Paul Hawken and the New Operating System

A beautiful commencement address by Paul Hawken to the University of Portland.

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful." No pressure there.

Let's begin with the startling part. Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

Get Your Tickets Now

Tickets go on sale on Friday, May 30th for the Dalai Lama's visit to DC and presentation on October 10th.  You can go here for more information.  There is always great energy at these events. A short clip from the Dalai Lama on meditation:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P9F29jT7QQ]

It's a Jungle Out There

The heat is bringing out the bugs ... and the snakes!  This first creature was right along the path next to the river. A mild-mannered resident of River Bend Park.

Sunday was the first day of kayaking.  The flow is pretty strong right now so it's a great workout to head up river until nicely tired, then float back and play around the rocks and eddies.  I came upon this creature who didn't seem to mind me cycling back a few times to try to get a better shot.   Since I don't have a waterproof camera and the current was pretty strong, I didn't get that sharp a shot, but I did get close enough to pay my respects.  It's hard to get perspective, but this creature was huge!

Catching some rays.
This is one serious serpent.

Five Months of Silence

There is an aspect of any spiritual discipline that entails restraint with awareness.  When we step away from habitual activity and pay careful attention to what arises and our relationship to it, we become more self aware.  This is a short piece on someone who practiced silence while on a five-month retreat.  It's here on the Huffington Post. Thanks, Janice, for the link.

The "What Am I?" Retreat

An important aspect of the "What Am I?" retreat we did on Saturday is the principle of "interpersonal meditation."  In addition to silent practice, participants sit quietly with another person.  The questioner asks, "Please tell me what you are."  After a sincere inquiry into what happens inside contemplating the question, the speaker shares what arises in the mind and body. Because we hold a commitment to confidentiality and do not 'discuss' what arises, participants feel free to openly share what they notice internally when they take on this most challenging inquiry.  What happens for many is a sense of safety, trust and though there is no 'discussion,' a deepening sense of intimacy - with ourselves and each other.

I'm struck by the following poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, which speaks to the connection possible between us:

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love for your dream for the adventure of being alive. It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon... I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain mine or your own without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy mine or your own if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful to be realistic to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure yours and mine and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Living in the Body: A Dharma Talk

At our retreats, I lead mindful movement twice a day, help people with their seated posture and often give a talk on the first foundation practice of mindfulness of the body.  I love feeling how my years of yoga training are integrating with the Buddha dharma. If you'd like to listen to my talk, you can download it or listen to it live here at the IMCW website.

"There is one thing that, when cultivated and regularly practiced, leads to deep spiritual intention, to peace, to mindfulness and clear comprehension, to vision and knowledge, to a happy life here and now, and to the culmination of wisdom and awakening. And what is that one thing? It is mindfulness centred on the body.” Gautama Buddha

Thanks, Janet, for your quick as a bunny service!

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Back from the Spring Retreat

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The Meditation Hall at Seven Oaks.

I am just back from the IMCW Spring Retreat.

It rained for seven days.  Every day but the final morning.  No doubt the grey skies and downpours helped draw our practice inward and into the quiet.

A lot happens in a week of silent practice.

The first few days are often an internal bog of drowsiness and recognizing how depleted and exhausted we are.

The day starts with a wake up bell at 5:45 for optional yoga and ends at 9:30 after a half hour of sitting and chanting.  In between, the day is highly structured.  It's spacious, but we flow from event to event: yoga, sit, eat, rest, sit, walk, sit, walk, eat, rest, sit, walk, sit, yoga, sit, walk, eat, rest, sit, walk, listen to a dharma talk, sit and chant, then more rest.

The regularity of each day begins to soothe the nervous system and calm the mind.

"Doing nothing" can be surprisingly tiring. We fall into bed exhausted. As the days pass, though, inevitably we start to feel both a sense of deeper and wider relaxation as well as a greater capacity for concentration.

We notice things we had not noticed before. Sensations inside.  The connection between thought and feeling.  Moments of feeling tight inside completely tied up in a story give way to wafts of spaciousness - then back again into contraction.

The heart feels buoyed up by the steady presence of fellow practitioners around us. The daily guided compassion meditations touch tender spots.  A sob heard in the room reverberates in our hearts.

The unseen, unfelt, undigested content of our lives finds its way to the surface. Some of what arises is incredibly sticky and remains in our awareness for days, cycling back again and again. Some of it arises and effortlessly glides away.

We begin to sense a quiet behind the noise inside. A little more space.

In the final circle when we speak again, I can see the radiance that has been revealed through practice. Eyes are bright and soft. Voices resonate with gratitude and wonder.

For me, as a leader, these days are incredibly full.  I lead the movement classes twice a day, do private interviews and prepare an evening talk. I too fall into bed exhausted for much of the week.

If you ever have the opportunity or inclination to take some time on retreat, consider it as one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.

Not only do you step away from the habits of your current life, but when you step into an environment dedicated to fully supporting you as you explore what it means to be alive and awake in the body, heart and mind, you not only begin to sense what is no longer needed in your life, you return to your worldly life more aware of what is possible.

Happy for No Reason: Extreme Sheep

Being away on retreat for a week resulted in some great video references.  I grew up on a sheep farm and actively tended our herd from about the age of six, hauling water, feed, culling lambs, helping out with shearing.  While we had a collie who sometimes surprised us with his herding instincts, in England I got a hit of the mastery of sheepmen with their dogs and you really see it here on display.  It might strike you as a bit rough on the sheep, but from what I know of people who work so closely with animals, this is more of a display of creativity than any harm to the sheep. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3qvJgY9XQI]

Thank you, Mark.

The World is One Family: World Wide Data Flow

While this presentation from the TED talks is ostensibly about new ways to use and communicate data, I was entranced by the images of the world as a whole and how our species has shifted, changed and possibly evolved.  This is a twenty minute clip, but you might find it expanding and even enthralling. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w]

Thanks, Andy!