Blog

What Gets Fed

Words can Kill

The world comes knocking

at the wise man’s door

like all good guests

laying problems at his feet

quietly, he feeds them

as gluttonous appetites

ravage the evening’s meal

bloated with assumptions

they raucously depart

hidden in the corner

a hungry servant

died on table scraps

Principles Worth Defending

What is this space we say we need

and to our neighbors refuse to cede

Our bodies willingly we’ll bleed

if our words they fail to heed

Seeking love with heart sincere

a bloodied child sheds a tear

Our cause is just, the course won’t veer

such hypocrites, we have no peer

From global wars to marriage spats

righteousness wears white hats

And just like hissing alley cats

soon throws itself upon the rats

They say we live an age of reason

apparently there has been treason

But let us wait another season

before removing ego’s lesion

Religious leaders take such pride

in claiming God is on their side

As human passions they seek to hide

in fear the flock finds they lied

If all is fair in love and war

then our poor world will heal no sore

And children raised on local lore

will also rot at the core

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November 5
Imprisoned by Concepts

Ideas, Concepts, Positions – The Prison of the Mind

What I am leading you to is the following: awareness of reality around you. Awareness means to watch, to observe what is going on within you and around you. “Going on” is pretty accurate: trees, grass, flowers, animals, rock, all of reality is moving. One observes it, one watches it. How essential it is for the human being not just to observe himself or herself, but to watch all of reality. Are you imprisoned by your concepts? Do you want to break out of your prison? Then look; observe; spend hours observing. Watching what? Anything. The faces of people, the shapes of trees, a bird in flight, a pile of stones, watch the grass grow. Get in touch with things, look at them. Hopefully you will then break out of these rigid patterns we have all developed, out of what our thoughts and our words have imposed on us. Hopefully we will see. What will we see? This thing that we choose to call reality, whatever is beyond words and concepts. This is a spiritual exercise — connected with spirituality — breaking out of your cage, out of the imprisonment of the concepts and words. – Anthony De Mello

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November 4
Media Pushes Exploitation of Women

Sex Sells the Soul for Image

This trailer for “Miss Representation” sheds light on a growing problem with a culture hooked on image and a diet of media addiction. Where will the world be in 20 years?

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October 23
Hungry Ghosts Inside of Me

Feed Me, Feed Me Pleaded the Hungry Ghost

Yesterday, I was on the way to meet my sister for dinner when I felt and heard a hungry ghost inside of me – feed me, feed me it wailed. It was a marvel. I was fascinated.

Over the years of working on patterns, habits, conditioning and attitudes, I don’t believe I have ever experienced the past’s struggle to reassert itself as a hungry ghost. As I was approaching a stop sign, I thought – maybe I could… (partake of an old experience). A quick response – Why, aren’t I through with that? And then this feeling from my gut that moved up into my chest and then into my head – feeeeeeeed meeeeee…

This is not a Halloween tale, though the timing is timely! It was kind of spooky because the presence actually felt ghostly, like vapor, fog, amorphous. It was wafting up and around and through me like swirling smoke – and it was definitely hungry. One little morsel won’t hurt, will it?

Wikipedia – Hungry ghost is a Western translation of an Eastern phrase representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. In Buddhism, Hungry Ghosts are ghosts only in the sense of not being fully alive; not fully capable of living and appreciating what the moment has to offer. Although the Eastern terminology and metaphor is very different, the concept has strong parallels with similar concepts in western psychology.

My hungry ghost was most definitely connected to the animal soul. It’s hunger spread to the pelvis, to my arms and legs – the hunger was everywhere except in the presence and awareness observing this phenomena. My mind was working overtime in trying to figure out how to have it’s cake and eat it too – feed the ghost and live one’s realization.

In the end, I settled for a nice Pinot Noir and some delicious fish tacos.

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October 21
Jessica Britt – The Great Alchemy

From New York to True Nature

Ian McKay interviews Jessica Britt, a Diamond Approach teacher, about her spiritual journey. Jessica has been a teacher of mine for over 20 years. In addition to teaching the Diamond Approach, Jessica works with the Medicine Wheel

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October 20
Going All IN

How Often Do We Hedge Our Bets

I like to watch Texas Hold’em Poker. I’ve never played it, though I have thought about playing poker online. My friend, Holly, is on her way back from France and coincidentally, I received an email about the above linked poker site.

It got me to thinking about how we bet on life, or don’t. It’s the old question of do we walk the talk or do we hedge our bet. Are we “all in” on our life and practice or are we taking it easy, procrastinating or even being lazy.

Perhaps the daily quote on the Diamond Approach Facebook page contributed to me examining the current state of affairs:

It’s possible to examine the extent to which our lives reflect the truth we know. What kinds of foods do we eat? Do we exercise? How do we manage our schedules? Do we find out what we enjoy doing and then set about doing it? Do we allow ourselves the rest and the aloneness that we need to experience the preciousness of reality? Or do we spend day after day being lazy and procrastinating, living routines that makes us miserable? What do we do in terms of our relationships? Do we try to live those relationships according to the truth that we know? Do we apply the experiences we’ve had of ourselves and others and the world or do we reserve our insights for special occasions? Do we create the kind of environment that supports the actualization of the truth? Or do we believe that it’s sufficient to experience ourselves as precious, and then expect the angels to come and clean our room every day?

We’re talking about very practical matters here. We’re talking about applying what we know and what we learn, making the effort, expending the energy to live with sincerity. We do the Work, we practice the teaching, every minute of our lives, not only when we meditate or go to a session or a meeting. For example, if we know that we are more in touch with ourselves when we are relaxed, do we try to pay attention so that we’re as relaxed as possible all the time? Do we organize our time and our life so that we minimize confusion and unnecessary activity?

So we see that there are practical sides to loving the truth for its own sake. To love the truth for its own sake, which has to do with the heart, we have to involve the belly. The Kath, the Hara, our belly center, supports the heart’s love of the truth. The heart cannot survive on its own, cannot survive without the support of our actions, which are centered in the belly. Sincerely loving the truth is ultimately useless if we don’t sincerely live the truth.

Years ago, I used to fly over to Las Vegas from Los Angeles every Friday night and play Blackjack all night. I was interested in card counting at the time. I’m happy to report that I broke even for the six months I did that. I don’t know what the fascination is with poker, but Texas Hold’em is interesting and the game is changing quite dramatically as a whole new generation of online players with a lot of aggression show up at poker events.

It’s an interesting moment when a poker player goes all in, risking everything…. well, at least for that hand, on that day, in that tournament.

Just got me to wondering – am I all in on life and daily practice?

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October 11