Author Archives: Patrick Cole

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About Patrick Cole

Husband, parent and writer. Sharing stories with a little humor and wisdom along the way.

1.11.23 – The Art of Communicating

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Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh died last January, 1.22.22, yet his impact on the world continues. Below are a couple of quotes from his book The Art of Communicating for your consideration:

“Every human and every animal communicate. We typically think of communication as the words we use when we speak or write, but our body language, our facial expressions, our tone of voice, our physical actions, and even our thoughts are ways of communicating.

Every time we communicate, we either produce more compassion, love, and harmony or we produce more suffering and violence. Our communication is what we put out into the world and what remains after we have left it. In this way, our communication is our karma. The Sanskrit word karma means ‘action,’ and it refers not just to our bodily action but to what we express with our bodies, our words, and our thoughts and intentions.” The Art of Communicating, Thich Nhat Hanh, Parallax Press (c) 2013, p.139

May our thoughts, words and actions contribute more compassion, love and harmony today.

http://www.parallax.org

Jan 10 – 3 Things to Know about Humans as Animals

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Humans are competitive, omnivores and violent BUT do we have to be?

COMPETITION in the world is seen as a natural aspect of our “struggle for existence” and a basis for natural selection. See Population Biology: Ecological and Evolutionary Viewpoints https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-642-74474-7

  • What is the competition between species? Food, shelter and water.
  • What is the competition within the same species? Food, shelter, water and mates.

And it was Sigmund Freud he reminded us of our sublimation: In psychology, sublimation is a mature type of defense mechanism, in which socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior, possibly resulting in a long-term conversion of the initial impulse. Sigmund Freud 1926. Or in other words, we divert or modify our instinctual impulses into more socially acceptable activity. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublimation_(psychology)

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/meat-eating-among-the-earliest-humans

OMNIVORES

Humans, as omnivores, (meaning they eat both plants and meat) may have developed larger brains as a result of meat-eating behavior. “Animals have been part of human diets for more than 3 million years” and “we do know that meat-eating was one of the most pivotal changes in our ancestors’ diets and that it led to many of the physical, behavioral, and ecological changes that make us uniquely human.” (See Briana Pobinar’s article https://www.americanscientist.org/article/meat-eating-among-the-earliest-humans)

VIOLENCE

“Some argue that humans are inherently aggressive, violent, and competitive, cooperating only for personal gain, while others believe that humans are inherently compassionate, peaceful, and loving, acting aggressively and violently only in unnatural circumstances or when they are afraid.

Isn’t it more reasonable to perceive humans as capable of horrific cruelty and violence as well as astonishing altruism and peaceful collaboration (and everything in between), and to notice that the great majority of the time? Humans can even be cooperative and competitive simultaneously. Think of team sports, in which we collaborate peacefully with our teammates to compete (sometimes violently) with another team.

But what remains true, no matter where one falls on the “What is humanity’s essential nature?” spectrum, is that we are capable of nurturing, reinforcing, and cultivating our more peaceful natures, and that we can also become violent based on the situations and systems in which we find ourselves.” Zoe Weil, co-founder and president of the Institute of Humane Education

(See https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/becoming-solutionary/201910/are-humans-naturally-peaceful-or-violent)

Today’s senryu: 3 Things to Know about Humans as Animals

we compete, eat meat

and kill each other – and yet

we can learn and love

Jan 9 – Interspecies, Interspiritual, Dog-Walking Meditation

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INTERSPECIES INTERSPIRITUAL DAILY DOG-WALKING MEDITATION

Walking meditation is a mindful movement practice in which you consciously concentrate on walking so that you know you are walking AND notice the sense perceptions around you with each step.  For example, if you’re walking outside, you see where you are walking, you hear the various sounds of nature while you are walking, you feel the breeze and the temperature of your environment and smell the aromas of Mother Earth. You can also focus your thoughts by using a word, phrase or mantra (e.g., repeating your canine companions name).

As one Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh, explains, “Walking meditation is a wonderful practice. The primary purpose of walking meditation is to completely enjoy the experience of walking. We walk all the time but our steps are often burdened with our anxieties and sorrows. When we walk in mindfulness, each step can create a fresh breeze of peace, joy and harmony. Our destination is the here and now.”

http://www.Amazon.com/Tibetan-Singing-Bowl-Set

Thich Nhat Hanh adds that you can use a small bell to begin and end your walk and use words or phrases during the walk to guide your focused, mindful steps. Specifically, he says, “When the bell sounds for walking, our breath is coordinated with our steps – we take an in-breath and make one step with the left foot. On the out-breath we take another step with the right foot. Then we begin the cycle again. We can also hold words in our heart. For example, with one step we can say, ‘I have arrived’ and with the next, ‘I am home.’ You may continue with other meaning phrases such as, ‘Yes’ and ‘thank you.’ Our body flows in a continuous movement in harmony with our breathing.”

See The Long Road Turns to Joy – A Guide to Walking Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh, (c) 1996

A walking meditation practice can be very beautiful and comforting when done alone or with other humans.  It can also be very enjoyable with “other-than-human” companions but may not be as orderly or synchronized. 😊

For example, when I walk with my companion canine, Zorro, a 7-pound Chihuahua, we begin with me carrying him for the first half of our 300-foot walk. Fortunately, he is easy to carry but he still needs his exercise to maintain his muscle tone AND, equally important, to do his daily duty/doody (i.e., defecate and urinate). 

When I put him down on the ground next to me, he will often sniff, slowly begin walking until he finds the “right place” to do his duty/doody and then, upon completion, sprint the remaining 250 feet to the front door of our house where he knows his water dish and reward treats are located.

Anyone can do this dog-walking meditation knowing that their process and results will vary depending on their canine companion’s needs and desires.

May you and your canine companion enjoy your interspecies, interspiritual, walking meditation experience.

Jan 8 – Humans Are Animals, Right?

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It’s the beginning of a new year so returning to basics, briefly, seems like a worthwhile exercise. I mean, I can spend a lot of time trying to answer questions like Who Am I and What Is My Life’s Purpose, etc. but I shouldn’t forget my biology, should I? After all, we are still dealing with mental and physical health, a pandemic, overpopulation and the Sixth Extinction, right?

So, I’m focused this week on our animal-ness, our basic living status and what that might mean when it comes to how we live our lives.

Here’s a question for you: why do we conveniently deny our animal nature? Below are a couple of thoughts to consider.

Question: Why is it, for some reason, that humans try to separate themselves from the animal kingdom when we ourselves are animals?

Response from Flavio Zanchi ·

Religion.

All religions hold that humans are special, created at separate times and under different circumstances from other animals. Some are even so arrogant as to say that humans were made in the image of some creator or another.

That is the problem.

Most, if not all, religions try to explain consciousness with the idea of a “soul” or a “spirit” – something other than the body. Those creeds that allow animals to have a soul, also believe that being an animal is but a stage in a human’s climb toward the essence of creation. So, the soul is human, after all, and the animal just a temporary learning stage for the sublime, divine spirit.

All rubbish, of course, but still at the very foundation of religion. After all, if your beliefs don’t make you special, why have them? If placing faith in such utter balderdash does not serve to at least unite you with similarly weak-minded imbeciles, why have faith at all?

This is the single most important difference between religion – any religion – and a scientific, realist view of the world.

See, if you can’t explain animals, or plants, put yourself so far above them that no explanation is required, except to say that they were made to serve you, either as food and clothing, or as faithful tame companions, or as a step up the ladder of enlightenment.

Repost of Quora Q&R (see https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-for-some-reason-that-humans-try-to-separate-themselves-from-the-animal-kingdom-when-we-ourselves-are-animals)

Today’s senryu: Humans Are Animals, Right?

my mind is special

my body not so much – breathe

without air I die

In the mood to meditate

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I always enjoy Lynn J Kelly’s posts and this one seems especially worth sharing this week with my focus on various types of mindfulness and the pragmatic advice to experience the benefits. Hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

lynnjkelly's avatarThe Buddha's Advice to Laypeople

[Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s teacher] Ajaan Suwat often recommended putting yourself in a good mood each time before you meditate. This may sound a little backwards for many of us because we meditate in order to put ourselves in a good mood, and yet he says to start out with a good mood. But when you stop to think about it, there’s really no way you can get good results out of the meditation unless the mind has at least some good qualities in it, some cheerfulness, some patience, some wisdom. These are qualities that act as seeds, that allow the meditation to develop. We’re not totally empty-handed when we come to the meditation. We do have good qualities in the mind, and there are plenty of things we can think about to put the mind in a good mood. …

If you sit down and you feel yourself totally disinclined to…

View original post 347 more words

Jan 7 – “Nothingness is Infinite Possibilities”

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One last post on the excellent book by Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, (c) 2004.

Centering Prayer (CP) might better be called the “path to your most interior self” or the “abiding prayer of silence.” The name itself is not important it is the practice of meditation that makes a difference.

CP is the creation of inter-religious and interspiritual dialogue. Based on Hindu, Zen Buddhism, Jain, Christian (Catholic, Protestant, Quaker), 12 Step Program for Recovery to Addiction, Transcendental Meditation and Ken Wilbur’s 9-Level Fallacy.

Ultimately, committed daily sitting in silence will encourage you to:

  1. Renew your own tradition (e.g., Buddhist meditation)
  2. Be of service to others in the community
  3. Engage in and appreciate interspiritual dialogue

I highly recommend reading or listening to the audiobook for Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and/or watching the 1hr/17-minute YouTube video linked above with special attention on the last 17 minutes.

As Thomas Keating said, the nothingness (of sitting in silence) leads to infinite possibilities.

Jan 6 – The Divine Therapy

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Today I’m sharing more highlights from Cynthia Bourgeault‘s book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening with a focus on Divine Therapy.

What is Divine Therapy? How much and how frequently should you engage in it? How helpful and how risky is this form of meditation? Check out the quotes below:

“In the summer of 1983, Keating organized the first Centering Prayer Intensive …. hoping to achieve a more concentrated meditative experience on the model of a Zen sesshin, or deep immersion retreat ….

Keating produced a tape-video series then a series of books …. in an innovative synthesis, Keating interweaves the traditional wisdom of Thomas Acquinas, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross with the contemporary insights of Ken Wilbur, Michael Washburn, Jean Piaget, and even the Twelve Step Method of Alcoholics Anonymous. The result is a comprehensive psycho-spiritual paradigm that begins in woundedness and ends, if a person is willing to take it that far, in transforming union. He calls it the Divine Therapy.” Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, (c) 2004 Cynthia Bourgeault, The Psychology of Centering Prayer, pp. 91 – 93

Keating explains in his own book, Intimacy with God, (c) 1994, the real meaning of the term transforming union is “we can bring the false self to (church), but we cannot bring the false self forever to contemplative prayer because it is the nature of contemplative prayer to dissolve it.” p.98

Bourgeault goes on to explain that “a period of committed sitting is often the emergence of a patch of pain long buried and several days of emotional turmoil …. and quotes Keating once again with his explanation that (committed sitting) ‘will reduce anxiety for perhaps the first three months. But once the unconscious starts to unload, it will give you more anxiety than you ever had in your life.’ For individual practitioners he recommends a limited dosage – twenty to thirty minutes twice a day is the normal prescription – to prevent the premature emergence of material into the conscious … by repositioning meditation as a tool for the purification of the unconscious … the ‘Divine Therapy’ is gentle and it always holds paramount the need for integration of psyche and spirit.” p.98-99.

So, as always, “buyer beware” and be gentle with yourself with whatever form of contemplation, meditation or mindfulness you choose to practice. Remember, healing in any dimension (i.e., physical, psychological or spiritual) takes longer than we expect and sometimes we feel worse before we feel better.

Jan 5 – Imagine a River of Consciousness

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“In one of his most colorful teachings Thomas Keating describes (the Centering Prayer contemplation) process using the metaphor of boats on a river. The river, as he depicts it, is your consciousness – which is in fact a constantly moving “stream.” Down it floats boats, i.e., your thoughts …. on and on they float, down the river of your consciousness.” Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, (c) 2004 Cynthia Bourgeault, p.36

The metaphor continues by describing 5 types of boats or thoughts that will traverse your mind as you seek to reach deeper levels of awareness in your meditation practice. Thoughts will come and go “like clouds on a windy day”, Thich Nhat Hanh would say. That’s okay, just let them gently go.

Bourgeault continues, “The Art of Letting Go – the goal in Centering Prayer is not to stop the thoughts, but simply to develop a detached attitude toward them. As long as they are coming and going of their own accord …. this gentle, laissez-faire attitude toward the thoughts is reinforced through a simple formula called “The Four Rs“:

  • Resist no thought
  • Retain no thought
  • React to no thought
  • Return to (your) sacred word

Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, (c) 2004 Cynthia Bourgeault, p.39-40

Ultimately, contemplation, meditation, mindfulness is more about going with the flow of “stream of consciousness” rather than fighting with our ordinary awareness level.

Today’s senryu: Imagine a River of Consciousness

particle and wave,

matter and spirit, flowing

gently down the stream

Jan 4 – The Art of Awakening

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In my quest to learn more about mindfulness from an inter-spiritual perspective, I’m now reading Cynthia Bourgeault’s book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (c) 2004 via Cowley Publications with a foreword by Thomas Keating. In this book, Bourgeault describes in chapter 2: “Virtually every spiritual tradition that holds a vision of human transformation at its heart also claims that a practice of intentional silence is a non-negotiable. Period. You just have to do it. Whether it be the meditation of the yogic and Buddhist traditions, the zikr of the Sufis, the devkut of mystical Judaism, or the contemplative prayer of Christians, there is a universal affirmation that this form of spiritual practice is essential to spiritual awakening.” p.9

Also, as an appreciator of simple visuals, I enjoy the three-circle display of the levels of Awareness:

There is so much to mine in this treasure trove of a book that it will take multiple posts to share.

So, to begin, here is today’s senryu: The Art of Awakening

release the ego

getting out of our own way

silence is golden