Gasshō
Two topics came together for me just in time for this communication. The first is from the current email class on beliefs in which I was attempting to depict what it’s like for us when we’re going about in relationship with conditioned mind.
“In a particular moment you’re aware there’s a thought in your head, a conversation you’re hearing, a picture you’re seeing that tells you, ‘There’s something wrong.’ A moment later you’re aware there’s a thought, a conversation, a picture that tells you something about that thought. In the next moment something else comes before the ‘camera’ and you see/think/feel/believe the next piece of information. One after the other ‘information’ appears and you (we) accept whatever that is as real and true. A movie is playing: I need to remember to… I have to… I want to get him… I don’t know what’s going to happen with… when I swing by the store I can pick up… I need to get some exercise today… I don’t see how I’m going to have time to… I wonder why she said that… I wish I knew what…. Each one appears in the mind and forms our reality. Yes? It’s what we’re experiencing, referencing all day long. It’s our world, our reality being formed. We believe we’re not just living in reality; we’re living in REALITY.”
This is what we’re attempting to “wake up from” in Awareness Practice. We’re practicing to see the conditioned mind activity rather than getting caught up in it, believing it, and being controlled by it. And, it’s really hard. Waking up from it isn’t hard. Being caught up in it is hard! It’s exhausting.
Which brought me to my second topic. ‘Tis the season, rapidly approaching, in which a lot of folks can get very caught up in activity. There are parties, visitors, events, shopping, and for many, travel. As the summer wound down here in this hemisphere, we began to hear from people that they had been traveling and so hadn’t been practicing. It was as if the two were one. Traveling=not practicing. It’s just a foregone conclusion. Just how it is. When I travel, I don’t “do” practice. I don’t meditate, don’t use any of the tools, don’t call into Open Air or the Yearlong retreat, don’t participate in Reflective Listening Buddies or any sort of accountability support. I’m traveling.
The way we would hear about this is through a tale of coming home and coming to, feeling unmoored, caught up in the voices, messages of having done it wrong, being behind.
So, here’s what we can consider as we go from summer vacations to the holiday season: There is nothing about any activity that requires us to go unconscious. Nothing is made better by a lack of presence. We want to participate in activities because we want to enjoy them. We want to be with people we love because we want to enjoy them. Being unconsciously in the grip of egocentric karmic conditioning/self-hate will not assist us to enjoy the people we love nor to participate in activities we love. The first of the year arrives and many, many folks are in regret. Spent too much money, ate too much bad food, drank too many beverages not conducive to health and well-being. January has become known as the time to get out of debt and get into shape.
It doesn’t need to be that way. We will never find happiness through self-abandonment. So, a word to the wise: When you start hearing voices that sound like those in the paragraph above making a case that you’re too busy to practice, remind your self that you’re unwilling to be too busy to take care of the only human whose well-being truly makes a difference in the quality of your life. Set up whatever supports you need to recall that Awareness Practice is first and foremost a practice of being aware, fully present to whatever it is one is doing, and part of saving the human being is prioritizing whatever supports s/he needs not to go unconscious.
Many of you have requested a copy of the prayer Sr. Phil wrote. Here it is.
Among the many treasures Phil left with us was some of the post cards she made, I think originally as a fundraiser for Kantolomba. Below are six of them which we could offer as a set as fundraiser this year in Phil’s honor. Please email the Guestmaster if you are interested in stewarding this fundraiser, i.e. mailing out the cards to interested Sangha.
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We’ve tried for weeks now to arrange for a retreat here in Western Washington. We’d love to have folks here, and it would be far easier for us if we didn’t have to travel so far, bringing a retreat with us. However, that seems not to be, at least for now, so we will be returning to Vallombrosa in Menlo Park (Good Lord willin’ and the Creek don’t rise) from August 30-September 4. We want to let you know as soon as possible so you can arrange your schedule should you wish to attend. Closer to, we will open registration and then, as always, it will be a first-come, first-served affair.
The Farm Report:
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We are long past our first freeze. Now it’s a matter of preparing the ground for wintering, getting it ready for spring. This year, the ambition is to cover the entire market garden with leaves. And so we are on the hunt for the parks and spaces that are willing to let us take their leaves. |
Last week, a senior living facility was ecstatic to accommodate us.
Other wintering tasks in pictures below.
Harvesting lettuce
Transplanting lettuce |
Harvesting Big Leaf Maple seeds |
Transplanting trees
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Others move from the greenhouse to the ground…
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…and all trees are protected! |
And there is always tidying to do which in this case involves a new electric tool!
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We know the Guide can’t resist a chainsaw. |
In gasshō,
ch