You know Liz Gilbert from her book Eat, Love, Pray.
You may know her from her wonderful TED talk about genius & how we ruin it (check it here.)
Here’s a new way to get to know her: She writes a wonderful piece in The Atlantic (published a couple of days ago, here) celebrating her memory of writer & poet Jack Gilbert (unrelated), who wrote of the way we can look for (and find!) what she calls a “stubborn gladness” in the reversals & difficulties we our everyday lives. She cites his lines:
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.
And more. Here’s the essay. You’ll be glad where it leaves your heart. Thanks, Liz.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield is a reasonable man, a former commander of the International Space Station, and a social media superstar.
by Alexis C Madrigal (The Atlantic – click here to read the comments)
How Many Astronauts Believe Aliens Exist? All of them, according to former Space Station commander Chris Hadfield. At least somewhere.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield is a reasonable man, a former commander of the International Space Station, and a social media superstar.
He recently went on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show to discuss his life and career when a caller asked him about the existence of “alien life.”
“I don’t know of any astronauts who think we’re alone in the universe,” Hadfield replied.
Now, he’s obviously not talking about the UFO-Area-51 imaginary kind of aliens. He’s commenting on the possibility that somewhere out there, on some other planet, there are the bags of chemicals we call organisms reproducing themselves.
And in that belief, he’s in the mainstream of astrobiological thought, as Lane Wallace explained this week. There are just so many galaxies, which are filled with so many stars, which are circled by so many planets … How could there not be life, even if we haven’t found it?
There’s nothing (most days) more satisfying than working at something you love. And there’s that wonderful feeling of being so worn out, so tired, so spent, because you gave it your all.
If the marine entertainment industry folks tried to capture orcas in Atlantic waters, or off the Pacific coast….you bet there would be a fight.
So they’re doing it in the cold seas of Russia. According to Erich Hoyt:
Four more orcas have now been confirmed to have been captured in Russian waters for ocean amusement parks and aquariums. That makes seven total captured in the past 2+ months in two separate captures in the Sea of Okhotsk—the massive far eastern inland sea of Russia, lying due north of Japan. Having spent time with these wild, beautiful orcas, I feel personally, as well as professionally, depressed about these developments.
The first 2013 capture happened in mid-August. The three orcas, or killer whales, were taken by a Russian catching team, the same team that caught a female orca in the same general area at the same time last year. For the past year, that young female — someone named her Narnia and the name stuck — has been swimming alone in a tiny makeshift pen near Nakhodka (Vladivostok area), awaiting her fate. The rumors have consistently pointed to her eventual transfer to Moscow.
Baba Ram Dass keeps weaving in & out of my life, ever since I found Be Here Now when I was at university, at a lecture/teaching in Eugene, Oregon in the years just before his stroke, and lately, as I’ve been around folks who are facing death & dying. His approach offers a place to build what’s needed to face the end which we all can count on.
My view has evolved to seeing death — the moment of death — as a ceremony. If people are sitting with you to help as you are going through this dying ceremony, help them to see you as the soul you truly are, not as your ego. If they identify you as your ego, during the last part of this ceremony they will cling to you and pull you back instead of facilitating your transformation.
Ram Dass
Sadhana, either a specific practice or your overall spiritual transformation, begins with you as an ego and evolves into your being a soul, who you really are. The ego is identified with the incarnation, which stops at the moment of death.
The soul, on the other hand, has experienced many deaths. If you’ve done your sadhana fully, there will be no fear of death, and dying is just another moment.
If you are to die consciously, there’s no time like the present to prepare. Here is a brief checklist of some of the ways to approach your own death:
• Live your life consciously and fully. Learn to identify with and be present in your soul, not your ego.
• Fill your heart with love. Turn your mind toward God, guru, Truth.
• Continue with all of your spiritual practices: meditation, mantra, kirtan, all forms of devotion.
• Be there for the death of your parents, loved ones, or beloved animals. Know that the presence of your loved ones will remain when you are quiet and bring them into your consciousness.
• Read about the deaths of great saints, lamas, and yogis like Ramana Maharshi.
• If there is pain at the time of death, try to remain as conscious as possible. Medication for pain offers some solace but dulls your awareness.
• To be peaceful at the time of your death, seek peace inside today.
Death is another moment. If you’re not peaceful today, you probably won’t be peaceful tomorrow. Sudden death is, in many ways, more difficult to work with spiritually than a gradual passing.
If we are aware that death can happen at any moment, we start to work on ourselves more constantly, paying attention to the moment-to-moment content of our minds. If you practice being here now, being fully in the moment during your life, if you are living in that space, then the moment of death is just another moment.
– Ram Dass, excerpt from Polishing the Mirror: How to Live from your Spiritual Heart.
Researchers off Hawaii’s Kona coast on Friday documented a rare sighting of killer whales, including at least two that were playing host to hitchhiking remoras (above)….photo by Robin Baird
There is no known resident pod of orcas around Hawaii, which makes it that much more exciting – and that much more rare – when they are seen.
If you’ve learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let’s watch a movement (click on the video below) happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons:
A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. But what he’s doing is so simple, it’s almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!
Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it’s not about the leader anymore – it’s about them, plural. Notice he’s calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.
The 2nd follower is a turning point: it’s proof the first has done well. Now it’s not a lone nut, and it’s not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.
A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers – not the leader.
Now here come 2 more, then 3 more. Now we’ve got momentum. This is the tipping point! Now we’ve got a movement!
As more people jump in, it’s no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there’s no reason not to join now. They won’t be ridiculed, they won’t stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you’ll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they’d be ridiculed for not joining.
And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made! Let’s recap what we learned:
If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.
Be public. Be easy to follow!
But the biggest lesson here – did you catch it?
Leadership is over-glorified.
Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he’ll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:
It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.
There is no movement without the first follower.
We’re told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.
The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.
When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.
OK, I have a new guitar hero – on Friday night in Nanaimo, BC, Josie & her mum & I went to see the International Guitar show, and the guys who played were awesome. Tonight I’d like to put the spotlight on Mike Dawes from the UK, one of the players that night.
Mike makes the room come alive, as he plays his guitar like a drumkit, with fingerstyle fretwork that is intricate & compelling. You can see why Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues has been playing with him (he’s officially the lead guitarist for the band), and you can see why the crowd was mesmerized with his work on stage last week.
Kudos from other music critics:
’He can make the guitar talk, with no effort!’ – Jamie Bell (Actor)
’I was in a trance, I didn’t notice I was spilling beer on my leg’ – Martin Harley
You can hear him here, with his signature song, Boogie Shred:
A religious man is on top of a roof during a great flood.
A man comes by in a boat and says, “Get in, get in!” The religious man replies, “No, I have faith in God. He will grant me a miracle.”
Later, the water is up to his waist and another boat comes by, and this guy tells him to get in again. The man responds that he has faith in God, and God will give him a miracle.
With the water chest high, another boat comes to rescue him, but he turns down the offer again. He says, “God will grant me a miracle.”
With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and they tell him to get in. Mumbling with water in his mouth, he again turns down the request for help.
And he drowns.
He arrives at the gates of heaven with broken faith, and says to Peter, “I thought God would grand me a miracle. I have been let down.”
St. Peter chuckles and responds, “I don’t know what you’re complaining about. We sent you three boats and a helicopter.”
Transient killer whale in the San Juan Islands….photo by Jim Maya (thanks, Jim!)
Just what you want to hear. And yeah, more than a coincidence.
On Tuesday, killer whales came close to a ferry from Seattle as it approached Bainbridge Island. The killer whales surrounded the ferry and splashed in the water.
By coincidence, on board the ferry were officials from The Burke Museum in Seattle who were returning tribal artifacts to the new Suquamish Museum. The artifacts were dug up nearly 60 years ago from the site of the Old Man House, the winter village for the Suquamish tribe and home of Chief Seattle.
Also on board was Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman. He believes the appearance of the orcas was no coincidence. He believes they were welcoming the artifacts home to the reservation.
On the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria this morning at sunrise, as dreams wove into the fog across the water….photo by Ian Byington.
i thank you god for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
e.e. cummings
Thought for the day…
"Everything you read on the Internet is true." -- Abraham Lincoln
About Brother Ian
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.
In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.