 Being open-minded means that we are willing to question everything, including those things we take for granted.
A willingness to question everything, even things we are sure we are right about, can shake us out of complacency and reinvigorate our minds, opening us up to understanding people and perspectives that were alien to us before. This alone is good reason to remain inquisitive, no matter how much experience we have or how old we get. In the Zen tradition, this willingness to question is known as beginner's mind, and it has a way of generating possibilities we couldn't have seen from the point of view of knowing something with certainty. The willingness to question everything doesn't necessarily mean we don't believe in anything at all, and it doesn't mean we have to question every single thing in the world every minute of the day. It just means that we are humble enough to acknowledge how little we actually know about the mysterious universe we call home. Nearly every revolutionary change in the history of human progress came about because someone questioned some time-honored belief or tradition and in doing so revealed a new truth, a new way of doing things, or a new standard for ethical and moral behavior. Just so, a commitment to staying open and inquisitive in our own individual lives can lead us to new personal revolutions and truths, truths that we will hopefully, for the sake of our growth, remain open to questioning. A lot of people feel threatened if they feel they are being asked to question their cherished beliefs or their perception of reality. Yet questioning is what keeps our minds supple and strong. Simply settling on one way of seeing things and refusing to be open to other possibilities makes the mind rigid and generally creates a restrictive and uncomfortable atmosphere. We all know someone who refuses to budge on one or more issues, and we may have our own sacred cows that could use a little prodding. Being open-minded means that we are willing to question everything, including those things we take for granted.
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 In a loud and distracting world, finding pockets of stillness can benefit your brain and body. Here are four science-backed reasons why.
We live in a loud and distracting world, where silence is increasingly difficult to come by ― and that may be negatively affecting our health. In fact, a 2011 World Health Organization report called noise pollution a “modern plague,” concluding that “there is overwhelming evidence that exposure to environmental noise has adverse effects on the health of the population.” We’re constantly filling our ears with music, TV and radio news, podcasts and, of course, the multitude of sounds that we create nonstop in our own heads. Think about it: How many moments each day do you spend in total silence? The answer is probably very few. As our internal and external environments become louder and louder, more people are beginning to seek out silence, whether through a practice of sitting quietly for 10 minutes every morning or heading off to a 10-day silent retreat. Inspired to go find some peace and quiet? Here are four science-backed ways that silence is good for your brain ― and how making time for it can make you feel less stressed, more focused and more creative. "It helps to think of our swamps of despair as the necessary muddle before clarity. Actually, swamps are incredibly fertile places full of life. In mythology the heroine must cross such a place in her darkest hour, where she comes to face her unlived life - meeting each of the divine allies disguised as regret, doubt, and insufficiency which swell up from the mud of her despondency. If she is willing to consummate the full encounter, they will reveal themselves in service to the vitality of her true being."   I am Gintvilė Giedraitienė. Sister of grasslands. I live in my ancestral homeland, Lithuania. Here are the most beautiful meadows, forests, lakes and rivers. To me, nature is beauty, joy, peace, tranquility, source of inspiration, wisdom, water of life, poetry and endless love. The connection with nature and my forefathers' old Baltic sacral culture inspired my art from wild plants and meadows. I started creating in 1997, when Suns, Trees of Life, birds, crowns and accessories began growing to life through my hands. read more
 Motankas are ancient Ukrainian family talismans. They are the symbol of prosperity, goodness and hope.
The name "motanka" comes from the word “motaty” (to wind) ie to make a knotted doll out of fabric, without using a needle and scissors. Motanka served as a talisman of human destiny and our ancestors believed that destiny cannot be pierced or cut. Generally dolls were in the shape of a human figure, usually a woman or a child, and were made from pieces of fabric from old clothes of family members connected by knots. Each doll is unique and made with only good intentions and sincerity as it was believed that it has power and will act as a protector of a household and it’s inhabitants.  A Necessary Autumn Inside Each – Rumi
You and I have spoken all these words, but as for the way we have to go, words are no preparation. There is no getting ready, other than grace…. Inside each of us, there’s continual autumn. Our leaves fall and are blown out over the water. A crow sits in the blackened limbs and talks about what’s gone…. There’s a necessary dying, and then Jesus is breathing again. Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are. You’ve been stony for too many years. Try something different. Surrender. Rumi, as interpreted by Coleman Barks When I read the above poem (an excerpt from the full poem, one of the ecstatic poems collected in The Soul of Rumi) I recognise truth. It brings a soft heartbreak, a kind of love-based melancholy. It also brings fear of the potential devastation of crumbling. And then there’s also a longing to surrender that feels inviting. If I follow the possibility of surrender there’s a delicious relief – a ‘Thank goodness!’ and a big sigh. There’s so much effort involved in assuming all this personal control. For me the jagged rock is a perfect description of the way my body feels in this maintenance of personal control. It’s as if I’m saying ‘I will personally hold back the continual Autumn’ on a moment-by-moment basis! My struggle against the reality of life’s tragedies small and large could be given up. This often feels impossible, and yes, it’s sometimes possible. But crucially, I need to trust that it’s worth it. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer says of surrender: Oh surrender! It’s the surest medicine that exists. There are infinite side effects. Wonder. Freedom. Rawness. I imagine a little wildflower of wonder, and one of freedom and one of rawness pushing up amongst the rubble of my broken-down control tower. When we let the truth be so, little blessings do push up from the devastation, each a poignant affirmation. Mindfulness practice invites us to trust and to gradually face the reality of how little control we actually have. It’s a long journey for most of us, but the little affirmations can bring the encouragement we need. Have you noticed the little affirmations in your own practice? Can they become your motivation to practice surrendering to what is? This text is from: mindfulnessassociation.net, Nov. 24. 2004 www.mindfulnessassociation.net/words-of-wonder/a-necessary-autumn-inside-each-rumi/  We replicate Shiva and Parvati’s conversation every time we sit together as lovers, as teacher and student, or in a group and seek revelation, transformation, or the insight for change. Shiva and Parvati symbolize the moment when we get spiritually naked together, when our love and trust is great enough to let us be vulnerable and thus make space for revelation to arise. This intellectual merging involves a subtle Tantric embrace of thoughts and energies rather than a physical merging. It is no less an embrace for being subtle.
The image of Shiva and Parvati sitting together in a grove on the crest of a mountain not only carries the archetype of divine lovers, it also stands for the mysterious creative moment when two or more people enter a “we” space together. In the “we” space, our essences connect, and we are then hooked up with superconscious source of insight. Physicist David Bohm called this process “dialogue.” Dialogue happens when, like Shiva and Parvati, we recognize our fundamental unity, our interdependence. Instead of being in a conversation between separate individuals trying to find solutions with their minds and from their egoic selves, dialogue happens in a shared space of presence. It comes from the inspired, revelatory, transformative energy that shows up when a group of people allows boundaries to come down and real mutual vulnerability to emerge. Dialogue always starts with a question, an inquiry. In their coupling, Shiva and Parvati epitomize this fundamental creative conversation in which truth always comes out of the silence behind words, rising into expression through verbal exploration. How can you be more present in your interactions today? — Sally Kempton |
cover photo: gal steinberg
Here you will will find posts on consciousness expansion, folklore, poetry, articles on healing practices, Eastern thought, and other topics. I hope you enjoy these offerings as much as I have had collecting them. Archives
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