Photo: S. Baer
This Monday July 17, we will meet in person.
Go to calendar for our schedule
Address for the OHMC meditation space:
3812 Northampton St. NW
Washington DC 20015
Please arrive a few minutes early so we can invite the bell on time. You may also arrive 15 minutes early to practice working meditation by helping us set up cushions.
Dear Friends,
This Monday evening we will meet in person from 7-8:30 PM and Susie will facilitate.
We will continue our summer reading of Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet. This week we will focus on pages 151-186, Right Fuel: Guard Your Mind, Nurture Your Aspiration. You don’t need to have read the book to join us.
In this section, Thay writes:
Where’s Your Horse Going?
There's a Zen story about a man on a horse galloping very quickly. At the crossroads a friend of his shouted, “Where are you going?” And the man replied, “I don't know. Ask the horse!”
Do you feel like this is you on the horse? Bumping along, not connected to what it is you really want or where you really want to be? At home, I have posted notes in key places with the question, “What do I want?” It makes me refocus on staying present and aware, so that I’m not bumping along without awareness. Being aware is how and where I need to be all the time.
When I am walking on the earth, I realize the earth wants me to stay connected. High as I jump or lift my feet off the ground, vooom, my foot hits the ground again. Earth wants me to keep coming back, to feel the connection to what is solid and undeniable. If I lift my eyes to the tree, and I see that the earth gave me this tree so we could exchange energy, and the air we breathe. The tree and me are perfectly matched, in flow with our oxygen and carbon dioxide.
In the sections “Guard Your Mind,” and “Where’s Your Horse Going?,” Thay writes about one of the most disconcerting topics of our decade: technology addiction.
We want to have some kind of excitement, and we pick up our phone, our laptop, or a book or magazine, expecting to get it. We're looking for images and sounds that take us away from the discomfort we're experiencing in the present moment and cover up the suffering inside. when we reach for stimulation, it's not exactly because we need these things but we're doing anything we can to avoid encountering ourselves. and we can get addicted to these things, and yet never get the kind of fulfillment we need. We need love, we need peace, and it's only because we don't yet know how to generate that love and peace inside, that we are looking for it outside of ourselves.
And that is the situation of humanity right now: in our times that horse is technology it is carrying us off and it's out of control. … Technology is making us alienated from ourselves, from our family, and also from nature - - and yet Nature has the power to heal and to nourish. but we spend so much time with our computer that we are no longer there for ourselves, our family, or Mother Earth. And that means civilization is going in the wrong direction. The way we are making money may not kill anyone, may not rob anyone, but it is costing us our life, our happiness, and the life and happiness of our loved ones and Mother Earth.
The truth is that instead of using the insights of science and technology to save the planet, the market is using technology to satisfy our desires and exploit the Earth further. The problem is that we're using technology mostly to satisfy our cravings and to take us out of the present moment. We do have enough technology to save us and the Earth, but the willingness to make use of it is not yet there.
I have found the Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Five Remembrances great reminders of heightened consciousness, and removing toxicity from my life. Detoxing applies to all levels of human existence. I practice detoxing from technology as well as detoxing from harmful chemicals, unhealthy foods, alcoholic beverages, people who are cruel, and constant news streams. Technology detoxing involves removing social media from phones and devices, removing all apps, and then adding back only the ones that you need. Apps that keep you in touch with loved ones for emergencies, safety and support are ones that you’d choose to keep. To learn more about this topic, I recommend Professor Cal Newport’s book, Digital Minimalism.
This chapter in Zen and The Art of Saving the Planet focuses on four nutriments: volition, sense impressions, consciousness and food. And yet it goes so much deeper and wider. Please join us in person this Monday for mindfulness meditation, walking meditation, reading, and dharma sharing.
Love,
Susie