Eartholder BookClub notes - Feb 14

From zen and the art of saving the planet bookclub meeting on feb 14 2022

One Jeff Franklin highlighted these excerpts:

"This is why the point of departure for a new civilization must be a determination to not be 'colonized' by material goods--to rebel against materialism in favor of our need to be a human being" (137)

"In Buddhism the means and the ends should be identical. There is no path leading to happiness; the path is happiness itself." (161)

"You have to establish a strategy of mindful consuming with your loved ones and friend--a strategy to support and protect each other." (173)

"So, the truth is that, we have to learn how to transform our own suffering so we can be there for those who are suffering and need our help." (192-3)

Sister T.D. on training to listen: 1. follow our breathing; 2. aware of how the other's suffering affects our breathing; 3. practice the "art of not-interrupting"; 4. "cultivate a genuine curiosity"; 5. "keep our compassion alive during the whole time of listening" (198-99)

6. train in "hearing what's being left unsaid" (199)

simona: Could you share a time when you felt truly heard & listened to. What was that like in your body and what did the listener do to indicate that they were really listening? Share a time when you listened deeply. What was that like for you? What were the challenges?

Is there a difficult dialogue that you are currently engaging in, and how may you be willing to shift?

Talking w/ Richard Brady in this session #3.

Nice story about your walk with your friend. Seems that so many of my walks with friends include negative talk of some kind...leaving me unrefreshed.

It's like talk is used to obliterate the discomfort of ill-being and confusion about myself.

It's like talk is used to obliterate the discomfort of ill-being and confusion about myself. 

"Acknowledging other person's feelings."

"Clearing" By Martha Postlethwaite Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world so worthy of rescue.

Keeping Quiet by Pablo Neruda

 Poem of the Day: "Keeping Quiet"

by Pablo Neruda

(English translation by Alastair Reid)

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth
let’s not speak in any language,
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

Extravagaria : A Bilingual Edition
by Pablo Neruda (Author), Alastair Reid (Translator) 
Noonday Press; Bilingual edition (January 2001)

In Spanish:

 

A callarse  

 

Pablo Neruda

 

Ahora contaremos doce

y nos quedamos todos quietos.

Por una vez sobre la tierra

no hablemos en ningun idioma,

por un segundo detengamonos,

no movamos tanto los brazos.

 

Seria un minuto fragante,

sin prisa, sin locomotoras,

todos estariamos juntos

en una inquietud instantanea.

 

Los pescadores del mar frio

no harian danio a las ballenas

y el trabajador de la sal

miraria sus manos rotas.

 

Los que preparan guerras verdes,

guerras de gas, guerras de fuego,

victorias sin sobrevivientes,

se pondrian un traje puro

y andarian con sus hermanos

por la sombra, sin hacer nada.

 

No se confunda lo que quiero

con la inaccion definitiva:

la vida es solo lo que se hace,

no quiero nada con la muerte.

 

Si no pudimos ser unanimes

moviendo tanto nuestras vidas,

tal vez no hacer nada una vez,

tal vez un gran silencio pueda

interrumpir esta tristeza,

este no entendernos jamas

y amenazarnos con la muerte,

tal vez la tierra nos ensenie

cuando todo parece muerto

y luego todo estaba vivo.

 

Ahora contare hasta doce

y tu te callas y me voy.

 

http://www.bu.edu/quantum/zen/readings/keepingQuietNeruda.html?fbclid=IwAR188cLTJoGqsWJloXJlYwyVxEnao7B5zPE8HZvynCr-u12D-mnJY1rhsFI

 

Archive of "Poem of the Day"

We enjoyed this poem today, day after the December Solstice..our Mindfulness practice group. Kate H. brought it to our gathering.