Andrew Furst's Blog, page 110

If You Liked Western Lights …

If You Liked Western Lights …

If you liked Western Lights like Sharon Salzberg did, I think you’d enjoy my next book.  It’s called And We Still Answer a collection of poetry exploring the intersection of nature and our humanity. It includes traditional forms like haiku and tanka, free-verse, and others.

I’m currently raising money to self publish And We Still Answer.  Contributing to the campaign can get you a signed copy or any number of other perks available at the Indiegogo campaign. Whether or not you’ve read Western Lights, consider Sharon’s recommendation and supporting the author in putting out more works like this.

 

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Quote – Morihei Ueshiba on Failure

Morihei Ueshiba on Failure

Failure

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Who Speaks For The Movement? – Modern Koans

Who Speaks For The Movement?

Kim Davis is just another example of what can go wrong with religion. It’s frustrating to watch someone use religion as a shield for bigotry. I think (or at least hope) that Davis will ultimately be relegated to the nut job wing of the Christian Right. But her case brings to mind a more fundamental question about religion. Who speaks for the movement?

Religions don’t have an answer to this question. Scripture offers rules and advice, but applying them is sketchy at best. The Christian Bible, like any religious text, is rife with contradictions and resists interpretation.

So who’s interpretation is right? Is Kim Davis right? Is American Family Association right? Is there a silent majority of people who are more moderate or liberal? Or are all Christians in solidarity with the Duggars and Pat Robertson?

In the same vein, do ISIS and Boko Harem speak for all Muslims? What about the Nationalist Buddhists of Sri Lanka and Myanmar? Do they speak for Buddhism?

In short, yes they do. Whoever speaks wearing the mantle of their faith does just that; they speak for the movement. And for better or worse they add to the complex picture of religion. To be frank about it, religion sounds bigoted, backwards, and ignorant. It looks and sounds evil, violent, and dangerous. Religion appears to be hateful and self-serving.

No doubt many will rush to defend the faiths of the world by pointing to the good that they do, and I will cede the point. But, it remains that there are dark ignorant voices out there speaking for faith. These people seem to go mostly unchallenged. One has to ask the question, where are the rebuttals and rebukes from within each faith?

So what do you think? Who speaks for the movement? Why do we let small minded, dangerous people grab the mic when it comes to religion? How is it that they accumulate power and sustain it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Modern Koans is an ongoing series that recognizes that good questions are often more important then their answers.

The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ― G.K. Chesterton

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One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

  

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Quote – Shinran on Religious Practice

Shinran on Religious Practice

 

Religious Practice

 

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Wishing Well – A Two Minute Meditation

Wishing Well

Below the ripples

Our encapsulated hopes

lie so dormantly

 One  Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation.  Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.

These videos are produced for those of us who spend an inordinately large amount of time in the cyber-world.  They are not a substitute for unplugging from your devices and taking a stroll near trees, water, or a patch of unkempt grass.  Getting out into the world - touching, smelling, hearing, and seeing nature is the best way to reconnect with our prime purpose.  

What is our prime purpose? We are feeling and sensing machines.  We are the universe looking back on itself. We are witness to the wonders and dangers of living in this corner of the cosmos.  We are the seekers looking for connection a little further beyond yesterday's borders and boundaries.

But sitting and staring at the screen robs us of the sustenance that we rely upon for wonder and sanity.  These videos are an opportunity to bring the sensations of nature to you, while you're in the cyber-world. Its an opportunity to relax your gaze, resettle your posture,  and regain some depth in your breath.  Listen and watch the video and allow your self to open up and recharge.

Most of these are best viewed in full screen

Get Each Week's One Minute Meditation in your email box

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

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Thank You To The People – Verse Us

Verse Us - Poems I write: haiku, senryu, mesostics, free verse, random word constructions, I might even use rhyme or meter once and a while.

Thank You

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Black & White I – Tiny Drops (Photography)

Tiny Drops is an ongoing iPhoneographic series. The images represent moments of noticing on my part.  For you, they are an offer to pause, observe, and take that noticing into your life.  All photos are mine unless noted otherwise.

These works by Andrew Furst are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Black & White I
espresso bwFennig bwflower bw

Municipal Artifacts

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Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

 
FIVE LIMITLESS THOUGHTS

May all living beings have happiness and its causes

May all be free from unhappiness and its causes

May all dwell in equanimity, free of attraction and aversion

May all quickly find the great happiness that lies beyond all misery

May all enjoy inner and outer peace now and forever

NAMO AMITOFO

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Clearly Confused? – Say What?

Say What?  is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.

This shirt is dry clean only. Which means... it's dirty. - Mitch Hedberg 

Clearly Confused?

A Few Words On Being Clearly Confused.

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



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Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

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Compass Songs – September, 1918

 Compass Songs is an ongoing series of works by poets that I enjoy. Poetry, as the Zen Masters have said, is like a finger pointing to the moon. It speaks the unspeakable.

September, 1918

by Amy Lowell

This afternoon was the colour of water falling through sunlight;

The trees glittered with the tumbling of leaves;

The sidewalks shone like alleys of dropped maple leaves,

And the houses ran along them laughing out of square, open windows.

Under a tree in the park,

Two little boys, lying flat on their faces,

Were carefully gathering red berries

To put in a pasteboard box.

Some day there will be no war,

Then I shall take out this afternoon

And turn it in my fingers,

And remark the sweet taste of it upon my palate,

And note the crisp variety of its flights of leaves.

To-day I can only gather it

And put it into my lunch-box,

For I have time for nothing

But the endeavour to balance myself

Upon a broken world.

Get Each Week's Compass Song in your email box

First Name:

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

 

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What Is Inner Peace? – Dialectic Two Step

Dialectic Two-Step  is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio

What Is Inner Peace?

Actually, I don’t ever get this question. It almost seems worthy of a sarcastic response. I can see someone responding by closing their eyes, making the OK Mudra and chanting Om with a little smirk on their face. The phrase Inner Peace has morphed into cliché.

But, I’ll come to its defense, albeit halfheartedly, to salvage the usefulness of the idea. It’s actually direct and to the point. Peace that comes from the inside.

Explanations are cumbersome, so I’ll offer a quick demonstration.

Place your hand on your chest. Feel the connection of your hand with your heart. Take a few deep breaths expanding into your hand. With each breath feel a sense of calm and subtle joy fill you. With each breath allow yourself to open and relax further and further. Continue for 10, 20, or 30 breaths. However many you would like.

Except for a few directions from me, that I improvised as a way for you look inward, the feeling and peace you hopefully experienced came from inside. Inner peace. Not such a platitude after all?

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

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