Blog | Crossing the Threshold | David W Johnson

The Revolution is Love

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:55:26 -0800

Below is a short film by Ian MacKenzie, entitled "The Revolution of Love." The narrator is Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics. In the film Eisenstein shares some of his ideas, really placing the problems that we are facing at this time as a crises of not being true to what we are looking for as human beings.

Existing cultural narratives are strong and pull us along in a direction that does not feel true to many of us, and alienates others in ways that they find difficult to put their finger on. We are in real need of a new narrative. One that honours and speaks to what it means to be a human being.

"Love is the felt experience of connection to another being. An economist says 'more for you is less for me.' But the lover knows that more of you is more for me too. If you love somebody their happiness is your happiness. Their pain is your pain. Your sense of self expands to include other beings. This shift of consciousness is universal in everybody, 99% and 1%." ~ Charles Eisenstein

Woody Allen at the Oscars

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:57:43 -0800

My grandfather once said, "What you are after, make sure that it includes laughter." I mention this because perhaps at first glance this blog post might appear off topic for this site. Woody Allen? Oscars? And even if it is on topic, hasn't Woody Allen never attended the Academy Awards, even though he has been nominated 23 times and won on 4 occasions?

So just to answer the questions that I posed, and following on from what my grandfather said, I'll consider this on topic, the inclusion (proof?) that there is humour in my life! It also turns out that Woody Allen had attended the Academy Awards…once.

It was 2002, the first Academy Awards since the tragic events of 9/11, and Woody had been invited to Los Angeles to put in a plug for New York, that it was still a city worthy of making a movie in - and safe. I love Woody's humour, both stand up and his movies, and this performance lives up to his best. It's lovely as well to see the standing ovation that he receives as he walks out on stage, despite his regular non-appearance at the Oscars. Give yourself five minutes to enjoy this little gem.

Pause

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:39:14 -0800

A blog that I stumbled across a few years back was Zen Habits, written by Leo Babauta. My visit to the site back then was brief. I don't know why, probably due to reasons that are typical of many of our web habits. Click here, click on that link, read a bit, another link saved as a tab to be read later (and is either not read or skimmed through before jumping to another link). Anyway, Zen Habits only featured very briefly in my life way back whenever it was. That was until recently when my web surfing habits took me back there again. This time I stuck and keep an eye on Leo's regular posts.

Leo Babauta

What has drawn me back to Zen Habits and the pages that I encountered on my way there was two fold. One, looking into people who have made writing a central part of their lives, and two looking at people who have developed ways for organizing their lives. Perhaps more on one or both of these at a later date. In this blog entry I wanted to draw attention to one of Leo's recent entries - The Pause Upon Which All Else Relies.

Resistance …and Ideas

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:08:59 -0800

A creative passion of mine is writing. An omnipresent enemy of mine with which I have many battles, is Resistance. Resistance takes many forms - excuses, other work (a form of excuse when you get down to it), friends, family, half finished ideas that get sabotaged (by resistance), lack of ideas, checking email, twitter, etc - in fact another word for resistance might be Excuse.

A great book on the subject of resistance, recognizing its many disguises and developing strategies for combatting it, is Steven Pressfield's The War of Art - you can tell where I live from that link! Read, re-read it (I am right now), and keep it beside you even if just to remind you what you are up against.

If you are wanting to do some writing practice - writers need to have a regular practice just like a long distant runner or serious meditator - and resistance is rearing its ugly head in the form of no ideas, try this Idea Generator. Just don't hit the reload button too many times becuase ideas don't speak to you…that's just another form of resistance!

Reflective Monday

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:41:50 -0800

I was sent this poem by a good friend who had been sent it by a friend who had just lost his son in an accident. It is a brave and honest meditation following such a terrible loss. I pass it on for reflection. The words are attributed to the Buddha.

I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill-health.
There is no way to escape having ill-health.
I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love
are of the nature to change.
There is no way to escape being separated from them.
My actions are my only true belongings.
I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.
My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

Aurora Borealis

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:34:52 -0800

The Aurora Borealis is something that I would very much like to see. I am guessing that pictures and videos probably do not do the visual experience justice. Having said that, here is a video from Helge Mortensen of the Aurora Borealis at Tromvik, Norway. This occurrence was caused by a CME, Coronal Mass Ejection, which "are huge bubbles of the solar atmosphere that are thrown out into interplanetary space," - more information on CMEs can be found here.

Attitudes of Gratitude #3

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:46:39 -0800

For the third in this series, my object of Gratitude is "Life". You might feel that this is rather grand even pretentious, but I will share the reason for my choice.

I have recently returned to Portland from Maui, HI. My wife lived in Maui for many years, brought up her children there and they still live on the islands. We spend some time there every Christmas and New Year. This year we made some new friends, people for whom I feel we will develop an enduring bond. Part of what brought us together was an experience that we shared soon after we met.

On New Years Day we were out walking and met up with a family on vacation. Like many of us have done on many occasions we passed the family on the trail, exchanged a few pleasantries and all went on our way. Little did we know that as we all neared the end of our walk, due to a terrible accident we found ourselves witnesses and at the aid of the family whose wife/mother died from a slip and tumble at a waterfall.

Over the following days I found myself reflecting on the fragility of life and the suddenness with which it can end. The abruptness of the moment, and it being an event which you can not turn around and press the rewind button.

Attitudes of Gratitude #2

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:52:52 -0800

As part of the Attitudes of Gratitude series that I introduced towards the end of November last year, here I offer gratitude for another appreciatively received gift. It was at that time of year when colds are becoming a common occurrence. I was attending a day long conference on Buddhism and the environment being held at the Matripa Institute. Sitting outside of the Jokhang Meditation Hall, where the conference was taking place, were these throat losengers. Very welcome!

New Transition Voice post

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:25:34 -0800

I have a new piece up on Transition Voice entitled The blind men and the elephant. It can be found closer to home on this site just here.

Do Nothing for 2 Minutes

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:35:06 -0800

Here is a website that you should probably have bookmarked if you are in a habit of spending long periods of time on your computer wandering through the internet's web. Do Nothing for 2 Minutes catches you if you touch your keyboard or move your mouse within a two minute time frame. If movement is detected, you are told that you have failed!

Use it as a tool to stop, sit back, take some deep breaths, notice the tension that has built up in you, relax, perhaps turn away from the screen.

Saved as a bookmark, especially in your bookmark bar, it is easy to access the site and just stop for two minutes….just make it a periodic habit!

Attitudes of Gratitude #1

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:42:17 -0800

Every Thursday evening at the yoga studio that I attend we start class by sitting in a circle, introducing ourselves, expressing any injuries that we have and naming something that we are grateful for. While going round a recent circle a fellow Brit in the class expressed gratitude for the "Attitude of Gratitude" that had been installed in him through the Thursday evening class. Even when he was feeling a little down the Attitude of Gratitude was always available to him, opening up the world around him and lifting him out of his melancholy.

There is much to be grateful for each day, but it is very easy to go through life feeling as though our glass is half empty. The advertising industry in its effort to sell to us tells us that we don't look right, don't smell right, don't wear the right clothes or drive the right car…and that the ever elusive happiness will be with us once we do drive the right car. A celebrity culture presents us with goals that most of us are unlikely to achieve, or a fantasy world in which to escape when our own lives become too much. With external pressures to conform to or being told our own interests are not cool, we can feel alone or unappreciated for who we are. The world of lack created by the media and advertising industry creates a hole in ourselves and society that we try and fill with external stuff, whether through the procuring of goods or running round chasing distractions that ultimately do little to satisfy us.

Occupy Samsara

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:00:39 -0800

Ethan Nichtern and Michael Stone have published an "open letter from Buddhist and Yoga teachers and leaders in support of the Occupy Movement." I have copied the letter below. For more information and to sign the letter, apparently open to all and not just teachers and leaders, visit the Occupy Samsara website (sometimes a little slow in loading).

As teachers and leaders of communities that promote the development of compassion and mindfulness, we are writing to express our solidarity with the Occupy movement now active in over 1,900 cities worldwide.
We are particularly inspired by the nonviolent tactics of this movement, its methods of self-governance, and its emergent communities founded in open communication (general assemblies, the human microphone, the inclusion of diverse voices, etc). These encampments are fertile ground for seeing our inherent wisdom and our capacity for awakening. We encourage all teachers, leaders, sanghas and communities that pursue awakening to join with these inspiring activists, if they have not already done so, in working to end the extreme inequalities of wealth and power that cause so much suffering and devastation for human society and for the ecosystems of Earth.
This movement has given voice to a near-universal frustration with the economic and political disenfranchisement of so many. It offers a needed counterbalance to a system that saps the life energy of the overwhelming majority –– the so-called 99% –– generating vast profits for a tiny handful, without maximizing the true potential for widespread wealth creation in our society. While our practice challenges us to cultivate compassion for 100% of human beings without villifying an “enemy,” our practice also calls on us to confront a system that causes such clear harm and imbalance.
We share in the thoughtful calls to address massive unemployment, climate change, the erosion of social safety nets, decaying infrastructures, social and education programs, and workers’ wages, rights, and benefits.
Moreover, the current legal structure of large corporations compels individuals to act with shortsighted greed, acts for which they are not held personally accountable. If we aren’t encouraged to act with awareness of our connection to the seven billion humans who share our global community, the social fabric of our society is torn apart by legalized acts of selfishness and fear. These acts are performed in human society, by nonhuman entities, oddly granted the legal and political status of people, which have no ability to adequately perceive or react to the negative repercussions of their choices. The whole planet pays the price.
Most importantly, we believe that individual awakening and collective transformation are inseparable. For members of spiritual communities, mindfulness of the situation before us demands that we engage fully in the culture and society we inhabit. We do not view our own path as merely an individualistic pursuit of sanity and health, and we believe it would be irresponsible of us to teach students of mind/body disciplines that they can develop their practice in isolation from the society in which they live. We are inspired by the creative and intellectual work of the Occupy movement as an essential voice in facilitating a more compassionate and ecologically grounded basis for practice.
The Occupy movement has re-ignited our belief that it’s truly possible to build a culture of non-harm, honesty and respect for all creatures. We recognize our human failings and know that we’ll fail ten thousand times in our efforts to awaken. We now vow to bring our practices and methods of teaching more into alignment with our deepest values.
The structural greed, anger and delusion that characterize our current system are incompatible with our obligations to future generations and our most cherished values of interdependence, creativity, and compassion. We call on teachers and practitioners from all traditions of mind/body awakening to join in actively transforming these structures.
Signed,
Ethan Nichtern, Shastri, New York
Shôken Michael Stone, Toronto

Gatherings

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:13:26 -0800

An email arrived in my Inbox a couple of days ago announcing the relaunch of Gatherings, the e-zine of the International Community for Ecopsychology. Gatherings has been re-designed and is fully updated, as well as having access to archives going back to 2008. You can also read the first issue from the winter of 1999-2000.

Gatherings contains "articles, reviews, photography, poetry, music, podcasts, video, or relevant announcements." Well worth taking a look for current thinking and news coming out of the ecopsychology field.

Eco House

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:19:08 -0700

I have just put up a series of photographs along with some text describing an ecological house that I helped design and build in the late 1990's. The house was a joy to live in, a house that felt alive and at times blurring that line between where the source of the power ended and the result of the power (light, tool) started. I hope that the photographs give a sense of what Tandderwen (Welsh for "under the oak" - see the photographs for a further explanation) was.

You can find the images here.

Late Tomatoes

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:02:25 -0700

It might be three days into November, but up until yesterday I still had tomatoes growing and ripening on our balcony garden. The plants are still out there, looking a little worse for wear with the weather getting colder, though one is definitely still growing with flowers now appearing. I don't hold up much hope for fruit maturing from them.

Last night I convinced myself that the tomatoes still outside were unlikely to ripen much further and that now was the time to harvest what was left. So I went out and picked everything that was in sight, regardless of size. The photo below shows the results of that harvest. I'll leave them for a while before eating them to see if they ripen now that they are inside, otherwise I'll be looking for other ideas. It has been a great year for tomatoes (I must find the two varieties that I have used), even if they have had to struggle with diffcult conditions - small pots, hot weather, lack of water a couple of times while we have been away - so it would be a shame to not use them somehow.

What is Meditation?

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:49:12 -0700

This is a wonderful video of Ringu Tulku speaking about Meditation. In answer to the question, "What Meditation Really Is," he offers this clear, precise and spontaneous answer. I've watched this video a few times now and am finding something new in it each time. A sharing of wisdom. Thank you for What Meditation Really Is for this video.

More about Ringu Tulku can be found here. Information about Bodhicharya, the non-profit Educational & Cultural Association founded by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche in 1997, can be found here.

Sunrise

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:42:03 -0700

We are enjoying an Indian summer here in Portland at the moment. The photo below is of a sunrise a couple of mornings ago - taken with my iPhone 3G.

Comments up

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:01:24 -0700

Well after a couple of weeks of technical hitches, waiting and some patience the hosting and URL issues now appear to have been sorted out. This has enabled me to install comments on this blog. Not much to comment on so far, but a system in now in place. I had tried Disqus and IntenseDebate, settling with IntenseDebate as I think that it fits in better with the theme of this site. Fine tuning might occur over the coming weeks as I get use to the system. You'll find that the comments section loads about a second or two after the page.

Please check back here from time to time. I am working on some images to put up on the site, including photographs of the award winning eco-house that I mentioned in my biography.

New Transition Voice post

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:49:46 -0700

A new article that I wrote for Transition Voice is now up on their website. Entitled "Innovating within Boundaries" it calls into question the way our modern day commerce and innovation appears to have no bounds. While some amazing technologies have been invented over the last few decades, there has been very little conversation around the effect of these technologies on the planet, what we are taking from the future and what they are adding to our quality of life. These developments and how they have come about are now so entrenched in our way of life, that to bring such questions to the table runs the danger of being accused of questioning ways of life that are just taken for granted. You are questioning identity and progress. The questions run deep and are complicated but, without wishing to sound too dramatic, the future direction of our planet rely upon it.

You can find the article here.

Still waiting

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:42:34 -0700

Well things are still not working properly on the server/domain end. I'm trying to get some info transferred from A to B and it hit an unexplained block a few days back. From emails that I received over the last couple of days that appears to have been resolved and the action appears to be back on track. Hopefully this weekend, or the far side of it.....

Thanks for your patience.