Lululemon Athletica has come under scrutiny for “emblazoning” the phrase “Who is John Galt?” on the side of their yoga bags, promoting Ayn Rand’s objectivist policy as laid out in her book Atlas Shrugged. Objectivism, embraced by libertarians and Tea Partyists, seems to many to be an antithesis of yoga’s “vibe,” whose roots in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy teaches the interconnectivity of all things. Contrarily, Rand is decidedly an individualist.
But is objectivism really so different than yoga’s teachings?
In practicing yoga we draw our awareness inward to meet our divine nature, seeking ultimate freedom. It is an activity that is, no judgment here, really quite self-absorbed. However, we realize that we are all connected, no matter what political system we have, and this influences our actions in the world.
In yoga, our goals and rewards cannot come through the use of force.
Yoga | 19.11.2011 13:35 | No Comments
I have often felt conflicted in situations where there is a person on the street corner holding a sign, asking for something. Do I, or don’t I have a quarter for this person, and do I or don’t I want to give it to them? Now, I was raised a religious person, and I am an American. You wouldn’t think that these two aspects would oppose each other. But, strangely, they do. I don’t consider myself religious any longer, but I do my best to uphold spiritual values. Up until recently this man on the corner scenario was posing quite a dilemma for me.
There is a prominent political ideology in this country influenced by Darwinian ideas, that if one person helps another, it actually does them a disservice, as it merely perpetuates their weakness. It enables the weak and incapable to remain unproductive as they continue to leech from the rest. Rather, for their own sake and for society’s benefit, they must be left in the struggle or they will never grow and develop to provide for themselves. Then, there is what I was taught in church when I was a child. Jesus washed the feet of the meek, clothed the naked, and fed the hungry. He was a great teacher of not only charity, but also compassion. And like the other teachers of compassion, Buddha, Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, there is the teaching of opening one’s heart and comprehending the inherent oneness of human beings trapped in an illusion of separateness from one another and all things. To overcome such an inauthentic view, we are taught to love one another, have compassion, forgiveness, and to open up our hearts. As such enlightened beings, we are God, and there is no division, no fear, only unity everywhere. In such mode of being, the right thing to do was help this poor man out.
But ugh, to give out spare change! I really many happen to think that I need it myself. That I have my own bills to pay, and etc. and etc. But the sign that I saw that day, the sign that the old man sitting against the traffic-light pole was holding, did not say, need change, anything helps, need 50 cents (such an insignificant amount there’s not even a cent symbol key on my computer), Jesus saves, need beer, or whatever. It said, HUNGRY. Read More »
Essays, Politics, Religion, Spirituality | 24.09.2011 13:28 | No Comments
This is a lovely alternative for people with a sweet tooth who pick and choose the specific carbohydrates in their diet. For an 8 inch pie, use maybe 7-8 apricots. Cut the fruit into chunks and simmer in 1/3 cup agave nectar with 2 tbs. butter, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. When the fruit lets go of its juices, in only a couple of minutes, strain. Return the sweet buttery juices to the stove and cook on low heat. After the liquid begins to thicken add a splash of cream or substitute (I used a couple tbs. coconut concentrate) and cook down until the mixture is syrupy. Add only the teeniest dab of lime or lemon juice.
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Health, Starch & Sugar Free | 22.08.2011 21:20 | No Comments
From Carl Jung, The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, 18.
We must surely go the way of the waters, which always tend downward, if we would raise up the treasure, the precious inheritance of the father. In the Gnostic hymn to the soul, the son is sent forth by his parents to seek the pearl that fell from the King’s crown. It lies at the bottom of a deep well, guarded by a dragon, in the land of the Egyptians– that land of fleshpots and drunkenness with all its material and spiritual riches. The son and heir sets out to fetch the jewel, but forgets himself and his task in the orgies of Egyptian worldliness, until a letter from his father reminds him what his duty is. He then sets out for the water and plunges into the dark depths of the well, where he finds the pearl on the bottom, and in the end offers it to the highest divinity.
This hymn, ascribed to Bardesanes, dates from an age that resembled ours in more than one respect. Mankind looked and waited, and it was a fish– “levatus de profundo” (drawn from the deep) — that became the symbol of the saviour, the bringer of healing.
Mythology | 21.08.2011 15:02 | No Comments
Art by Gaia
The Wild Woman
Is the One Who Knows.
She is the River beneath the river,
She is instinctual Nature
Dispenser of Medicine
Guardianne of Wisdom.
She is from Whom we spring forward in Life
and to whom we go in Death.
She is the Great Wild Mother.
Her kingdom is this great underground forest,
the misty world of the unconscious;
into which the light of consciousness filters down through stories, feelings, and dreams.
Mythology | 21.08.2011 13:39 | No Comments
Yoga-mat psychologist and Crohn's disease warrior, Nina-Lois Turtledove is deeply interested in philosophy, analytic and somatic psychology, peace studies, nutrition, tradition, and progress. This is her public journal where she spills her thoughts, and records her dreams, rants, and reflections.