31.3.12

Why I Love Chris Martenson


On the subject of adaptivity I find author and economist Chris Martenson to be such a satisfaction to read. He writes so eloquently on the subject of currencies, one is left to wonder just how deeply his advice and wisdom runs. For example: below, though he is speaking on the subject of gold, I find his insight to be directly applicable to All Things Indigo, and Mindfulness.

www.chrismartenson.com

Money issues and macro economics aside: I love this.

In following his pod-casts, I am encouraged by Chris Martenson's ability to "move on," which, I  think, may truly be the lesson of passion: moving-on brings ones passion back into ones self, reinvesting at the source. 

Having sought a Mindfulness practise for years, having engaged in the arts from a point of Mindfulness for many years more, I have learned nothing other than our personality is truly the most flexible thing about us.

This may be an easy thing to accommodate intellectually, but emotionally, acceptance of this is a completely different task, as emotions are embodied upon the instant. Under the heat of emotionality, our personality is - today - often the first thing stood upon to mark our point of view. It most especially is the thing we stand upon to lesson the stance of our perceived opponent when our lesser defences are in full swing. 

"Already Gorgeous"
I find such, unfortunate, as it appears to be fast becoming our foremost exchange of social currency. In a phrase: reality TV. The split between 'good' and 'evil' seems to have split widely into two very distinct camps, notably so in the last ten years. I loathe to dip into the territory of conspiracy, but allow me to say that under this umbrella of viewing each other, we become much like a horse with blinders. The horizon we perceive within each other is much narrowed. Worse, our own goals are decreased in their success as we cut ourselves off from our best and finest resource: each other.

From this, I find any - if not all - assessments of character to be only a cheap form of currency; borrowing from Martenson, akin to a paper currency which is so readily (instantly) made available. Deeper analysis of anyone's behaviour need move beyond the surface, which in my experience involves self examination. 

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Inside questions and statement as, 'Why would so-and-so DO such a thing?' or, 'People like that are so untrustworthy/selfish/deceitful/lesser-than-me, etc,'  I find that the seeming riddle unravels from asking oneself 'If I were to behave as such... WHY would I have done so?'

The latter is in my opinion much more fruitful. Truly. Especially in terms of developing our social values, like compassion.

It is not a dream, not an impossibility: compassion, as its base and core, is self development. A different kind of Mind.

So here is a test: in the article I've linked to above, replace 'gold' with anything that is of dearest value to you - perhaps even, dare I say, your Self. Read the article from this point of view, and I would most welcome your input to the All Things Indigo conversation: If Self is but a belief ... where then does the action of Mindfulness begin?

By such I am convinced Mindfulness may grow into a virtue on no less a scale as patience.

25.3.12

No Mumbo Jumbo

Under All Things Indigo, let's briefly take a look at the nature of social activism.

There are numerous immediate ways we can all be good citizens, intrinsically: being kind to service people like waitresses and cashiers, for example. If they're having a rough day, trying to put themselves through university, it costs nothing to give them a friendly smile and a bit of pleasant conversation.

Extrinsically, by comparison, there are countless very large issues at play today. Getting involved invites us to take these smaller intrinsic actions of Mindfulness into the world at large.

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I had the pleasure of joining in at the Keep Jumbo Wild vigil in Nelson BC this evening. I've been following this issue for over a decade, and kudos really must be given to the local EcoSociety on this one. Coming in from Alberta, over the years I have seen numerous "I *heart* Jumbo" buttons, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and even wooden signs hanging on doors throughout Calgary. Pretty impressive, considering how much money flows through Calgary, and how avid the average person is about skiing.

For those just entering the loop, various levels of government just approved a 5000+ room hotel to go into Jumbo Glacier: An area know for its grizzly bear populations, and - surprise - glaciers. The road alone will cost 250M to construct, and French investment (backed by the French government) is currently raising 450M for the project. Just under the umbrella of peak oil alone, this is one crappy investment, and creating a mega-project in the midst of a glacial field is simply bad taste. Supplying the future energy needs to this massive structure - for any investor keeping current to peak oil issues - is blindly catastrophic for their pocketbook...without it being lined with our tax dollars, of course. Unless the design has a serious off-grid strategy, one simply has to ask: who, in fifty years time, will be able to afford to go there?

At the close of the meeting, the EcoSociety president postulated that the French people will be rather upset to learn that their tax dollars will be going toward a mega-project as this, which will surely evict one of the grizzlies last habitat strongholds on the planet. And as for the fresh-water issues this project touches upon... The EcoSociety is looking for support toward the films in production currently (being made in French) which they wish to circulate globally, notably in France.

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This hotel is in my opinion simply a fine example of short-sighted-ness on the behalf of big money. Yes, the project will create jobs, but it does not address the countless list of pressing social issues facing our species today. In the face of rising energy costs and increasing resource scarcity - namely oil - the cost to maintain the road alone is something no tax-payer will be wanting to inherit. ... Which is the general pattern with such projects: government money helps to fund the project, and the tax-payer pays the bills afterwards, especially if there are problems, which in this case will likely include routine and preemptive avalanche maintenance. I wish we were using this wonderful resource - oil - with greater prudence, or any prudence, and I could use your help.

The questions brought up at the candle-light vigil were great. At a time when our social needs of education, health care, and pension obligations are experiencing remarkable pressure, why would any of us be interested in this project going through? Teachers, Doctors, and Baby Boomers all have a stake in this project, and I am not speaking of its recreational potential. If your classes and waiting rooms have been at capacity for the bulk of your career, and/or if you have felt a squeeze on your retirement savings, now is the best time to get involved with making a public appeal on issues like these. We may be able to print as much paper money as we want, but mother nature is like good wine or soup, which takes time to cure.



So I wonder if being kind to service people is enough, frankly, given the ripe and ready climate of issues we are all facing today. After repeated polls like the one above, is it not clear that we have a governmental system/elite which is not listening - not adhering to the democratic principles we believe ourselves to be living by?


I respect that these larger issues can generate fear and anxiety when looked upon for the first time. I also need respect that we develop our activism muscles one action at a time, at whatever juncture within ourselves we make room for. I do think, though, that we are indeed rooted into the infinite (just as the native elders speaking at the vigil explained, offering tobacco this evening) and following on such, we then have infinite capacity for action. I think the invitation on such issues is clear, and to do the right thing is equally clear. Our ideas of economy are going to change - are in process of changing - and the exercising of social responsibility is going to be a muscle-group each of us is going to have to tend too, ever increasingly as we proceed into our near - and collective - future.

Please share with me your thoughts and opinions - especially if you believe I am in the wrong, as I would welcome your insight.

24.3.12

Conscious Decisions - A RANT.

Those of you well familiar with this process may well wish to pass this article along to those... less familiar with conscious-based decision making, and read on for pure enjoyment. I do think we are passing through a time, though, where self-centeredness is up for question, and those who would prefer their personal pain are being left out to the open to dry. They feel the change upon them acutely, as the rest of us move into Change.

What do I mean by that? Well...

We're at a time when the idea of economic security is changing rapidly. How the balance of power swings is already interesting, and I think it is going to get a lot more interesting very soon. As Victor Frankyl said: "The best of us didn't come back," and I can't help but wonder what aspects of culture are going to thrive, and which other ones will not. We can observe Change on all its levels, hermeneutically if you will: personally, interpersonally, and societally, simultaneous to any given juncture in our experience.

North America has been 'on top' for quite some time. Mark Carney only last month said something akin to "We need to get used to the idea that our neighbours to the South may not recover for a very long time." To translate: the US$ is no long the reserve currency of the world. It just needs to be made official. Somehow.

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Whether the BRIC makes this official, or the US, or the complete collapse of paper currency, isn't really of concern here. Propping up Greece's debt with more debt, creates, well, debt. The end. The question I'm pursuing is: what does this mean for you? and, are you preparing?

Parallel to this, is that nasty Peak Oil thing, playing itself out in the background for the last forty years. That we are only just beginning to make the Green Collar Economy at the height of peak oil production, is probably a strong indicator of how well prepared we are to alter which currency we refer to as a benchmark in the coming years, ie: we'll probably wait until we have to panic, cry foul play, and then indulge in victimhood stories for decades.

Not pretty.

For my money, it comes back to a question of VALUE. What, do you value - intrinsically - and have you actually examined this? Or, are you sway to unconscious swings and "surprise" motivations? I call such impulsivity no less than personal pain. That unsightly 'forgetting' which our consumer culture encourages.

For example, one person I recently met, by her own words, sat idle in a marriage of 16 years until she accepted that her husband was most likely homosexual and that her needs were deeply mis-satisfied. My question for anyone in a similar situation is: do you really need to commit adultery before you acknowledge your own needs? Is this best-strategy of self-discovery, and bringing new people - new information - into your life? ... Obviously not: however, the example illustrates the lengths a person can go in allowing less than conscious decisions to be at the helm of ones thinking.

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The emasculation of men is by no means an end-goal of self esteem; rather, I think it a terrific route to full blown sex addiction. ... But perhaps, dear feminists, these points deserve posts unto themselves: I am not making a gender claim here, as the social contract between men and women is of great concern to me. And that said... I would love to meet a Babe In Total Control of Herself... but am not convinced I have yet.

Under All Things Indigo, what is disturbing me greatly in our predicament today, is the over-abundant availability of spiritual teaching. Some of it is good, and, naturally, I rely upon select authors myself. Though I am not Christian, I believe there is a prophecy or two about "false teachers arising in abundance near The End," which I respect and even admire. What exactly we're at the end of is up for debate, but I think there is something in such prophecy to the abundance of watered-down-crap out there on the subject of spirituality (especially Taoism!!) which, frankly, is used as a way to further mask an authentic dialogue with oneself and others, rather than uncover and deepen. Hence this posting here: Mindfulness as Action

Let's just say, Oblivion is Not Enlightenment, and it strikes me that the current bulk of economic activity would much rather keep us seemingly happy on the oblivion side of this equation.

"Education appears to be the thing
 that enables a man to get along
 without the use of his intelligence."

GB. Shaw.
Our minds are like sponges all through the life span - not just as children. We constantly model. By being wary of "education," (how and what we learn) you may have a chance at finding intelligence - whatever your educational goals happen to be. Our underlying needs - our dialogue with our self - is a really difficult thing for North Americans. I am speculating that we are just so used to 'being on top,' that attending to our needs hasn't really been of dire concern. But we've ran out of land: We've ran out of indigenous territory (and peoples) to exploit. (Damn hey, if only the Earth was flat!) And our paper currency had best get on with putting a green stripe into its legislation, or otherwise tear itself up and move out of the way for mother nature to take back all of her crusted-up, paved-over body: And as individuals, we are either making daily choices to move back into an accord with Her, or we're lost in our heads trying to live some other man's dream.

Which brings me back to this person I met recently. Given the rising economic transition we are in, given peak oil is at its height, and given also the baby boom trying to retire... given all these massive pressures upon the way we have been organising ourselves, I believe that using ones inner values as a compass to be best-method: Actual embodiment of ones ideas is going to cost something. ...Continuing to hide out in a pre-fab tool shed of products made cheaply in China is no way to forge ones future... China, always a fine subject unto itself, is in such an enviable spot: they have the means of production - period - they have the willing labour - period - they've been buying up American gold - period - and they work @$#!ing hard... economically I say: well played China! (See my profile to the right;)

A bourgeois ethic, on the other hand, is a bourgeois ethic. Chick-flik libertarianism is but a doe in the headlights. And anyone who has played 'Buck Hunter' even once... well... you know what comes next.

Cheers.
- P.

Please visit my other blogs for interesting articles and how-to videos:

23.3.12

Non-Denominational-Meditation Instructions - Part I.

The first few years introducing myself to meditation involved a lot of sleeping in chairs. I was always so disappointed with myself when this happened, but in time I came to view it as a natural part of gaining "stamina" inside of a meditative awareness. It shocked me how I could come to a class full-of-beans, full of piss-and-vinegar, or just plain full-of... gas, and be out like a light in the first minute. I attribute this to a couple of things now: having sincere teachers, and my own sincere desire to learn about meditation.

I hold the popular view that the first step of meditation is "to sit." ... Big deal, certainly, but to do only that - to only sit - is actually quite challenging, as our wonderful brains are so very well equipped to accomplish things and stuff. However, take faith that your mind can attend to all those things it needs to - and the stuff - LATER.

For now: sit.

Say whatever you need to say to yourself to welcome you onto the chair/floor/mat/etc, like "clear your mind," or, the dreaded "relax..." or, "shhh..."  Repeat, as much as you like.

I call this "walking over the bridge, heading to the door."


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Travelling into your instruction (clear the mind, relax, shh, etc), all kinds of thinking will arise. Each item will want to hold your attention: "go to the store, buy things, write an email, don't forget, beware, I hate so-and-so, my life is super..."


If you divert an attention to the physical energy fuelling these arising items, you'll soon notice that the energy has a similar force between each of them - if not outright identical - regardless of the subject matter.





Continuing to discover thinking in terms of physical energy,
thoughts themselves begin to ring out less loudly,
 less audibly, as if fading away.


I call this: "the door comes into view."
◊◊◊

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Continue "viewing," "the door." And as the thinking continues to subside, please know that there is the pitfall of thinking "Eureka! I'm enlightened." ... Well... I have some news for you... Simply gaining an awareness of the energy which thinking consumes, is a great beginning.  :)  It is a delicate skill which can vanish from your life in a heartbeat regardless of how long you have practised.

The quality of your energy is not necessarily relevant at this juncture. People experience all kinds of emotions after they begin sitting and the stirring thoughts start to relax and loosen. Don't worry about this for now - we'll save that for Part II. For now, just focus at how your mind is capable and ready for thinking. That's all you need to do. Keep it physical, and keep it real: I am not going to teach you how to levitate into the clouds and live happily ever after on the moon. I promise...

( ...Okay, maybe later ... ;)

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Thinking itself, is of course not bad. Thinking is merely one way we accomplish 'things and stuff.'  Thinking, is the way I created this blog post, yet my intention, is that I want very much for people to be able to exercise the meditative mind in a very technical way, and then develop a stamina for this quality of mind. 

How you personally apply the technique to your life is your own business and pleasure, and I would be most happy to hear of how you are doing.

Aware of the thinking energy, viewing the door, now how do we go in...

Well... this is where I would usually fall asleep(!) 

Captivated by the physical energy of thinking, and, as is common, held captive by my thinking,  I was actually quite weak to hold any attention and concentration upon Mindfulness without having some voice or coaching to keep me moving along through life... That is, with the babble subsiding, my mind needed a serious break(!) After quite some time of giving myself this break routinely, slowly I began to develop Concentration, and slowly after that, Insight. But these are topics for much later posts, and I look forward to sharing them with you then :)

There is a popular expression in the business of salvaging and re-purposing (using scrap materials to create new functional things) which goes something like this:


Indeed: some old doors make the finest and most interesting places to sit.

Photo Credit

In Part II we'll discover
"opening the door."

Much love to you,

21.3.12

Troubled?

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The washing machine switches to "Tumble" when inspiration strikes this morning. I was thinking back to all the different spiritual communities I've wandered through, remembering the steps along the way in coming to terms with just how 'troubled' people seemed to appear in these communities.

I had the grace fairly early in life to have walked through some interesting social circles in the theatre world, and strangely, I often came across a distaste for spiritual pursuits there. Certainly the theatre is a sect unto its own, and I respect fully how each person has the power of choice in finding their own brand of wisdom.

Truly, I do.

What fascinated me most were the tinges of hostility in people's voices on subjects of yoga, meditation, spirituality, and religion. Since the 90's we've grown considerably in our cultural predisposition, but I find this hostility persistent, and, given the natural tenaciousness with which the average person pursues a career in theatre and art, I find this a little, well, let's say... confusing. On one hand, the pursuit of theatre art is the holy grail to drink from and transform our culture's woes; and on the other, any curiosity toward something outside of ones preferred control becomes an influence dangerous, and almost demonic.

Certainly one can exhaust oneself quickly chasing every health fad, fabrication, or fact which tumbles onto the market. One can create more problems inside oneself than what may actually exist, and I think it is this self-haggared-ness which those outside of spiritual circles react to in a negative way - naturally - faulting a person's 'personality,' prior to investigating the person's pursuit.

I think the 'troubled' factor which appears in spiritual community would be more properly named as disillusionment. At some point - and of this I do have complete, er, faith - every person will experience a total and complete rift with their way of life. The entry point will be completely unique for everyone: economy, physical health, the death of a loved one, social habituation, a memory... or just plain-ole-curiosity for what may lay elsewhere.

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In the presence of such a person in throws of disillusionment, naturally, the arising discomfort becomes shared. Each to their own, and each to their own success, I say. But what fascinates me to no end is that hostility... I find this no different than the unfortunate chicken who started to bleed amongst her fellow chickens, for which panic and mayhem abound at the sight of blood. Humans, thinking ourselves civilised, likewise compound the shame of the questioning mind when one of us should touch upon a little (naturally occurring) pain.

I am not an advocate for needless suffering. I am, however, an advocate of finding facts, and if this hostility is in actual fact a frustration of not knowing how to best help - let's call it that, lest we appear - and become - prejudiced. I have yet to find a person who can tell me exactly what the heck is going on here on this fine planet, what we're doing, why blue is blue, why we breathe, why are the planets zipping around in circles, or why a squirrel chirps and the robin sings(!) ... I enjoy all these things. But the notion of 'expertise' is to me a thing anyone can purchase.

photo credit here... :)
Yes we've made all kinds of wonderous technological gadgets, interesting shelters, bizarre agricultural methods, have landed on the moon, and circulated MacBooks across the globe and put one into my lap... That all took ingenuity, patience, and skill. Yet I do not find our busyness to be bringing us any closer to pulling back the face of this thing called Life, that we may finally see its true face.

This... consequently... makes me a poet.

All the way into the centre of my heart, I speak a different language. I see differently, and have always seen differently. If I did not have seventeen questions behind my eyes at all times, maybe I would have gone into today's professional sciences, earned a high paying salary, got that picket-fence-and-spouse combo, and just not have worried about any of this... but I didn't. And with every passing day, I accept further:

I couldn't.

The Chinese have a saying that, once you are thirty, "you are ready to walk." And once you are forty, "no one can fool you anymore." ... This week, I turn 39.

Rudolf Steiner predicted we would need spiritual scientists one day here in the West. He also predicted that a new religion would begin in the western provinces of Canada. I do not claim myself to have any standing to initiate such, yet I believe that day is here upon us - Ekhart Tolle being a fine example. Yes, we have had monks and nuns, and Henry David Thoreau's. Yes, we have had Einsteins and Glenn Goulds and Mother Teresas... But what about the everyday... What about you and I?

Jasper National Park, Canada. www.sta-sis-arts.com
I have never been naturally dazzled by Things. Trees however, strike me as a complete puzzle. Sunlight after rain. Wind upon the Lake. Fire underneath the mountain. The idea of dragons... Fog hanging low in a valley. ... I count myself lucky to be single, unhinged, and as of today unemployed(!) Divorce is 70%. I have met more single parents and lost divorcees than parenting couples. I have been dreadfully unhappy chasing the dollar, and I know full well I am far from alone... I have entered all of these conventional avenues with absolute full cooperation, but pleasurably, I still question, question, question... What, on earth, is going on here?! :)

As the only conclusion that has come back to me thus far, is that we're all just making it up as we go along... well then... I choose poetry(!) I choose the phenomenal shared radiance from gazing upon something until I know and feel the thing to be my brother, my ancestor, and my future. And I ask only of one thing: time to put this into words - to make "my agony sing" as Arthur Miller once said...



Outside the hills
birch-wood awaiting
the splitter, I wish you
much love to your mind
and heart.

20.3.12

Do We Have It Easy?

Paved roads everywhere; diet modification as per the fashion of the day; food whenever we want; cheap everything from China (for a little while longer) cars, phones, and pleasure, pleasure everywhere...

Don't get me wrong... I am grateful for it all. I recognise that my degree of privilege includes being critical of my privilege. However, I'd like to look at the fine balance which keeps many upon that treacherous edge of addiction and over-consumption.

It's easy to imagine a person addicted to say, buying shoes, so I'd like to take the idea of 'purchasing' a little deeper into the realm of thoughts. Imagine that each thought we create is like a kind of financial transaction, and in so doing, ask: what am I purchasing with this thought? What am I agreeing to be responsible for by following through on this 'transaction?' 

"Heathrow Mindfulness..."
If you find that to be labyrinthine - don't worry - as watching ones thoughts is much like a foreign exercise. It is much different that following ones thoughts. If you have a good pot of tea nearby, I think you'll get along much farther, and it would be my hope that you experience that dreaded word - discipline - as something which is instead both gentle and loving.

Just as an example: I'm currently staying with two lovely-hearted pups in the Kootenays. Last night while trying to sleep, and again this morning, these two free spirits were joining in with the wilderness chorus: barking at birds, barking at squirrels, barking at the fog, barking at their own breath... if they were "barking for cancer" we'd have a billion dollars raised by 2pm.

Now, for my money, discipline is a stoic beautyand airspace, is noise-space, even on the solitude of a mountaintop. To know, and love, solitude, is to hear it... One of the greatest joys I've ever known is a true and complete silence - like listening to trees breathe on a windless day - and I would listen to such a movement non-stop if I didn't have to break for tea, food, bathing, and tending to the fire. Certainly the mind is "lively," and when we match our mind to our potential (Thomas Cleary), there is something Other which moves in tandem with us.

So too with these pups. And so too with our sense of self. Mindfulness is constant abiding, standing in contrast to the over-consumptive norm. And yes, it involves a little (gentle) discipline. Where there is sentience, there lay the seeds of Mindfulness.
Discipline is that thing which guides us whether we want it to or not. Some are very disciplined in being un-disciplined. Truly! However: discipline is the rudder to the ship, the keel to the waves, the sail holding the wind, and the bow pointing toward our visions. It gives our lives form. Regardless of the knowledge that 'we are all one,' and so-forth, our bodies do travel through this time contained to our form, and needing to interact with other things of form. We are interdependent at best - for the time being - yet I would argue that our course is better-made by a little prior preparation (photo source)

One can easily argue formlessness an equal pursuit of Mindfulness. However, without a practise to support this aspect of mind - this way of observing oneself with the world - there are truly many dangers. Becoming a total blockhead, for starters, and then, falling into oblivion.

I have found one beauty which is a close second to the radiant silence of the mountainside, and that is a wonder-filled pup who knows his or her place. A pup always wishes to do the right thing. Always. Those big brown eyes looking up to us always reveal the mind of their inner-puppy, up until we give them our constant and loving guidance. If we ourselves are disciplined with them, they grow into the very things which we do feed them.

To illustrate: I once ate an entire steak at a fireside with a beautiful big black lab beside me. There were all kinds of opportunities for me to loose that steak, as I was sitting in a lawn chair, dinner in my lap. "Happy," as the pup was named, didn't budge. He never once begged: never once whined, never once hunted about for scraps. He kept me good company, and kept watch on the fire and what may have come upon us from outside the fire's circle.


Happy, was Zen.


Odin & MacKenzie
Discipline's finest, is cooperation. It is an appreciation of self, and where we might travel aboard that self. And such was that time by the fireside with Happy, a place to travel. Discipline creates an interdependence not only with each other, but also with our higher selves. Our visions for our lives are a guaranteed beauty, and when we arrive to our place, so much of that scattered liveliness simply falls away from the forefront of our minds. Our wishing and hopes see the way through any turmoil given -when given a chance to be heard - and when we stand tall upon the deck of our own sea-faring vessel, each moment asks of us for greater degrees of navigation. It is impossible to steer the ship with any confidence or safety from the crows-nest...

I see too many young people lost at sea today and my heart goes out to them, as I myself have spent many months tossed about by waves, having believed oblivion, enlightenment. Though this is clearly not the exercise of Mindfulness, such a time to wander may be necessary when one leaves a nest. Our spirit's best health needs constant tending lest we allow ourselves to sink into anything less than a pleasurable alertness; and often, the arising youth within us needs a good long walk. Death by pleasure and wonder is just as much the prison as anything, and by such I am an advocate of little daily inner housekeepings - themselves a pleasure.

These beautiful pups know that every chirp and squeak in the forest is not a true danger, but their barks say otherwise, revealing a restless state of mind. The same way coughing in the theatre can be contagious, so too do the dogs in the valley set one another off. No doubt the small pleasures feel hilarious - and certainly 'squirrel-versus-dog' is a grand way to let off steam and have a good laugh - but without being able to return to a steady presence, a mindfulness in action, we miss out on the larger, grander, pleasures to be found within our time.


Steadiness in silence has been key for me. It is so rare to find such in ourselves or in the world, but we are given one chance here, so far as I can tell: One chance in this body and mind to uncover something of true wonder for ourselves. All the forms of pleasure in the universe do not combined reveal it, and yet its invitation does not cease for our seeing it.

Kindly and with love I wish for you regular and resolute periods of great calm.

8.3.12

Indigo Washing

My colleague Michael and I have been in a several years long discussion on this topic. I believe we are all quite familiar with the term 'green washing,' where an endeavour of some kind tries to paint itself in a favourable and popular light by aligning itself with an environmental ethic. So too, it follows, that those aligned with a spiritual ethic can fall prey to "indigo washing."

Where in green washing, the central issue may well revolve about profitability versus what is of value, I'm going to postulate that in the case of indigo washing, the central issue is one of intimacy.

Rudolf Steiner, suggested that in time we will need "spiritual scientists," people who would be willing to put scientific and empirical rigour upon the subject and experience of spirituality. I mistakenly argue that I Ching is an empirical endeavour, as Michael has pointed out quite rightly that some people would oppose my use of empiricism in this case. So... perhaps "primitive empiricism" might due for the time being.

The complexity of this issue is that spiritual experience is open for all to take of, bask in, or neglect. ACDC, as I often say, is as much of a valid spiritual pursuit as meditation an Metallica. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and at some point, one's world view will be challenged: At some point, one's level of accomplishment, or understanding, or skill, is going to be challenged by new information and new experience, and the skin of the former attainment will be shed. Plumbers, artists, philosophers, and beggars... no one is immune.

Where I think those of us who strive to have a practice must stay alert, is whether or not we are using the practice as a mask, or if our search is genuine. And here's the trick:

At some point the practice will become a mask by necessity.

Just as an artist must have a high esteem of their own opinion - by necessity, in order to just have an opportunity to sell their work - so too must a spiritual scientist step out on a limb. The question must be asked: who is going to care about this, and why? Vulnerability, is a necessary tool, which can be difficult to appreciate regardless of which side you are on in any given moment. The method to proceed deeper and deeper into practice - or not, and to remain as one is - makes itself very pronounced by the presence or absence of discipline and attention to detail. This discipline, permits the vulnerability to find certainty, like a young writer 'finding their voice.'

Generally, after the first peak experience, a person is going to be in a sort of a vulnerable reverie for some time. I do not know enough about the use of drugs to be their advocate or opponent: I do believe, however, completely, in Life, and I believe our innate rejuvenative powers a fine place to orient a sense of faith. However, this reverie makes a lot of people nauseous. To their credit, it is difficult to be around people who are speaking on things one may have difficulty relating to, as people need - very dearly - to feel important. Amid new knowledge, those just off of the peak experience may well be using said knowledge to shield themselves from an otherwise 'mad' world. It is at those points where contention can set in. I believe we need to feel important because we have so many fundamental, potentially unanswerable, questions on our plate from the moment we are born; and from this central need, we tend to avoid reminders of the unknowns in our midst because they challenge our perception of a calm, comfortable, confidence. Conversely, by flaunting these reminders that 'all is not what it seems,' is not necessarily the best option of spreading ones personal gospel.

If we are to become a compassionate culture, I do think such situations beg the question: what does the uncomfortable behavior serve? Rigid behaviour amid contention points back to the notion of intimacy, and being able to generate meaningful discussions. The claimant of a peak experience is a call to action by presence alone, but this does not excuse the person from respecting the social mores into which they are situated. Such awkwardness, after a peak experience, generates an ensuing vulnerability abundantly. All kinds of random behaviour can follow as a means of dealing with this contention, and the potential detail and mutual learning can be swept under the nearest rug: 'being one,' or 'in pursuit of enlightenment,' or 'following abundance' are easy maxims to grab onto to either protect oneself, or dismiss someone in pursuit of these things.

But contention, like anything, cannot last. If the behavior allows a person to grow better into their well being, and garner the ability to articulate the causes of well being, then the person most likely was attending to something in their life which demanded rigor and responsible awareness.

And therein lies the key: responsibility. I think it is easy to sit upon a truth, or an identity, and consequently have its affective territory shrink over time. To take on a practice like yoga or meditation is to willingly enter something bigger than yourself, and to become an ambassador to the tradition whether one wants to or no. These practices are a "place to go," (Thomas Cleary) and by going there, to that 'place,' though one risks being vastly misunderstood, outcast, and ridiculed, if one remains true to their initial curiousity, perspective will continue to bloom - intrinsically and extrinsically.

Which is why cultural growth is difficult: who wants to risk social isolation, the dinner on their plate, the idea of gain, a career, and even the roof over their head to pursue something which may have no real guarantee? Yet any long standing artist can tell you quite quickly that to "turn your back on your bliss" (Joseph Campbell) is to essentially say no to Life.


Life is an invitation. Every heart beat. Every first moment of waking on every morning: The little bolt of thunder which reaches down from our skull and sends its gentle instruction to the heart to keep going, is the greatest invitation I've ever paid witness to.

I would like to recommend that the next time you have the opportunity to witness one person condemn another with the platitude 'so-and-so is just crazy,' or, 'people like that are so x-y-z...' to take a moment and reflect on that key question: what, intrinsically, is this behavior serving? Eventually, you can witness reciprocal behaviours in yourself, too. And should you find that the person to be in pain or distress of some sort, do you have the courage to ask them such? What then is the nature of compassion if not at least one part courage; and what is the cause of the behaviour which would otherwise condemn? Are not these two distinct choices linked?

These quick agreements we make - condemnations, complaints, criticisms - may well be some of the most powerful forces known to us. And as I say, I think indigo/spiritual endeavour is very much a matter of intimacy: an invitation of constant calling.


Food for thought:

Green Tara

I am enjoying other Mindfulness blogs here on Blogger, and there is one in particular I would like to point out:

http://upward-spiralling.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-makes-green-tara-services-unique.html#more

Each post I read affirms that Mindfulness is alive and well, and that the root of our human issues is soon to be found and plucked.

Thanks so much Julie!

Pollution

I know it is unsociable to complain, but the degree to which a problem becomes severe, calls for it. People have long complained about environmental contaminants, well before the infamous 60's. Thoreau speaks of it in Walden, naturally; Grey Owl, and even Heraclitus. And I wonder if today we are actually getting to the root of the issue.

Thanks in part to the popular influence of yoga, I believe people are finding the map. Entire social circles have exploded into the cultural mainstream toward the state and health of our Consciousness: the quality of our thinking, whereby our actions follow. Social media at its best, truly asks one to keep their noses clean when all actions are readily publishable. So I think we're getting closer... In recent years I have been feeling much relieved to see the social ideals of environmentalism, long debated and pushed aside, truly grip a cohort and affect a generation. Young people today care. They care to the point of changing our cultural and business landscape. Have you noticed in Alberta that it was only ten years ago or so that a vegetarian option on the menu was totally weird? Now there are superfood elixir bars, like Noorish Cafe, which are leading the way.

Simply put: it is nice to share the torch. This new wave of interest arrived in the nick of time, and there is lots to be done. There is a lot to care about.

That said, I think we are only getting closer. That is, not yet at the root.

Perhaps many have named it, but it is so much more difficult to embody. Mindfulness is helpful, as it is a definite bridge upon which the West can stand with some degree of security, expressing the value of things like stillness, wonder, and conservation rather than excessive consumption.

Embodiment is key.

It's natural to model our behaviour after others we admire, cobbling together the aspects of others into a sense of self. This self, then, is both business card and performance: entry points for meeting. Yet these things do not contain all the answers. Watch Barack Obama, for example. Remember being dazzled when he arrived on the scene? Wasn't it refreshing, at the very least, to listen to actual-power being articulate and literate? Yet now, can we not also sense something else present inside all the sincerity? Are we surprised? It's just one example, but I think it shows clearly The Mask, perhaps the necessity for it, yet also the invitation so constantly in the wings - waiting - waiting to truly step into the light.

I appreciate the president's speaking ability greatly, and I do believe that he is a good man. However, as we close in on peak oil, peak gold, peak silver, peak wild salmon, peak harvesting anything from the ocean, peak species extinction... and so on... I am reminded that "the map is not the territory."  I appreciate all the green groups in the world, protecting habitat, and making some legislative headway, but I wonder how deeply these 'reminders' travel into our day-to-day, moment-to-moment thinking.

I would hazard to guess that the fifteen-year-olds of today will truly shake things up. They were born with internet, while I only just got onto G+ and Twitter. What social savvy - and so then social currency - will they have, by which to discover the quality of a persons speech and mind? I do invite you to hold me to this: in the next five to ten years.... lets see what 'the kids' create.

Humans: we think ourselves clever. I believe, though, that we are upon a crest of awareness, where many are realizing the busyness of our thinking is a lot like pollution. That 'business card' is merely a thing: It is an idea of self, which at best points the way. But the map is not the vehicle, and we cart around our lives as if the map is the answer, holding it up in front of us while we travel about, aware of where we are going, but not necessarily aware of each step along the way.

Imagine how effective ones driving would be if the inside of our 'VWs' were completely postered with flour and water and maps... We would certainly understand how to get from A to Z, but woe to the person, or persons, who take such cars out of 'park.' And yet I see us all to some degree driving around rather blind, shifting and redecorating the interior space of these map-laden vehicles; mistakes and social blunders and rudeness are covered up with yet more maps, and the walls are getting thicker. It's paradoxical at best, and I won't speculate what it could be at its worst.

Over-consumption comes to mind, but that's too simplistic.

We think we want to be right about something, but I think that underneath we want to be content. I believe we want relief more than anything else, as the mutual guess-work of positioning ourselves is exhausting. Certainly there is a great reward for 'hard work' and I'd like to suggest that the hardest is to know oneself. Beyond the mask of any 'business card,' or performance, or anything we have done - successfully or otherwise - is all in the past, and today, we are always new.

So it takes a lot to see this territory and to discover the tool of mindfulness, but I believe it is arising, and many are learning to speak its language. We have to allow the ripest and most sensitive part of the bud some 'air time.' It needs weathering, and it needs to be heard. And as with any flower, it's time is brief before it is again replenished by another in-coming incumbent bud.

I will not argue if it is an insensitive and uncaring world, but rather, I do argue that we live in an over-sensitive world wanting and waiting to care; to crawl out of our skins, to put down our colourful maps, to peel away the interior-dec which has imprisoned us, and let some serious light in.

But how do we do this...? Well... perhaps let us look to those who spent their time observing. The observing scientist tells us what the problem is: the observations point toward the solution, and in this case the solution calls out clearly for a change of pace. Not only that, but also into a depth of self acceptance to simply Not Know what is directly ahead. That to develop a comfort of not knowing may also bring us into a place of ready acceptance, finding a  breadth which reveals the territory; A united vastness, intrinsic and extrinsic simultaneously. When we de-mask ourselves, we prepare ourselves to care - and moreso - we become ready to feel, to know our feelings, and live by them.

You can see this in young people today. Feeling becomes an intellect: A form of reason.


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Thank you :)

Money Assassins

Certainly ones own financial success is of special concern these days, and under the guises of Equilibrium, or Sta-sis, I think this is a great topic of discussion. This post is of specific concern for those of us interested by mindfulness, as much too often the trendy expressions of "abundance" tend to dodge 'good accounting,' which is not only a measure of smart financial decision making, but also a practise of personal accountability. But let's pan-out for a moment, first, to look at the big picture.

Personally, I do not think the economic events in Greece and the EU are isolated. Canadians might be able to brag about the intrinsic strength of its banking system, but to overlook the fact it is but a cog in the machine of a global economy would be an unfortunate thing to do. Everyone, today, carries some degree of debt, if not actually a considerable amount. Along such lines, I consider Greece a litmus, and to observe its current cultural transformations is to better prepare oneself for the future. If we avoid anything of the like within our own borders, you can label me by whatever terms you wish, but do know that my concern and empathy for our situation is great - hence this post, and certainly more to follow.

The relevance of the global economic picture, I find affects me daily. I would rather be as best educated to the forces affecting my life than to have found myself hiding underneath some spiritual-like blanket, numb. I do not call such a strategy, mindful.

photo credit
I recently spoke with author and financial advisor Chad Viminitz. I have long been of the "Conserver Lifestyle" myself, and have dared on several occasions to identify as a "True Conservative." ... But before you mis-identify what colour my thoughts and ethics may be (namely, blue), allow me to say at the very least how giddy I was when reading Thoreau's first chapter on 'Economy' in his timeless (and timely!) book Walden - many years ago. Finally the world made sense to me.

I had many blessings in my childhood: noble and humble parents, an orderly home, access to education, and access to parkland. I realised from reading Walden, then, the nature of my social difficulty: I was brought up to always spend less money than I made. Always. That, simply, is the heart of the conserver lifestyle which runs so contrary to a lot of N.American hustle and bustle. Often misunderstood as 'cheap,' or even 'poverty stricken,' or my latest favourite "living from a place of scarcity," the conserver takes a radically different view of what is deemed necessary toward happiness, well being, and what constitutes actual wealth. Actual wealth is not a chick flick. It doesn't pretend. It doesn't manipulate. It is either there, or it isn't. And this particular author does not respond well to falsity.

find a copy on Amazon
Chad's book is incredible. I think it a work of compassion. Indeed, meeting with Chad was to receive compassion from a very unlikely source. RTR in its appearance is exactly what you would expect from an investment and financial advice house: all very posh, with exceedingly comfortable chairs and even a waterfall. The advice, however, is truly radical. Crucial even. Chad paid attention to my individual needs...

That's what a financial advisor is supposed to do, right? Well then... why don't they? Why do they just sell you seemingly random mutual funds with over-arching labels like "ethical," when you know full well "ethical investments" only invest in soft porn, and the gold miners earn fourteen cents per hour instead of ten... Why is Chad so unusual - what makes him different...?

My goals in life are to write, publish, and live unencumbered by debt, and I am in a lucky position today, comparatively speaking. This does not make me unique in the slightest: however, my lifestyle works in accord with those goals, whereas the consumer lifestyle, often works against the grain of our larger social values.

The layering within the conserver lifestyle is a rich avenue of study, and I highly recommend this book. Every word speaks toward finding a thorough and honest equilibrium in your life through a financial lens. As we are bound by the ideology of economy - it is the crucial means by which we organise ourselves - learning to navigate it with effectiveness, "and even brilliance," is the direct route to honest success.

Thank you Chad!
www.moneyassassins.com

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