Andrew Furst's Blog, page 74
February 21, 2016
Wavering Lights – A Two Minute Meditation
Feel the wavering
on the inside
It’s the breathing
of change
an eternally
shifting
emptiness
The rhythm of it
holds your secrets
A two minute meditation to settle yourself - wavering lights #meditation
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These Meditation Videos Are Best Viewed In Full Screen
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.
Get Each Week's Minute Meditations In Your Email Box
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.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
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The Snow Maiden (Scene and Aria from Prologue) – Sunday Morning Coming Down
Anna Netrebko performing Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden (Scene and Aria from Prologue)
The Snow Maiden - a little Sunday morning couch music #opera
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Sunday Morning Coming Down is an ongoing music video series. The songs fit my definition of music for a lazy couch bound Sunday morning.
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February 20, 2016
Do Buddhists Bicker Better? – Say What?
Bickering - do Buddhists do it better?
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Say What? is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.
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Post Card Art Project – Outside The Lines
Here’s the next installment of the Post Card Art Project. This group was definitely outside of the lines artists. Love these.
The artist (and let me know if there are mistakes) are shown below in the same position as their card:
Learn more about Joan Schwartz’ s Art at her website
More from the Post Card Art Project - The outside the lines crew
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The Post Card Art Series
This is the one of several posts I will be offering titled the Post Card Art Series. Its a collaborative art project done on post cards.
Using an image divided into four sections, I created four post cards. I printed 200, pre-stamped them, and mailed them out to patreon supporters, friends, and blog readers who expressed an interest. They applied the art, mailed the cards back. Now I'm assembling them.
The results are fun and unique.
The post Post Card Art Project – Outside The Lines appeared on Andrew Furst.
February 19, 2016
Teachers – A Meditation on Gratitude
It may sound a little odd to hear praise for teachers from a parent who supported his wife’s decision to homeschool. But teachers are not reason we didn’t send our kids to school.
The economics of education are backwards and its goals can be at odds with student’s interests. Here are some facts
Teachers go into teaching to help students.
Parent’s send their youth to school to have them well prepared for life.
Parent’s pay for the education via taxes.
BUT,
The goals of the education system are established based on the needs of businesses
Poorer communities, often with the kids who need the most help and support, can’t afford to pay for books, resources and good teachers
Politicians, like those in Chicago and Detroit, make bad education systems worse with hair-brained schemes (e.g. Chicago’s decision not to fund pensions)
Conservatives demonize teachers as greedy (see the quote below)
Unions focus on the needs of the teachers with lip service to student’s needs
The economics of education are backwards
and its goals can be at odds with student's interests.
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Sitting in the center of this maelstrom are the students and teachers. Navigating the challenges of relating to each other in overcrowded classrooms, contending with helicopter parents, special needs, political correctness, cumbersome regulations and procedures, active shooter drills, standardized tests, STEM, and ritalin.
Yes we all have difficult jobs and teachers get summer vacations. But to call the people who care for our children …
[A] horde of slovenly dressed, red shirted, vile slogan shouting , money grubbing teachers– Internet comment thread
is pretty myopic.
Teachers have taken on a key role in human evolution. From an biological and emotional standpoint, the care and education of our children is the most important thing. If you’re familiar with evolutionary biology you know that we are all about passing on our genes. Even if you don’t subscribe to evolution, you can’t deny that we’re built to disproportionately care about our children and the children in our communities.
Yet, we’re prepared to insult and underpay the people who care for and teach our most valuable treasure – our children..
Personally, I went through the whole public school system, including a state university. I had many inspiring and innovative teachers. Mrs. Timmons, Mrs. Parks, Dr. Hay, Mr Howie, and Dr. Lehmann to name a few. After my parents and close friends, these are the most important people in my life. They struggled through dealing with me as an absent minded, wise-ass, professor in training. It couldn’t have been easy, and I’m better for it.
I am grateful for the teachers of this world who work in a system rigged against them to shepherd our youth forward to a brighter future.
Meditations on Gratitude - A weekly series of people and situations I’m thankful for and a short meditation.
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Is The Mind Aware Of Itself? – Modern Koans
Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)
Question: In Meditation, Is the Mind Aware Of Itself?
Response:
What is mind? Is it a sense organ for thoughts? Or is the mind something different from the senses? Buddhist psychology talks about the five skandhas or aggregates. They are:
Form – the external and internal physical world
Sensation – judging an object as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral
Perception – recognition of an object
Mental Formations – our volition
Consciousness – that which discerns
Mind (mana) is most related to consciousness. The mind is the base of consciousness. And consciousness is the base of experience. I like to think of it as a computer. It is equipped with memory, a processor, and an interface (input and output).
Input = our senses which are facing form, participating in sensation and feeding the raw materials for perception.
Memory = a workspace in which mental formations are compared to sensory input to produce perception
Processor = the circuits that hold the fundamental algorithms (neurons, neurochemistry, etc)
Output = speech acts
In this discussion, we must always remember impermanence. All of these things rise, fall, and change over time. Not one of them is permanent, including consciousness. That said, consciousness might be represented as the computer itself. It is the collection of hardware, software, and memories that produce experience. Mind is the inner workings of the computer – the processor and memory.
So now I’ll loop back to the question “is the mind aware of itself?” I am certainly not aware of the inner workings of my brain. In fact much remains a mystery as the cognitive and neurosciences decode its functions. So, my opinion is that no, the mind is not aware of itself, either in meditation or in any other activity.
By no means is this a settled matter. What do you think? How do you interpret the Five Skandhas? Does science refute or support the theory of the aggregates?
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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February 18, 2016
It is Not Enough to Say, We Must Not Wage War – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Quotes -The path to right view is an arduous walk through fields of manure.
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Koi – One Minute Meditation
nishikigoi
A symbol of friendship and love in Japan.
These Meditation Videos Are Best Viewed In Full Screen
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.
Get Each Week's Minute Meditations In Your Email Box
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.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Koi – One Minute Meditation appeared on Andrew Furst.
February 17, 2016
Wings – A Ten Word Story – Verse Us (Poems by Me)
Verse Us - Poems I write: haiku, senryu, mesostics, free verse, random word constructions, I might even use rhyme or meter once and a while.
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Post Card Art Project – Second Installment
Here’s the next installment of the Post Card Art Project.
The artist (and let me know if there are mistakes) are shown below in the same position as their card:
Learn more about Joan Schwartz’ s Art at her website
The Post Card Art Series
This is the one of several posts I will be offering titled the Post Card Art Series. Its a collaborative art project done on post cards.
Using an image divided into four sections, I created four post cards. I printed 200, pre-stamped them, and mailed them out to patreon supporters, friends, and blog readers who expressed an interest. They applied the art, mailed the cards back. Now I'm assembling them.
The results are fun and unique.
The post Post Card Art Project – Second Installment appeared on Andrew Furst.
