Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
We could float among the stars together, you and I.
For we can fly, we can fly:
Continue reading Remember: we are all naturally happy, peaceful, loving and seeking!
As I was out for a walk the other day, I passed countless people on the path coming in the opposite direction. This got me to thinking: until the very recent past, most of us propelled ourselves by our two feet. Other methods did exist: the palanquin, the sleight, the chariot, the buggy and the horse to name but a few. But for the most part, we walked. There is something about just slowing down and walking, isn’t there? Firstly, that “age-old gift” that few of us have time to subscribe to anymore is brought forward: thought. When we walk, we have time to think — think about the dilemmas that plague our daily lives: taxes, children, careers, our place in the cosmos—the list is understandably endless. It is, after all, my process of thought and not yours. You can’t help but surmise that, if every world leader was forced to walk for some distance before making a monumentous decision, the world would be a more peaceful place. “Many people nowadays live in a series of interiors…disconnected from each other. On foot everything stays connected, for while walking one occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors. One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.” (1)
To sparkle means to shine brightly with flashes of light: my life should be a display of this metaphor, should it not? The BBC news and the media, in general, would suggest that few, if any, achieve this state, however. There has always been a surfeit of literature on the human condition and its perennial state of angst and suffering. “One third, more or less, of all the sorrow, that the person I think I am must endure is unavoidable. It is the sorrow inherent in the human condition, the price we must pay for being sentient and self-conscious organisms, aspirants to liberation, but subject to the laws of nature and under orders to keep on marching, through irreversible time, through a world wholly indifferent to our well-being, toward decrepitude and the certainty of death. The remaining two-thirds of all sorrow is homemade and, so far as the universe is concerned, unnecessary.” (1) Any look in another’s eyes at a stoplight would only reinforce this belief. But does this have to be so? I believe not. Yes, we need a full range of emotions to be truly human. In spite of this, happiness, peace, love, and curiosity are our natural bedfellows. We need but one essential element.
The birds, bats, bees and bugs that occupy our world are seemingly oblivious to us. They are but a part of a much larger animal kingdom. We exist in bizarre parallel time warps. When we as humans are forced to interact with that ethereal sovereignty, the consequences are usually unpleasant (and often fatal) for the non-human life forms, that is. Think of the last time you killed a cockroach or a mosquito. In truth, we have little to no respect for anything outside our limited field of consciousness: that includes people, as well — but, we will speak to that next week. How am I going to be a citizen of Planet Earth if I do not really acknowledge and laud the natural world? I can’t be, obviously. That being said, we are so attracted to Gaia, to Mother Earth, as represented in the virgin environment, that any time spent with her makes us feel renewed and rejuvenated. I wonder how we might achieve a link between these two necessary components of human existence. Great playwrights like Euripides (1) give us some insight. “The best and safest thing to keep a balance in your life is to acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.” Euripides is telling us that if we must find a way to truly live in harmony with the Earth and, additionally, with all its forms of life, we must speak with our very personal God — not easy!
Continue reading Anthropomorphism: should it be simply dismissed?
The negative paradigm of aging continues to imbue our civilization. I recently had the opportunity to discuss the concept of getting older with my class of fifteen-year-olds at a local high-ranking high school. These young people are all from good families with mostly well-educated parents. Though there were some exceptions, the vast majority continue to view aging as a disease, not as a celebratory time of deep wisdom and societal involvement. It was a tragic wake-up call: we must educate more. Where does this misconception come from? Firstly, it is from the aged themselves: many old people are apologists for a life poorly lived: they are physically, spiritually and intellectually unwell. These attributes are many times, chosen by a dissolute life and not arbitrarily given by the heavy hand of an “unjust” God. Secondly, our concept of retirement as an institution is from Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), Chancellor of newly formed German Empire (1). His policy was to remove older, hence less productive, workers from the labor force and to prevent poverty (and probably a revolution), the old industrial employees were awarded a small stipend or pension. The main motivation here was capitalism (2) and productivity, not caring and compassion.
As a child, I remember the fog. That ghostly covering lingered everywhere: on the cars, on the houses and even on the people — at least it seemed. My consciousness is filled with countless images: this, however, is the most indelible. The suspended moisture created a pregnant silence: all could be serene, all could be at peace. Is it true — is it possible? As you walked, it felt as if something or someone was being produced right before your eyes, if you could only grasp it. Some semblance stood interspersed in the haze. It was there but so, so difficult to clearly identify.
I grew up in a generation of wannabe hippies. (1) We had missed the full Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco revolution (1967) and its deep-seated protest to the Vietnam War (1955-1975). “The mainstream media’s coverage of hippie life in Haight-Ashbury drew the attention of youth from all over America. Hunter S. Thompson (2) labeled the district “Hashbury” in The New York Times Magazine, in reference to hashish usage. The “shocking” activities in the area were reported almost daily in the national press. The Haight-Ashbury district was sought out by young people eager to create a community based upon counterculture ideals (peace), drugs, and music. This neighborhood offered a concentrated gathering venue for people to create a social experiment that would, ideally, spread throughout the nation.” The movement failed, however, and soon began to cannibalize itself. An influx of hard drugs and violence (plus young people returning to university in the fall) soon changed the “vibe” of the region. (3)
Continue reading I hope you’re having a good day: peace, man!
I always ask a new class what their major goal in life is. Invariable two answers dominate: I want to be rich and I want to be happy. The former is great fun because everyone wants to be rich. Few, however, are aware of the price: time – time for your personal development; time with your children and time to build a relationship with your spouse. “There is … an emotional vulnerability in parents of wealth that arises from the prioritizing of material success over interpersonal relationships and the absence of supportive community networks and services. Just to choose one example, gated communities can also be prisons, cutting people off from the sense of place and community that may be found elsewhere. Research has focused on the kinds of dysfunctional behavior that arise from emotional deprivation. While in no way underestimating the challenges of poverty, Mother Teresa (states): ‘The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for food.’” (1)
Continue reading Happiness is not the elusive prize we think it is
When I step into a classroom, I remind myself that to my students, I look like a dinosaur, a fossil from a long time ago. Their imagery is such that they cannot possibly believe that you can understand who they are and what they are about. And, to be fair, it is a struggle. That being said, there are ways to penetrate the adolescent mind. Tantamount is the comprehension that you must earn their respect, not the other way around. They do not want a friend, nor a father. They expect a magician who can take them places and show them concepts or ideas they have never experienced. They refuse to be “talked down” to. (1) They want something akin to a neutral relationship, not one controlled by power: I am the all-knowing pedagogue and you are the dim-witted vessel into which I put my superior knowledge. This system, most fortunately, isn’t used anymore because it doesn’t work. Thousands, if not millions, of people, were educated this way. They hate school and they are simply not interested in further education. “Poor me, what shall I do?”
Continue reading We are told to be seekers in life: but do we know how?
In my estimation, we possess four natural human qualities: we are intrinsically peaceful; we are naturally happy; we are continual seekers and we exist in a state of love. Over the next four weeks, I would like to explore each of these concepts.
