Be Here Now

Eckhart Tolle says,

A vital question to ask yourself frequently is:  What is my relationship with the present moment?  Then become alert to find out the answer.  Am I treating the Now as no more than a means to an end?  Do I see it as an obstacle?  Am I making it into an enemy?  Since the present moment is all you ever have, since Life is inseparable from the Now, what the question really means is:  What is my relationship with Life?

Try Awe!

I am intrigued by this report on the benefits of awe.

People increasingly report feeling time-starved, which exacts a toll on health and well-being," states the study. Using three experiments, researchers Melanie Rudd and Jennifer Aaker of the Stanford University, and Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota, examined whether awe can expand perceptions of time availability. They found that participants "who felt awe, relative to other emotions, felt they had more time available, were less impatient, were more willing to volunteer their time to help others, and more strongly preferred experiences over material goods.

Another idea originating at The Dish.

We are here...

From Annie Dillard:

We are here to abet creation and to witness it, to notice each thing so each thing gets noticed. Together we notice not only each mountain shadow and each stone on the beach but we notice each other's beautiful face and complex nature so that creation need not play to an empty house.

Developing Empathy

I spend about eight years of my life waiting tables, and there was much I liked about the job.  I grew up before sports was promoted for women, so waitressing seemed like my first athletic success.  Also, when the restaurant got really busy, being in the present moment was the only possibility.  Worries, if only for the shift, disappeared.  When I’m at a restaurant with someone who gives rude orders to the staff, I assume they have never waited tables.  I sometimes think everybody should have a turn as wait-staff.

Everybody Dies

Recently, Andrew Sullivan reported on his blog that he had the flu and was dividing his time between writing and shitting.  I like Sullivan, but I filed this under too-much-information.

I understand it better today.  Yesterday, I had a colonoscopy.  I had a lot of time to consider my colon, its function, and its products.  First there was the “prep.”  Then there was procedure itself and the many kind people at the clinic who were concerned with my comfort but also concerned that  my prep had produced a “clean” colon.

Complaining, Cont'd

Everything I've written about complaining and its lack of usefulness feels true.  Now I have this heightened sensitivity to my own complains (which are often silent).  So I am now—after all these years—surprised at how unbidden my complaints are—surprised sometimes at the self-righteous pleasure they can provide—amused at how often I complain about the complaints of others.

When I began practicing meditation, it seems I was always hearing, “You are not your thoughts.”  Thank goodness for that.

How Many People Have Been Killed by Guns Since Newtown?

I have posted statistics before from the above named website.  The answer to that question today is 11,449.  But now the Slate sponsors of this site discuss why their numbers are not accurate.  Their statistics report on gun deaths reported in the media.  Suicides are not usually reported in the media and have therefore been missing from Slate’s numbers.  They estimate their chart is missing 20,000 gun deaths.

Truth and Reconciliation

In an interesting article at the Daily Beast, Peter Beinart criticizes the American media for focusing on Nelson Mandela’s capacity for forgiveness while ignoring his insistence that those guilty needed to acknowledge that guilt in the process called Truth and Reconciliation.  Deinart quotes Bishop Desmond Tutu who says,

True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth…because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.

It seems there is something important in this for the United States. It also seems an appropriate addendum to the racial history explored in 12 Years a Slave. I recommend Beinart’s entire article.

12 Years a Slave

I saw 12 Years a Slave two nights ago.  I was reluctant to see what I had heard was a difficult film to view.  It was that.  But I walked out of the theater feeling as if I had seen an explanation for much of the craziness that exists even now in this country.  Slaves were brutalized by their “owners.”  And the owners may have gotten rich from slave labor, but they were not made happy.  The movie made it clear that trying to own another human being was a constant stress, and while the master might control the slave’s behavior, he could not own the person.  So all lived in painful insanity.  And we live with the legacy of that insanity still today.

There is a way that I knew most of the facts contained in the film.  However, the film conveyed the tension between slave and master in such a way, that I left thinking, yes, that’s how it would have to have been.  There was a visceral understanding of what was before mostly intellectual.  Before the movie, I picked up the idea that I needed to see this movie to understand something important about my country.  I believe this is true and highly recommend this movie.

The review from the Guardian is here.  If you live near Three Oaks, Michigan, you have until December 15 to see this film at The Vickers.

The Dark Side of My Computer

I stopped downtown yesterday at a computer repair shop to see if anything could be done to make my laptop operate more reliably. 

The short answer was no.

The long answer was something like this:

• Computers are complicated machines, and they don’t last forever.  (Even can openers don’t last forever.)
• One day your computer will shut down and you won’t be able to get your documents back.  This can happen with a new computer too.
• If you don’t like this, you can use a typewriter.
• Save.

Complaining, cont'd

“Complaining is one of the ego’s favorite strategies for strengthening itself.”  A week ago, I posted this quotation from Eckhart Tolle.  This idea has been on my mind for a few weeks now, and I’ve been noticing my little complaints, noticing how they cut me off from others, even if only a little bit.  Paying attention to the mind is interesting.  So often, these complaints come to me unbidden, and often, they produce a certain kind of self-righteous enjoyment.

Tolle distinguishes between complaining and informing someone of a mistake that can be made right.

Tee Shirt Trivia

I heard this interesting fact this morning on Morning Edition:  It takes six miles of yarn (what we call thread) to make a simple tee shirt.  (More here)

Sad Numbers

Here’s a sad statistic from Paul Krugman:

Despite the lingering effects of the financial crisis, America is a much richer country than it was 40 years ago. But the inflation-adjusted wages of nonsupervisory workers in retail trade — who weren’t particularly well paid to begin with — have fallen almost 30 percent since 1973.