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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210819
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SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  8/5/21
DESCRIPTION:  \n  \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nAugust 5\, 2021 \n  \nTHE THREE QUESTIONS \n  \nIt once occurred to a certain king that if he always knew the right time to begin everything; if he knew who were the right people to listen to\, and whom to avoid; and\, above all\, if he always knew what was the most important thing to do\, he would never fail in anything he might undertake. \n  \nAnd this thought having occurred to him\, he had it proclaimed throughout his kingdom that he would give a great reward to anyone who would teach him what was the right time for every action\, and who were the most necessary people\, and how he might know what was the most important thing to do. \n  \nAnd learned men came to the king\, but they all answered his questions differently. \n  \nIn reply to the first question\, some said that to know the right time for every action\, one must draw up in advance a table of days\, months\, and years\, and must live strictly according to it. Only thus\, said they\, could everything be done at its proper time. Others declared that it was impossible to decide beforehand the right time for every action\, but that\, not letting oneself be absorbed in idle pastimes\, one should always attend to all that was going on\, and then do what was most needful. Others\, again\, said that however attentive the king might be to what was going on\, it was impossible for one man to decide correctly the right time for every action\, but that he should have a council of wise men who would help him to fix the proper time for everything. \n  \nBut then again others said there were some things which could not wait to be laid before a council\, but about which one had at once to decide whether to undertake them or not. But in order to decide that\, one must know beforehand what was going to happen. It is only magicians who know that; and\, therefore\, in order to know the right time for every action\, one must consult magicians. \n  \nEqually various were the answers to the second question. Some said the people the king most needed were his councilors; others\, the priests; others\, the doctors; while some said the warriors were the most necessary. \n  \nTo the third question\, as to what was the most important occupation\, some replied that the most important thing in the world was science. Others said it was skill in warfare; and others\, again\, that it was religious worship. \n  \nAll the answers being different\, the king agreed with none of them\, and gave the reward to none. But still wishing to find the right answers to his questions\, he decided to consult a hermit\, widely renowned for his wisdom. \n  \nThe hermit lived in a wood which he never quitted\, and he received none but common folk. So the king put on simple clothes and\, before reaching the hermit’s cell\, dismounted from his horse. Leaving his bodyguard behind\, he went on alone. \n  \nWhen the king approached\, the hermit was digging the ground in front of his hut. Seeing the king\, he greeted him and went on digging. The hermit was frail and weak\, and each time he stuck his spade into the ground and turned a little earth\, he breathed heavily. \n  \nThe king went up to him and said: “I have come to you\, wise hermit\, to ask you to answer three questions: How can I learn to do the right thing at the right time? Who are the people I most need\, and to whom should I\, therefore\, pay more attention than to the rest? And\, what affairs are the most important and need my first attention?” \n  \nThe hermit listened to the king\, but answered nothing. He just spat on his hand and recommenced digging. \n  \n“You are tired\,” said the king\, “let me take the spade and work awhile for you.” \n  \n“Thanks!” said the hermit\, and\, giving the spade to the king\, he sat down on the ground. \n  \nWhen he had dug two beds\, the king stopped and repeated his questions. The hermit again gave no answer\, but rose\, stretched out his hand for the spade\, and said: \n  \n“Now rest awhile – and let me work a bit.” \n  \nBut the king did not give him the spade\, and continued to dig. One hour passed\, and another. The sun began to sink behind the trees\, and the king at last stuck the spade into the ground\, and said: \n  \n“I came to you\, wise man\, for an answer to my questions. If you can give me none\, tell me so\, and I will return home.” \n  \n“Here comes someone running\,” said the hermit. “Let us see who it is.” \n  \nThe king turned round and saw a bearded man come running out of the wood. The man held his hands pressed against his stomach\, and blood was flowing from under them. When he reached the king\, he fell fainting on the ground\, moaning feebly. The king and the hermit unfastened the man’s clothing. There was a large wound in his stomach. The king washed it as best he could\, and bandaged it with his handkerchief and with a towel the hermit had. But the blood would not stop flowing\, and the king again and again removed the bandage soaked with warm blood\, and washed and re-bandaged the wound. When at last the blood ceased flowing\, the man revived and asked for something to drink. The king brought fresh water and gave it to him. Meanwhile the sun had set\, and it had become cool. So the king\, with the hermit’s help\, carried the wounded man into the hut and laid him on the bed. Lying on the bed\, the man closed his eyes and was quiet; but the king was so tired from his walk and from the work he had done that he crouched down on the threshold\, and also fell asleep – so soundly that he slept all through the short summer night. \n  \nWhen he awoke in the morning\, it was long before he could remember where he was\, or who was the strange bearded man lying on the bed and gazing intently at him with shining eyes. \n  \n“Forgive me!” said the bearded man in a weak voice\, when he saw that the king was awake and was looking at him. \n  \n“I do not know you\, and have nothing to forgive you for\,” said the king. \n  \n“You do not know me\, but I know you. I am that enemy of yours who swore to revenge himself on you\, because you executed his brother and seized his property. I knew you had gone alone to see the hermit\, and I resolved to kill you on your way back. But the day passed and you did not return. So I came out from my ambush to find you\, and came upon your bodyguard\, and they recognized me\, and wounded me. I escaped from them\, but should have bled to death had you not dressed my wound. I wished to kill you\, and you have saved my life. Now\, if I live\, and if you wish it\, I will serve you as your most faithful slave\, and will bid my sons do the same. Forgive me!” \n  \nThe king was very glad to have made peace with his enemy so easily\, and to have gained him for a friend\, and he not only forgave him\, but said he would send his servants and his own physician to attend him\, and promised to restore his property. \n  \nHaving taken leave of the wounded man\, the king went out into the porch and looked around for the hermit. Before going away he wished once more to beg an answer to the questions he had put. The hermit was outside\, on his knees\, sowing seeds in the beds that had been dug the day before. \n  \nThe king approached him and said\, “For the last time\, I pray you to answer my questions\, wise man.” \n  \n“You have already been answered!” said the hermit\, still crouching on his thin legs\, and looking up at the king\, who stood before him. \n  \n“How answered? What do you mean?” asked the king. \n  \n“Do you not see?” replied the hermit. “If you had not pitied my weakness yesterday\, and had not dug these beds for me\, but had gone your way\, that man would have attacked you\, and you would have repented of not having stayed with me. So the most important time was when you were digging the beds; and I was the most important man; and to do me good was your most important business. Afterwards\, when that man ran to us\, the most important time was when you were attending to him\, for if you had not bound up his wounds he would have died without having made peace with you. So he was the most important man\, and what you did for him was your most important business. Remember then: there is only one time that is important – now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary person is the one with whom you are\, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else: and the most important affair is to do that person good\, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life.” \n  \n—Leo Tolstoy (translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude)
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-8-5-21/
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210815
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210915
DTSTAMP:20260427T161600
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SUMMARY:Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue  8/15/21
DESCRIPTION:photo by Abe Green \n  \n  \nOpen Road Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue \n  \n August 15\, 2021 \n  \nThe purpose of life is to know yourself\, love yourself\, trust yourself\, and be yourself. \n—tag on a Yogi Tea bag \n* \n  \n7/15/21 \n#222 A Very Naive Idea \n  \n“Many people aspire to go to a place where pain and suffering do not exist\, a place where there is only happiness. This is a rather dangerous idea\, for compassion is not possible without pain and suffering.” (from Your True Home by Thich Nhat Hanh) \n  \nWe don’t want to invite suffering\, but ideally we learn to welcome suffering when it enters our lives. If we live our lives fearfully avoiding suffering and pain\, we live a very limited existence. Living too carefully\, never risking pain\, failure\, unhappiness or loss cannot result in a full and fulfilling life. It results in a careful life; that is not enough for me. \n  \nSuffering bonds you to others in a deep\, rich\, long-lasting way. My first marriage of thirteen years was frightening\, abusive and dehumanizing\, and that is how I emerged. I still have scars\, but resilience and determination (and the specter of poverty) were more powerful motivators than continuing in a fearful\, cautious life. \n  \nThe gift of suffering was that I deeply\, instinctively care for others\, all others who suffer\, in any way\, not just in situations similar to mine. I have the three gifts that come from suffering: compassion\, understanding\, and love. That is the richness that comes from suffering. My heart is full. \n  \n—Jude Russell \n* \n  \n(Ronni Lacroute sent this poem by Mary Oliver:) \n  \nMindful \n  \nEvery day \nI see or hear \nsomething \nthat more or less \n  \nkills me \nwith delight\, \nthat leaves me \nlike a needle \n  \nin the haystack \nof light. \nIt was what I was born for— \nto look\, to listen\, \n  \nto lose myself \ninside this soft world— \nto instruct myself \nover and over \n  \nin joy\, \nand acclamation. \nNor am I talking  \nabout the exceptional\, \n  \nthe fearful\, the dreadful\, \nthe very extravagant— \nbut of the ordinary\, \nthe common\, the very drab\, \n  \nthe daily presentations. \nOh\, good scholar\, \nI say to myself\, \nhow can you help \n  \nbut grow wise \nwith such teachings \nas these— \nthe untrimmable light \n  \nof the world\, \nthe ocean’s shine\, \nthe prayers that are made \nout of grass? \n  \n—Mary Oliver \n* \n  \n(These are some excerpts from Michel’s meditation journal. The numbers refer to Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Your True Home.) \n  \nJuly 4\, 2021  Independence Day \n  \n….Today is a day to celebrate freedom. Yet\, how many of us are truly FREE? I really wonder: Must one be trapped in a concrete cage\, behind locked doors\, shut away from the rest of the world and forgotten to become un-free? No. Freedom can be lost\, taken away\, and given away from and by anyone outside of prison or within the box. In fact\, I’m not thinking of a prison for the body\, but one created within a mind\, and a tyranny not from others\, or perpetuated by “others\,” but of one from a tyrant within… \n  \nMany are prisoners of the mind. Some are as of yet unaware of the plight they face. Some have lost their focus—mistaking a tyranny from within for an external enmity. Each of us has a mind. Do we feed it? Exercise it wisely? Take it out to play? to learn? to exercise\, face challenges as it grows?…. \n  \nJuly 8\, 2021   #159 A Healing Mantra \n  \nIf we share compassion through a positive gesture/action\, to express being fully present (mindful) we can uplift another from his or her pit of despair to find a stable footing from which to move forward. We may also need to say such things to our own self. When I’m down or struggling\, there isn’t always a bodhisattva nearby to offer compassionate words. I can be that supporter of myself simply through positive self-talk…. \n  \nJuly 15\, 2021  #166 A Real Friendship \n  \nMay I offer that in learning to love self and/or other\, the key is to see the line of separation vanish. I’ve heard\, “Love your neighbor as yourself\,” and struggled due to lack (I thought) of ability to love myself. Lately a thought is percolating that if I stop seeing you as separate and apart from me\, but begin to see our inter-connectedness\, or our inter-dependency\, then I can learn to demonstrate love to both (in different ways). \n  \n—Michel Deforge \n* \n  \nHappy early 70th birthday! As my present to you\, I’ve written a poem in your honor: \n  \nAFTER \n  \nAnd you may find that you have nothing \nto say\, and that’s okay. The bird \n  \nyou pictured now because that’s the way \nthe brain works \n  \nand the concentric circles of its song— \nthey are always there. Jung defined \n  \nthe unconscious as everything \nyou have forgotten\, everything \n  \nyou’re not currently thinking about\, \nand everything you do not know. \n  \nThat narrows it down. \nSo the conscious mind is really \n  \nonly very little of what goes on— \nlike a lightbulb compared to the dawn. \n  \n—Alex Tretbar \n* \n  \nAugust 11\, 2021 \n  \nI’m turning 70 next Tuesday\, August 17th. It doesn’t seem possible! How did I get so old? It seems like just last week I was 19. What happened? \n  \nMaybe the reason getting older is bewildering is that our body ages\, but something inside us doesn’t. Whoever it is\, or whatever it is that looks out through my eyes—and even observes my thoughts!—hasn’t aged a bit! \n  \nI’m enjoying my human life on Earth! I didn’t make a plan. I’ve been meandering along like the half-wit third son in the fairy tales who somehow ends up with the princess\, thanks to help he got from a magic toad. (My dad once said to me: “John\, if anyone says you’re a wit\, they’d be half right.”) \n  \nI’ve been (and still am) very fortunate. (On another occasion\, my dad said: “John\, if you fell into a ditch\, you’d come up with the deed to the town.”) I suppose the greatest good fortune was that I got hefty amounts of love and encouragement when I was a little boy.  \n  \nWhen I got a little older\, instead of going to Vietnam to kill people\, I went to India to study meditation and mindfulness from wise yogis. That was lucky. \n  \nIt was my good fortune to come of age in the Hippie Era. Had I been born ten years earlier\, I might have become a beatnik! Hippies were into Peace & Love. That sounded good to me. Still does. Flower power! \n  \nFinding Nancy Scharbach was unexpected. More Good Fortune!  \n  \nAbout the same time we got together\, I wandered into a prison. I met a lot of lovely people there. We had long talks. We put on plays. We had great times together! I still have lots of friends in prison. We write to each other. I have friends who have graduated from prison\, who I can see on the outside. \n  \nI have lots of friends! If you’re reading this\, you are probably one of them. \n  \nI have much much more to be grateful for. Too much to try to describe here. And fresh blessings arrive every day\, without fail. I’m grateful that I feel grateful. I’m happy that I’m happy. I love loving and being loved. \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \n                          Your Walden \n  \nFor some\, only sleep is the hut by moonlight\,  \nsleep the pond pure and still\, sleep the essential  \nrefuge for solitary rumination\, the secret escape \nfrom quiet desperations that each day crowd your breath\,  \ndim your vision\, narrow your hope. Others find a porch \nand sit\, composed\, or a tree to muse in shade\, or a hilltop\,  \nhigher than wires and roads\, to look far\, kindling the power  \nto simplify\, to transcend\, if only for a moment. \n  \nYou learned the hard way your soul is green and withers\,  \nstarving without some touch to wood\, earth\, and silence. You \ntook the crash course in complexity for years and years. So now \nyou find a place separate from screen and machine\, a place  \nbeyond getting and spending\, a space to let the buried eden  \nof the wild self bud and blossom. You take your Walden—call it  \nringer-off\, screen asleep\, brass keys all banished to the drawer— \nso at last you may dawn into yourself\, deliberate\, and awake. \n  \n—Kim Stafford \n* \n  \nI love where I now live (North Central Montana)\, it’s where I grew up. I understand it in ways that elude those not from here\, and though the land and its people can be difficult\, it is also magnificently beautiful and allows me access to a natural world I’ve not found elsewhere. \n  \nWhat is often missing here though is my ability to engage in the kind of conversations that challenge me\, expand me\, and support me as I journey away from a spiritually vacuous “self” toward enlightenment. \n  \nThat’s why “The Open Road” is such a precious gift—I feel I belong to this wonderful community of thinkers and explorers. I continue to have struggles and setbacks\, but with each letter I breathe in a freshness that renews my desire to be a better human\, to care and to really see myself in others and they in me. \n  \nAnd it is getting easier! \n  \nI savor all the writings\, but especially by those I personally know. An excellent example is String Clements “Learning to Smile.” I shared the incentive yard at TRCI with String and many a day we practiced mindfulness as we walked the track. (Remember General Sherman\, Tim?) \n  \nThese days I practice my mindfulness most often out in nature where I’ve come to realize all things carry the same spark I carry in my own heart and each thing I observe becomes “the best part.” There are no saints…or sinners\, no self-righteous…no condemned\, everything is on equal terms. I’ve concluded not only do I belong to the human tribe\, I also belong to the life tribe\, and strive to conduct myself accordingly. I’d like to add that mindfulness can be practiced anywhere (as Mr. Clements and I proved at TRCI). Most difficult for me is just getting my mind to “shut up” and listen. \n  \nHere are a few thoughts: \n  \n* Life will always challenge you. The trick is to polish all  the moments to make them shine. That’s both sides of the coin\, not just the pretty or easy ones. Each moment\, each day is precious and should never be wasted or cast aside. \n—Anne Burke quote from Salt of the Earth by Ethan Hubbard \n  \n* Walk in good direction\, come to good place. \n  \n*Only for a time have we borrowed our life from the sum of things. \n  \n* Let go of expectations and accept whatever shows up for you. \n—Katie Radditz \n  \nI thank all who have touched my life in such a positive\, kind\, and loving way—you now live in me! \n  \nAnd I will not forget you. \n  \nPeace and love \n  \nAbe Green  2021 \n  \n(Abe added this:) \n  \nPaul Enso Hillman spoke these words: \n  \nI say “Namaste” because I like what it means\, not because I’m a Hindu. \n  \nA lot of people think I’m a Christian because they think I talk about Christian values\, but the truth is I’m really talking about Human values. \n  \nI’ve been asked if I’m a Buddhist just because I’ve discovered inner Peace. \n  \nA lot of my friends are Pagans and they think I’m one also because I say that being in nature is my idea of going to church. \n  \nDo you want to know what I really am? \n  \nIt’s very simple\, I don’t need a label to define me. \n  \nI am a piece of the universe\, sentient and manifested and… \n  \nI am awake! \n  \n—Abe Green \n* \n  \nAugust 15\, 2021 \nMeditation and Mindfulness \nHAPPY BIRTHDAY\, JOHNNY!!! \n  \nLast month I sent in a topic on Suffering\, but I forgot to include the attachment in the email to Johnny. He said\, “No worries\, I’ll just put it in the August edition.” But then I thought\, how lame to offer a writing on Suffering for Johnny’s very special birthday edition. It really should be something more in keeping with Johnny’s true raison d’être: LOVE! \n  \nSo # 326 – Equanimity  – fills the bill to perfection. \n  \n“True love does not choose one person. When true love is there\, you shine like a lamp. You don’t just shine on one person in the room. That light you emit is for everyone in the room. If you really have love in you\, everyone around you will benefit—not only humans\, but animals\, plants\, and minerals. Love\, true love\, is that.True love is equanimity.” \n  \nThis is Johnny. This is what Johnny emits. His love just spreads out\, sometimes to the bewilderment (how can he be so patient with that guy???)\, the embarrassment (uh oh\, here come the tears again!)\, the frustration (can’t he see that that guy really doesn’t deserve love?) of others. That is Johnny: He just loves with equanimity and abandon. \n  \nJude Russell \n* \n  \nEvery moment offers a myriad of wonders\, opportunities and insights – it is just a matter of how and what we focus our attention on\, and how we perceive it.  – John Kabat Zinn  \n  \nMy friend Sarah has been feeling disheartened lately – about the state of our Earth’s health\, the continuing pandemic\, and her small role in life. She is a generous and engaged person. Her daughter has moved nearby and Sarah loves being with her new grandchild. Her wishes have been fulfilled. But after such high expectations\, the question of what is her purpose in life set in. She remembers what her mother once told her\, “Remember it’s not the big things that count\, it’s the small things.” There will always be the big issues looming. It is a challenge to be engaged in helping to change the world for the better. Meditation can help by training us to focus on our personal small moments of happiness\, compassion\, and healing.   \n  \nIf we choose to rush or force meditation\, we might not experience much or have many great moments.  \n  \nBut by allowing ourselves to be curious\, inquisitive\, attentive and have an open mind\, we can make those small moments wonderful.  \n  \nI have been reading a classic Sufi book called The Conference of the Birds. It is full of parables about taking a spiritual journey. My friend was listening to a CD of chanting and birds flew to his deck to listen. As soon as the music ended the birds flew off. Another friend had two birds come sit on her balcony when she moved into a new apartment. It helped to ease her loneliness and to help her make a transition. These moments that are particular to us can help move us in a direction of paying attention\, of being engaged inwardly as well as outwardly\, and of loving the beauty of the world. It can make us grateful for being alive.    \n  \nI have been enjoying reading and studying The Conference of the Birds along with my friends who had the birds magically visit them. I have also been paying attention to the gifts of feathers that my neighbors—blue jays\, wild turkeys\, crows\, wrens\, even the chickens—have left in my yard and along the paths that I walk. I find one almost every day and have a collection now in my garden flower bed. These are small moments and small tokens that make me joyous to feel the “interbeing” that Thay instructs us to realize. It makes me happy to be alive here and now\, and to share this with whoever comes my way. Gratitude is a strong mindfulness practice for beginning and ending the day.   \n  \nThis morning Sarah sent me a text saying she is paying attention to the birds too! She wrote\, “I’m enjoying migrations!”  \n  \nWhat can be a small moment for some\, can be the single most important moment in another person’s life.  \n  \nHow about you? Do you sometimes see big things in small moments?  \n  \nMay you be aware and happy in some small moments today.  Thank you for being a part of  our mindfulness group and sharing your own experiences here. Below is a poem by Kim’s dad\, William Stafford.   \n  \nBe well and know peace\,  Katie  \n  \nThings I Learned Last Week \n  \nAnts\, when they meet each other\, \nusually pass on the right. \n  \nSometimes you can open a sticky \ndoor with your elbow. \n  \nA man in Boston has dedicated himself \nto telling about injustice. \nFor three thousand dollars he will \ncome to your town and tell you about it. \n  \nSchopenhauer was a pessimist but \nhe played the flute. \n  \nYeats\, Pound\, and Eliot saw art as \ngrowing from other art. They studied that. \n  \nIf I ever die\, I’d like it to be \nin the evening. That way\, I’ll have \nall the dark to go with me\, and no one \nwill see how I begin to hobble along. \n  \nIn the Pentagon one person’s job is to \ntake pins out of towns\, hills\, and fields\, \nand then save the pins for later. \n  \n—William Stafford \n* \n  \n8-10-21 \n  \nGot your letter today: “The Golden World!” I needed to hear that more than you know\, Johnny. I need to come home and it’s nice to know & remember that I can come home & how good home is. I was so focused on what was lost that I lost track of what I have & what I have is pretty damn good. In fact\, what I lost I loved very much\, but what I have now is very much here & not lost & that right now is life & life must be lived\, now\, loved and grown. Sometimes I wish that you would have been my father\, Johnny\, & in many ways you have been. \n  \nThe Golden World is real. I forgot about it. It should be shared with the world. It will make all the world a better place. I’m done being in misery….I’m on my way home. \n  \n—Rocky Hutchinson
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/meditation-mindfulness-dialogue-8-15-21/
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