http://www.theirc.org/journeys-video-flashhigh.html
"42 million refugees are on a journey
A journey of life or death
Safety or suffering
Freedom or oppression
A journey they were forced to take
By war and persecution
It begins in an instant
of violent threat
or devastation
It may take many years
Over countless miles
It spans countries
And generations
It has taken so much from them
Their homes
Their loved ones
Their most basic necessities
But what cannot be taken
Is their courage and will
To keep going on
To regain all they have lost
To reunite with family
To rebuild their communities
To reclaim their human rights
The right to learn
The right to speak
The right to work
They struggle and survive
Against all odds
Because they are strong
Because they are proud
Because dignity is never destroyed
Because even in the worst of crises
The best of humanity arises
With hope
And help
For 75 years
We have led the way
With a fierce commitment
Unswerving effectiveness
Bold compassion
Action
And advocacy
With skill
Care
And Daring
We come to aid
We stay to guide
Wherever needed
For as long as it takes
In 42 countries
and 24 US cities
Because the journey
Is not traveled alone
Or without help
Someone shines a light in the darkness
Another finds a way
On the greatest human journey
From harm to home
The journey starts with you."
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Injuries
I have recently come upon several injuries that have severely altered my training. I have only recently begun to take this as a lesson. It is one that I am intensely grateful for.
The first injury within this series occurred as the result of a bicycle accident. On my way to Breakthrough early one rainy morning, my bike slid out. I was in the right lane of the road at a turn, and was hurtled forward into the left lane, directly in front of an oncoming car that thankfully stopped before colliding into me.
I quickly got up and went on my way, checking for injuries only after arriving late to work. I hurt my knee a bit, but more disabling, although I did not yet realize it, was the injury to my left hand. It was intensely bruised and swollen. It would prevent me from almost any training for a few weeks.
Soon following came the accumulation of unrelenting stress on my right shoulder. In my conditioning, I began too quickly putting inordinate burdens on my shoulders: handstand presses, pikes, hollow-backs, rais, ponte, walkovers, etc. I noticed a clicking in my shoulder but refused to relent. One morning I awoke to sharp pains restricting the range of motion in my right shoulder. Diagnosis: torn rotator cuff.
As I begin to recuperate, with elastic band rehabilitative exercises, I attempt to compensate by intensifying my leg training: parkour, pistols, jumps, kicks, etc. I begin to notice a slight twinge in my right buttock, especially when throwing kicks. I assume the injury is a bruise (wondering when I might have taken such an injury). Two days ago I am trying to fall asleep, when I notice the twinge has become more intense. This morning I rose to find the pain quite debilitating: I am unable to walk, sit, stand, or climb stairs without pain. Tentative diagnosis: periformis tear/strain.
Now I sit, aware of an upcoming batizado, wondering if I will be capable of performing...
So what do I take from this?
My training is unbalanced and inflexible. I try to fit in as many hours of training as possible into the day, and I am suffering the accumulated strains, wear, and tear.
The most salient mentality is one of rushing to attain a lofty vision or goal. Time is limited, I am aging. Regardless, it is of no benefit to rush. Take it slow. I realize now that in order to have a physiologically and psychologically sustainable practice, I need more balance and less rigidity.
I look forward to experimenting with this new approach.
The first injury within this series occurred as the result of a bicycle accident. On my way to Breakthrough early one rainy morning, my bike slid out. I was in the right lane of the road at a turn, and was hurtled forward into the left lane, directly in front of an oncoming car that thankfully stopped before colliding into me.
I quickly got up and went on my way, checking for injuries only after arriving late to work. I hurt my knee a bit, but more disabling, although I did not yet realize it, was the injury to my left hand. It was intensely bruised and swollen. It would prevent me from almost any training for a few weeks.
Soon following came the accumulation of unrelenting stress on my right shoulder. In my conditioning, I began too quickly putting inordinate burdens on my shoulders: handstand presses, pikes, hollow-backs, rais, ponte, walkovers, etc. I noticed a clicking in my shoulder but refused to relent. One morning I awoke to sharp pains restricting the range of motion in my right shoulder. Diagnosis: torn rotator cuff.
As I begin to recuperate, with elastic band rehabilitative exercises, I attempt to compensate by intensifying my leg training: parkour, pistols, jumps, kicks, etc. I begin to notice a slight twinge in my right buttock, especially when throwing kicks. I assume the injury is a bruise (wondering when I might have taken such an injury). Two days ago I am trying to fall asleep, when I notice the twinge has become more intense. This morning I rose to find the pain quite debilitating: I am unable to walk, sit, stand, or climb stairs without pain. Tentative diagnosis: periformis tear/strain.
Now I sit, aware of an upcoming batizado, wondering if I will be capable of performing...
So what do I take from this?
My training is unbalanced and inflexible. I try to fit in as many hours of training as possible into the day, and I am suffering the accumulated strains, wear, and tear.
The most salient mentality is one of rushing to attain a lofty vision or goal. Time is limited, I am aging. Regardless, it is of no benefit to rush. Take it slow. I realize now that in order to have a physiologically and psychologically sustainable practice, I need more balance and less rigidity.
I look forward to experimenting with this new approach.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Violin strings superimposed on hip hop rhythms
Doodles on loose sheets of scrap paper-
Leaves falling from the skies,
Like tears drift from your eyes
Action potential to reach out and connect
Resurrect humanity
From the depths of tragedy
Contained in monetary obsessions
When it comes to love we remain taciturn,
Afraid to return,
To that which we've yet to become
The song goes unsung
I sit back and wait
My fatal flaw
Staring into the maw of self-induced fear
of getting too near.
I'm sick of sitting still but uncertain on how to stand
Feeling rather ill in this strange and foreign land...
The pathos of the world brings me to rise in the morning
Growth, progress, peace, pull me through the day.
Leaves falling from the skies,
Like tears drift from your eyes
Action potential to reach out and connect
Resurrect humanity
From the depths of tragedy
Contained in monetary obsessions
When it comes to love we remain taciturn,
Afraid to return,
To that which we've yet to become
The song goes unsung
I sit back and wait
My fatal flaw
Staring into the maw of self-induced fear
of getting too near.
I'm sick of sitting still but uncertain on how to stand
Feeling rather ill in this strange and foreign land...
The pathos of the world brings me to rise in the morning
Growth, progress, peace, pull me through the day.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Humanistic and Existential Psychology
Were it not for theories that resonate with Rollo May, Cushman, and Maslow, I would consider giving up on psychology entirely. The idea that we would fix somebody so the could re-enter the pathological realm of the conformist functioning individual disgusts me. I would rather let a person be sick than provoke them to adapt to something so inherently unhealthy and contradictory to the things I personally and inherently value: creativity, spontaneity, humor, freedom, anxiety, awareness, authenticity).
Today in class I picked up a few thoughts I found significant and generated a few ideas of my own. I don't know if I intend to keep them for fear of losing ideas (which I associate with the self) or whether I sincerely think I will ever use them. But here I leave them in case I need to return to them:
1. It is not the job of the therapist to know what is right or wrong for the client, but to help them discover this for themselves.
2. Our ethical values are removed from the experience and reality of the client.
3. A shitty job can be recontextualized/reconceptualized as a way of supporting self and being in pursuit of something great. You may not find your job to be perfect, but so long as you are on the path of growth, there is no regret.
4. Challenge yourself. Every moment. Every decision. Let it be a battle
in the war for growth, a war waged against self, that ends up being just a game in the roda of life.
5. Absolute safety detracts from the ability to actualize.
6. The fear of freedom is not just the burden of responsibility, but borne in the fact that at any moment, I can annihilate myself physiologically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and socially. Having walked that line and nearly falling off but to be saved by the mercy of this universe and the love of others, I realize how easy it is to kill ones' aspects of self.
Axiom to 6 - In reflection of these aspects, I recognize the ways I have nearly killed myself.
7. In accepting the freedom to make a choice, the freedom to commit one of these suicides becomes a possibility
8. There is no "not being" but we must be aware of our being, of our potentials. We must be aware of this act of being that is our "patterns of potentialities." This authenticity reminds us of our humanity.
9. Existentialism denies the inherent nature. But the internal capacity to grow is an inherent aspect of our nature. In this sense, there is an absolute to each individual that cannot be clearly defined, but is more real than any abstract concept.
Today in class I picked up a few thoughts I found significant and generated a few ideas of my own. I don't know if I intend to keep them for fear of losing ideas (which I associate with the self) or whether I sincerely think I will ever use them. But here I leave them in case I need to return to them:
1. It is not the job of the therapist to know what is right or wrong for the client, but to help them discover this for themselves.
2. Our ethical values are removed from the experience and reality of the client.
3. A shitty job can be recontextualized/reconceptualized as a way of supporting self and being in pursuit of something great. You may not find your job to be perfect, but so long as you are on the path of growth, there is no regret.
4. Challenge yourself. Every moment. Every decision. Let it be a battle
in the war for growth, a war waged against self, that ends up being just a game in the roda of life.
5. Absolute safety detracts from the ability to actualize.
6. The fear of freedom is not just the burden of responsibility, but borne in the fact that at any moment, I can annihilate myself physiologically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and socially. Having walked that line and nearly falling off but to be saved by the mercy of this universe and the love of others, I realize how easy it is to kill ones' aspects of self.
Axiom to 6 - In reflection of these aspects, I recognize the ways I have nearly killed myself.
7. In accepting the freedom to make a choice, the freedom to commit one of these suicides becomes a possibility
8. There is no "not being" but we must be aware of our being, of our potentials. We must be aware of this act of being that is our "patterns of potentialities." This authenticity reminds us of our humanity.
9. Existentialism denies the inherent nature. But the internal capacity to grow is an inherent aspect of our nature. In this sense, there is an absolute to each individual that cannot be clearly defined, but is more real than any abstract concept.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Boston GuluWalk 2008
"The Situation
An Unresolved CrisisAfter two decades of neglect, peace may finally be on the horizon for the people of northern Uganda. Current negotiations between the Ugandan government and Lord's Resistance Army present the best opportunity yet to achieve an end to this war, which has displaced millions of people and condemned generations of children to lives unsettled by insecurity, violence and fear. But international support and engagement is urgently needed to ensure a peace agreement is reached and to address the longstanding consequences of displacement and insecurity. Having long overlooked the conflict, policymakers can now show decisive leadership to support the people of northern Uganda in their unwavering desire for peace.
Here's a look at how the conflict has developed and why current negotiations present such a crucial opportunity.
The war in northern Uganda arose out of a divisive political climate, originating in British colonial policies and perpetuated by post-independence Ugandan politics. This climate created deeply entrenched regional and social divisions, particularly between the North and the South. When the current president, Yoweri Museveni and his southern-based army took power through a military coup in 1986, northerners were marginalized, and mobilized for war. However, by 1988, two stages of this popular rebellion had ended peacefully. Still, a remnant of fighters refused to negotiate. It was these fighters, led by Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed spiritual messenger who formed the cultish Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Though initially claiming to represent northern grievances, the rebel movement received little public support. It has since terrorized the local population, abducting as many as 60,000 children, to fill its ranks.
The toll of this crisis has been massive, not only on the people of northern Uganda, but also on the surrounding region. Current negotiations have seen a significant decrease in LRA activity, but until recent months the rebels wreaked havoc in three countries, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, causing widespread instability. The Ugandan government's strategy of moving northerners into "protected villages" has turned into a displacement nightmare for 1.7 million people - over 80% of the region - who now live in squalid camps and lack access to basic resources. According to recent reports, 1,000 people are dying each week as a result of camp conditions. Again, children have been the primary victims. One-half of those displaced are under fifteen years of age and more than a third of boys and one-sixth of girls bear the scars of forced soldiering and sexual slavery in northern Uganda. For many years, upwards up 40,000 of these children "commuted" up to two hours every night to sleep on town streets to avoid abduction.
Attempts to Resolve the Conflict
In 1994, the parties were hours away from signing a peace agreement, but negotiations collapsed due to mistrust and lack of international support. Since then, the Ugandan government has primarily attempted to end the conflict militarily, but this has only perpetuated violence and exacerbated northern grievances against it. However in July 2006, changing dynamics led the Government of South Sudan to mediate peace talks between the warring parties, a development widely hailed as the best opportunity for peace since the war began. In August 2006, a breakthrough truce, renewed several times and now extending until the end of January 2008, brought relative calm to the region for the first time in years. Yet, negotiations have remained fragile due to lingering mistrust and a lack of capacity and accountability to keep the parties at the negotiating table.
Role of the International Community
Given this unprecedented opportunity for peace, the international community has a critical role to play in building confidence and bringing leverage to the negotiations. Despite this potential, the U.S. government, the most powerful external actor, has remained largely silent and chosen to perpetuate its legacy of neglect in the region. For the Juba peace process to succeed, it will require that this legacy be overcome through serious engagement by policymakers. The July 2007 appointment of a State Department official, Tim Shortley, with a mandate to support the Juba peace process was a welcome shift, but has been tempered by statements from US officials that the US might support a renewed “military solution” to the conflict. World leaders must renew their commitment to a negotiated agreement at the Juba talks as the most viable means for ending the conflict and allowing displaced northern Ugandans to return home. International leadership to support the efforts of UN special envoy Joaquim Chissano, address regional instability and help implement recovery efforts in the north also will be crucial if any lasting peace is to be attained. "
- ResolveUganda, http://www.resolveuganda.org/situation
For more information:
www.resolveuganda.org
www.guluwalk.com
www.invisiblechildren.com
Friday, October 24, 2008
J'avance; Yo Baila
J'y vai, j'avance,
Je me lance
Contre le murrai
qui me separre,
Ce n'est jamais trop tard
D'apprendre de voler, sans ailes
Quand je pousse, le granite me lache,
Suivi seulement d'une tache,
Mon hombre, un moment derriere tous mes movements,
Des movements que je ne peut pas vivre sans
Le sense qui dance dans mes veins.
Fluide et ephemeral comme la Seine, comme la tiene,
Qui passe en tours
Qui avance, toujours
------------------------------------
Los movimentos de mi pensamentos
Bailan como mi cuerpo
Sin efuerto, piernas y manos
Cintura y cabeca, Mueva de una
Sin punta, o fin.
Je me lance
Contre le murrai
qui me separre,
Ce n'est jamais trop tard
D'apprendre de voler, sans ailes
Quand je pousse, le granite me lache,
Suivi seulement d'une tache,
Mon hombre, un moment derriere tous mes movements,
Des movements que je ne peut pas vivre sans
Le sense qui dance dans mes veins.
Fluide et ephemeral comme la Seine, comme la tiene,
Qui passe en tours
Qui avance, toujours
------------------------------------
Los movimentos de mi pensamentos
Bailan como mi cuerpo
Sin efuerto, piernas y manos
Cintura y cabeca, Mueva de una
Sin punta, o fin.
Images that pervade - Child Soldiers
The human body deconstructed, stripped of the spark that animates, is a most powerful image. A dead body, skeletal remains, a pinch of ash...
For the children of war, I can cry. There is nothing that rouses my emotions, that brings me to the door of ultimate compassion, like the innocent suffering the torments of war. An uprising of emotion, a welling of tears, a promise to strike down the self-imposed dam...
No words can capture these thoughts and feelings, but actions can give them meaning.
For the children of war, I can cry. There is nothing that rouses my emotions, that brings me to the door of ultimate compassion, like the innocent suffering the torments of war. An uprising of emotion, a welling of tears, a promise to strike down the self-imposed dam...
No words can capture these thoughts and feelings, but actions can give them meaning.
Dance of the Plant Kingdom
Colors subtle, and movements more so
A gentle swaying
Like a transfixed believer praying
No questions asked
That time has passed
The time has come
To listen
to
Chlorophyll manifest, as vibrant greens,
Photosynthesis manifests in the unseen
Radiation manipulated into satiation
This cellular dance, we are too blind to perceive
A gentle swaying
Like a transfixed believer praying
No questions asked
That time has passed
The time has come
To listen
to
Chlorophyll manifest, as vibrant greens,
Photosynthesis manifests in the unseen
Radiation manipulated into satiation
This cellular dance, we are too blind to perceive
Minds explore, Climbing out of the Sea, and onto the Shore.
thoughts of messianic abstractions
derived from truth-induced refractions
7 colors is an illusion
and a misused microscope is an intrusion
into the impenetrable nature of nature of nature
there is no intellectual deduction
seeking eternal seduction
nothing exists without contrast
and no boundaries last
the slowest still moves immeasurably fast
and we leave behind impressions of days and hours
nothing like the blooming of a flower
who counts no minutes
since the big banging from which we all spring and fall
contained in a speck is the all
and our movement is an exploratory crawl
one single movement contained within 14 billion years
like the wanderings of a single cosmic tear.
derived from truth-induced refractions
7 colors is an illusion
and a misused microscope is an intrusion
into the impenetrable nature of nature of nature
there is no intellectual deduction
seeking eternal seduction
nothing exists without contrast
and no boundaries last
the slowest still moves immeasurably fast
and we leave behind impressions of days and hours
nothing like the blooming of a flower
who counts no minutes
since the big banging from which we all spring and fall
contained in a speck is the all
and our movement is an exploratory crawl
one single movement contained within 14 billion years
like the wanderings of a single cosmic tear.
On Idealogical Wars
The obsession with defying societal constraits, the idealizing of the false dichotomoy of the rat-race and the freedom from it, this pseudo-intellectual wishy-washy philosophical approach to the battle between freedom and responsibility, whether it occurs within a single man, an entire country, or an economical revolution, is a simplification, or perhaps rather a complexification, of both the human spirit and the nature of being.
This idea that as society evolves technologically, that we are doomed to entrapment, is the reflection of the individual's failure to find meaning and purpose within his everday struggle unto an abstract entity that he decides to anthropomorphize and wage war against, as though it were some enemy he could overcome by throwing his stones of foolish idealogy. This same man would find no meaning or purpose were he to be removed from the society which he belongs to, fights against, and knowingly but hates himself for perpetuating.
As society evolves, man is expected to evolve as well, to find his way of forging a path in a more narrow and difficult fashion.
This idea that as society evolves technologically, that we are doomed to entrapment, is the reflection of the individual's failure to find meaning and purpose within his everday struggle unto an abstract entity that he decides to anthropomorphize and wage war against, as though it were some enemy he could overcome by throwing his stones of foolish idealogy. This same man would find no meaning or purpose were he to be removed from the society which he belongs to, fights against, and knowingly but hates himself for perpetuating.
As society evolves, man is expected to evolve as well, to find his way of forging a path in a more narrow and difficult fashion.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
GuluWalk2008!
On Saturday, October 25, at 11am, my GuluWalk team is walking for the children of northern Uganda -- and I need your help. If you do not know what GuluWalk is, I have included information below.
To join our team, visit: http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?Lang=en-CA&TSID=209575
From our Team Page, click on the Join My Team button to register and help us fundraise. If you can't join us, you can still support our team by making a donation online.
GuluWalk is a worldwide movement for peace in northern Uganda. By walking together, our footsteps and our voices will resonate for an end to Uganda's 22-year war.
In the midst of the country's 22-year conflict, over 1.7 million people have been displaced from their homes. These innocent victims of the war, the majority women and children, have been forced into abhorrent conditions in camps where huts are packed tightly together, access to clean water is limited, and disease and violence are rampant. On top of this, more than 25,000 children have been abducted and forced to become slaves or soldiers in the conflict.
The people of northern Uganda long for peace. Despite this, more than 1 million civilians remain trapped in squalid internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, with limited access to clean water and with the daily reality of violence and disease. These people want to return home. Until there is the promise of safety and livelihood in their former villages, they cannot. Their lives are on hold.
So we will walk for them. We will walk until the war is over. We will walk until there is peace. We will walk until the displaced are safe to return home and until their villages are rebuilt.
GuluWalk is dedicated to providing a future for these children. I am walking to tell their story and to fundraise in support of GuluWalk programs that focus on education, rehabilitation and outreach for Uganda's war-affected youth. That's why I need your help.
GuluWalk provides more than just hope. Money raised goes directly to on-the-ground projects in Uganda that offer education and rehabilitation to the country's war-affected youth. To date, GuluWalkers have raised more than $1-million.
Visit www.guluwalk.com for more information.
Thank you in advance for your support!
.Sean Nicolle
To join our team, visit: http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?Lang=en-CA&TSID=209575
From our Team Page, click on the Join My Team button to register and help us fundraise. If you can't join us, you can still support our team by making a donation online.
GuluWalk is a worldwide movement for peace in northern Uganda. By walking together, our footsteps and our voices will resonate for an end to Uganda's 22-year war.
In the midst of the country's 22-year conflict, over 1.7 million people have been displaced from their homes. These innocent victims of the war, the majority women and children, have been forced into abhorrent conditions in camps where huts are packed tightly together, access to clean water is limited, and disease and violence are rampant. On top of this, more than 25,000 children have been abducted and forced to become slaves or soldiers in the conflict.
The people of northern Uganda long for peace. Despite this, more than 1 million civilians remain trapped in squalid internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, with limited access to clean water and with the daily reality of violence and disease. These people want to return home. Until there is the promise of safety and livelihood in their former villages, they cannot. Their lives are on hold.
So we will walk for them. We will walk until the war is over. We will walk until there is peace. We will walk until the displaced are safe to return home and until their villages are rebuilt.
GuluWalk is dedicated to providing a future for these children. I am walking to tell their story and to fundraise in support of GuluWalk programs that focus on education, rehabilitation and outreach for Uganda's war-affected youth. That's why I need your help.
GuluWalk provides more than just hope. Money raised goes directly to on-the-ground projects in Uganda that offer education and rehabilitation to the country's war-affected youth. To date, GuluWalkers have raised more than $1-million.
Visit www.guluwalk.com for more information.
Thank you in advance for your support!
.Sean Nicolle
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wisdom from Gogol Bordello
On intersection of all dimensions
where I was stoppin' by just for a drink
I meet a brother from tribal connection
and together we began to sing.
"we gonna turn frustration into inspiration.
whatever demons are there,
we gonna set them free."
such is the method of tribal connection,
of our fun loving restless breed
- Gogol Bordello
I've lately felt a rising force within me. Where I've only felt ashamed of being noticed, now I
relish and bask in the state of defying the sensibilities of others.
But I fear that my mentality may turn into a form of pseudo-superiority, in which I look at every
passing person as a coward in their own skin. I do not want to become that. I want to treat every
person I pass as my brother or sister, to hold a sense of respect and love for each person I
pass...
Judgments - Human Again
A quick judgment
You would be so quick to pass, onto that man,
With liquor on his breath, and sin in his bones
Without looking to his smile,
Or the light that once shone
From his eyes when the fire was bright and first kindled,
All you see is a man begging, for cigarettes and change,
Label him deranged and move on,
If you walked his every step, or a single one,
If you knew his every thought, feeling...
Couldn't you bother to share a touch, a gesture, a smile?
This man is not defiled,
Just consistently misperceived...
And there is an warm anger that pulses within me,
At all who would brush him off,
At you who would push past, and walk on by,
Walking fast, looking anywhere but his eyes,
He's a man don't you realize this simplest fact?
And count your stars you were not born where, who, how, when, why he was...
There are moments when the apathetic ignorance, foolish persistence in ridiculous notions of superiority, Induces in me contempt of society of every rule you've created,
every boundary you've erected,
between yourself and the "lesser peoples" of this world
And if you identify yourself with these narcissistic patterns of taking your lucky standing for granted...
Know, I exist to undo your follies
Your conceptual supremacy will not last,
Living so fast, your mind so slow,
You will arrive, with nowhere to go.
And if you look upon me, now, with disgust or disdain,
at last I can stand certain,
Now now now I'm human again.
You would be so quick to pass, onto that man,
With liquor on his breath, and sin in his bones
Without looking to his smile,
Or the light that once shone
From his eyes when the fire was bright and first kindled,
All you see is a man begging, for cigarettes and change,
Label him deranged and move on,
If you walked his every step, or a single one,
If you knew his every thought, feeling...
Couldn't you bother to share a touch, a gesture, a smile?
This man is not defiled,
Just consistently misperceived...
And there is an warm anger that pulses within me,
At all who would brush him off,
At you who would push past, and walk on by,
Walking fast, looking anywhere but his eyes,
He's a man don't you realize this simplest fact?
And count your stars you were not born where, who, how, when, why he was...
There are moments when the apathetic ignorance, foolish persistence in ridiculous notions of superiority, Induces in me contempt of society of every rule you've created,
every boundary you've erected,
between yourself and the "lesser peoples" of this world
And if you identify yourself with these narcissistic patterns of taking your lucky standing for granted...
Know, I exist to undo your follies
Your conceptual supremacy will not last,
Living so fast, your mind so slow,
You will arrive, with nowhere to go.
And if you look upon me, now, with disgust or disdain,
at last I can stand certain,
Now now now I'm human again.
What I Have in Life?
Family
Body
Mind
Capoeira, Parkour
Quena
Questing for Spirituality
Connecting to people
Sky, Earth, Sun, Moon, Stars
Passion to help
Lust for life
Body
Mind
Capoeira, Parkour
Quena
Questing for Spirituality
Connecting to people
Sky, Earth, Sun, Moon, Stars
Passion to help
Lust for life
Thursday, September 25, 2008
90 children kidnapped, will be forced to kill others.
The kind of news you expect to hear about immediately right? I mean, if rebels "kidnapped two classrooms full of 5th and 6th graders..." and if "In the past six days, tens of thousands of people have fled their homes" we would hear about it immediately. No ifs, ands, or buts. This is the sort of thing America stands against, right?
Unless it happens in Uganda...
Take action: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/t/2220/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25999
Go further, educate yourself about the crisis in northern Uganda.
www.invisiblechildren.com
www.resolveuganda.org
Unless it happens in Uganda...
Take action: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/t/2220/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25999
Go further, educate yourself about the crisis in northern Uganda.
www.invisiblechildren.com
www.resolveuganda.org
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Neurological Empathy
What neurological correlates exist with the experience of a true empathic connection? I can think of no functional or pragmatic manner to test this, but I would not be averse to believe that
Perhaps there is a physio-neurological correlate that may affect the expression of genes and the probability of certain predispositions to induce psychopathologies, in the truly empathic relationship. Perhaps this correlate is related to the brain's acknowledgment of the genuine existence of another.
I have found a good deal of research on the neurology of being empathic, but little on the actual experience of being currently engaged in the feeling of having somebody to empathize with you.
Is this related to neural circuits that serve to represent others as actual extensions of the physical/neurological self?
What is the function of circuits that identify the individual with other sentient (and non-sentient) beings?
Perhaps there is a physio-neurological correlate that may affect the expression of genes and the probability of certain predispositions to induce psychopathologies, in the truly empathic relationship. Perhaps this correlate is related to the brain's acknowledgment of the genuine existence of another.
I have found a good deal of research on the neurology of being empathic, but little on the actual experience of being currently engaged in the feeling of having somebody to empathize with you.
Is this related to neural circuits that serve to represent others as actual extensions of the physical/neurological self?
What is the function of circuits that identify the individual with other sentient (and non-sentient) beings?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Motives/Actions
So many things I feel that I learn, things that I cannot put into words... Like a spark of clarity illuminating a room, I can now find my through it, but lack the vocabulary to describe what I saw (as an effort to remind myself for future reference?)...
Or perhaps such epiphanies are the fruit of a process, and I cannot describe the taste of that fruit without first telling the tale of the process... (And the fruit of the process is really the most useless part, neh?)
So I sit, with the knowledge/assumption that it is not only of benefit, but the only benefit, to commit an action regardless of your motive. Your motive will shape to that action if it is repeated in mind or body, to varying degrees. It is not by thinking about charity or smiles that one becomes charitable or happy.
I lie. Perhaps the thought is a first step. But it is not, as a discreet entity, immediately prior to the (illusion of) discreet entity of happiness or charity.
Or perhaps such epiphanies are the fruit of a process, and I cannot describe the taste of that fruit without first telling the tale of the process... (And the fruit of the process is really the most useless part, neh?)
So I sit, with the knowledge/assumption that it is not only of benefit, but the only benefit, to commit an action regardless of your motive. Your motive will shape to that action if it is repeated in mind or body, to varying degrees. It is not by thinking about charity or smiles that one becomes charitable or happy.
I lie. Perhaps the thought is a first step. But it is not, as a discreet entity, immediately prior to the (illusion of) discreet entity of happiness or charity.
What Am I To Do?
I perceive what I believe to be a mediocre existance
Steeped in insignificance
People pass I judge
They laugh I shrug
Are they an inconsiderate bunch or is this a mistaken hunch
As I stand waiting for lunch?
Pondering the notion of being subjected to an existential punch to my metaphysical guy
Mind lurching in a rut
Uncertainty restrains
Hesitate and refrain from submersion
Either/or has me
Unsure
What am I to do?
Steeped in insignificance
People pass I judge
They laugh I shrug
Are they an inconsiderate bunch or is this a mistaken hunch
As I stand waiting for lunch?
Pondering the notion of being subjected to an existential punch to my metaphysical guy
Mind lurching in a rut
Uncertainty restrains
Hesitate and refrain from submersion
Either/or has me
Unsure
What am I to do?
Does she?
Stories weaved tween specks in the sky
Looking up and asking who what where when why
What color are her eyes...
How sweetly resonate her lies?
Does she taste like the salted sea,
Skin like kalamata olives?
Does she speak in a tongue like "seni seviorum, je t'aime, te quiero, minha namorada?"
Does she fight for civil rights,
Does she stop at red lights
Or blazes past
Like a love that doesn't last?
How may passions can I contain
Love for life keeps me alive and sane
Dancing, fighting, eating, dreaming, loving, watching, swimming,
Run, skip, flip
Take a moment,
To take a sip
And I come back
To return to attack.
Looking up and asking who what where when why
What color are her eyes...
How sweetly resonate her lies?
Does she taste like the salted sea,
Skin like kalamata olives?
Does she speak in a tongue like "seni seviorum, je t'aime, te quiero, minha namorada?"
Does she fight for civil rights,
Does she stop at red lights
Or blazes past
Like a love that doesn't last?
How may passions can I contain
Love for life keeps me alive and sane
Dancing, fighting, eating, dreaming, loving, watching, swimming,
Run, skip, flip
Take a moment,
To take a sip
And I come back
To return to attack.
Mental Health Counseling
"It is as though he listened,
And such listening as his enfolds us in a silence
In which at last we begin to hear
What we are meant to be"
Carl Rogers translates Sun Tzu to describe the ideal therapist.
"I cannot live my life in abstractions. So real relationships with persons, hands dirtied in the soil, observing the budding of a flower, or viewing the sunset, are necessary to my life."
Carl Rogers on why abstract thought is only half the process.
"He who imposes himself has the small manifest might; he who does not impose himself has the great secret might."
Carl Rogers translates Lao Tzu, again to describe the methodology of the great therapist.
My classes have stimulated and invigorated my mind. I love this.
I have recently begun to try and grasp the theories of behaviorism and psychopathology. At one point, I would have disagreed with the tenets put forth by both of these. Behaviorism I have actually begun to reconcile with my own beliefs more recently. But psychopathology, the idea of diagnosing mental illnesses has rubbed me the wrong way for quite a while.
I am trying to elucidate a conceptualization I have recently come upon. An author of a textbook mentions that sanity and insanity are like night and day. We can clearly differentiate one from the other, but as we approach that buffer zone, distinctions become hazy. I feel that there is great significance in that region. This is so directly analogous to transitioning from particle-electron behavior to wave-electron behavior. Probabilities show up anywhere, but they still follow a statistical pattern.
Furthermore, I think we can apply this spectrum, at the center of which lies our hazy event horizon, to conceptualize cultural/universally human characteristics. We lie directly at the center, where we draw from both, but are still consistently both and neither...
Words are failing me. I need to come back to this.
And such listening as his enfolds us in a silence
In which at last we begin to hear
What we are meant to be"
Carl Rogers translates Sun Tzu to describe the ideal therapist.
"I cannot live my life in abstractions. So real relationships with persons, hands dirtied in the soil, observing the budding of a flower, or viewing the sunset, are necessary to my life."
Carl Rogers on why abstract thought is only half the process.
"He who imposes himself has the small manifest might; he who does not impose himself has the great secret might."
Carl Rogers translates Lao Tzu, again to describe the methodology of the great therapist.
My classes have stimulated and invigorated my mind. I love this.
I have recently begun to try and grasp the theories of behaviorism and psychopathology. At one point, I would have disagreed with the tenets put forth by both of these. Behaviorism I have actually begun to reconcile with my own beliefs more recently. But psychopathology, the idea of diagnosing mental illnesses has rubbed me the wrong way for quite a while.
I am trying to elucidate a conceptualization I have recently come upon. An author of a textbook mentions that sanity and insanity are like night and day. We can clearly differentiate one from the other, but as we approach that buffer zone, distinctions become hazy. I feel that there is great significance in that region. This is so directly analogous to transitioning from particle-electron behavior to wave-electron behavior. Probabilities show up anywhere, but they still follow a statistical pattern.
Furthermore, I think we can apply this spectrum, at the center of which lies our hazy event horizon, to conceptualize cultural/universally human characteristics. We lie directly at the center, where we draw from both, but are still consistently both and neither...
Words are failing me. I need to come back to this.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Volition = the Application of Attention/Awareness
"Scientists questioning reductive materialism believe that consciousness will turn out to be governed by natural law... As Chalmers says, 'There is no a priori principle that says that all natural laws will be physical laws; to deny materialism is not to deny naturalism.'"
"Learning and memory are based on the strengthening of synapses that occurs when pre- and postsynaptic neurons are simultaneously active...
Electrically stimulating cortical cells to fire simultaneously strengthened their synaptic connections...
Hebbian plasticity begins with the release from presynaptic neurons of the neurotransmitter glutamate. The glutamate binds to two kinds of receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. One receptor notes that its own neuron, the postsynaptic onem is active; the other notes which preynaptic neurons are simultaneously active. The postsynaptic neuron therefore detects the simultaneous occurrence of presynaptic and postsynaptic activity. "
"Actual physical practice produced changes in each volunteer's motor cortex, as expected. But so did mere mental rehearsal, and to the same degree as that brought about by physical practice. Motor circuits become active during pure mental imagery. Like actrual, physical movements, imaged movements trigger synaptic change at the cortical level. Merely thinking about moving produced brain chanes comparable to those triggered by actually moving."
"Because the observer's only freedom is the choice of which question to pose (Shall I look up at the sky?), it is here that the mind of the observer has a chance to affect the dynamics of the brain."
"Volitional processes are associated with increases in energy use in the frontal lobes... Does activity in the frontal lobes cause volition, or does volition trigger activity in the frontal lobes?" (Sean says: Activity in the frontal lobes IS volition)
"The pattern of electrical activity in the cerebral cortex shifts just before you consciously initiate a movement... between 0.4 and 4 seconds before the initiation of a voluntary movement, there appears a slow, electriclaly negative brain wave terms the Bereitschafpotential, or 'readiness potential'... But not all readiness potentials were followed by movements. 'The brain was evidently beginning the volitional process in this voluntary act well before the activation of the muscle that produced the movement.'"
-The Mind & The Brain
Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D.,
and Sharon Begley
"Learning and memory are based on the strengthening of synapses that occurs when pre- and postsynaptic neurons are simultaneously active...
Electrically stimulating cortical cells to fire simultaneously strengthened their synaptic connections...
Hebbian plasticity begins with the release from presynaptic neurons of the neurotransmitter glutamate. The glutamate binds to two kinds of receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. One receptor notes that its own neuron, the postsynaptic onem is active; the other notes which preynaptic neurons are simultaneously active. The postsynaptic neuron therefore detects the simultaneous occurrence of presynaptic and postsynaptic activity. "
"Actual physical practice produced changes in each volunteer's motor cortex, as expected. But so did mere mental rehearsal, and to the same degree as that brought about by physical practice. Motor circuits become active during pure mental imagery. Like actrual, physical movements, imaged movements trigger synaptic change at the cortical level. Merely thinking about moving produced brain chanes comparable to those triggered by actually moving."
"Because the observer's only freedom is the choice of which question to pose (Shall I look up at the sky?), it is here that the mind of the observer has a chance to affect the dynamics of the brain."
"Volitional processes are associated with increases in energy use in the frontal lobes... Does activity in the frontal lobes cause volition, or does volition trigger activity in the frontal lobes?" (Sean says: Activity in the frontal lobes IS volition)
"The pattern of electrical activity in the cerebral cortex shifts just before you consciously initiate a movement... between 0.4 and 4 seconds before the initiation of a voluntary movement, there appears a slow, electriclaly negative brain wave terms the Bereitschafpotential, or 'readiness potential'... But not all readiness potentials were followed by movements. 'The brain was evidently beginning the volitional process in this voluntary act well before the activation of the muscle that produced the movement.'"
-The Mind & The Brain
Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D.,
and Sharon Begley
An empty mind sits, like an empty canvas,
Waiting, listening
To paint upon itself
What is the difference
Between the poet and his prose,
Or the man and what he knows?
I sit up here, watching, with any objectivity I can muster,
This city which appears to me to be without luster,
Were this Miami, surely inhabitants would be outside, talking loudly, laughing, shouting, playing music...
Sustainable cannot be the only measure of health, as I once thought. Health, I suppose, has no clearly objective definition. We may speak of the physical health of an organism (even that is ambiguous: is it without sickness, without deficiency, is it strong, does it last long, is it neuronal health?), or the psychological health (which can be determined by behavior, or neurological activity, or personal satisfaction, or measures of well-being).
But even the ones I associate as most significant, personal satisfaction and well-being, are ambiguous. How can we claim to measure them? They have no neuronal parallels. And satisfaction is not really health it all. It restrains from progress.
What does it mean to "embrace the sacred messiness of life?"
And where do I stand?
Coming up with ideas like
Rhyme, rhythm, and flow: 3 (of how many) attributes of a particular nature that I seek to nurture and develop. But how can they be defined?
Waiting, listening
To paint upon itself
What is the difference
Between the poet and his prose,
Or the man and what he knows?
I sit up here, watching, with any objectivity I can muster,
This city which appears to me to be without luster,
Were this Miami, surely inhabitants would be outside, talking loudly, laughing, shouting, playing music...
Sustainable cannot be the only measure of health, as I once thought. Health, I suppose, has no clearly objective definition. We may speak of the physical health of an organism (even that is ambiguous: is it without sickness, without deficiency, is it strong, does it last long, is it neuronal health?), or the psychological health (which can be determined by behavior, or neurological activity, or personal satisfaction, or measures of well-being).
But even the ones I associate as most significant, personal satisfaction and well-being, are ambiguous. How can we claim to measure them? They have no neuronal parallels. And satisfaction is not really health it all. It restrains from progress.
What does it mean to "embrace the sacred messiness of life?"
And where do I stand?
Coming up with ideas like
Rhyme, rhythm, and flow: 3 (of how many) attributes of a particular nature that I seek to nurture and develop. But how can they be defined?
Uncertainty
I perceive what I believe to be a mediocre existence,
Steeped in insignificance
People pass I judge
they laugh I shrug
Are they an inconsiderate bunch
Or is this a mistaken hunch
As I stand, waiting for lunch?
Pondering the notion of being subjected to an existential punch
to my metaphysical gut
Mind lurching in a rut
Uncertainty restrains
hesitate and refrain from submersion
either / or has me unsure
what am I to do?
Steeped in insignificance
People pass I judge
they laugh I shrug
Are they an inconsiderate bunch
Or is this a mistaken hunch
As I stand, waiting for lunch?
Pondering the notion of being subjected to an existential punch
to my metaphysical gut
Mind lurching in a rut
Uncertainty restrains
hesitate and refrain from submersion
either / or has me unsure
what am I to do?
Tainted motivation
So I was frustrated that outsiders peering in did no understand the beauty of our steps, the complexity of our movements. Apparently it's a neuronal issue, mirror neurons and all that.
Good. This keeps me from letting my motivation slip into narcissistic tendencies. Too often I let my awareness of the observation of others affect my training, focus, and motivation.
Good. This keeps me from letting my motivation slip into narcissistic tendencies. Too often I let my awareness of the observation of others affect my training, focus, and motivation.
Back from France
I came back yesterday from France with a journal half full of ideas, and books highlighted to death. I suppose I'll type up the more significant ideas. I've never actually gone back to any idea I ever found significant. I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Old rhymes
Word is wit,
Like an atomic split,
'tween truth and bullshit,
The Zen master sits,
as light and shadow dance,
existence comes to be in a single glance,
We have a single chance
to be strong now, don't ask me how
I don't know
but to feed the soul to make it grow
Objectively no life is wasted,
But objectivity is meaningless if you've never tasted
please and pain
sunshine and rain
There is one moment for which we train
Between life and death
right before returning to Rest
as ashes become ashes
we've been blessed,
with a lifetime to love, a lifetime to give, a lifetime to live.
------------------------------------------------------
Schrodinger's cat is laughing from a spacecraft,
spends his time graphing and paddling his interstellar raft,
We've built empty space between subatomic structures,
The universe is an empty place, distinctions blur
-------------------------
We rise from the earth,
give birth to the world of ideas
glocalized interconnection
Anthro-empathic insurrection
Manifesting the resurrection of lost love,
Fits the human psyche like a glove,
Communication is the foundation of that by which we attain redemption,
Each shared thought, each shared glance,
is a blessing in the guise of chance.
--------------------------------
Change contained within permanence
fluctuation to a one-way cadence,
one-way algorithms leave you in doubt
a discernible rhythm following no particular route.
Make of your life what you will
Time once stood still
Then erupted, big bang
duality rang,
paradox was born
matter and energy flows
trickster fox he knows
myth is his prose
elucidating truth from fiction
like a permanent eviction
from the garden of youth
now we fight tooth and nail
cursing the paths we trail,
the trails tread by the feet of man,
rarely stopping to wonder
if that was ever the plan.
Like an atomic split,
'tween truth and bullshit,
The Zen master sits,
as light and shadow dance,
existence comes to be in a single glance,
We have a single chance
to be strong now, don't ask me how
I don't know
but to feed the soul to make it grow
Objectively no life is wasted,
But objectivity is meaningless if you've never tasted
please and pain
sunshine and rain
There is one moment for which we train
Between life and death
right before returning to Rest
as ashes become ashes
we've been blessed,
with a lifetime to love, a lifetime to give, a lifetime to live.
------------------------------------------------------
Schrodinger's cat is laughing from a spacecraft,
spends his time graphing and paddling his interstellar raft,
We've built empty space between subatomic structures,
The universe is an empty place, distinctions blur
-------------------------
We rise from the earth,
give birth to the world of ideas
glocalized interconnection
Anthro-empathic insurrection
Manifesting the resurrection of lost love,
Fits the human psyche like a glove,
Communication is the foundation of that by which we attain redemption,
Each shared thought, each shared glance,
is a blessing in the guise of chance.
--------------------------------
Change contained within permanence
fluctuation to a one-way cadence,
one-way algorithms leave you in doubt
a discernible rhythm following no particular route.
Make of your life what you will
Time once stood still
Then erupted, big bang
duality rang,
paradox was born
matter and energy flows
trickster fox he knows
myth is his prose
elucidating truth from fiction
like a permanent eviction
from the garden of youth
now we fight tooth and nail
cursing the paths we trail,
the trails tread by the feet of man,
rarely stopping to wonder
if that was ever the plan.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Hard to Believe It's Over
So many stories that so few will understand, that I do not bother to share the flame that sits beneath my heart and gives it warmth.
How do I put into words the smile of a child, the process of maturation of my students, their small gestures that mean the whole world... It feels redundant and silly to speak of simple acts that profoundly alter the shape of my soul, which I still do not believe in.
My god what a summer! I dig for sentences, but come up only with words, words like family, love, purpose, meaning, tears, smiles, laughter, intimacy, admiration, adoration, passion...
And for the first time, I hold onto my memories and souvenirs. I have my photos, I have my little booklet that every teacher wrote in, and my Dr. Seuss card from Gaby. I kept my flowers from Stephanie, I wear the shoes that X gave to me, and I have a heart filled to the brim with fondest memories of every teacher and student I came into contact with.
If I've wondered whether or not I am truly human, now I know it...
And every night as I wrote my lesson plans, I felt that the summer was an eternity, exhausting me, draining me and replenishing me every day. Each day seemed it would never end. And now I sit, wondering... how did the summer pass so quickly?
How do I put into words the smile of a child, the process of maturation of my students, their small gestures that mean the whole world... It feels redundant and silly to speak of simple acts that profoundly alter the shape of my soul, which I still do not believe in.
My god what a summer! I dig for sentences, but come up only with words, words like family, love, purpose, meaning, tears, smiles, laughter, intimacy, admiration, adoration, passion...
And for the first time, I hold onto my memories and souvenirs. I have my photos, I have my little booklet that every teacher wrote in, and my Dr. Seuss card from Gaby. I kept my flowers from Stephanie, I wear the shoes that X gave to me, and I have a heart filled to the brim with fondest memories of every teacher and student I came into contact with.
If I've wondered whether or not I am truly human, now I know it...
And every night as I wrote my lesson plans, I felt that the summer was an eternity, exhausting me, draining me and replenishing me every day. Each day seemed it would never end. And now I sit, wondering... how did the summer pass so quickly?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Dualism vs. Material Reductionism
The debate between dualism and material reductionism is inherently flawed by one single misconception: that consciousness is a single process, irreducibly defined by a single state. This is not so: consciousness of the human is composed of many elements.
Just because consciousness is reducible does not imply that its elemental building blocks are illusory, material, or epiphenomenal.
The problem lies in using a single word to describe a fluctuating and experientially different concept: all persons' cognitive experiences are different and unique.
More measurable components are memory, language, reflection, will (angular gyrus anyone?), empathy, etc. The interplay of these components gives rise to a usually seamless experience. But when input from one (ie touch) contradicts another (ie memory), the illusion is broken and the sentient being is momentarily introduced to reality.
This is not to suggest that consciousness is of a different materia than the neural connections - but as a flame is not reducible to the components of the wick, neither is the mind reducible to the sodium ion channels, adenosine triphosphate, and action potentials that give rise to it.
Just because consciousness is reducible does not imply that its elemental building blocks are illusory, material, or epiphenomenal.
The problem lies in using a single word to describe a fluctuating and experientially different concept: all persons' cognitive experiences are different and unique.
More measurable components are memory, language, reflection, will (angular gyrus anyone?), empathy, etc. The interplay of these components gives rise to a usually seamless experience. But when input from one (ie touch) contradicts another (ie memory), the illusion is broken and the sentient being is momentarily introduced to reality.
This is not to suggest that consciousness is of a different materia than the neural connections - but as a flame is not reducible to the components of the wick, neither is the mind reducible to the sodium ion channels, adenosine triphosphate, and action potentials that give rise to it.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Amalgamation of Thoughts Relating to Breakthrough
We were asked to prepare "Presentations of Learning," short presentations that would convey some sort of personal growth, idea, or feeling that was experienced in the past 6 weeks as teachers. I collected several momentary ramblings, and made a pseudo-collage. I figure it came off as pretty lame, but that's okay, because it accurately communicates how I feel:
I began the summer with sincere intentions, but no idea on how to implement them. Teaching is the most difficult thing I have done. I hope, I beg, I pray, that my 8 week commitment made an inkling of a difference, put a scratch on the surface, spread forth a single ripple.
At Celebration, I see deft hands swiveling along drum heads, rhythms being coaxed out of leather hides. Students recite poetry as deep and vast as the ocean, as profound as the soul. And when I hear them, standing on stage, in front of parents and teachers and strangers, telling their audience with confidence and certainty that they will not fail, my throat chokes. In one evening, how many tears have I swallowed back?
And for each child, my heart swells, with an emotion that I cannot accurately define, but it appears to be a mixture, and if I listen closely enough I hear the singings, of pride, of joy, of love. And when I see the shy child smile, or feel the head that leans on my shoulder... when I know a connection has been made, my heart knows it's purpose, and my being is more clearly defined. A warmth overcomes me, and I am driven, motivated, as that which obfuscates truth is parted, and I see clearly something that I cherish and value with every fiber of my being. In this age of petty things, it is so difficult to find something of such unconditional value.
And now, 6 weeks have passed, the summer is over,
and I feel I barely got started.
I wish I had more to give,
More of myself to pour into each thing I do...
I suppose now that there is no going back, that doors I have only speculated about have been swung open...
I began the summer with sincere intentions, but no idea on how to implement them. Teaching is the most difficult thing I have done. I hope, I beg, I pray, that my 8 week commitment made an inkling of a difference, put a scratch on the surface, spread forth a single ripple.
At Celebration, I see deft hands swiveling along drum heads, rhythms being coaxed out of leather hides. Students recite poetry as deep and vast as the ocean, as profound as the soul. And when I hear them, standing on stage, in front of parents and teachers and strangers, telling their audience with confidence and certainty that they will not fail, my throat chokes. In one evening, how many tears have I swallowed back?
And for each child, my heart swells, with an emotion that I cannot accurately define, but it appears to be a mixture, and if I listen closely enough I hear the singings, of pride, of joy, of love. And when I see the shy child smile, or feel the head that leans on my shoulder... when I know a connection has been made, my heart knows it's purpose, and my being is more clearly defined. A warmth overcomes me, and I am driven, motivated, as that which obfuscates truth is parted, and I see clearly something that I cherish and value with every fiber of my being. In this age of petty things, it is so difficult to find something of such unconditional value.
And now, 6 weeks have passed, the summer is over,
and I feel I barely got started.
I wish I had more to give,
More of myself to pour into each thing I do...
I suppose now that there is no going back, that doors I have only speculated about have been swung open...
Sunday, August 3, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7539986.stm
Israel has placed a border policeman under house arrest over his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of a Palestinian boy in the West Bank.
Police said the officer would be held for five days during the inquiry into the incident last week.
Twelve-year-old Ahmed Musa was shot dead in Nilin, west of Ramallah, during a protest against the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.
Palestinian officials said he had been shot with a live bullet at close range.
Israeli police began investigating the incident after an initial inquiry by the military and border police found that the boy had been killed by Israeli security forces who opened fire to disperse the crowd of protesters.
Eyewitnesses said Ahmed Musa was among a group watching Israeli bulldozers at work on the barrier, Israeli media reported.
The world has this tendency to react with outrage over the killing of innocent Palestinians by Israel, but if the tables were turned, I would hardly expect a single act of inquiry on the side of the Palestinians.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Large Hadron Collider rap
Who doesn't love witty and clever rap about advanced physics!
http://www.vimeo.com/1431471?pg=embed&sec=1431471
http://www.vimeo.com/1431471?pg=embed&sec=1431471
Friday, August 1, 2008
Just a Moment of Thoughts
Perpetually confused... a moment taken to breathe without even that being the intention, just so sit and listen and wonder...
Super Teacher of the Day? Are you kidding me? By no means is my effort deserving of that award that I could not convince myself I did not actually secretly covet.
I began the summer with great intentions, but no idea on how to implement them. Teaching is the most difficult thing I have done. I hope, I beg, I pray that my 8 week commitment made an iota of a difference, a scratch on the surface, spread forth a single ripple...
But my how I feel that I have grown in the past few weeks... If I had known what I would be expected to do, I never would have done it. But I am so grateful that I was ignorant, that I walked blindly into this opportunity for such personal growth and social contribution.
Breakthrough songs swarm through my mind,
Adventures with fellow teachers my dreams do become,
The smiles of a hundred students become my world...
It's over, and I feel I barely got started,
I wish I had more to give,
More of myself to pour into each thing I do...
Super Teacher of the Day? Are you kidding me? By no means is my effort deserving of that award that I could not convince myself I did not actually secretly covet.
I began the summer with great intentions, but no idea on how to implement them. Teaching is the most difficult thing I have done. I hope, I beg, I pray that my 8 week commitment made an iota of a difference, a scratch on the surface, spread forth a single ripple...
But my how I feel that I have grown in the past few weeks... If I had known what I would be expected to do, I never would have done it. But I am so grateful that I was ignorant, that I walked blindly into this opportunity for such personal growth and social contribution.
Breakthrough songs swarm through my mind,
Adventures with fellow teachers my dreams do become,
The smiles of a hundred students become my world...
It's over, and I feel I barely got started,
I wish I had more to give,
More of myself to pour into each thing I do...
Friday, July 25, 2008
I have felt close to my students all summer, but today I found myself experiencing overwhelming emotion... Several times throughout the day, I felt strong urges to laugh, cry, dance, hug my students, or just tell them that they are amazing.
Perhaps it was the moment I saw a student win the Spirit Torch, a prized object of status given on basis of merit of academic achievement, personal growth, and a sense of community. The torch clearly meant a great deal to this girl.
Or perhaps it was when the entire room, including generally unenthusiastic students, sincerely chanted "We are proud of you, yes we are proud of you!" I cannot convey the impression I took, but that is perhaps the first moment that I felt strongly reassured that this program contributed to the growth and actualization of these students.
Perhaps I felt strongly when a group of students did the hora as 100 students clapped to the rhythm of Nagila Hava.
Perhaps it happened when individual students discussed openly amongst each other how they felt about being called names, or their insecurities, or the look in a student's eyes, a student who called himself a jit, that I don't care how short he is, he is not a jit, and I will never think of him as a jit. It was not a relieved or relaxed expression that his eyes maintained, but a contemplative, reflective, and mature look.
Perhaps when a student leans against me for comfort, or asks for help with homework, or tells me that Breakthrough is a great experience for them, I feel a swelling in my chest that I have yet to define with anything other tears.
Several times throughout the summer I have doubted the efficacy of this program. I have had my questions. But as the end of the summer approaches, those doubts have been erased, those fears assuaged, and my questions answered. This program is the best thing I could have possibly done with my summer.
Perhaps it was the moment I saw a student win the Spirit Torch, a prized object of status given on basis of merit of academic achievement, personal growth, and a sense of community. The torch clearly meant a great deal to this girl.
Or perhaps it was when the entire room, including generally unenthusiastic students, sincerely chanted "We are proud of you, yes we are proud of you!" I cannot convey the impression I took, but that is perhaps the first moment that I felt strongly reassured that this program contributed to the growth and actualization of these students.
Perhaps I felt strongly when a group of students did the hora as 100 students clapped to the rhythm of Nagila Hava.
Perhaps it happened when individual students discussed openly amongst each other how they felt about being called names, or their insecurities, or the look in a student's eyes, a student who called himself a jit, that I don't care how short he is, he is not a jit, and I will never think of him as a jit. It was not a relieved or relaxed expression that his eyes maintained, but a contemplative, reflective, and mature look.
Perhaps when a student leans against me for comfort, or asks for help with homework, or tells me that Breakthrough is a great experience for them, I feel a swelling in my chest that I have yet to define with anything other tears.
Several times throughout the summer I have doubted the efficacy of this program. I have had my questions. But as the end of the summer approaches, those doubts have been erased, those fears assuaged, and my questions answered. This program is the best thing I could have possibly done with my summer.
Of push-ups and heroin
My disagreement with the usage of drug use is not due to addictiveness. I believe that drugs are not an effective tool for achieving happiness or fulfillment.
People often compare exercise and work to addiction, wrapping themselves up in "values" (a problem for another time).
Exercise is addictive. but I argue that unlike drugs, it is fulfilliing. And in the pursuit of fulfillment, exercise is indispensible.
Obviously, different motives can cause a person to exercise. If a person uses exercise to fulfill meaningless, petty, or unhealthy needs, then they are feeding an entirely different beast.
It is impossible at this point to ignore the matter of work and over-work. At what point does work cross the line into the realm of counter-productive?
First, we must define counter-productive; often, this term is considered in the short-sighted manner of the immediate work at hand. Counter-productive work goes directly against the desired out6come (which itself is rarely absolute). Existence has no inherent goal, or at least this is my opinion (although perhaps not my belief), and so we must take it upon ourselves to create or discover (certainly both, a way of resolving the previously mentioned conflict of opinion and belief) our own goals.
If the goal is fulfillment, and fulfillment is a sustainable health, contribution to society, challenging existence, exploration, sharing, creating, and expressing UNIQUE HUMAN ELEMENTS, then working is counter-productive when it limits the ability of the sentient being (in the long run or immediate moment, I still do not know which is of greater significance) from being fulfilled, in the manner that fulfillment has just been defined.
People often compare exercise and work to addiction, wrapping themselves up in "values" (a problem for another time).
Exercise is addictive. but I argue that unlike drugs, it is fulfilliing. And in the pursuit of fulfillment, exercise is indispensible.
Obviously, different motives can cause a person to exercise. If a person uses exercise to fulfill meaningless, petty, or unhealthy needs, then they are feeding an entirely different beast.
It is impossible at this point to ignore the matter of work and over-work. At what point does work cross the line into the realm of counter-productive?
First, we must define counter-productive; often, this term is considered in the short-sighted manner of the immediate work at hand. Counter-productive work goes directly against the desired out6come (which itself is rarely absolute). Existence has no inherent goal, or at least this is my opinion (although perhaps not my belief), and so we must take it upon ourselves to create or discover (certainly both, a way of resolving the previously mentioned conflict of opinion and belief) our own goals.
If the goal is fulfillment, and fulfillment is a sustainable health, contribution to society, challenging existence, exploration, sharing, creating, and expressing UNIQUE HUMAN ELEMENTS, then working is counter-productive when it limits the ability of the sentient being (in the long run or immediate moment, I still do not know which is of greater significance) from being fulfilled, in the manner that fulfillment has just been defined.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Laundry Bar induced thoughts
I had gone out for the first time in a while to a drum and bass party at Laundry Bar Friday evening. It was rather intense. At some point in the evening, a thought struck me, and it carried me away. I felt compelled to write it down, so here it is:
Discipline is rarely a beautiful process. It is only beautiful when it is smooth. And when it is smooth, perhaps that is after all the real work has been done. When your discipline is smooth, then you pursue for the mere sake of the love of your art.
After having written the thought, the feeling it had elucidated escaped my grasp. This often happens, when I jot down the ideas that create some soulful resonance within me. But I quickly came to decide that this was not significant. I returned myself to the present moment, and found that sufficient.
In retrospect, I think the element of discipline is quite rich for exploration and abstraction. I had this conception of discipline as something clean and smooth and pure, but that is only the fruit of the labor. Discipline is messy business. And the messier it is, the more I want to be involved.
Discipline is rarely a beautiful process. It is only beautiful when it is smooth. And when it is smooth, perhaps that is after all the real work has been done. When your discipline is smooth, then you pursue for the mere sake of the love of your art.
After having written the thought, the feeling it had elucidated escaped my grasp. This often happens, when I jot down the ideas that create some soulful resonance within me. But I quickly came to decide that this was not significant. I returned myself to the present moment, and found that sufficient.
In retrospect, I think the element of discipline is quite rich for exploration and abstraction. I had this conception of discipline as something clean and smooth and pure, but that is only the fruit of the labor. Discipline is messy business. And the messier it is, the more I want to be involved.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Ideas coalesce
Ideas coalesce,
Energy that I aspire to invest,
By efforts, of perspiration, preceded by focus
Sudden elation, This is no hocus-pocus,
Just the return, to the center of the locus
In position of the diamond lotus,
Back erect, free from dogmatic sect,
Pursuant as an individual in the midst,
Clearly differentiated particles dancing in orbit.
Projects - I am a little too busy to continue with my 40 day project. But I am still developing my projects: Evolutionary Movements, Meditation, Music, Blogging, and Creative exercises. I am also trying deepening my study of Mathematics, Neurology, Consciousness, and Religious exploration.
Energy that I aspire to invest,
By efforts, of perspiration, preceded by focus
Sudden elation, This is no hocus-pocus,
Just the return, to the center of the locus
In position of the diamond lotus,
Back erect, free from dogmatic sect,
Pursuant as an individual in the midst,
Clearly differentiated particles dancing in orbit.
Projects - I am a little too busy to continue with my 40 day project. But I am still developing my projects: Evolutionary Movements, Meditation, Music, Blogging, and Creative exercises. I am also trying deepening my study of Mathematics, Neurology, Consciousness, and Religious exploration.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Back to the basics
Dancing breezes, souls soar,
Moving subtly across the floor,
The figures trace,
a moment later,
they erase
Atoms vibrate,
As sounds separate,
Travel through space,
and they fade away
out of perception
Creation is the act of letting go, of sharing a part of your soul with the universe, and letting it become an imprint. An imprint is not a thing. It is a shape, not a form, made of space, not of matter. The nature of the universe is not matter, nor is it space. Because as the two dance, they create form, a subtle manifestation of each, definable as neither, and inherent to everything.
Rocks skipping on an endless pond,
What is the word for a sound that fades, for an action whose reactions reverberate endlessly, for a word that travels, long after it has been uttered and forgotten?
Moving subtly across the floor,
The figures trace,
a moment later,
they erase
Atoms vibrate,
As sounds separate,
Travel through space,
and they fade away
out of perception
Creation is the act of letting go, of sharing a part of your soul with the universe, and letting it become an imprint. An imprint is not a thing. It is a shape, not a form, made of space, not of matter. The nature of the universe is not matter, nor is it space. Because as the two dance, they create form, a subtle manifestation of each, definable as neither, and inherent to everything.
Rocks skipping on an endless pond,
What is the word for a sound that fades, for an action whose reactions reverberate endlessly, for a word that travels, long after it has been uttered and forgotten?
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
On lesson plans, bicycling accidents, and being overwhelmed.
I woke up bright and early Thursday morning to head over to Breakthrough orientation. I had a good breakfast, and was in good spirits. I was riding my bike on pretty roads after the night rains, and I was rather exhilarated. Suddenly, as I turned a corner, my bike lost traction, and I went flying into the next lane, a few meters in front of a car. Luckily, it stopped, but I continue rolling, and accumulated several injuries.
Listed in order of disabling nature:
1. Right elbow, minor scratch
2. Left elbow, various scrapes and scratches
3. Both shoulders, limited mobility
4. Left hand, bruise on my palm - more disabling than it sounds
5. Right knee, greatly swollen, limits mobility
I have been unable to train seriously in over a week, and I find this quite upsetting.
Breakthrough, however, is going well. I am learning a lot about teaching styles and classroom management, as well as preparing lesson plans. I have many roles and responsibilities, more than I expected when I signed up for this position, but I am greatly enjoying this challenge. Mornings start at 7 a.m. and although I leave the school at 5p.m., I am still working on lesson plans, activities, etc, well into the evening.
I still need to find housing and an assistantship for Boston College. I need to figure out insurance while I am up there. But I'm working on these things.
I am going to Istanbul, Turkey and Paris, France with Aylin. I am in a bit of disbelief that this is real, but I know it is, and I am greatly looking forward to such an experience.
In the next 6 weeks, there are several things I must accomplish or work on:
1. Breakthrough
2. Training - Capoeira, Parkour, Heavy Bag
3. Boston College - Housing, Assistantship, Insurance
4. Practice French and Portuguese
5. Meditate daily (going quite well)
6. Practice quenna and berimbau
7. Continue to work on my creativity exercises
Well, that is all. I love the rain, I love my tea, and I love meandering and purposeless walks.
Listed in order of disabling nature:
1. Right elbow, minor scratch
2. Left elbow, various scrapes and scratches
3. Both shoulders, limited mobility
4. Left hand, bruise on my palm - more disabling than it sounds
5. Right knee, greatly swollen, limits mobility
I have been unable to train seriously in over a week, and I find this quite upsetting.
Breakthrough, however, is going well. I am learning a lot about teaching styles and classroom management, as well as preparing lesson plans. I have many roles and responsibilities, more than I expected when I signed up for this position, but I am greatly enjoying this challenge. Mornings start at 7 a.m. and although I leave the school at 5p.m., I am still working on lesson plans, activities, etc, well into the evening.
I still need to find housing and an assistantship for Boston College. I need to figure out insurance while I am up there. But I'm working on these things.
I am going to Istanbul, Turkey and Paris, France with Aylin. I am in a bit of disbelief that this is real, but I know it is, and I am greatly looking forward to such an experience.
In the next 6 weeks, there are several things I must accomplish or work on:
1. Breakthrough
2. Training - Capoeira, Parkour, Heavy Bag
3. Boston College - Housing, Assistantship, Insurance
4. Practice French and Portuguese
5. Meditate daily (going quite well)
6. Practice quenna and berimbau
7. Continue to work on my creativity exercises
Well, that is all. I love the rain, I love my tea, and I love meandering and purposeless walks.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Eudaimonia and Training
Until recently, I could not accurately describe what I love about parkour and capoeira. But after some study of personal expressiveness, flow, and intrinsic motivation, I think I have found a plausible reason:
It is postulated that we are capable of achieving eudaimonia, a state in which we are enjoying the development of specific potentialities that we value.
This is not hedonism; it is not the pursuit of pleasure that inspires parkour, although it does induce pleasure (the best things in life also feel amazing).
So why do some choose parkour as opposed to other sports that may be more socially acceptable?
The reason is the significance we place (unintentionally, that is to say, an uncontrived sense of significance, which is an indication of a person's true self) upon the element of specific potentialities. Parkour (and capoeira) places primary emphasis on potentialities such as balance, agility, strength, fluidity, mental and physical flow, bodily and spatial awareness, etc. If a person views these things as fundamentally attractive, then they will be drawn to the sport.
I suppose this is obvious to some, but I tend to find myself doubting my own reasons and motives for training parkour or capoeira.
It is postulated that we are capable of achieving eudaimonia, a state in which we are enjoying the development of specific potentialities that we value.
This is not hedonism; it is not the pursuit of pleasure that inspires parkour, although it does induce pleasure (the best things in life also feel amazing).
So why do some choose parkour as opposed to other sports that may be more socially acceptable?
The reason is the significance we place (unintentionally, that is to say, an uncontrived sense of significance, which is an indication of a person's true self) upon the element of specific potentialities. Parkour (and capoeira) places primary emphasis on potentialities such as balance, agility, strength, fluidity, mental and physical flow, bodily and spatial awareness, etc. If a person views these things as fundamentally attractive, then they will be drawn to the sport.
I suppose this is obvious to some, but I tend to find myself doubting my own reasons and motives for training parkour or capoeira.
Films and Books
Films:
Mindgame
Donnie Darko
Pi
Happy Accidents
Dark City
Life is Beautiful
Apres Vous
Trainspotting
Great Expectations
Requiem For a Dream
Happenstance
Magnolia
V for Vendetta
Lord of War
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. And Spring...
Books:
Awakening the Buddha Within
If you Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!
No Exit
Zen and the Brain
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
When Nietzsche Wept
Mindgame
Donnie Darko
Pi
Happy Accidents
Dark City
Life is Beautiful
Apres Vous
Trainspotting
Great Expectations
Requiem For a Dream
Happenstance
Magnolia
V for Vendetta
Lord of War
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. And Spring...
Books:
Awakening the Buddha Within
If you Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!
No Exit
Zen and the Brain
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
When Nietzsche Wept
Stripping Noun-hood
Strip away the noun-hood of God. Attribute to it the virtue of process. Terminate the reference to a God for which you search, and rediscover the act of God which you live.
Lessons
Each day a new lesson
Mistakes jettison
us forward
Propel us towards unattainable perfection
clearest reflection
of an inner state too great to describe
by the intellectual process of the homonuculus scribe
A test whose questions are just being invented as they are answered
Mistakes jettison
us forward
Propel us towards unattainable perfection
clearest reflection
of an inner state too great to describe
by the intellectual process of the homonuculus scribe
A test whose questions are just being invented as they are answered
Clouds Hanging
Clouds hanging, like the dead man swinging
Trees moving like the wind singing,
Subtle beautiful
Like a tranquil breeze the people pass
With cosmic ease, Peace at last,
With neurons firing
Each moment a still-frame of movement,
Perplexing but inspiring.
Trees moving like the wind singing,
Subtle beautiful
Like a tranquil breeze the people pass
With cosmic ease, Peace at last,
With neurons firing
Each moment a still-frame of movement,
Perplexing but inspiring.
Leave a Mark
Leave a mark,
But make it define you express you carry you
as a flame from a candle
extend from the source
and
ignite
a thousand more
like a drop in the sea
isolated, but with endless significance
As the world opens,
fears rise, fears fall
like the passing of breath
Culminating
Dissipating
Within the expanse of my chest.
My lover has two names. But innumerable ways of raising my soul.
But make it define you express you carry you
as a flame from a candle
extend from the source
and
ignite
a thousand more
like a drop in the sea
isolated, but with endless significance
As the world opens,
fears rise, fears fall
like the passing of breath
Culminating
Dissipating
Within the expanse of my chest.
My lover has two names. But innumerable ways of raising my soul.
The Letter "S"
I love the hiss of the letter S. Like slitted eyes that see so much more than you think, the letter S is slippery and serpentine. Fundamentally female, she whispers off the lips, lingers a few seconds before escaping slowly, subtly, and imperceptibly into the void of quietude.
> ess, shhh, ssssss, se
> ess, shhh, ssssss, se
Communicating
It is only now that I realize how difficult and yet fundamentally important it is to communicate affection, appreciation, and love.
I feel it in my heart, a yearning... not so much to release something as a burst, but perhaps more as a breath...
I feel it in my heart, a yearning... not so much to release something as a burst, but perhaps more as a breath...
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Terrified And Excited
In little more than 2 weeks, I will be standing before a small class of 4 or 5 middle school students. For the next 6 weeks, I will teach them planetary science. I will have to come up with innovative, hands-on, interactive, participatory, and exploratory methods to teach and learn the basics of planetary science. After lunch, during "Exploratory Electives," I will be teaching "Movement: Dance, Martial Arts, and Fitness."
I am not a teacher. I am a student. And I a student trembling with fear, anticipation, uncertainty, excitement, insecurity, and a massive dosage of curiosity.
I will be working through Breakthrough Collaborative, a program in which I was once a student. Breakthrough is an educational program that prepares disadvantaged students to become more engaged in the world of academia; the program will prepare them, and actively help them enter and graduate from college preparatory high schools, and then university. They have an amazing rate of success, with a rate of college entrance double that of the original demographics from which the students come.
I am afraid.
I do not know if I am ready for this. I am not a teacher. The day begins at 8:00am. It ends at 6:00p.m. Then I grade, prepare, and consult. I am afraid that I am not sufficient, that my strength is not enough.
I am excited.
I know I will grow enormously from this experience and just as important, I will contribute something I consider incomprehensibly valuable to individual students, and the social web to which we all belong.
And I will discover whether or not I am strong, in a sense that I am unable to convey, but value more than anything else.
I am not a teacher. I am a student. And I a student trembling with fear, anticipation, uncertainty, excitement, insecurity, and a massive dosage of curiosity.
I will be working through Breakthrough Collaborative, a program in which I was once a student. Breakthrough is an educational program that prepares disadvantaged students to become more engaged in the world of academia; the program will prepare them, and actively help them enter and graduate from college preparatory high schools, and then university. They have an amazing rate of success, with a rate of college entrance double that of the original demographics from which the students come.
I am afraid.
I do not know if I am ready for this. I am not a teacher. The day begins at 8:00am. It ends at 6:00p.m. Then I grade, prepare, and consult. I am afraid that I am not sufficient, that my strength is not enough.
I am excited.
I know I will grow enormously from this experience and just as important, I will contribute something I consider incomprehensibly valuable to individual students, and the social web to which we all belong.
And I will discover whether or not I am strong, in a sense that I am unable to convey, but value more than anything else.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Human Composition Along Multiple Dimensions
This was the written part of my application for Boston College. It was rather spontaneous, with very little editing, so it is a bit lacking in coherence, and the transitions are often rather jumpy.
Interpreting the Human Composition Across Several Dimensions
The many fields of science are currently being drawn to a common middle-ground, a place where they converge, interact, and even find themselves defined by each other. This nexus is commonly treated as a holistic view, and is becoming increasingly popular in this era. Physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, statistics - these sciences are inherently related. It has become unavoidable to me to apply this paradigm to psychology and interpret the human psyche in terms of multiple interacting dimensions. It has become my belief that there is no way a human being can experience fulfillment without developing and progressing across these dimensions. And because of the unique relationship between these different dimensions, a lack of growth in one will hinder and obstruct progress in all the others. The purpose of exploring these dimensions is to improve the current state of psychology, which is incomplete.
The longer we spend observing aspects of human psychology, the more numerous the dimensions appear to be. Dimensions sometimes appear to be made up of even more basic and distinguishable dimensions. And as we spend even longer in contemplation and observation, we find that the distinctions between dimensions blur, that characteristics that belong to one inevitably belong to others. But if we find such characteristics, we can treat them as major and direct connections that link the dimensions, creating an impressive latice-like structure. Blurry distinctions imply solid connections.
Several dimensions are more immediately apparent: social, physical/physiological, intellectual, and existential. This is not to suggest that there are only 4 such dimensions. Surely, more can be intuited, and even more surely will different cultures have different expectations and interpretations of the dimensions that constitute human psychology. In this model, deconstruction and reconstruction are necessary; this is how progress is made. And always, there will be a factor that has not been included. We will never cease to split either the material or psychological worlds into smaller and smaller basic atomic elements. This will always leave us with unknowns.
The social dimension is our relationship with other human beings. It is essential to our progress, both externally and internally. The human is a naturally social animal, and is most efficient when s/he is in relation to other humans. Without social relationships, a person can never explore his/her potential to contribute to the world. Neither can a person explore the most intricate and defining characteristics of him/herself without delving into these social relationships. A complete psychology should help a person contribute to society. A human being cannot find fulfillment without contributing to his/her community; volunteer community work is absolutely essential for a person to be fulfilled.
The physical dimension is a neglected aspect within psychology. The human being is meant to be active. Our bodies demand more than passive sedentary lifestyles from us. Psychology must learn to emphasize the importance of physical activity. An inactive body will be unable to deal with the metabolites of stress. Our bodies are a gift, and we have forgotten to appreciate this gift.
A third dimension deals with our approach towards intellectual challenges. Dementia is becoming an ever-increasing problem in our culture. Our expectation of life is to work until a certain age, and retire from both social and intellectual work. Intellectual challenges have been proven to ward off dementia. It is important that we learn to emphasize the maintenance of intellectual pursuits: reading, mathematics, and games that place an intellectual demand.
Existentialism as a psychological dimension is not a philosophy; rather, it is the pursuit of meaning within our existence. Therapy should be capable of helping a person find a purpose in their life, and of finding a meaning to their struggles. A person should be given the opportunity to discover a feeling of purpose – not as an idea or thought, but as a simple feeling. This can be as simple as experiencing the sensation of presence.
The connections between these 4 basic dimensions are immediate and undeniable. Our social relations have an impact upon our feelings of purpose and satisfaction. Physical activity has been proven to develop and create neural connections. Intellectual challenges encourage us to work in groups. There is no mastery of any dimension; that is not the purpose of dissecting our psychology. Instead, there should be always a path of seeking and progress. It is not because a person is not capable of playing a sport that s/he should abandon (and be abandoned from) pursuing physical progress; they will find a different sort of satisfaction from discovering the potential of their individual bodies.
The need to redefine and assess the human across several over-lapping and interacting dimensions is most likely a product of our new way of accessing and sifting through information: the internet. This new approach is apparent in the different sciences – for example, the structural equation modeling of statistics, and the way in which information is organized within scientific disciplines. We no longer absorb information in a linear manner, but recognize major and minor connections that treat each bit of information as a node, and draw all these nodes together. Some of these connections are direct, some indirect, but like the extremely advanced neural pathways that make up our brains, they bring everything together.
Interpreting the Human Composition Across Several Dimensions
The many fields of science are currently being drawn to a common middle-ground, a place where they converge, interact, and even find themselves defined by each other. This nexus is commonly treated as a holistic view, and is becoming increasingly popular in this era. Physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, statistics - these sciences are inherently related. It has become unavoidable to me to apply this paradigm to psychology and interpret the human psyche in terms of multiple interacting dimensions. It has become my belief that there is no way a human being can experience fulfillment without developing and progressing across these dimensions. And because of the unique relationship between these different dimensions, a lack of growth in one will hinder and obstruct progress in all the others. The purpose of exploring these dimensions is to improve the current state of psychology, which is incomplete.
The longer we spend observing aspects of human psychology, the more numerous the dimensions appear to be. Dimensions sometimes appear to be made up of even more basic and distinguishable dimensions. And as we spend even longer in contemplation and observation, we find that the distinctions between dimensions blur, that characteristics that belong to one inevitably belong to others. But if we find such characteristics, we can treat them as major and direct connections that link the dimensions, creating an impressive latice-like structure. Blurry distinctions imply solid connections.
Several dimensions are more immediately apparent: social, physical/physiological, intellectual, and existential. This is not to suggest that there are only 4 such dimensions. Surely, more can be intuited, and even more surely will different cultures have different expectations and interpretations of the dimensions that constitute human psychology. In this model, deconstruction and reconstruction are necessary; this is how progress is made. And always, there will be a factor that has not been included. We will never cease to split either the material or psychological worlds into smaller and smaller basic atomic elements. This will always leave us with unknowns.
The social dimension is our relationship with other human beings. It is essential to our progress, both externally and internally. The human is a naturally social animal, and is most efficient when s/he is in relation to other humans. Without social relationships, a person can never explore his/her potential to contribute to the world. Neither can a person explore the most intricate and defining characteristics of him/herself without delving into these social relationships. A complete psychology should help a person contribute to society. A human being cannot find fulfillment without contributing to his/her community; volunteer community work is absolutely essential for a person to be fulfilled.
The physical dimension is a neglected aspect within psychology. The human being is meant to be active. Our bodies demand more than passive sedentary lifestyles from us. Psychology must learn to emphasize the importance of physical activity. An inactive body will be unable to deal with the metabolites of stress. Our bodies are a gift, and we have forgotten to appreciate this gift.
A third dimension deals with our approach towards intellectual challenges. Dementia is becoming an ever-increasing problem in our culture. Our expectation of life is to work until a certain age, and retire from both social and intellectual work. Intellectual challenges have been proven to ward off dementia. It is important that we learn to emphasize the maintenance of intellectual pursuits: reading, mathematics, and games that place an intellectual demand.
Existentialism as a psychological dimension is not a philosophy; rather, it is the pursuit of meaning within our existence. Therapy should be capable of helping a person find a purpose in their life, and of finding a meaning to their struggles. A person should be given the opportunity to discover a feeling of purpose – not as an idea or thought, but as a simple feeling. This can be as simple as experiencing the sensation of presence.
The connections between these 4 basic dimensions are immediate and undeniable. Our social relations have an impact upon our feelings of purpose and satisfaction. Physical activity has been proven to develop and create neural connections. Intellectual challenges encourage us to work in groups. There is no mastery of any dimension; that is not the purpose of dissecting our psychology. Instead, there should be always a path of seeking and progress. It is not because a person is not capable of playing a sport that s/he should abandon (and be abandoned from) pursuing physical progress; they will find a different sort of satisfaction from discovering the potential of their individual bodies.
The need to redefine and assess the human across several over-lapping and interacting dimensions is most likely a product of our new way of accessing and sifting through information: the internet. This new approach is apparent in the different sciences – for example, the structural equation modeling of statistics, and the way in which information is organized within scientific disciplines. We no longer absorb information in a linear manner, but recognize major and minor connections that treat each bit of information as a node, and draw all these nodes together. Some of these connections are direct, some indirect, but like the extremely advanced neural pathways that make up our brains, they bring everything together.
Integration
I am looking to integrate my study of psychology with movement, and the product of this amalgamation with social work. I do not know the path, I do not know if this is something realistic. But I suppose I shall use this space to document my efforts.
1. Social contribution is the apex of human potential. There is no further satisfaction in life than helping your neighbor.
2. Capoeira has been an art of liberation for slaves for several hundred years. It contains philosophy, community, discipline, and joy. Parkour, a newly emerging interpretation of movement (www.parkour.net, www.urbanfreeflow.com, www.americanparkour.com) also serves a similar purpose, although the two disciplines maintain many differences.
3. There are many demographics that I believe stand to benefit from the introduction of a therapeutically motivated discipline that integrates movement, philosophy, psychology, existentialism.
4. I do not know if such a discipline should focus primarily on physical discipline as a medium for therapy, or therapy as a medium for physical discipline. I do not yet know how much emphasis should be placed where, and what role each dimension should play.
5. The populations that I believe stand to benefit the most: disadvantaged youth, autistic persons, the terminally ill, depressed persons. The population that I feel most inspired to help, however, is that neglected and forgotten children. My motivation comes mainly from the Invisible Children campaign documentary, but also from my own experience in assessing students in alternative high schools. It is my belief that the majority stand to benefit from the introduction of some form of physical discipline. Discipline in this case should not be confused with authoritarian hierarchy or power conflict, but rather implies a self-generated form of focus.
6. I am still in the process of bringing together many loose thoughts. This should not be considered some final destination in my search. Rather, this is nothing more than a single step, an experiment in my attempt to solidify and actualize my goals.
7. I have never felt as good in my life as when I have listened, played with, or taught a young person. Whether it has been my efforts as an assessor at an alternative high school in Miami, or helping the younger children of our capoeira classes, or talking to a kid I met on the bus, metro-rail, or bookstore, or playing some sort of made up game with ever-evolving and adapting rules with the young, I believe that this could qualify as a "calling" in life.
8. When I see the eyes of the children in documentaries that expose their suffering, I cry. My heart is wrenched. Nothing is more moving to my soul than the suffering of the innocent. Except perhaps to see them rise out of their situation with laughter and dance. It is this that I want to offer them. I cannot end a war. I cannot change a dictatorship. I cannot alter our economy. But I can try to introduce laughter and hope in the present moment.
9. It is time for me to go train. I hope that my efforts amount to something.
1. Social contribution is the apex of human potential. There is no further satisfaction in life than helping your neighbor.
2. Capoeira has been an art of liberation for slaves for several hundred years. It contains philosophy, community, discipline, and joy. Parkour, a newly emerging interpretation of movement (www.parkour.net, www.urbanfreeflow.com, www.americanparkour.com) also serves a similar purpose, although the two disciplines maintain many differences.
3. There are many demographics that I believe stand to benefit from the introduction of a therapeutically motivated discipline that integrates movement, philosophy, psychology, existentialism.
4. I do not know if such a discipline should focus primarily on physical discipline as a medium for therapy, or therapy as a medium for physical discipline. I do not yet know how much emphasis should be placed where, and what role each dimension should play.
5. The populations that I believe stand to benefit the most: disadvantaged youth, autistic persons, the terminally ill, depressed persons. The population that I feel most inspired to help, however, is that neglected and forgotten children. My motivation comes mainly from the Invisible Children campaign documentary, but also from my own experience in assessing students in alternative high schools. It is my belief that the majority stand to benefit from the introduction of some form of physical discipline. Discipline in this case should not be confused with authoritarian hierarchy or power conflict, but rather implies a self-generated form of focus.
6. I am still in the process of bringing together many loose thoughts. This should not be considered some final destination in my search. Rather, this is nothing more than a single step, an experiment in my attempt to solidify and actualize my goals.
7. I have never felt as good in my life as when I have listened, played with, or taught a young person. Whether it has been my efforts as an assessor at an alternative high school in Miami, or helping the younger children of our capoeira classes, or talking to a kid I met on the bus, metro-rail, or bookstore, or playing some sort of made up game with ever-evolving and adapting rules with the young, I believe that this could qualify as a "calling" in life.
8. When I see the eyes of the children in documentaries that expose their suffering, I cry. My heart is wrenched. Nothing is more moving to my soul than the suffering of the innocent. Except perhaps to see them rise out of their situation with laughter and dance. It is this that I want to offer them. I cannot end a war. I cannot change a dictatorship. I cannot alter our economy. But I can try to introduce laughter and hope in the present moment.
9. It is time for me to go train. I hope that my efforts amount to something.
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Exploration of Meaningful Movement
Just a marker along the way. To what, to where? What can I expect from any of this? It has to be something more than myself. I want it to come to meet something. Is this some sort of flaw in my conceptualizing or expectations? Is there some goal, something attainable?
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