CobaltSaffron blog

 7 May 2015

 

Recent discoveries in developmental psychology and other behavioral disciplines have shown that babies are born with a “first draft” of a moral mind. Among others, brain scientist, Gary Marcus, has described this moral understanding as “already defined and organized before experience.” Evolutionary psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, describes this first draft of the moral mind as consisting of five primary values. Modern cross-cultural anthropologists point to these same five primary values as the foundation of all cultures, currently and historically, and 21st century ethologists suggest the same values apply to most if not all species:

1) Care/Protection

2) Fairness/Reciprocity

3) Ingroup/Loyalty

4) Authority/Respect

5) Purity/Sanctity

These five values are the organic origins of what could be called intuitive conscience. They are also what we experience personally as our core, essential yearnings, however distorted or confused we may interpret them: to care and be cared for; to share equally in freedom and responsibility; to belong, and to trust that what we belong to will continue; that there exists an objective hierarchy of virtue and wisdom; that there exists that which is unquestionably sacred or divine.

DC

 

 30 April 2015

 

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

~ Albert Einstein

 

 15 April 2015

 

15 February 2015

I see more clearly than I have ever before the far-reaching results of the consistent daily rituals, how they clean out the way for us to recall the meaning of life — Yes it IS a most beautiful thing, to see and experience it more fully in other times and places. The early walks, the breathing, the slow and quiet stretching and exercising — the slowing down to hear the music of life and really listen to others, and be engaged fully in attention to the smallest detail, even if it is just the changes in the breathing of a person beside you. “Emptying out” and slowing down during the rituals can and does then lead to a profound transcendent engagement with others and can expand potentials in completely surprising ways, allowing us to be present in and move to a more profound rhythm or layer of the universe, connecting to what is really important and essential despite the fact that there are drab and diminishing parts there, too. We are able to drink water “as if” it were wine, to act as if we are in a sacred place and those around us are works of art. It turns everything and every encounter into something else, “small” becomes Huge and significant to the receiver, to the giver and all who are witness.

The work and the rituals are silken threads to being able to live with fuller eyes and heart. They provide a path or access for walking across the bridge. They allow us to be able to see and hold (but not become despondent by) the messy, sad, painful and disappointing layers of life. By slowing us down to another rhythm and thought we are connected and more in tune to another layer, level, pace of life, hearing more often the underlying music, and yes sometimes in a brilliant minor key. They enable us, compel us really, to stop running in endless circles to unsuccessfully avoid pain, sadness, death, disappointment. It invites us to dance, to glide, to discover, to connect, to make wine of water, to want to give something back.

In sharing the experience last week of a close friend’s dying, witnessing the absolute devotion and care of her of loving friends and caregiving staff, I am deeply grateful for the work and rituals that have allowed me to feel deeply and see beauty mixed with pain, to be able to clearly see and feel below the surface. I understand now and have experienced as never before the mystery and miracle of knowing: deep joy, deep sadness; emptiness and fullness; connection and aloneness; life and death — all in one, and all at the same time, understanding and acknowledging that all are intertwined and unable to exist without the other.

— Judith

I appreciate your encouraging indicators toward taking more seriously the value of down to earth rituals. I especially like your “silken threads,” Jude, to internal resolutions for “the messy, sad, painful and disappointing layers of life.” Especially deep loss. There is something mysterious yet definitely accessible to us all under the agitated waves of difficulty that allows us to feel and flow along a more comprehensive intuitive and spiritual understanding of true meaning. And to find solace, accepting serenity and even beauty within it. That’s a potent phrase you’ve added: “The mystery and miracle of knowing.”

It’s misleading or deceptive in a way that such skills are learned like any other — simple practice, sincere investment over time. Yes, like small steps, one at a time, to cross the bridge. Just a single step today.

— Darrell

 

20 December 2014

Welcome to our new website, which I hope provides some compelling resources as well as keeping you up to date with events and activities I’ll be offering in time ahead.

A little imagery that was my inspiration in conceiving this site along with my loyal friends and colleagues who’ve been so instrumental in helping to bring it to realization…

 

The sweet spot is a term used by audiophiles and recording engineers to describe the focal point between two sources of sound, where an individual is fully capable of hearing the audio mix the way it was intended to be heard by the musicians. Different static methods exist to broaden the area of the sweet spot.

Sound engineers also refer to the sweet spot of any sound-producing body that may be captured with a microphone. Every individual instrument and voice has its own sweet spot, the perfect location to place the microphone or microphones in order to obtain the best sound.

In tennis, baseball, or cricket, a given swing will result in a more powerful impact if the ball strikes the racquet or bat on the sweet spot, where a combination of factors results in a maximum response for a given amount of effort. The actual sweet spot on a racquet or bat is a very small area, where dispersing vibrations and spin in multiple directions are canceled out, resulting in a perfect contact point between incoming and outgoing energies.

Here’s an excellent example of the sweet spot in all the above definitions, as well as others implied, and the opening song from my last retreat (to be listened to with good quality earphones or headphones to be “fully capable of hearing the audio mix the way it was intended to be heard”):

— Darrell Calkins

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