Where Butt Meets Cushion: The Zen Daddy on Meditation

Another essay by The Zen Daddy [see Contributors]

Greetings and salutations to all, and a happy Thanksgiving day! The Zen Daddy is back to talk about an important concept: not serving the cushion, but allowing the cushion to serve you.

Life is busy, whether we’re looking for a job or trying to keep one, and we can allow ourselves to get wound way too tight and let meditation slip by the wayside. The Zen Daddy himself is currently going through a round of this, compounded with some physical issues that are interrupting his usual practice. The thinking was, “I’ll start again when I can sit as I usually do,” but the physical issues have been ongoing, and space between sittings grew. A few days ago he finally made it back to the cushion. He sat down, gently rang the bell, composed himself, and unexpectedly started sobbing. The constant pressure at work from working on a high-visibility project, the recent death of a friend, and lack of practice had pulled him so far to one side that he needed centering, and that began once he sat down.

So what lesson does the Zen Daddy bring from this story? The lesson is twofold: first, meditation is for you. If you can’t physically sit in traditional pose, sit in a chair, or lie down on the floor. Anything you can do to keep that consciousness of being in the moment going is much better than doing nothing just because you can’t do it the way you want to. Second, sometimes you have to let go and let your meditation session be what it wants to be. If you’ve got a reasonably disciplined practice and emotions are overwhelming you, maybe your meditation needs to be about sitting with those emotions and observing them. We’re not meditating so we can be a slave to the machines, we’re simply stoking the transforming embers of the dharma so we can remember our Buddhahood!

Enjoy your day!

 

Almost Great, Mostly Mediocre: A Review of “Paranormal Activity”

By Cultural Analyst Jeff Koch [see Contributors]

First, a word of warning: Do not watch any trailers for Paranormal Activity if you intend to see it. They give away too many of the scares and too many of the surprises (one even shows a clip from the shocking final scene). A movie like this is dependent on the audience walking the same anxiety and tension filled path as the characters, and knowing too much about it beforehand can totally ruin the experience.

The story of how Paranormal Activity came to be is a feel-good one (you can read about it here [http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com/about2.html]). The story of Paranormal Activity, however, is anything but. A young couple (Micah and Katie) is living together in a suburban San Diego home. As the movie opens, Micah has just bought an elaborate camera and microphone set up to record their bedroom at night, determined to get to the bottom of some strange sounds they’ve been hearing while sleeping. Katie is convinced that it is something supernatural; Micah is skeptical. Katie has called in a psychic to help them understand the situation. In the scene between Katie and the psychic, we learn that Katie has been troubled by nocturnal nuisances her entire life; and that this entity is not a ghost, but rather a demon that is haunting Katie specifically, and may have more sinister things in mind than just plain nuisance.

And that is about all that you need to know plot-wise (and about all that you should know) before you see it. The rest of the movie alternates between herky jerky handheld shots of Micah and Katie interacting during the day and before bed (the entire movie is shot from the perspective of Micah’s camera, like home movies) and a tripod camera focused on them in bed asleep at night, shot in the eerie glow of night vision. It’s these latter shots that provide the meat of the story and the bulk of the scares.

I saw this movie in the theater with 4 friends. At the movie’s conclusion, every single one of my friends said something disparaging. Other viewers were calling for their money back. The overall reaction was overwhelmingly negative. And the movie certainly leaves a lot to be desired. While the two leads are convincing and never seem to be acting, due to the nature of the movie, the dialogue is overly repetitive and fairly mundane without ever advancing character or plot. And neither of the characters is terribly likeable or very bright (Micah’s boasts that he is going to take care of his girlfriend in the face of being terrorized by a demon are particularly laughable). Most of the handheld camera scenes shot during the day are listless and seem to drag unnecessarily (and the movie clocks in at under 90 minutes). The scenes with the psychic are too expository, and he offers very little other than to let us all know that it is indeed a demon (and in a too brief, out of place later scene, to let us know that yes, the demon is indeed angry). And the plot has some major sticking points.

But perhaps the biggest issue with the movie is pacing. The movie starts out slow, especially some of the unwatchable daytime scenes. But the tension is being built very deliberately and very carefully. Every single one of the night time scenes is tense and frightening in either what is happening or the expectation of what could be happening. It takes a few nights before the first visually noticeable thing happens, and even then it’s very subtle. And this building of tension works very well, infusing every sleeping scene with a sense of dread. But they build too slowly, saving the truly frightening stuff for too long, and then throwing it all in too quickly. By the time the first shockingly scary thing happens, the movie is almost over, and there isn’t enough time to build anything truly frightening that will stick with you once you walk out of the theater.

Despite all of that, the last 15 minutes of the movie almost make up for its obvious flaws. Shot on a shoestring budget, the director was able to get some surprisingly spooky effects in there that I still can’t figure out how they did. Night 20 especially will leave you in awed terror. And the final scene is one for the horror movie ages, perfectly mixing creepiness, tension, and shock (plus a subtle homage to The Blair Witch Project, a movie it owes a lot to) into one last memorable shot (just please ignore the very last second of the movie).

Ultimately, a great horror movie should stick with you. Paranormal Activity both succeeds and fails on this count. It succeeds in that despite all of the intellectual problems with the movie, it physically gets to you. About an hour after the movie my stomach ached like I had been doing sit-ups, no doubt the cause of constantly catching my breath and worrying in anticipation of what might be coming. It fails in that there was no lasting dread, no residual fear. After watching a movie in which a couple is terrorized by a demon while they sleep, I had absolutely no worries about going home and going straight to bed.

Rating: 6.5 / 10Wait for it on DVD and watch it at home. I think the movie suffers from viewing with a large audience. It would be far more terrifying viewed in the intimacy of your home, giving a little too much familiarity to the scenes in the movie.

Recommendation:

 

Mysterious Orb Photograph: What’s Your Take?

Post by Ben Koch (see “Contributors”)

The photo below of me and an aunt was taken at a family reunion in Colorado Springs, CO in June of 2009. I didn’t see the photo until September of 2009, when my aunt sent a CD with all the reunion’s pictures on it. As I browsed through the 100-plus photos, I was taken aback by this one, as it clearly displayed a phenomena I’d read and heard about quite a bit: orbs (look toward middle of my torso, with my black vest as background).

Orb caught in a family reunion photo

Explanations range from the predictably materialistic (see the wikipedia post) to the extarodinarily fanciful. The most powerful and intriguing explorations, in my opinion, come where science meets open-minded humility. 

Klaus Heinemann, PhD, is one the the premier researchers in the field (see his book on the topic). His scientific training and disposition have teamed with his spiritual instincts to be the impetus for years of rigorous research. It might be easier to tell yourself orbs are just micrscopic dust particles refracting light just so, but when you really and openly examine the phenomena, as he has, these are the conclusions you come to (from his site):

Orbs are not explainable with conventional physics
They are emanations from intelligent life outside of the conventional physical realm
They are abundantly around us (but we must use discernment)
They have individualistic features and may have “faces”
They have different intensities (some require digital image enhancement)
They can move extremely fast ( presumably at unlimited speed )
They can follow instructions (Stereo-Photography with Orbs )
They can expand (presumably to infinite size) and contract (presumably to atomic size) extremely fast
Extreme contraction at infinite speeds allows the hypothesis that they may be instrumental in certain aspects of alternative/spiritual healing
Thought projections look similar to orbs

I am struck by the symmetry and perfect circularity of my orb. Here is a close-up:

Close up of Colorado orb

Many observers point out the mandala-like quality of the orbs. Others focus on the high occurrence of orbs and photos associated with crop circles. Virtually all who get beyond the “technological glitch” explanation have an intuitive sense that an other-dimensional intelligence is involved.

 

 

 

What is your take? Have any orb photos or experiences of your own? Have your own theory? Please share.

Spiritual AND Religious?

Post by Jeff Koch [See Contributors]

Over  the last 10 years, I’ve spent a good amount of time internet dating. It really is the perfect medium for writers to meet and scope out potential dates and partners, as the primary means of information exchange is the written word. I’m an ardent supporter of the process, and often encourage my friends to do it. Most sites will allow you to see basic physical and social information (height, eye/hair color, job, location, etc), a rundown of likes and dislikes, an open-ended about me section, and usually the answer to quirky questions meant to bring out the writer’s personality. If people use it honestly and sincerely, it can really work.

But there’s always been one question and subsequent answer (that shows up on most sites) that has always troubled me. When asked to share religion, lots of people (and most people my age) respond with spiritual but not religious. At first blush, it seems quite obvious what this answer is trying to convey about oneself: “Look, I’m a thoughtful, intelligent person that thinks and cares about ‘deep’ things, but I don’t go to church and I’m not a crazy right-wing religious nut”. But the underlying sentiment is much more complicated and even a tad sinister—the two ideas seem to have been torn asunder from each other. Spirituality is no longer seen as domain of religion, and in fact is seen as something entirely separate. And conversely, religion is oftentimes no longer seen as a place of spiritual exploration and understanding.

One of the problems I have with this is that the word spiritual and all of its possible meanings and connotations is so open-ended, broad, and ambiguous, that it can really lose all meaning. At this point it just becomes short hand, not much different than the word cool. It can also be used as a lazy short cut, a way to achieve a certain level of depth without having to do any actual work, because what does spirituality really require besides thinking? And no one can ever question if one thinks or not. I’m certainly not saying that spiritual people are lazy or clueless; I’m merely suggesting that anybody anywhere can say that they are spiritual without having that assertion questioned in any way, because there is no litmus test for spirituality.

So then how would we define spiritual? The dictionary says this . Notice that several entries mention religion. But the main thing I take away from the definition is that spiritual consists of an interest in the soul, the non-physical, and how we understand ourselves and the things that we can only feel implicitly. It doesn’t necessarily imply a certain belief in anything, but an attempt to define those beliefs for one’s self. Ultimately, it is how we choose to relate to ourselves and both the physical and non-physical world around us.

Talking about religion (and especially Christianity, the predominant religion in America, and the religion I will be using in this essay) is a much trickier endeavor. Just the word religion is so socially and politically charged these days, that it’s hard to discuss it rationally and it’s even harder to agree on exactly what it means or what it is. I’m not here to preach, and I’m not here to have a heated political discussion. I only hope that we can come to some sort of basic understanding about what religion is, at the very least, trying to be.

I was spoiled with religion. My father is a Lutheran Minister; he’s also a kind, open, loving man. I grew up in a religious household that was also kind, open, and loving. I then went to University and studied religion from one of the sharpest and brightest minds in the field of Religious Studies. All the while, I was allowed the freedom to explore it and understand it on my own terms. So I understand that I come at religion from a different place than most.

But what is religion really trying to do? Why do people seek it out? Ultimately, I think that religion does two things: One, it helps us understand and define our Universe and our place in it. Second, it guides us in our interactions with ourselves and the world. Or, God and The Golden Rule.

This all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Isn’t this really what spiritual people are doing, too, trying to understand the world within and the world without and figuring out how to relate to both worlds? But many spiritual people don’t believe in God. True, but they believe in something that they can’t see and can’t fully understand. They believe in an existence of a non-physical world and power or energy, something that binds us all. Religious people call it God. Spiritual people might not. That doesn’t mean they aren’t trying to understand the same thing.

And isn’t the Golden Rule (do unto others as you’d have done unto yourself) really just a way of figuring out how to relate to others vis-à-vis yourself? Spirituality is concerned with the self and figuring out how to understand and relate to it. Religion is concerned with taking that understanding and applying it to the rest of the world. Taking both to their logical ends comes up with the same conclusion: Be a good person.

Ultimately, I think we are talking about 2 sides of the same coin here. One can certainly be spiritual without being religious, and vice versa, but they are not mutually exclusive. As long as a person is curious, open-minded, and honest, both can offer fulfillment and benefit. I would encourage spiritual people to not dismiss religion out of hand, and to explore the teachings and the insights it might have to offer in your personal quest for understanding. And I would encourage religious people to never lose sight of the personal journey of spiritual growth that is inherent in all religions. In the end, whether we are spiritual, religious, or both, we are all looking for the same thing: a way to understand our mysterious world and to live in it harmoniously with ourselves and others.

What type of river rock are you?

A post from Zen Daddy

Greetings and salutations! The Zen Daddy is back to share a little dharma with you today. Over the past several years we have seen a polarization of viewpoints in the media and – for many – in our daily lives. It’s as if every person in the country has been given a loudspeaker and feels the need to convince everyone else that their view is correct. Sometimes we are dragged into the debate (or jump) without even realizing it. The problem is that instead of spreading clarity, we’re just adding to the babble of voices. Few people are convinced by logical arguments or repetition or by sheer volume, because our individual viewpoints are deeply ingrained.So what’s a person to do? If we get very emotional about political issues, we might do well to heed the Buddha’s stand when he was asked about the afterlife and simply not get involved. To paraphrase his words, “Such a topic of conversation is not worthy of one seeking enlightenment.” If our political participation is limited to the occasional election but we frequently debate issues, maybe we need to withdraw until we are no longer attached to outcomes. Over our lifetime, many elections will take place, many programs will be started and ended by Congress, and many bills will be signed into law. We will agree with some of them, and we will not agree with others, and that is that. 

 

If we actively participate in the political process or do not get too attached to discussions of issues (or seek to get to that place), we should pay attention to our actions and ask ourselves, “What type of river rock am I?” In a conversation, are you the type that sticks proudly out of the water and tries to be the proverbial Immoveable Object, or do you sit just below the surface and let the water slip smoothly by, yet your influence can be seen by the slight rise in the river as the water slips over? One of the best ways we can have productive, beneficial conversations is to make sure we understand the other person’s viewpoint before we make sure they understand every nuance of ours. 

 

 This can feel uncomfortable as our ego is deeply involved, but one of the main reasons conversations can turn into arguments is that one or both parties don’t feel they’re heard, so they start using volume and intensity to push their points through. However, if we truly hear the other person and are able to repeat their points back to them, we reassure them that they being heard and they are more open to listening.

Also, letting someone share their views without getting attached to what their view is can be an act of kindness. Think about how it feels when someone clearly hears you when you express your viewpoint… doesn’t it feel good on some level? We have the opportunity to perform that act of charity for someone else as well, and that helps break down the illusion of our separation from other sentient beings as well. As Christianity’s Prayer of Saint Francis says, “Lord, grant that I may seek rather… to understand, than to be understood.”

Enjoy your day!

[Editor's note: Want more Zen Daddy? Let us know by commenting on this post. Perhaps we can persuade him to come on out of his Zen Den more often!]

The Biology of Belief…a Peek

Another of this summer’s non-fiction reads that flirted with the idea of maximizing human potential was The Biology of Belief by Bruce H. Lipton. Lipton is a traditionally trained biologist (PH.D) who, through a series of eureka moments related directly his research on the structure and function of cells, has come to a more radical position within biology: that our thoughts, at an energetic level, directly affect our genes.

Lipton provides tantalizing justification that is convincing–at least to an intelligent layperson like me. Somehow he had me finally getting a grip on the one science that most alluded me in high school, and he got me there with an evolutionary approach that is simple and yet mind-blowing: have you every thought of yourself as a conglomeration of specialized cell colonies? Lipton wonderfully pulls the rug out on the illusion of the fixed, stand-alone physical “self” in a way that is very, well….Buddhist.

One of the most important gestures of the book, however, is how Lipton attempts to loosen the fatalistic grip genes have on popular culture:

“Since the dawning of the Age of Genetics, we have been programmed to accept that we are subservient to the power of our genes. The world is filled with people who live in constant fear that, on some unsuspecting day, their genes are going to turn on them…What about all those headlines trumpeting the discovery of a gene for everything from depression to schizophrenia? Read those articles closely and you’ll see that behind the breathless headline is a more sober truth…Scientists have rarely found that one gene causes a trait or disease.”

In the end, Lipton develops an hypothesis of empowerment and leaves the reader with a sense of personal responsibility. Not exactly a piece of candy…more like a potent dose of fiber. Read more at Lipton’s homepage.

Born to Run…the secrets

One of my most intriguing reads this summer was Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall. Last summer I humbly began training for a 5k, hoping it wasn’t too late to tone myself into decent running form in my mid-30s. There have been points of frustration over the past year, but when I read about McDougall’s discovery of a 60 year old Tarahumara Indian from a remote terrain of Mexico running an ultrathon (100 miles) in sandals and loving every minute of it, I knew there was a well of potential I’d hardly tapped. As McDougall journeys from his own aching foot to the mystery of this Tarahumara, he takes us down many roads–anthropology, physiology, nutrition, philosophy, spirituality (though he may not use that word) and more. I am NOT on the payroll of Alfred A. Knopf, but this is a 5 star read.

In general, I’m not a classicist in the sense of praying to the Greeks and their ideals, but they certainly had an understanding of the interconnection between our physical and mental well-being. Why is it that we still can’t quite seem to reconcile being “spiritual” and being “athletic”? They completely support each other. Although this isn’t McDougall’s explicit thesis, it is wholeheartedly reinforced by my reading.

Enjoy this clip of McDougall discussing the seeds of the book and his conclusions. It includes a shot of him running in the traditional Tarahumara sandals.

issue 08 is live.

Go read issue 08. Better yet, go DO something to enhance yourself after reading issue 08.

Here’s a little taste of the introduction letter from that issue:

One-hundred fifty years ago English philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote a landmark essay on individual rights and liberties called, well, On Liberty. Mill stresses that the key to a free society is the willingness to engage our personally held opinions and beliefs in a dialogue with opposing opinions. He gives four reasons why we should listen to and honestly consider opposing opinions:

1. The opposing opinion might actually be RIGHT. Denying this possibility is like claiming your own infallibility (as in, who died and made you God?).
2. The opposing opinion may contain part of the truth that complements yours. Remember the fable of the 6 blind men all describing different parts of the SAME elephant?
3. Reflecting on the opposing opinion keeps your own reasoning sharp and vibrant. If you aren’t forced to continually think through your own belief it becomes DOGMA.
4. The opposing opinion is what allows the “growth of heartfelt conviction” in your own belief.

Mill believed strongly in the need to question conformity because so many mainstream ideas are unchallenged dogmas thought to be common sense:

 ”He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation. He who chooses his plan for himself, employs all his faculties. He must use observation to see, reasoning and judgment to foresee, activity to gather materials for decision, discrimination to decide, and when he has decided, firmness and self-control to hold to his deliberate decision” (p. 187).

So what’s your plan? How many of your current beliefs are slowly calcifying into habitual dogma? Why not bring them down from the attic, dust them off, and see if they still speak to you.

ben’s TEN e-zine issue 07 is out!

Those of us in the Northern hemisphere begin to notice some changes this time of year. There aren’t crossing guards or school zone speed limits slowing our commute. Sunshine prods us out of bed through that crack in our curtains earlier and earlier, and lingers longer and longer into the evening. And even though we are no longer students, for whom Summer is an endless meadow of freedom from the imposed routines of school and a respite from the official knowledge of “the man”, we too, eternal kids that we are, feel a certain spaciousness and freedom these sunny days.

 

I don’t know about you, but I love to nurture that sense of rebelliousness in the Summertime and explore realms of knowledge off the beaten track–feed the inner bohemian. Just recently, for example, I’ve picked up Above Top Secret, a fact-based but mind-boggling exploration of modern conspiracy theories by award-winning journalist Jim Marrs. I’ll never look at road signs, contrails, or those moon landing photos in quite the same way again.

 

I’m not saying issue 07 will blow you out of the water or completely derail all your dearly held beliefs, but approach it with that sense of spaciousness and lax regard for routine and authority that Summer provides and I think it will be more rich than it would be otherwise. I’m especially proud of my worldwide Youtube premier with this month’s ben’s TEN video production called “Building Your Brain Power with Cross-Laterals.”

 

Happy June. 

Enjoy issue 07 here.

Video – Boosting Brain Power with Cross Laterals

Issue 07 of the e-zine features a ben’s TEN video production that gives instructions on two cross-lateral exercises. Don’t worry about scouring youtube to find it, here it is!