Conversation with a Vancouver Taxi driver

Namaste,

This evening I had to take my daughter to the doctor. We don't have a car, so my wife and I called for a taxi. On the way, I began a conversation with a punjabi taxi driver which at one point came to the topic of yoga. The taxi driver practiced asanas and pranayama after his exercise routine. He asked me if I practiced yoga. I said I did, and he went one, "And, how do you feel?"

This is a question in my 11 years of practice, I don't recall ever been asked. And so, it has left an impression on me because at the time, I found it hard measure. But then, i quickly thought about how I felt when i didn't practice meditation, pranayama, or asanas and from there I began to form an answer. It is a miracle really, how quickly the brain can compute such a response because this occurred in a fraction of a second because I don't think i skipped a beat in the conversation.

I responded that I felt energy in my waking life, that I had accessed a deeper patience and understanding with my relationships, and that my muscles felt more relaxed. We came to the clinic, I paid my fare and we went our separate ways. But, the moment did not end there.  I wanted to share this with the internet public because the practice of yoga in it's totality brings about peace in ones' self and energy that enables the body and mind to perform at it's best.  With this peace and energy, one can better relate and see clearly into those around them and his/her environment. With the popularity of yoga this day, I'm sure many of you have heard this and so I probably sound like a broken record. But, I insist that if one adopted a daily 15 minute practice of asana, 5 minutes of pranayama breathing, and 10 minute meditation much of the challenges we face in our day to day lives wouldn't impact our well being in the fashion that they do; maybe not at all for yoga allows an individual to maintain equanimity whether by will or by default.  Of course this takes practice and discipline to achieve, but after one session one can instantly tap into this source.
By equanimity one can make a clearer judgement of action to undertake the task at hand be it speaking, walking, eating, etc.

The practice of yoga has allowed me to self-introspect at a deep level. Where I question all of my impulses, cravings, thoughts, feelings...all of my mental processes to the point that i experience within me, sources of judgement. Each with it's own attitude and agenda. The ego's faces become clearer and I understand their purpose. But, beyond their voice, there's a presence to which I relate to as a grandfather figure which serenely sits back on a big ol' chair, stately, with compassion looking over everything. The noise from the ego clouds his voice; but he is always there.



Namaste,

Action for the sake of doing

Namaste,

This afternoon I contemplated the act of performing a task; the act of work - be it a trivial task or a means to an end such as washing dishes or painting a picture. What led me to contemplate on this subject is a yogic statement that I've been mulling over for some time. This is acting without attachment to a reward, without pursuit of an outcome. How often do we partake into an action for the sake of doing this task? How often do we give because we want to receive? This makes our actions conditional and untrue to our selves. It is dishonest and passive agressive.
The concept goes on to say that when we work, we must work to our fullest potential for we are exercising a mental effort that is particular to our human constitution. In other words, we have the gift of reason and so, we have the capacity to perform a task at the highest level. To complete a task half-witted, we reduce our existence to sub-human level and in short, by performing a task that we absolutely have to with a lazy stance, with anger in hearts, with frustration, greed, then we undermine our own happiness. Rather, perform the task with your utmost effort, without expectation to receive any reward, but because one lives to work not works to live. This attitude will cultivate seeds of perseverance and strengthen ones charitable character, it will humble the doer.

This is easier said then done obviously. When we are tired from a hard days work and must tend to household duties, it is difficult to feel joy when sweeping the floor, or be elated by washing dishes. However, if we choose to shift our perspective, look to the dullness from a different angle where the task at hand is an opportunity to overcome laziness and an opportunity to embrace work, we feel better about the action. It is a shift in thinking. I watch my teenage niece shuffle her feet when she is asked to help around the house. It is like pulling nails to get her to dust, wash dishes, and tidy up.  A yogi embraces the work and will do it to the best of her ability, without complaint, but with love because he has been given the opportunity to help and contribute.

Again, a task that we are to do, we have two choices: One choice is to smile and do it, conjure joy from it, or the opposite. It is our choice how we view our responsibilities. And if we claim to want happiness then it seems that the first choice aligns better.

Namaste.

The Monetary System

Namaste blog world,

I would like to introduce to those who are not in the know of a movement called the Zeitgeist movement. This group of thinkers are involved in a movement whose aim is to expose the flaws of the monetary system and promote a resource based system whose interests are those of the people and the planet. 

This movement does not promote violence, this movement is of consumer-resistance, this movement is of passive resistance, this movement is to raise the awareness of our selfishness and wasteful behavior that we in the west have been condition to condone and exercise. 

Their website is:

 http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/

There are three documentary films which can be downloaded for free, streamed for free, at the following website:

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

The second and third film speak more of the monetary system than the first. But, each film touches upon important subjects that everyone should question, if they consider themselves to be "free-thinkers".

I have been a follower and proponent of this movement since I first heard of them. What I found appealing about the film and the movement is that while we all are perfectly aware that something is inherently wrong with the world - and at that- the past few generations I believe the average informed citizen is aware of this wrongness - the films do a wonderful job and summarizing and articulately packaging the source of the problem. 

The monetary system was a system that was developed during a time where a product's scarcity was mapped to a monetary value. So, back in the day producing a sweater was more time consuming as the resources required to produce the sweater - harvesting the cotton, spinning the thread, creating the cloth, etc - was more time consuming so the product was scarce. The value of the end-product was high and one can easily understand why when producing the basic ingredients took sometime to produce. However, once the automation of these basic processes came to light by the developments of the 20th century, suddenly producing a sweater ain't no big deal anymore. When agriculture went from using oxen to pull plough to farming tractors, when factories turned from sewing by hand to sewing machines to robotic arms producing a garment, etc etc - that sweater is created at unprecedented speeds. So, is that sweater scarce now? I don't think so, it is more abundant than ever. However, the value of the sweater remains and the sweater is traded for monetary value. And monetary value increases every year due to inflation so that sweater costs more and more each year. Supposedly, ones income raises to the tune of inflation and so what. Why does that sweater need to inflate? Because there are more people in the world demanding that same sweater, well, there are more people to power those machines to generate that sweater and so that should take care of that balance. Rather, the answer lies in the framework of the monetary system which is debt. 

The Zeitgeist movement elegantly describes money = debt. For every dollar, euro, pound, peso, created, debt is generated. So, the deficit a country has will never be paid, rather the debt will shift from one sector to another. Because if all debt was paid, then there wouldn't be enough money left in circulation.  Debt is traded in the stock market, it is sold for someone else to collect and make that profit. 

Profit, the diamond in the monetary rough. It is a means of the monetary system. For the monetary system has three actors: The consumer, the employee, and the employer. We all fit into at least two categories unless unemployed. We all need to consume, and so we need employment to provide money so we can consume and we then become the employee. The employer is that which provides the employment. Well, the philosophy of the employer is to keep generating profit and keep expenses lower than the gains. It would be fine if they were the only producers of their product, by that is often not the case. So, with tough competition at the heels of employers, they are often forced to make decisions that a loving, kind individual would not make because of ethical reasons. So, you see, that profit always comes at the cost of the vulnerable, the ignorant, business through advertising has become insidious, manipulative, and turned those who without the ambition for power and profit may be gentle and giving souls.  Money creates distance between those who have and those who have not, this is through a class, caste system. Money, makes honest men dishonest. Profit makes a man invade another man's land for it's resources and say that they are freeing them from tyranny when they are the tyrants.  Money and profit will make a man tear his own backyard apart, pollute his own drinking water, so they can make a buck. 

With these economic meltdowns taking place around the world, the conditions will only get worse as the debt rises and people lose jobs. People die because they don't have enough money for basic medicinal needs, and people die because they don't have money for food. It is not that food and medicine is scarce, it is they do not have the money to buy the food or enough money to buy the supplies to create medicine and food.  So, when economic crisises unemploy a large number of a population, the people rise as they cannot purchase basic necessities which lie untouched on the shelves of the stores. The people will be restless, frustrated, angry, and ready to die as they are already dying. These conditions will be ugly. Governments will topple and I sincerely hope that if it comes to that, that lawlessness does not take and ignorance not prevail. 

The Zeitgeist movement supports a project called the Venus Project. The Venus project is founded by an American fellow called Jacque Fresco. He has proposed a resource based system where the worlds' natural resources are inventoried and monitored by a super computer. The project proposes the use of current technology to solve many issues which the monetary system simply refuses to resolve because that would cut into profits. These would be issues such as planned obsolescence, transportation woes, ownership, hoarding to name a few. Jacque's designs aim to reduce the human imprint as much as possible, promotes re-usability, durability, sharing, and protecting the very natural resources which keep us alive; protecting them so as to keep them in pristine order. Does the monetary system do that now? No. It cannot. 

I still have questions about how to transition to such a drastic way of life, but apparently there is a way. I know if there was a vote that I would vote for it, but will that happen in my life time? I sincerely hope so. The ambition for money for the need it to survive is suffocating. In a resource based economy, there would be no money to trade for a service or a good. Rather, we either would share the good for its use and or if we choose to own this good we would request one. Our personal ambitions would change as we all would have our basic necessities without cost, but because it is our right. Through the mechanization of manufacturing, the human hand would be reduced significantly, and eventually completely. Man, would them be free to pursue what he truly wanted. The movie, Jacque, go on to say and I agree, that a man behaves differently when he doesn't have to worry about how to comfortably feed, clothe, and shelter himself or his family. As I mentioned previously, the resource based system challenges practices that currently encourage one to own something, encourage some one to indulge and why? Well, that is because the employer wants you to buy their product because they want your money. So, they trick you or push those buttons to suck you in so you own their inferior product. 

The maker of the movie is Peter Joseph, he narrates throughout all three films. Please watch the films; specifically the second and the third. 

Namaste,

Namaste

Welcome!

Namaste,

"The yogi believes that every creature has as much right to live as he has. He believes that he is born to help others and he looks upon creation with eyes of love. He knows that his life is linked inextricably with that of others and he rejoices if he can help them to be happy"

--- BKS Iyengar

'Right in the Center of every wheel there is a point which is absolutely motionless. This is also true about the wheel of life. But if you could go to the very Center you find that actually without that central point there is no motion. Meditation is going into that still point. It is not stopping the movement of the wheel. It is not stopping to perform the acts and duties but becoming aware of the still central point and at the same time guiding the movement of the wheel. That is the Art of Living and therefore the Art of Dying'

---Swami Veda Bharati on Meditation

"Many people think the mind can be controlled. That is not a useful idea. Like the monkey, the mind can never actually be controlled; it can only be directed. If you want to try to control your mind, you will regret the results. Forget the word “control” and learn to direct your mind and energy on all levels"

--Swami Rama on the mind

Welcome to my blog, I hope you reader, leave these web pages filling inspired to do good, to look upon your everyday man or woman with kind eyes, with compassion.

So with this perspective in mind, I would like this blog commentary to focus on general life issues, that include but not limited to nutrition, education, art, politics, psychology, science, and technology.

I look forward to the days ahead.

Namaste,

Moreno