Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Tao of Enron - excerpt from the book Dead Boys

Dead Boys by Gabriel Squailia
"Our Goddess isn’t gracious, nor loving, nor any of the other fine words we impute to her in our prayers; she’s fickle, fickle as a kitten, and yet we think the same old blessings repeated for eternity can win her affections. Not so!” He cupped his hands above his brow. “We have to shake her up to keep her close! And feeling that truth in my bones, I placed what little time remained to me on the tabletop, and cursed the Lady with all my might,...-- and lo, when I stood up again, I was richer..." From the preaching of Brother Griswold

When I read this excerpt from Dead Boys by Gabriel Squailia, I thought, "Maybe blasphemy really can bring luck to some people if the ruling gods' attention is gained by spitting right in their eye." This is a dangerous path, for sure. But greed brings people to perform strange acts. It has the tinge of the 'left-handed' paths in various spiritual traditions; going so far in the 'wrong' direction.


One of the curses further on in this chapter is very contemporary:  “May all statistical improbabilities impact thee unfavorably!” This was the downfall of the stock market in 2008 when all the mortgages went South as a result of banks poorly assessing the statistical risks of sub-prime loans. The improbability (black swan) manifested itself but only after making tons of money for the blasphemers!!! Of course, few were punished.


So, how  did the author come up with the Tao of Enron?

Perceptive, but the perversity of attracting god's attention through misbehaving is twisted.


"There's a scene in the documentary, "Smartest Guys in the Room" where these two traders are talking while they're forcing power blackouts in California during the forest fires, and it's really obvious that they equate the grandmothers they're killing with the money they're making on some cosmic level," answered Gabriel.


Dead Boys is a novel chock full of such insight as well as entertaining banter, inspired characters.



Light-hearted and macabre, Dead Boys’ comic-book flash illuminates a framework of Buddhist philosophy and classical allusions that give it an appeal far beyond the boundaries of generic fantasy. http://squailia.blogspot.com/

Strong Reactions


In all my hate-ful relationships I've always found the way out is through understanding the pain and suffering of the oppressor, or hated one. This is different from pity, forgiveness, or condescension. Often, I find that I can trace the very qualities I revile in others to my own behaviors, thus understanding the root of the aversion.


When I react strongly to some external object, person and/or occurrence, there lies the bed of karma. Usually it is rich with insight. If I do a little work, the true self is revealed!

This applies to my reaction to the killing of Ossama bin Laden as well as the woman who condescended to me over the weekend. It is in my perception of the offenses that freedom lies. The stronger the reaction that arises in me, the more I am dealing with something from my past, out of touch from my conscious mind. Fear arises and one strikes out.

In Yoga, we are led to not dwell on these occurences of the fructification of karma, but rather see our true Self more clearly through the acting out. This way we can see out habitual patterns more clearly and perhaps free ourselves from aversion and attrachment.

For really difficult personalities, where denial and avoidance are strongest, other techniques are required. In cases of drug and alcohol addiction, for example, denial is strong and consciousness of the implications of our actions is weak. Then the only course of action is to look at the behaviors in detail and set out the exact nature of the wrongs done. In this way karma is revealed; through seeing, finally, the repitition of similar behavior. Also, it is necessary to make amends as a way of rejoining the flow of the community, be it family or society.

Knowing where to start is often the biggest step on any journey.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Yoga or Yoga-esque?

Okay, so I believe that Yoga improves many things in life but does that mean I have to be led by the effects, like better sex, rather than focus on the practice? And, by the way, what do I believe are the effects of Yoga?

When people begin Yoga, as I did years ago, it is their expectation that will dominate what the perceived effects are for a long time. That is, if they continue. Oh, and for most it means to practice postures, or asana, which is Yoga to most of us in the West.

Our perception of Yoga is pretty much set from outside influences like media, friends or authorities we listen to. Once we are convinced to try Yoga it is against that set of values that we judge 'Yoga Styles.' It's human. We simply try something based on what we think it will do and see if it does it.

Except that Yoga is vast and has no coordinating authority to say what it is and how it shall be taught. Oh, there are some guide books that have been written over the last two thousand years, but nothing everyone agrees on.

And so we have what we've seen in movie fiction for years: True believers and rebels. In Yoga, this is always going on. Yogis are notorious for not conforming - mostly because they tend to be mystics. And mystics are True-believers having found a direct and un-mediated connection with Life, the Universe and Everything!

The rebels today are practicing 'in the style of' yoga, hence yoga-esque. Being non True-believers, of written word or authorities, they are experimenting and finding new ways and variations on the established theme.

In point of fact, to most other humans on Earth they are doing the same things! From a distance, most non-yoga humans don't see much difference.

Indian philosophy talks about actions that appease the pleasure in the body/mind, bhogakala, and actions that appease the spiritual heart/soul, yogakala. The True-believers tend to get angry at Bhogi's because they believe they are missing a great opportunity to use their talents to reach Enlightenment. Bhogi's don't seem to mind looking good, feeling good, but not doing 'good' Yoga!!! But that seems to be the nature of rebel yoga practitioners.

Recently, it has come to light that Yoga as we know it today may really be physical yoga based on european exercise regimes. This would seem to throw a kink in those in the US especially who thought they were True-believers but now may be marginally self-aware rebels because the True True-believers are Vedantic or Raja Yogi's.

What a predicament you've gotten us into now. But this has been the way of Yoga for millennia and we, the practitioners of today, are not exempt from this quandary.

So what's the deal? The deal is to keep doing while awake. The deal is to observe how our expectations sort out our experiences into value groups and how that has an effect on our lives. The deal is to develop a sense of discrimination over time that will help us see all of this clearly. The deal is to do without judgement but with a clear mind and see where it takes us.

And that's all I got because that's all I expect... to see clearly.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Yoga-nomics: Recirculating Wealth

We are all interconnected in so many ways. Unfortunately, in cases like this, large corporations act as middle-men and take profit out of areas where they are needed. Trendiness has consequences. 
Buy local has a lot of impact in supporting your neighbors as well as recycling profits. Profits stay locally and growers then spend their money in local stores, banks and yoga studios.


Buying from Trader Joe's of Whole Foods takes the profits out of an area for good and only marginal income is recirculated in the form of very low wages to hourly employees. {i started calling it Whole Fools after the elitist Health Care statements of owner John Mackey were made.}


Trickle-down economist types have a lot of information about the wealth effects of all this, but the decimation of local economies is not their concern. Efficient markets usually mask the devastation of local economies and individual lives. Theirs is a view from 50,000 feet saying the weather is sunny while it's very different here on Earth.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Education: what direction does it take?


Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi



After Learning all scientific theories and becoming highly educated persons in the world, then if the people do not destroy their pride and ego through Self-Inquiry, there is no use of their illusionary achievements.

The uneducated people are better than them.

The pride of acquiring Education, the desire for appreciation and fame are subject matters for discouragement.

That Education is not at all education and real knowledge.

The Education which paves the way for searching the Truth, The education which inculcates obedience in them is the superior education. It will make them humble and honest people to behave with a sense of equality towards all in the World.
Sri Ramana Maharshi

If you've made it this far you must be fascinated by the above quote. Personally, I am mostly attracted by it. Overall, I am attracted to the direction it indicates.
I am very aware from personal experience of the pride, ego and desire that Sri Ramana introduces here. My education carried me through an MBA in a very conservative school that basically taught that greed was good. At the same time I was studying Zen Buddhism at the Rochester Zen Center, so was somewhat balanced, or confused, in turns.
So, I understand that Self-Inquiry can help destroy pride and ego.
It's the obedience that I always have a hard time with! I, for various reasons, have not trusted my teachers and superiors very much. So this comes with difficulty to me. I realized that I'm more an iconoclast: one who facilitates the destruction of religious symbols, or, by extension, established dogma or conventions.
This somehow works well with Self-Inquiry. The turn is that the symbols, dogma and conventions that get destroyed are the ones I've wrongly accepted and live by. No easy task that. However, by turning my attention inward, I have found a teacher over the years that I can trust. 
Quakers call it the 'still small voice' and in Yoga it's the inner Guru. 
The Obedience, I've discovered, is to this voice.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

True face of Yoga in America



During a two week stay at Arsha Vidya Gurukulum (residential center for the study of Vedanta) I was surprised to hear the usage Yoga Shastra. It meant the science of yoga. In Raja Yoga, yoga is designed to calm the mind and make it receptive. It is an analgesic, not an end. 

The skill set for teachers of yoga in America today must keep pace with distractions that are always around, including mobile devices. The mind doesn't function differently today; it seeks out the novel and changeable as is its nature.


Yoga shastra is about finding the permanent among the impermanent in any age, in any place.


The major problem in calming students minds seems to be teachers who are themselves overly attached to Asana as a vehicle for teaching Yoga. Asana is meant to illuminate the changeable and cultivate the sense of the permanent through vichar, focused attention, and more importantly through developing Viveka, discerning awareness. The first, vichar, is a process where an individual differentiates the real from the unreal (impermanent). Viveka, called the crown-jewel of awareness, is a state of mind wherein one can operate without distraction.



It is in this state of mind that awareness of the beyond, Brahman, can be present. Brahma Vidya is what can be accessed when Yoga Shastra has done it's work.
"To be born as a (hu)man, to have longing for release (from bondage) and the association with great souls - these three are difficult to obtain."
The challenge we face is to overcome, through Yoga effort, the sanskaras. It is the process of illumination of our habitual patterns that is the goal of Yoga. To see clearly, past our likes and dislikes, in order to be prepared for the depth of our true nature.


As teachers of asana, we have our own sanskaras to contend with. And these show up in our teaching. Not only in our physical but in our conveying of values and concepts.


It takes great effort and time of practice to strip ourselves bare of habitual patterns. Until that time, we should be clear to define them. Otherwise we stand the chance that our students will replicate them.


Of course, this is beyond a 200 or 500 hour, or even two year, certification program. That's why today we have a system developing of propagating sanskaras. Where people are teaching their own habituated likes and dislikes (raga and dvesa) without proper insight.


This seems to be the true face of Yoga in America.
(for another rendition of this view by Ramesh Bjonnes click here)

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The game of being somebody or nobody

Recently a friend posted the following quote on Facebook, which began an exchange. D and S are the other people involved in the exchange.

"The game is not about becoming somebody, it's about becoming nobody."
— Ram Dass

Me: ... and after the game is over comes the real work.

D: love this thread. i was philosophy major in college along with spanish...its totally my thing!

Me: Ah, but that's the game, D! In Yoga, and other mystical pursuits, the real work is not entertainment, a bauble of mind or projection or 'undigested introjects', but experiential. Once the somebody realizes the limitations of mind and moves towards nobody, then the opportunity arises for one to experience directly, without mediation of habitual patterns. Work.

D: ur right i still like it tho...cant lie

Me: ... not to go on and on, but that's one of the tel-tales between the game and the real work: likes and dislikes, raga and dvesa, attachment and aversion. Observing how they operate one crosses the horizon. And that's cool :)

S: I'm confused about where the "work" comes in? It seems to me that when I stop trying so hard/work and just surrender to what is, then "it" all becomes clear to me. When i relinquish my illusion of control and my effort to be "somebody", I discover I am like everything:nothing

D: right! makes sense and hard to attain. it would def take work. and wouldnt the work itself be "it? "as it shouldnt be work it should just be but be nothing. mu. idk its difficult to grasp as thats exactly what were not supposed to do -grasp. were a part of the whole and therefore nothing idk its hard....

Me: Relative terms:Work and Entertainment. One can let go and be lost in habitual patterning, like daydreaming, only performing actions still on autopilot. In this thread, it's the end of the 'game' of the independent somebody. However, what is it that's aware that it's a 'nobody?' Tricky bit here.
By following the trail of likes and dislikes one is building the process of Vichar, which is a complex meditative process that leads to another aha moment. Viveka is the state of mind that, hopefully, lasts as a result.
These are experiential states and slippery. That's why 'work' seems to come in, returning repeatedly over time to discern what is real.
All of this is laid out in various Yoga texts, but each one, each person, has to do the... 'Work!" :)

S: ahh thanks for your explanation. i'm not familiar with all these terms. i always thought of meditation as, well meditative and relaxing-this is all sounding a bit ....something other than meditative to me, always more to learn. i feel like i want to come back out of my head right now and just experience...and breathe

In closing this out, I'd like to point out that meditation is not a single practice. As S pointed out one can practice a form of meditation and be amazed that what someone else does can be called meditation!

Also, the beginning forms of meditation practice involve reducing stress of the practitioner. No practices can be helpful without a calm mind. So S, return to breathing and relax. The rest comes with practice!