Awestruck Wonder

Oh God, pardon our attempts to reduce You, 

And coax us into awestruck wonder.

From the UCC Lenten Devotional 

by the Still Speaking Writers' Group

The heart is like...

Banksy's "Balloon Girl"

The heart is like a balloon. 

Its lightness comes 

from being full. 

--Mark Nepo

On Being Human

What a rare privilege it is to occupy a human form, if only briefly...

“Whenever you feel hopeless, all you need to do is go outside and realize that you have been molded into human form for some reason. You are somewhere you may never be again. Your actions, no matter how inconsequential you think they may be, have been essential.” 

― Brianna Wiest, The Truth About Everything

What Does It Mean to Be Human?

Recently, I wrote about five related words describing human existence: alive, conscious, sentient, sapient, and awake. As a result, I offered the following functional definitions of these five words. The definitions are repeated here with light editing as indicated:

• alive: having a heartbeat and emitting brainwaves, i.e., neither dead nor unfeeling. In human existence, there are degrees of aliveness ranging from barely to fully alive. Aliveness is manifest in the physical world, in the body. 
• conscious: aware of one's surroundings; responsive, i.e., neither asleep nor comatose. In human existence, there are degrees of consciousness ranging from barely to fully conscious. Consciousness is manifest in the physical and mental world, in the body and all the sensory organs, especially in the brain. 
• sentient: alert; having the power of perception by the senses; aware of one's place in the Universe, i.e., neither lost nor confused. In human existence, there are degrees of sentience ranging from barely to fully sentient. Sentience is manifest in the physical, material, and cosmic domains, and as a construct in the brain of the observer. Sentience requires an awareness of self that is not required in previous states, i.e., one may be conscious yet not self-aware. 
• sapient: having or showing great wisdom or sound judgment; i.e., neither ignorant nor incompetent. the actions of the hands align with the plans of the head and the values of the heart. Sapience manifests in the social world. Sapience, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. External observation validates one's degree of sapience. 
• awake: a fully functioning body, mind, and spirit; clear; at One with the Universe, i.e., neither conflicted nor distracted. In human existence, there are degrees of awakeness ranging from barely to fully awake. Full awakeness requires no external validation--it simply "is." Awakeness is manifest in the metaphysical world, when hands, heads, and hearts align in harmony. 

Are you awake?

Now let's really have some fun and use these definitions to dig a little deeper. Can we use our five-term lexicon describing levels of human existence to compare and contrast mankind with other forms of life--five entities in existence, if you will? Let's make the comparison with humans and other animals, other forms of life such as plants, and with entities that stretch our imaginations a bit, such as robots, and even rocks.

Man--in particular, an armed man in provocative tribal war paint

• Mankind. All people may be created of equal value, but we are not all equally "-abled" or gifted. Some of us are born faster, stronger, or smarter than others. Opportunities are not evenly distributed. In addition to genetic variety, luck or chance also plays a role.
• People experience the 5 terms on a sliding scale from low to high. Why is that? Why are we not all perceiving the same things? Are these variations in how and what we perceive part of what defines humanity?
• We have different skills, knowledge, abilities and other traits that have been developed by education and experiences gathered from birth over time. In addition to what nature imbues, the experiences of nurture also shape our outcomes--and those of our fellow humans.
• All other things being equal, we achieve varying degrees of  happiness and success in life. Why is that? In addition to our "born-in" attributes and all of our deliberate developmental choices, individuals are also subject to life-altering randomness.  

The within-species variation is great. For the sake of our comparison of various entities using the 5-term lexicon, we'll compare the theoretically "typical" human against the typical examples of the other entities. 

Monkey appears to be lost in thought

• Monkey. The animal kingdom contains many species besides homo sapiens. Bonobos, chimpanzees, and orangutans share about 99% of the human genome, making these primates our closest human relatives. Just as with humans, there is much within-species variation between individual primates. The variation occurs in appearance, aptitudes, and behaviors. Monkeys are primates, but unlike apes they have tails and tend to look and act more like four-legged creatures. For this study we'll think about our more distant relative, the monkey. Mmmmm, I think I see a pattern developing here...

Marigold, could have been any plant, but this one fits the alliteration scheme

• Marigold. Biology--the study of life--includes two main subsets: fauna, represented by the human and the chimpanzee discussed above, and flora--the plant kingdom. Though we don't typically think of plants as thinking or feeling, we do know that they have common biological functions such as ingestion, respiration, digestion, excretion, and reproduction, and that these functions occur over a life-cycle. Naturally, plants recognize and respond to sunlight, as well as the absence of the sun's life-giving rays. There have also been studies that suggest plants respond to music, and even to positive or negative emotional energy. 

Machine, in particular, the spectacular Large Hadron Collider

• Machine. A machine is a tool containing one or more parts that uses energy to perform an intended action. People are tool-makers and have made machines since pre-historic times. As machines get more complex, do they reveal human creativity, or is it the other way around? That is, is there a Master Machine who reveals itself through the successive approximation techniques of its human drones?     
• Simple machines include Inclined plane, Wheel and axle, Lever, Pulley, Wedge, Screw. 
• Machines have grown in complexity from the first flint hand-ax to the Large Hadron Collider. 
• Computers have led to robots which in turn have yielded androids. 
• Computers play chess with human Chess Masters and play Jeopardy against champion human Jeopardy contestants. 
• With increasing amounts of "intelligence" coming from non-biological sources, the Singularity seems to be drawing near. How soon will we have computers which can pass the Turing Test? Futurist Ray Kurzweil estimates that the Singularity will happen in the year 2045.

Meteorite: Compressed Stardust

• Meteorite. What is a rock? When is a rock more than it seems? Why do we laugh at the phrase, "Dumber than a box of rocks"? We have descended to the lower end of the intelligence scale and we are now discussing mineral clusters, aka rocks. 

• The Earth spins on its axis and revolves around the sun. The molten core of the Earth swallows up the edges of tectonic plates and spews the excess out through volcanoes along a "ring of fire." We are riding on a rock surfboard skimming across a burning lake of molten iron.

"The surface of the Sun is hot – over 5500 degrees Celsius (which is nearly 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit). But if new findings are correct, then the center of our own planet may actually be hotter – over 1,000 degrees hotter than previously thought." --Forbes 

• We think that our life on the surface of Earth is pretty stable but things look much different from the perspective of geological time.Continents drift. Mountains are formed, and mountains erode. Minerals circulate from the center to the surface and back again. But did you know that out of 4,000 minerals known to exist on planet Earth, a great number and a significant quantity have been transported here from outer space? 

"...[C]oncentrations of precious metals such as platinum and rhodium in the rock portion of the Earth today...could not have ended up there by any known internal process, and instead must have been added back, likely by a 'rain' of extraterrestrial debris, such as comets and meteorites."-- Science Daily

Summary.

We have used our five-term lexicon describing levels of human existence to compare and contrast mankind with other forms of life--five entities in existence. We compared humans and other animals, other forms of life such as plants, and with entities that stretch our imaginations a bit, such as robots, and even rocks.The table below is a matrix of the entities in what are assumed to be descending order from top to bottom, and the terms in what are assumed to be increasing order from left to right. Imagine the path from lower left to upper right. Buddha's body was composed of stardust--as is yours!

Table 1. Matrix of Entities and States

The bottom line:

• As a human, I can recognize other humans and distinguish humans from other non-human entities in my environment. What makes me human is the same stuff that allows me to make this basic distinction. But when I try to define that "stuff," I find that the distinctions are not nearly as obvious as I had thought.
• I certainly believe that all other mammals can do the same basic sorting. For example, fish give sharks wide berth, and lions recognize and occasionally obey their human trainers. 
• I assume also that plants have some awareness about themselves in relation to their environment. This awareness is manifest in the Venus Fly Trap, but is less evident (to me) in other plants who lack the ability to move. Yet a plant can distinguish sunlight from darkness, and grow toward the light. A carrot can sense the coming freeze, and pull all its sweet nutrients to its core in an attempt to survive.
• We have created machines capable of sensing and responding to environmental cues. 
• When one considers rocks and minerals one must consider
• the Big Bang distributed all known material and non-material elements into the void of space
• so many of the minerals we have on our little planet have been deposited here from external sources
• the Earth's volcanic activity continues to churn, producing new surface material and consuming material pulled in to the center from the edges of tectonic plates. 
• Tall, jagged mountains wear down to older, rounded ones, and trees somehow grow in the cracks.

The seed from a tree found enough food and water in this crevice to survive.

According to Arthur Koestler, the Universe is composed of fixed rules and flexible strategies. All things are simultaneously whole and part of something else. His so-called holarchy applies to inanimate objects, too, and objects that are created by people or by natural processes. For example, a piece of music that resonates with the human ear is an expression of fixed rules of tone, rhythm, and harmony. Despite fixed rules "governing" music, there exists a near infinite variety of potential original musical compositions. Who am I to deny that the mineral components of a mountain do not yearn to be absorbed, transformed, and ultimately united with the Divine?

In the next installment of What Does It Mean to Be Human, we'll delve into the difference between a brain and a mind. Stay well, and stay tuned!

More Than Tough Enough

Todd, a graphic artist by trade, made this poster himself. This is version 2

My brother Todd is one tough hombre. 

He has brain cancer (Grade 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme, or GBM IV) and I feel sorry

... for the tumor! 

Surgeries, radiation, chemo, whatever it takes, tumor. You can hide and we will find you and dig you out and crush you. The little bits you leave behind? We'll slice 'em with a cyber knife before they can even take root, and then we'll slice the slices. Bet you didn't see that coming, now did you? There's more, you twisted little freak. You can change your DNA and we will simply come after you with a different toxic cocktail designed to snuff you out. 

My brother has tools: (a) a chemo port in his chest so he can pump you full of poison; (b) titanium plates like manhole covers in the side of his head. He can reach in there and choke the living shit out of you any time he wants, you shape-shifting little parasite; and (c) a zipper on the right side of his head. That zipper is proof that he is ready for you. 

Meanwhile, what have you got, tumor? A few demons in your corner? We have a host of angels, prayer warriors around the globe, and a faith you cannot shake. 

You are not one to give up easily, or you would have left already. I think we can all respect you for your tenacity--if not your judgment. But here is the bottom line. You should have stayed home. You are messing with the wrong hombre. You leave now, peacefully, and we'll call it a draw. You stick around, and 

...we'll kick you back to the gates of hell, you gnarly bastard! 

Visit Todd's CaringBridge site with Journal and Guestbook: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/todddoane

Meet Your Mind: A User’s Guide to the Science of Consciousness

I enjoyed this "Meet Your Mind" series, dated Nov 2012 and aired on WAMU 88.5 FM in Jan 13. The series inspired some deep thoughts about consciousness. What do we mean by consciousness? How well do I understand my own consciousness? Can one change, modify, or improve one's consciousness?


The six part radio series produced by To the Best of Our Knowledge (TTBOOK) is accompanied by a comic book style guide available HERE:

"What you hold in your hands is a comic book companion to Meet Your Mind: A User’s Guide to the Science of Consciousness — a series of 6 one hour programs brought to you by To the Best of Our Knowledge, the Peabody Award-winning public radio show about ideas."

Here’s some of what listeners will hear in Meet Your Mind:

• Part 1: Mind and Brain — tackles the mystery of how the physical “stuff,” the three pounds of wetware in our brains, produces mental experiences.
• Part 2: Memory and Forgetting — the science of memory and forgetting; how to build a memory palace and how to erase a thought.
• Part 3: Wiring the Brain — examines the connections between different parts of the brain, and how they shape our intuition, insight and analytical thinking.
• Part 4: The Creative Brain — what is creative genius? the neuroscience of jazz, art and other creative endeavors.
• Part 5: Extraordinary Minds — introduces you to savants and cyborgs and gives a glimpse of some new kinds of human potential.
• Part 6: Higher Consciousness — explores the spiritual dimensions of consciousness, from religious experience to contemplative practice.

Guests include:

• Neuroscientists: Richard Davidson, David Eagleman, Michael Gazzaniga, Eric Kandel, Christof Koch, Charles Limb, Oliver Sacks, Sebastian Seung and Jill Bolte Taylor;
• Psychiatrists and psychologists: Susan Blackmore, Stanislav Grof, Daniel Kahneman, Iain McGilchrist and Giulio Tononi;
• Philosophers: David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Ray Kurzweil and Alva Noe;
• Writers and musicians: Andre Aciman, Karen Armstrong, Lynda Barry, Joshua Foer, Vijay Iyer, Daniel Levitin, Sy Montgomery, Daniel Tammet and Alison Winter.

Full details, schedules, transcripts and audio — and lots of extras — are available HERE

ENJOY! Feel free to share a link to this post and leave a comment.

Related posts:

• The Consciousness Hypothesis (TBP)
• Ray Kurzweil: "How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed" | The Diane Rehm Show from WAMU and NPR (TBP)

Flow and Friction

The Vessel

an allegory of 

Flow and Friction

My favorite vessel is the one that is closest when I am thirsty....

Diogenes looking for an honest man

I have a cupboard full of cups. The nicest glasses in my display case are fine works of art, but they rarely get used. Some of my cups remind me of special places I have visited in the past. I love them all and could never have too many.

Sadly, I have dropped a few and chipped or broken or shattered them. It happens. None of these vessels were meant to last forever (unless you count the recycled shards). When I lose one, I treasure the remainders all the more. 

But here is the real important thing about these cups and glasses: In the end, the value of a vessel is not about the container. A vessel is all about the flow. All life is flow and friction.

"Flow" by Paul Stopler Glass

You may be "just the vessel" but the point is, of all the cups in the cupboard, you are the one being used. You are flowing and being refilled. You are quenching a mighty thirst. There is a reason for that. 

(Or maybe not.)

Either way, the message that fills you is flowing through you right now. 

                                                    And I am in awe.

dedicated to my amazing brother and his life-changing testimony

Forgiveness for Good: the Stanford Forgiveness Project

Forgiveness does a body good. But you don't have to take my word for it. Read the following with an eye toward launching 2013 on a slate wiped clean!

"The practice of forgiveness has been shown to reduce anger, hurt, depression, and stress. Forgiveness leads to greater feelings of hope, peace, compassion and self confidence. Practicing forgiveness leads to healthy relationships as well as physical health. It also influences our attitude which opens the heart to kindness, beauty, and love." --Dr. Frederic Luskin

http://learningtoforgive.com/

The Forgiveness Project website presents more details, including information about books, workbooks, and workshops.

"In the Forgive for Good workshop and class series Dr. Frederic Luskin presents the forgiveness training methodology that has been validated through six successful research studies conducted through the Stanford Forgiveness Projects"  (emphasis added).

The process Dr Luskin has tested in a pilot study and 6 research projects is based on the following steps. Do try this at home!

9 Steps

1. Know exactly how you feel about what happened and be able to articulate what about the situation is not OK. Then, tell a trusted couple of people about your experience.
2. Make a commitment to yourself to do what you have to do to feel better. Forgiveness is for you and not for anyone else.
3. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation with the person that hurt you, or condoning of their action. What you are after is to find peace. Forgiveness can be defined as the “peace and understanding that come from blaming that which has hurt you less, taking the life experience less personally, and changing your grievance story.”
4. Get the right perspective on what is happening. Recognize that your primary distress is coming from the hurt feelings, thoughts and physical upset you are suffering now, not what offended you or hurt you two minutes – or ten years – ago. Forgiveness helps to heal those hurt feelings.
5. At the moment you feel upset practice a simple stress management technique to soothe your body’s flight or fight response.
6. Give up expecting things from other people, or your life, that they do not choose to give you. Recognize the “unenforceable rules” you have for your health or how you or other people must behave. Remind yourself that you can hope for health, love, peace and prosperity and work hard to get them.
7. Put your energy into looking for another way to get your positive goals met than through the experience that has hurt you. Instead of mentally replaying your hurt seek out new ways to get what you want.
8. Remember that a life well lived is your best revenge. Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings, and thereby giving the person who caused you pain power over you, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you. Forgiveness is about personal power.
9. Amend your grievance story to remind you of the heroic choice to forgive.

And if you would like a little extra incentive or motivation, here is my favorite song on the subject:

Hat tip to UEd who said "....personally my timeline is to not enter this 2013 with any remaining 'unforgivens'!,

Worthy! 

Beginnings

Today I would like to share a poem written by a dear friend. I'll share some of my own thoughts and responses at the bottom of the post. I invite appreciative readers to add their own reflections by posting in the comments section.

Prepare for reading the selected poem by previewing these leading questions:

• How does this poem connect with you? In what way does it move you?  
• How does the poem make you feel? What reactions does it inspire?  
• What insights about universal Truth are revealed as you read the poem?

===+++===

Beginnings

          --Julie Long

I.

The beginning of a Flood

leaks into my mind

seeps through to my heart

washes over my soul

Inexorably filling

what had been drained by my tears

Washed-out Renewal

II.

The beginning of a Word

speaks itself in my mind

wraps hard ‘round my heart

drags my soul to it

Compelling surrender

of what I guarded most well

Guarded Optimism

III. 

The beginning of a Mercy

once unknown in my mind

now a balm to my heart

keeps watch on my soul

Holding inside it

What I so fearfully, hopefully left unguarded

Unguarded Surrender

===+++===

Some of my thoughts and responses to Julie's evocative poem follow:

• This poem speaks to me about the balance between risk and assurance. 
• As we move through our days, we are constantly torn: we feel the desire to reach out for new experiences and adventures on one hand, and the need to drive home the truth and deeper meaning of what we have tasted on the other. 
• Over time we learn we are not islands unto our selves. The risks we take to gain experience change us, but they also effect others. It's difficult to balance these forces in one's own life, and even more daunting to maintain balance in relationships and communities.
• To me, the poem is about the interplay of honesty and intimacy in mature relationships. (In fact, Julie shared her poem in response to an earlier PhilosFX post on that theme.)  How can we hope to be honest and intimate with others until we are first willing and able to be deeply and truly authentic? Until I accept myself and am truly comfortable in my own skin, how can I be a good friend or partner to another human being? If it's not OK to be honest with myself, how can I be honest with anyone?
• I like the strong and clear structure of the poem: three parts, each part has a literal "beginning," a more figurative middle, and an end that flows into the next beginning. I would argue that the last stanza can be read as a prelude to the first in an ongoing cycle. 
• Each of the three parts also has the recurring rhythm of mind, heart, and soul. 
• The stanzas progress from a washed out renewal, to guarded optimism, to unguarded surrender. Surrender is an act of opening oneself up to new beginnings when the cycle inevitably repeats.  

When Julie first shared it with me as an inspirational and supportive comment to a previous post, the poem was neither named nor illustrated.  However, the name I gave it and the water-themed illustrations I chose for it seem (to me, anyway) to fit perfectly. Here's how they came about:

• The title, Beginnings, plural, implies a series of iterative re-starts. I imagine life as a spiral ramp, leading onward and upwards in widening, concentric arcs. Hopefully we are aware enough to recognize the moments when we circle past the origin again on our way up. When we slip, we roll back down until we manage to stop our decent, collect ourselves, and start up again.
• The first image shows two people  consoling themselves and each other as they silently survey a special place now covered in flood water. The colors are muted and the feeling is one of despair and isolation. Imagine or recall the moment when you rolled down the ramp, all the way to the bottom. Everything you had worked for: gone. The flood of your tears washed away all the old hopes and dreams until you realized--the ramp remained, The only thing to do? Get up, and start climbing again. 
• The middle image is transitional and uplifting. The colors are muted, save for the bright ray of sunny hope at the top. A single bird takes flight over the water, soaring in the sun. The power of the water which washed everything away in the first stanza is not diminished in the second. If anything, the ocean is more powerful than the flood-stage river. But, guided by hope. the soaring bird is willing and able to fly upward and onward. 
• The final image shows a swan gently caressing her cygnets. This is a beautiful imagery of mature love. The parent understands the dangers of the waters, but also the bounty that awaits. She cannot protect her babies forever. She has to let them go. She knows they will have to face their fears if they are to survive. 

Julie's poem touched me profoundly. Its insights are too powerful to leave as a comment to a previous blog post. Don't you agree? Please share your own thoughts and reactions in the Comments.

Attribution:

• Washed-out Renewal. Search terms: [flood tears renewal]. http://dianegw.blogspot.com/2012/02/of-floods-and-rainbows.html
• Guarded Optimism. Search terms:  [word soul surrender]. https://www.facebook.com/CalistaAscension
• Unguarded Surrender. Search terms: [mercy balm comfort]. http://www.cpcsda.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=160664

Honoring the Spirit

"You know the first moment of dawn has arrived when you look into another human being's eyes and see yourself."-- as told in Mark Nepo's book, Awakening, pg. 377. 

http://www.namastesalon.com/

Namaste is both a gesture and a spoken greeting.

http://www.holistic-alternative-practioners.com/Mohandas-Gandhi.html

"The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another.

"In Sanskrit the word is namah + te = namaste (Devnagari/Hindi: नमः + ते = नमस्ते) which means “I bow to you” - my greetings, salutations or prostration to you. Namaskār (Devnagari/Hindi: नमस्कार) literally means "I bow to [your] form."" --Wikipedia 

http://namastecenterllc.com/

http://www.northernsun.com/5107.html

Dream Big and Believe!

Photo from http://rivervalleyrockford.org/

Despite my skepticism regarding the Law of Attraction (LOA), sometimes cynically referred to as the fLaw of Attraction, I am a proponent of certain things which sound an awful lot like LOA, namely:

• Thoughts become things
• Attitude is everything
• Dream big and believe

And that's why I was drawn to this quote attributed to W.H. Murray on page 382 of Mark Nepo's amazing day book, Awakening

"The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision which no one could have dreamed would have come their way." 

I found this quote evocative, Pantheistic, and ennobling--and not the least bit flaky. It immediately reminded me of the best aspects of the LOA. I had never even heard of W.H. Murray. Googling, I discovered William Hutchison Murray (18 March 1913 – 19 March 1996) was a Scottish mountaineer and writer.


Notice how differently Murray's quote appears in the original (emphasis added)!

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

The foregoing passage occurs near the beginning of Murray's The Scottish Himalayan Expedition published in 1951. Two things jump out at me. I am interested in just how Nepo modified the original when he republished it in his book. I am not just talking about the reshuffling and recrafting of words. Notice how Nepo capitalized Providence, and made the statement gender-neutral. That's interesting. Providence is personified, and all people are included.

The second aspect of the passage that attracts me is the couplet attributed to Goethe. I wondered, "When and under what circumstances did Goethe say that?" Come to find out, Goethe did not actually say this at all! According to the Goethe Society of North America, what Goethe actually wrote (Faust, 214-30) was this:  

Was heute nicht geschieht, ist morgen nicht getan,
Und keinen Tag soll man verpassen,
Das Mögliche soll der Entschluß
Beherzt sogleich beim Schopfe fassen,
Er will es dann nicht fahren lassen
Und wirket weiter, weil er muß.

OK, my German is a little rusty. In Stuart Atkins' translation (Goethe. The Collected Works. Vol. 2: Faust I & II. Ed. and trans. Stuart Atkins. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1994. 7), those lines read:

What's left undone today, is still not done tomorrow;
to every day there is a use and purpose;
let Resoluteness promptly seize
the forelock of the Possible,
and then, reluctant to let go again,
she's forced to carry on and be productive.

The lines Murray attributed to Goethe actually come from John Anster's "very free translation" of Faust from 1835. The lines in question are spoken by the "Manager" in the "Prelude at the Theatre":

          

Then indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting over lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

The point, and at long last I do have one, is this: 

• Truth is universal--and independent of human construction. 
• Our human minds are imperfect, transmitting and receiving only a small portion of the full spectrum of reality.
• When some image or some words or some feeling resonates with us, it's because we recognize a glimpse of universal truth it both the thing observed and in us.
• The words Nepo attributed to Murray resonate with me (and maybe with you?). The value of Nepo's words do not come from the accuracy of his attribution, but from the glimpse of universal truth in them.
• The words Murray attributed to Goethe are valuable, too. Goethe's words and the accurate translation left me cold. Anster's version connects deeply.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!

We all have just this one life to live. Nothing holds us back but our own perceptions of reality. Maybe Goethe did not write these words, but he could have. And you could have, too!

Dream Big and Believe! 

===+++===

At the outset, I referred to my skepticism of the Law of Attraction (LOA).

I am not a proponent of the so-called "Law" of Attraction, as it is very often a merely means for unscrupulous people to make money off the misery of others. The idea of manifesting a parking space (or a fat bank account) by simply expressing this wish to the Universe is absurd. If you don't get that parking space, you obviously were not clear enough in your intention, since the Universe always responds to clear signals.

Ri-i-i-i-i-i-ght.

The Secret is a deeply flawed film and book, even though (or perhaps because) it has made Rhonda Byrne a very rich lady.

For a decidedly practical and "un-woo-woo" book about LOA, see Deanna Davis, The Law of Attraction in Action.

For a more scientific look at the benefits of positive thinking, look into the Positive Psychology movement led by such pioneers as Donald O. Clifton,  Martin Seligman, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

If you want to study and examine a "Law" of another sort which explains how the universe really works, I recommend Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organization, by Adrian Bejan and J. Peder Zane.

Health, happiness, and prosperity to all!

Mark Nepo Talks about The Book of Awakening

"

Mark: the Man and the Message

Mark Nepo survived a difficult "first half" of life: abusive parents, the untimely end of a career, the loss of dear friends and family members, cancer (twice), divorce (twice),  and more. Not only did he survive all this, but in the process he transformed himself into a Philosopher-Poet whose day book has inspired millions.

I am grateful to Mark for all the many ways he has helped me. Life is such a great gift. Might you also benefit from learning how to be more present to the life you have? If you would like more information about this book, please leave a message in the comments.

Words of Wit and Wisdom: Fertilizer

In the garden of Life, there are roses, and there is, shall we say, "fertilizer." We get to choose how we divide our attention.


H/T: AJD

Related "Words of Wit and Wisdom" series posts: 

WWW #1: Juice 

WWW #2: Remote 

WWW #3: Frogs 

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Live? Die? Kill?

Karen Michel Reports on Three Questions

I just listened and responded to a provocative radio program, part of a series of programs called Questioning Democracy. I thought I'd share the program with you and encourage you to consider responding to the questions.  I know they made me think hard about what really, really matters and what it means to live in a democracy.

The set-up:

When independent radio producer Karen Michel moved from her apartment in Brooklyn out to the country – near the Hudson River. Karen wanted to know what her new neighbors really cared about. What, for them, it truly meant to live in a democracy where freedom is taken for granted.



The questions:

What do you live for? What would you die for? What would you kill for?

More information:

Follow this link to listen to the broadcast, download the program, obtain a transcript, and provide your own answers if you are so moved.




My off-air response:

3 Qs

Permalink Submitted by Dave (not verified) on Sun, 09/02/2012 - 6:22pm

1. I live for the pursuit of health, happiness and prosperity for all. I live to experience and create new opportunities. I live to live fully.

2. Having served in the Army I have considered what I would die for and it's not flag or country, though those are important to me. I do not want to die, but I would risk death to protect my children, or my battle buddy.

3. The big difference between killing and murder is the motive. I will use any means necessary to stop any threat to the lives of my children, my teammates, or myself. I support the death penalty, but for justice, not vengeance. I support hunting animals for food but deplore killing for sport. Bottom line: I would kill to survive.

And you? Have you thought about your answers to these questions? If so, please leave a note in the comments section.

Three: A reflection on the Christian doctrine of the Trinity

The Shield of the Trinity

I have made no secret of my belief in a creator God. Moreover, I am a Christian. Not to put too fine a point on it, but within all Christendom I align with the United Church of Christ (UCC). I have an open mind about other religious traditions. I am beyond tolerant of agnostics and atheists--in fact, I count many among my closest friends. So this post is not a dogmatic piece, but more of a commentary on the Christian concept of the Trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Among the monotheistic religions of the world, only Christianity entertains the notion of God actually having three distinct, yet unified, personalities, as illustrated in the diagram above. Muslims and Jews both reject this concept. Jews do recognize Jesus as an historical figure, and Muslims further acknowledge Him as a prophet, like Moses and Mohammed. Only Christians view Christ as God in human form. This concept of the Trinity is based in part on Jesus' claim that he was One with the Father--that He was in the Father, and the Father was in Him.

I believe (there's that word!) everyone should be able to explain their choices. Of course, not everyone is inclined to be as rational as I am, and not everyone would appreciate my willingness to publicly and continually submit my beliefs to scrutiny. To each his or her own.... That's the point! Don't force me into your beliefs, and I will not attempt to force you into mine. However, a good, rational discussion is always welcome!

Then there is Quinn G. Caldwell, a UCC pastor who opines that nobody gets the Trinity, and that's OK, because if the Trinity were comprehensible, it wouldn't be God. 

"Some things are meant to be understood in terms of Facts, while others are meant to be experienced as articles of Faith. Is there anybody else out there who doesn't get the Trinity? Is there anybody else out there for whom 3 = 1 just doesn't compute? Anybody who fears they're the only one in church that doesn't have the triune God figured out? 

If Rev. Caldwell's approach is appealing to you, here’s good news: you can affirm the validity of the mysteries too big to sort out HERE. On the other hand, if you are interested in coming to grips with this puzzling doctrine, read on. I suppose if a person really wanted to delve into the unknowable they could study Perichoresis. Even I have my limits!

Faith and Facts

Throughout human history, Faith has been used to answer phenomenon that cannot be explained by available Facts. Picture a three-column ledger, with a list of phenomena on the left side of a vertical dividing line, a list of articles of Faith which explained these phenomena in the middle, and a list of indisputable Facts on the right side. No one need resort to Faith to explain generally accepted Facts. We don't need Apollo to carry the Sun across the sky for us anymore. Move the heliocentric model of the solar system over to the Facts column.

I think we have figured out how to explain many things that were mysterious to our forefathers: the movement of the sun across the sky, violent weather storms, volcanoes, birth and death, gravity, optics, fluid dynamics, particle physics, etc.

As time has rolled forward, there are fewer and fewer unsolved mysteries. Or maybe the quantity hasn't changed, but the quality of the remaining mysteries has certainly changed becoming more specific and intericate. We still know very little about the human brain, or whether life of any kind exists elsewhere in the vast universe. We know very little about what happens to whatever it is that animates our bodies after mortal death. We can be pretty sure of the age of the universe and how it is moving outward from some Big Bang moment, but we know very little about the original source of the materials present at that moment, or of the force behind the explosion that launched everything outward.

Mysteries can be explained by Faith until Facts are available. The Mystery of the Trinity is no different. What inexplicable  phenomenon does the Trinity explain? Why is Christianity the only faith that has this doctrine? Jews and Muslims believe in the same God as do Christians, but some go so far as to say that Christians are not true monotheists since we worship God as Father, Son, and Spirit.


Here is my take. The God of the Old Testament, the part of the Bible common to all three Abrahamic faiths, is somewhat remote and detached. In the New Testament, we are introduced to a very different vision of God, less remote and detached, and more desirous of a relationship. The doctrine of the Trinity helps explain this difference. God the Father wants a relationship with His creation. God  provided His Spirit and His Son as the means for fostering that relationship with the Father. His Son was an example and a sacrifice. His Spirit is a present guide and companion. While dispatching Son and Spirit for Father, God simultaneously retains the properties of omnipotence and omni-presence.

Through the doctrine of Trinity, and only through the doctrine of Trinity, Jesus is more than a mortal prophet. He is actually God in human form. The Holy Spirit is not a figment of our imagination. He is alive and real, an indwelling presence. Finally, God's love is like a Father's love, a metaphor I can relate to. I have no need to believe that the Ultimate Being is actually a male. I prefer to think of God as beyond gender. (That's based on Faith, not Fact!) But I simply cannot imagine a Mother watching the crucifixion of her Son and not intervening. As a career soldier I understand the value of life and the meaning of sacrifice. I know some soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and I at least understand the idea of sacrifice for a greater good. Why didn't God the Father rescue His only begotten Son? Why didn't God the Son call down 10,000 angels to set Him free? Why is the Holy Spirit filling me with these questions?  The answer to all three questions is the same. Without the Father's love, the Son's obedience, and the Spirit's assurance, I could not possibly have a personal relationship with God.  


For me, the bottom line is simple: When Faith and Fact conflict, go with Fact. That said, Facts have been known to change, so keep an open mind and remain skeptical. Look for ulterior motives that drive people to reach out to Faith or latch on to Facts. What problems do these purported answers solve? How do these answers aid or hinder our quest to become one with the Divine? Many false doctrines have been created by religious institutions to manipulate people. This is sad but true.

I do not understand the Trinity. I do not have to understand the Trinity to accept and believe in it. If this Christian article of Faith is ever proven Factual, I will have been on the right side of destiny. If it is false, I will at least have done no harm to myself or others.  In the meantime, what I gain from the Trinity is well worth the risk, and well worth contemplating and sharing.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: Three in One.

Tragedy and Peace

"At times, so many memories trample my heart that it becomes impossible to know just what I'm feeling and why: my first love laughing in a park whose name i can never recall; my grandmother dying near her dirty Brooklyn bricks; the dizziness of the Rockies telling me to go back among the living; my ex-wife's shoulders slouching tired in the rain; the old dog I used to live with chasing her tail... and a thousand more...."

--Mark Nepo, Awakening, June 2

What memories "trample your heart"? I'll add some of mine in the comments and I encourage you to do the same.

Is it wrong to think about past tragedies? No. Life is meant to contain both joy and pain, and the blessed struggle of life is the struggle to maintain balance. Einstein said the way to keep your balance on a bicycle is to keep moving forward.

In the June 2 entry, Nepo goes on to say,

"Tragedy stays alive by feeling what's been done to us,
while peace comes alive by living with the result."

Adapt, overcome, keep moving forward...

Carbohydrate-Counting Chart

The folks over at SparkPeople have come up with a  handy carbohydrate estimating chart for people with diabetes who track blood sugar. It can also be used for folks who are looking to lose weight the low-carb way.

I am a beer guy, and I care about my body. So it makes sense to understand the relative merits of what I am eating and drinking, as well as maintaining an appropriate level of activity for balance. Beer doesn't make people fat. Burning fewer calories than one takes in is what does that! So if I want to drink a six pack and still have six-pack abs, I need to manage calories in and calories out.

Are you like me?

• I love eating and drinking
• I like working out--though I usually like it best after it's over! 
• I hate counting calories--it takes the fun out of eating

What I like about the SparkPeople chart is this:

• I only have to count carbs, not all calories
• The chart is based on a 15 g serving size, which makes counting easy 
• The emphasis on carbs means I must eat more veggies to feel full

See the chart and read the article here; Carbohydrate-Counting Chart

My take on the chart is below, for your convenience.

Grains	1 Serving = 15 g carbs
Bagel (white or whole wheat)	1/2 of a small
Bread (white or whole wheat)	1 slice (1 ounce)
Bun (white or whole wheat)	1/2 of a small
Crackers, round butter style	6 ea
Dry cereal, unsweetened	3/4 cup
English muffin	1/2 of a small
Hot cereal (oatmeal, grits, etc.)	1/2 cup cooked
Macaroni, noodles, pasta or spaghetti	1/3 cup cooked
Pancakes and waffles	1 (4-inch diameter)
Pizza crust, thin	1/8 of a 12-inch pizza
Rice (white or brown)	1/3 cup cooked
Beans & Legumes	1 Serving = 15 g carbs
Baked beans	1/3 cup cooked
Beans (navy, black, pinto, red, etc.)	1/2 cup cooked
Lentils	1/2 cup cooked
Starchy Vegetables	1 Serving = 15 g carbs
Baked potato (regular or sweet)	1/2 medium (4 inches long)
Corn	1/2 cup cooked
French fries, regular cut	10-15 fries
Peas	1/2 cup cooked
Winter squash (acorn, butternut, etc.)	1 cup cooked
Vegetable soup	1 cup
Fruits	1 Serving = 15 g carbs
Apple	1 small
Banana	1/2 medium
Blackberries/Blueberries	3/4 cup
Canned fruit (in light syrup or juice)	1/2 cup
Cantaloupe	1 cup cubed
Cherries	12 to 15
Grapefruit	1/2 large
Grapes	17 small
Honeydew melon	1 cup
Orange	1 small
Peach	1 small
Pear	1 small
Raspberries	1 cup
Strawberries	1 1/2 cup whole
Watermelon	1 1/4 cup cubed
100% Fruit Juices	1 Serving = 15 g carbs
Apple juice	1/2 cup
Cranberry juice	1/3 cup
Grape juice	1/3 cup
Grapefruit juice	1/2 cup
Orange juice	1/2 cup
Pineapple juice	1/2 cup
Dairy Products	1 Serving = 15 g carbs
Milk (skim or 1% fat)	1 cup
Yogurt (plain, light or sugar-free)	1 cup
Beverages, Sweets & Snacks	1 Serving = 15 g carbs
Beer	20 oz Light, 16 oz Regular, 12 oz Bold
Chips	0.75 oz
Cookies	2 small
Frozen yogurt, regular	1/2 cup
Ice cream	1/2 cup light, 1/3 cu reg, 1/4 cu topped
Popcorn (plain or air-popped)	3 cups
Pretzels	0.75 oz
Pudding (sugar-free)	1/2 cup
Sorbet	1/4 cu
Spirits (0 carbs but 100 calories per shot)	NA
Wine (< 5 carbs and 100 cals per glass)	NA
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=882