Sitting Around Doing Nothing but Breathing...

I enjoy meditating. Personally I wonder what would have become of my life if I hadn’t discovered it at the time I did. Lots of people use meditation for a variety of reasons, as an alternative to getting high is among them....

From what I could tell, the two main reasons to meditate can be loosely categorized as:

1. Health
2. Happiness

And with good reason; meditation is well and truly proven to be excellent at improving your health and helping you to feel happier. I myself have more than once used meditation to help me to focus become aware of the many shortcomings in my health, and when the occasional depressive thought rears its head. 

Now – health and happiness are two ducky categories for the reasons people meditate, but they are not very specific. I want to know in closer detail, why people “sit and do nothing”.

Here are some of my guesses, maybe you have some more, if so please add them to the comments section:

Reasons To Meditate

• Mental Clarity
• Improves Physiological Health
• Facilitates Healing
• Decreased (effects of) Stress and Anxiety
• Increased Happiness and General Feelings of Well-Being
• Lowers High Blood Pressure
• Increases Energy and Vigor
• Increased Creativity
• Increased Ability to Focus
• Supports efficient post-operative recovery
• Increases serotonin production, which affects your mood (low-levels can cause depression)
• Helpful for those suffering from insomnia
• Helps Eliminate Headaches
• Can Help You Overcome Addictions
• Can bring on blissful “Cosmic High” type experiences
• Helps manage symptoms of Pre-Menstrual Syndrome
• Greater Self-Knowledge
• Can help you identify your life purpose or ‘calling’
• Sharper Intuition
• Spiritual insight and enlightenment

A couple of these really speak to me, not the least of which is the spiritual insight and enlightenment. That doesn't mean moving off to some exotic spiritual place where you will never feel pain, have lots of money and everything will be hunky dory...

it means that you start to recognize that life is here, and life is now. And to recognize along with the here and how, the wisdom of living today in a way you find satisfying and enjoyable. Why is that so hard for some people? Apparently that is the subject for another post...

I'd like to share this cool story...

This is a Good Samaritan story that revolves around the New York September 11 tragedy. It’s a true and amazing reminder of the power of love and forgiveness – or of fate at the least.


A friend's  Grandmother, 80, is such a charming lady. She’s from Dublin, as is his Grandfather, and both going strong. They moved to Australia in the late ’60s but they both still have their wonderful Irish brogue and their cheeky sense of humour.

Being of an Irish Catholic family, and the era being as it were, my friend's Grandfather was blessed with 12 brothers and sisters. And Ireland being what it was then, most of them left for foreign shores. Some of them made it to New York.

Now it was one of this brood, one of the Grandfather’s sisters, that had a husband once, with whom she had children, but at some point they separated or divorced. For what reason I am not sure, but apparently he did the wrong thing by her and the family, and was out on his ear.

As it happened, or as I was told anyway, one day in 2001, many years after their separation and consequent estrangement, she stumbled across her ex-husband lying in the street, down-and-out. Since they had parted ways he had fallen on hard times and become a homeless man and very much in poor health too.

Despite his former failures as a husband and father to her children, the good woman took pity on the man and paid for him to go to hospital (that is not a small mitzva!).

There he was looked after. But it was too late: the man was was dying.

By now their children, who had lost contact with their father before he was rediscovered, were adults. Their son was supposed to go to work but as his newly unearthed father was ill, he took the day off to visit his Dad in hospital.

Unfortunately the old man died that day – but his wasted life and his passing were not in vain.

You see – his son, the very same that visited him in the hospital the day he died, worked in one of the Twin Towers.

And if that good woman, the old man’s former wife, had not taken pity on the man who had done her and the children wrong so many years before – if she had not forgiven him his failings – her own son would most likely have died that day when the airplanes struck the towers.

Makes you think doesn’t it?

What repercussions will our actions have?

In my opinion, the story can be taken on two levels:

One: do the right thing by others because Karma can be a … beautiful thing.

Two: before you beat yourself up for being a loser human being, consider that your (apparently) imperfect life, with all its failings and weaknesses, may in fact exist as part of some divine plan for the better.

Maybe – just MAYBE – the reason we consistently screw up is so that somebody else may live on to kick awesome butt. Isn't that a strange idea?

But Maybe…

The Cry of the Catholic Church

My road to (and from) catholicism is a complicated one - I remember as a child seeing the kids at St. Joseph's Catholic school in Demarest NJ, across the street from my own public elementary school dressed in their uniforms. And on special days, the girls in their white communion dresses, looking like little brides. We were Methodist/Baptist, sort of... and while occasionally my mother would take my sisters and I to church, it was never a regular thing. But I loved the catholic church - built sometime in the 50's, with Terrazzo floors and banks of little flickering candles. I would go over there and sit for hours at a time after school, or on weekends when nothing else was going on.

Perhaps odd behavior for an eight year old. And then I would play Mass, getting the little dressing stool in my great-grandmother's bedroom set up as an alter, and going through the whole rubric of the Mass with the little missal I appropriated from the church. I had never even been to a Mass.

My first time at a real Mass was when I was nine, and my friend John Maxwell killed himself because his dad wanted him to get his hair cut. Things like that happened in the 60's. By the time I was thirteen, I was already playing fairly serious organ music (and blessed to be able to study with the great concert organist Dr. Clair Coci, who lived in my town in New Jersey...) - I started playing the organ in church, first a black Baptist church my dad set me up with, and later St. John's Catholic church in Bergenfield, NJ. I could walk there in 20 minutes from our house.

Back then I didn't really understand the theology, nor did I know anything about the politics or the history of the church. I only knew that I loved the smells, the bells and the sense of quiet peace that pervaded all the churches I visited. I sensed even then that it was a place where we encountered thin spaces (thanks to Dr. Marcus Borg for the term) or those spaces where the veil between our world and the next world was at its thinnest, so we might be able to glimpse a glimmer of the other side.

(This is a bit off topic, but I have come to realize that the next world doesn't have to mean where we go when we're finished with this one, as much as it might be compared to the next station on the FM dial - all happening simultaneously, but we're generally tuned in only to one...)

I converted when I was 21, my sponsor was Fr. Daniel Berrigan, the well known Jesuit peace activist (a long story). After reading Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, I knew then that I wanted to be a monk. Telescope a little more than ten years and that's exactly what I found myself doing. A benedictine postulant at Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon.

It didn't take too long to discover that it wasn't the life for me. The abbey knew it much sooner than I did. I left and after a little time at the Seminary studying as a diocesan seminarian - I resumed a rather non-monastic life in Portland. I realized during that time of monastic seclusion (I'm being sarcastic - monks are some of the busiest people I know) that my faith wasn't based on the mythology other people had - did Jesus really die and rise again (not a chance), or was he taken into heaven by crane? (Ummm...don't think so on that one either either), is he the one and only 'Son of God' (no more than I am) - so those stories didn't do anything for me. But I began to get the idea (again thanks to Dr. Borg, who taught at the seminary one year while I was there- and from Fr. Andrew Greeley's great adult Catechism, The Great Mysteries) that there was much more.

OK - I'll get to the point. Someone asked how people could still believe after scandal upon scandal rocked the church. Now it reaches to the pope and associates. First, it's not a question of belief. It's just a comfortable space where little is demanded of you, and there is a familiarity, an "at homeness" that a lot of people have. Second, there is a sense among a lot of catholics that there is something more to the church than the Vatican and its bumbling, or the absurd pronouncements they make from time to time on gays, contraception and all manner of things they simply don't have the moral authority to talk about. Not a lot of regular people read that stuff, or give a whit about it.

Using an integral model - I think it's a fluctuation between Magenta and Amber - hoping that something out of it is true, while sensing all the time that it isn't - at least true in any literal sense. Being a basically Orange to Teal person - I don't really care about the church in the same way. I am sorry for their troubles, just as I would be for anyone, but troubles come and you're not defined by what they are, as much as you are defined by what you do about them.

So, this is an opportunity for the church...will they take it and make something positive, or sweep it? It remains to be seen.

Sad for the School Kids in Texas

Driving to work the other day, with the top down in the old Saab 900, the sun was so bright that I had to reach for the Oakleys.  The glare was such that without aid to filter out certain rays, my eyes were automatically squinting as a protection mechanism.

Our body has a number of similar filtering systems in place.

The mouth will immediately spit something out that is unbearably hot, the nose has little hairs to filter out unwanted particles, the skin experiences pain as a warning signal when exposed to that which is harmful and our ears filter out sounds in certain ranges. Without any conscious effort on our part, the body is constantly attempting to filter out that which is harmful or toxic.

Mind chatter is a mental filter which can often block out an experience. The brain, too, often filters out trauma, only allowing it to resurface at a time when the individual is able to deal with it. Very convenient and handy feature of our human system 2.02.

At the same time, on a subconscious level, our egos filter our experience, cultures have membership filters, and all these filters give rise to perspectives and worldviews which may keep us limited and “small”. We see things as we want them to be or as we are socially conditioned to see them.  Life is viewed through these filters and accepted in this form as the only reality.

Technology is full of filters. For example, when you go onto a website to purchase a book, there are filters in place which note where you are from, what books you have purchased before and what subjects you have shown an interest in. These filters enable the site to recommend similar books and thus have the power to influence your buying.

Until we become aware of them - an analogy these days would be taking off our 3D glasses as we exit the movie theatre - these filters remain in the subconscious, affecting how we feel about things and giving rise to various emotions.

Imagined boundaries separate us from others and from ourselves.

“Boundary” has up until now perhaps been the most appropriate word to discuss the imagined separations that need to be overcome as growth takes place, barriers are broken down and more and more of the Universe is included in one’s embrace.

I have a suspicion though that, with the current emphasis being placed on relationships and processes as the collective “we” comes to the fore our focus will change from an awareness of “boundary” issues to an awareness of “filter”. 

Time and distance are no longer barriers to communication. Space is becoming more spacious as it were. At the same time, space is becoming smaller as we have friends instantly connected virtually anywhere in the world. (Much of the work I do is with people in Prague, Czech Republic…and it’s almost like they’re here…)

Information is easily accessible. Almost overwhelmingly so, at least in my case. What news RSS feed to check first? I really have to devote some effort to managing it all. Our current technology has ushered in a time where more than ever before we are conscious of the need to filter out certain information if our balance is to be maintained. So much is coming at us that one cannot possibly click on every link, listen to every video or read every article. There is so much one can “tune into” that discernment is necessary if one is to listen properly and not be all over the place. Without this discernment, information overload is difficult to avoid.

Open sharing is on the increase, in ways people had not really experienced before. Yesterday there was a fascinating article on the psychology of social networking that I reposted on my FaceBook page.   Information has been set free as it were, except in certain countries where social media is being threatened by the blocks or filters on certain websites.

Technology is in a sense is making us reconcile what before we might have considered total opposites. Cultures are meeting and different perspectives on the same topic are becoming readily available. Another way of putting this is that we’re connecting. That’s a very powerful tool we can use to change and expand our filters.

Will Wright, the Sims creator writes, “If you actually look at the amount of data coming in through all your senses, there’s something like 100 million bits of information coming in every second through your visual system and another 10 million bits coming through your auditory system and another one million bits coming through your tactile system.”

There is a cry going out for an effective filtering tool, similar to what the News page on FaceBook tries to do - a means to cope with the stresses of sensory overload, information overload and even emotional overload.

At the same time we need to open ourselves to be more without filters. The wonderful paradox is that both these processes need to be happening at the same time!

The time has come for filters to be consciously chosen.

Whereas technology has removed many of the filters put there without our doing, we now have to put our own filters in place to protect ourselves and expose ourselves.  That is the marvelous two way function of a filter. It allows some things entry while preventing others things from getting through.

We have to learn how to establish effective, healty filters. I was shocked (or at least really surprised) at a story on Google News today about a new movement to the Far Left in Texas schools. The only effective work I can do with filters, requires that I know all, or at least as many as possible, of my options and evaluate which ones work best for me. Cultural indoctrination doesn’t work, no matter what the political bent it comes from

There is also a great interest being shown of late in mindfulness as a tool to enable one to be present without filters so that necessary filters can be put in place.

In a sense we have “come full circle”, or let us rather say, we have spiraled above where we started. In a sense we are in another Eden where once again the wisdom of the serpent is required to offer us knowledge of ourselves and of the particular nature of what we filter as good or evil. 

Language limits. In its present form it is very suited to linear, three dimensionality. Nouns dominate our current sentence structure with the duality of subject and object. You might be amazed how much this structure effects our worldview of how things “are”.

As many perspectives are simultaneously held and moved beyond, and subject and object begin to be more commonly recognized as being two halves of a common, connected or - sensed as being one, verbs are often more appropriate ways of expressing the reality being experienced. 

In which case instead of “filters”, “filtering” will become perhaps the apt term. Not all that different than “Friending” on FaceBook. I’m only sad that in so many schools across the nation, and now Texas – will more closely and ideologically regulate the filters used by young people to see the amazing world at large. The world just got smaller in Texas. 

Inviting a Vampire Across the Threshold

I am a fan of vampires. The other night FearNet showed Dracula yet again. Couldn't help but watch. I like vampires - I suspect they would like me (think "all you can eat buffet!") but deep down there is a more than casual attraction.

I'm amazed how few people really understand the horror of being undead. The worst part of being a vampire isn't existing on blood donations, or never seeing the sun, or sleeping in a casket (they even sell those at COSTCO now). The worst, most horrifying part of vampirism  is the living forever part. Immortality. Never being able to have non-vampire friends without knowing that you'll outlive them, It's a little like the dark side of pet ownership. You're probably going to last longer than your dog. That's a really tragic thing.

It's funny to me because we seek immortality in so many ways. Our religious institutions (at least many of the Western Christian ones) are based around our hope for "Life Eternal", but that hope assumes that our loved ones will be joining us. What fun would it be by ourselves? In fact, much of our religious mythology revolves around going to heaven to hang out forever with Jesus and our buds...Doesn't that sound ducky?

The scary part of this is that it doesn't seem especially well thought out, since we're so evolutionary in our relationships - and who we love to hang with now, might not be who we'll love to hang with later. Life is dynamic, not static and we change. A lot. Maybe it will be more of a Facebook Friends kind of thing, just a lot of people we sort of like and are cool with, but not in (for the most part) committed relationships with.

(It does not escape me the whole Jesus and drinking blood thing...certainly an archetype for vampiric behavior - but I'll save that for another time).

My reflection for today wasn't so much about the living forever part of being a vampire, as the part of the legend that says a vampire can't enter your residence without being invited. You have to ask them in, for them to be able to cross the threshold. In Dracula, the count says, "Enter freely of your own will...", and the same formula must be used with him.

That struck home in how we also invite evil in - we open ourselves to darkness. It doesn't just come through the window, a mist, a bat or shadows. It must be asked. There must be intention on our part, and a "please some in" thrown somewhere in there. The ways that we invite evil (or the many degrees we might associate with it, like scarcity, meanness, selfishness, negativity, etc., etc.) in varies from person to person - but it always comes. Sometimes cloaked in doubt, right arm drawn up so all you can see are the eyes intensely gazing and focused - looking at you with that piercing stare that says, "You can't hide from me, I know who you are..."

And if we don't invite it in? If we're conscious enough to simply say, "No thanks, I gave at the office..." and slam the door. Evil moves on. That simple. We don't have to feel guilty because we weren't hospitable - there are plenty of other thresholds to be invited across. We can go on and recognize that the power of framing evil is our own power, and within our own realm of controlling our life. The vampires outside, waiting, watching, hoping that we'll reveal a nice juicy vein - will have to drain someone else.

Sometimes, just saying "no thanks" is better than cloves of garlic, or the glimmer of a tarnished silver crucifix. Sometimes, just saying "no thanks" is all that's really needed.

The Forward Sloping Chair

Wanted to get a new office chair - was using what had been basically a secretarial chair and decided it was time for an upgrade. COSTCO had a nice one for around $200. Even though I use it all the time, I couldn't justify $200 for a chair...Where to turn...

Craigslist, of course - and low and behold, there it was. MY new chair - for $20 at an office doing some remodeling. Went this morning, picked it up - black leather great condition - had the $20. Was going to put the top down on the Saab and put it in the back (I transported a large upside down buddha that way once, why not an office chair). It fit nicely with part hanging out the truck.

Wrestled it upstairs, took a quick damp rag to the leather - and went about adjusting the seat controls. I like my chairs higher than most people, but this seemed to work fine in terms of setting.

Taking the "sit test..." I noticed that the seat sloped forward. More than I was comfortable with. No obvious adjustment for that - so went online for instructions on how to fix. What I learned fascinated me. The forward slope of a chair seat is actually the way most are designed because it's better for you. I'll spare you the "how it's better.." but sufficient to say, better.

So, in reflection - I made the obvious leap to how things that are better for you are also occasionally uncomfortable. At least at first, until you get used to it. And more...how the forward slope of the chair requires that you lean into whatever it is you are doing. After thinking about it a while, I kind of like leaning into things. I know there are plenty of people who tilt back when when it comes to change, or to work. But I like to lean into it...So, today I'm OK with my new (old) chair and hope that we can have a few more years together.  The parable of the office chair - well, there you have it.

Welcome to my Blog

The Etymological Dictionary defines an iconoclast is a “breaker or destroyer of images” from the Late Greek word eikonoklastes. Later, an iconoclast was viewed as “one who attacks orthodox beliefs or institutions.” Today, iconoclasts like to think we can do things that others say can’t be done, because we perceive things differently than other people. This difference in perception plays out in the initial stages of an idea, in how we manage our fears, and in our experience of the world as a whole. 


We're not bound by the conventions of others, nor to we particularly like to follow the rules set out. It's not that we're all law-breakers and rebels, but more like we're hearing an FM station while much of the world is tuned to AM. 


Solomon Asch, Warren Buffett, Nolan Bushnell, Dale Chihuly, Ray Croc, Walt Disney, David Dreman, Richard Feynman, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, Jr., Paul Lauterbur, Jim Lavoi, Stanley Milgram, Florence Nightingale, Branch Rickey, Burt Rutan, and Jonas Salk all fit the category of "iconoclast". 


The iconoclast doesn’t literally see things differently than other people. More precisely, we perceive things differently. There are several different routes to forcing the brain out of its lazy mode of perception, but the theme linking these methods depends on the element of surprise. The brain must be provided with something that it has never processed before to force it out of predictable perceptions. Iconoclasts are adepts at creating novel perceptions. 


There are lots of correlations to this dynamic in life - the one that comes to mind most quickly is the "chaos theory" of the late Baron Prigogine, "Once an organism experiences chaos or disorder as a means of dismantling itself; the organism always reassembles itself into a more evolved and expanded structure." 


Someone else explains that when something difficult, painful or challenging happens, it is wise to look to see what that situation makes possible that would not have otherwise been possible. "Like a new adventure, a closer friendship, or chocolate in your peanut butter." My life has been a testament to this dynamic - taking the challenging and reframing, recognizing that what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.