a blog by John P. Schuster
All his life has he looked away to the future, the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Yoda Summary: This may be the most radical practice of the ten practices. Our attempt here is to go beyond the thought patterns that so often create anxiety, “stuckness” and their consequent tensions. So much of this comes from time pressures and how we view the future. We ease up on our constant attention to and[…]
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Everywhere I go the world offers me its busyness. It does not believe I do not want it. Mary Oliver Summary: Many metaphors carry significance and meaning all by themselves, without elaboration. The name of practice 8 is one of them. Numerous positive associations come from this water metaphor—non-resistance, going with the flow, being easy-going and letting go of demands from the smaller thinking, non-aware, self. Here is our homage to the Tao, effortlessness, westernized[…]
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We got our kids presents this year again. We may be helping them apply for college or get to practices so they can keep advancing their sports performance. Let me ask you a question. Did you spend much time over the holiday helping them go deeper into the mystery of life and this season? Oughtn’t we put life’s mystery and meaning above cool presents and better times? So much mystery is in the air around[…]
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Mary Oliver tribute Last month we lost one of the great poets of our time. Mary Oliver has seeped into the culture with lines like “your one wild and precious life”. She took her leave of the physical plane at age 84. Prolific, profound, much celebrated, she was rooted almost always in nature first. What a trove of poetic gems she has left us. The title for this post—pay attention, find the joy, tell about[…]
Read moreRemember: we live in time. I gave the mindfulness movement, the fans of the now, credit in my last blog. Now I want to take issue with one of their leaders, Eckhart Tolle, who wrote The Power of Now about 10 years ago and Oprah helped him sell about a jillion copies of his books. He is a good spiritual thinker. I give him credit for much, and you can check him out on YouTube[…]
Read moreHave you done some real thinking lately? Sure you have had thoughts, but more likely than you having them, they have been having you. Thoughts have a life of their own, and sort of stream through our heads of their own accord. I give the mindfulness movement great credit for reminding us how little we really think our thoughts, and how often our thoughts are thinking us. The point of The Power of Your Past[…]
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