Mandee is already an established radio host who brings a faithful audience. She is also a Yoga teacher with a significant and devoted following.
Please welcome Mandee. She means as much to me as the others with whom I’ve partnered for so many years, as I know Mandee’s commitment, passion, and vision to be on a par with theirs and mine, and you don’t meet many people like that.
Mandee belongs right next to the others who are pushing nonduality to wherever its going as a cultural force. I am honored to be working with Mandee and am grateful that she has brought me into the world of radio. We’re gonna say some stuff.
Vicki Woodyard is called to talk about the dark side of her life, the deaths of her young daughter and her husband’s succumbing to multiple myeloma. She says,
“The dark night of the soul is slap-up against the treasure and my life has been about that. I am called to write and speak about the darkness and the light and they always go together and there’s always a punchline to the darkest hour.”
Listen about a broken heart, a broken life, a broken mind, and its sharing:
Awakening is simply a matter of rousing ourselves from the dream that we are separate objects (mind/bodies) in a universe of separate objects. This is achieved by inquiring into our own nature and discovering the deeper level in which thoughts/sensations occur, are seen and dissolve. This rising, existing and subsiding of thoughts and emotions is an ongoing process and that which constitutes our moment-to-moment experience.
The body is experienced as a stream of sensations whilst the mind is experienced as a stream of thoughts (which includes mental images), which leaves the question of who, or what, is the experiencer?? We tend to think of this as the mind but this is obviously not the deepest level of experiencing, as the mind itself (the flow of thoughts) is just an experience!
Similarly with the body where sensations occur and are detected by the nervous system, and other sense organs, this too is just an experience … So what is it that ‘sees’ and ‘feels’ these experiences, this deeper level of our being, the true experiencer and enjoyer of our existence? That which we feel we have always ‘been’ and that which seems to have been the constant unchanging basis of our lives.
This is evidently not the body, for we speak of its parts as ‘mine’, my hand, my head, my stomach and so on … Therefore who is the owner of this complex organism? Similarly with the mind we speak of ‘my thoughts on the matter are …’ or ‘my preference is’ etc… So who is it that owns these thoughts or preferences? The problem here is that we tend to identify with the mind and these become ‘I think’ or ‘I prefer’, but this still leaves the question who is this ‘I’ that thinks or prefers?
The clue is that we could not survive without being aware of our thoughts and sensations (mind/body), which leads to the undeniable conclusion that it is this very awareness that is the deeper level of being … in fact who (or what) we are! For this is that in which our thoughts and sensations arise, exist, are seen, and subside. This is ever-present for whenever a thought/sensation arises there is awareness of it, and this is the witness of all our experiences, the unchanging basis of our existence.
This is pointed to by Advaita Vedanta which regards man as a physical organism through which Brahman (awareness, consciousness) senses and experiences the world. The Kena Upanishad states that it is the Self (Brahman, awareness) which is the agent and witness, through which the mind thinks and the senses experience sensations. However this Self is undetectable by the mind and senses, being the substratum in which they appear, exist and disappear. (Kena Upanishad 1v.1-9)
Moreover, due to its undetectable nature, it is very easy for man to overlook his true nature and identify with the mind and body. The Katha Upanishad likens man to a chariot, of which the atman (the Self, Brahman within each individual) is the master, the body is the chariot, the mind is the charioteer, the sense organs are the horses and the roads they travel on are the objects of sensation. The atman is the enjoyer and experiencer of the ride, which is made possible by the charioteer, chariot and horses. (Katha Upanishad 3v.3-4)
So Brahman needs the mind and senses, to enjoy and experience the physical world. However when the mind is unaware of the master’s presence, through lack of discrimination, it is unable to control the senses which run amok like wild horses (Ibid 3v.5). Brahman, pure consciousness, is hidden in every heart, being the eternal witness watching everything one does. He is said to be ‘the operator’ whilst we are his ‘innumerable instruments’. (Svetasvetara Upanishad 6v.10-12) When we are ignorant of this Self and identify with the mind (ego), our senses become attached to sense objects, which causes sorrow.
I like to see how the words nonduality or nondualism are becoming part of our everyday language alongside meatballs, crotcheting, cigarettes, and coffee. This blog entry is a perfect example:
I woke up, the morning after the party, at Matt’s house with Ryan. Ryan and I made our beds, gathered our things, put on our shoes and socks (our clothes were still on from the night before) and we left for coffee. We sat for two hours or so and listened to music and wrote and conversed lightly, then we took his truck to the shop to be fixed. His dad picked us up and drove us down to Corinth where Ryan lives with his parents.
We walked in and his mom was in the kitchen making dinner – still. It’s a two day process for her Italian cuisine. She made lasagna, meatballs, Italian sausage, manicotti, salad, foccaccia, and canoli. I showered, got ready, and helped her prepare for the family. Ryan showered after me and helped once he was out also. The food went in the oven and Ryan, his dad, and I left to get his grandmother. We left his other grandmother croche-ing in a chair in the living room. Ryan’s dad dropped us off at the store to get wine, went and got Grandma, picked us up and we got back to the house. Ryan’s nephews arrived. The oldest is only nine years younger than Ryan. Ryan’s the youngest of four boys in the family – by fourteen years. Family slowly arrived car-load by car-load of husband/brother/son-wife-children, a car of children-son/brother’s girlfriend, and finally, after we sat down to eat, brother/son/husband with wife and kids. It’s a baseball family – boys still in cleets – sister wore her cheerleading outfit. The family is big, Italian, loud. They love each other and show it through hugs, handshakes, trash talk. I ate three plates full of manicotti, lasagna, meatballs and sausage, and bread. The first plate had salad on it. Ryan’s mom re-filled my plate before I could comprehend what I had just shoveled frantically into my mouth – too delicious to pause. I gorged on food, drank my wine, finished with water. The family sat around and talked, shouted, played cards, and Ryan, his dad, and I stood outside with cigarettes and talked about philosophy – non-dualism, time, language, so on. We stepped back inside and hung out with the family a while longer, then they all left and Ryan’s mom gave me a blanket and pillow on the couch. Ryan layed on one couch, I on the other, we watched TV, he went to bed, I fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning, went to the toilet, Ryan was up, and we got coffee, sat at the table and talked.
I’m reading a book on conducting interviews and one suggestion for a print magazine interview is to hold the interview at the home of the subject. It’s an older book and an example is given of Fred Astaire. An interviewer noted that in Astaire’s home there were no photographs, mementos, keepsakes, or other reminders of Astaire’s past. Except for two Oscar statues quietly on display, Astaire lived in an ordinary home. You would never know it was the home of one of Hollywood’s most revered and appreciated stars.
The point was that one should note the surroundings of the interviewee, as they often say more than words. Clearly, Astaire lived in the present and must have felt burdened by tokens from the past. Anyone seeing him dance sees at once that Astaire was all about lightness and ease. Check him out here:
The advice of observing the surroundings I carry to this review. Maybe that makes this no review at all, but this is Avatar I’m reviewing so I think it’s okay to stretch and reach and see if I can pull everything together. Let’s look at certain surroundings of this film, surroundings I happen to encounter and notice.
I saw this film in IMAX 3D. IMAX is a Canadian invention begun in 1967. The first IMAX film was shown in 1970 and first IMAX 3D film was shown at the Expo in Japan in 1985. It was We Are Born of Stars:
“Using computer graphics, the film traces the development of life from the formation of atomic nuclei in stars to the molecular structure of water and DNA, zooming the audience through the five-billion-year evolution of our solar system.” [http://www.bigmoviezone.com/filmsearch/movies/index.html?uniq=124]
The history of IMAX 3D, therefore, is rooted in a film which connects the audience to their cosmic self, their biological self, their molecular self and which would, I imagine (I haven’t seen the film), give the viewer a sense of interconnectedness with literally everything. That interconnectedness and the intelligence associated with it, is what Avatar is about.
But let’s look at more of the surroundings of this film. I’m really indulging myself here as this review should have been finished by now. So on we go. Interconnections. Surroundings.
I had heard so much about Avatar, especially within nonduality circles, and had talked to several friends who had seen it, that I figured I better see it. I went on the Internet to find out the times it was playing. Then I bought my ticket online and printed it out at home. Surroundings. Interconnections.
Then I checked my bus schedule and walked to the bus stop and got on the bus which picked me up on time. Interconnections, interconnections.
The bus delivered me early, so I stopped into Chapters (aka Borders Books in the U.S.) and strolled amongst tens of thousands of books and accessories associated with books, the scent of Starbucks permeating one end of the store. Books are interconnections of themes and stories within interconnections of stores interconnected by computers, and all of it pulsing within an interconnection of interconnected supporting businesses and industries.
I haven’t stepped into the theatre yet but I feel I’m living the movie at some level. Avatar is about seeing interconnections and also the failure to see interconnections. The theme of Avatar is told in three words: “I see you.” Someone once sent me a book and inscribed it, “I see you.” The question is, who is this you? It’s the interconnectedness, the vast and deep interconnectedness, and the unknowable knowing that one is That.
It’s not hard to see interconnectedness. Anyone can see it in the Internet or a bus schedule or a military takeover. Avatar requires you to look at another person and to see interconnectedness as it was depicted in the first IMAX 3D movie. It requires the seeing of intelligence immeasurable and incomparable. I see you: I see nonseparateness; I see the immeasurable, the incomparable, the unknowable. That’s what the guy was saying when he inscribed that book to me. He’s a sage. What else is he going to see?
That’s the theme and message of Avatar. How was it delivered? Pretty well. Fact is, it was IMAX 3D. You could show an old sneaker in IMAX 3D and it would hold your attention for about 8 minutes. The movie was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, but not a great film.
There is one more layer to Avatar. After the story was over I watched the credits and listened to Leona Lewis sing I See You:
There were about 3000 names listed in the credits. For me that was a back story worth seeing on the screen, a story in names. Here was yet another layer of interconnectedness, another sheath of intelligence.
And so I left the theatre and walked to the bus stop, my awareness filled with certain surroundings of the day. The most impressive and notable layer of interconnectedness wasn’t the movie itself. It wasn’t the rolling credits or the bookstore or the Internet. What was it? The running of the buses, the meetings of passengers, buses, and destinations. The coming, the going, the waiting, the sitting, the departing and arriving, that meant interconnectedness to me more than anything else.
However, seeing interconnectedness doesn’t require a display of buses or anything else. It requires seeing something, which in this movie is called “you.” This “you” is the other — whatever the other is — and you, at once. Our surroundings are deeply interconnected and saturated with intelligence and wonder. Those themes are what Avatar is about and they are delivered in a very entertaining way. The same could be said for the day, any day.
Milarepa, who lived in the eleventh century, is one of the heroes of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the brave ones. He was also a rather unusual fellow. He was a loner who lived in caves by himself and meditated whole heartedly for years. He was extremely stubborn and determined. If he couldn’t find anything to eat for a couple of years, he just ate nettles and turned green, but he would never stop practicing.
The story goes that one evening Milarepa returned to his cave after gathering firewood, only to find it filled with demons. They were cooking his food, reading his books, sleeping in his bed. They had taken over the joint. He knew about the teaching of the nonduality between self and other, but he still didn’t quite know how to get these guys out of his cave. Even though he had the sense that they were a projection of his own mind- all the unwanted parts of himself- he didn’t know how to get rid of them.
So first he taught them the dharma. He sat on this seat that was higher than they were and said things to them about how we all are one. He talked about compassion and emptiness and other key Buddhist teachings. Nothing happened. The demons were still there. Then he lost his patience and got angry and ran at them. They just laughed at him. Finally he gave up and just sat down on the floor saying, “I’m not going away and it looks like you’re not either, so let’s just live here together.”
At that point, all of them left except one. Milarepa said “This one is particularly vicious.” (We all know that one. Sometimes we have lots of them like that. Sometimes we feel that’s all we’ve got.) He didn’t know what to do, so he surrendered himself even further. He walked over and put himself right into the mouth of the demon and said, “Just eat me up if you want to.” Then that demon left too. The moral of the story is, when the resistance is gone, so are the demons.
~ The Pocket Pema Chodron
Wraith in Wings writes…
I’d like to say something about self love, and not in the sniggering wink wink nudge nudge kind of way. I mean genuine self love, self forgiveness, appreciation, and recognition.
All my young adult life, and perhaps when I was younger, though I don’t recall very well my state of self awareness back then, I have struggled with this very anti Western concept.
The Western world is big on swagger and ego, but low on genuine self esteem, and I found self love a very hard concept to wrap my mind around. I asked myself, Why the hell would I want to do that? What benefit is there?
(As a matter of fact, I was outside on the phone with my partner, banging my head against the wall in frustration (literally, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit) yelling at him for even suggesting something (so ridiculously stupid) as just showing a little simple loving kindness to myself.)
The more I’ve delved into my understanding of teachings of mindfulness, awareness, acceptance, and that simple loving kindness, the more I’ve sensed a deep change in my own personal awareness and sense of self. I find a deeper sense of self respect in being true to even my darkest hurts and shames and addictions.
The Western philosophy we’ve had drilled into our brains since infancy is that we hide the dirty ugly things and fear in a big kind of way our own belief of our badness. Churches mediate to their respective god heads for that ever elusive forgiveness for sins, perhaps forgiveness they can never give themselves.
I’ve seen how the shift in mindset has changed my actions. Oh yes, the urges to lapse, to panic, to hurt myself in major ways still pop up into my head and scream for attention, just because they are so used to living here. They want to share my bed, eat my food, hide my keys and take the mate to my sock.
Just as in the story at the beginning of this entry, I used to scream at these demons. I screamed, I raged, I begged. I threw things, I broke things, I cried. I generally made a huge mess. And then it slowly stopped mattering. They live in this little house along with me , I couldn’t rage against that machine anymore, I had to accept them. They were here, and so was I. I wasn’t going anywhere, even though many times I thought ending it all would be the answer.( If I was going down, they were going down with me, right?) Slowly I let them sit next to me through the day, I listened to the chatter, and I let it float by me, unarmed thoughts, untouched clouds, harmless.
And the world shifted.
This is a big deal for me, something I felt worth sharing.
~ ~ ~
This entry is reproduced from the Live Journal of Wraith in the Wings: http://wraithinwings.livejournal.com/13524.html. It was composed by someone known as Wraith in Wings and was not written by the owner of this blog.
She comes to him, intertwining her long fingers with his”.
The above are the golden words spoken by NEYTIRI, in the magnificent celluloid by James Cameron. These words winnow out the chaff that cover the spiritual message of all the religions. Ignorance of this fundamental Truth by all religions is the cause for all religious wars and corporate greediness wiping out wisdom-rich primitive societies of the world. Internally Individuals also dis-connect their spirit from the Cosmic spirit (Nature) lacking this understanding.
Religious wars are fought ironically by both the groups with a fanatic belief that they are fighting for their “God” without the knowledge that God does not take both the sides. Nature is interested only in protecting “Dharma” the balance of life. This is why like when Tsunami happened (like shown in Cameroon’s movie Abyss“), all beings were washed without the bias of species, race or gender or religious background. Nature is only interested in protecting the balance of life. This is the law of karma.
Similarly, through our prayers, when most of our desired wishes do not get fulfilled, out of frustration we do not hesitate to change sides by getting converted into another religious group. This is due to our ignorance that Nature does not cater much to the individual’s carnal desires, but provide opportunities to strengthen the inner power of the individual. This continues till the individuality dissolves to a Universal Cosmic identity. This is how the life-style and laws of life was formulated by all primitive or native societies. Modern corporate societies have adopted the stressful life style of paying attention only in fulfilling carnal desires and hence have far moved from the “Spiritual” nature. There is nothing bad in fulfilling materialistic desire with Conscious-Awareness of our “True Spiritual Nature”.
By the greed for material wealth we have destroyed not externally the native cultures, but inferentially, our own inner Soul-culture. Instead of being connected like the cells in the human body we are cancerous nuclear cells threatening the existence of the our existence.
As Jake says
” Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up…”
Symbolic of Avatar: We are not aware that our real body , the “Consciousness” is activating our bodies on Earth. Only in deep sleep we forget our Avatar” body on Earth. This is why sleep is blissful for everyone, when we refresh our “True Being”. With this Avatar Body we can bring reality by integrating with Nature, but instead we are being mere “corporate” (bodily) and so function as Egoistic beings.
“Everything is backwards now. Like out there is the true world,
and in here is the dream”.
Like Matrix, the Avatar body of Jake undergoes a birth and growth shown as …
…Blood circulating through a synthetic UMBILICAL in the abdomen. As the figure turns in the amniotic fluid, we see that it has a lemur-like TAIL. The skin is cyan-blue…
Blueness is the color of Vishnu, the symbolic expression of the protector aspect of Nature (Consciousness) in Vedic Spiritual tradition. The whole creation of Universe bangs out from Vishnu’s cosmic slumber as shown as…
…Jake’s eyes moving under the lids, like a dreamer in REM sleep …
Though the name and the theme of the movie is from the Vedic Spiritual tradition, the director protects the sentiments of other religions by making the characters utter words like “Jesus” and naming the Hallelujah Mountains. He beautifully intertwines the spiritual message of primitive cultures of the Native Indians, Aboriginals and world Spiritual traditions into one Universal spiritual theme of the movie, because all Spiritual traditions speak the same Truth.
In all spiritual traditions, there is a concept of “Second birth” or “Enlightenment”, through a Shamanic ritual. NeiTri smears the white paste over Jake’s body. This ritual externally activates in the Inner Energy.
They see a network of energy that flows through all living things. They know that
all energy is only borrowed– JAKE (V.O.)
– and one day you have to give it back.
The movie tries to project this Universal spiritual message hidden in symbolic messages, may be not to the extent of the Matrix movies. Still Avatar with its overwhelming artistic and stunning entertaining visuals in 3D, successfully delivers the message to the audience. Highlight of the movie:In all movies we wish a happy ending when Human Beings win the war over aliens. Only in Avatar, we wish for the defeat of Human beings and pray finally triumph over the victory of Nu vi’s. We forget we are Human Beings and identify with Nu vis, because our real “Self” is not the Human body. We are all only Avatars , which in Sanskrit means incarnate (in carnal body form). This is the success of James Cameroon’s Avatar. It has kindled and reminded us not of our corporeal-human nature but the Inter-connecting (all pervading) Divinity of our “Being”
Let us continue to maintain that Conscious-Awareness eternally in living our life on Earth.
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