Ernest Becker, Prophet Of Reason

If he is right Ernest Becker the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "The Denial Of Death" and the author of "Escape From Evil" may go down in history as one of the great thinkers of all time.

His central thought is very simple and very profound. Becker believed that the great motivating force of all mankind is the fear of life and the fear of death. Fear ,he believed, is the great unnamed shadow that inhabits all men's minds and haunts our dreams. It is always present and always whispering to us that we will suffer and we will die.

This leads us to cover our fears with religion first and foremost but also addiction, consumerism, entertainment and any other thing that can mask the fear.

Becker said that maybe, just maybe the fear is amendable to the conscious mind. The goal is to stop living the the shadows of fear and start living in the light of reason.

Big Thoughts that I believe deserve serious thought. Becker's books are a bit dry but not hard reads and the payoff is huge.

This is just a gut feeling but my feeling is that Becker is on to something here because there is nothing complicated or convoluted about what he says. His ideas are simple and elegant like one of Einstein's equations.

Kitaro

Kitaro is credited by many to be the founder of New Age music. You have probably heard his music without realizing it. He has done soundtracks for the movie "Heaven and Earth" and for the world famous documentary "Silk Road". Kitaro looks exactly like what you might think a musical innovator would look like with gaunt Asian features with long flowing black hair and beard and mustache.

His music is heavy on keyboard and synthesiser but he utilizes drums, guitar, flute, vocals and a variety of other instruments. Consider him first a composer, director and instrumentalist and then a performer. His albums and concerts are rich, interesting and moving with a sort of vast ocean like quality that underlies most of his work.

He has done three albums about the the monk who brought Buddhism to Japan. The three albums are called "The Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai" of course one, two and three. For me these are his best but not his only. Many would say his soundtrack for "Silk Road" is the masterpiece of his career. Enjoy the following video. This is not his worst or best but it is typical Kitaro.

Kitaro-Matsuri

Go Deeper, Mindfulness Versus Jhana Meditation

The first goal of meditation is to become mindful. There is nothing mysterious about this, it is simply the act of quieting the mind so that you can be aware of what is happening here and now. It is the process of ridding yourself of the dozens or hundreds of thoughts that race through the mind just at the edge of the consciousness mind. These thoughts are not always in the conscious mind but they are close enough to create a background noise that distracts you from the moment. As you meditate you bring each of these thoughts into the conscious mind and the conscious mind melts each of these thoughts away leaving the mind a quieter and more tranquil place. Over a period of time there is just the moment that you are dwelling in. There is the feeling of hunger if you happen to be hungry. There is the smell of the food that you are preparing the sight of the food on the plate and the feelings of cessation as you eat the food being aware of each bite and each act of consumption. The benefits of mindfulness meditation are many. They include but are not limited to enjoyment of the simple things of life, better performance at work and at school, more enjoyment of sports and games, more enjoyment of interpersonal relationships. All these benefits are due to the increased ability to concentrate and focus on the moment. Mindfulness meditation calms and focuses the mind but there is more. You can go deeper!

Without the noise of your mind distracting you things change. Of course you will be able to be more focused on the situation at hand and this can and does translate into more satisfaction in daily life. One benefit that it brings is this. Without the noise blocking it you will notice a sort of ever present sense of joy or well being. This is the bodies natural state. To enter the first Jhana state of meditation you simply need to take your focus away from your breath and put it on the this sense of well being. You will find this immersing and joyful. It is like taking a lovely, long, luxurious bath of lavender and lilac. It is not something you have to make yourself do. This is the first Jhana state there are eight altogether. The first four are called the material Jhanas. They are of this world but just on the edge of this reality sort of like the thoughts on the edge of your conscious mind. The last four Jhanas are the immaterial Jhanas and are of a altogether different reality.

For myself I entered the first Jhana years ago quite by accident when I lost track of time while on a walk through the woods. I remember looking up into the trees arching over the path and seeing the light flowing through the leaves and I remember thinking that it was like seeping sunlight flowing through stained glass windows in a cathedral. That was the last thought I had for 40 or 45 minutes. I remember standing there tears flowing down my face at the wonder and joy of life. I was not really thinking of wonder and joy but I felt a deep sense of joyfulness of well being. I did not know how long I was standing there till I got back to my car and looked at my watch and realized that a 40 minute walk had taken almost an hour and a half to complete and I realized that I had been standing there for 4o minutes or so. It felt like moments only. Back then I thought I had had a deep experience of god. I did not realize that this sort of experience is within the ability of any man or woman willing to take the time to practice and get good enough at concentrating the mind to enter this state.

My feelings of being "favored" by god led to arrogance and self deceit that led to years of suffering and pain. I have worked through the pain and suffering that I caused my self and others and I realize now I am very close to being able to enter this first Jhana state that I stumbled into all of those years ago. I will write more later about my progress.

Gift's Of A Boxer

To start with I am talking about the canine variety of boxers and not the pugilist sort. Java, that is my boxers name, is typical for the breed. He is active and intelligent. He can jump straight up in the air and look me in the eye. I'm only five eight but it still impresses me every time. He barks and acts vicious when strangers come to the door but when we welcome the new folks in he quickly changes his attitude and then the worst they have to fear is being beaten to death with his tail. In short he is exuberant and funny and I love him, big L.

I knew when I found Java that he was going to be a wonderful companion. A friend of a friend found him living in a park and getting skinnier and skinnier as the days went by. I remember seeing him for the first time and I was struck by the color of his coat and it reminded me of a cup of coffee from Starbucks, thus the name, I called him and he came to me and there was a sort of bond right then and there. My son loved him immediately and my wife who was on record as saying, "I will have nothing to do with the dog, you will feed the dog, you will clean up after the dog, I will not do anything for the dog," well it took Java all of a week to win her over. I caught her giving him a hug one day and the next day she bought him a bed and a Harley Davidson shirt. He is a member of the family and is really the perfect dog for us.

For all of this he has given me a gift that I never expected. He has been a great teacher for meditation. Let me explain. If Java has an accident and pees on the kitchen floor I scold him and he goes to the back door head hanging. After I clean up after him not even 10 minutes later, if I go to the back door and grab his leash he immediately starts dancing the boxer dance. The scolding of 10 minutes ago no longer exists for him. He is in the present and he knows we are going for a walk and he really loves his walks. If I sit on the floor and watch TV and pet him he is totally immersed in the feel of my hand stroking his fur and scratching his neck. He is totally absorbed. When he eats he eats, when he sleeps he sleeps, when he acts the fool at the front door with the repairman there is nothing half hearted about it. He is totally and utterly absorbed with getting through the glass and tearing into the poor man. If I let the man and and Java knows that he is OK he introduces himself and sniffs the man and is very happy to make a new friend and is equally immersed in the task at hand even though seconds ago he would have been happy to draw the man's blood.

In meditation, especially Zen meditation the goal is to be in the moment. The Zen meditator sits with his eyes half closed and stares at a usually blank wall. The idea is to get used to having nothing but the wall and to start to listen to the thoughts go through your head. Maybe your mind is saying, this is boring. It is a freaking wall for heavens sake. Maybe your remembering an altercation you had earlier with a friend or perhaps the person who cut you off on the freeway. The point is you are not really there with the wall your mind is doing a million other things so afraid it is to stop. You would be surprised how hard it is to sit and actually be there. Some people are out and out afraid of doing this because it is only an overly active mind that keeps past injuries and injustices at bay. But little by little you learn to slow your thoughts and just BE and aside from not being that bad you realize that your actual reality once you stop the over active mind is one of beauty and joy. Even if you just achieve this sort of clarity for a second it is noticeable and worthwhile. It is sort of like running a marathon, you do that one step at a time. You live a life of meditative clarity one second at a time. After you get so you can do it at the wall you get up and walk in clarity, eat in clarity, sleep in clarity, make love in clarity and so on and so forth and many years from now die with a clear and unafraid mind.

In short Java achieves in his Javaness what I strive for as a goal in life and that is to be totally in the moment, whatever that moment may entail.

By the By we didn't get Java from the following organization but if you think you might like a Boxer these people do very good work.

http://savetheboxers.com/

The Arrogance Of Golf And Other George Carlin Insights

The fact that I have Buddha quotes and George Carlin quotes on the same blog may seem a bit well, disrespectful. But the truths these too men uttered are not so different. Now to start with Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha's real name, was a great religious leader who has changed the world and George Carlin was an often vulgar comic who has made me change my pants because of stress incontinence, they both do have some small things in common. The Buddha said in a compassionate voice that permanence is an illusion. Carlin rails in a sort of in your face "F" you voice that man is very good at telling himself lies. Both are pointing out in very different ways that we are suffering in darkness.

Carlin pointed the darkness out with wit and raw humor. In some ways that makes him more accessible. One funny monologue talked about the "Arrogance of Golf". He pointed out what an arrogant game it is that takes up hundreds of acres of land to hit a ball the size of a large walnut into a hole the size of a small coffee can that is two to four hundred yards away. He talked about the "stupid diseases" we have here in the United States. We are so rich we have diseases like anorexia, obesity, bulimia, this that and the other addiction. He talked about how bleeding hearts really didn't care about whatever causes they were working on but that they were afraid of being inconvenienced in the future by global warming, aids, poverty, starvation and so on. Often after talking about these things he proposed a solution the the problem at hand. For instance anorexia, "rich b doesn't want to eat. "F" Her!!!!! Fact is that is his answer to most of life's problems. "F" em...... I guess that is where he and the Buddha part ways. I hope you enjoy the following clips.
George Carlin Fat People

George Carlin Death

George Carlin The Planet

"Security is mostly a superstition.

It does not exist in nature

nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright

exposure.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

To keep our faces towards change and

behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is

strength undefeatable."

Helen Keller

The Alchemist, a fable by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist is a book about Santiago a young shepherd who lives in Spain. Originally at the seminary studying for the priesthood he could not find God in school and books so he became a shepherd so he could travel and learn. One night he had a dream about finding a great treasure near the pyramids in Egypt, this dream led him to begin his journey which led him to North Africa near Spain and then on to Egypt. Along the way he is helped by a mysterious King, a Silver Merchant and finally by the Alchemist himself.

The Alchemist is a minor character who appears in the later part of the book. One may wonder why such a minor character has the book named after him. I think the answer is found in the fact that the work of the alchemist can involve the changing of common metals say lead into gold, this is considered a metaphor for changing the self and becoming a deeper and more meaningful person. So in the person the work of the alchemist is to change the person from common moribund and doomed to exquisite, life giving and eternal. What this book is really about is not adventure and treasure but the adventure of self discovery and the transformation of the self.

This book is a wonderful allegory and is best read with the wide eyed wonder of the child.

I hope you enjoy it.

R