Going to Pieces

Occasionally in a man's travels he comes upon a circumstance or subject that causes him to go, hmmmm.  He sees things in a different manner and experiences things in a different way.  The occasional public worker that retires and moves to a remote island floating around the equator can experience the paings and yearnings of the spiritual journey.  I'm thinking of Ernest Hemingway, who lived off the Cuban shores writing great works and experiencing the world from a certain perspective.  He had all sorts of mindfulness and sometimes mindlessness to share with the masses, which he wrote for all of us to read.  "Old Man and the Sea," travel with me as I paddle my ancient canoe across the briny blue.  Now I know he didn't write this quite the way your reading it, but I'm taking an artists privilege and re-writing to fit my own needs.  This is part of the travel.  And if we travel our travel in a certain way we may come to that dingy point where our realities fade.  This is usually caused by to much solitude.  As Ernest lived, primarily alone with his thoughts and experiences he became disentangled with the self and began to go to pieces.  Going to pieces is the after effect of to much time alone and to much time to think. I think therefore I am, and I am therefore I think, therefore I think I am...  You see, going to pieces.  So, if your ever of the urge to travel south and ponder the existence of the universe on an island alone with your own thoughts and experiences just remember Ernest Hemingway, what ever happened to him?

Peace and Balance,

John

Meditation

The mind travels from thought to thought randomly.  We think in intervals that bounce from one memory to the next.  Focus on one thought at a time is an act of actually looking at that thought.  Focusing on anything is actually looking at the object clearly, the mind seeing the object and rationalizing that object.  Random thoughts can be cleared through the practice of focus.   Za Zen meditation teaches the mind to look at one thought at a time clearing the path for clear interpretation.  Practice is the key.  Sit and breath in the nose and out the mouth, count up from one to ten and back down again focusing only on the breath, in the nose and out the mouth.  This is the beginning of Zen meditation. 

Peace and Balance,
John

Communing

When groups of people gather together to share ideas and teachings it is said they are communicating.  Communication is an essential part of the human experience.  If we live to long without some sort of interaction with other people we slowly loose the ability to rationally communicate our feelings, needs, and wants to those other people.  I'm thinking of the countless homeless living on our city streets who have lost the ability to have a rational conversation with another person.  To them the world has become a closed circuit of survival and anyone that enters that space is a threat to their personal safety.  The world has become focused to that small space.  Essentially that person needs to find him/herself in order to regain a larger community.  They need to find sanity in their irrational world.

 A Zen master sits upon a rock and lifts a flower high for his followers to see.  He says nothing only looks upon the crowd watching and smiles.  Out of the possible many people in the area only one of his students  understood, bowing slightly, smiling back, and getting up leaving the room.  The master then puts down the flower and says, "Of course."  Both of these men has understood and in a brief moment communicated that understanding in the face of the irrational.  They have eliminated the illusion. 

Christ fed the masses many loaves of bread, fish and wine that he transfigured from a small basket of food.  This is called Communion, communication of the higher order.  He fed the many illuminating the irrational from their sight. 

Communing in a higher order illumination the illusion, removing the Maya.  The goals of proper communion.

Peace and Balance,
John

Traveling through Time

Memory is a funny thing.  It's not linear.  We remember things in random chunks at different times in our histories.  You might have a memory of an event from childhood in one moment then in the next you'll have a memory from adulthood.  The two memories may or may not be related, however the two different time jumps in a matter of moments proves memory is not  linear.  Traveling throughout time is like remembering events in random order.  We see an event that might have happened in 1947 and then a similar event ten years later.  A fraction of time has passed from one moment to the next, ten years in memory.  Time travel may or may not be a process of gaining memories.  Just a thought. 

Peace and Balance,
John

Giving Thanks

I am a Metis man, a mix blood American Indian living in Northern New England with a Mix blood wife amongst the Abenaki celebrating today's holiday, Thanksgiving.  The Abenaki are directly related to the folks that walked out on the beach and greeted the poor souls landing on the rock called Plymouth by saying, "Hello" in clear happy English.  I understand that the Pilgrims must have been just a tad confused and wondered just what the hell was going on.  After all here where some of the most regal people in the world walking out and greeting them in their own language.  They must have been dumbstruck.  Being a mixed up mutt sort of fellow, I can relate to the possible thoughts of the two braves that walked out and greeted them, "These people are crazy, this land is poison, people die here."  But, hey they helped the folks survive non the less and we celebrate the day for the food.  So, I am grateful.  I am Thankful most of all for my wife Romona, that tolerates me and loves me more than any other person ever has.  I am thankful that I'm still working in this time of upheaval.  And, I am thankful I'm alive.  So to all of you... Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy each other and live fully the day.

Peace and Balance,
John

Holistic Health

Holistic Health is a matter of choice. We make choices that affect us physically that effect us emotionally. When our physical body is in balance with our emotional make up we will become balanced spiritually. The choice of taking steps to become more in balance lies within us all. We have the power to change ourselves into any form of us we focus upon. We occasionally slide back abit into old patterns, this is human nature, but we can maintain the image and our self perception through a little work and diligence. It is all up to us. I make my choice and it affects me. I am that I am.

Peace and Balance,

John

Now and Zen

Now and Zen, what am I getting at? Now is right where your sitting, where your standing, sensing, and how your viewing the world that revolves around you. Now is your place in the universe. It is a constant and ever present partner in your existence. Zen is how you perceive your Now. Zen is your reflection on the present and your ideas of what the present is or is not. The words, "Be here Now" are a Zen Koan describing your attempt at rationalizing the relationship between you and your Now. These together are Zen. Zen is the tenth Kanji in a nine Kanji line that says, "I Am"

This is Now and Zen.

Peace and Balance,

John