Plum Orchards in Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch, situated about 50 kilometres east of Cape Town, is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The soil, the hilly terrain and a Mediterranean type climate make the area around Stellenbosch an ideal area for growing grapes. The region is famous for wine making.

Here this week, one of the first things we did was go for a walk in the early morning. The mountains stood tall as they were bathed by the emerging rays of sunlight, the vineyards and olive groves greeted the dawn, but shouting out in all their glory were the plum orchards in blossom.

Plum blossoms are especially loved and celebrated in mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Stepping into one of the orchards at the end of our walk was akin to being transported into that world where the plum symbolizes endurance and hope in the winter months and is associated with not only beauty and purity, but more especially with the transitoriness of life.

Attachment to any moment causes suffering and the plum blossoms were a reminder of the impermanence we soon notice as we begin to pay attention to each moment in a non-judgmental fashion. Bodily sensations occur and then disappear, feelings arise and then subside, thoughts come and go. Old systems are replaced by new ones, whole cultures are constantly adapting to a multitude of factors, perspectives evolve. 

Never ever again will this single moment be repeated in the way it has just occurred.  Never again will all the events that occurred simultaneously in this moment, occur simultaneously again.  A wink in Japan; a drop of snow in Lapland; the slightest movement of your head; the death of a star; any event no matter how great, no matter how small, brings about the combination of an infinite number of possibilities of happenings.

 

Soon the five petals of each flower on the plum trees will fall. The bedding will be changed and the white blanket will make way for the green. 

Thich Naht Hanh, when he first settled in France and began to lead mindfulness retreats, named the newly formed community Sweet Potato, the food that poor Vietnamese people ate. Acquiring a larger site soon became necessary and the new village was first named after the persimmon. When it was discovered that plum trees fared better on the rocky soil the name changed to Plum Village.

Thich Nhat Hanh has this to say about impermanence:

“Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments........ Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change."

Filtering

Walking home today I was very much conscious of the fact that I was going to need to take out my sunglasses. The glare at the moment in Dubai is such that without aid to filter out certain rays, the eyes automatically squint as a protection mechanism.

The body has a number of filtering systems in place.

The mouth will immediately spit something out that is unbearably hot, the nose has little hairs to filter out unwanted particles, the skin experiences pain as a warning signal when exposed to that which is harmful and our ears filter out sounds in certain ranges. Without any conscious effort on our part, the body is constantly attempting to filter out that which is harmful or toxic.

Mind chatter is a mental filter which can often block out an experience. The brain, too, often filters out trauma, only allowing it to resurface at a time when the individual is able to deal with it.

At the same time, on a subconscious level, our egos filter our experience, cultures have membership filters, and all these filters give rise to perspectives and worldviews which assist the shadow in remaining hidden. We see things as we want them to be or as we are socially conditioned to see them.  Life is viewed through these filters and accepted in this form as the only reality.

Technology is full of filters. For example, when you go onto a website to purchase a book, there are filters in place which note where you are from, what books you have purchased before and what subjects you have shown an interest in.  These filters enable the site to recommend similar books and thus have the power to influence your buying.

Until we become aware of them - an analogy these days would be taking off our 3D glasses as we exit the movie theatre - these filters remain in the subconscious, affecting how we feel about things and giving rise to various emotions.

Imagined boundaries separate us from others and from ourselves.

“Boundary” has up until now perhaps been the most appropriate word to discuss the imagined separations that need to be overcome as growth takes place, barriers are broken down and more and more of the Kosmos is included in one’s embrace.

I have a suspicion though that, with the current emphasis being placed on relationships and processes as the collective “we” comes to the fore, the focus will change from “boundaries” to “filters”.  

While technology has its own filters, at this point in our evolution, it is having an incredible effect on breaking down what we thought were boundaries. 

Time and distance are no longer barriers to communication. Space is becoming more spacious as it were. Information is easily accessible. Open sharing is on the increase. Information has been set free as it were, except in certain countries where social media is being threatened by the blocks or filters on certain websites.

Technology is in a sense is making us reconcile what before we might have considered  total opposites. Cultures are meeting and different perspectives on the same topic are becoming readily available.

This has ushered in a time where more than ever before the individual is conscious of the need to filter out certain information if balance is to be maintained.  So much is coming at one that one cannot possible click on every link, listen to every video or read every article.  There is so much one can “tune into” that discernment is necessary if one is to listen properly and not be all over the place.  Without this discernment, information overload is difficult to avoid.

“If you actually look at the amount of data coming in through all your senses, there’s something like 100 million bits of information coming in every second through your visual system and another 10 million bits coming through your auditory system and another one million bits coming through your tactile system.” (Will Wright, The Sims creator)

There is a cry going out for a filtering tool, a means to cope with the stresses of sensory overload, information overload and even emotional overload – the downside of being able to be connected more than ever before.  

At the same time we need to open ourselves to be more without filters. The wonderful paradox is that both these processes need to be happening at the same time!

The time has come for filters to be consciously chosen.

Whereas technology has removed many of the filters put there without our doing, we now have to put our own filters in place to protect ourselves and expose ourselves. That is the marvellous two way function of a filter. It allows some things entry while preventing others from passing through.

There is a great interest being shown of late in mindfulness as a tool to enable one to be present without filters so that necessary filters can be put in place.

In a sense we have “come full circle”, or let us rather say, we have spiralled above where we started.  In a sense we are in another Eden where once again the wisdom of the serpent is required to offer us knowledge of ourselves and of the reality of good and evil.  We need too, to attempt this with the gentleness of the dove.  

Language can be so limiting. In its present form it is very suited to linear, three dimensionality.  Nouns dominate our current sentence structure with the duality of subject and object.

As many perspectives are simultaneously held and moved beyond, as barriers of time and space begin to fall away and subject and object begin to be sensed as being one, verbs are often more appropriate ways of expressing the reality being experienced. 

In which case instead of “filters”, “filtering” will become perhaps the apt term.

(Adapted from a blog I first posted on the Integral Life Website)

Mostly Somewhere Else

Day 4 of my 14 day fast and detox in Thailand is underway.  After spending almost two days being ill, flat on my back most of the time, I am happy to report that I am feeling good. 

As the body eliminates toxins, various symptoms arise but thankfully they pass. To remember this while they are happening and to simply accept the experience is not so easy!

This morning, after a downpour of rain, the group stepped through the puddles and made our way to a deck overlooking the beach for our daily kundalini yoga session. The focus today was on the heart chakra. Sun salutations and chanting filled the space.

To end the practice, intentions for the day, uttered out loud, were shared. More than one participant expressed a need to be in the now and not worry about matters back home or what they would be doing upon departure.

Perhaps you’ve come across the two passages that follow before, but they always serve as a good reminder that our perception of reality is often distorted and blurred, and that it is even possible to live somewhere, be among people, and yet not truly see or hear. 

In  “Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values”, Robert M. Pirsig describes two climbers:  

“To the untrained eye ego-climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical.  Both kinds of climbers place one foot in front of the other.  Both breathe in and out at the same rate.  Both stop when tired.  Both go forward when rested.  But what a difference!  The ego-climber is like an instrument that’s out of adjustment.  He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late.  He’s likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees.  He goes on when the sloppiness of his step shows he’s tired.  He rests at odd times.  He looks up the trail trying to see what’s ahead even when he knows what’s ahead because he just looked a second before.  He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about somewhere else, something else.  He’s here but he’s not here.  He rejects the here, is unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then the it will be ‘here’.  What he is looking for, what he wants, is all around him; but he doesn’t want that because it is all around him.   Every step’s an effort both physically and spiritually because he imagines his goal to be external and distant.”

And then there’s the ancient tale telling the story of a disciple who asked the Holy One where he should look for Enlightenment.  The tale goes something like this:

“Here,” the Holy One answered.

“When will it happen?”

“It’s happening right now,” the Holy One replied.

“Then why don’t I experience it?” asked the disciple.

“Because you do not look.”

“What should I look for?”

“Nothing,” the Holy One said. “Just look.”

“At what?” 

“Anything your eyes alight upon,” the Holy One said.

“Must I look in a special kind of way?”

“No,” said the Holy One. “The ordinary way will do.”

“But don’t I always look the ordinary way?”

“No,” the Holy One said. “You don’t.”

“Why ever not?” the disciple demanded.

“Because to look you must be here,” the Holy One said.  “You’re mostly somewhere else.”

Mindscapes and Webscapes

The mind has a layout of its own. Waiting for the explorer to uncover its territory, it shifts between its own landscapes, cityscapes, waterscapes and even desert patches.

Most of the time, much of its expanse is densely populated. Given the chance it is filled with thoughts of achievements, like city buildings on a city skyline.

It has its distinct character which can be seen when looking at it more closely.

It is populated by interesting characters in unexpected places; all telling stories with unsurpassed conviction.

As in most big cities, it is a hive of activity as ideas and thoughts come and go, intersecting with each other before simply moving on.

 

Leaving the cityscapes behind one comes across the seascapes, places of temporary rest and tranquility.

The landscapes of the mind change, sometimes providing solace in a storehouse of memories. 

At other times the landscapes leave one in awe and wonder of the many facets of life.

 

What happens in one part of the mind, affects what happens in another.

Observation of the mindscape slowly brings one to the desert and its associations of solitude and reflection.  Hidden amongst the rocks, the shadow side of the individual waits its turn to make itself known.  

 

There is one property of the mindscape that is unique. It is constantly shifting. Noticing this, and practising an awareness of this on a regular basis, one reaches a place beyond its boundaries where there is only stillness and emptiness filled with possibility.

The photos I have used in this post were all taken of images on webcams, and depict scenes from around the world today as they were taking place. I have decided to call these pics webscapes, as I believe they illustrate and are another perspective of not only how much we as humans have in common, but also the extent to which we are not only connected, but  very much interconnected.