“This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness,” writes Mary Oliver.
Sitting with Our Father and Mother
Source: https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/
You can listen to the audio for the meditation here.
Breathing in, I invite the Buddha to breathe with my lungs.
Breathing out, I invite the Buddha to sit with my back.
Buddha is breathing, Buddha is sitting.
I enjoy breathing, I enjoy sitting.
I know that the quality of the breathing, in the Buddha breath, is excellent.
I know the quality of his sitting is excellent.
I enjoy breathing. I enjoy sitting.
I am aware that my father is fully present in every cell of my body.
I invite my father to breathe in with me. Breathe out with me.
I would like to invite my father in me to sit with my back – this is my back, but it is also his back.
Father and son. Father and daughter. Breathing together.
Breathing in, I feel so light. Breathing out, I feel so free.
Daddy, do you feel as light as I do? Do you feel as free as I do?
I know that my mother is fully present in every cell of my body.
I invite my mother to breathe with my lungs, to sit with my back.
This is my back, but it is also hers.
Mother and son breathing in together. Mother and daughter breathing in together.
Mother and son breathing out together. Mother and daughter breathing out together.
Breathing in, I feel so light.
Mother, do you feel as light as I do?
Breathing out, I feel so free.
Mother, do you feel as free as I do?
Enculturation and Our Human Needs
Source: https://www.rachellelamb.com/blog/can-needs-be-harmful#
My notes:
Even in scenarios where the conversation revolves around intangible needs such as love, trust or honesty, and where it would appear that there could not possibly be any negative consequences to the rest of the world when we narrow our gaze towards our internalized personal realities and how those personal realities interface with those of others, could it be that in these modernized times, we have come to place too much attention on our respective internal landscapes to the detriment of the outer landscape? Could it be that we place too much emphasis on our personal truths, defending them as irrefutable, and not enough emphasis on what is concretely around us? Could it be that a good many of our depressions, anxieties, neuroses and alienating behaviours are a symptom of, among other factors, an increasingly self-centric view of life trying unsuccessfully to find its way though the concrete overgrowth of civilization to some semblance of sound, balanced and meaningful community life?
How has my enculturation compromised my understanding of needs? How has my enculturation compromised my understanding of what it means to serve and enrich life?
All too often we use the term “life-serving” and “life-enriching” to describe desires and outcomes what would work for us personally. Our lens is pretty self-centric. And when it extends to others, we perceive it as an improvement but it still remains human-centric. I think it’s important for us to ask ourselves how is this thing that I’m wanting ultimately life-enriching? If my answer goes only as far as satisfying my own needs or the needs of my fellow humans without considering what life needs in order to keep our human enterprise afloat, then I’m deluded into believing that my own personal well-being both determines and supports the well-being of what sustains me, when in fact it is the health of the earth and the health of human culture that sustain me
Leonard Cohen summed it up well when he said, “What is the appropriate behaviour for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?” Our relationships do not unfold in isolation of the socio-cultural and environmental landscapes to which we belong. They are deeply informed by them and they are either nurtured or starved by them. It’s important to know this as we attempt to address our personal or social woes when connecting to needs. And it’s equally important to remember we humans are not at the centre; life is at the centre.