A white crescent moon floated in a barely brightening sky edged with wisps and swirls turning the faintest pink when I went walking this morning, still in the land of my youth. Canada geese and ducks lifted off from a lagoon and flocks of squawking crows flew down from the rounded brown hillsides that are such a contrast to Kauai's jagged green peaks. In the distance, I watched a hawk whirl suddenly and dive, perhaps scoring its first meal of the day.
I've been attending a conference on Science and Nonduality while also visiting some of the Sonoma and Marin County beaches and redwood groves that have always shone as bright spots in my childhood memories. They're more beautiful than I remembered, though my childhood home, now occupied by others, is much smaller than I recalled. I haven't been in this area since 1979, and while some parts have changed beyond recognition, others are much the same, like me.
My head is filled with facts, speculations, musings, theories, contemplations -- some of them my own, some of them voiced by others. We're all trying to make some sense out of the world and our places in it as we wrestle with such weighty concerns as the nature of time, existence, reality, and how to blend -- and for some, whether to blend -- a spiritual practice with activism.
Even in a conference devoted to exploring nonduality, we take sides: some advocate engaging fully in life, while others tend toward passivity, taking the position that nothing we do matters in a universe where free will is an illusion. I'm far more inclined toward the former than the latter, though thinking more in terms of how to effect change without simultaneously beating my head against a brick wall.
It will take a while for me to sift through it all, but a few things I've heard stick with me, earning a special, easy-to-find place in my notebook:
"It takes a lot of courage to live in the world today and not just be a dream head, totally asleep."
"Denial, as in don't even know I am lying."
And my favorite: "It's important for people to know there's another reality besides the official one."
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13 comments:
There is only one reality...merely multiple perceptions of it.
Perception is reality.
If an event is perceived as real, it will be real in its consequences.
There is only one reality
totally disagree, you can change your reality in a second.
Mainstream america.....
How disfunctional and unenvogue.
By "one reality" I didn't mean "fate" or any for of predestination.
At any given time there is only one reality. As you and everyone else and everything else acts or doesn't act, a new "one reality" emerges.
Like individual frames of a movie that follows no pre-written plot line. Each frame is the "one reality" for that moment.
Then, of course, are the multiple perceived realities that our brains and consciousnesses and past experiences imbue on our observations and selective remembrances of past events.
Most cannot live in a world not governed by some overriding "reason" or "grand plan", so they invent "fate" or other like things to give meaning the the essentially meaningless, random events that actually govern our lives to a great extent.
Turn right or left? Take this job or that job? Be on time for that biz appointment in the World Trade Center on 9/11 or cancel...or be real late due to traffic, getting the kids up and out, etc.
Random events.
"Time and unforeseen circumstances befall us all."
"The best laid plans of mice and men..."
"We're all bozos on this bus."
"Once we recognize that thoughts are empty, the mind will no longer have the power to deceive us."
-Khyetse Rinpoche
Red is gray and
Yellow white
But we decide
Which is right
And
Which is an Illusion
You're either on the bus or off the bus. Enjoy da ride!
write on joan!
enjoy your being
in familiar surroundings
, exploring different
possibilities
and sharing
your gifts
mahalo
Mahalo for your post Joan. The "Busy Majority" maybe silent because we are too busy making a living and taking care of our families. We can't all be activists. Aloha.
"We can't all be activists."
Nor are all of us interested in being activists.
I just want a couple of bacon cheeseburgers and a large order of onion rings and 3 pints of porter.
Someone buy me that and I'll hold up a "we're for this" or we're against that" sign for an hour or 2...
- the activist whore
These women rocketing out of the 99%ers and into Easy Street and leaving us behind???
That's it!!! I'm joining "Occupy Strip Clubs"...right after my burgers, rings and pints...
It's a movement I'm "up" for!!
-------------
An oil boomtown in the middle of North Dakota is proving that the laws of supply and demand apply to everything -- even stripper salaries.
As thousands of men move to Williston, North Dakota seeking high-paying jobs working for oil companies, area strippers have seen their salaries skyrocket, CNNMoney reports. Strippers claim that they can make $2,000 to $3,000 per night in tips -- more than in typical strip club hot spots like Las Vegas -- dancing for the oil rig workers, many of whom moved to the town without their families.
Word of their success has spread and now applications are pouring in to the town's strip clubs from women working as far away as Hawaii and Germany, according to CNNMoney. North Dakota has weathered the recession particularly well, with an unemployment rate of only 3.5 percent as of September, in comparison to the national rate of 9.1 percent.
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