Dialogue with a friend and colleague on Facebook: Thanks for your questions re 'what is our collective destiny' anyway? And also the article by Derick Jensen...I have followed his career and his writing for many years...and he is kind of an example of what I am talking about...when he actually found out what was happening to our eco-system on earth, he became extremely angry about it..advocating the kind of violent solutions you would resort to if someone was 'raping your mother.'

After a while, he changed his approach to something quite a bit more evolved, in which he began exploring the possiiblity of moving from a different place, without being dominated by either hope or fear. I respect his passion and intelligence a lot, and I am very interested in his evolution…

He has actually transformed the whole level of his consciousness, which is where I tend to be focused. My understanding right now is that without profound evolution and transformation of consciousness, we will never be able to collaborate successfully. We will either regress to some kind of patriarchal/dominator structure, or we will get stuck in a model based on consensus and equality, that makes it very difficult to take collective action. Without attaining a certain level of development on the level of consciousness, it seems to me that we will continue to fall into these extreme positions.

Working together, from a place of mutuality, transparency and equality---you don’t get there just be deciding to do it..Otherwise we would have done it by now. If I still need to look good, if I am afraid to admit my own mistakes and take responsibility for the consequences, if I cling to me own points of view, if I feel the need to defend myself in the face of attack, if I am unable to celebrate differences---I cannot really participate in the next stages of our evolution..Because that will require a kind of awareness and a capacity for collaboration that is totally new. It feels to me a lot like really growing up. No more temper tantrums, no more entitlement, no more inability to listen to other points of view. Emerging from our chronic position of self-preoccupation into another world--where we can take care of our own needs in a way that allows us to be present to the needs of something much much larger.

love

I am looking right now at ways we can remain open to our interconnection and our collective destiny, realize that everything we do impacts everything else, without putting the kind of pressure on ourselves that overwhelms us.

I have discovered a lot about this recently, and will be addressing it in my writing, courses and workshops.. Letting ourselves really care, really engage, without losing our equanimity---what a fine balance this is..For me it is connected to our level of development, or evolution, and also to our capacity to rest as awareness, or the witness.

love
Shayla

This, for me, is a wonderful display of embodied spirituality:

“I am a man among men, dedicated to a life of meditative awareness. I am a man of Argentine tango, a man of organic wine, a man who makes his own biodiesel, a man in love with a beautiful woman, a man of intense passion, a man who harvests and eats wild mushrooms, digs clams and collects seaweed at the ocean, a man who feels and loves deeply, a man devoted to the idea of Zorba the Buddha, a man mending relationships, a man with a lot of opinions, a man growing and learning. A man whose heart aches and soars...an ordinary man, like you.”

Jun Po Dennis Kelly, Zen master, in an interview for the Mankind Project

I had forgotten that term Adya uses ‘affectionate awareness.” It is beautiful..

I often use the term awareness/presence for the very same reason--awareness so often has a feeling of being cool, detached and uninvolved. Which it is, but it’s so much more than that..It is intimate with everything, because it doesn’t stand back and watch--it watches from the inside, from the heart, from the core. That’s how it transforms everything it touches--because of the non-separation.

This is a story told to me by a dear friend. Her name is Jessica Adams. I asked her if I could use her real name and she said yes. I am passing her story along because it was of great benefit to me. When I listened and received it, it was no longer a story. It was more like a homeopathic dose of medicine. It spoke to something I have always been aware of, and enlivened that deep knowing, gave it power and clarity. I am writing the story as if Jessica herself is speaking, so that you can hear it just as I did.

“I was at home one evening,” she said, “when all of these different aspects of my mind arose from within. They just appeared without warning, so many of the different viewpoints I have: judgments, resentments, sorrows, and longings, all of them just displaying themselves before me. They continued to arise for quite a while, as I remained present. And then something happened. A clarity arose out of nowhere, a very profound and simple realization: that my life, just the way it is, gives me everything I need. It doesn’t need to be any other way. All of the beliefs I have held about how it could or should be different—if only this or that would happen, then I could be happy—they just dissolved. Without having to think about it, it was pefectly obvious that none of these ideas were true. What was I thinking? My well being does not depend on any of these things: a husband, a better place to live, a pefect job.”

“That must have been quite a relief,” I said to Jessica.

‘’Yes, “ she said, “but the most wonderful thing about it is that now I can really be happy when good things come to the people I know. There is no longer anything in me wondering why I don’t have that, or why that didn’t happen to me. So I can rejoice in their happiness, without any reservation.”

After I listened to Jessica, I remembered a time many years ago in India, when I was listening to a teacher reading a scripture. In this particular teaching there was a description of a realm called ‘heaven’ or ‘the god realm.’ All the wonders and beauties of this realm were vividly described. Then it went on to say, “This realm promises so much, but it is very difficult to be happy here for long. Because no matter where you are, no matter how much you have, the nature of the god realm is that there is always someone above you, someone who has more than you do—more fame, more prosperity, more intelligence, more insight, more friends, more lovers, more fun.” This being the nature of this place, it is often referred to as the realm of the jealous gods. In an instant I realized that this scripture was actually describing human life—we don’t have to go to heaven or to the god realm to see what it is pointing to.

That was the beginning for me of an insight that has been growing and deepening for many years. (I’m kind of a slow learner.) One afternoon a few years later, I came into my mother’s room. She was lying in bed reading a Buddhist teaching. She had just read something about karma, and how we gain merit through positive thoughts and actions. “ Guess what?” she said to me. “If we are kind and virtuous, we can accumulate merit, and end up in a really great place. We might even go to a god realm, a place like heaven! Isn’t that great? I never knew that I could actually go to a place like that.”

“I don’t know Mum,” I said to her. “I think the promise of a place like that is really overrated.” I explained to her what I understood about the nature of such happiness. She was not impressed. “You just want to be so free,” she said. “I don’t care about all that. I’ll just go to heaven and hang out there for as long as it works.”

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PLEASE READ THIS AND BE WELL

Preventing infection with H1N1

Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid
specialist), having clinical experience of over 20 years.

The following message given by him; I feel it makes a lot of sense and is
important for all to know.

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a
global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible not coming into
contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not
so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1
infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and
development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully
highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of
focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

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Miles Davis, the great jazz musician, used to say to his quartet: “Practice in your rooms if you like, but don’t bring that stuff to this stage. This is about being in the moment.”

Working with these obstacles to our natural creativity is a key part of The Alchemy of Writing process

Obstacles to Creativity

Fear of Failure--learn to bow to failure. It’s inevitable.

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