Highlights of the March 2017 Sesshin

The day before:  Pierre Marquette Old Stories Visited

Overture:  The Gatha of Atonement

All Harmful Karma ever committed by me since of old
On account of beginingless greed anger and ignorance
Born of body mouth and thought
I now atone for it all

The Ear worms: Bruno Mars 24 Karat Magic, Pitbull Fireball, The Who, Don't let go of the Coat, Pete Townsend, Stop Hurting People (this has to be read with an accent of irony):

A love born once must soon be born again
A spark that burned, then died, leaving cinders to be fanned
By the wind and thrown to flame;
Flames like tongues impassioned in a moments burst.
Tell me friend - why do you stand aloof from your own heart?
The truth confronts you - the truth confronts you as the sea
Crushing without detail,
Impassioned and detached,
Killing with love and power in God's Name.
Love conquers poses. Love smashes stances. Love crushes angles
Into black. So you, without question, know your first love
Is your last. And you, will never - never - Love again
I always wished to walk with her into restaurants, (A clammy tale).
To be seen beside her at the public bar footrail.
I always wanted to be matched with her -
Yet her beauty was so different to mine.
My "beauty" needs an understanding, a knowledge of what I am.
Hers is enough. Earned through eons; for that is what true beauty is -
Time's gift to perfect humility.

The Koans:

There is no separation.  The manifestation of awareness is what you see touch taste hear smell.   There is nothing but the manifestation of awareness.  The manifestation of awareness is nothing.

The Practices:

(1) When you hear someone talk, the realization that it is me talking.  Again, there is no separation. There is only the manifestation of awareness; (2) the textures of thoughts, hard soft flowing accompanied by image, not accompanied by image.

The Channeling:

More or less evoking the spirit of Tony Y.  For obvious reasons.   The reply:  "You have screwed the pooch, you are on your own here, no guidance is available."

The Aftermath:

The daughters learn about big data and the importance of statistics from my new best friend amid cauldrons of chili.

You Must Complete the Following Test to Advance

You have five minutes to answer the following questions.   Please make sure you fill in ovals completely with a number 2 pencil.

Question 1:  (silence)

Here are your choices for answers:

a.  We created the concept of space to put distance between ourselves and everything around us.  If there is no space, there is no separation.  

b.  We created the concept of time to prevent everything from happening at once.  If there is no time, everything happens simultaneously without any separation.

c.  We created the concept of a self, because we don't really pay attention.  If did pay attention, there is nothing but the constant evaporation and condensation of thoughts, sounds, images and sensations. If there is no self, there is no separation.                                                                                                                                                
d.  all the above.  If there is no space, time, or self, we have nothing and everything simultaneously.  And of course, we have always had them all anyway, whether we wanted them or not.  

Question #2:  You are now in a lucid dream.  You can do anything you really want.  You are omnipotent.  What do you do?

But putting aside that question for the time being, a women appears who claims the ability to smell consciousness.   First, she thinks you smell good, which is comforting.   But then you begin to suspect that she is more interested in you as a rhetorical question.   As soon as she has her answer, you can tell her attention begins to wander. 

She remarks as she fades away that she thinks you are easy, but not like a Sunday morning.  How do you react?

Question 3:  Given that social media increases episodic cognition, does it also increase abstract thought? 

Question 4:  Can any amount of self-improvement compensate for lack of self-acceptance?  

Question 5:  if Trump turns out to have dementia, how would we know?

The Sea Refuses No River

I remember being richer than a king
The minutes of the day were golden
I recall that when the joint passed round
My body felt a little colder
But now I'm like a sewer channel - running lime and scag
Let me get at the master panel - let me at my stack

The sea refuses no river
And right now this river's banks are blown
The sea refuses no river
Whether stinking and rank
Or red from the tank
Whether pure as a spring
There's no damned thing stops the poem
The sea refuses no river
And this river is homeward flowing

I have seen a trace of strain
In other's eyes not spoken
I must admit that I enjoyed their pain
But this time it's me that's broken
I demand for you and His
This must be the time
When we decide what freedom is
Turn water into wine

For the sea refuses no river
We're polluted now but in our hearts still clean
The sea refuses no river
We tried not to age
But time had it's rage
We're washed over stones
From babes into clones of the mean
The sea won't refuse this muddy river
Nor deny the sulfurous stream

There was a fool in a dressing robe
Riding out the twilight hour
Lonely and cold in an empty home
Trying to assess his power
But now he's like a stream in flood
Swollen by the storm
He doesn't care if he sheds his blood
Let him be reborn

For the sea refuses no river
Remember that when the beggar buys a round
The sea refuses no river
And rain fills the gutters
No time for stutters
This is our chance
To sing and to dance and to clown
The sea refuses no river
And rivers were sprung to drown

The sea refuses no river
No pecking code respected for the damned
The sea refuses no river
Whether starving or ill
Or strung on some pill
Just ''cause you own the land
There's no unique hand plugs the dam
The sea refuses no river
And the river is where I am

The river is where I am

Words and Music by Pete Townsend. 

Words and Music by Pete Townsend.   As are these:


Words and Music by Pete Townshend  

I Never Met the Russian Ambassador; But he Might Have Met Me

The Following is Most Pleasingly Experienced When Read or Thought Aloud with the Voice of the John Cleese or the Nameless or Something in Between.

I will now make the following statement:  which will be the statement that I will be making now.

As a as a precursor to the statement that will be read by me let me first pay proper due and honor to our glorious leader.   Our leader is glorious and aptly named and as such, deserving of the praise which I now bestow upon him.

Now that my adoration of the glorious leader has concluded, I will now commence with the second part of the statement which is the main body of the statement that will be read by me following the tribute to the glorious leader.

The main body of my intended statement forcefully and unequivocally states that I, the party of the first part, have at no time met, rendezvoused or otherwise contacted or abutted the party of the second part which will be heretofore noted and designated as the Russian Ambassador.   It goes without saying by me or anyone else like or resembling me, having never met said Russian Ambassador, that he shall be nameless because having never met him it would be most inappropriate of me as the party of the first part to have knowledge of the party of the second part's name having had no previous occasion to ask him what moniker he would prefer to be known by if indeed I were to ask him such a question, thus and so.

This concludes the main body of the intended statement which I did intend to give.  Now I realize there may be those who doubt the veracity of my statement, especially if they be actual witness to a meeting between me, the party of the first part and the Russian Ambassador which I have heretofore denied.  To these witnesses, let me first say that you are wrong and a purveyor of the fake news of the most rank kind.

To those other witnesses now having come forward with irrefutable digitally transcribed video and audio recordings of the actual meeting between myself and the Russian Ambassador, even though I have not heard or seen such recordings, and indeed you have not released said recordings yet, that I will categorically deny the veracity of such recordings and label them as fraudulent and that the lab which will review said recordings when they are released will arrive at the same conclusion because that is what I will pay them to say.

And now for something completely different:

A letter to the Louver.

Dear Louver,

I had the pleasure of spending a most agreeable afternoon with your former husband Henri (the Frenchman) on one of the more remote wooded sanctuary islands in my dream last night.  He showed me the photo of your daughter Hermise (who looks just like you by the way) along with his six other daughters.

I had wanted to ask him what caused your separation from him, but I stopped any potential inquiry in that direction when I could tell that his countenance became wistful and his eyes misted up.   As if reading my unspoken thoughts, he expressed remorse about some decision years ago where you intended years ago to take a year off work, such intention thwarted by some undisclosed external means.

Our most agreeable conversation was then interrupted by the most unpleasant of circumstances which to some extent is the unpleasant circumstance always lurking in these dark days.  Yes, our amiable conversation ended when we saw the large shadow of the Dar-Angel circling in the distance.

Though at some level, my thoughts knew that the Dar-Angel could not traverse the small distance between the mainland and the sanctuary island, I could not shake the memories of the endless battles and assimilations involving the Dar-Angels of the past.  I could still feel their eerie touch and felt the confusion, despair, and inability to separate between what was taken over and what was left of my consciousness.   It was little conciliation that I went down to the underground shelter and surveyed the ever dwindling, yet still plentiful stockpile of fine french wines.

Corporate Mindfulness

 Corporate America’s newest “hack” for productivity, creativity, and wellness borrows from the ancient wisdom traditions of meditation and mindfulness.

In his recent book “Mindful Work,” David Gelles, a business reporter for the New York Times, describes how corporations as diverse as Google, Ford, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, Target, Intel, Aetna and Davos have established corporate mindfulness programs. Last year, Aetna estimated that its mindfulness program saved $2000.00 per employee in healthcare costs, and had similar benefits for productivity. Employees trained in meditation demonstrate improved concentration, exhibit less stress, and are more creative.

What is the secret behind mindfulness? It’s part of the developing science behind neuroplasticity and how altering daily habits of behavior including meditation can impact the function, structure, neurochemical and electrical oscillations in the brain. Research subjects who undergo studies while meditating (e.g. fMRI) have demonstrated increased activity in areas of the brain associated with decreased stress and anxiety and increased focus and problem solving - - all useful traits at work.

Mindfulness practices have also been shown to literally change the nature of your brain waves as measured by an EEG (electroencephalography). Most of the time, our day to day brains exhibit Beta waves (12-30 Hz). Beta waves are relatively fast waves associated with cognitive and other tasks, but can be associated with repetitive thinking patterns and anxiety. By contrast, studies have shown meditators can exhibit slower brain waves form such as Alpha (8-12 Hz) and even slower Theta (3-8Hz).

When alpha waves are prominent in the brain, the mind is typically in a state of relaxed awareness devoid of distracting thoughts. This state is consistent with the practice of mindfulness which involves the moment by moment centering of one's attention to what is arising in the present moment. Studies have associated the presence of alpha waves with creative states and reduced stress.

One of the most interesting areas of research is into the area of “flow states.” Flow states have been described as an “optimal state of consciousness” where we perform at our best. When our attention becomes “so laser-focused that everything else fails away. Action and awareness merge.” And importantly, all aspects of our performance are improved, including “creative performance.” Flow states are generally present when our brain is demonstrating certain levels of Alpha or Theta waves - - both of which are typical of the meditative state. Of course, much more research needs to be done into this area, but with studies from McKinsey and Co. finding executives 500 percent more productive in “flow,” and Stephen Kotler’s “Flow Genome Project” claiming even more provocative results studying scientists, writers and entrepreneurs, it is likely we will see even more corporate interest in mindfulness in the future. Who knows, it may not be surprising to find a meditation room next to the board room in a future corporation.

Reprinted from Springfield business Journal March 2017