Sunday, March 17, 2024

Alex & Me

 



A new study shows the African grey can perform some cognitive tasks
 at levels beyond that of 5-year-old humans. 

The results not only suggest that humans aren’t the only species 
capable of making complex inferences, but also point to flaws
 in a widely used test of animal intelligence. 

The study is described in a November paper published online in Behaviour.



African Grey Parrots



Irene Maxine Pepperberg is an American scientist 
noted for her studies in animal cognition,
 particularly in relation to parrots. 

She has been a professor, researcher and/or lecturer at multiple universities,
 and she is currently an Adjunct Research Professor at Boston University.

Movies: Life with Alex
Education: Harvard University (1976), Massachusetts Institute of Technology



Saturday, March 16, 2024

the haunted room






In Ireland there are many stories of haunted houses.  
There may be a room in which one senses a presence 
or hears footsteps or a strange voice.  Such haunted places 
remain uninhabited.  People are afraid to go there. 
 The place is forsaken and left to deepen ever further 
into the shadow of itself.  
 
The way you think about your life can turn your soul into a haunted room. 
 You are afraid to risk going in there anymore.  Your fantasy
 peoples this room of the heart with sad presences, 
 which ultimately become disturbing and sinister. 
 
 The haunted room in the mind installs lonesomeness at the heart of your life.
  It would be devastating in the autumn of your life to look back
 and recognize that you had created a series of haunted rooms
 in your heart.  
 
Fear and negativity are immense forces,
 which constantly tussle with us.  They long to turn the mansions
 of the soul into a totally haunted house.  These are the living conditions
 for which fear and negativity long, and in which they thrive. 
 
 We were sent here to live life to the full.  When you manage to be generous
 in your passion and vulnerability, life always comes to bless you.
  Had you but the courage to acknowledge the haunted inner room,
 turn the key, and enter, you would encounter nothing strange or sinister there. 
 
 You would meet some vital self of yours that you had banished 
during a time of pain or difficulty.  Sometimes, when life squeezes you
 into lonely crevices, you may have to decide between survival or breaking apart.
 At such times, you can be harsh with yourself and settle to be someone
 other than who you really long to be.  At such a time, 
you can do nothing else; you have to survive. 
 
 But your soul always remains faithful to your longing
 to become who you really are.  The banished self from an earlier 
time of life remains within you waiting to be released and integrated. 
 The soul has its own logic of loyalty and concealment.
 
  Ironically, it is usually in its most awkward rooms that the special blessings 
and healing are locked away. 
 
 Your thinking can also freeze and falsify
 the flow of your life’s continuity to make you a prisoner
 of routine and judgement.




~  John O’Donohue, 
from  'Eternal Echoes

clinging







I imagine one of the reasons
 people cling to their hates so stubbornly
is because they sense, once hate is gone, 
they will be forced to deal with pain. 

*

Love takes off the masks
 that we fear we cannot live without 
and know we cannot live within. 

I use the word “love”
 here not merely in the personal sense
 but as a state of being,
 or a state of grace –




  ~ James Baldwin
from The Fire Next Time
art by Jumbo Prior 
from the Museum of  Tropical Queensland


 

Friday, March 15, 2024

some friends in the sea

 






A white whale called NOC began, spontaneously, to make unusual sounds. 
We interpreted the whale’s vocalizations as an attempt to mimic humans. 
Whale vocalizations often sounded as if two people were conversing
 in the distance just out of range for our understanding. 

These ‘conversations’ were heard several times before the whale was identified
 as the source. The whale lived among a group of dolphins and socialized
 with two female white whales. The whale was exposed to speech 
not only from humans at the surface — it was present at times when divers
 used surface-to-diver communication equipment. The whale was recognized
 as the source of the speech-like sounds when a diver surfaced outside
 this whale’s enclosure and asked “Who told me to get out?” 

Our observations led us to conclude the “out” which was repeated 
several times came from NOC.

As soon as NOC was identified as the source of these sounds, 
we recorded his speech-like episodes both in air and underwater.
 Recordings revealed an amplitude rhythm similar to human speech.
 Although there was variation, vocal bursts averaged about three per second .
 The rhythm of vocal bursts also reminded us of human speech.





~ from Current Biology Vol 22 No 20


Belugas are well adapted to life in northern waters. 
They have a thick skin and a deep layer of blubber to keep them warm
 and act as an energy store. This can account for 40% of their weight.

Their stark white colouring also helps camouflage them against the ice.
 Although beluga whales are predators, feeding on fish, crustaceans,
 and molluscs, they are also hunted by polar bears and orcas.

Belugas lack the dorsal fin that stands up from the back of many whales –
 think of orcas' tall, upright fin. These fins help to keep whales upright
 while swimming. But for belugas, which swim close under ice, 
a dorsal fin might have been more of a hindrance. Instead, a dorsal ridge
 down their spine and a rotund body may help them to move through
 the water more easily. Lacking a dorsal fin may also help them keep warm,
 as fins have a large surface areas that can lose heat fast.

When looking at belugas you can't miss their bulbous heads.
 The large fatty sack between their blowhole and upper jaw is known as a melon.
 It helps them focus and project sound, making belugas especially good
 at echolocation - using sound to detect prey and communicate.



Thursday, March 14, 2024

the mystery









I am the wind which breathes upon the sea,
I am the wave of the ocean,
I am the murmur of the billows,
I am the ox of the seven combats,
I am the vulture upon the rocks,
I am a beam of the sun,
I am the fairest of plants,
I am the wild boar in valour,
I am the salmon in the water,
I am a lake in the plain,
I am a world of knowledge,
I am the point of the lance of battle,
I am the God who created the fire in the head.

Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the mountain? 
Who announces the ages of the moon?
Who teaches the place where couches the sun?
(if not I)



~ Amairgen 
(chief poet of the Milesians,)
from Anam Cara, by John O'Donohue

This poem is ascribed to Amergin,
 a Milesian prince or druid who settled in Ireland
 hundreds of years before Christ 
and is from the Leabhar Gabhala, 
or Book of Invasions.

"The three short pieces of verse ascribed to Amergin are certainly very ancient
 and very strange. But as the whole story of the Milesian Invasion
 is wrapped in mystery and is quite possibly a rationalized account
 of early Irish mythology no faith can be placed in the alleged date
 or genuineness of Amergin's verses. They are of interest, because
 as Irish tradition has them as being the first verses made in Ireland, 
so it may very well be they actually do present the oldest surviving
 lines of any vernacular tongue in Europe except Greece."

 by Douglas Hyde, The Story of Early Gaelic Literature
 © by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes



Wednesday, March 13, 2024

the joy in which we come to rest.









Learn by little the desire for all things
which perhaps is not desire at all
but undying love which perhaps
is not love at all but gratitude
for the being of all things which
perhaps is not gratitude at all
but the maker's joy in what is made,
the joy in which we come to rest.



~ Wendell Berry



now






 
 
Young
We had not enough respect for the changing moon.
Then the days seemed to pass only to return again.
 
 
 
Now
Having learned by loss that men’s days part from them forever,
We eat and drink together beneath the full moon
Acknowledging and celebrating the power that bereft us
And yet sheds over the earth a light that is beautiful.
 
 
 
 

~ Wendell Berry
after the Painting and Poem by Shen Chou



about the relationship of consciousness to the mind

 







Consciousness is aware of the mind: 
The activities of the mind are always known by consciousness.
That mind is the object of knowledge and perception by the pure consciousness. 

Mind appears to have its own life solely because 
of the pure consciousnes which permeates it. 

The activities of the mind are always known by the pure consciousness,
 because that consciousness is superior to, 
support of, and master over the mind.

Mind is not self illuming because it is made of stuff
 (thoughts, emotions, memories etc.)
just like the photos are made of ink.

Mind is not, in itself, consciousness.
Rather, consciousness operates through the mind.

When the consciousness operates through the mind, 
it is also witness of the mind.

When consciousness is witnessing the mind, 
the mind is the object being witnessed. 
This is a key point here, so that this is not mere philosophy, 
but a practical part of the subtlest meditation processes. 

At some point, the mind itself is seen as an object of observation
 to be set aside with non-attachment, 
just like the many surface level thought patterns
 of daily life are set aside in other stages of meditation.

 Now, the instrument of thinking itself 
is being seen and transcended.




~ summerized from the
  Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 
as presented by
Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati
art genereated by AI



Monday, March 11, 2024

elders are bridges

 



In the old wisdom traditions, elders act as a living bridge between the visible, 
measurable world and the mostly unseen realms of spirit and soul. 
Although more in touch with timeless things, elders would not be out of touch
 with the conflicts and troubles of daily life. In times of great trouble,
 the elders could be seen to have one foot firmly on the ground of survival,
 and the other in the realm of great imagination.

As the modern world grows increasingly divided, the archetype 
of the elder becomes important as a source for imagining ways to bridge
 between unlike energies as well as opposing forces. No matter a person’s
 literal age, each soul is truly ancient; thus each person has the potential
 of awakening to the presence of the “inner elder” 
or the sage within the heart.

In a time when it has become common for the callings of youth
 to go unheard, the idea of trying to awaken the inner elder might seem,
 not just odd, but truly weird. Then again, the calling that comes to elders 
has always involved the strange adventure of finding a greater sense of life 
while facing the nearness of death. The word weird was originally spelled
 “wyrd” and had a primary sense of having a foot in each world
 and having a greater capacity to hold the tension
 of all the opposites together.

As used to be well known, old age alone cannot make the elder. 
For growing older can lead to a return to infantile attitudes 
and exaggerated feelings of neediness and fear. 
When it comes to waking the elder the qualities most needed involve 
more than physical change. There is something metaphysical involved, 
something transcendent and spiritual that is required. Collectively,
 we fail to perceive aging's meaning as well as its hidden beauty 
if we look only through the lens of physiology.

Sadly, modern societies seem to produce people who grow older
 and older, but do not become wiser with age. There seems to be
 a collective vacating of the later stages of life when it comes to living
 with meaning and purpose and serving something beyond oneself.
 Due to improved diets, medical and technological advances, many people
 live to a ripe old age. Yet, few seem to ripen into elders, or blossom into wisdom
 and most seem unable to harvest knowledge from life experience
 in order to pass it on to those coming along.

Typically, we put more effort into helping people reach old age 
than helping them learn what to do with it. As an old saying warns, 
“we grow gray in our spirit long before we grow gray in our hair.”
 The problem is not simply aging, but more the abandonment 
of a person's unique character and core calling that dooms the later years
 to a growing sense of loss, a fall into pools of nostalgia
 or a narrow attempt to hold onto material things.

Playing the role of elder and seer, William Blake advised that: 
"Wisdom combines insight with experience, and vision with maturity.
 If maturity expands vision, it will lead to wisdom. If not, maturity 
becomes degeneration." Either a person wises up to who they are 
at the core of their life or else they tend to slip into increasingly narrow
 ways of thinking and evermore egocentric patterns as they age.

Those who do not become as elders simply become the “olders” 
who tend to contribute to the divisions in society, whereas the elders
 would foster unity above self-interest and harmony over conflicts. 
As long as aging is considered a disease waiting for a cure, as many
 people also consider adolescence, the true value and purpose 
of growing older will become more lost.

The elders are those who have found ways to accept the hand
 that fate has dealt to them. By virtue of that, they also find the paths
 of genuine meaning and purpose that make life truly rich 
and make death the middle of a long life. It is the elder within us
 that understands that we must 
“die before we die” in order to truly live.

It is our mutual fate to live in a time of great uncertainty 
and worldwide upheaval. Increasingly, it seems that we are
 in the exact danger of not having enough wisdom to find our way
 through all the great crises that trouble both nature and human cultures.
 Yet, during times of chaos and change there can be
 an acceleration of calling and 
an awakening of the human spirit.

On one hand, young people are called to seek paths of meaning 
and purpose over more common career paths. On the other hand,
 the advent of people living longer and longer can be seen 
as nature itself trying to create an awakening of elders that can help
 us all respond more meaningfully to the many crises
 that now plague the entire planet.

Being connected to the sage in the heart, elders become instinctive
 humanitarians who can embody wisdom and 
serve the highest ideals of humanity.

“In mythic tales, the elders act as bridges 
that help young people find their way in the world. 
They also serve to bridge meaningful traditions of the past 
with viable visions of the future
 trying to become conscious.”

Because of their willingness to face death and be truly wyrd, 
the elders become the advocates of life and thus the natural allies 
of the young as well as the supporters of meaningful changes 
that can help realign culture with nature. Whether we are talking 
about older people becoming elders, or referring to the inner sage
 in each person’s heart, it is important to know that
 genuine elders are not easily daunted.

Having survived their own troubles, elders are not shocked 
or overwhelmed by the crises and conflicts that exist in the world.
 Having repeatedly seen how things fall apart, elders have also witnessed
 the uncanny ways in which both nature and culture can find roots of renewal. 
In the darkest times, the archetypal energy of the elders tries to awaken
 and help us find both ways to survive and ways to truly transform our lives.



~ Michael Meade
with thanks to Mystic Meandering






Sunday, March 10, 2024

between seeing and speaking









Somewhere between seeing and speaking, somewhere
Between our soiled and greasy currency of words
And the first star, the great moths fluttering
About the ghosts of flowers,
Lies the clear place where I, no longer I,
Nevertheless remember
Love’s nightlong wisdom of the other shore…

 I no longer I,
In this clear place between my thought and silence
See all I had and lost, anguish and joys,
Glowing like gentians in the Alpine grass,
Blue, unpossessed and open.





~ Aldous Huxley
from Island



Matins







1
Somewhere, out at the edges, the night
Is turning and the waves of darkness
Begin to brighten on the shore of dawn

The heavy dark falls back to earth
And the freed air goes wild with light,
The heart fills with fresh, bright breath
And thoughts stir to give birth to color.

2
I arise today

In the name of Silence
Womb of the Word,
In the name of Stillness
Home of Belonging,
In the name of the Solitude
Of the Soul and the Earth.

I arise today

Blessed by all things,
Wings of breath,
Delight of eyes,
Wonder of whisper,
Intimacy of touch,
Eternity of soul,
Urgency of thought,
Miracle of health,
Embrace of God.

May I live this day

Compassionate of heart,
Clear of word,
Gracious in awareness,
Courageous in thought,
Generous in love.



~ John O'Donohue
from To Bless the Space Between Us




a passage

 




Investigating the awareness and acknowledgement of
the partiality of the lens we were given by family and culture,
and through which we have made our choices
and suffered their consequences,
the following thoughts appear:


If we had been born of another time and place, to different parents
who held different values, we would have had an entirely different lens.
The lens we received generated a conditional life, which represents
not who we are but how we were conditioned to see life and make choices…


We succumb to the belief that the way we have grown to see the world
is the only way to see it, the right way to see it,
and we seldom suspect the conditioned nature
of our perception.


We all live out, unconsciously,
reflexes assembled from the past.


The disparity between the inner sense of self and the acquired personality
can become so great that the suffering can no longer be suppressed or compensated…
As the person continues to operate out of the old attitudes and strategies,
a grounded self underneath the acquired personality becomes a powerful
imperative for renewal…


The first, (the acquired sense of self) must die… Such death
and rebirth is not an end in itself; it is a passage...
a second shot at what was left behind
in the pristine moments of childhood.







~ James Hollis
edited and summerized from The Middle Passage:
A Jungian Field Guide to Finding Meaning
and Transformation in Midlife
with thanks to The Marginalian
by Maria Popova

Saturday, March 9, 2024

with that moon language







Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them, 
“Love me.”

Of course you do not do this out loud, 
Otherwise,
Someone would call the cops.

Still though, think about this, 
This great pull in us 
To connect.

Why not become the one 
Who lives with a full moon in each eye
 That is always saying,

With that sweet moon 
Language,

What every other eye in this world
 Is dying to
Hear?





~ Hafiz
from The Gift
Poems by Hafiz, 
the Great Sufi Master
translations by Daniel Ladinsky



Friday, March 8, 2024

the bridge

 






Between now and now
between I am and you are
the word bridge


Entering it
you enter yourself;
the world connects and closes like a ring.


From one bank to another
there is always a body stretched:
a rainbow.
I'll sleep between its arches.




~ Octavio Paz
with thanks to love is a place
photo by Paul King


simple gifts

 






Numerous Buddhist traditions consider the four immeasurables—
loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity—
an important group of principles and practices.

The practice of the four immeasurables helps ourselves and others, 
for only by giving selflessly with our actions, speech, 
and thoughts do we truly find joy.


~ Loving-kindness (metta or maitri) is an attitude 
of wishing all beings are well, joyful, and happy,
 now and in the future.

~ Compassion (karuna) is the wish for all beings to be
 free of suffering, grief, and misery, 
now and in the future.

~ Appreciative joy (mudita) is a state of mind in which
 we rejoice in the joys and qualities of all sentient beings,
 and express gratitude for what we have.

~ Equanimity (upeksa) is the attitude of recognizing all 
sentient beings as equal and seeing
 the oneness in all beings.

When we adopt such attitudes toward all living things
without distinction or bias— including ourselves, 
our family members, friends, acquaintances, strangers, 
and even our enemies — they become immeasurable.




~ Venerable Hui Cheng
monk of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order
with thanks to Lions Roar