Showing posts with label Spirituality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spirituality. Show all posts
12 March 2012
Ian Gawler Blog: Between a rock and a miracle
Thought for the day
‘I do not know the facts about everything
But I do know quite a lot’!
Three year old grandson – very keen to learn!
A couple of years ago I took part in something that was impossible. Absolutely impossible if you believe in physics. Absolutely impossible, but I was there, I was part of it.
In the foothills of the Himalayas, I joined a circle of eight other men, we placed one finger each under the edge of a huge oval stone, we chanted and the stone rose into the air!
I was visiting a remarkable Indian friend, a woman whom I met on my first visit to India in 1977. Piki as my friend is known, had lost her own husband to the same cancer I was trying to recover from at the time. She had us stay in her house, looked after us well and we became very good friends.
Piki went on to raise her two girls and see them both go on to study at Harvard. When they had both left home, she did what had been in her mind for many years; she left her high paying job in Mumbai and literally headed for the hills – the Himalayan hills. She settled in a remote district and quietly set about effecting major community development in a very thorough but unassuming way.
When Ruth and I visited, she took us to visit a famous local temple - the Baijnath temple of Parvati. As far as Piki knows it was built in the 7th century by the then Raja of the Chand dynasty, who belonged to Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh. The Parvati statue is considered so valuable that there is a round the clock guard - particularly since there was an attempt to rob it some years ago.
As far as the stone is concerned the history seems to be a little fuzzy. It would seem that a holy seer during the Chand dynasty said that the stone could only be lifted when 9 people touched it and the origins of the chant are equally unclear.
What I do know is that we managed to find eight other men. Two were Scandinavian tourists (that is true too!), three we recruited from a scratch game of cricket that was going on nearby, and the other two were locals somewhat taken in by my appearance and the prospect of something to do!
The rock was simply lying in the sand outside the temple. It looked innocuous enough, but very heavy. It was so big I doubt if two strong people could have lifted it in the conventional manner.
We gathered our crew and formed a circle around it. There was no preamble. The three cricketers had done it before and they told us the chant. The nine of us each placed one finger under it and we began to chant.
The first time we tried, the rock wobbled a bit and we all fell about laughing. The second time, I got the sense we all concentrated a little harder and the rock definitely lift a few centimeters off the sand. The third time, we chanted with intent, we all seemed focused and balanced on our nine fingers, the thing just kept going up in the air. It had no right to, but it rose about 50 cms before wobbling back to earth again. This time we all cheered, but for those new to it, there was a profound sense of incredulity.
Now I have seen a few “miraculous “ things in my time, but this was right out there. The skeptics would have a field day with it, but I not only saw it, I took part in this one.
So what happened next? Well, we all talked about it. The Scandinavians reckoned this alone made their trip worthwhile. But I suspect that like me, they went home and life went on as usual.
So here is the challenge. If and when we do see something that is completely foreign to how we think things should be or how they should happen, what do we do? I know when I did see and take part in the miraculous healing in the Philippines it did open my mind and help me to realize more was possible than my veterinary training and western way of thinking believed to be so.
But I came home from the rock trip and some months later lifted some really heavy timber in the conventional way. It took about six months before my strained hip was back to its normal self. Was there another way? Could I have focused my mind, chanted and made it easy? Who knows? Fact is I did not. I have no trouble accepting the miracle of the rising stone, but I cannot comprehend it, I cannot find a way to employ what I experienced.
So I sometimes think of these skeptic doctors who have been trained so thoroughly to think in a particular way. They just love science and “the evidence”. It may seem to some people they have a rather limited way of thinking, that they only accept the evidence that comes out of a peer reviewed journal and tend to ignore the evidence of life as it unfolds before them in the form of what they tend to dismiss as “anecdotes”.
But when someone has an unexpected recovery, it has all the hallmarks of a miracle; given that a good definition of a miracle is something we have no known explanation for. So when some doctors are confronted by a “miraculous” recovery, it is not surprising they have trouble believing it.
Now it would seem that to some of those skeptics I appear to commit the “heresy” of saying I understand something of the "miracle" of remarkable cancer recoveries. In fact, this particular miracle I understand quite well, just as many other people do. I, along with many colleagues have been teaching people how to repeat it for over thirty years. Now I cannot tell you how many people who came to my groups, recovered, went back to their doctors and were told they must have been misdiagnosed!
To me, given the rock experience, that response is understandable to a degree, but on another level, it smacks of intellectual laziness. To have something new and unexpected occur in front of your eyes, and to deny it or to attack it rather than investigate it is profoundly unscientific.
So maybe I need to go back to the rock. I have never denied it or attacked it, but maybe there is more for us to understand, more that we can do! Human potential is an amazing thing.
NEWS
1. As a matter of interest, Piki Chatterji’s second book "The JamunTree" has just been published - it is a story about the development work she has been involved with the past 25 years and more. And as the World Bank is involved in one of the projects she has written about, they organized a launch for the book back in January.
2. New study shows chemotherapies adverse cognitive effects lasts twice as long.
(Comment: This study reinforces the need to attend to your lifestyle while undergoing chemotherapy. There is the obvious need to maximise the benefits and minimise potential side effects.)
The cognitive effects of chemotherapy may last more than twice as long as previously thought, a new study of breast cancer survivors suggests.
Previous research indicated chemotherapy was related to poorer cognitive performance up to ten years after treatment. The new study expands this period, showing cognitive effects can last more than twenty years.
The paper, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, tested almost 300 women between the ages of 50 and 80 who had been treated with adjuvant cyclo- phosmamide, methotrexate, and fluoroacil (CMF) chemotherapy an average of 21 years earlier.
Researchers found their processing speed, executive functioning, psychomotor speed, and immediate and delayed verbal memory were all “significantly worse” than a control group of women who had never had cancer.
The authors cautioned that the impact of their study was tempered by the fact that CMF was “no longer the most optimal adjuvant therapy for early-stage breast cancer,” and admitted it was impossible to glean if they were applicable to other forms of chemotherapy.
Given advances in treatment are increasing the number of long-term breast cancer survivors, their research into long-term cognitive effects was “highly relevant”, they said.
Reference: Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2012; 10.1200/JCO.2011.37.0189
3. Study finds Vitamin A reduces melanoma but experts doubtful.
(Comment: This is an interesting finding given some of the adverse publicity Vit A has received in recent times.)
Vitamin A intake may be associated with a significant reduction in melanoma risk among women, a new US study shows, but Australian experts are dubious.
After analysing the melanoma risk in about 70,000 people who took vitamin A supplements the California-based researchers concluded high-dose (41,200 mg per day) supplemental retinol was associated with reduced melanoma risk, particularly in women.
Reference: Journal of Investigative Dermatology doi:10.1038/jid.2012.21
RESOURCES
BOOKS: The Mind that Changes Everything
Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda - a great story of direct experiences with the Indian holy men and miracle workers.
05 March 2012
Ian Gawler Blog: The paradox of helplessness – let go and find your self
Thought for the day
“Mathematics is the inner sensitivity to beautiful mental sculptures”
Stefan Banach, a self-taught mathematics prodigy who is widely considered to have been one of the 20th century's most important and influential mathematicians.
How would you imagine you might feel if you had a stroke that left your mind clear, your body paralysed and it took nearly 8 hours before anyone found you?
Speaking at the Happiness and its Causes conference recently, I had the good fortune to speak to a Tibetan Buddhist lama who was in just this situation about 6 months ago. I asked him how he felt.
“I really enjoyed the feeling of helplessness” came his rather remarkable response. I asked him to explain.
“Well, I have done a good deal of meditation and other practices throughout my life. But lying there on the floor, not sure if I would live or die; not sure when someone might find me, what I did find was that it intensified my practice in a way I have not known before. It gave me a much more profound glimpse of who I really am and how I can really be.”
The lama’s observations match those of the great English Christian mystic and scholar, Father Bede Griffiths. I remember talking with him in his Inter-faith ashram in India not long after he had recovered from a massive stroke. His eyes ablaze with the delight of the experience, Fr Bede told me how he really thought he was going to die.
“In that moment, it was as if all my doubts fell away. All my attachments to this body, my ego - all gone. I was left with the profound experience of my true essence – in a way that previous experiences in meditation had hinted at, but nothing compared to this. It was marvellous! I would recommend it to anyone!”
Now, there is a secret in all this. You may think these experiences are only for great lamas and monks, or only to be had at the cost of a near death experience. The truth of the matter is the inner essence of which they speak is within each and everyone of us. To experience it more directly, we do not need to “make it happen” or seek it in some exotic place. What we do need to do is go beyond that which obscures it from our view - our normal confusions of the mind and our attachments. What will help us to do this is to go forward with what Fr Bede described as “crazy abandon”. In doing so maybe we can let go profoundly, surrender completely, and in doing so, we may well find what we are really looking for.
So how to do this? As Fr Bede said, meditation begins to bring familiarity with all of this. As we do learn to relax more deeply, to settle the mind, often we do have those deeper moments when we go beyond the thinking mind into the deeper stillness where the experience of our fundamental nature is more direct.
For the adventurous ones there is a radical approach; simply imagine you are dying! This takes a little mental stability to even consider, but think about it. If we breathe out and do not breathing in again; that is all it takes to die. So if in meditation, we breathe out and abandon any hope of breathing in, we can somewhat duplicate the experience.
Now at this point I probably need to emphasize that having lead many people in this type of meditative exercise, I have not lost anyone yet!
But to take it further, some people have found extra poignancy and great benefit in actually imagining themselves on their deathbed, in the process of dying.
At the conference, I had been asked to speak on “Living well, Dying well”. My basic premise is that there are two ways to live. One is in fear and denial of death, the other way to live is informed by death. While the first is very common and has a certain logical appeal, when we acknowledge the reality of death, and go into understanding it; when we live a life informed by death, fear drops away and we realize the facts of life. We realize how precious life is, how uncertain the length of our life is and this focuses our attention on living each moment to the fullest of our capacity.
Here then is the paradox. While life is so precious and we tend to cling so strongly to it, by letting go profoundly, not only is there the possibility we will be more at ease with both our life and our death, but we may come to experience the truth of who we really are.
NEWS
1. Workshop at Mt Macedon – Saturday 24th March.
Duneira is one of the premier gardens at Mt Macedon and will be the venue for my day workshop: “The Mind that Changes Everything”. I love the format of this workshop; we explore how the mind functions, the recent amazing research to do with brain function, and then we will explore and practise the key mind training techniques of meditation, affirmations and imagery. Not withstanding the content, just being in these wonderful gardens for a day is worth the trip! (The workshop itself is held within the beautiful old homestead). Click here for details.
2. Meditation retreat - March 30 - April 5th
There is nothing like attending a retreat to learn more about meditation and to deepen your practice. Ruth and I will only lead the one retreat this year – at the Foundation’s glorious Yarra Valley centre. Still a few places available. Click here for details.
RESOURCES
RELATED BLOGS
Meditation and its experiences
Slow down and go faster
BOOKS Meditation – an In-depth Guide
The Mind that Changes Everything
CDs Meditation – a complete path
Understanding death, helping the dying
06 February 2012
Ian Gawler Blog: Is prayer scientific?
Thought for the Day
If you stand for nothing
You will fall for anything
Many people believe in prayer. Many people have a positive personal experience of prayer and say it has significantly transformed some aspect of their own life or that of someone close to them. Many people even say prayer saved their life.
But what do the scientists say? What research is there to support the power of prayer?
Let us start with a definition. Prayer is defined in the Oxford dictionary as "a solemn request to God or an object of worship; a supplication, thanksgiving, or other mental act addressed to God" and as " a formula or form of words used in praying" - so in the literal English sense, God figures prominently in prayer. Of course, prayer features prominently in all the great religious traditions.
To be clear, prayer in relation to healing falls into one of two categories: intercessory prayer, which involves praying for the benefit of another person; or personal prayer, which involves praying for oneself.
Intercessory Prayer
When it comes to scientifically validating the healing potential of prayer, nearly all the published research focuses upon intercessory prayer (IP).
Much excitement was created in the research and wider communities in 1988 when the cardiologist and committed Christian, Randolph Byrd published a landmark paper demonstrating the benefits of IP for people recovering in a coronary care unit (CCU).
Working in the San Francisco General Hospital, Dr Byrd used a prospective, randomised, double blind protocol making the study quite sound from a scientific point of view. Practising "born again" Christians from a range of faiths were assigned to pray for people they never met, and who did not know if they were being prayed for or not. They were instructed to pray daily for the rapid recovery of those assigned to them; and for the prevention of any complications and death, in addition to other areas of prayer they believed to be beneficial to the patient.
The results demonstrated that those prayed for had significantly fewer complications and required less medication. Mortality was the same for those prayed for and the controls.
Byrd's much quoted study attracted a good deal of support and criticism. The Harris study in 1999, was another similarly well designed and well conducted study that showed positive benefits in reducing complications in a CCU.
However, the most recent Cochrane Review (Roberts 2011) on IP sits on the fence. The Cochrane Reviews, which are given a good deal of weight in medical circles, aim to provide the evidence base on a particular subject and commonly use a process that selects for high quality research while filtering out observational and population based studies.
Roberts concluded that at present there was no good quality scientific evidence IP led to positive or negative outcomes and that further research would be required to settle the matter scientifically. This enthusiasm for more research is shared by many other researchers, clinicians and members of the wider public for whom the topic of IP remains of great interest.
Personal Prayer
Personal prayer involves a spectrum of inner practices which range from prayer in the traditional sense, through to the repetition of a particular prayer or the use of a mantra, and on into the use of contemplation and sitting quietly in silence. Techniques in this spectrum include praying for oneself by appealing for divine intervention or praying that the best outcome possible will flow from the present circumstances and trusting in that outcome.
However, this type of prayer can also cover a range of inner practices which may produce significant cognitive shifts such as from despair to acceptance, and can include the use of visualisations and contemplation that leads to insight, clarity and the development of particular traits such as compassion and happiness. It even may be that simply sitting quietly in silence is the most powerful healing practice of all.
There has been very little specific research published on the benefits of personal prayer. However, this form of inner practice overlaps with that of contemplation and meditation which have attracted a great deal of recent study. It is relatively easy to make the theoretical connections between the practices of personal prayer, contemplation and meditation. As such, it is reasonable to conject that many of the positive health benefits associated with the practice of meditation are likely to be reproduced via personal prayer. Here it is worth noting that there are currently over 7000 studies in the medical literature around the world attesting to the positive benefits of meditation in a wide range of physical and psychological conditions.
In summary
The existing research on the healing benefits of prayer are scant and include both positive and negative findings. Research in this field is challenging but due to the huge public interest in it, warrants more attention. There may be particular benefits in examining the linkages between the practices of personal prayer, visualisation, contemplation and meditation and the wealth of research available and continuing in the latter fields.
Speaking personally
Pray regularly. It could transform your life. It could save your life.
And if anyone offers to pray for you, thank them kindly, accept and ask them if they have any friends who will join in!
RESOURCES
1 Dr Craig Hassed's excellent review of prayer and spirituality in his 2006 paper on Mind-body medicine, listed on the Gawler Foundation's website.
2, The Cochrane Reviews: Mainstream evidence based medical research reviews
3.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/query/static/clinical.shtml. This may be the longest address known to man, but it gives you free access to Pubmed database.
A search of this database has not been done for this article.
4. Good positive books: Both by Larry Dossey: Healing Words(1993) and Prayer is Good Medicine (1996)
5. Wikipedia: the section on prayer is pretty good and has a lot in common with that above. The link is to prayer, then go to efficacy of prayer healing.
If you stand for nothing
You will fall for anything
Many people believe in prayer. Many people have a positive personal experience of prayer and say it has significantly transformed some aspect of their own life or that of someone close to them. Many people even say prayer saved their life.
But what do the scientists say? What research is there to support the power of prayer?
Let us start with a definition. Prayer is defined in the Oxford dictionary as "a solemn request to God or an object of worship; a supplication, thanksgiving, or other mental act addressed to God" and as " a formula or form of words used in praying" - so in the literal English sense, God figures prominently in prayer. Of course, prayer features prominently in all the great religious traditions.
To be clear, prayer in relation to healing falls into one of two categories: intercessory prayer, which involves praying for the benefit of another person; or personal prayer, which involves praying for oneself.
Intercessory Prayer
When it comes to scientifically validating the healing potential of prayer, nearly all the published research focuses upon intercessory prayer (IP).
Much excitement was created in the research and wider communities in 1988 when the cardiologist and committed Christian, Randolph Byrd published a landmark paper demonstrating the benefits of IP for people recovering in a coronary care unit (CCU).
Working in the San Francisco General Hospital, Dr Byrd used a prospective, randomised, double blind protocol making the study quite sound from a scientific point of view. Practising "born again" Christians from a range of faiths were assigned to pray for people they never met, and who did not know if they were being prayed for or not. They were instructed to pray daily for the rapid recovery of those assigned to them; and for the prevention of any complications and death, in addition to other areas of prayer they believed to be beneficial to the patient.
The results demonstrated that those prayed for had significantly fewer complications and required less medication. Mortality was the same for those prayed for and the controls.
Byrd's much quoted study attracted a good deal of support and criticism. The Harris study in 1999, was another similarly well designed and well conducted study that showed positive benefits in reducing complications in a CCU.
However, the most recent Cochrane Review (Roberts 2011) on IP sits on the fence. The Cochrane Reviews, which are given a good deal of weight in medical circles, aim to provide the evidence base on a particular subject and commonly use a process that selects for high quality research while filtering out observational and population based studies.
Roberts concluded that at present there was no good quality scientific evidence IP led to positive or negative outcomes and that further research would be required to settle the matter scientifically. This enthusiasm for more research is shared by many other researchers, clinicians and members of the wider public for whom the topic of IP remains of great interest.
Personal Prayer
Personal prayer involves a spectrum of inner practices which range from prayer in the traditional sense, through to the repetition of a particular prayer or the use of a mantra, and on into the use of contemplation and sitting quietly in silence. Techniques in this spectrum include praying for oneself by appealing for divine intervention or praying that the best outcome possible will flow from the present circumstances and trusting in that outcome.
However, this type of prayer can also cover a range of inner practices which may produce significant cognitive shifts such as from despair to acceptance, and can include the use of visualisations and contemplation that leads to insight, clarity and the development of particular traits such as compassion and happiness. It even may be that simply sitting quietly in silence is the most powerful healing practice of all.
There has been very little specific research published on the benefits of personal prayer. However, this form of inner practice overlaps with that of contemplation and meditation which have attracted a great deal of recent study. It is relatively easy to make the theoretical connections between the practices of personal prayer, contemplation and meditation. As such, it is reasonable to conject that many of the positive health benefits associated with the practice of meditation are likely to be reproduced via personal prayer. Here it is worth noting that there are currently over 7000 studies in the medical literature around the world attesting to the positive benefits of meditation in a wide range of physical and psychological conditions.
In summary
The existing research on the healing benefits of prayer are scant and include both positive and negative findings. Research in this field is challenging but due to the huge public interest in it, warrants more attention. There may be particular benefits in examining the linkages between the practices of personal prayer, visualisation, contemplation and meditation and the wealth of research available and continuing in the latter fields.
Speaking personally
Pray regularly. It could transform your life. It could save your life.
And if anyone offers to pray for you, thank them kindly, accept and ask them if they have any friends who will join in!
RESOURCES
1 Dr Craig Hassed's excellent review of prayer and spirituality in his 2006 paper on Mind-body medicine, listed on the Gawler Foundation's website.
2, The Cochrane Reviews: Mainstream evidence based medical research reviews
3.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/query/static/clinical.shtml. This may be the longest address known to man, but it gives you free access to Pubmed database.
A search of this database has not been done for this article.
4. Good positive books: Both by Larry Dossey: Healing Words(1993) and Prayer is Good Medicine (1996)
5. Wikipedia: the section on prayer is pretty good and has a lot in common with that above. The link is to prayer, then go to efficacy of prayer healing.
19 December 2011
Ian Gawler Blog: Love, Christmas and the whole damn thing!
First, a brief reminder Mindbody Mastery (click here to connect to the website), my recently released downloadable meditation program will make a wonderful Christmas present and if you use the code IJG-SM you will receive a healthy discount as well. With its initial 8 week program and 6 months of support to establish and deepen your practice, I do hope many of you will use it and feel the benefits.
And then Christmas. This is the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Christ quite literally represents the embodiment of pure love. Unconditional love.
Now there are many forms of love in this world of ours. There is love for a parent, for a child, for a lover, for our self, an animal, a thing, a cause etc.
These worldly loves often have an element of the relative about them. Relative in the sense that they are related to attached conditions: I will love you if… (you love me back, make me laugh, look after me...etc). I will love you when… (you have a better job, loose some weight, do not get so angry…etc). I love you because…(you do this for me, you make me look good…etc), etc, etc. In this sense, for many of us, if we do take the time to reflect on it, love can have some aspect of being more like a deal than a pure state of mind.
It is easy to observe many people are confused by these different aspects of love. This was often apparent after people came to any of the Gawler Foundation programs, particularly the residential ones.
The fact is that these programs reliably bring out the best in people. Participants quickly come to really care for each other. The staff consistently put their own issues aside and really care for the participants. People begin to feel something of that unconditional love.
As an aside, it is my sense it is just this, the experience of unconditional love, that often explains the wonderful, positive and often profound transformations that occur during the programs in the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing of participants.
But then, as these people head home, often they experience the confusion that many others feel independently of attending such a program. If pure love is unconditional, and I want to love all, how do I manage the difficult people in my life?
The key resides in understanding the difference between relative and absolute. This is one of the great gifts of examining our minds. When we do so, we realise there are such things as the relative and the absolute. On the absolute level we all have an intrinsic goodness, an intrinsic purity. In Christianity we say we are made in God’s image. Cannot get much purer than that. In Buddhism we say that in their essence, everyone has Buddha nature – again that notion of fundamental goodness and purity.
Yet on the relative, worldly level it is clear peoples’ actions, emotions and thoughts can be complex and often problematic. The fact is some relationships can be very difficult, even quite toxic and there may well be a need to discriminate about whom we hang out with!
Now it is true that difficult relationships can teach us so much about ourselves, about patience, tolerance, compassion etc. And enduring some relationships can lead to healthy outcomes for all. However, in some situations it can be clear that to remain in a relationship will only create more problems and it may well be the loving thing to avoid such a relationship.
Personal awareness requires discrimination. It is not about suffering endlessly, it is not about neglecting the treatment of illness or the working on difficulties. It is about right action. Working as much as possible from a position of unconditional love, recognising the fundamental goodness in all and so having a deep respect and real compassion for all, while at the same time recognising the limitations of others and ourselves. Doing the best we can and making every effort to continue to learn and to be a better person. To be increasingly comfortable with our own capacities and those of others.
Christmas then is a perfect time to contemplate the place of love in your life. To consider when for you love is unconditional, when it is more like a deal with its conditions, and when it is better avoided. Christmas often brings families together in a way that these issues are brought to the fore, so be gentle on yourself and others, take time to contemplate and meditate, and may you experience something of the true meaning of Christmas – unconditional love.
RESOURCES
Mindbody Mastery: link here to the website and remember when you register to use the code IJG-SM so you receive your discount.
And then Christmas. This is the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Christ quite literally represents the embodiment of pure love. Unconditional love.
Now there are many forms of love in this world of ours. There is love for a parent, for a child, for a lover, for our self, an animal, a thing, a cause etc.
These worldly loves often have an element of the relative about them. Relative in the sense that they are related to attached conditions: I will love you if… (you love me back, make me laugh, look after me...etc). I will love you when… (you have a better job, loose some weight, do not get so angry…etc). I love you because…(you do this for me, you make me look good…etc), etc, etc. In this sense, for many of us, if we do take the time to reflect on it, love can have some aspect of being more like a deal than a pure state of mind.
It is easy to observe many people are confused by these different aspects of love. This was often apparent after people came to any of the Gawler Foundation programs, particularly the residential ones.
The fact is that these programs reliably bring out the best in people. Participants quickly come to really care for each other. The staff consistently put their own issues aside and really care for the participants. People begin to feel something of that unconditional love.
As an aside, it is my sense it is just this, the experience of unconditional love, that often explains the wonderful, positive and often profound transformations that occur during the programs in the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing of participants.
But then, as these people head home, often they experience the confusion that many others feel independently of attending such a program. If pure love is unconditional, and I want to love all, how do I manage the difficult people in my life?
The key resides in understanding the difference between relative and absolute. This is one of the great gifts of examining our minds. When we do so, we realise there are such things as the relative and the absolute. On the absolute level we all have an intrinsic goodness, an intrinsic purity. In Christianity we say we are made in God’s image. Cannot get much purer than that. In Buddhism we say that in their essence, everyone has Buddha nature – again that notion of fundamental goodness and purity.
Yet on the relative, worldly level it is clear peoples’ actions, emotions and thoughts can be complex and often problematic. The fact is some relationships can be very difficult, even quite toxic and there may well be a need to discriminate about whom we hang out with!
Now it is true that difficult relationships can teach us so much about ourselves, about patience, tolerance, compassion etc. And enduring some relationships can lead to healthy outcomes for all. However, in some situations it can be clear that to remain in a relationship will only create more problems and it may well be the loving thing to avoid such a relationship.
Personal awareness requires discrimination. It is not about suffering endlessly, it is not about neglecting the treatment of illness or the working on difficulties. It is about right action. Working as much as possible from a position of unconditional love, recognising the fundamental goodness in all and so having a deep respect and real compassion for all, while at the same time recognising the limitations of others and ourselves. Doing the best we can and making every effort to continue to learn and to be a better person. To be increasingly comfortable with our own capacities and those of others.
Christmas then is a perfect time to contemplate the place of love in your life. To consider when for you love is unconditional, when it is more like a deal with its conditions, and when it is better avoided. Christmas often brings families together in a way that these issues are brought to the fore, so be gentle on yourself and others, take time to contemplate and meditate, and may you experience something of the true meaning of Christmas – unconditional love.
RESOURCES
Mindbody Mastery: link here to the website and remember when you register to use the code IJG-SM so you receive your discount.
12 September 2011
Ian Gawler Blog: 9/11,Transformation, and mindfulness of people.
Ruth and I had the good fortune to receive an award at a recent Inter-faith function where the aim was to mobilise the energy around the extraordinary events of 9/11 to promote Inter-faith understanding and cooperation.
The awards are an annual event inaugurated last year in the best spirit of Australian multi-culturalism. Swami Shankarananda, a Jewish New Yorker intellectual, met Muktananda, the then head of Siddha Yoga in his early days and is now teaching Hindu philosophy and practices to a wide audience in outer suburban Melbourne. Along with his wife Devi Ma, Swamiji runs a very vibrant centre in Mt Eliza with a strong emphasis on meditation, chanting and finding joy in the spiritual path.
The award night was a real delight, bringing together local leaders from all the major faith traditions. We had a Jewish cantor singing prayers, an operatic quality rendition of Ave Maria and Hindu chanting, along with silent meditation.
Where were you when you first heard of the twin tower attacks?
Ruth and I were coming home from a wonderful evening where Paul Kraus’ fabulous book ‘Surviving Cancer” had been launched by the Gawler Foundation. Along with a group of long term cancer survivors whose stories are featured in the book, Prof Chris O’Brien had spoken in glowing and eloquent terms of drawing on the Foundation's inspiration and knowledge to mobilise his own efforts; using meditation and other lifestyle factors in his efforts to recover from his own very difficult cancer.
That evening had been one of the most uplifting in the Gawler Foundation’s history, and then, on the radio, complete incredulity. Could this be real? Then on the TV. Was it an Orsen Wells like black-hearted trick to be playing these images? And then, the realisation the towers had really fallen, so many people had died, and all our lives were in the process of changing.
So 10yrs later, what has happened? According to The Age, Australia is estimated to have spent $30 billion fighting terrorism; the USA $4 trillion! Prof Mark Stewart, a Newcastle academic puts the risk for an Australian actually being killed by a terrorist attack at 1 in 7 million per year, about the same risk as being killed by lightning.
Of course, for anyone who was directly affected by 9/11, the Bali bombings or any other act of terrorism, the consequences have been severe and probably ongoing.
But for the population at large, do we need to keep spending such huge amounts on anti-terrorist activities, including fighting in countries not our own? Maybe it is time to give more time and resources to reducing fear and bringing people together in peace and understanding.
One of the challenges is to not sound clichéd in this arena. At the award night, a remarkable young Buddhist monk managed this very well. Thubten Gyaltsen was acknowledged and awarded for his Inter-faith work amongst young people. He recounted the day he heard Osama Bin-Laden was killed by US forces. The TV was replete with images of young Americans dancing and chanting in the streets, claiming to be young Christians and deliriously happy with the death of this man.
Then he went to an evening function in the Muslim community where the keynote speaker’s first name was also Osama. This man spoke with fervour and passion about the need to be of service throughout the local community, to make alliances with all the faiths, to bring understanding and peace to their own people and their new home country.
The challenge must be to go beyond stereotypes, to transform fear and to build cross-cultural and Inter-faith relationships. One simple way I have found to work on this is what I call:
Mindfulness of people
This is a simple exercise. You smile warmly at everyone you meet, whether on introduction from a trusted friend, whether at a business meeting or as you pass them casually in the street. The easy mindfulness bit is to give them your full attention for the few moments the smile takes; the tricky part is to notice your mind as you offer the smile. You aim to notice what response you have to smiling at everyone, regardless of their size, shape, age, gender, colour race, creed etc
When you can genuinely say the feeling that goes with smiling at everyone is the same, you have achieved something quite difficult I would suggest, but something incredibly worthwhile. The advanced practice is to remain unaffected by whatever judgements you get the impression the other person is making of you!
Like all exercises such as this one, it takes effort and practice; and any progress you make is valuable.
As for the award, it acknowledged the contribution Ruth and I have made through teaching and popularising meditation. In Swami Shankarananda’s words:
“We give awards each year for interfaith activity. It started when I decided to reverse the significance of September 11 by thinking of it as, instead of a dark day for interreligious relationships, a day for the celebration of interreligious dialogue.
“Last year we gave the "Sanatana Dharma Award" to Father John Dupuche in recognition of all his work in the field. This year we would like to give the award jointly to both of you.
“Sanatana Dharma is translated as "the eternal religion". It refers to the kernel of oneness that is behind all the different religions. In my mind, meditation is the highest expression of Sanatana Dharma because it comes under no trademark, is the private property of no single religion and is equally beneficial, like sleep, to Hindus, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and even atheists.”
NEWS
1. Weekend workshop in Melbourne: 17 & 18 September
Bookings through the Gawler Foundation
2. Healing Meditation Retreat and Training for health professionals – with monks from Thich Nhat Hahn’s tradition
Bookings through the Gawler Foundation
RESOURCES
BOOKS
1. Meditation – An In-depth Guide: Ian Gawler and Paul Bedson
2. The Miracle of Mindfulness: Thich Nhat Hahn
CDs
1. Deepening your meditation (for mindfulness exercises): Ian Gawler
2. A Woman’s Voice: Ruth Gawler leading mindfulness and meditation exercises
RELATED BLOGS
1. Go with the flow or intervene
2. The brain, the mind and relationships
The awards are an annual event inaugurated last year in the best spirit of Australian multi-culturalism. Swami Shankarananda, a Jewish New Yorker intellectual, met Muktananda, the then head of Siddha Yoga in his early days and is now teaching Hindu philosophy and practices to a wide audience in outer suburban Melbourne. Along with his wife Devi Ma, Swamiji runs a very vibrant centre in Mt Eliza with a strong emphasis on meditation, chanting and finding joy in the spiritual path.
The award night was a real delight, bringing together local leaders from all the major faith traditions. We had a Jewish cantor singing prayers, an operatic quality rendition of Ave Maria and Hindu chanting, along with silent meditation.
Where were you when you first heard of the twin tower attacks?
Ruth and I were coming home from a wonderful evening where Paul Kraus’ fabulous book ‘Surviving Cancer” had been launched by the Gawler Foundation. Along with a group of long term cancer survivors whose stories are featured in the book, Prof Chris O’Brien had spoken in glowing and eloquent terms of drawing on the Foundation's inspiration and knowledge to mobilise his own efforts; using meditation and other lifestyle factors in his efforts to recover from his own very difficult cancer.
That evening had been one of the most uplifting in the Gawler Foundation’s history, and then, on the radio, complete incredulity. Could this be real? Then on the TV. Was it an Orsen Wells like black-hearted trick to be playing these images? And then, the realisation the towers had really fallen, so many people had died, and all our lives were in the process of changing.
So 10yrs later, what has happened? According to The Age, Australia is estimated to have spent $30 billion fighting terrorism; the USA $4 trillion! Prof Mark Stewart, a Newcastle academic puts the risk for an Australian actually being killed by a terrorist attack at 1 in 7 million per year, about the same risk as being killed by lightning.
Of course, for anyone who was directly affected by 9/11, the Bali bombings or any other act of terrorism, the consequences have been severe and probably ongoing.
But for the population at large, do we need to keep spending such huge amounts on anti-terrorist activities, including fighting in countries not our own? Maybe it is time to give more time and resources to reducing fear and bringing people together in peace and understanding.
One of the challenges is to not sound clichéd in this arena. At the award night, a remarkable young Buddhist monk managed this very well. Thubten Gyaltsen was acknowledged and awarded for his Inter-faith work amongst young people. He recounted the day he heard Osama Bin-Laden was killed by US forces. The TV was replete with images of young Americans dancing and chanting in the streets, claiming to be young Christians and deliriously happy with the death of this man.
Then he went to an evening function in the Muslim community where the keynote speaker’s first name was also Osama. This man spoke with fervour and passion about the need to be of service throughout the local community, to make alliances with all the faiths, to bring understanding and peace to their own people and their new home country.
The challenge must be to go beyond stereotypes, to transform fear and to build cross-cultural and Inter-faith relationships. One simple way I have found to work on this is what I call:
Mindfulness of people
This is a simple exercise. You smile warmly at everyone you meet, whether on introduction from a trusted friend, whether at a business meeting or as you pass them casually in the street. The easy mindfulness bit is to give them your full attention for the few moments the smile takes; the tricky part is to notice your mind as you offer the smile. You aim to notice what response you have to smiling at everyone, regardless of their size, shape, age, gender, colour race, creed etc
When you can genuinely say the feeling that goes with smiling at everyone is the same, you have achieved something quite difficult I would suggest, but something incredibly worthwhile. The advanced practice is to remain unaffected by whatever judgements you get the impression the other person is making of you!
Like all exercises such as this one, it takes effort and practice; and any progress you make is valuable.
As for the award, it acknowledged the contribution Ruth and I have made through teaching and popularising meditation. In Swami Shankarananda’s words:
“We give awards each year for interfaith activity. It started when I decided to reverse the significance of September 11 by thinking of it as, instead of a dark day for interreligious relationships, a day for the celebration of interreligious dialogue.
“Last year we gave the "Sanatana Dharma Award" to Father John Dupuche in recognition of all his work in the field. This year we would like to give the award jointly to both of you.
“Sanatana Dharma is translated as "the eternal religion". It refers to the kernel of oneness that is behind all the different religions. In my mind, meditation is the highest expression of Sanatana Dharma because it comes under no trademark, is the private property of no single religion and is equally beneficial, like sleep, to Hindus, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and even atheists.”
NEWS
1. Weekend workshop in Melbourne: 17 & 18 September
Bookings through the Gawler Foundation
2. Healing Meditation Retreat and Training for health professionals – with monks from Thich Nhat Hahn’s tradition
Bookings through the Gawler Foundation
RESOURCES
BOOKS
1. Meditation – An In-depth Guide: Ian Gawler and Paul Bedson
2. The Miracle of Mindfulness: Thich Nhat Hahn
CDs
1. Deepening your meditation (for mindfulness exercises): Ian Gawler
2. A Woman’s Voice: Ruth Gawler leading mindfulness and meditation exercises
RELATED BLOGS
1. Go with the flow or intervene
2. The brain, the mind and relationships
25 July 2011
Ian Gawler Blog: On Pilgimage
“A pilgrim is one who makes a certain kind of journey, not one who arrives at a certain destination.”
Pilgrims the world over have found journeying to places and to people of spiritual power a fulfilling external metaphor for the inner journey. Often arduous, and involving travel to strange and exotic lands, pilgrimages are a traditional way of seeking deep natural peace and a heightened sense of meaning in life.
The concept of pilgrimage is found in all the great religious traditions. In this modern day when people have the potential and resources to travel more freely, widely and quickly than ever before in history, pilgrimage provides a reason for travel that goes way beyond the mundane. As the pilgrim travels across the landscape, journeying often to a land of their dreams, an inner process inevitably unfolds, commonly bringing a state of transformation and even transcendence.
Pilgrimage involves going to a place that is real enough, but also sacred. And through the inner process, one brings something home from a pilgrimage that is likely to be quite different from mundane travels. While some make "pilgrimages" to where Elvis lived, Jacko was born, or historical events took place; common tourism can seem to be like attempting to "see the world" but frequently involves returning exhausted, with lots of photos but without much in the way of real nourishment.
However, pilgrimage sites are often “out of this world”. The majesty of Westminster Abbey or St Peters in Rome, Bethlehem in Israel, the sacred peaks of the Himalayas, the teeming ghats of the river Ganges, the mysteries of Mecca, the cradle of Buddhism at Bodghaya, the great copper-coloured mountain that is Uluru (or Ayer’s Rock); all places where the earth meets the spirit, all places where for ages past pilgrims have journeyed. These are places of peace and tranquility, whose spiritual presence is tangible to even the most hardened soul.
How then does one decide upon a pilgrimage? I suspect the answer is you just know when the time has come, along with where you will go and when. Of course, these days there are likely to be all sorts of rational arguments against going – work, family, financial pressures. But when this time comes, it is important to listen to your heart, make the leap, commit, plan and set off.
A great example in current time is provided by John Bettens. In April 2011 John commenced a walk from Rome to Santiago de Compostela in the north-west of Spain, a pilgrim’s walk of about 3,000 kms. John has been walking the Camino as it is popularly known; or to give it its full title, the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James). This is one part of a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain.
Remarkably, John has completed most of his epic alone while dealing with two types of cancer - prostate and follicular lymphoma, and will have walked around 2500kms when he finishes in Santiago on the 5th August. The route has taken him up the west coast of Italy to Genoa. From there he headed west across the breadth of France, and upon reaching Spain, John took the northern way which follows the coastline along the Bay of Biscay.
He has also aimed to raise money to support the work of the Gawler Foundation (it is easy to donate via his website – see the link below) and to raise awareness about holistic healing for those experiencing cancer, and the benefits of integrated care which values nutrition, meditation and belief in the path you choose.
Maybe you would like to catch up on his progress and support him by sending a message– see the link below. Maybe you feel inspired to embark upon your own pilgrimage. Or, if you have been on a pilgrimage already, maybe you would care to share something of the experience in the comment section below.
RESOURCES
John Bettens’ blog
Walking the Camino
RELATED BLOGS
Retreat and go forward
NEWS
1. BOOKS: Anyone looking for translations of my books that are out of print or translated into foreign languages; or second hand books generally, might find what they are looking for at abebooks.com
2. CANCER GROUP IN DARWIN: Sue Brownlee is leading a Living Well – Cancer Healing & Wellbeing Program in Darwin from 1st October 2011. Sue is a long term Darwin resident, with a background in counselling, community education, and non-profit organisation management. Additionally, she is a Zen Shiatsu therapist and meditation teacher. Sue is trained and approved by the Gawler Foundation to deliver this Program and it will be an excellent follow-up for those who atended my recent workshops in Darwin.
The Program will be held at Carers NT, 59 Bayview Boulevard, Bayview from 10am–1pm on Saturdays. Sue is happy to talk with you, and can be contacted on 0439498636, at mindfulpractice@gmail.com, or more information can be found at naturaltherapypages.com.au/therapist/susanbrownlee/30485.
Pilgrims the world over have found journeying to places and to people of spiritual power a fulfilling external metaphor for the inner journey. Often arduous, and involving travel to strange and exotic lands, pilgrimages are a traditional way of seeking deep natural peace and a heightened sense of meaning in life.
The concept of pilgrimage is found in all the great religious traditions. In this modern day when people have the potential and resources to travel more freely, widely and quickly than ever before in history, pilgrimage provides a reason for travel that goes way beyond the mundane. As the pilgrim travels across the landscape, journeying often to a land of their dreams, an inner process inevitably unfolds, commonly bringing a state of transformation and even transcendence.
Pilgrimage involves going to a place that is real enough, but also sacred. And through the inner process, one brings something home from a pilgrimage that is likely to be quite different from mundane travels. While some make "pilgrimages" to where Elvis lived, Jacko was born, or historical events took place; common tourism can seem to be like attempting to "see the world" but frequently involves returning exhausted, with lots of photos but without much in the way of real nourishment.
However, pilgrimage sites are often “out of this world”. The majesty of Westminster Abbey or St Peters in Rome, Bethlehem in Israel, the sacred peaks of the Himalayas, the teeming ghats of the river Ganges, the mysteries of Mecca, the cradle of Buddhism at Bodghaya, the great copper-coloured mountain that is Uluru (or Ayer’s Rock); all places where the earth meets the spirit, all places where for ages past pilgrims have journeyed. These are places of peace and tranquility, whose spiritual presence is tangible to even the most hardened soul.
How then does one decide upon a pilgrimage? I suspect the answer is you just know when the time has come, along with where you will go and when. Of course, these days there are likely to be all sorts of rational arguments against going – work, family, financial pressures. But when this time comes, it is important to listen to your heart, make the leap, commit, plan and set off.
A great example in current time is provided by John Bettens. In April 2011 John commenced a walk from Rome to Santiago de Compostela in the north-west of Spain, a pilgrim’s walk of about 3,000 kms. John has been walking the Camino as it is popularly known; or to give it its full title, the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James). This is one part of a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain.
Remarkably, John has completed most of his epic alone while dealing with two types of cancer - prostate and follicular lymphoma, and will have walked around 2500kms when he finishes in Santiago on the 5th August. The route has taken him up the west coast of Italy to Genoa. From there he headed west across the breadth of France, and upon reaching Spain, John took the northern way which follows the coastline along the Bay of Biscay.
He has also aimed to raise money to support the work of the Gawler Foundation (it is easy to donate via his website – see the link below) and to raise awareness about holistic healing for those experiencing cancer, and the benefits of integrated care which values nutrition, meditation and belief in the path you choose.
Maybe you would like to catch up on his progress and support him by sending a message– see the link below. Maybe you feel inspired to embark upon your own pilgrimage. Or, if you have been on a pilgrimage already, maybe you would care to share something of the experience in the comment section below.
RESOURCES
John Bettens’ blog
Walking the Camino
RELATED BLOGS
Retreat and go forward
NEWS
1. BOOKS: Anyone looking for translations of my books that are out of print or translated into foreign languages; or second hand books generally, might find what they are looking for at abebooks.com
2. CANCER GROUP IN DARWIN: Sue Brownlee is leading a Living Well – Cancer Healing & Wellbeing Program in Darwin from 1st October 2011. Sue is a long term Darwin resident, with a background in counselling, community education, and non-profit organisation management. Additionally, she is a Zen Shiatsu therapist and meditation teacher. Sue is trained and approved by the Gawler Foundation to deliver this Program and it will be an excellent follow-up for those who atended my recent workshops in Darwin.
The Program will be held at Carers NT, 59 Bayview Boulevard, Bayview from 10am–1pm on Saturdays. Sue is happy to talk with you, and can be contacted on 0439498636, at mindfulpractice@gmail.com, or more information can be found at naturaltherapypages.com.au/therapist/susanbrownlee/30485.
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