Capacity Building, and Spring Poetry!

Happy Spring everyone!

You may have noticed i've not been around much on myspace - I've moved from a period of contemplation and internal focus, to that of intense action! (in an easy and relaxed way, for the greatest good of all ;) - The phrase that comes to mind when I think of the next 6 months is "Capacity Building!" - i.e. my capacity to physically manifest what already exists in (my) spririt.

So, I probably will continue to drop in only occasionally, but I will get to whatever messages you send me =)

...And for all of you Japanophiles, the Cherry Blossoms are coming! (Sakura Matsuri!) - Maureen and I wlll be, as is our yearly tradition, taking in the Cherry Blossoms, this year down in Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, at the end of this coming month.


And to end, - here is a poem that I wrote last weekend - our first spring excursion:

New Spring -
Barefoot steps alternate
between patches of snow
and verdant green moss.

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Ready-made Biblical Exegesis... and Signs of Spring
Category: Religion and Philosophy

I went to a church service this past Sunday, and I did feel God was there and present,
but (not necessarily) in the depth and applicability of the sermon:


Ready-made Biblical Exegesis


Ready-made Biblical Exegesis -

- forced to cover up narcoleptic symptoms

with prayerfully folded hands.


And...

2/3/2007


Two Chevrons -
- birds migrating North.
The first sign of Spring!

2/4/2007

High Pitch unheard...
Is it a fly? moth? mosquito?
... or the second sign of Spring?

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Vying Worldviews, and Bullshit Meters
Category: Religion and Philosophy

"It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a
thought without accepting it." ~Aristotle

How is your bullshit meter? How is your truth meter? Your bullshit meter tends to give fairly straightforward readings - "this is bullshit".. or "this is not bullshit, but I'm not really sure what it is). If you know something is completely false, and/or patently absurd, it'd be flashing.

Things that are in the grey area, are a little harder to pin down - that's where your truth meter comes into play... You know something's not completely false, but it doesn't completely ring true - either.

The flexibilty of your truth meter is dependent on your world view, and directly corresponds to the clarity of your understanding that "anything is possible". Not just that "anything is possible" but "anything is possible", even if the fact that it would happen, lies outside your worldview.

Corporately prescribed belief can be limiting. This can include church creeds, etc. that people say they believe, but haven't really wrestled with it, and made it "their own".
It can also include those "beliefs" that are so ingrained in us by living in our society, that we scarcely recognize them, let alone question them.

Sometimes your deepest held beliefs can restrain your growth.

You may say "That's not me - I know why I believe, what I believe" - and how can my deepest held convictions restrain my growth?"

The answer is - they don't have to. It is possible to find a view of the world in a way that your deepest held convictions make sense, in the light of new information, even if that means that you have a different relationship with them.

"How is it possible to do that?" you may ask.

By not grasping them so tightly!

"But if they are my deepest held beliefs, why shouldn't I hold them tightly? is that not all we really have, in this crazy world?"

Why? Because reason you may be holding them tightly, is out of fear.

Let me ask another question. What benefit is it to you,
to have fear, of any kind, in any amount, in the relationship that you have, with your deepest held beliefs?

I think that fear is ultimately based on what may happen if we
don't have those beliefs, whether it be going to hell,
fear of the unknown, or otherwise.

I would suggest that we will only able to hold our beliefs lightly, when we fully trust. Trust God (or the goodness of the universe), and trust ourselves.

At that point, it matters less what we "believe" - because we know we are deeply loved.

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Back from MySpace Hiatus!

Greetings All,
This is the start of a number of posts that will be forth coming - I have been on a MySpace hiatus for quite sometime now, since sometime in the fall!

I've been in a period of inward-focused personal growth, which I'm looking forward to share the fruits of, as well as some poetry that I'll release into the wild (I've just finished a journal I've been working on for several years.

... Get ready for some intense, thought-provoking posts... and I'd love to hear some of them (your thoughts - that is) ;)

Namaste!

Jeremy

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Jinashi - form follows function . . .

The Jiari maker says:

"I just want consistency"


Jinashikun -

like and old jute

cord - familiar, starting to unravel...


But what utility!

Oh, what utility!













... For my non-shak friends, Jiari describes a shakuhachi made with "ji" - paste added inside of it, how shakuhachi came to be make in the late 100/150 years. so if you hear "Jiari" think general shakuhachi. if you hear jinashi / jinashikun (lit. "without paste") or hocchiku ("spritual bamboo") think about this kind of flute.

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From silence, springs poetry... and shakuhachi!

A week ago I went on my first silent retreat.
It was just one day, and I was ready for it.
I spent most of my time on the beach, gazing over the ocean, and
feeling the truth of my senses.

I read the following poem at church, followed by sharing
the shakuhachi piece below.


Read slowly, for best results, and if you can, listen to the silence
between what is written, and what it may tell you.


Cove and Grill (Connectedness) 8/26/2006


Cove and Grill

Yellow Orange, Connectedness

Green Blue, Connectedness

Dawn breaks . . .

Words flow . . .

lines blurry . . .

mind clear - connectedness

Wind blows . . .

no flow . . .

the wind, - talking all around me

in its heart I hear

silence.


bamboo pupil


On a windy beach

I start with a weak .. enough.




The perception of time

flies quickly!


If you want to learn

I will teach you
to hear wispers of my
heart

evidence of my grace


(if you have the opportunity, I suggest you close your eyes, and)
listen.

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Wustof Energy Meditation: A Point of Awareness
Category: Religion and Philosophy

...There are many ways that energy can enter and leave the body. Some are more pleasant than others.

 Last Monday night I had the opportunity to start what I call the Wusthof Energy Meditation.

 It commenced, like many journeys of awareness, rather mindlessly, but has, over the past week, borne much fruit in mindfulness and contemplation.

 "In a conspiracy of silence, truth rings out like a pistol shot."

In a similar way, there can be external events, which are physical manifestations of spiritual truths that make themselves known at the most inopportune times. This spiritual truth manifested itself in the form of a 10" Wusthof Chef's knife, completely piercing to the other side the veil of illusion of my left pinky.

From just a second of Satori, true awareness of reality a will manifest a resonance that lasts. The awareness of a wound, and every bit of pain felt - was an opportunity to transmute into awareness of the existence of suffering in the world, and thankfulness for all my many blessings (and that I didn't hit any nerves or tendons)

 As I sat waiting in various places in the emergency room for six hours, I was overcome with thankfulness. - my friend who brought me connected with someone who he hadn't seen in 8 years - (A very special needs student that he drove to school as a bus driver, who has since graduated college!)
We had a chance to meet, and pray with someone who really needed it.

...And its funny, I actually dreamed this being there, about 4 years back. I remember this, because of asking God, in the dream "Jeez, is this going to be bad?" - he replied - "No - it'll be ok."

How many times, after gaining a revelation, and walking in it, do we revert back to our previous ways, despite our efforts?

 On the Sunday night, about a week after my revelation, I found myself doing the same thing - in the kitchen - that got me in trouble in the first place. - In this case, trying to pull a metal stopper off an old wine bottle (like Martha Stewart would have for an olive oil bottle) pulling straight up  - and it comes undone, and my Left pinky slams against the bottom of our kitchen cabinet....

 ouch.

It swelled up again like a stuck piglet.

I RICEd it and went to bed..

The Cure worse than the Disease?:

 They prescribed me antibiotics. I started taking them two days after, and by Thursday night has a roaring stomach ache. My wife generally has a concern that I will flaunt doctors orders and do something crazy like try and heal myself. I assured her that I would take the pills as prescribed, because either

1) I had some bad tofu or something, and there's no side effects or, 
2) There are side effects, and I'm going to make damn sure that there's no question about it.

With grim resignation, I popped a dose on Friday morning, and limped my way to work, holding my stomach (a half an hour walk away).

They took me off the antibiotics.

I've effing had it up to here with the doctrine of Original Sin. When you look at the "fruit" of it, it's been incredibly damaging to the Church, and to many I know, even (especially) now.

Devised by St. Augustine (bless his heart) in the 5th century, it paints the picture of an entire world fallen, man and nature, whereby the only "salvation" is through Christ (via the church at that time). I'm all about wallowing in my own sin, but this fucking ridiculous. The Church (bless its heart) then runs with the ball, and uses guilt and shame as its building blocks for coercion of its congregants.

 What about the creation that after God made, said "this is good"? What about God saying "I knew you even at the foundations of the Earth"?

What about Jesus saying, "However you treat the poor, you treat me"? What about the interconnectedness, which in every breath and action, Jesus speaks to, and acts out of, in his ministry? That "It is my desire that you should know the Father as I know the Father", and "Someday you will be able to do all I can do and more"?

This does not suggest a dualistic universe where man is separate from God, desperately trying to "get" to him/her.

Jesus is speaking out of connectedness. He is speaking out of oneness with the Father.

It is not heresy, nor blasphemy, to say, "I and the Father are one".

That is the inheritance we share, as Sons, and Daughters of God.

Now go live it.

...

These illusions -  shed as tears. Upon loosing them, we are freed.

10:23 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

This past weekend... tonight

Standing naked, dripping wet

rain outside, falling though me

calming, connecting,

- A quiet night in Brooklyn





--


Tonight - eyes full of maya,

head filled with others' words.

... but to summon my productive voice from the shadows

even with this confession, sun breaks at the clearing of my mind.

brilliant colors yet to be, vibrant brushstrokes yet unpainted

... it will be a long night.

9:28 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Learning the Language of Peace

I love languages.

I love learning them, I love seeing the light shine in someone's eyes when they learn something new. I love to think strategically about how to teach language, using the latest tools and technology, but most of all, I love how they illuminate the culture of the people that speak them, and by learning a language, bridges of peace are created - that are not easily broken.

This is why I love my job.

I work at the Center for Language Study, at Yale University and as a "Faculty Liaison" I help language teachers here on campus use and incorporate the latest technology, along with the latest language pedagogy
to teach their students.

One of the languages I work with is Arabic, which I am privileged to do, given the importance of Arabic in this present time.

Recently an Arabic class is working on the first student-produced video project ever, in the Arabic Department (NELC).  This is a first of many firsts for Yale (scroll down mid-page).

The group of two students, that I helped out in the process, were not just any students, but both are non-traditional students from Israel, one of which I know has worked for a number of years working to advocate for the rights of Palestinians in Israel.

At the CLS we're just starting to support student multimedia projects like this, so they created a 8 minute video dialog, with 5 scenes, all using the camera built-in to an iMac in the student computer lab, creatively re-positioning it to create the illusion of different scenes, and adding a jazz soundtrack effectively throughout, and burned it to DVD.

When I watched it, I was tearing up, not just because of what I saw, but what it represents. Passionate people who want to break down walls by to tangibly growing  and learning the language of their "adversary" and by doing so, gaining skills by which they can more effectively reach out and be agents of peace in the Middle East.

They are heading back to Israel after this class ends, in a week. My thoughts and prayers will be with them.

May each of us have as much courage as they do to make this world a better place.

Shalom. M'asselema.

~Jeremy

2:54 PM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Prologue to Resonance

At my core I am a seeker -
of truth - where it may be found,
and a knower of truth - where
it may be felt.

I have a penchant for thinking
deeply, then trying to express it
in a way that is either
1) unintelligible (to most people)
2) a pearl of wisdom
3) or both.*(see below)

people can only understand what is in,
or close to, their own experience,
because of that, there are some (Christians)
that (may) think that what I say is
ungrounded or "out there" but in reality
everything I say is grounded in, and
stems from, the core of what I know
(and what we can agree on) to be true.
Only the base of knowledge differs.

In many cases, I was once where they
were at - in which case I change
form - slightly - to be the finger,
pointing to the moon.

In my all my writings/poetry - available
or not - I have nothing to hide,
though when writing and posting for the
web I have put myself in a "paralysis of
analysis" with thinking about who will
read what, and what they would take from
it. Not that it would be anything "bad",
but that, being someone who is deliberate
and thinks about who I'm communicating
to - what is being said - and who will read
it, is information absent from my mind
as I am writing these thoughts that you are
reading now...

So! what's left is to write what I am thinking,
without assuming you don't know something
about whatever I'm talking about, and let
the chips fall where they may, with the hope
that my writings will resonate with deeply
thinking individuals who are open-minded,
seeking, and in the process of expressing,
becoming who they where meant to be.

Vale.

Jeremy

*This is the most frustrating!

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