Hommage to the Moon
Hommage to the Sun
Hommage to this Earth
Hommage to the Stone
Hommage to the Wood
Hommage to the Flame
Hommage to the Smoke
Hommage to this Heart
Hommage to this Mind
Hommage to This
The person I voted for did not win the election. OK. Now what?
Now I get to live the American/Human qualities of tolerance, acceptance, wait-and-see,
honorable behavior and speech, dignity, and courage in the face of situations that
challenge my cherished opinions and beliefs. I don’t have to drop those beliefs but I do have to examine my opinions. If I don’t examine the deeper aspects of my beliefs I can become the things I dis-approve of.
I have many friends and many people who I respect and regard highly as honorable, that hold different political, cultural and religious beliefs from I own. This is the time to find the bonds that hold us in friendship and build within that close personal space the room to examine the situation as it is, not how I wish it were, and work constructively to see where our hearts and minds meet and go forward from there; which is here.
I am responsible to accept life as it is and do my BEST to allow peace within and seek peace in the world. Constructively. A great challenge at times.
I see Europe in 1945; rubble and despair. Look what humans have done in the wake of outright total war, they built peaceful and vibrant social democracies. We have a few divisions and may not all agree, but we have a lot better place to go forward from than the Europeans or Japanese or Chinese (half the world actually), had at the end of WWll.
So, we actually have a bright future if we are willing to practice what we preach.
Coming together, helping, being loving and kind, and staying true to ourselves.
Very doable. I say.
As I go to bed the election is still not decided. Tomorrow morning, usually around 2-2:30 a.m, I’ll climb down the loft ladder in the cabin I’m currently renting in northeast corner of Oregon and I will come to this computer and find out who our next President is.
Whoever it is, approximately half the people in this country won’t be happy; I have no way of knowing whether that’s good or bad but I do have a feeling that this is a tipping point for out nation our culture our society, such as they are, and there is no way to predict where it will all go, how we will react or respond individually, or as various groups and interests. I think I’m kind of glad that I’m 69 years old though.
We all agree that change is inevitable, but are never enthusiastic when something we’re comfortable with, or about; changes. We don’t like it.
Tonight I say this is a terrific opportunity to stop and examine why we, individually, let ourselves be pushed and pulled hither and yon emotionally and psychologically by things we have no control over.
We feel powerless, yet we abrogate our own freedoms and powers by not choosing this whole political/social unrest we’re feeling, as a teaching moment for all of us; as individuals and as the much talked about culture, that we’re supposed to be part of.
This is a moment in time we can put to use for own good. I think many people won’t because to look at oneself is very difficult.
The Buddha said that the 3 Great Difficulties were, in ascending order of difficulty:
So, it may be good, this morning, no matter which side of the “Problem” we wake up to, to examine closely over time with calmness and intelligence, what the actual causes and conditions of the problem are.
Then, to see how best to address these problems and conditions and, individually, see what we can do to constructively change the conditions within where the problems live and thrive.
And then, to keep working on and towards the change within ourselves.
Part 1 it turned out…
Small slice of baseball heaven, 6th game of the World Series 7-2; good chance for a 7th game and I’ll be on the road in a hotel tomorrow night and that means TV. And, that means I get to watch it. Cubs vs. Indians. It feels like a good balance in the Universe of Baseball.
A good balance in our small part of it is provided by one of the most simple processes in nature, photosynthesis which is also a live example of interdependence and a metaphor for spiritual growth.
A seed that lands on the ground needs Sun, water, food (Suitable conditions), to open and simultaneously take root and grow upward. It begins to root, takes up water and nutrients like nitrogen, and grows toward the Sun for heat and light to convert CO2 into oxygen. The CO2 is gathered in at night and like all things medicinal can be poisonous if taken in too great a dose. It uses that potential poison gas, and water, to produce sugar and oxygen. Sugar is food and oxygen is life for all us animals and many chemical processes.
So, the most crucial interdependence takes place at the simples level. Without a plant sprouting and developing a leaf structure, we would not have developed or been able to keep living and producing more of us; which is true of most life on earth. Oxygen=Vitality.
We breathe in Oxygen and breathe out CO2, the same as most life. We help each other to live, thrive and survive. Viva life! I say.
PART 2 it turns out…
The world has changed completely. It several days since I started this post and the Chicago Cubs are World Champions. I suspect its been in the news just about everywhere. In a few zillion light years it will have reached across the Universe and it will be time for a repeat, or, they’ll do it again sooner.
Anyway, as I remember what I was getting at in above ramble was that interdependence takes place at the deepest levels. The Elemental level. That also includes DNA and karma, one begets/changes the other. I love the double helix.
So, in the human realm we suffer from the three poisons of greed, hate and delusion. These are the living spiritual equivalent of CO2. When I practice meditation and the precepts, I am acting like the simple life forms (plants) and converting that CO2 into usable, effective and vital Oxygen. Through the simple process of sitting still and changing views of old patterns and habits I help convert the greed, hate and delusion into generosity and loving-kindness and wisdom. Just like a plant converts Co2 into oxygen.
Here’s the actual point for me to keep in mind. I am not the process. I help a natural process by trying to sit still within the conditions of life. I can only be willing, intend, and then attempt and then, try again, and again, etc.
The plant is not the process, it is the condition within which the process shows itself.
Plants sprout and grow
It is what comes natural
They cannot think on it.
Because I can think
I can see and feel that.
Something needs help
My help
Which I can give. Still
Over and over until
That which needed it
Can give and will and…
Perfect Autumn day in Eastern Oregon, almost sixty degrees, intermittent rains Off for the day, a few small chores, a nice long yack with a great friend, short nap, a few more chores and then a bowl of hot soup (homemade, thank you very much) with croutons AND potato chips floating in it (deeply decadent, thank you) and then a fire in the stove and the 3rd game of the World Series on the radio via computer. What could be better? Nothing, that’s what.
As conversations with good friends often do, we roamed afield and at one point a mention was made about feeling guilty about the past, or shame, or deep irreconcilable regret. My sense is that they are good functional feelings and point something out to us, usually that something needs to change, something needs to be looked at and acted upon.
Merely seeing and acknowledging a shameful, guilt producing or regretful, even deplorable act, is usually not sufficient. One needs to look with compassion and often, in my case, seek advice and take refuge with people whom I trust to listen carefully and give good, if painful and sometimes difficult, insight and advice.
My experience is that being at peace with the past does not mean that those uncomfortable memories or feelings don’t arise, and when they do, I should feel something. I should feel that there is more to learn about myself and then, most importantly, I have to be willing to learn more. That process is very personal. It does generally partake of compassion and being still within those feelings. Perhaps seeing that the beginning of acceptance is our pain, remorse, regret, etc; which then opens the door to sadness. Recurring, and at times wrenching sadness. Weeping snot-running sadness. Howling whimpering sadness. The kind of sadness that makes The Blues lighten things up a bit.
Over time sadness seems to convert into a feeling of sensing that everyone experiences it and there is nothing going wrong. It keeps coming but can change into an understanding of the deeper grief that is a major aspect of human life. This is where acceptance blossoms for me. I am experiencing nothing unique, yet within there is a feeling of unique-ness to it, but the general feeling or experience is basically universal.
All of that is neither good, nor bad. It is the experience of everyone. Nothing to discard, get rid of or tinker with and fix. It may need help though.
Certainly there are often things associated with past mistakes we have to address in a practical way, but there is usually nothing we can Fix in any real fashion. To see that and perceive the mystery of it is a big part of acceptance, and an on-going teaching for our own good, for the rest of our lives. What is being accepted is not a sense of futility, but rather the deeper sense that one must go very carefully in responding to the big mistakes we make; or others make.
We will reap consequence and we can be grateful when that time comes, perhaps even see the connection.
Big picture complexity
Takes forever to work
Its way out, and we have
A part to play, or not. The
Choice is always in front of
Us. No need to cringe at, or
Fear, non-movement, at all.
The being-ness of staying still is
The answer when the past tracks
Mud through our pristine dream.
Contemplative Space 