered “Ordinary Mind is the Way.” We each takes up the path of awareness and care, and we attend to what is going on, within and without. And we discover things. Whether we are Zen students, take up the practices of Vipassana, or simply engage the spiritual practice of conversation so much beloved by Unitarian Universalists; in each of these disciplines we commit to being present, to showing up, to listening and paying attention. In any of these ways, we commit to using our ordinary mind, no capitals; paying attention to the ordinary things of life.
And as we do this, we may discover we really do give up the capital letters. As we attend we may find ourselves letting go of our ideas of what should be. What we may have been searching for originally–Wisdom, capital “W,” Salvation, capital “S,” whatever–in our presence to our suffering and longing, we may find ourselves dissolving into another way of seeing, of being.
At this point we may discover the miracle of ordinary mind, with no capital letters. Here we may discover each breath to be a new beginning. Here we may engage the world with freshness, humility and play. Here we may well cultivate the biggest of shrubs, that will indeed, let the birds of heaven shelter in its shade.
— James Ishmael Ford
I think there are far too many people who venerate the instructions - the words of religion - rather than the results. They choose to live shallow lives, feeling all virtuous and tisk-tisking others for not being virtuous people, instead of seeing the hypocrisy of their actions. They look at ordinary life and see people who aren’t religious, instead of seeing the spirituality of all things.
Religion is a means to an end - the acceptance of others and the finding of our own spituality. Once you are comfortable in your own spirituality, the religion, the instructions, aren’t really all that necessary, unless you forget something and have to go back and refer to them.
The words of all religions can be quite beautiful and inspiring. But that is what they are meant to do - inspire us to become better people, not to use as a club to beat others into submission. When religion is misused for that purpose, it becomes tainted. Religion needs to be about how to live an ordinary life and a spiritual one - at the same time, not just on Sunday mornings.
The river, surging course,
Uninterrupted current.
Headwater, channel, mouth.
Can they be divided?
Each day, we all face a peculiar problem. We must validate our past, face our present, plan for the future.
Those who believe that life was better in the “old days” sometimes are blind to the reality of the present; those who live only for the present frequently have little regard for either precedent or consequence; and those who live only for some deferred reward often strain themselves with too much denial. Thinking of past, present, and future is a useful conceptual technique, but ultimately they must be appropriately balanced and joined.
We must understand how the past affects us, we should keep the present full of rich and satisfying experiences, and we should devote some energy each day to building for the future. Just as a river can be said to have parts that cannot be clearly divided, so too should we consider the whole of our time when deciding how to spend our lives.
The way that I understand time, all we really have is the Now. The past is in memories, the future can’t be touched yet, so the only moment that can really be affected is the Now. It is what one decides to do in the present moment that determines the future moments.
That said, there is certainly a lot to be learned from the lessons of the past, and much to be gained in planning for the future. I don’t think I have many days at all when I don’t do some of both. I think where I differentiate is that I don’t worry about the future or regret the past - I enjoy my memories and I anticipate the future. I’ve learned that regrets are futile (but not learning the lessons of the past is foolish). And worry is just stressful - it’s far better to take effective action if you are concerned about something.
Time can be thought of as both discrete and continuous - there are places where each type of thought is useful. But to be stuck in thinking only about then, or now, or the future is indeed, well, a waste of time. Better to be aware of all, and alive in the present moment. Too many people seem to walk through their lives in a daze, not aware of what is going on around them at all, lost in their concerns over what has happened or will happen. We all need to be awake and aware to the possibilites of the Now - and the consequences to the future of lacking that awareness.
Treehugger: Bikestaions: Commuting Facility of the Future
Bikestaions: Commuting Facility of the Future
January 14, 2005
Seattle-based firm Place Architecture has come up with a concept for venues called Bikestations that could change the way we think about our commutes—and maybe even getting around in general. Already popular in Europe and Japan, bike stations are facilities where people can park their bikes, stow their riding clothes, clean up, and emerge ready for work, all in a city that will have cleaner air and easier mobility due to them. Place’s Bikestations would also be social spaces, where people could take a coffee, pick up a newspaper, or get a new inner tube. To be built along the existing commuter rail lines, the stations would provide services from simple covered parking to full multi-modal transit hubs that would eventually integrate a variety of clean transport options, giving commuters the opportunity to connect with electric vehicles, FlexCars, and rental bikes…
The designs for the stations are themselves ecologically friendly: Taking full advantage of government programs that encourage the use of recycled and sustainable materials, the structures will be simple to construct (possibly using recycled bike components), easy to maintain and inexpensive to operate. This is the commuter station of the future alright, but Place knows that some things, like front-and-center parking spots, will always remain valuable. In their world, those desirable spots still exist, but will be reserved for environmentally friendly vehicles only, of course. Thanks Michele! ::Place Architects [by MO]