Arrive where we started

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

T. S. Eliot
Little Gidding
Four Quartets

True wealth

We constantly forget to realize the wealth we already have. Failing to acknowledge our true wealth we keep grasping for more, like hungry ghosts who are never satisfied while constantly eating! Thus, we go about despoiling the earth, corrupting relationships, and twisting societies into grotesque forms that promote needless suffering for ourselves, others, and the earth as a whole. Realizing true wealth leads to personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal fulfillment. Life, love, and this present moment is true wealth.

Two birds

Two Birds with fair wings, knit with bonds of friendship,
in the same sheltering tree have found a refuge.
One of the twain eats the sweet Fig tree’s fruitage;
the other eating not, regardeth only.

The Rig Veda[1]

---

[1] Book I, Hymn CLXIV, Verse 20 from Sacred Writings, Hinduism: The Rig Veda. Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith. Book-of-the-Month Club, New York, 1992.

Two lives

We have "two lives" - a temporal life and eternal life. Temporal life comes and goes with birth, growth, decay, and death. Eternal life was, is, and always will be. This seems impossible. It is, however, an insight that grows from years of meditation practice; and, the study of ancient teachings such as the forest hermits in the Himalayas who delved into the ground of consciousness. Our bodies "plug into" the universal eternal absolute consciousness. From Absolute Consciousness we came and to Absolute Consciousness we return. Eternal life is already given. That's the good news.

Joy of art

Children naturally do art. Put paper and drawing materials in front of them and they start drawing with complete abandon. For a whole summer I met with a group of friends at a community cafe to support it from going out of business. Our group did art together. We had so much fun. People passing by saw us with our art supplies and colorful drawings. More customers came in! Now-a-days, the cafe is doing well. But equally important was the wonderful experience of drawing together -- talking freely about our lives while we drew all kinds of images in a rainbow of colors.

God had to make "not-God"

I hear from Jewish and Islamic perspectives that God is infinite and has to create; even create his negation – the not-God – the realm of illusions or appearances which we know so well. Seyyed Hossein Nasr said it so well when he wrote: "Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as the Infinitely Good, He could not but create. His infinitude implies that He contains within Himself all possibilities, including that of negating Himself, and this possibility had to be realized in the form of creation. Moreover, as St. Augustine also stated, it is in the nature of the good to give of itself, and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate the reality that constitutes the world and, in fact, all the worlds."*

*The Heart of Islam. HarperSanFrancisco, 2002. page 9.

What's the meaning of life?

As years fly by, an old question returns: “What is the meaning of life?” Many people laugh this question off. I dropped asking that question long ago because some friends responded with, “The meaning of life is in the living of life itself.” That seemed good enough. But, lately, I see and hear a hunger for meaning. I find it among college students, I find it in groups of older people and the very young. It’s not meaningless to ask “What's the meaning of Life”. Asking this "question of questions" may be more powerful and meaningful than any answer. The act of grappling with this great and unanswerable question often yields a deep sense of wordless meaning. We are divine exactly because we can ask this question. Our polite societies dismiss the question of meaning as impractical. Better to go out and shop, watch the Super Bowl; maybe shopping and games are the meaning of life. The impractical, however, can be exquisitely meaningful. Even if it's free.

Far is near; near is far

I've seen families sitting at dinner with both parents and three children all looking at their separate computers and smartphones -- communicating with employers and friends somewhere else. They're together but far away. Mealtime was a sacred moment; a time together to report on a long day. But here, I say: Love is fractured. I walk across the campus. So many students now on their media players listening to class lectures. Meanwhile lecture halls are often less than half full; instead we're walking past each other; minds away within the media player lecture replays. (I can't blame them; so many lectures and readings; too little time.) Or, are they listening to music? We don't know. We pass by so close, while far away. Lecture halls may be boring, but we did experience all our classmates together. Now, it's only on the final exam day that everyone is together. Not much fun! Our relationship "bandwidth" is diminishing. The people around us get less attention; because our attention is scattered throughout millions of cyber-sphere nodes (the internet, phone lines, and old fashioned television and radio. Where will it all go?

Purpose of life

Does life (your life, my life) have a purpose? Yes. I think it's to live and overcome the illusions of darkness passing through our wobbly minds; getting past the thinking mind to truth itself. This seems impossible. So, we need faith. Not blind faith, but faith meaning firmness. Holding firm for truth until we actually behold truth freeing us from despair, illusion, and darkness. We get to truth and purpose by beholding and holding this present moment until all dissolves away except This-ness. Life's purpose is to realize This-ness; which once realized informs us of exactly what to be and do right now. Easy to say; but often takes a lifetime to realize. That's the adventure. Living in the adventure is already life's purpose.

Spirit of life

God shaped a clay pile into a human form; still something was missing. He had to breathe Life into that clay human; than it became a living man. For the ancients breath is the spirit of life. We "inspire", breathe in; and, "expire", breath out. No spirit, no life. Can there be life without clay, without a body? I think so, if we refer to Life with a capital "L" -- meaning pure timeless (always "was, is, will be") Spirit. If life is "nothing but" organic compounds we would be without consciousness, without comprehension of the organic dimension. I can hardly speak or write of such matters; these are only hints, impressions, inklings of the unspeakable. That's Life.

Philosophy and wisdom

School taught me that the word "philosophy" means "the love of wisdom". I loved the ideas and intellectual arguments of the great philosophers such as Russell, Hume, and Heidegger. As I progressed into graduate school it became clear that most of what is called philosophy is word play seeking more clarity through words. In a deeper search for wisdom I looked into the world's spiritual traditions. But, again, that was mostly words, symbol, and ritual. To cultivate wisdom I had to open myself to deep ways of knowing that go beyond words -- to go explore the being that lives within and around directly. The words, actions and attitudes of a wise person are indescribable. How could wordy philosophers understand? If only they could quiet down we'd have better philosophy.

Great ideas run the world

Great ideas go unnoticed like air; yet, they inform (give form) to our human world. Sometimes we give these ideas names such as: God, truth, integrity, time, money, love, justice for all, freedom, progress and nonviolence. This list is not set in stone. I just made it up! The point is - that we stop and pay attention to what drives our lives by contemplating these great ideas. These ideas, despite their importance, go mostly unexamined in our daily lives; if we examine them, dialogue about them, we enrich our lives with a certain kind of "food for the soul". Ask your friends and co-workers "what are the great ideas?" and engage. Make up your own lists. Your life will be enriched.

---
Americ Azevedo
http://philosopher-at-large.com

Desire is prayer

Prayers are desires* unspoken from deep within. Religion is not required. We are praying all the time. Mostly it's ineffective because we're not allowing prayer to be transformed by That which we are praying to. What is That? My definition of prayer is broad enough to include agnostics and atheists. If prayer is desire coming from deep within (even before materializing into words), it will be ineffective if inclined to be "my" desire. True prayer can't just be about me, it's a relationship with That -- That being the truth which is all around and within us. Our prayer (and the desire) will be transformed by deep inner dialogue with the wider reality beyond myself; otherwise we'll be frustrated by "unanswered" prayers. All prayers will be answered if we allow truth to transform our prayers, our desires.

*This is idea found in Mary Baker Eddy's Science & Health, page 1: "Desire is prayer; no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take words..." In the current essay, I am extending it beyond the religious context.

Just before the rain

Sitting here looking out the window. The cloudy sky darkens. Sensing, with my own body, the air pressure dropping. We are in nature and nature is in us. Sky darkens; my own feelings darken. Tension builds up, can't wait for the rain to start. Gusts of wind, windows rattle! First rain drops. More rain. Yes. Relief at last. Maybe a day inside, happy to be warm and dry. It's already mid-April. So much rain since November. The impending drought is over. Everything so green; grass covers sidewalk edges. Birds singing everywhere. Gratitude abounds.

Human, subhuman, and transhuman

German Nazi society classified Jews as "subhumans". Jews could then be killed and confined without feeling that crimes against humanity where being committed. There is now an emerging "transhumanist" dream of becoming greater than human: living for hundreds or thousands of years, attaining superhuman powers, having a youthful healthy body for a hundred years, greater intelligence, and much more. It's becoming possible with the technological enhancement of the human body. If civilization continues on this path, in a hundred years the human species may split off a new species; recognized as no longer human, just as we say that chimpanzees are sub-human or non-human. Would that new species respect us, the remaining humans? Would we be "sub-transhumans"? Would they despise, kill or enslave us? Or, will there be many sub-species of transhumans specialized to different tasks? The future is not ours, except in dreams to go toward or avoid.

Discipline is power

Many people believe discipline is stiff, difficult and constraining. That's not true. Discipline can bring great freedom. Through discipline's door we become master's of ourselves. We discover a greater power to change self and world. Practice little acts of discipline everyday. I'm now practicing the discipline of writing one paragraph a day & posting it to my philosopher-at-large blog. I get up in the early morning, write a rough draft; look at it later and fix it up. Then I send it to my blog. Each time I do this. It gets easier. It has and does take discipline to keep doing this. In my mind, I want to do this for a year. Life may throw many distracting situations along the way. This effort, maintained over a year will have a positive spillover affect on the rest of life. The specific outcomes matter less than the "incomes" to self-mastery.

Entitlement

In the early morning email a student activist wrote: "... budget cuts are affecting the lowest-paid workers on campus. We've all noticed how there's more trash due to the lay off of custodians. But many of our students don't realize that these were already low-paid workers living pay-check to pay-check. The remaining dining hall workers and custodians are also facing draconian pay-cuts of up to 20% in a 3-month period. This will force many workers to choose between paying rent and bills or feeding their children. Laid-off workers are now facing eviction if they can't find another job.The amount of money saved by cutting the lowest-paid workers is less than 7$ million statewide. The Regents just approved 9 million in bonuses for executives, clearly showing the Regents' priorities."

I would not be surprised if this is true. Those who control budgets (in schools, corporations, etc.) naturally feel an entitlement to high salaries. This attitude is morally wrong. And, is causing much more harm than good by slowly ripping apart the fabric of society. Where's the ethical value high ground now? Goodness and fairness needs to return not by force but by cultivation of empathy for the poorest members of society. The richer well off people will be happier.

Confessions of an autodidact

I'm an autodidact - someone who is self taught. Yes, I have university degrees; but, always I loved learning what I'm attracted to at any one moment. And I love all knowledge. There's no school that will give me a degree in universal knowledge. Most of the music, poetry, philosophy, science, art, technology, business, and more -- have all been learned by rambling reading, asking questions of others, and self-paced practice. I jump from book to article to Wikipedia as the mind seeks to fill in details on a subject. What I am passionate about, I learn with no effort. What's most fun is to follow chains of association between topics, issues, and fields of study. All is really one and interconnected. Children learn best when they play. If you're not having fun you're not learning.

Art is play

Art is play; it's to delight in conscious existence as its own reward. Children naturally create; it's us serious adults who stop them from making chaotic playful artistic messes. We want them to make drawings and songs with purpose. To constrain consciousness into predefined packages. This, of course, is needed by the laws of civilization - the rules of the road. Yet, we need to appreciate the power of daily spontaneous song. The money making media have co-oped the art of song, of images, of poetry. Take it back. Play again. Sing a song today; a song never sung before. Write freely as if no English teacher is going to correct you. Make a new dance. Breathe free. Be gentle. Be love. We only have this life. Face life. Live it.

At one with now-ness

I return again and again to the thought of "now-ness". This is a thought, however. There's a deeper step: to drop into the meaning of "now-ness". Can we do that? What's it like? Does one return from now-ness to non-now-ness?

I become at one with now - right now. Staying in now for a while. Forgetting time; no time. Coming back to not-so-much-now. Here I am. Time runs again. This is a dance, a movement between time and eternity.

Nonviolent Communication - Marshall Rosenberg

Marshall Rosenberg created Nonviolent Communication and is Founder and Director of Educational Services for the Center for Nonviolent Communication,

Nonviolent Communication Skills

This approach to communication emphasizes compassion as the motivation for action rather than fear, guilt, shame, blame, coercion, threat or justification for punishment. It is about creating a quality of connection that gets everyone’s needs met through compassionate giving.

The process of NVC encourages us to focus on what we and others are observing separate from our interpretations and judgments, to connect our thoughts and feelings to underlying human needs/values (e.g. safety, support, love), and to be clear about what we would like towards meeting those needs. These skills give the ability to translate from a language of criticism, blame, and demand into a language of human needs -- a language of life that consciously connects us to the universal qualities “alive in us” that sustain and enrich our well being, and focuses our attention on what actions we could take to manifest these qualities.

Nonviolent Communication skills can help you receive critical and hostile messages without taking them personally, giving in, or losing self-esteem. These skills are useful with your own internal dialogues in interpersonal relationships and in communities of all sizes.

NVC offers practical, concrete skills for manifesting the purpose of creating connections of compassionate giving and receiving based in a consciousness of interdependence and power with others. These skills include:

1. Differentiating observation from evaluation, being able to carefully observe what is happening free of evaluation, and to specify behaviors and conditions that are affecting us;
2. Differentiating feeling from thinking, being able to identify and express internal feeling states in a way that does not imply judgment, criticism, or blame/punishment;
3. Connecting with the universal human needs/values (e.g. sustenance, trust, understanding) in us that are being met or not met in relation to what is happening and how we are feeling; and
4. Requesting what we would like in a way that clearly and specifically states what we do want (rather than what we don’t want), and that is truly a request and not a demand (i.e. attempting to motivate, however subtly, out of fear, guilt, shame, obligation, etc. rather than out of willingness and compassionate giving).

These skills emphasize personal responsibility for our actions and the choices we make when we respond to others, as well as how to contribute to relationships based in cooperation and collaboration. NVC fosters respect, attentiveness and empathy, and engenders a mutual desire to give from the heart. The form is simple, yet powerfully transformative and is founded on consciousness, language, communication skills, and use of power that enable us to remain human, even under trying conditions, .

10 Things We Can Do to Contribute to Internal, Interpersonal, and Organizational Peace

(1) Spend some time each day quietly reflecting on how we would like to relate to ourselves and others.

(2) Remember that all human beings have the same needs.

(3) Check our intention to see if we are as interested in others getting their needs met as our own.

(4) When asking someone to do something, check first to see if we are making a request or a demand.

(5) Instead of saying what we DON'T want someone to do, say what we DO want the person to do.

(6) Instead of saying what we want someone to BE, say what action we'd like the person to take that we hope will help the person be that way.

(7) Before agreeing or disagreeing with anyone's opinions, try to tune in to what the person is feeling and needing.

(8) Instead of saying "No," say what need of ours prevents us from saying "Yes."

(9) If we are feeling upset, think about what need of ours is not being met, and what we could do to meet it, instead of thinking about what's wrong with others or ourselves.

(10) Instead of praising someone who did something we like, express our gratitude by telling the person what need of ours that action met.

From the Center for Nonviolent Communication

Business Wisdom

Business wisdom is simply living life - here on earth - in the best possible way.

The nature of wisdom is to be all inclusive.

The nature of business is to provide for the essentials of survival - and even prosperity if conditions permit.

He that does good

to another does also

good to himself.

- Seneca

Spring in early February

Between generous Winter rain and global warming - it's early Spring.

Be still and know That

These two passages from the Bible are a joy to contemplate. For me, they connect ancient Bible teachings with meditation practices. -AA

1 Kings 19:11-13 (New International Version)

¹¹ The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Psalm 46:10 (New International Version)

¹⁰ "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

I like this representation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Image from Tutor2U.

Wikipedia entry.

My New Book Released - "Meditation: Waking Up to Life"

Cognella Academic Publishing just released my new book: Meditation: Waking Up to Life.

Please go to their website for more details, including a preview of the first 30 pages at http://www.cognella.com/titles/azevedo/.
Online orders are now open at that site.

Mandukya Upanishad

Take a deep study the Mandukya Upanishad; it's close to the essence of the Upanishads as a whole. To me, it contains a core teaching, a key, to self-realization. The best readable translation of the Mandukya Upanishad is Eknath Easwaran's The Upanishads - start at page 199, with a clear commentary by Michael Nagler. While reading the Mandukya, go to the detailed notes at the back, pages 364 to 366 (also written by Nagler). Before ordering a copy of this excellent collection of the Upanishads, you can view the pages mentioned at Google Books. See the following:
(Click here to view as a full page.)


For a lot of fun exploring more thoughts and practices regard the Mandukay Upanishad, explore Mandukya Upanishad and Yoga: Twelve Verses on OM Mantra.

Read, enjoy, and meditate!

Desire for God Union

Everything ever written,
like scratches on cave walls.

All words spoken,
like birds chirping.

Go deeper.

Feel deeper this moment,
arousing the desire
for fulfillment of all desire.

Feel now, the deepest secret
desire for God union.
Open up the senses,
to hearing, seeing, feeling,
God's name.
basking in truth, love, and light.

God, Allah, Rama, Krishna,
Om, Aum, Ahhhhhhhhh.....uuuuuuuuuuuu.....mmmmmm.........

(Inspired by Kabir, 15th century C.E.)

Simplicity Now

Meditation can bring the mind to
utter simplicity. Being quiet within is
the ground of simplicity - even
when we have to perform
action in the world.

"All is one"; "feeling the
oneness of all things". Such
expressions are absolutely true.
It's as if you are
at the end of a great
journey - and you come to
a place where you can
absolutely rest in peace;
and all your desires are
fulfilled. You are here; and
that's enough. That's all
there is. That is it.
All is one. Peace. Peace.
Now - extending to
the "next" movement,
the moment no longer in time - so it's
only just this external, eternal moment.
Being mindful of all that
is. Which is just this.
All is one. Simple. Easy.
Ah! Yes! Here! Here
now and forever

"as it was in the
beginning is now
and forever"

peace

Free Medical Care

These days there's much news about health care reform. I walked by one of the best examples of health care reform a week or so ago: the Berkeley Free Clinic. It been offering health care at no cost since 1969. I'm thankful to those who keep it going. There is light and love in this world.

The Green Bible

The Green Bible highlights, in green ink, over 1,000 Bible passages relating to the Earth and our responsibility to care for it. I picked up the hard copy edition in a bookstore. Fell in love with the green passages as well as the introductory articles. This is one of the most important publishing events of our time.

Day of the Dead

Now begins the Day of the Dead - the
meeting of the world of spirit and
matter. Actually spirit and matter are
always meeting: that's the normal
human condition. Perhaps, we ignore our
spirit side way too much. That's our
culture of materialism dominating our life
model. It's the False God of only
matter is real. Really now, the most
real is the invisible. Ask the physicist.

No. The real is what can be
measured, felt, and seen.
No. That's māyā, the vale of
illusion, that we measure, see,
and feel.
No. It's so fine, it's the
Void. Everything comes from
nothing.
No. These are all words.
Give them up. Listen to the
Sound of the cosmos.
Make your own music, poetry,
art, words to the beat of the
cosmos. Be a creator. Make love
with your whole being.

Image from Portland Music...

360 Degree Wisdom Circles

I have a vision of "360 degree wisdom circles". Gatherings of friends, neighbors, students, co-workers engaged and arranged into spontaneous circles for up to 15 minutes in silence. The wisdom is in facing each other in silence suspending viewpoints and judgments. Just being present to each other. The wisdom of no-viewpoint. Just being together as-we-are.

I see these circles happening around board rooms, in office spaces, in public parks, shopping centers -- anywhere, anyplace, and anytime. Sometimes standing; sometimes sitting. The form and place not as important as the action of being together as-we-are just as human beings.

Furthermore, I see this practice spreading to friends of friends by personal contact, internet, and occasional media to the population of the entire Earth. No changes asked, only the action of being together as-we-are just as human beings.

We cannot talk our way out of the crisis in our times. So, let's BE our way into heaven on earth.

Walk In Now

On the eve of my middle school
graduation I discovered the practice
of walking-in-now. It was afternoon.
I was feeling a little tired and
depressed. Graduation was soon happenning,
but I had apprehension about the
future - as is likely before going
through a ritual of transformation. Like
any young person, I took to watching
television for relief. On the tube was a
motivational speaker who made a
remarkable recommendation for
moving forward in life. It went like this:

"Imagine a line on the floor.
Stand on one side of the line.
Bring to mind some
aspect of a new life you
want to live out. Imagine that as
you cross that line, your are
actually walking in, stepping into,
your new life right now."

Cappuccino Foam Art by Sean Coutts

One early mid-September morning, I stopped at Peet's Coffee & Tea, next to the Clairmont Hotel in Berkeley. On the counter, I saw a true cappuccino foam work of art by Sean Coutts. This photo taken on my BlackBerry phone.

Tree Moon Window

Tree, moon, and branches.
A window to the
moon among the leaves.

taken with phone camera. 6:30am. sept 6th.

Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn leads a session on Mindfulness at Google (October 11, 2007).


Direct YouTube URL

Paul Hawken's Commencement Address

Paul Hawken's Commencement Address in Portland Posted by Nipun Mehta on May 17, 2009

Paul Hawken is a friend of CharityFocus, renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, founder of Wiser Earth and author of many books -- most recently Blessed Unrest.

Last week, he was presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters by University of Portland, when he delivered this superb commencement address.

Commencement Address to the Class of 2009
University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful." No pressure there.

Let's begin with the startling part. Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don't poison the water, soil, or air, don't let the earth get overcrowded, and don't touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food—but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: You are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring. The earth couldn't afford to send recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here's the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver's description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown -- Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood — and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of
people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, non-governmental organizations, and companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.

The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. We are the only species on the planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time rather than renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can't print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. And dreams come true. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe, which is exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."

So I have two questions for you all: First, can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. You can feel it. It is called life. This is who you are. Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. Our innate nature is to create the conditions that are conducive to life. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television.

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn't stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn't ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

Posted by Nipun Mehta | comments (75) | permalink | more 'Inspiration' |

The Biocentric Universe Theory

NASA/ESA/A. Schaller (for STScI)

The following is from "The Biocentric Universe Theory: Life Creates Time, Space, and the Cosmos Itself". Stem-cell guru Robert Lanza presents a radical new view of the universe and everything in it. by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman. From the May 2009 issue, of Discover Magazine, published online May 1, 2009. For full article go to: Biocentric Universe Theory.
Figuring out the nature of the real world has obsessed scientists and philosophers for millennia. Three hundred years ago, the Irish empiricist George Berkeley contributed a particularly prescient observation: The only thing we can perceive are our perceptions. In other words, consciousness is the matrix upon which the cosmos is apprehended. Color, sound, temperature, and the like exist only as perceptions in our head, not as absolute essences. In the broadest sense, we cannot be sure of an outside universe at all.
For centuries, scientists regarded Berkeley’s argument as a philosophical sideshow and continued to build physical models based on the assumption of a separate universe “out there” into which we have each individually arrived. These models presume the existence of one essential reality that prevails with us or without us. Yet since the 1920s, quantum physics experiments have routinely shown the opposite: Results do depend on whether anyone is observing. This is perhaps most vividly illustrated by the famous two-slit experiment. When someone watches a subatomic particle or a bit of light pass through the slits, the particle behaves like a bullet, passing through one hole or the other. But if no one observes the particle, it exhibits the behavior of a wave that can inhabit all possibilities—including somehow passing through both holes at the same time.
Some of the greatest physicists have described these results as so confounding they are impossible to comprehend fully, beyond the reach of metaphor, visualization, and language itself. But there is another interpretation that makes them sensible. Instead of assuming a reality that predates life and even creates it, we propose a biocentric picture of reality. From this point of view, life—particularly consciousness—creates the universe, and the universe could not exist without us.

2,500 Year-Old Chinese "Eco-Village" Vision

My vision of an environmentally sustainable future culture is often guided by Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, composed about 2500 years ago. Next to the last chapter, he envisions a world of harmony between humans and environment; it is an eco-village, a village harmonized with the environment. It's very simple, and expresses how we can live, let live and be happy:

Imagine a small state with a small population
let there be labor-saving tools
that aren't used
let people consider death
and not move far
let there be boats and carts
but no reason to ride them
let there be armor and weapons
but no reason to employ them
let people return to the use of knots
and be satisfied with their food
and pleased with their clothing
and content with their homes
and happy with their customs
let there be a state so near
people hear its dogs and chickens
and live out their lives
without making a visit

Chapter 80
from Lao-tzu's Taoteching: translated by Red Pine with selected commentaries of the past 2000 years.
Mercury House, San Francisco, 1996.

This old verse suggests a world of people content and satisfied with a simple life. A life free of the trills of travel, acquisition, complex financial transactions, or vain displays of possessions. The happiness is inner, but leads to a simple external life.

Imagine: What would a day in this village be like? How would we work? What would our friendships be like? What would family be like? What would we be? What would we think?

(Image from Earth Heart - Tao Te Ching notecards.)

Green Technology is Not Enough

I just don't see it working. I
mean the idea that we can
resolve the global warming issue
by merely installing green technologies.
Even more important is installation
of green culture (i.e., a renewal
of how we act and live in the
world, not just making energy and
gadgets clean green). Yes, let's
have electric cars, but at the
same time organize and re-value
our lives so as to use cars
80% less. That would be
a real change: that we go
all the way to reversing the
devastation we currently face.
So it's
green culture + green technology
that we need. Now, what can I do today
to make culture greener?

Being of Beings

"God" too often feels like
either a taboo or cliche word
in most public circles.
But, for me "God" is God - a word
that points to the Way,
the Mystery, the Source,
the Sense of Presence of All-that-is.
I feel God by turning my
attention to this moment
here-and-now: the wondrous sense
of there being anything at
all! A miracle that there
is a universe with
consciouseness enough to sense
a Universe. That's amazing!
The mere act of sensing
being-present here-and-now is
the essense of what's usually
called worship. To appreciate
existence is to love God; and God
meets our love the more we
enjoy, praise and love the
presence of being-here-now.

Berkeley Bowl

There I was, after a long period of work,
just having fun walking around
Berkeley Bowl. Seeing so many people
buying vegetables and fruit.
Such a miracle!

Always a Beginning

It's always a beginning.
This means that at every moment we have a certain degree of freedom.
On the other hand, we need ritual, so as to appreciate our freedom.
Cycles of day & night, winter-spring-summer-fall. Work & rest make us safe in a way.
Every moment contains BEGINNING/ENDING.

americ azevedo
2009.05.18 7:40am

Already in heaven

When I was a little boy

My head was in the heavens

I did not know I was

already in heaven

Democracy, Earth Rights and the Next Economy

It is only in recent human history that land has been enclosed and the rights of use given to a few people, as opposed to a whole community. Alanna Hartzok points out that individual equality, even in a democracy, cannot exist without equal rights to the abundance of the earth. She presents solutions that have been successful in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, including restructuring taxes so that land value, a communal asset, is taxed instead of wages or buildings.

Alanna Hartzok's life work is embodied in a vision of economic democracy and environmental sustainability. On October 27, 2001, Ms. Hartzok presented her paper on "Democracy, Earth Rights and the Next Economy" at the Twenty-First Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. You may read the full text at:

http://www.earthrights.net/docs/schumacher.html

Here is the audio recording of her lecture, complete with a moving introduction by the moderator:

Down loadable audio formats.

Economic Depression

A philosophical and spiritual look at the current economic depression (which many only call "a downturn"). What are the possible upsides?

Down loadable audio formats.

As It Is

Recorded shortly after a morning meditation; a worldview expressed shortly after being-at-one for a moment.

Down loadable audio formats.

Tuesday morning at Peet's

Light of consciousness,
an angelic web
holding all with love.

I found my Self
at dawn's light
while awakening.
Soon as I felt it
all the way
down to my feet;
it slipped away

Self is nothing
Not-self is everything
Find the Nothing
Find the Self.
That's all.

All life can be meditation

A few suggestions for meditating right now.

Down loadable audio formats.

As-It-Is Quality of Life

Seeing all-that-is from it's basic "as it is" aspect.
(Recorded outside in the early morning in Berkeley, April 4, 2009)
Down loadable formats For audio stream, hit play button:

Internet Consuming Life

Audio recorded outside after writing and coffee at Peet's Coffee & Tea. It's about the Internet and its power in our life. You can hear background sounds of morning rush hour traffic and the birds!

paper scraps

I write on paper scraps
for absolute pleasure
pen, ink, paper touching
like lovers at night

Social robots "with feelings"

The wall between humans and robots is falling. The more robots act like they feel our presense, the more we feel that they are like us. The first video is of Kismit, an early experimental social robot at M.I.T. who interacts with feeling.

The second video is much more lifelike. Many students say this video is disturbing.

Someday it may become hard to tell the difference between a robot and a person. Will social robots change "human nature"? What are the ethical questions raised? What are the possible applications of such technology? Do we want to limit those applications?

Practice of "Getting Ready"

It's extra hard to "be present" when we are "getting ready". You're trying to get out the door; but, suddently anxiety kicks in - and a thousand little details get in the way of getting out. You run around trying to do this and that - while the clock is ticking and the heart beats faster. Getting ready wears you down. What to do?

We could make "getting ready" a practice like meditation practice. Real meditation is to be here ever more deeply; but, it helps to use a feedback system which is meditation practice. It's like dancing. Practicing dancing is not dancing; or, to take another example, practicing thinking is not thinking. Thinking is free and wild; so is dancing when it's dancing. The reason we practice dancing or thinking (using logic, for example) is to perfect certain point techniques or competencies.

We can apply "practice" to getting ready to go out the door. Be aware of "getting ready" and pay attention. Stay present, letting go of the forward rushing feeling that all too often grips us; notice that feeling, stop, breathe, and let go; then proceed again with going out the door. Someday, we just go out the door. There will be no sense of getting ready; just movements. No practice at all! Free and easy it will be.

Victory Garden

Walking by a vacant lot (in front of Evans Hall) on a late rainy afternoon at the UC Berkeley campus; surprised and pleased to find a student initiated victory garden - to grow food for the campus community. Yes, we can change the world one plot of earth at time.

Late aging

Late aging is a slow bit by bit death; nature's way of giving us time to adjust to the inevitable.

Watch days go by

Watch days go by
Watch life go by - for a while
everyday. That is meditation, too.

In the direct experience of time passing by
We glimpse the impermanence of
everything that we love and hate.
This is the high perspective.

Then plunge into action
un-moved by results, goals, or ends.

It's what is.

thoughts flowing

thoughts flowing
like a river
of honey-lightening

going forward
going no where
but home to God

Don't talk

Be quite. Don't talk. Walk around, being with people while not talking. You'll be in your life, not in your head lost in words. A gift you become to all around.

Slow Journey

A slow journey is the fastest way to the present.

Always today

There's only one day. It's always today!

Every yesterday was "a today";
every tomorrow will be "a today".
It's always today!

The quality of today is
like yesterday, like tomorrow.
Therefore, focus on today.
This moment creates today. So,
focus into this moment -
the infinitesimal moment-point
called eternity.

Lecture hall

105 Stanley Hall - a wonderful, new, fresh lecture hall on campus. During the past eight years, I used large lecture halls for teaching "Introduction to Computers"; now it's meditation.

Obama Meets With Dangerous World Leader Without Preconditions

Obama Meets With Dangerous World Leader Without Preconditions

Obama has worldwide support

Ocean of Love

At age two
I lost my way

The next 30 years
a journey back to
the source of Light
the river of Life

The next 30 years
a journey back out
into the marketplace
the Ocean of Love

More Obama pumpkins

Two more mobile pictures of Obama pumpkins. I'm amazed by all the art this campaign has produced!

Obama pumpkin carving

An Obama Halloween pumpkin in Berkeley.
The outline of the pumpkin itself does not show in
mobile phone photo.

Drops of rain

Drops of rain
upon the windowpane

Light of dawn
becoming radiant grayness

World's awake
while reality sleeps

"I" don't exist

'I' don't exist
I'm a construct; made of parts -
atoms, quarks, electrons, forces
Not whole

Still, there's something,
a no-thing
That's here too
It's of another order
Absolutely real, existing always
I want to be THAT.

Idea of happiness

Give up the "idea of happiness" in order to be happy.

Holding to an "idea of happiness" blocks happiness. For happiness is. If happiness strictly depends on this or that, then we are not free. The greatest discovery is that happiness is already within us; we find happiness when we uncover it.

Of course we take joy and confort in our home, family, friends, and lovely things we acquire along the way. But, that which is given to us will be eventually taken away.

There is another dimension of life; call it the absolute, which just is. The ancients called it "Atman" - the imperishable soul that is a spark of the universal Brahman (or God infinite) We are THAT as well as our relative fleeting life. Jesus may have been speaking of THAT when he talked of "Life more abundant".

"I" am the hollow flute

"I" am empty space,
like a hollow flute
Light, air passes
through "me"

Vibrating with Universe
Getting out of the way,
"we" become everything;
we are no-thing