Growing Up

“Real faith means holding ourselves open to the unconditional mystery which we encounter in every sphere of our life and which cannot be comprised in any formula. 
Real faith means the ability to endure life in the face of this mystery.”            Martin Buber

"There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, 
beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, 
the very highest heavens. 
This is the light that shines in our heart."          Chandogya Upanishad

"Everyone must decide whether to walk in the light of creative altruism 
or the darkness of destructive selfishness."             Martin Luther King Jr

Montreal - artist unknown

Don't Let the Sound of Your Own Wheels Drive you Crazy

We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity.
Life is eternal.
We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.
This is a precious moment.
It is a little parenthesis in eternity.

Paulo Coelho

Preliminary & Ultimate Objectives of Practice

      Our task is to discover a freedom that's independent of all circumstances & times.
      Kornfield J, Breiter P. "A still forest pool. The insight meditation of Achaan Chah." Quest Books, Wheaton IL, 1985. 

     As such, the object of the path is awareness and not clinging to anything. But initially, our objective is not clinging to that which is unsatisfactory, stressful and doesn't belong to us.                                Joseph Goldstein

     So what can we hold onto?

     “If you let go a little, you will have a little peace.
      If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
      And if you let go completely, you will have complete peace.”

        Ajahn Chah. “The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah - Single Volume.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=4CEF53DF37C241A3AE9327D1D40921BD

      See also: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/10/two-levels-of-practice.html

Rays of light are ephemeral; other things less obviously so.

Opening, Intimacy, Meaning, Mindfulness, Happiness, Authenticity

     "Mindfulness is a phenomenon generally understood in cognitive terms, although it has a holistic impact on an individual’s being. Meaning in life is seen as a construct that expands beyond what a person does in life (meaning through doing), but it also depends on each person’s relationship with her or his essential being (meaning through being)." 

      Bellin ZJ. "The Meaning Connection Between Mindfulness and Happiness." Journal of Humanistic Counseling 2015; 54: 221-35.

 

     Essential intimacy with "self", others, & life:

http://jglovas.wixsite.com/awarenessnow/single-post/2016/09/28/Out-on-a-Limb

http://jglovas.wixsite.com/awarenessnow/single-post/2016/09/28/Relating-Well-and-Happiness

http://jglovas.wixsite.com/awarenessnow/single-post/2016/09/30/Authenticity-is-Central

http://jglovas.wixsite.com/awarenessnow/single-post/2016/10/03/Coming-Home

 

Opening to Nature through the Mind-Heart of a Four-legged

The Goal of Buddhist Practice

     Nibbāna (full enlightenment or awakening) – the goal in Buddhism - as described in a Saṁyutta Nikāya Sutta below. This state is beyond the ordinary (conditioned) mind's capacity to conceive.

     “It is the unformed, the unconditioned, the end, the truth, the other shore, the subtle, the everlasting, the invisible, the undiversified, peace, the deathless, the blessed, safety, the wonderful, the marvelous, nibbana, purity, freedom, the island, the refuge, the beyond. 
     Having nothing, clinging to nothing, that is the island. There is no other. That is nibbana. I tell you, the total ending of aging and death.”

Insight Meditation Society, Barre, MA

Who or What are We?

    If and when we reflect on our identity, we get scared, settle for the first idea that pops into our heads, then quickly escape to an easier topic. 

     This fundamental error is "premature closure" - jumping to simplistic, wrong conclusions. So we live our lives assuming that we're far inferior to who / what mystics & saints have always told us we actually are:

"We are luminous beings. We are perceivers. We are an awareness.
We are not objects. We have no solidity. We are boundless.
The world of objects and solidity is a way of making our passage on earth convenient. It is only a description that was created to help us.
We or rather our reasons, forget that the description is only a description and thus we entrap the totality of ourselves in a vicious circle from which we rarely emerge in a lifetime. We are perceivers.
The world that we perceive though is an illusion. It was created by a description that was told to us since the moment we were born."

Don Juan

      “Silence is the basis and the background of everything. We are an expression of this primordial silence and stillness. But the habits of our mind overlay this simple truth and keep us from experiencing ourselves as a full-spectrum human being."                   Sharon Landrith

Education for the Heart-Mind

     Effective physicians know how to genuinely connect with their patients on a human-to-human level. How much the physician genuinely cares for the patient's well-being is clearly felt by the patient. This therapeutic alliance in turn positively affects the patient's hope & expectancy.
     Educators have a very similar high calling. Educators have a great influence - positive or negative - on their students.
     We all must take the influence we have on each other very, very seriously.

First Day of School   by   Sheree Fitch

Here, take my child.
He has a fistful of crayons,
Is ready to begin
To enter the halls that smell of chalk dust and lemon oil.
He wants to colour a picture.
Help him to see that the colour he chooses,
The pictures he makes, are beautiful…..
Before you ask him to paint the Sistine Chapel.
Here, take my child.
She knows one and one makes two.
I want her to learn to add,
Without being subtracted from.
I want her to multiply her abilities,
But not if it divides her against herself.
Here, take my child.
He has a book he wants to read.
Let him read it first,
Tell you why he likes it,
Before you ask him to read a book
You think he should read…..
To be up to “the level”.
Here, take my child.
She has written a poem:
“dandy lions are golden buttons in the grass”
Smell those dandelions, see the image,
Before you tell her dandelions are weeds or
Dandelions is not spelled correctly.
Here, take my child
but... TAKE CARE.

http://www.shereefitch.com/blog/2015/9/8/first-day-of-school-poem.html