to some extent awake

Before getting out of bed this morning I noticed that attention was filled with sights and sounds from a telly programme I watched last night. So ‘I’ switched attention to breathing and body awareness. But ‘it’ quickly switched to thinking of the details of a project at the weekend and to work that needs doing on some web sites. So, again, ‘I’ switched attention to breathing and body awareness.

It is to be noted that attention rarely stayed with the present moment for more than a few seconds. But there was quite good awareness of what was going on - there was thought - but ‘I’ was not lost in it - not completely! As I woke I was to some extent awake - yahoo!

Blind habits

While in the kitchen I noted an urge to put the milk bottle to my lips and to eat dates but I resisted the temptations and then felt a spoiled brat temper tantrum welling up. “I want it now!”

And that melodrama took less than a minute to unfold. Minor mood colours. All part of a days churn.

There is much mental stuff that is not normally noticed or understood. Blind habits. So wake up to them and be free to live authentically in the present. Why not?

stew juice

I noticed myself obsessing over trivia - stewing in my mind made juices. Given that the energy comes from the amazing life force how come it manifests in such a scatty and disorganised way in me?

Presumably I am not unique. So how come there is so much cerebral noise. Good enough I suppose is good enough. The bare necessities get covered and the rest is fluff.

The bottom line is brute physical survival - food, clothing and shelter.

The psychological stuff on top is go faster stripes.

The transcendental stuff on top of that is pretty rarefied.

Rumi's mental guest house - welcome them all - a short poem

enlightenment2 - neuroscience etc in search of the ineffable - some hugely clever stuff now presented in bite sized video chunks

Joseph Goldstein and Carol Wilson the Vipassana people talk about it on video

gross national happiness

The term Gross National Happiness was first expressed by the King of Bhutan His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck. It is rooted in the Buddhist notion that the ultimate purpose of life is inner happiness. Bhutan being a Buddhist country, Bhutan's King felt the responsibility to define development in terms of happiness of its people, rather than in terms of an abstract economic measurement such as GNP.
http://www.grossinternationalhappiness.org/index.html

 

STEEPLeS Horizons

George G Clark, 04 January 2009

There are those who think about development (change for the better). It is a massive and interdisciplinary topic. There is an ever present danger of 'experts' reifying particular bits and thus missing out on the bigger picture. How might we guard against this?

Elsewhere we have noted that it is useful to isolate seven factors of development using the acronym STEEPLeS[1]. It is also possibly useful to think of each factor in terms of eight horizons that expand from self through family, community and tribe and on to nation and humanity and possibly even to biosphere and planet. The following table maps the factors against the horizons so as to create an inclusive matrix.

	S	T	E	E	P	Le	S
Self
Family
Community
Tribe
Nation
Humanity
Biosphere
Planet

 

Notes:

(1) For each horizon there is need to make allowance for variations based on sex, age, class, ethnicity etc and to set these in dynamic historical perspective ie to beware of being too focussed on the bulked up average person.

(2) For each STEEPLeS factor there is the option of detailing a before and after scenario for each horizon[2].

(3) It might be thought that the matrix covers too much and that it either trivialises or gives too much value to particular points of view. The key issue is to know when bias and partiality is in effect and thus to coolly relax about relatively narrow viewpoints and try to see the bigger picture. But this intellectual position has to be bedded in self knowledge - and this is ultimately grounded in values and thus in the spiritual factor.

(4) The horizons can be expanded at both top and bottom. Below the level of self we have organs and tissues; cells; molecules; atoms; sub atomic particles; and quantum entities. Above the level of the planet we have the solar system, the universe and the cosmos (the multi-verse?). How big can (and should) the picture be drawn? Who decides? On what grounds?

 

[printer friendly version]

---

[1] STEEPLeS = Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political, Legal, Spiritual

[2] http://dodclark.blogspot.com/2008/12/padding-steeples.html

 

Essence of freedom and peace

George G Clark 04 January 2009

 

… Buddhism … is ultimately about letting go of all forms and concepts and becoming free. - John Snelling, Elements of Buddhism

This morning I had a slightly blue feeling. It was mind made. But there are options. And there is freedom to choose the option that is active. The trick is to 'accentuate the positive' and to 'eliminate the negative'.

The formula is as follows:

·         Continue existing good thought trains

·         Promote new good thought trains

·         Discontinue existing bad thought trains

·         Do not promote new bad thought trains

 

The Five Hindrances

·         Craving ·         Aversion ·         Restlessness and anxiety ·         Sloth and torpor ·         Doubt

This of course begs the question of good v bad. In essence it is good if it brings deep peace and ease and it is bad if it brings deep anxiety and dis-ease. There are the five hindrances that tend to lock people into bad states (see box).

The main 'practice' involves being mindful of what is going on.  Rather than responding automatically to your causes and conditions you can inhabit the space between stimulus and response and evoke a more considered reaction: a reaction that is based on a more insightful view of the context in its totality.

And with practice (ie sitting in meditation and being aware of what the mind gets up to) it becomes easier to avoid being totally caught up by automatic causes and conditions. And that is the essence of freedom (liberation) and thus of peace.

 

the talking stick

Whoever holds the talking stick has within his hands the sacred power of words. Only he can speak while he holds the stick; the other council members must remain silent.

The eagle feather tied to the talking stick gives him the courage and wisdom to speak truthfully and wisely. The rabbit fur on the end of the stick reminds him that his words must come from his heart and that they must be soft and warm. The blue stone will remind him that the Great Spirit hears the message of his heart as well as the words he speaks. The shell, iridescent and ever changing, reminds him that all creation changes -- the days, the seasons, the years -- and people and situations change, too. The four colors of beads -- yellow for the sunrise (east), red for the sunset (west), white for the snow (north) and green for the earth (south) -- are symbolic of the powers of the universe he has in his hands at the moment to speak what is in his heart. Attached to the stick are strands of hair from the great buffalo. He who speaks may do so with the power and strength of this great animal.

 
http://www.acaciart.com/stories/archive6.html