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the constant call of humanity ( or resistance)

2/2/2015

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Resistance.......


Why is resistance so popular?  I read recently that what people want most is sovereignty.......that is; supreme power or authority over themselves.


This makes a lot of sense.  No one wants to spend any of their personal time in life doing something that is dictated by someone else.  This is why kids can't wait to grow up.  We all remember saying those things to ourselves about being free to choose everything once we are grown up and no longer under our parents control.....I do!


As societies go, no one group wants to be under the control of another.....


We all want to be free!

And......

We want someone to do something about all those who would run roughshod over us  in all manner of obvious and not so obvious controls while we are living out all this self directed destiny.  We would like someone to provide some peace and security so that we can enjoy this sovereign existence......please.

Here is where resistance comes in.   Opposing forces!  Opposing desires!  Opposing wills!


My sovereignty against yours.



The stage is now set for the ultimate competition.....Who will win over whom in the fight for the thing they now threaten?


The absurdity of this situation is clear and we live it out every day.


How?


With resistance.  The only way to live out this illogical and unwinnable battle is to resist our inner wisdom and the constant call of humanity.


In every moment of every day every member of the human race hears the call of their fellow beings.  I believe that we all know in our bones that we are all connected to each other and that to deny another is to deny ourselves.  We can feel in our hearts that when we reach out to help another that we are helping ourselves.  I believe we know that fear is running the show and that when we assert our sovereignty over one another's we are losing our own.  


We know in these same bones that our axis is amiss and that something must be done to fix it or we will fall out of orbit.  


We must justify.  We must straighten out this axis if we are all to be spared.


Now, who will be first?


Who will offer space to the other?  A srtip of land?  A helping hand?


We can do it where we are......I'm not the owner of a great piece of the world but I do walk about in it and I do come into contact with others every day and likely, so do you. With some self-honesty and self-reflecting I can do some straightening wherever I am. Resistance begins on the cellular level of each of us as a living being.  It can be uncovered and discarded.... rooted out of our hearts and minds. 


If this option doesn't seem workable then the only other one is to 


Resist......


........and this is why resistance is so popular.













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Days of Grace

2/1/2015

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For the record; I am the mother of 11 children: 1 with my first husband and 10 with my second.  Also for the record; my husband, Dennis, also has 11 children: 1 with his first wife and 10 with me.  Of course, that is 12 altogether.


Many people have asked me, over the years, how it is that we decided to have so many children.  I usually try to come up with a witty answer when they ask.  The best one was to a substitute pediatrician who was talking to my 4 year old.  He asked Jack how many siblings he had and when Jack had to check with me if the answer was 10 or 11 he became suspicious.  This doctor looked to me for clarification and I confirmed that it was indeed 11 siblings for a total of 12.   This unsuspecting doctor asked the usual "how on earth did you decide to have 12 children?"  I responded......

.............It takes a particular lack of foresight.


But the truth is that I have felt an undeniable call of motherhood .... As I have answered that call and grown into motherhood  my heart has joined with the hearts of my children we all have fallen into a rhythm....



....... the rhythm of  our family.........discovered by us rather than written.


Each one has been an anticipated addition to our production.  Dennis and I are certainly humbled at the job of raising them..... they keep us on our best behaviour and putting our best effort forward.  Even as we try our best to give them all the goodness of ourselves we are continually thoroughly impressed with each one and know that it is they who are emerging as their authentic selves......

When I was pregnant with our second to last child we were informed that our baby was "not compatible with life" and that we could schedule a termination.  This news was at once unbelievable and devastating.  I can say for sure that this became a matter of the heart quickly for Dennis and me.  It is a miracle, I believe, that my practice of connecting my mind and heart was well in place by this time and I could, with compassion, live in and through this experience from my heart and without fear running the show. 



 We determined not to terminate our child's life but to wait and let nature have her way.....


 Our whole family had time and space to understand what was happening....physically and spiritually.  


On February 2, 2008, at the 32 week of my pregnancy, I knew she passed....... I was aware that she had stopped moving and I could feel that she was no longer inhabiting her body.  Instead of rushing to the hospital to end this experience we saw the doctor to check on her passing and on my health.  My doctor confirmed and granted us time.....


 Being lead by our hearts, letting go of fear, submitting to the process and the rhythm of our family, we stayed present to the moment.  I've said many times that on February 2 grace descended upon our house.......


....I shall never forget those days .... the days of grace, of peace, of compassion, of pure contrast of bitter and sweet.


My days of grace come around every year on February 2..............


Our daughter Isabel was born still on February 6.  







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the Ashram

2/1/2015

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Yesterday I visited an Ashram.  It was lovely.  The place covers 120 acres of hillside.  There is a temple for meditation and worship, a bookstore/shop and many living quarters on the premises.  The place is gated.  


Now, I am not sitting in judgement of anyone.  God knows, I have had my fill of that.....


I was reflecting afterward about how I felt up there in that gated off piece of the world.....


I was only there for 2 hours so I have no idea what it would be like to live there either full or part time.  However, in these 2 hours I felt a sense of self indulgence...  And I felt a pull from the valley below where my family, community and work resides.


Although it is somewhat attractive to me to retreat into a safe and isolated place of meditation where there, no doubt, would be less to suffer over, there is an even bigger pull for me to be out amongst my fellow sufferers...... maybe still in my own suffering as well.


Although it certainly could be a strategy to isolate and increase a spiritual practice and life, I can tell that it is not for me.  Whenever I see those NOTW (not of this world) bumper stickers I think to myself..... well, you may not be of this world but I want to be so much of this world that I put all my effort of every kind into living on it.  I want to love it and care for it and all its inhabitants so much that my highest value is to allow it work!  Our world is such a delicate and elaborate system of life.......It is majestic!


 I am honored to be a part of it.  


My personal quest is to participate in alleviating suffering (everyone's) in the world while still being in it......not to achieve by default......... of the whole or partial deaths of people or planet.....


It just seems to me that if I am going to be involved in the business of ending suffering, I need to be in the trenches of that suffering..... that running away for the suffering just isn't the same as ending it where it lies.


And, maybe, still, there is no running away from suffering....maybe it comes along right up that hill and into those gates............. 


And there is just as much work to do there as anywhere else.







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    Lucy Facer Bernstein

    I am a committed yogi and community member. I believe in the goodness of humankind and that as we discover our ultimate connectedness we can all find peace....within and without.  

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