The Three Next Odd Monday Events

For three years, my wife Judy and I have been hosting a series titled 'Odd Mondays' (events occur only on odd-numbered calendar Mondays) co-sponsored by the Noe Valley Ministry, located at 1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco (near the corner of 23rd Street). Admission is free, and, the event starts a few minutes after 7 P.M. Here are brief mentions of the next three:

May 9th: Luis Carrillo, retired counselor and author of a memoir,"A Child of No Importance".

May 23rd : Abby Wasserman:writer,artist and teacher.
Maurice Bassan: teacher at the Fromm Institute and author.
Diana Rathbone: San Francisco Chronicle Journalist

June 9th: Innocent Victims of War: In Memory of Marla Ruzicka
Music by Artist in Action Keyboard Player Jonathan Dimmock and Talks by members of Global Exchange and Center for Justice and Accountability, Sandra Coliver and Moira Feeney

More information about each will be forthcoming as we approach each date.

We also meet before the event at 5:30 PM at the Noe Valley Pizza restaurant one block from the Ministry on the northeast corner of Sanchez at 24th Street) for a non-host supper (approx. cost $15). A fee parking lot ($5 for the evening) is available across the street (24th Street between Vicksburg and Sanchez.) Map and public transportation directions available at:
http://www.noevalleyministry.org/contact.html
For further information, contact me here.

Stalking game as a meditation teacher

Hm, keeping up a blog on a semi-daily basis is more time-consuming that I anticipated, so here I am a week later!

Somewhere I read that humans originally learned to meditate by stalking game - i.e. learning to remain totally still and also not to 'think' because an animal can telepathically pick up thoughts focused on them. Also, it turns out that our ears transmit a signal as well as receiving them. Perhaps the animals 'hear us hearing?'
And of course, 'stalking' can be done with a camera and not with a weapon. Hunters / wild animal photographers rapidly discover that directing their gaze at – or their thoughts at – their target usually triggers a rapid departure. Some citation/sources for these ideas:

"Where the Spirits Ride the Wind" by Felicitas D. Goodman, Ph.D.
She advanced the theory that primitive sculptures of shamans teach us postures that can put us into specific trance states. I like her work a lot. She's advanced in age, but her work is carried on by others via The Cuyamungue Institute in Santa Fe. A review of her book can be found at:
http://homestar.org/bryannan/goodman.html
also see
"Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternate Reality Workbook" by her co-worker Belinda Gore

Animals' telepathy came from Rupert Sheldrake's book 'The Sense of Being Stared At : And Other Unexplained Powers of the Human Mind' – New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2003

I personally have found myself using 'no mind' when trying to approach a wild animal, or for example (and this is a good experiment for anyone) encouraging a butterfly to land on your finger. Stick your finger out when a butterfly is around, but do not think AT the butterfly. Think about what a beautiful day it is, or concentrate on the sky or something else – or just relax and focus on the breath.

As far as the ear as a sound transmitter, I found these via a Google on 'Spontaneous Otoacoustic Emissions.'
http://medical.webends.com/kw/Otoacoustic+Emissions,+Spontaneous
http://www.ohiou.edu/perspectives/0303/anthologyi.html
and for a history of the discovery:
http://www.physics.purdue.edu/about_us/history/auditory_biophysics.shtml
and also:
http://www.earaces.com/oaes.htm
http://www.emedicine.com/ent/topic372.htm

Placing Awareness Prior To The Breath

J wrote:
>Could you say more on your technique?
> Also, it reminds me of the darkzen method of antecedency of the
> breath. Have you read his work?

Yes, I like the Dark Zen teachings a lot. Here's the quote that you
cited:

"4. To recollect that which is most antecedent to the in breath and out breath means that you must tune into that which is prior to the entire breathing cycle itself. Just as the hand which lifts a staff is not part of the staff, likewise the antecedent recollection is not a part of your breathing. As a practical illustration, you must recollect the antecedent as you breathe in and breathe out. If the breathing is long or short, labored or otherwise, you must focus on the antecedent so that breathing follows after it. When you breathe, for example, your normal belief is, "I am breathing." It never dawns on you to retract your attention and look in the opposite direction so as to rise above breathing. Not surprisingly, this is not an easy task (owing to force of habit, all of us still attend to conditions which are always posterior)."
http://www.darkzen.com/teachings/methoddzm.htm

COMMENT: Rereading the above, I realize that I always thought of 'prior' to the breath as 'not ahead' of the breath, which of course is incorrect. Whatever is antecedent to the breath of course is before the breath, and thus similar to both 'the backbeat' that I've mentioned and also that 'leaning forward' into the half-second that divides pure perception from the 'self-reflection'. Thanks for sending me back to re-read that paragraph!
At times I have also tried thinking "I breathe in" during the out-breath, and "I breathe out" during the in-breath -- a practice suggested by Dark Zen's suggestion to 'look in the opposite direction.' This results in the impression that 'breath is breathing me,' which is quite an interesting experience, as if that great Elemental Entity Pneuma is exhaling air into all creatures on the planet through its own breath cycle.

Gloomification as a survival factor?

S wrote on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Jhanas/:

> If these [jhanas] are naturally occurring states of mind, which i believe they
> are, then i need to ask in general, what is happening to the development
> of human beings? Why are these states such threats to so many?

Ramon:
You might want to Google on the word "kundabuffer," about which
Señor Gurdjieff wrote at some length in his co(s)mic novel, "All and
Everything: Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson."

I have my own theory that somewhat impinges on Mr. G's, although
I think that orthodox followers of the Fourth Way would poo-poo it.
"Something" indeed was created in humans on or about the time of
the mini-glacial period, or perhaps when that famous volcano obscured
the sun for years. Anyway, when the planetary climate turned away
from 'gentle' to 'severe,' humans could no longer live the easy life,
plucking fruits from trees and just foraging through the woodlands.
The light-to-bliss neural network had to be shut down -- or the group
ceremonial use of amanita mushrooms (or other plant allies) stopped -- so
that the clan could concentrate on survival, which now required hunting
for meat and collecting firewood, curing skins for warm clothes etc.
The role of shaman evolved from the clan 'crazy' whose light-to-bliss
network had no 'off' switch. It then became the shaman's job to
do the blissing-out and then report back to the group.
This became the beginnings of a priesthood, ultimately taken over
by the males (perhaps they were more susceptible to schizoid
states or because they did not bear the children?), and thus the patriarchy
evolved.

That 'light to bliss' experience I believe is the basic jhana connection
that can be experienced in greater and greater depth and intensity
as we drop out of the ego "I" feedback loop and merge ahead that 1/2 second
into pure non-referential awareness into 'Nature's NOW.'

Of course your mileage may vary.

Long & Short NOWs, Food & Concert

On 4/5/05 below I mentioned an experiment to place my awareness one-half second ahead of the relaxed breath (The Half-Second NOW lag).

Today's comment on the above: Since our primary process perception already exists one-half second ahead of the secondary 'ego-grab' -- it's not so much placing our awareness one-half second ahead, but just merging what what is already occurring. I think most of nature and animal awareness lives on that 'front shoulder of the Now wave' already. So we 'relax into pure perception,' and find that the 'I' dissolves -- or never catches up.

Speaking of NOW's both long and short, want to know what Stewart Brand is doing these days?
http://www.longnow.org/10klibrary/Seminars.htm


Is food becoming less nutritious?
January 23, 2005
Posted Dec. 6, 2004 Courtesy the University of Texas at Austin and World Science staff
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/050409_remotefrm.htm
A study of 43 vegetables and fruits suggests their nutritional value has declined in the past 50 years, scientists say. The researchers suggested the decline may result from the fact that farmers have been planting crops designed to improve traits other than nutritional value, such as size.

Two dear friends and talented composers perform their own works:
Good Sound Foundation & Pacifica Performances present a concert of new chamber music by Janis Mattox and Loren Rush - music inspired by the lives and poetry of Italian poet, Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) and Brazilian poet, Cecilia Meireles (1901-1964).
Saturday, May 14, 7:30 pm & Sunday, May 15, 3:00 pm
The program of premieres includes Solombra (SunShadow) by Mattox - a song cycle on Brazilian poetry about love and loss, sung in Portuguese, and Mattina - a piano trio by Rush which takes its title from the Ungaretti poem describing the beauty of a morning following a night in the trenches of WWI. The program also includes solo piano works by Rush.
The music is performed by Bolivian-American soprano, Katia Escalera (former Adler Fellow with the S.F. Opera), Susan Freier (violin) and Stephen Harrison (cello) of the Ives Quartet, Bay Area piano virtuoso, Matthew Edwards and composer/pianist Loren Rush.
The music on this concert is specifically written for The Enhanced Piano in just intonation and GoodSound Virtual Acoustics, performance technologies developed by Good Sound Foundation.
$20/$15 students/seniors Sanchez Concert Hall, 1220 Linda Mar Blvd., Pacifica, California
Tickets, info, map:http://www.justintonation.net/concerts.html by phone: Pacifica Performances 650-355-1882

Chlorine -- YARGH!

From a Yahoo list -- this guy has done his homework:
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I have done experiments with extremely small amounts of chlorine where the amount is chemically undetectable. When grown on a bean sprouts compared to a water where I have dechlorinated chemically, the bean sprouts growth differences was 600%. If I just left the chlorine to evaporate out for days and tested with my bean sprouts growth the differences is smaller when compared against tap water which was only 100% versus a water that was chemically rid of chlorine.
Because of this experiments and my dog's heart problems (which was cured when chlorine was eliminated), all my drinking water are chemically treated to rid of chlorine entirely. (Chemically treated chlorine are converted to a chloride form to cause a by product namely sodium sulfate and sodium chloride).
Again, I knew the largest chick raising farm in the country and they have showed me research that even in small amounts of chlorine even with the filtering processes, chick's heart disease is common. When it is treated to rid completely of chlorine heart disease and stunting of growth was virtually eliminated. There were more studies in U.S. which also indicated a relationship between chlorinated water and heart diseases was clearly apparent. I don't know why this information is not known by the general population.
The experiments did not end there. I went further to test on my plants between tap water (tap water where I live have chlorine, although the amounts is so small it is chemically undetectable. There is also no chlorine smell at all here. But still tap water per jasmine plant produces about 10-15 flowers/ week. But when the chlorine is chemically removed, I now get 20-30 flowers PER DAY! The differences is so mathematically large, that I no longer have to assume little bit of chlorine is O.K.
Just imagine that the livestock industry is WELL AWARE that pigs and chickens, and especially ducks, the stunting of growth was apparent from chlorine alone, besides the heart disease is more than enough convincing evidence for me that chlorinated water is totally unsafe even at a level chemically undetectable.
Chemically speaking chlorine competes with iodine and to be honest with you the majority of population do have hypothyroidism, even in the U.S. So chlorine isn't even safe.
In case you want to know how I treat my water, as in all my previous posting, I used sodium thiosulfate. add one drop of 10% solution to all my drinking water (per liter or so). I have even gone so far as to recommend people with seborrheic dermatitis, chronic fatigue syndrome and lupus, to drink dechlorinated water. For some reason, chlorinated water suppresses the immune system.
Let's not even talk about fluoride!

Ellen Fullman & Friends Perform

Another great concert -- first of the Just Intonation Network's 20th Anniversary series, with Ellen Fullman's "Long String Instrument" that I've been wanting to hear for so long. Absolutely amazing unamplified sounds from the 70-foot strings! Our Sardinian composer friend Luciano Chessa accompanied Ellen with musical saw and autoharp in two different sets, as well as assisting on the long strings along with composer Krystyna Bobrowski who also played her Gliss Glass instrument. Fascinating evening!

Concert at The LAB

A very interesting concert/demo at The Lab, a venue that reminds me a lot of our old San Francisco Tape Music Center.

http://www.thelab.org/index.htm

Here's the blurb and a few comments:

Michel Waisvisz and Robert van Heumen of STEIM will offer a free demonstration of LiSa X, STEIM's software that enables users to extensively control live-sampled and pre-recorded sounds, and junXion, which maps Human Interface Devices such as joysticks to midi. Both software packages are used by musicians, choreo-graphers, performers, installation artists and composers. There will be a Q&A following the demo for those with specific inquiries.

Pamela Z is a SF-based composer/performer who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, sampling technology and video. In this performance she will use Max MSP patches to process her voice, and also use her live voice to trigger samples through a Max MSP pitch-to-MIDI controller and with gestures via the BodySynth. Michel Waisvisz, Joel Ryan and Robert van Heumen from STEIM/Amsterdam will team up with longtime STEIM collaborator Laetitia Sonami and SF resident Roddy Schrock to present an evening of electro-instrumental improvised music. Expect different duo/trio combinations of Michel's instrument The Hands, Laetitia's Lady's Glove, Robert's Sexy Controllers, and Roddy's SuperCollider wizardry all guided by Joel Ryan behind the mixing desk.

I was very impressed with the STEIM team's software and how it performed. The LiSa X is a user-friendly and flexible software sampler/looper/editor that I would not hesitate to purchase if I had needs in that direction. However at the moment my brain is preoccupied with the Expanded Instrument System patches from my dear friend Pauline Oliveros and her MAX/Msp wizard Stephan Moore. STEIM invites various artists to come to their lab and then helps them create their desired instruments. I was especially interested in Michel Waisvisz's performance with his two hand-held controllers that allowed him to perform/transform some very rich audio samples. I always enjoy Pamela Z's work, so it was great to catch up on her latest pieces.

The Half-Second NOW lag

I've been reading Amit Goswami's "The Self-Aware Universe" and was struck by something he said about the half-second time lag between our conscious experience of something and our secondary awareness arising (verbal thought) with which comes the arising of the ego-self/I-am-this type of introspection. Quoting:

"Our preoccupation with the secondary processes (indicated by the time lag) makes it difficult to be aware of our quantum self and to experience the pure mental states that are accessible at the quantum level of our operation. Many meditation practices are intended to eliminate the time lag and to put us directly in touch with these pure mental states in their suchness (tathagata in Sanskrit). Evidence (albeit tentative) shows that meditation reduces the time lag between the primary and the secondary processes."

Now I've been promoting a tiny time lag in breath awareness, because this glues my awareness to the breath -- i.e. the brain says, 'Uh-oh, something is happening with the breath. I'd better pay attention to it.' This attention to "from where breath arises" has worked quite well for me in the past, but now I thought, 'What if I try to place my awareness one-half second ahead of the breath?' It sounds sort of odd, but there does seem to be a easy way to do this -- and it brings me back to a surfing metaphor I have used before, where you situate yourself right on the front shoulder of the wave (breath). Anyway, that's the big deal from today.

Zero crowned and Pure Land mantra

FLASH! One of my alternate personas, Zero the Wunderweight clown, just got crowned King of Fools at the Occidental Fools Day parade, April 2.

photo by Michael Eschenbach/Salli Rasberry

With Occidental as Zero's 'realm,' he'll do his best until next year's crowning to make the village as silly as possible from 'safe exile' in San Francisco.

Zero K.O.F. (ahem!)

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I've become interested in Shin Buddhism's Nembutsu mantra, after reading D. T. Suzuki's comment that more people have achieved satori via the Pure Land (Shin) chanting approach than via Zen Buddish meditation. Aw right! That's for me!

Recent tip on keeping mindfulness - centeredness - going whilst out in the world:
I try to keep a silent mantra going in public by attaching it to whatever musical 'ear worm' is playing in my mind... Right now it's" 'Namo Amidha Butsu' set to "Easter Parade:"
E E G E D C G
Na-mo A-mi-dha Bu-tsu
It fits remarkably well with subsequent musical phrases also.