Imprinting Joy on the Earth

image from desktopnexus.com

We have inflicted a great deal of damage on the earth. The planet’s biosphere is the only one we know of that supports reflexively self-aware life forms. There may well be more, but for the moment this is it. 

Clearly we inter-are with the earth; we are made of the same elements. When we harm the planet, when we poison our environment, they harm and poison us in turn, along with every other species with which we share the biosphere.

This calls for mindfulness of consumption and of disposal. We send energy and support to our Mother Earth who sustains us each time we mindfully recycle, reuse and repurpose the material things we use. When we walk gently, in awareness of the contact between the soles of our feet and the earth, we can imagine ourselves imprinting happiness and healing upon it with each step. The act of walking mindfully -- to walk in full awareness of the fact that you’re walking -- confers a sense of being tethered to the earth as if by an invisible cord. It’s a powerful way to meditate. 

In Epicurean philosophy, the goals the practitioner seek are ataraxia (the tranquil, imperturbable mind) and aponia (freedom from anxiety and pain). This they do by distinguishing between necessary and unnecessary desires, adjusting their habits of craving, and taking positive energy from life’s natural pleasures in moderation. Like the Buddhist practitioner, the followers of this ancient ethical philosophy work to broaden the breadth of their awareness and widen their circles of compassion to encompass all conscious creatures; indeed, all sentient beings.

The earth wants to heal us, to reach us with the truths of nondiscrimination, impermanence and compassion. In order to receive these wise messages, we have to turn down the noise in our minds. A regular mindfulness meditation practice is one of the most effective tools at our disposal to achieve and sustain a receptive, tranquil and unfettered mind. Let’s walk gently on the earth, imprinting joy, happiness and peace with every step we take.

Stewardship or Dominion?

     Image from permaculture

It is an unfortunate truth that some people can't be happy if their ability to threaten or harm other conscious beings is in any way abridged. Of course, the notion that harm or threats of harm will make us happy is an illusion; what actually fulfills us as human beings is empowering and nurturing other beings-- both humans and other species.

Looking deeply, we see that causing harm to another conscious being is tantamount to harming ourselves.The Buddhist teachings on no-self, nondiscrimination and impermanence come to our aid here. As humans we are composed of nonhuman elements, just as dogs and cats are composed of non-dog-and-cat elements. All three species are made from their ancestors, the air, the water, their food and their environments generally. Remove any of those common elements, and they would cease to manifest as discrete beings. The boundary line between one conscious being and another is largely imaginary. We are all defined by interbeing: what benefits me also benefits you; what does you harm does the same to me.

In the Bible (still an authoritative text for some people), one translation has the deity giving humanity a mandate to exercise stewardship of nature, while another reads dominion over same. The former suggests working to protect natural habitats for other species; the other implies dominance and exploitation. Which of the two translations believers read and believe renders predictable outcomes in the ways they interact with the natural world. For us humanists, there has been copious, often brilliant, speculation among contemporary philosophers on this issue over the past several decades. One of them, Australian ethicist Peter Singer, has distinguished himself as a true champion of nonhuman animal species. His books Animal Liberation and Writings on an Ethical Life are well worth reading for anyone interested in the fascinating field of bioethics.

If we decide we have the inalienable right to mindlessly slaughter other species or render their natural habitats unlivable, we wreak real havoc not only on them but on humanity as well. Poison the environment, and the environment will poison you; it really is that simple. The way we choose to interact with the earth, the biosphere, and other species has profound implications for them and for us. Will we choose sustainability and responsible stewardship over reckless domination? The answer will largely determine how long the earth’s biosphere will remain habitable for us and the countless other species with which we share it.

Thoughts from a Meditation Cushion

Image from yogistar.com

I’m a humanist who engages in a spiritual practice based on meditation, self-care and the compassionate nurture of human and other sentient beings. I was thinking earlier today after meditating about the ways humanistic philosophy and holistic spirituality complement one another. That in turn led to some other thoughts.

We've inherited the full range of emotions, thoughts and behaviors that our Paleolithic ancestors had. We have a well-developed prefrontal cortex that enables cognition, language and cooperation. We also have active adrenal glands that enabled our ancient ancestors to flee or fight in threatening circumstances. That can get us into trouble if we don’t evolve strategies for keeping the flow of adrenaline under control. (In my own practice, mindfulness meditation -- both sitting and walking -- is key in this context.) 

Because belonging to a tribe was key to survival in the ancestral environment, we still retain a powerful tribal instinct. That's why we square off so readily as groups: theist against atheist, conservative against liberal, and so on. When it comes to morality, we are actually much more "groupish" than we are selfish. We’re wired to deal with threats to the tribe quickly and efficiently. That explains the fact that we often feel compelled to step in and “set people straight” when we feel our group identity is being treated unfairly or mischaracterized.

The human moral code is a natural product of primate evolution; it comes from the same cooperative reciprocity observable in our closest cousins, the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Of course our cognitive advantage and creative potential have enabled us to go farther than they, both for better and for worse.

Humanism doesn't fail to account for the fact that all humans are torn between doing what's best for the collective and doing only what benefits themselves. That's what lies at the heart of human ethics in my view: are we in it for the good of all, or just looking for ways of bettering our own fortunes?

Ours is a fundamentally optimistic view of humanity despite its individual and collective failures. It's not a belief that human beings are essentially selfless or unflawed (a quick glance at history cures that fantasy), but it doesn’t take a gloomy, dim view of the species, either. We assert that our collective love, our ability to nurture conscious beings, and our creative cognition all have remarkable, perhaps largely untapped, potential.

Summer's End

And you find yourself on a deck in the midst of the Autumn chill, aware of things you’ve seen many times before, yet apprehending them now as if for the first time. Trees surround you; the specificity of their leaves and their growth patterns are a source of never-ending fascination. 

A natural soundtrack plays: the sound of the distant highway breathing dances with late afternoon birdsong, the trilling of insects. You look about and you realize you are in paradise. Both within and without, your bliss is endless. This is indeed a joyous time: the air is cold and crisp; the pale orb is on the rise as the brighter one descends, painting the sky a riot of pastels. 

This is the heart of mindfulness, you realize. There is no craving in this moment, no aversion, none of the tyranny of the urgent. Here, now, you are aware of your deep connection to every spiritual and physical ancestor that has led you to become the discrete conscious entity you are. Your chair is like a lotus flower, and you sit beautifully in it; there is no agenda to follow and no task to complete. 

Winter is on its way; woodsmoke and peace are in the air. You know there are those whose great wish is to turn the world into a charred shell of itself, but you smile in the realization that they have no chance against the innumerable enlightened spirits meditating in this moment. We are intent on creating a beautiful garden that nourishes life of every kind. It is our intention to liberate suffering sentient beings everywhere, to achieve and sustain deep enlightenment, to send waves of compassion further and further into the realms of conscious beings. Without distinction, we offer our benediction, a world of happiness and contentment for every sentient creature on the earth. 

Welcome to a time of deep mindfulness of the fall of the year. It is Samhain, the summer’s end.

Want to be Happy and Fulfilled Today?

Breathing in Full Awareness Is the Key

Image from huffingtonpost.com

If you wish to be fulfilled, happy and clearheaded right now, begin by Identifying your breath as an inhalation, and then acknowledging your exhalation as you breathe out.

When you focus on your in-breaths and out-breaths to the exclusion of all else, you can reconnect with your deepest nature very quickly. Become aware of your body, of your chest as it rises and falls with each inhalation and exhalation. This is a dependable way of bringing body and mind together in perfect unity. Too often, our minds and bodies occupy completely different spaces. If we want to be genuinely present for the world and for other living beings we encounter, we need to find and claim unity of body and mind.

Practicing mindfulness throughout the day, you’ll find yourself more attentive to your surroundings, ever more aware of what’s going on both within you and around you. The plants, animals and animals around you are in need of your attention, of your radical presence. When you encounter your life as an ongoing series of present-moment realizations, everything deeply healing becomes available to you. The constantly shifting sky, the birdsong, the whisper of the wind in the trees, the living beings you love -- are suddenly there -- truly there for you; you are really there for them, as well. Returning to the present moment, and reconnecting with your true identity through conscious breathing, make it all possible.

Joy, fulfillment and a sense of transcendence are all waiting for you to claim them. Focus on your breathing without giving in to distractions, and you’re there! The entire universe wants to reveal itself to you, to encourage you to be fully at ease in it. Beautiful sights, sounds, scents and sensations lie ready to be encountered in this moment, now. Your senses and mind are in good working order; you can taste and feel, intuit and dream. These are sources of deep happiness, the enduring kind; again, breathing in full awareness is the key that opens the door.

Gut Check

Have you checked your daily life against your mission statement recently? I did mine yesterday, and discovered that some adjustments were in order.

Ideally, the bulk of our time should be spent doing things related to our life’s mission, or in recreational pursuits that feed and renew our energy for the things that matter most to us. My personal statement runs as follows:

“To bring enlightenment, beauty and inspiration into the world through words and music, and to deeply care for the human and other sentient beings in my world.”

What I found upon checking my datebook was that I’d been doing quite a bit to tend to the latter part of that mission (although a bit more would be good): both my two elderly feline companions and the rest of my family have been getting a lot of quality time from me. The other side of the ledger, the writing/music-making side, didn’t get the time it deserves lately. Time to go about rebalancing!

If the things we’re most committed to are getting short shrift in our daily lives, it can be helpful to get a sense of what’s occupying our time in their stead. It turns out I’d been connecting with people in real time on social media, and having really fascinating and substantive talks about ideas with highly insightful people. So that’s a good thing! Now, I just have to allocate a little more time to writing in other fora; I can take ideas from my online dialogues and make them into pieces to inspire and inform readers.

And I’ve really got to get back into the studio and do some recording. The songs inside us don’t do anyone any good if they stay there. They have to be harvested from deep within, lovingly crafted, and skillfully sung.

So, how do things stack up in your own gut-check? If you check your datebook against your statement of purpose, will you find you’ve been spending significant time engaged in activities related to your mission, or in recreation that supports them? If not, you may want to make some changes.

Of course, sometimes things go quite the other way round. Our purposes are evolving all the time; sometimes evidence that you’re involved more and more in something else of value may prompt you to amend your mission statement. The healthiest people spiritually, I believe, are those attuned to the subtle messages received from their subconscious minds and from the phenomenal world. They are intuitive and flexible enough to make subtle changes to their lives in the light of new insights. And that's a really good thing!

Who Remembers This Erstwhile Convention?

There was once an almost-universal American "civic religion" that rode alongside people's actual faith traditions like a sidecar to a motorcycle. Citizens generally respected other citizens' religions; or, if not their faiths themselves, at least their right to practice them unmolested. Church/state separation was a given; intrusions into highly personal bioethical matters of conscience were largely -- and rightly -- considered in poor taste.

Thanks to the pernicious rise of the religious right, all those pro-social civic conventions were infected, compromised. Hitchens was absolutely correct in observing that the evil Falwell and his criminal associates did would live on long after them.

We need to keep encouraging the widespread outbreak of secularism that's sweeping the country right now. It's fed largely by demographic and generational change; still, our best, unwitting allies in this effort are the ever-more-extreme, morally bankrupt, and politically-engaged right-wing Xtians themselves. Their inhumanity and empathy deficits are doing more to drive Americans into a wholesale embrace of humanist values than the best-coordinated anti-theist campaigns could possibly accomplish on their own.