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I have been engaged in reflection and reading on Right Livelihood. Generally speaking, we consider right livelihood in terms of its ethical significant – we work without causing suffering to others. We also need to consider work in terms of the relationship to intention, action and result. Many dharma friends are self-employed – yoga /dharma teachers, carpenters, therapists, mind/body workers, web designers, gardeners, plumbers, writers, electricians, masseurs and so on. Continue reading
The woes of our planet seem to be growing. As a species, we are simply not very good at living wisely. There are destructive forces in the world. Our daily newspapers report global pressures on the food supply, oil and energy. In such times, we tighten our belt . We spend less on food, drive the car less, watch our finances and think a little more about our future. We might become a little more frugal in our current priorities but we regard it as merely a blip in the economic cycle. The dinosaur of economic progress and increasing our standard of living must not slow down. Continue reading
I make a daily yatra (pilgrimage) to the Barrel coffee shop in Totnes High Street, five minutes walk from my home here in south Devon I sit there and reflect, write, read, meet with friends, people watch as well as have a café latte. Last week, I gave a dharma talk with question and answers in the coffee shop on the theme of “What does it mean to wake up?” at the monthly evening meeting of Consciousness Café, chaired by Prof Max Velmans, author of Understanding Consciousness. The evening meeting provides a forum for discussion of issues central to our contemporary understanding of what it is to be human, embedded in a social and physical world – a format of a 25 minute talk followed by round table and open discussions and breaks for refreshments.
A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of joining Hal Nathan (from Inverness in the Bay area of San Francisco) on a motorcycle venture from a small town in the far north of Thailand to enter Burma. We travelled on the back of two motorbikes and made our way into a Burmese refugee camp just inside Burma – avoiding the check points and army posts to enter Burma. Continue reading
It seems to me that all institutional explanations, no mater how well reasoned out and no matter how many subscribe to the view, have their shadows. Heavy shadows. Darwinism is no exception even as scientists claim an ongoing pursuit of truth. It would be healthy to take seriously the wise counsel of the Buddha who said that “one preserves truth by stating ‘this is my view.’” (Middle Length Discourses).
Scientists, economists, politicians, business community and citizens, are left with Charles Darwin’s shadow, namely a belief in competition, progress, survival, priority of self interest, and the Western mind as the pinnacle of evolution. Our schoolchildren are brainwashed into these views.