Got Mindfulness?

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

Do you have an enemy?

Well, imagine this…

What if you and your enemy were the last two living beings on the planet?

What is your enemy, then?

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- dennis landi © 2008

Neta Crawford of Brown University was interviewed on the radio program “World of Possibilities” regarding the Prospect of American Empire and possible alternative futures where the United States is able to genuinely entertain a dialog with other cultures in the world. This particular program was Being Number One: Costs and Alternatives to Empire (duration: approx. 50 minutes). Crawford is in the fourth interview which starts about 45 minutes into the program. However, when you have the time please do hear the entire program…

Crawford’s operative words are “As if”, meaning that if we conducted ourselves as if the world were a more peaceful place, we would move in the direction of creating such a world.

She advocates Civil Society taking an independent role, where individuals through contact with others develop a greater empathy and respect for others. So, for example, If we act as if it is possible to engage in dialog; and, if we act as if others deserve our respect, we will in fact gain the respect of others, and hopefully they will engage in greater dialog with us.

I’ve excerpted Neta’s ten minute interview, downloadable as an MP3.

To act as if…

To act as if we lived in a world where there are others who are concerned with Global Ecology, perhaps we can invoke the latent cooperation and participation necessary to bring about a new social paradigm in the 21st century.

To act as if we will be lifted up when we stumble by the hands of thousands of like-minded beings who want us to succeed on the path to a peaceful and balanced world society, perhaps we can invoke that cooperation and participation.

To act as if we live in a nondual reality, perhaps we can trigger selfless behavior in those we touch with our hearts and minds.

To act as if…

Food for thought.

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Neta Crawford’s book, Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, and Humanitarian Intervention takes on Change from another perspective - the power of argument to influence culture. Here is a link to a chapter excerpt of the book: Argument, belief and culture

And finally I also want to point out a remarkable “editorial” that Crawford wrote just days after 9/11 warning of a knee-jerk military retaliation against “the terrorists”. She asks the question “Why doesn’t retaliation work?”. She then offers an answer. Worth a read.

What is the point of lying in a poem?

There simply is no point.

This is why poetry resonates so strongly with humans.

Its always about truth on some level. The truth of human experience.

Is it possible to lie in a poem? Even intentionally?

All things are possible in the universe.

But not this.

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- dennis landi © 2008

“I”, “me”, “myself”, “mine”, “my” are illusions of the “self”.

“You”, “your’s”, “yourself” are illusions of the “other”.

“They”, “Them” and “Their’s” are illusions of a separate “self” from the “others”

“His”, “Her” and “Its” are subdivisions of a subdivision of an illusion.

“We”, “us”, “ours” is only true in if there is no “other”.

Therefore We are One or We are Nothing. We are Everything or we are Nothingness.

We are not Nothingness.

We are One. I am One. You are One.

One is.

There is only one true Pronoun regardless of its Name.

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- dennis landi © 2008

I am this because of that.
I am that because of this.
I am in that. This is in me.
I am in this. That is in me.
My mind is in that. This is my mind.
My body is in that. This is my body.
When this body dies, I am in that.
When that body dies, I am in this.
When this mind dies, that mind does not.
I am not that if I am not also this.
This is not me if that is not me.
I am not, if you are not.
I am you and you are me.
We are not this if we are not also that.
We are in me, and we are in you.
I am us and you are us.
I am thou.

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- dennis landi © 2008

In our society, we engage in a lot of empty sex, just for physical pleasure. We have confused sex with love, but this isn’t love at all. When we love, we have something precious to offer: our heart, our mind. We already know that the heart and the mind are very close to our body. We have secret zones in our soul. There is a pain, or there is a deep and tender aspiration that we want to keep a secret. And we share it only with the one we really love. There is a forbidden city in our soul. In the capitals of Asian countries, the king always had a forbidden city. No one outside the royal family could enter. You risked getting decapitated if you went into the forbidden city. There is a forbidden city in us that we open only to the one we love the most. It is sacred.

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Thich Nhat Hanh,
The Art of Power, 2007
Chapter: The Art of Mindfulness. pg 58-59

if you see authenticity on the road
take out your can of spray paint
and write I WOZ HERE
on his face in orange day-glo colors.

if you see authenticity on the road
put your siren on and flash your lights
and pull him over for speeding
tell him you accept bribes
and then look him directly in the eyes

if you see authenticity on the road
tackle him, muss up his hair

if you see authenticity on the road,
stand very still behind a tree
until he disappears over the horizon.

never confuse authenticity with genuineness
and never confuse pedigree with the dharma
and never confuse appearance with reality

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- dennis landi © 2008