Community, by my Uncle Gene

Community is one of those words we use all the time, without thinking much about what it means. While it means "those who share common interests," it  implies that some kind of "unity" is essential if there is to be a "community." We have a common interest in the welfare of children, and so we quickly became a national community in our grieving over the mass shooting in Connecticut. We "come together" as a community when such disasters occur, and we like to think our patriotism or love of country unites us all in the community of Americans. We acknowledge that our own "families" are our most basic community, and we build our other communities to some extent on that model. Our recent national election, however, profiled what deep differences there are, when we try to think of the community of all Americans. We have personal examples of how the various communities to which we belong are sometimes torn apart by the differences of opinion held by the members. Some of the most vocal disagreements we hear about, come from members of religious communities, be they Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or Hindu. To the ancient question, Why can't we all just live together in peace?, the philosophical response dates back to ancient times, and is brought up to date by lively interchanges between Harvard philosophers like Thomas Scanlon, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and Michael Sandel.

But no philosopher has looked at the problems of community more perceptively than Alasdair MacIntyre. From his book After Virtue:  "We all approach our own circumstances as bearers of a particular social identity. I am someone's son or daughter, someone's cousin or uncle; I am a citizen of this or that city, a member of this or that guild or profession; I belong to this clan, that tribe, this nation. Hence what is good for me has to be good for one who inhabits these roles. As such, I inherit from the past of my family, my city, my tribe, my nation, a variety of debts, inheritances, rightful expectations and obligations. These constitute the given of my life, my moral starting point. This is in part what gives my own life its moral particularity." MacIntyre claims we have lost the sense of loyalty to a tradition, the sensitivity to the needs that others may have, a willingness to go the extra mile simply for the benefit of someone who stands in need, and is a member of some community of which we are a part. 

What has torn us apart in recent years is our own penchant for extreme libertarianism: I am free to choose whatever I want to be or to do, quite apart from the needs of my community or my communities. "From the standpoint of individualism I am what I choose to be." While finding our own identities is no doubt important, we do owe something to each community to which we have belonged, beginning with our own family, but also to virtually every community that has had a hand in making us who we are. (Personal confession: I was a student in Canada for nine years, and I know I owe something to that community, something that can never be repaid, so it remains one of my many outstanding debts…) As MacIntyre comments: "For the story of my life is always embedded in the story of those communities from which I derive my identity. I am born with a past; and to try to cut myself off from that past…is to deform my present relationships." 

In a word, we owe something to the communities of which we are members. We owe something on a personal level, not just through the taxes we pay, but through some obligation of community building, of doing something to make every community of which we are a part, better for our having been there. Evolutionary biologists study the phenomenon of "altruism," the capacity to do something strictly for the benefit of someone else, and note that human beings are capable of remarkable acts of altruism, even to the point of sacrificing one's own life. While we may not be called to do that on an everyday basis, certainly there are daily examples when we can ride to the rescue of someone who needs our attention...

Just as we are born into the family that nourished us, and have built families where we may be the primary nurturers, so we are all members of larger communities, and we owe something to those with whom we share common interests, common boundaries, common visions of the future. In pursuing our own private interests, it is all too easy to overlook the obligations we have as community members, to do some good for others. It is the interests we have in common with all those with whom we associate, that truly make us who we are. While we may take pride in our individual achievements, we could not achieve anything apart from the communities that have nourished us. We have obligations of solidarity and loyalty that go far beyond whatever differences that may divide us. We only become truly human by participating in the communities that nourish and sustain us...

Take Time for Meditation, by my Uncle Gene

People often talk about how "stress-full" the holidays are. How can that be? Holidays are days off from the serious business of making a living and getting things done, supposedly giving us time to think about the things that really matter. We are all caught in the grind of trying to get more and more done in less and less time, and there are never enough days in any week to get done all the things on your "To Do" list for that week. 

The best time management technique I know is also the best stress buster. Set aside ten minutes every day where you will not be disturbed or easily distracted. Find a quiet place, and sit and meditate. Think first about your breathing: breathe deeply, and for a few minutes, count your breaths. You may want to spend a few minutes deliberately relaxing each part of your body, beginning with your toes, and progressing to the top of your head. You may want to focus on a plant that you can see, or a blank wall. You may find a mantra helpful, something as simple as: "There is nothing I have to do right now, there is no place I have to be right now." Whatever trials and tribulations your life has brought you, right now is a moment of tranquillity, when you are neither concerned about the past or the future. Devote ten minutes a day for a week to this simple practice, and you may find you want to make it a permanent part of your day, and you may find you want another ten minutes in the evening, or some other time when you can get away from it all, and focus simply on the joy of being alive.

As Gail Sheehy wrote many years ago, "there are predictable crises in adult life." There are also unpredictable crises, and concerns that may become more serious as you age. Every time you have a doctor's appointment, you may hear something you would prefer not to hear, maybe something you thought only happened to other people. We have our lives parceled out to us one day at a time, and each day is something of a little life, an entity complete to itself. It may be helpful to reflect that as long as we exist we are in motion towards something, but that we should also "delight" in what we have, what we have accomplished, and what we hope to do.

One of my meditating friends of fifty years passed away last week. His dying words were: "I am ready to go, but I am not eager to go." There have been giants of the spiritual life who have looked upon life and death with equanimity, and written words like these: "Let nothing disturb thee, nothing terrify thee: all things are passing, God never changes." While atheists might ask what God has to do with it, and theologians might debate the unchangingness of God, there is a point to having an anchor somewhere where nothing will disorient or overcome you, and the daily practice of meditation may help you reach that point. 

Even in these busy weeks, set aside ten minutes where you will not be disturbed. Take stock of your life: do you do some things that aren't really necessary? Are there things you know you should do that you have not taken time for? Do you set aside some time each day for yourself, for your own mental and emotional health? Meditation may do more than any other practice to put you on the path to taking control of your time and your life. Don't wait. Your life, and the meaningfulness of your life,  depends on it...

Meditation and Morals.... by my Uncle Gene

It dawned on me that in whatever city I have practiced Sitting Meditation with a group, I could have left my wallet and my car keys anywhere on the floor, and they would have been there when the session ended. Granted that those who practice  Meditation are a special subsection of the general population, there is something about all practitioners of "mindfulness" that sets them apart, and not just the capacity of some of them to sit in an unusual cross-legged position (a capacity I do not happen to share). Is there something about practicing mind-full-ness that disposes one to be more fully aware of how one should behave, including a heightened sense of compassion? Are meditators more moral than the rest of the population? 

I am reminded of what I heard from a Catholic priest, before the dawn of the ecumenical era. He said: "Better to forget your umbrella in a Protestant Church on a rainy Sunday, because Catholics are obligated to go to Mass, so the moral people as well as the thieves are there, but only the moral Protestants go to Church on rainy Sundays." Whether you go to Church, Synagogue, or Mosque, the preaching inevitably will relate to what you should do, and how you should live your life. And certainly the quiet times, the interludes when nothing appears to be happening, might be the times of quiet meditation, times for reflection, times for thinking about how your life should be lived, and perhaps what your obligations to others might entail...

How much more "moral" our culture might be, if some form of Mindful Meditation were taught in our schools! While some might fear an intrusion of something that appears to have a Buddhist heritage, Mindfulness Meditation has become a distinct practice that can be applied in many ways. Jon Kabat-Zinn's new book, Mindfulness for Beginners, could create something of a moral revolution, if what he teaches in the book were ever widely practiced. "The real challenge...is that the practice itself gives us instant access to other dimensions of our life that have been here all along, but with which we have been seriously out of touch." I wonder how many of those dimensions relate to how we might become better at the art of being fully human...

There is a collection of stories within the Sufi Tradition called "The Nasrudin Tales." Here is a good example: "Nasrudin, is your religion orthodox?" "It all depends," said Nasrudin, "on which bunch of heretics is in power."

And there is a story circulating in Meditation circles about a renowned Rabbi from Byelorussia. An American traveler stopped to visit him, and was surprised that the Rabbi lived in a one room apartment, with a table, two chairs, and a small desk. The traveler said: "But where is your furniture?" The Rabbi replied: "Where is your furniture?" The traveler said: "I have no furniture, I am just passing through," to which the Rabbi replied, "I am just passing through too...."

There is much to meditate about, in those tales...

A Food Pyramid for Vegetarians & Vegans

My Uncle Gene, who is a vegan, sent this to me. I always find his advice helpful and this is another example. Not only does this pyramid make sense, it's easy to remember.

Thank you Uncle Gene!
 
Web MD and the Mayo Clinic Health letter have both been talking about the challenges of a Vegetarian, or Vegan diet, and I found this chart helpful:

Why not meat?

We come to this way of eating for different reasons, in different ways and with different levels of commitment. My Uncle Gene emailed the following excerpt to me and I thought I would share.

I met Christof Koch at the Consciousness Conference 4 years ago. He has this remarkable new book out entitled "Consciousness," in which he not only pulls together the research on consciousness, he says a great deal about himself, and about how his research has changed his life. 

"When my beloved dog Nosy died, I was moved to act... when she passed away, I was distraught; I still dream about her today. I asked myself that night, as she lay dying in my arms, how could I cry over her but happily eat the flesh of lambs and pigs? Their intelligence and brains are not that different from those of dogs. From that night on I stopped eating mammals and birds, though somewhat inconsistently, I still consume fish." (p. 160)

--of all the Consciousness researchers I have met, he was by far the most personable. I can't help but thinking he might also be the smartest.....which is no small compliment....

"MEDITATION" by my Uncle Gene

There were more Asians at the Tucson Consciousness Conference this year than ever before. The presence of Deepak Chopra, the special section on "Eastern Philosophy and Consciousness," and the increased interest in the West about the practice of Meditation probably all contributed. Dr. Herbert Benson's book thirty years ago, The Relaxation Response, fostered medical interest in the benefits of the practice of meditation. Jon Kabat-Zinn has gone around the country for many years offering stress reduction programs at Hospitals and Universities; he has a new book, Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the present moment and your life. It is an all out, no holds barred exhortation to practice daily meditation. "In many Asian languages, the word for 'mind' and the word for 'heart' is the same word. So when you hear the word 'mindfulness,' you have to hear the word 'heartfulness' simultaneously to understand or feel what mindfulness really is." 

There are many thumbnail sketches of how to practice meditation; the following is slightly modified from a recent posting on the RealAge website:

--Find a quiet place to sit, where no one will interrupt you. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Breathe.

--Unwind: tense and relax each body part, to bring your whole body to stillness.

--Go blank. When thoughts come to your mind, repeat a mantra like "peace," or "om," or "Cloud Nine." 

--Don't move for 5 minutes. Go for 10 or 20 minutes when you can.

--Get up slowly, and keep the sense of peacefulness and calm with you as you go back to your daily tasks.

What do the presenters at the Consciousness Conference have to say about this? There are now (f)MRIs available to monitor what is actually going on in the brains of both novice meditators and long-term practitioners. The bottom line? "Long-term meditators, those who have been practicing for many years, or even decades, do enter states of very deep relaxation. Breathing rates can drop to 3 or 4 breaths a minute, and brain waves slow down from the usual beta (seen in waking activity) or alpha (seen in normal relaxation), to the much slower delta or theta waves." The oddity here is that most of these meditators are not doing it to seek relaxation, but something quite different: they meditate to seek salvation, to help others, to gain insight, or because it is the portal to ASCs, "altered states of consciousness," and they simply have become habituated to this unusual experience. For such experts, the goal is the original meaning of the word "meta-physical," they are doing something beyond the physical. 

To the person who sets aside five minutes a day and uses meditation as a mode of relaxation, the experts would probably say, better spend that time going for a walk, or engaging in vigorous exercise. What do I think of all this?  I believe that even a few minutes a day dedicated to Meditation can help you cope with the stresses of daily life. I suspect that the experts in Meditation, who practice for an hour or more a day, really do experience something denied to the rest of us, something we might perceive in that occasional "Aha!" experience, something that, however infrequent, cleanses the doors of perception, and enables us to see more deeply into what our life means. Even a little bit of Meditation is better than none; even a few moments of reflecting on the mystery of Consciousness, the mystery of what it means to be a self, is better than going through life only half awake.....

Meditation, Sleep, CBT-I... written by Gene Bammel

Meditation has been described in many ways, and there are distinctively different ways of meditating. There will be Buddhist meditators at the upcoming Consciousness Conference in Tucson, and they will set aside an hour each day, and invite beginners to "sit" with them. "How best to meditate? Simply sit still; calm your body, and then, calm down your mind. Think of nothing in particular, and do not worry about where your consciousness takes you. Within a few minutes, you will find that your body and your mind have attained a level of tranquillity that will remain with you the rest of the day." Religiously disposed meditators  might begin by thinking of Psalm 46: "Be still, and acknowledge that I am God."  " Others might begin with the invitation of Jesus in Mark 6: "Come apart, and rest awhile." Some psychologists have worked with "centering meditation," encouraging the practitioner to focus on a particular problem, the antidote to the problem, and cultivating the emotions needed to cope with the problem.

Some people seldom have a problem with sleep. Most people, however, will experience periods of some sleep disturbances, sometimes for clearly physiological reasons, at other times for emotional stresses. At sleep clinics, insomniacs often state that some nameless anxiety is the partner in their sleep difficulties. If you wake up in the middle of the night and are "anxious" about some event of the day that did not disturb you then, but does now, you are probably having a fairly universal experience. But if it happens continually, and over truly trivial matters, you probably have something specialists would classify as an anxiety disorder. "More than 40 million American adults are affected by anxiety disorders each year. However, it's often hard to judge when normal feelings of worry, fear, and stress cross the line and become a serious condition that impacts both your emotional and physical health." --Harvard Health Letter. And that is where "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Insomnia," or "CBT-I" for short, comes in. Sleep clinics often try to wean long-term insomniacs off the strong medications they have been taking, by having them attend a few sessions with a psychologist who practices this form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The heart of the therapy is as ancient as the Greek and Roman Stoics, and as modern as the Reinhold Niehbuhr serenity prayer. There are things you can change, and things you can't change, and it takes prudence to know the difference. Or as Marcus Aurelius said: "Be like the rock against which the waves continually break: it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it." In the ancient world, there were more Stoics than there were Platonists or Aristotelians, and for good reason: Stoicism is a philosophy that works. It accepts that bad things happen to good people, and tells you to take that in stride, and get on with your life. And the ancient world had large scale problems in some ways similar to the kinds of problems we encounter, although our problems may have a more global scale. The ancient world had a way of saying you can disagree without being disagreeable or hostile, but we seem to be losing some of that good sense. 

For the most part, scholars tend to be charitable in their arguments with each other, even political scientists. We have seen recently, in the public sphere, inflammatory remarks by politicians and others, where not only hostility, but enmity or hatred accompany the verbal interplay. Those scenes are disturbing, and could be sources for what might keep people awake at times they would rather be sleeping. I have no prescription to cure whatever political ills afflict us, but I do have an antidote to the "hidden anxiety" that may disturb the sleep of some. Time set aside for meditation might put the body into a more tranquil state; it might move deeply into the physiology of emotions, and put the body at rest, which may keep the mind tranquil. The sleep specialists say that the root source of some of the sleep problems of older people is due to arthritis: the joints of the body send disturbing messages when they are not moved, and may awaken one from even the deepest of sleeps. Surely some of the repressed emotions of the day, some of the raw emotions from challenging encounters, may affect our psyches in a similar manner, and bring us to wakefulness that is not easily subdued. Perhaps the daily practice of meditation, or a meditative form of Tai-Chi, might put our minds at rest, the way a warm bath might ameliorate arthritic problems. And for those who have the good fortune to sleep soundly almost all the time: meditation might either promote even deeper sleep, or, it might make them more aware of the kinds of problems that keep other people awake late into the night! Whichever outcome, setting aside a few minutes each day for the practice of some form of meditation is all but guaranteed to produce beneficial results...

"To sleep, perchance to dream..." by my Uncle Gene

"Sleep, that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care." Sleep has been much in the news lately, and what I have heard at two recent seminars may be of interest to you. First of all, Dr. Suzanne Salamon, who writes for the Harvard Health Letter, said: "Sleeping pills, in general, are problematic for older people. They lead to grogginess the next day and may contribute to cognitive problems, poor balance and falls." So, do older people have more problems getting to sleep and staying asleep? And if so, Why? Turns out, there has been some recent research on circadian rhythms, the daily ups and downs of energy our bodies experience. These rhythms are stimulated by how much light, and what kind of light we are getting. As we age, we do not process the blue part of the light spectrum as well. By the time you are fifty, you are only processing 50% of the light needed to fully stimulate your circadian rhythms, and, by the time you are 75, only 17%. Bottom line: unless you are very lucky, as you get older, you will not sleep as well.

Well, is that really a problem? Wouldn't it be great to have more active hours? More hours awake are only valuable if you feel you can be enjoyably active during those hours. There are some things to be concerned about, if your sleep has deteriorated. Poor sleep does raise blood pressure and blood sugar, and not only makes people less efficient in what they do, it also detracts from taking delight in what might otherwise be pleasurable pursuits.  What constitutes poor sleep? Basically, not getting as much as you feel you need. How many hours of sleep do you really need? The need  varies from person to person, but most people "need" at least six hours of sleep, and seven to eight hours  seems to be ideal. The first three hours of sleep produce physiological restoration, the next three, some degree of mental restoration. You do go through four "sleep cycles" during the night, reaching R.E.M. sleep, or "Rapid Eye Movement," and then you repeat the cycle, which may last about ninety minutes. Your first dreams of the night may last only a few seconds, the last one may last for ten minutes! Most people actually "wake up" four or five times a night, but unless you get up, you probably don't remember your instants of wakefulness. 

What can you do to get a good night's sleep? There is a lot of evidence that regular exercisers sleep better than non-exercisers, and those who exercise earlier in the day sleep better than those who exercise later in the day. Several doctors suggest that watching the news at bedtime is not a good idea: it is mostly bad news, and you should calm down, relax, meditate, or take a warm bath, or a little bit of warm milk, rather than get yourself excited or upset by what TV has to show you. It takes most people five to twenty minutes to fall asleep. Some people insist that an alcoholic "nightcap" helps them sleep, but the research indicates that while alcohol may make you drowsy, it does not promote sound sleep. What about sleeping pills? The doctors who work with insomniacs acknowledge that pills may help temporarily, but persistently caution against the prolonged use of sleeping pills, including OTC medications like Tylenol PM. One doctor speculated that the ingredient in most of these drugs would not be cleared by the FDA, if it were tested by current standards. 

In research studies, even drinking one cup of regular coffee leaves caffeine in the system seven hours later. "Four cups in the morning is equivalent to having one cup at 10 pm." Some people who insist that coffee does not bother them, find out that switching to Decaf really makes a difference. Some people seem to benefit from taking melatonin, which is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, and that does have something to do with circadian rhythms. However, as with all "supplements," getting the good stuff and getting the right dosage is not easy. One other factor that seems to correlate with older people having sleep problems: as you get older, the level of cortisol in your system, increases. Cortisol is a stress hormone, and stresses that were once easily dismissed can have a greater effect on people as they age. ("It takes less to stress us out as we get older.") Which brings me to the last corrective for sleep problems: CBT, or "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy." Even a couple sessions have proved beneficial to people having serious problems sleeping. To find an expert in CBT, you may have to contact a nearby sleep clinic, or talk to your medical professional. Sleep, as Shakespeare said, is the "balm of hurt minds," so having gotten this off my mind, I think I will go take a brief nap, in the hope of being fully restored to my youthful energies...

Philosophy and Meditation.... by my Uncle Gene

The word "philosophy" comes from two Greek words, "philo," the love of, and "sophia," wisdom. So philosophers are simply "lovers of wisdom." Philosophers are not necessarily wise, but, if they are deserving of the name at all, they are at least in pursuit of wisdom. Socrates' reputation as 'the wisest man in Athens," was rooted in the fact that he knew he was not wise! It is not uncommon, in any survey of the history of philosophy, to find philosophers who give up on the use of words altogether, because they cannot find the words to express their most profound perceptions. (I cannot tell you what it is I am trying to say, but if I had a piano here, I could play it for you." -Gabriel Marcel) It is not unknown for philosophers, lovers of words though they are, to turn to the experience of meditation, or to turn to the comparative silence of contemplation. 

The Dalai Lama is a person of the most profound wisdom. His new book, Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, is a distillation of the wisdom he has been espousing for half a century. While the theme of the book is his expression of a "secular" ethic to which everyone in the world could subscribe quite apart from their religious convictions, for me the most relevant chapter in the book is entitled: "Meditation as Mental Cultivation." The Dalai Lama's hope for peace in the world is based in his hope that some form of meditation might become universal, and the fruit of this practice might be the anchor for global peace breaking out all over. 

The Dalai Lama's summary of the practice of meditation is brief: Set aside some time early in the morning when your mind is freshest and clearest. Begin by setting aside ten or fifteen minutes, and reserve for yourself a couple five minute interludes later in the day. Find a position that is comfortable, and begin by simply focusing on your breathing. Even a few minutes a day will help you overcome any tendency toward excessive worrying, useless obsessions, or anxiety about having more to do than you have time for. It may be helpful to focus on a flower, or a painting, or some object of religious devotion, "or you may imagine looking down from a mountaintop where you have an unimpeded view in every direction." It may be helpful to focus on compassion, or patience, or tolerance, or forgiveness. His own words offer the best summary:

"In a typical session, we begin by settling our mind through breathing. We then choose our object of meditation and focus our attention on it. When we notice our mind wandering, we gently bring it back to our object of meditation. When we wish to end our session, we can do some deep breathing exercises once again so that we finish in a relaxed state of mind." 

Meditation is a very simple practice. It can help us overcome our negative emotions, it can promote greater wakefulness, and it can help us cope with the predictable and unpredictable stresses of everyday life. Strangely enough, by emptying ourselves of our negative feelings and our inclination toward self-centeredness, we can become more ourselves. Meditation is an essential ingredient in the pursuit of wisdom. The Dalai Lama has led a tempestuous life, yet he has come through all his adversities unscathed. His capacity for meditation has been a major ingredient of his success, and probably of his good health. Improve your capacity for meditation, and, who knows? You may become the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama! Short of that, your daily life may be much improved...

  Beyond Religion, Ethics for a Whole World

Meditation...Another AMAZING article by my Uncle Gene... Enjoy!

The Practice of....

Meditation! I come back, on a regular basis, to the importance of the practice of Meditation. If you want to improve your life and your health in the New Year, you too might want to begin the practice of meditation, or improve upon your practice, if you have been doing it for a long time. I have practiced meditation, in one form or another, for over fifty years, and I find the practice becomes increasingly important for me. I have written about it in various places, and I often find myself trying to improve on what I have said before. Here is the gist of it:

Set aside some secure time, find a comfortable position, and meditate just for the sake of meditation. Focus your mind on your breathing, and meditate with no specific purpose in mind. Do not be surprised if, over time, meditation becomes the root of major changes in your attitudes and dispositions. It has been well documented that meditation works to reduce the feelings of stress, and we all face some major sources of stress each day. Meditation can easily become the most important activity of your day. "Meditation is not the killing of time. It is the deepening and enriching of time." 

There are many sources of stress in our lives. Most cardiac care programs are composed of sessions on diet, exercise, and stress reduction. I handle the stresses of daily life much better, if I start off the day with a few minutes of walking meditation, in which I do nothing but try to breathe deeply, while setting my mind at peace. There are many different masters of meditation, and many different religious traditions have generated their own methods of meditation. I have found Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Peace Is Every Step, to be particularly helpful, and I find what he says is applicable to many different forms of meditation. The following paragraph says it better than I ever could:

"Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Practice mindful breathing in order to come back to what is happening in the present moment. Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and healing, both inside and around yourself. Plant the seeds of joy, peace, and understanding in yourself in order to facilitate the work of transformation in the depths of your consciousness."

--With the New Year, I know I have many new readers for these "occasional" reminders about "the things that really matter." What I offer is the distillation of many years of "philosophical" thought, results of my encounters with people much wiser than I, and people who have in one way or another mastered the art of living. I have been a cardiac patient, and have been "in death's vestibule" a time or two, so I have a deeper sense of the importance of living each day as well as possible. The year 2012 has all the earmarks of becoming a year of multiple sources of stress for all of us. Is it too much to ask of yourself that you set aside a few minutes everyday to practice some form of meditation, to be sure you spend some time concentrating on your own breathing, and develop some sense of trying to live in harmony with your surroundings? It might be one way of making sure that you make the most of the golden opportunities that every new year brings...

--Gene Bammel

Walking Meditation… Another stunning article by my Uncle Gene

Meditation helps. It may be a religious practice, but it is also part of many different therapies, ranging from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cardiac Rehab, and addiction treatments. While meditation may be “targeted,” with some particular goal in mind, meditation best accomplishes its purposes when the meditator does it just for the sake of meditating, without any particular goal in mind. 

Perhaps the best way to practice meditation does not involve sitting, but a practice frequent among Buddhists called “walking meditation.” While one may meditate while walking in the woods or around a city block, it may be advisable to walk around in a circle somewhere, where the distractions will be minimal and concentration on breathing uninterrupted.

Walking around in circle, with minimal sensory stimuli, may enable you to enter the meditative state more easily than if you are comfortably seated, where the “relaxation response” may be doing more to calm your body than to focus your mind.

Walking has this benefit: we are the most sedentary society the world has known, and we sit for hours everyday, either at work, at meals, driving somewhere, or watching TV. Walking slowly around in a circle may do a better job for most of us in producing the calm that characterizes the meditative state.

There is abundant medical literature documenting the health benefits of meditation, beginning with Dr. Herb Benson’s The Relaxation Response and John Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living. Kabat-Zinn writes: “Walking meditation involves intentionally attending to the experience of walking itself. It involves focusing on the sensations in your feet or your legs or, alternatively, feeling your whole body moving.”

The famous French philosopher Jacques Maritain said: “Walking is a meditative habit unknown to Americans.” That was years ago, and by now, Americans have taken up the habit of walking for the sake of walking, sometimes walking in circles in their own backyards, or walking around the block, or around their own living rooms. Walking is touted for producing a variety health benefits. Add meditation to your walking, and you may find your personal tranquility index rising, your blood pressure falling, and your overall life-equilibrium restored. Walking is a meditative habit that can easily become part of your routine. It is part of mine, and although I have practiced many different meditation techniques, a period of “walking mediation” each morning helps me face the predictable and unpredictable challenges of adult life. It is one of those “little things” that can make a big improvement in the quality of your life!

Another great article written by my Uncle Gene. This time it's about...

MEDITATION!

Most of us feel the stresses of everyday life, and find various ways to deal with them. (It is a myth that as you get older, you know how to handle stress. Some of life’s most stressful events do not happen until you have gray hair and a weakened immune system!) Physical activity at any age reduces stress for most people, but the practice of meditation has a long and successful history of helping people to cope with life’s challenges. Anyone can practice meditation: you don’t have to go to India and hire a guru; you don’t have to visit a monastery and join the monks at prayer. Meditation can be a religious exercise, or it can simply be a calming experience, a way of stepping back and emptying the mind of all that is extraneous and trivial. “To people who say they are too busy to meditate, I tell them, set aside ten minutes every morning for meditation, and you will find that your schedule is not nearly as oppressive as before you started the practice of meditation.”

If you are new to meditation, or returning after a long absence, begin with five minutes. Find a place where you will not be disturbed, make yourself moderately comfortable, and simply sit and meditate. Close your eyes if that helps, have a clock where you can see it if you look, and begin by counting your breaths for five minutes. By the second day, you will look forward to this time of collecting your self, and you will find something else to hold your attention, whether a word, a thought, a picture, or a blank wall. Meditation comes naturally to those who set aside a time, find a place where they will not be interrupted, and empty their mind of all distractions.

Many medical professionals recommend meditation as a way to good health. Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years, for reasons religious, philosophical, and healthful. It is a calming and quieting experience, a turning off of the noise and distraction of everyday, and attentiveness to what is basic and elementary: breathing, for example. The simplest form of meditation is to find a quiet place, sit comfortably, and spend ten minutes simply paying attention to your breath. Dr. Andrew Weil says there is no medical prescription more important than re-learning how to breathe! (From the Mayo Clinic Health Letter: “Resperate is a portable electronic device that promotes slow, deep breathing. Resperate is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for reducing stress and lowering blood pressure. The goal is slow, deep breathing with particularly long exhalation. Resperate is intended to be used at least 15 minutes a day, three to four days a week. Within a few weeks, the deep breathing exercises can help lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.”) Given our American passion for technology, we have found a way for technology to produce what experienced meditators have been doing for centuries!

As we get busy, we tend to breathe shallowly. We can go days or weeks without paying attention to our own breathing. Simply counting your breath can help focus your attention. Controlling your breath is the next step: breathe in for 5-10 seconds, hold your breath, and then breathe out slowly and calmly, and try to focus your entire attention on the act of breathing.

      Is meditation really as simple as that? You can dress it up in many ways, but that is the basis. You may make it a religious experience by incorporating the appropriate imagery, you may make an aesthetic experience by meditating on the sunset or on the stars, or some other natural phenomenon, or you may make it a calming and relaxing experience through the recitation of some “mantra” that has particular significance for you.

      Dr. Herbert Benson has documented that the regular practice of meditation lowers blood pressure; Dr. Dean Ornish claims that regular meditation reduces the risk of sudden heart attack.  Dr. Weil claims that meditation boosts the effectiveness of the immune system. Perhaps it does these because it brings us back to our most basic self, puts us in touch with the roots of our pre-consciousness, and does something to establish a calm and tranquil center at the heart of our activity.

      Among philosophers, Socrates had his meditative trances from which he could not be awakened. Plotinus had his transformative experiences of solitude, of being “alone with the Alone.” Thomas Aquinas was so transformed by his meditations that all he had written seemed like so much straw.  Asian traditions are parallel: Thich Nhat Hanh, perhaps the greatest living teacher of Buddhism, recommends the simple formula: Breathing in, I calm my body, breathing out, I smile. His books, Peace is Every Step, and Interbeing, can be great helps along the path to successful meditation.

The best cure for an overly-busy schedule is to set aside a few minutes a day of uninterruptible quiet time, quiet your mind and your emotions, put your breathing, and therefore your life, into good and peaceful order…

Ethics Applied to…Aging (written by my Uncle Gene)

“But at my back I always hear….

Time’s winged chariot hurrying near…”

The English poet Marvell was actually trying to encourage his girlfriend to move a little faster in their relationship, but the poem applies quite well to life’s larger issues, like how we use our time, from day to day, and that brings up “The Ethics of Aging”

Ethics is a discussion of what one “ought” to do. The ethics of aging is fairly simple. There are a few easy guidelines everyone ought to follow. The tricky part comes in putting them into practice. Everyone ought to be physically active. Physiologists say that bodily organs deteriorate at about the rate of 1% per year, beginning around age thirty. While some degree of deterioration is inevitable, appropriate exercise can condition everything from heart and lungs and brain to bones, muscles and joints. While too much exercise can be as harmful than too little, relatively few people are in danger from too much exercise.

     The best exercises for most people of mature years turn out to be walking, bicycling, and swimming. Exercise as a chore is no fun at all, and if you are to persist, you must develop routines that are enjoyable. Walking the same area repeatedly must become a meditation exercise, lest it become boring. Some form of resistance training (weight-lifting) is good for the body: it might save you from a hernia lifting groceries, or some other heavy object, like income tax forms. Evidence shows that that weight-lifting exercises not only ward off osteoporosis, but also may help in preventing heart disease and cancer. You don’t have to join a gym: keep a couple small dumbbells around the house and lift them while watching TV, or waiting for a brilliant insight into the world’s political problems.  Another important physical activity is stretching: just standing up and stretching from time to time is good for you, and many books illustrate positions anyone can learn. (“The only thing most people stretch is the truth.”) Stretching does  good things for your body, and perhaps, yoga practitioners maintain, for your mind. The beneficial effects of Tai Chi are well documented in the scientific literature.

      Everyone “ought” to be mentally active. It’s surprising how much education you can get just from reading the newspapers well. The art of journalism is to popularize big ideas, and the best newspapers and magazines do this very well. Scientific breakthroughs, great philosophic concerns, matters of political urgency, all are thought-provokingly profiled in the popular press. Conference centers, Elderhostels, and institutions of higher learning all present golden opportunities for intellectual stimulation. Books and magazines can be sources of challenging ideas; studies show decreased brain wave activity after two hours of watching television. For most people, the greatest intellectual stimulation comes from conversation, and the people you talk to may do more than you realize to keep your mind sharp. It is not a bad idea to have a conversation partner somewhere who persistently disagrees with you: that keeps you thinking!

      Social connections are an important “ought” in terms of aging well. Human beings need other human beings: we need personal contact and touch. We all need to feel we are of some service to others. Families are built-in social devices, but most of us build “voluntary” families of those friends with whom we most closely associate. More than anything else, the social network we establish is what keeps us human. Among the friends whose contacts I value highly are family members, neighbors, students stretching back many years, a wide range of university colleagues, people I exercise with, and others whose perceptions of reality are so different from mine, they might make me doubt my sanity, if I didn’t already have some clear convictions along these lines.

     Aging ethically also demands the continuing acquisition of virtues. The older you are, the more likely you are to experience cancer, heart disease, and other life-threatening illnesses. It is only by developing the appropriate virtues that you have any chance of taking such large challenges in stride. Part of the wonder of being alive is the development of character, which comes by facing and overcoming challenges. Scott Peck once facetiously remarked: “people live longer these days because it takes longer to become virtuous.”

     While the body may deteriorate with time, the capacity for achieving a whole range of “excellences” does not diminish. As the poet might have said: “Grow old with me: the most interesting is yet to be....” Aging is an ethical challenge, and all of the virtues you acquire throughout your life may have their most serious challenges in your later years. Aging is something we are all doing, all the time. Doing it well is the real ethical challenge.

“Knowing when to be aggressive, and when to step back and admit defeat, is the better part of valor.” So said a political commentator recently about the situation in Afghanistan. I know nothing of politics or military strategy, but that comment applies to accepting life’s vicissitudes. There is a time to build our resources, and there is a time to relax and let go. The Chinese had it right: there is a yin and yang to things, a time to advance, and a time to accept what comes our way. Learning to go with the flow is one of life’s most challenging lessons.

Vegetarian Thoughts

The following is the most recent article written by my Uncle Gene. It's great! Once again, thank you Uncle Gene!

In 1980, when I asked a class of about 100 students how many were vegetarians, four raised their hands. A recent U.S. poll of adults found that number still holds, but that 8% of people never eat meat, 1% are vegan (using no animal products), and 15% of students never eat meat. (Details available at www.harrisinteractive.com.)

The most frequent question raised of vegetarians is: “Do you get enough protein?” Various websites suggest that 75 grams of protein a day is enough for a person weighing 150 pounds, so with some very simple math, it should not be too hard to figure how many grams a day you need. Vegetarians get more than the requisite amount if they eat some combination of beans, lentils, tofu, nuts, seeds, tempeh, and chickpeas. If you look at the labels on bread or oatmeal or cereals, you can see how easy it is to have an adequate protein intake, without deriving protein from animal sources. Most vegetarians favor a variety of vegetables, from sweet potatoes to broccoli, and most vegetarians eat a variety of fruits, including oranges, apples, grapes, cantaloupe, berries, and whatever fruits happen to be in season. Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient, although the requirement for it is very low. Vegetarians who eat dairy products or eggs have no difficulty fulfilling their requirement, but those who do not, medical authorities say, should take a Vitamin B12 supplement.

Most vegetarians choose that way of life for reasons of health: nothing makes a person a vegetarian faster than being diagnosed with coronary artery disease, possibly related to an excessive intake of animal fats. Francis Moore Lappe, in her 1973 book Recipes for a Small Planet, noted that it takes seven pounds of grain to produce one pound of animal protein, and that the planet’s ecosystems would be much better off if people just ate the grain directly, decreasing the length of the food chain, reducing the number of animals raised for food, and the amount of animal waste that contaminates land and water.

In the 1980s, Pritikin and MacDougall Programs emphasized the health benefits of diminishing or eliminating animal fats, decreasing the intake of salt and sugar, and increasing the amount of physical activity. So in thirty years, the same messages are still being broadcast, the same warnings still occur on the nightly news, and the movement towards healthier living still seems in its infancy. A publication from the Vegetarian Resource Group says nothing that was not known thirty years ago: “The key to a healthy vegetarian diet, as with any other diet, is to eat a wide variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, plenty of leafy greens, whole grain products, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Limit your intake of sweets and fatty foods.”

The trend toward vegetarianism is gradual, but it appears to be picking up speed. Extremism, however is no virtue, as a recent comment by Dr. Michael Chu, an NYU resident who treated a patient who ate nothing but bok choi: “I don’t want to say people shouldn’t be eating raw vegetables, but everything in moderation — even things that are good for us.” He added that simply cooking some vegetables increases their nutritional values. But in the back of the minds of many vegetarians is a concern for animal welfare, and the saying of Mahatma Gandhi rings true: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the ways its animals are treated.” Beans, anyone?

Forms of Meditation…

The following is an article written by my Uncle Gene about the forms and benefits of meditation. It's really very interesting! Read on...

A recent newspaper misprint: “Perhaps nothing reduces stress like the daily, persistent practice of medication.” The intent was to promote the daily practice of “meditation,” and while daily medication may indeed work, there is abundant evidence that meditation works even better, not just to reduce stress, but to increase over all levels of life-satisfaction.

There are basically three different forms of Meditation: Targeted, Religious, and Zen.

Targeted Meditation has been much in the news lately, encouraged by such figures as Dr. Daniel Amen in his book and in his PBS special, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body. The basic practice of Meditation remains the same in all three forms, it is the imagery that changes. Dr. Amen says, suppose you are concerned about heart disease. Find a comfortable place, where you know you will not be disturbed for at least ten minutes, and then imagine your heart pumping blood through your system. Think of the functioning of your heart, and how your nice, clean arteries are bringing blood to your brain, to your fingers, to your toes. Sit (or lie) in a tranquil state, while you imagine the smooth functioning of your bodily systems. Targeted Meditation has many forms, and it includes The Relaxation Response taught by Dr. Herb Benson in a book of the same name. Begin with your feet, and say to yourself: “my feet are calm and relaxed,” and then work your way up to your head, all the while actually reducing your blood pressure!

The second form, and perhaps the most widely practiced form of Meditation, is Religious. Whatever your religious (or non-religious) tradition, find some event in your history, or some text from your sacred scriptures, and make that the focus of your imagination. You can imagine yourself in Mecca during the hajj, wending your way around the Kabba. You can imagine yourself at the Western Wall, with all the grandeur of Jerusalem around you. You can imagine yourself on a hillside, hearing an itinerant preacher say: “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall obtain peace.” Religious Meditation comes in many forms, has many expert practitioners, and is very effective at doing all the things Meditation is supposed to do: calming the practitioner, providing a sense of peace and tranquility, and providing the meditator with a renewed enthusiasm for the activities of daily life.

The third form is sometimes called Buddhist or Zen Meditation, and has been popularized by practitioners like Thich Nhat Han. “Breathing in, I calm myself, breathing out, I smile.” Find a comfortable place, try to empty your mind of all thoughts. You are sitting (or lying) there, tranquil as a mountain that has clouds passing by. There is no particular thought in your mind, in fact the goal of Zen Meditation is often identified as the transcendence of all thought. You reach a place where the “active” part of your Consciousness is blended with the “passive” part of your mind, and no particular thought is on the screen. A simple mantra may go through your mind, like: “I am at peace with all the world,” or “Nothing disturbs me, nothing scares me, I reach the calm center at the root of my being.”

Whatever form your Meditation assumes, evidence-based medicine asserts that setting aside 10 or 15 minutes each day for the practice of Meditation will decrease your blood pressure, help you face your everyday challenges, and make you feel better about the challenges of being alive. Of course, the secret is, not to do the Meditation in order to accomplish these things, but to meditate simply to meditate. Certain benefits are inevitable by-products, but the secret of Meditation is the doing it for its own sake. After all, it is putting you in touch with your innermost self, and what better place is there to be than that? Meditate simply to meditate, and it will produce its benefits quite generously….

Web MD, March 19th: The Three-Minute Meditation Exercise by Elisha Goldstein:
“People without formal training can learn the technique by practicing a three-minute exercise he calls ACE a few times a day:
• Awareness: Spend a minute becoming aware of what is happening right now in your thoughts and emotions.
• Collecting: Spend another minute collecting your attention on the breath. Notice where you are aware of the breath most prominently. For some people it will be the nostrils, for others the chest or belly.
• Expanding: Spend a third minute expanding your awareness into your physical body and noticing sensations like tingling, warmth, pulsing, pain, and coolness at individual sites.”
"People who practice this two or three times a day, even when they are not experiencing stress, will be more likely to be able to grab on to it during major stress triggers," he says.