To Be Woke

it has poignant origins, to stay woke meant to keep aware of the social situations facing Black Americans during a time of grave danger and injustice. This wasn't just a small slice of time in history, and it has cultural meaning to a significant population of Americans, to be woke meant being vigilant to current tensions aimed against them, and to be caught asleep at any time was dangerous indeed. 

to get a feel for this we can listen to Lead belly's song from 1938 "Scottsboro Boy's" were he advises everyone to "stay woke and keep their eyes open". We can get a feel for this right now, 2023, by watching the news and seeing the statistically outrageous number of Black Americans killed by the police, daily, and the indifference most of the population shows towards this issue. It's not because we don't care, or at least I don't believe so, but more that that this news  has fallen to the background noise of our daily lives. 

we remain unaffected, asleep. 

we're not woke because we don't have to be. 

and it's difficult for so many of us to be awakened. 

now, to be woke holds a bit more meaning to many other Americans, it applies to women in the workplace and the inequality that's so often shown, it's to the growing loss of their reproductive rights, the erosion of voting  rights for Black American's, marriage equality for Gay couples, and so much more and more, and more, threats that seem small enough to ignore, to sleep through, and yet we would wake to such a complete loss of freedom. To stay woke means we don't ignore the plight of any, not the least amongst us. 

is there overkill, is there the possibility of being too woke and serving notice to a population that remains largely unaware of what still remains a present danger? Well, that depends - how woke would you wish other's would be if it were you who in this situation? Some believe that we are beyond the point where any of us needs to be woke, we've come so far, and America at it's core is a free and just society. Governor Ron DeSantis has proudly claimed that Florida is were woke culture comes to die and with that statement he ignores the plight of so many who are vulnerable, and might now feel afraid to speak their minds. We are not ready to fall back asleep and ignore the hurt of others, we can't be, ever, and that means being watchful to anything that might harm another, not ignoring signs of racial tension, and more so, being empathetic to the voices that call for us to awaken. 

it amazes me that it's only be a few years since the advent of "woke culture" as a popular term and that already there's a backlash occurring. But we are only a few generations removed from slavery, less so to Jim Crow laws, Gay Americans have only recently earned the right to marry, and even right now women are losing the power to determine what happens with their bodies. There's a pendulum swinging here and once it swung hard against the rights of so many, no, not just rights, but very safety of their existence. Today, it swings in the opposite direction with a bit more justice and concern for those long effected by it's previous harm, and there are some who are dismayed by what's going on, they're caught asleep and are afraid by what they sense is coming, fearful of the backlash of the swing. Yet a pendulum's nature is to settle, there's a sweet spot where love prevails and we come to care for each other through all the differences that we offer. Perhaps it's time to have a conversation with each other, truly being open, not just to our own personal concerns but to the concerns facing others. Perhaps it's time for the pendulum to settle. 

why be woke? 

because there's still a need to be so. 

let's ask ourselves why. 

~

Peace, Eric 

A True Quiet

A true quiet: 

what we want to do is hold the mantra lightly, loosely through the mind, simply thinking it and then letting go, not at all concerned for its return. Our meditation isn't based on concentration, clinging to breath or a Sanskrit world, we think the mantra, gently and with least effort given, allowing it as a faint impression playing through the mind. That's what we return to, we just keep coming back to the mantra, the quality of its sound, with its vibration carrying us deeply below the surface of the mind, a true quiet found. 

and really, that's what's always present, a true quiet between each thought, existing beneath our every impulse and desire, a silent field of pure awareness. Our mantra takes us to the primordial source where thoughts are born, their very first ripple of appearance before they're fully formed as words. At this depth we can watch them being born, coming into existence and then bubbling to the surface, thoughts now fully formed. This is our place of freedom, we're beyond the realm of choice, we're a witness here, simply presence, an allowingness for thoughts to easily come and go.

just the notion of who we think we are.

and eventually, even as witness we disappears. 

another thought let go. 

this isn't a place we reach, it's not what we strive for, and no amount of effort could ever bring us here - we hold the mantra lightly, thinking it and then an easy letting go. The role of the mind it to think, and so we let it do its job, thinking the mantra and whatever other thoughts appear. There are no distractions, we're never off track, it's all the process of meditation, every part of it, wandering mind and all. We just return to the mantra as it appears, remembering it,thinking it again, and at no point chastising ourselves for following other lines of thought through our imagination. It's how meditation happens. 

a true quiet exists within us, 

already.

our every thought appears from there.

what we do is think the mantra lightly, loosely, relying only on its vibrations.

and this quiet place is found. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Everyday

Everyday: 

that I do things everyday, certain things, not habits, but mindful activities that bring me joy - it was many years ago, maybe I was still in my teens and I can no longer recall the exact source, but somehow the message has stuck with me, deeply so, as I read that if something is important to you than you do it daily, never missing a day for any excuse nor reason other than an absolute emergency. This is less obsessive than it sounds, although some obsession will bring us to the edge of mastery, it's all held much too lightly for me to be worried about compulsions. 

again, these things bring me joy. 

so everyday I meditate, a morning session and once more later in the day, I have for almost 30 years. I have written daily for well over 20 years now, never missing an occasion to put even just a few words on a page or screen. It's the same with exercise, everyday I train, something I've done since childhood, although I can occasionally be talked into a rest day, but really, not too often. Is any of this healthy? Compulsive behavior? Maybe so, honestly I don't analyze it too much myself, and those who know me seem to understand it. 

I'm just wired this way. 

weird, most certainly so. 

 and what brings me the most joy is in simply being myself, having self-permission to do the things that are most joyful, and doing so without reproach, nor worry of social concerns. Feel free to be weird is my only message to others, and it certainly works well for me. Yet I'm not talking about success here, this isn't the key to mastery, it's not instructions on how to get ahead in the world and beat the competition. Mostly, this is about relaxing, although in a contradictory way. I don't have to do any of the things I've mention, I'm not compelled to do so, and I'm far from having a driven personality, most who know me would confirm that this is so. But there are a few things that I love intensely, quietly so, yet deeply, and it brings me great joy to devote myself to their practice. None of it is done with any great need to be better, it's not self-improvement, I'm not seeking enlightenment or even fulfillment. It's just the simple joy of doing a few things with a sure and deep pleasure, giving myself away, completely so, to the moment that's at hand and the practice that I'm performing. If I happen to miss a day I truly wouldn't be concerned, there's always another moment at play, another opportunity for the silence of meditation to reach me, for words to be expressed, or motion to be enjoyed. 

everyday...is another point of joy. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Yoga Partners

Yoga partner: 

there's two black cats, sisters, I think around 11 years old now and I've had them for about year, rescued from a shelter. Recently I wrote about the smaller of the two and her love of sunbeams, really, any small ray of light that makes an appearance within her room of choice and she will fit her entire body within its lighted hold. She has also become my yoga partner, stirring from her rest as my mat unfolds, offering a warm-up stretch and then insisting on the proper attention between my every pose, weaving through my legs during standing asanas and stretching right beside me as I practice on the floor. 

she's a yogi too it seems. 

it's the larger cat that's really my companion though, sleeping on the corner of my bed, not being the least bit concerned with my nighttime tossing, simply adjusting her position to find comfort with the change. Every morning she waits outside the door as I meditate, never insisting for me to hurry, patient, sitting in her own asnana of contemplation and only moving as I make my way down the stairs to prepare my coffee and to give both cats food and fresh water. Yes, the larger one is also my yoga partner, joining me in meditation, absorbed in whatever mantra that holds a cat's attention. She stays pressed against the door until my sitting time is over, every morning, and often again in my later session of the day. If the door is shut during any other time she will insist on entering, fairly demanding her right to join me in whatever it is I'm doing - but meditation is the exception to her rule. 

she's most definitely a yogi. 

both cats are my yoga partners, differently, as one is more attuned to contemplation and the other seems drawn to motion, with each finding joy in their individual paths of yoga. I should add that my visiting dog is also my yoga partner, Misty, a bodhisattva, a true embodiment of joy. She follows the path of karma yoga, action, committing herself to our every activity with love and rapt attention. But there are times that she's also joined me in meditation, her usual exuberance set aside for quiet moments of breath and mantra, sitting with me undisturbed until our meditation time is over. 

Misty too is a my yoga partner, a yogi of the finest order. 

I am blessed by these companions, how they found me in this exact time of needing partners on my journey, each offering a special moment of their own. 

yoga partners, one and all. 

~

Peace, Eric 

 

Wish Beauty

Wish beauty;

there are some who wish beauty to the world, artist, wanting only to share those visions that deeply stir their souls, expressing themselves through whichever means inspiration has provided. In this description I believe most everyone is an artist of some sort, different mediums for each of us, with some perhaps more subtle in their work, maybe not quite realizing their life approach is artful in its expression. 

this was a life changing realization for me, providing a mindfulness of action that was absent before - not just my writing and the desire to share, but deeper so, the little acts that could help foster a sense of kindness between two souls, living compassionately, not by choice, but more spontaneously, that my entire life was to be freely given in some truly meaningful way. 

my role is to wish beauty to the world. 

as is yours. 

with this I equate beauty with love, synonymous, that every creative act is rooted in divine origin and is expressed through a deep, committed sense of love. A parents devotion shows this clearly, how a life is crafted with this care, wishing our children a lifetime filled with beauty and providing the means for their fulfillment. I think of my own mother, an artist in the truest sense and how this showed in the little acts of love, striving for beauty in the things she created for my childhood. And not just for me, she was a teacher with a clear devotion to her classroom, putting in long hours past the schoolroom to create an environment filled with love and beauty. She was a teacher of the highest order, an artist, and she truly wished beauty to the world. 

my own art is less important in this way, I'm not reaching a classroom, nor am I a parent nurturing a young mind - it's much easier, more simple, and expressed through fewest words. My true art is listening, giving time to silence and then working with that first glimmer that inspiration has provided. I wake early for this, cultivating silence to hear the words more clearly, and then sharing because that's the role of every creation, regardless if any reader might find these words. Art is shared. That's the only goal it has, wishing beauty to the world through the very act of its creation. It's with this that I feel fulfilled, not by any sense of duty, nor by a feeling of achievement - but that I'm on point, expressing myself, sharing, and yes, wishing beauty to the world. And this seems to carryover to those little acts of my daily concerns, interactions with others, an opportunity to continue to wish beauty. 

again, it's all spontaneous, freely done and given. 

art, for the sake of love and beauty. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: 

perhaps a disclaimer here, just to note that almost everything I write is considered fiction in a way, lyrical prose that isn't meant to prove a point nor sway anyone's opinion in agreement to my own. How I write is intuitive, inspired through a deep sense of listening to a silence through which words appear, arriving to me completely on their own, and my main role here is to organize them on the page. What I strive for is a sense of beauty, with every line in agreement to my soul, that everything should flow by a certain rhythm and sound that maybe only I can truly hear or understand. That's the way it's supposed to be, not writing for an audience but only for myself alone, for the joy of words that seem to float their way to me through silence, to feel the texture of keyboards beneath my resting fingers, and then the sudden moment of inspiration that stirs them into motion, a tempo of complete absorption until their comes a pause, listening again to silence, and then words begin to flow once more.

honestly, with this, I have little concern for topic.

so my disclaimer is this: nothing I write of is important to you, not to any reader who happens to stumble by these words. My reason for sharing them is personal, meaning that it's something I feel called to do, as if art isn't finished, complete, until it's shared. And that's the only point here, I consider what I write to be art in a very personal sense, an expression of something deep within me that wishes to be heard, shared freely on a page without concern for being true to anyone else, nor having to meet a reader's approval as to what's been said. It's the effort itself that seeks appreciation, and I think that's so for any artist, that here is a moment with the soul laid bare, expressed without reservation, fearless, even though it surely will be judged. This is why I've learned to walk away, to give myself completely to the moment of my writing, sharing, and then be free of those concerns, at least the best I'm able. 

my attention now belongs to another morning's writing. 

so really, this is less of a disclaimer as it is another expression, an inspiration to write about the act of writing and what means for me to share. 

it's not an explanation. 

just another morning's worth of words. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Motion of Self-discovery

Motion of self-discovery:

yoga, in regard to the practice of asanas, has been described as the motion of self-discovery, that by moving into a pose, settling into stillness with a soft focus on breath and posture, we enter into a realm of understanding and intelligence, coming to know firsthand the fiction of the body, how it is truly made of space and motion and not a solid thing at all. Yoga moves us into this understanding, slowly easing the body into revealing ourselves as a structure of mystery in the midst of emptiness. 

indeed, it's the motion of self-discovery. 

for me, it's the Sun Salutation that seems to bring this revelation to light, a soft, beautiful flow of events with only a brief pause between each pose, just long enough to catch the underlying stillness that allows my body the motion that it needs. This is how I discover the fiction of the body, how it only appears to be a solid structure, that in reality there are layers here, subtle fields of energy, thought, intelligence, and deepest yet the pure joy of my true existence. 

it's through motion that I come to this discovery, being revealed, and if I proceed, deepening my attention as each asana flows in seamless order - there's another body that makes itself known, both larger and more subtle in its presence, energy, pure, and organizing the potentiality of my form. This is what guides my physical body through its functions, the wisdom of its communication between cells and vital organs, the true cause of my appearance. 

my other body is prana, energy, the pure intelligence of my being. 

and one more, another body, one that knows itself as aware, consciousness itself, and that really this is entirely what I am, the only true body of my existence. This is the bottom line, motion takes me no further than right here, simply being aware, vast, spacious. What's I've found is that yoga is the art of letting go, surrendering the notions of my body, the fictions that it holds, and to give myself to the motion of self-discovery, what's revealed, even as it's shown in mystery. 

the secret is to let go of all of these bodies, surrendering myself to motion...

and the stillness resting just beneath it all. 

~

Peace, Eric