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This is profound, the relationship between speed and sense of self and surroundings. I am aware as I read this that I've always felt behind, and that I've lived in a sense of manufactured urgency to deal with it.

If two persons exchange pennies, neither is richer for it. If they have love,
they and the world benefits.

I am constantly surprised by the amount of information accessible on this subject. What you presented was well researched and well written to get your stand on this over to all your readers. Thanks a lot my dear.

 Well, I would like to be irreverent: when I read this article I have a sense of this New Age philosophy that pervades Western Society, where deep spiritual truths are invoked to hide our own truth.  Jerry's pain, loneliness, hopelessness and suffering are his own, reflected in the world he sees around himself.  How does he think that his approach is helping those he passes in the street? What makes him presume that they are suffering and that he is doing them a favour by carrying their suffering?  As he says his feelings are his own - yet he does not seem to be owning their source - himself: compassion begins with ourself; our ability to help others is dependent upon our ability to help ourself; choosing to live in squalor does not help those compelled to live similalry - maybe they are our teachers and we their students?

 “When I died, I realised that I was neither my thoughts nor my feelings, neither my breath nor my body, neither my ego nor my mind, neither my spirit nor my soul, neither my emotions nor my actions, neither my children nor my possessions, and neither my desires nor my achievements: I was no-thing.  To be no-thing, I recognised, was also to be every-thing, but whilst I am being human, I am contained within space and time: I am finite within the infinite.  Nature’s immutable laws create the conditions that allow us to be human, which is to desire to be separate, to forget where we came from and why we are here, to go out on a journey of self-discovery and get lost in our possessions, to become lonely and need love, to wake up to our pain and suffering, and finally, to let go of everything we thought we were and come back to who we truly are.”

– John S Anderson – The Art of Being Human

 Yes you are correct Ganoba, the life processes are not linear, but western thinking tends to be linear, based purely on simple cause and effect, delineated by intellect.  When we are able to hold presence and not react, whilst things arise in the real world, through dependant co-arising of karmic events, we can expiate our personal and collective karma.  Perception influences experiencing of external events and perpetuates karma, when our expression is based upon past events and trauma.  Direct perception - seeing truly, comes from the transformation of our traumas and the realisation of an objective reality, that abides.  Hermes said: 'As within so without, as without so within.' - there is dynamic flow between the internal and external realities, they are not one or the other, they inter-are.  John Anderson - The Art of Being Human. 

 It is very nice to quote theories of how linterconnected life is, and substantiate with stories of monks that walk through crowds of vagabonds and villains without being harmed, but is that your reality? Because it wasn't the reality of Paramahansa Yogananda, the Hindu Sage, who got mugged whilst walking in New York!  It is momentarily exciting to hear of great deeds by a few, fleeting moments of illumination of some, but as Mother Theresa says: 'we can do no great things, only small things with great love'.  Great love may be felt in Zazen, but can it be transported into reality, when people refuse to listen to your words of love and actions of generosity, because they don't trust anyone?  Do we have the humility to admit we are wrong in front of others?  Do we have the strength to hold our child's head in our arms as they enter their sixth epileptic seizure,and hold the faith to believe that God will be there for them if they die? Can we remain present with our mother and love her, whilst she denies our abusive childhood and not say a word to her in retribution?  Can we understand the actions of our abuser and forgive him?  Do we really think that sitting doing Tonglen meditation, imagining that we are absorbing the world's suffering, will prepare us for real suffering?  There is a vast difference in imagining something and experiencing something.Yes, all these techniques have their place; however, the way of the monk is more than Zazen, it is also about abstinence, discipline, training, hard beds, cold showers, meagre food, no alcohol, no coffee or drugs - is this the way of the average westerner?  We cannot cherry-pick the bits we want and expect the same outcome as the true disciple.I am not a kill-joy, I have experienced all of these things that I talk about and I remain resolute in life; I believe that if we are to move through the difficult times we are going through, and keep the faith, we need to face our fears... [View Full Comment]

 It is very nice to quote theories of how linterconnected life is, and substantiate with stories of monks that walk through crowds of vagabonds and villains without being harmed, but is that your reality? Because it wasn't the reality of Paramahansa Yogananda, the Hindu Sage, who got mugged whilst walking in New York!  It is momentarily exciting to hear of great deeds by a few, fleeting moments of illumination of some, but as Mother Theresa says: 'we can do no great things, only small things with great love'.  Great love may be felt in Zazen, but can it be transported into reality, when people refuse to listen to your words of love and actions of generosity, because they don't trust anyone?  Do we have the humility to admit we are wrong in front of others?  Do we have the strength to hold our child's head in our arms as they enter their sixth epileptic seizure,and hold the faith to believe that God will be there for them if they die? Can we remain present with our mother and love her, whilst she denies our abusive childhood and not say a word to her in retribution?  Can we understand the actions of our abuser and forgive him?  Do we really think that sitting doing Tonglen meditation, imagining that we are absorbing the world's suffering, will prepare us for real suffering?  There is a vast difference in imagining something and experiencing something.

Yes, all these techniques have their place; however, the way of the monk is more than Zazen, it is also about abstinence, discipline, training, hard beds, cold showers, meagre food, no alcohol, no coffee or drugs - is this the way of the average westerner?  We cannot cherry-pick the bits we want and expect the same outcome as the true disciple.

I am not a kill-joy, I have experienced all of these things that I talk about and I remain resolute in life; I believe that if we are to move through the difficult times we are going through, and keep the faith, we need to face our fears and develop the presence of awareness to transform the trauma of our apparent separation through the practice of dynamic mindfulness.  It will not happen in Zazen alone, it requires dedication to the path of conscious living and a process that allows one to flow with life, even when life isn't flowing the way we want it to flow - that is my definition of generosity.  It is through our real experiences, particulalry the difficult ones, that we can develop meaning, purpose and value for life and test the veracity of our beliefs about who we are and why we are here.  John Anderson - The Art of Being Human:  http://www.beinghumanfoundation.co/.

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 Nice words, but out of touch with reality: try meditating whilst all around you are losing their heads and blaming it on you, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling.  We need to wake up to what is going on around us, meditation has its value, but compassion, understanding and generosity do not come from traditionally-educated, molly-coddled, middle class, do-gooders, sitting around in groups pontifacting their navels.  It is forged in the cauldron of life, by facing our fears, dealing with our demons, by developing the courage to come face to face with our own shadow nature - reflected in those that we judge and condemn, because they are less fortunate than ourselves.

My message is to get off our well-padded backsides, take responsibility for those that cannot do it for themselves and  be accounatble for the sum total of modern-day society's problems - because we are all in this together.  John Anderson: http://www.beinghumanfoundation.co/