Vaiklettes

A Love Meditation for Children

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:22:52 +1000

Gorgeous, simple love meditation for kids aged 5 - 13 (thanks @Rhoda!) xx

How to handle conflicting viewpoints, from Eckhart Tolle...

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:20:40 +1000

“My husband holds extremely different political views from mine. He believes in war, guns, Fox News, and Sarah Palin. I do not. How do I constructively handle our differences?”

Eckhart: Viewpoints, opinions, and mental positions are all thoughts – the thought says “this is how it is”, it is some kind of judgment or perspective on things. To be identified with a mental position is to derive your sense of self from that mental position. It’s a substitute identity, form identity, ego – a substitute for your true identity which is formless and has nothing to do with any thought – but is consciousness itself. This is a good opportunity for not giving up your thoughts – you are not required to watch Fox News, but if he is there watching Fox News, and the sound is there filling the house, you can either ask him to turn it down, or close the door, or surrender to what is, or walk out, or ask him to walk out. There are many choices, other than negativity. The main thing is mental positions – to withdraw your identification. You can still have your position, but there’s no ‘self’ in it anymore – it does not supply your sense of identity. Then you can allow somebody else to have their mental position. Perhaps you can then discover that beyond both your and your husband’s mental positions – there is something beyond, where you are not in conflict. Beyond his thoughts and your thoughts – maybe you can find that place. Your first responsibility is not to identify with a position. Everybody has to practice that one way or another. It’s a beautiful practice. It’s expressed in Zen. I don’t remember who said it, some Zen master said, “Don’t seek for the truth – just cease cherishing opinions”. And that’s enough. Many spiritually inclined people look for the ‘truth’ – hopefully at some point within, but first it starts outside. But don’t look for the truth, not even within, just stop cherishing opinions. Cherishing, not having. It doesn’t say stop having opinions, because that would be difficult – maybe a very advanced practice. Even I have some opinions, about Fox News, and so on – but cherishing means to identify with the opinion, to be in the thought. And then it gives you your sense of “I”. Then anybody who has a different or conflicting position becomes a kind of enemy. Then you’re trapped in form. This is a very common human condition. Most humans on the planet derive their identity from their thoughts. So the thought is invested with self. Maybe this is another way of speaking about the essential truth of the Buddha, who discovered that this sense of ‘self’ is an illusion. You derive your sense of self from form – because every thought is a thought-form. It’s an energy field. If this were your only spiritual practice, it would be enough. If you can try, for example, talking to the questioner, your husband can then become your spiritual teacher because he can continuously remind you not to be identified with mental positions. Then, you don’t resist the other person’s mental position, because you don’t need to – you allow it to be. You can even allow your own mental position to be. If you resist someone else’s mental position, you only strengthen it. Try arguing with him about Fox News or Sarah Palin, and you’ll see what I mean. You may find the miracle that it can happen quite easily, that somebody’s mental position either weakens or it may even dissolve when it’s not resisted – because it needs resistance to strengthen itself, and to gain energy through fighting another. It’s quite miraculous to see how it can happen when it’s not resisted, when it is allowed: “I know that’s what you think, and that’s okay”.

…much as i agree with everyone i hear talking about...

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:33:02 +1000

…much as i agree with everyone i hear talking about beautiful spring days, let’s not forget the bigger picture…am reminded of that tale of the frog in the pot of water waxing lyrical about the ‘lovely spa’ - when he realises the water has begun to boil and he’s cooking, it’s too late to jump out!

digitaleskimo:

“What we are seeing is consistent with what we would expect under global warming,” bureau climatologist Acacia Pepler (via Spring to arrive in a blaze of heat)

Heard this song today...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:19:30 +1000

Thought some of the lyrics very apt re. current Aus politicking…

God is in the House (Nick Cave)

We’ve laid the cables and the wires
We’ve split the wood and stoked
the fires
We’ve lit our town so there is no
Place for crime to hide
Our little church is painted white
And in the safety of the night
We all go quiet as a mouse
For the word is out
God is in the house
God is in the house
God is in the house
No cause for worry now
God is in the house

Moral sneaks in the White House
Computer geeks in the school house
Drug freaks in the crack house
We don’t have that stuff here
We have a tiny little Force
But we need them of course
For the kittens in the trees
And at night we are on our knees
As quiet as a mouse
For God is in the house
God is in the house
God is in the house
And no one’s left in doubt
God is in the house

Homos roaming the streets in packs
Queer bashers with tyre-jacks
Lesbian counter-attacks
That stuff is for the big cities
Our town is very pretty
We have a pretty little square
We have a woman for a mayor
Our policy is firm but fair
Now that God is in the house
God is in the house
God is in the house
Any day now He’ll come out
God is in the house

Well-meaning little therapists
Goose-stepping twelve-stepping Teetotalitarianists
The tipsy, the reeling and the drop down pissed
We got no time for that stuff here
Zero crime and no fear
We’ve bred all our kittens white
So you can see them in the night
And at night we’re on our knees
As quiet as a mouse
Since the word got out
From the North down to the South
For no-one’s left in doubt
There’s no fear about
If we all hold hands and very quietly shout
Hallelujah
God is in the house
God is in the house
Oh I wish He would come out
God is in the house

Another oil spill, this time in Dalian, China; the pictures will...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:32:30 +1000

Another oil spill, this time in Dalian, China; the pictures will make you weep…

Buddhism and a Sustainable World: Some reflections - Sydney Ideas - The University of Sydney

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:15:25 +1000

Buddhism and a Sustainable World: Some reflections - Sydney Ideas - The University of Sydney:

VERY excited and heartened that this topic exists as a lecture after me rambling on about external change (environmental stuff) requiring internal change - awesome! I’m gonna go!

George Monbiot Interview Have you a spare 15 min? This...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:34:00 +1000

George Monbiot Interview

Have you a spare 15 min? This interview with UK enviro George Monbiot just about sums up what I know and think re. climate - really worth watching.

"It’s no go Yogi-Man, it’s no go Blavatsky, All we want is a bank balance and a bit of..."

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:51:45 +1000

““It’s no go Yogi-Man, it’s no go Blavatsky,
All we want is a bank balance and a bit of skirt in a taxi.””

- Louis MacNeice

"If you wish to see why the body is the way it is, look at how you’ve been thinking for the..."

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:48:47 +1000

““If you wish to see why the body is the way it is, look at how you’ve been thinking for the past ten years. If you wish to see how your body will be in ten year’s time, look at how you’re thinking now.””

- Buddha

"In any argument, the one who is the most serious is wrong."

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:45:32 +1000

““In any argument, the one who is the most serious is wrong.””

- Osho

"…the blissful state is a happy accident. You can’t make it happen. So we must become accident..."

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:43:30 +1000

““…the blissful state is a happy accident. You can’t make it happen. So we must become accident prone…””

Haaaaa that makes it sound as if I’m married to you Kain!...

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:42:01 +1000

Haaaaa that makes it sound as if I’m married to you Kain! In case anyone wondered, Kain’s wife is my cousin :)

hiredgoon:

The art of my wife’s grandfather, and revered estonian artist, Gunnar Neeme. I’d not seen these until tonight - they are spectacular…
deskimo:

(via the-artist-gunnar-neeme)

i really LOVE this series by Vaike’s grand dad .. awesime minimal but passionate! mark of a true master.

My father has begun putting together a profile of his late...

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:39:00 +1000

My father has begun putting together a profile of his late father’s body of artistic work on tumblr…just a miniscule selection thus far, so many more to come. I’m so proud! Nice one techno-Dad! And kisses for Isa…xx

GREAT ad for ‘The Greens’ - unfortunately it’s...

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:30:38 +1000

GREAT ad for ‘The Greens’ - unfortunately it’s not an actual TVC, but was done as an exercise in pitching for ABCTV’s ‘Gruen Nation’ - here’s hoping it goes viral.

They have my vote :)

Haaaa! Dave says this reminded him of me; sad, but true :)

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:47:11 +1000

Haaaa! Dave says this reminded him of me; sad, but true :)

deskimo: In the dispiriting run up to the election, our disgust...

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:45:36 +1000

deskimo:

In the dispiriting run up to the election, our disgust with border paranoia and the whole miserable ‘debate’ is all we have to show.

A work by the Boat People

Flag Heads off Sydney harbour (bySteffyc)

Rainbow Ritual A simple and beautiful ritual to use with...

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:05:50 +1000

Rainbow Ritual

A simple and beautiful ritual to use with children for them to feel relaxed, safe and connected before sleep, or in times of upset.

“The only thing you lose when you die is your fear of death.” (Swami Muktananda)

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:30:33 +1000

…an enlightening blog post about the surprising benefits that come from grief.

Was certainly my experience of grief.

Also interesting in light of the notion of ‘grieving our planet’… ‘grieving our dreams of the future’: a phenomenon that has struck me and others I know who delve into what’s really going on with climate change.

How To Tell the Difference Between Grief and Depression

"Ah, not to be cut off, not by such slight partition to be excluded from the stars’ measure. What..."

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:03:39 +1000

“

Ah, not to be cut off,
not by such slight partition
to be excluded from the stars’ measure.

What is inwardness?
What if not sky intensified,
flung through with birds and deep
with winds of homecoming?

”

- Rainer Maria Rilke

Anthroposophy is an impulse to nurture the life of the soul in the individual and in human society...

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:01:22 +1000

…this is what I’m studying at the moment…