Sunday, May 24, 2009, 10:41 AM
Which is stronger- human selfishness or human generosity? Is violence or peace more “human”? How do these questions relate to evolving consciousness and to people on a path of awakening?
When one listens to the cultural narrative, it seems we are hopelessly ensconced within narcissism, self-centeredness and competition. Without denying the power of these forces within each of us, I am struck by the presence of the opposite impulse. As I travel throughout the world, I am forever surprised by and grateful for the basic goodness of people. If one pays attention to their personal interactions and does not simply believe the fear-based propaganda society, it is obvious that most people enjoy offering help when asked. Even here, while visiting my old hometown of New York City, I find that beneath some bravado and self-protectiveness there are many, many moments in which goodwill is met with kindness.
When I say this, I am looking at the small actions of everyday life. The stranger I met yesterday who stopped and took time when I asked for directions, the man on the plane who accepted a less preferred seat so that an older couple could sit together, a nurse in a hospital taking extra time to be sure that all questions were answered, the people who allowed a frenzied traveler who was about to miss his bus to get ahead in the ticket line, etc. etc. Of course there are exceptions and yet, I often notice that the majority of people I encounter choose cooperation over hostility.
Walking around with a friend from New York who had a different view of human nature was illuminating. His comment was “of course you have positive interactions and run into really generous people you treat people with great kindness and true presence. What would happen if you just acted in the ‘normal’, disinterested, unconscious way in which most people relate?” Makes you wonder doesn’t it?
In one sense I agree with him, in another perhaps not. It is true that in most moments we receive back the energy or quality that we are emanating. Meeting the world with kindness, interest and generosity will usually invite similar energy in return. Yet, even before this kind of exchange, there are the basic gifts that are constantly showered upon us that only require openness and presence to be felt. The beauty of color, hearing sounds, the feeling of a breeze on the skin can fulfill us when we are there for them. An early, important discovery in my meditation practice was that if I could find true satisfaction “just breathing” then any moment could be satisfying. Again, makes you wonder doesn’t it?
For many years the “human story” has been dominated by one side of the evolutionary impulse, the side based in competition- often called “the struggle for survival” and “survival of the fittest”. We can see how this view fills the airwaves, newspapers and cultural mind. Naturally this side is important and is not to be ignored. Still, thanks to many social changes and most importantly our collective growth of consciousness, we can now begin to tell the other half of the story- the impulse toward cooperation and nurturance called “cooperation for survival” and “the struggle to remember our interconnectedness”. Do we have a choice as to which side will dominate?
This is THE question for evolving humanity. To approach living from the ground of interconnectivity with all Beings requires a higher state of consciousness than living in the world of separation. While we wouldn’t want to lose our capacity for self-protection and our alertness to danger, do most situations ask us to meet the world in this way? What happens when you enter each interaction with a generous interest in seeing the other? When lost in our unconsciousness the default attitude will likely be fear based, when one reaches a certain level of awareness a genuine choice arises.
It is really important that we recognize and support this evolving capacity of humanity. Presence and openness is the ground for receiving the gifts of the moment. In addition, our picture of others, the story we carry in our hearts and minds, strongly influences our experience in everyday life. We can radically influence the quality of our lives “simply” by shifting the story we tell ourselves about life and about other people.
If you are reading these words with some interest, you are capable of choosing which seed you would like to water. This is called conscious evolution. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Wishing you a fulfilling life..........Russell Delman
Thursday, April 2, 2009, 12:16 PM
My friend James has cancer, a shortened life is now predicted.
A student named Susan was misdiagnosed, her apparent cancer is gone.
Everyday in small and large ways our life moves from circumstances that disappoint us to those that bring relief and joy.
How can we live with this ever-changing reality?
In my seminars and in my life I enjoy, value and even depend on the simple inner/outer gesture of bowing. The act of bowing is not just a formalized ritual. It is the embodied expression of our intention to place the reality of Life above our hopes, dreams, desires. This does not mean that we do not have these hopes, dreams, desires- they are also part of the fabric of our life. Bowing means that we place the reality of our life above these hopes/dreams/desires when they are not synchronous. Of course by ‘bowing’ I mean both the physical act and more importantly, the inner gesture of saying Yes to “what is” without denying ANY of the reactions that arise in relation to what is. This is called living out the reality of our Life/Self. It is also called humility.
Living out the reality of our Life means that EVERYTHING we encounter is our Self, which is exactly the same as saying everything we encounter is our Life. Normally we separate out our Life and our Self, as if we have this thing called a Self that lives in something called “my body” and that this Self meets what we call our Life.
Actually this is a big error and leads to a lot of trouble. Everything you encounter is your Self/Life. You are inseparable from the reality of your Life as it is arising in your personal circumstances. Yet these personal individual circumstances are an expression of Life itself. This can be called UNIVERSAL SELF through which we are all interconnected and yet we each have our individual experiences of this grand interconnectedness.
Please do not think this is abstract philosophy. I am addressing the actual pain, worry, fear, self-judgments, anger and anxiety that arises in our daily life. Just as the weather changes so do our circumstances. This will be true forever. How do we step back and remember the truth of this Self/Life that both includes and is free from these changing circumstances? How do we enact this larger understanding?
When we bow, our heart is accepting our personal limitations as we simultaneously sense this Universal Self. In the Christian world it is the gesture of saying “Thy will not my will”. In the Dharma world it is acknowledging that right here, right now Buddha Nature (Universal Self) is functioning through me. In both cases, even when there is pain or sorrow, there is no sense that something is fundamentally “wrong”.
My friend James has cancer. It is virulent and many thoughts/feelings arise from this diagnosis. A student named Susan recently heard that that a cancer diagnosis was inaccurate, her tests were confused with those of another person. Clearly, we who love them feel sadness, concern, relief and elation in connection with the differing circumstances. YET, beyond positive/negative and heaven/hell is the overwhelming truth that each is living the reality of Life/Self. We do not need to downplay our feeling responses in order to ALSO place reality above our preferences. . At a fundamental level, Love-Peace-Truth-Joy are alive within all these circumstances. This is the cutting edge of the awakening life! We bow to Life itself!
Heaven or Hell, love or hate
No matter where I turn
I meet myself.
Holding life precious is
Just living with all intensity
Holding life precious.
-Kosho Uchiyama Roshi
Monday, February 16, 2009, 12:45 PM
Articulating the main intention of “The Embodied Life” requires a new kind of language that can touch our living experience. THIS direct, intimate entry into the “livingness” of the moment is one of the key points. Working directly with sensing, moving, feeling and thinking is our way. Here are quotes from human beings who have had great effect on my understanding and experiencing:
From Gautama Buddha:
"There is one thing that, when cultivated and regularly practiced, leads to deep spiritual intention, to peace, to mindfulness and clear
comprehension, to vision and knowledge, to a happy life here and now, and to the culmination of wisdom and awakening. And what is that one thing? It is mindfulness centered on the body."
"Things are not what they seem,
Nor are they otherwise"
From Moshe Feldenkrais:
“In those moments when awareness succeeds in being at one with feeling, senses, movement, and thought, the carriage will speed along on the right road. Then man can make discoveries, invent create, innovate and ‘know’. He grasps that his small world and the great world around are but one and that in this unity he is no longer alone.”
“I believe we are in a historically brief transition period that heralds the emergence of the truly human man.”
From Eugene Gendlin:
Experience is a myriad richness.
We think more than we can say.
We feel more than we can think.
We live more than we can feel.
And there is much more still.
"You need to stand again in your own experiencing -in your own felt ongoingness,
-which is that intricate complexity inside of life
to put into the world what hasn't been said yet that you are carrying from your particular experiencing"
I feel grateful and indebted to all the teachers who have come before me urging us to “re-member” and “re-connect” to authentic living.
I am deeply grateful to all my students for our working together on learning how to live this life.
Hoping to see you at a seminar or retreat this year.
Friday, January 2, 2009, 09:36 AM
Within the demands of life, including the struggles and disappointments, so much changes when we can recall the attitude: “CAN DO, WHY NOT, NO PROBLEM”. What a joy to approach life situations with this energy!
As a Zen student, I was intuitively taken with the paradoxical teaching: “because it is impossible, we do it”. Usually we like to be optimistic and say: “I can do that, I am strong, smart, willful, capable etc.” If you are lucky, this kind of bountiful optimism will be tempered, though not destroyed, by life’s inherent disappointments. Does this sound negative? Please, take a fresh look and consider how important your “failures” have been for your heart opening and awakening consciousness.
What is the connection between “can do” and “it is impossible”? (“It” means: realizing our ideals, causing no harm, meeting all situations with peace and love, being in Truth with Self and Life).
As we enter the New Year, with its unknown joys and challenges, I rest in the knowledge that I will make many, many mistakes. My perfectionism will once again be punctured by the unfolding of life. Learning to be True will be humbling and, if I resist this learning, perhaps even humiliating. This is how “it is” and I am grateful for this truth.
Our ideals serve us by giving direction for our actions yet they can be infinitely destructive when used as justification for violence and judgment toward self or others. I encourage you to be fully conscious of this distinction. So we need our ideals for our striving and it is impossible to fully actualize these images.
We can never circumvent the facts that: 1) matter, including our bodies, always disintegrates and 2) today we are one day closer to our death than yesterday. This is the good news! Without the certainty of our end, we might waste much time in learning how to open our hearts. To accept the truth of our limitations and still continue on the path is called dedication. Rather than dwelling in despondency perhaps we can find: “can do, why not, no problem”.
Each day I am surprised by the persistence of old habits, patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that clearly create suffering. While the general trajectory of my life is toward a reduction in these behaviors, the journey is anything but linear. Sometimes, like a groundhog lifting its head out of the winter ground, an old “something” will appear. My practice is to relate to these ‘appearances’ with greater and greater equanimity and kindness. After all, Life is impossible, therefore we live it.
My encouragement to us all is to laugh more at foibles and mistakes. I promise that your body, as well as your ambitions, will eventually humble you. And yet because it is impossible, we do it. Let’s endeavor to approach this life with the imperturbable attitude: “CAN DO, WHY NOT, NO PROBLEM”.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 01:56 PM
“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness overcometh it not”
Five o’clock in the morning, here in Zurich, through sobs of joy my daughter tells me that Barack Obama is now president to the United States.
All day yesterday many Swiss and German students were wondering if it was true, would Americans elect this beacon of hope to its highest position? “A black man with a Muslim name” they would say with a look of complete disbelief. For a long time, as an American spending about three months of the year in Europe, I have sensed, observed and heard about the fear and anger that the actions of this country have stimulated throughout the world. As the saying goes: beware of the 400 pound gorilla in a rowboat!
Now, I find it hard to specify my feelings- some kind of hopefulness, a tingling gladness, as if goodness has been affirmed. Also, there is caution, trepidation at idealization, at dividing the world into good/bad, black/white, positive/negative. There is also something like pride filling my chest after years of standing in the shadow of Bush/Cheney (no matter your political preferences or post-nationalistic tendencies, travelers are identified through the lens of their country), a rightness that says: “see we are not the imperialistic, violent, naïve, isolationist people that you saw, we have at least a few other sides”.
My intention was to write the last in a series of articles on the “fear virus” that has been spreading around the planet, exacerbated by the current economic “correction”. The first two articles explored practical ways of working with our sensing, feeling and thinking including a recognition of our effects on each other (see below). At this moment, a radical sense of interconnection- accurately and beautifully termed “InterBeing” by Zen monk Thich Nhat Hahn- fills me with a sense of hopefulness for our planet. At least part of the antidote to this virus might be this sense of hope, the possibility that we can work together on our common destiny.
Recognizing both our individual responsibility for the life we share as well as our inability to function in separation is an essential direction for all of us. We are the only one’s who can choose directly the words and actions we wish to offer with each other: we are blessed with the possibility of an autonomous “I”. No one else can transform the sensations, feelings and thoughts that have become habitual in each of us. Yet, we cannot do it alone. Just as we share the air and water of this planet, we share the mind-field. InterBeing places great value on the unique gifts of each individual- your particular gift can only be brought by you- as well as the truth that we are already interconnected before we are individuals. You are not you without gravity, air, your mother, your particular circumstances and we are not we without you. A true spiritual path for this time must fervently affirm the unique value of each individual along with our fundamental inseparability.
Also, without minimizing the euphoria, let’s remember that our practices are essential- there are many, many individual and collective challenges awaiting us. The “fear virus” is still virulent. We don’t wait for difficult times to engage in our sincere study. Our practice is dedicated to all people, for all time.
As I listen to my heart, the main impulse I hear is a prayer that we can take up the opportunities and challenges that face us right now. May Barack Obama be given the wisdom and compassion to lead well in the direction of true peace. In recognizing that we each cannot do it alone and we are each needed in service to Life, perhaps we can sense that there is something larger working with us and through us. Whatever term you resonate with- “Higher Beings”, “God”, “Universal Intelligence”, “All”, “Life”, “Other Power” or simply the recognition of “InterBeing” – my hope is that you will join me in this prayer for peace.
Back Next