July 11, 2006
Through the Curtain
My supervision group met yesterday after a two month hiatus. We noticed that, at almost every gathering any of us has attended lately, there is talk of impending doom. How do we live with that?
One of us subscribes to YES! Magazine, a publication of The Positive Futures Network and finds it quite uplifting.
The Positive Futures Network (PFN) and its publication YES! magazine start with the belief that we need deep change if we are to avoid the breakdown of society and the natural world. Our hope lies in the fact that millions of people around the world are creating the needed changes in their homes, communities, work places, and nations. Powerful innovations are taking hold within agriculture, businesses, criminal justice, schools--virtually every sector of society. This work is barely visible in the media and the prevailing political discourse – yet holds the promise of transforming the foundations of our world.
You can get a little flavor by perusing the content of back issues and reading about the interesting conferences editor, Sarah van Gelder is attending this summer.
While trying to keep one's psyche out of the toilet, it is important to remember to focus on solutions rather than problems, as the things we don't want cascade down upon us. Deepak Chopra (not my favorite spiritual leader) has a very nice piece to that effect.
Another lovely group member had just finished reading, and recommended. "On Desire" by William B. Irvine
Our evolutionary past, Irvine claims, has wired us for endless dissatisfaction since, from an evolutionary standpoint, it doesn't matter if we're miserable as long as we survive and reproduce. Early humans who basked in contentment, he argues, were less likely to survive than ones with a nagging itch to better their lot. Given this treadmill, how can we lead happy, meaningful lives? Irvine shares the advice of those who claim that "undesirable desires arise because we care what other people think of us." Examining teachings of Zen Buddhists, the Amish, the Hutterites, Hellenistic philosophers (the Stoics, Epicureans and Skeptics) and others, he concludes, "the best way to gain... lasting satisfaction... is to change not the world and our position in it but ourselves... we should work at wanting what we already have."Personally, I am a great proponent of cultivating desire. As far as I'm concerned it's what makes life worth living. I do think we need to broaden the content of our desires, so that they are not exclusively limited to having material goods and bigger boobs, (not that it's wrong, just fleeting). I am trying to expand my desires to encompass areas that might prove more satisfying, and take up less space --- You know, like community, friendship, learning, psychological growth, spiritual awakening, beauty, peace, creative expression and, my personal favorite, synchronicity.
Esther Hicks channeling Abraham, says that we get in trouble with desire, when we desire something that doesn't manifest quickly. We forget to enjoy what we have, and begin to focus on what we don't have, thus making ourselves miserable along the path. She says that you hardly ever hear anyone complaining in August that Christmas isn't here yet.
The trick is to stay in eager anticipation, like many of us do with Christmas (not me, of course). When you can stay curious along the way, it's not necessary to give up desire entirely, like the gurus tell us (just ask Deepok) -- bujust don't get all twisted and embittered while you're waiting.
And then there was a highly enthusiatic recommendation of "A General Theory of Love", which I need to read before I write about. Check back next year.
Photo note: You are left to make your own associations.
Posted by Dakota at July 11, 2006 06:31 AM