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The Roots of Health

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

This piece marks the beginning of a new series of blogs on some of the least acknowledged but most common sense fundamentals of healthy living.
Winter is a good time to begin this series. It’s when nature returns to the bare essentials. The fruit has all dropped. The flowers long past closed up and shriveled. We would do well to mimic this inward turning. Unplugging more, quieting down, and getting in touch with the life energy which sinks down through the rocks, bones, and still waters, down to the essence of all things.

Himalayas at dawn

I love to meditate. It’s a delightful state of peaceful oneness and all the more so when infused with the wish that all may share in that state. That everyone may have comfortable surroundings, a warm, safe, cozy, and protected home. Nourishing food and supportive friends. Freedom from fear, wanting, dangerous conditions. Access to health care, access to free expression and democratic representation. Freedom from all war, including so called “just” wars.

I know that I can’t change all these things with a wish or the snap of my fingers, but if I pray – which is to say – hold an inner vision of how I see the future unfolding – that reality moves closer, a droplet of peace merging into the ocean of human consciousness. And the vision is a pre-requisite for clarity of action. Action with noble purpose.

These blogs will be intentionally short. Words can be created into masterpieces -  powerful, beautiful, majestic snow capped peaks of virtuous language. However, we must remember to set out into the landscape and walk up the mountains…..to step into the peaceful silence beyond words….to seek the understanding beyond concepts. And then dedicate that towards the welfare of all living beings.

Easier said than done. Effort in the beginning, middle, and end of the journey meets with its just reward.

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Vaccination

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Vaccination: Another Side of the Story

The stakes are high – your child’s health, and the health of all the world’s children. From many groups, we increasingly hear some unsettling, even frightening assertions: Vaccines contain toxic compounds like mercury (recently removed in most, though trace amounts still remain), phenol, acetone, alum, and formaldehyde. They damage the delicate immune system of the newborn leading to a host of problems like autism and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The rationale behind their use is based on inconclusive science and questionable epidemiology.

The push for more vaccinations is excessively driven by commercial interests in the medical field, and even convenience factors which are more concerned with minimizing sick leave for parents rather than holding children’s long term health in the highest regard.

Some suggest that vaccinations should be considered individually, rather than adopting a blanket stance. Others such as Richard Moskowitz, M.D., having devoted years of their lives to studying this issue, have deep reservations towards this medical practice  in general.

On the other side, groups such as the American Pediatrics Association and the Centers for Disease Control adamantly maintain that by not vaccinating your child, he or she risks dangerous and life threatening disease. They further assert that even if your child does not contract pertussis, polio, measles, etc., this is due to the fact that most people in the United States are immunized. In other words, they assert that the “herd immunity effect” makes it possible for some individuals to skip the vaccination process, taking advantage of the social conscience and personal sacrifice of other families.

Some of the more controversial vaccinations are pertussis – potentially severe side effects; HBV (heptatitis B) – side effects, of questionable necessity for an infant; MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) – side effects, rarely causes severe childhood disease today, vaccine has questionable effectiveness; polio – side effects, wild virus eliminated from Western hemisphere.

And there are many possible middle roads: for example, choosing to selectively vaccinate your child, and waiting until your infant is at least six months old to begin.

Definitions. Immunization vs. Vaccination.

Immunization is a process of conferring immunity, and the public health authorities, etc. by using this term imply that injecting antigens and other material (a vaccine) via a hypodermic needle, directly into the deepest layer of the body’s immune system – the blood stream – accomplishes this goal.

However, the scientific literature does not unmistakably bear out this assumption, and an injection of antigens via a hypodermic needle is more accurately termed “vaccination”.

The degree of immunity one obtains from a vaccine is a controversial topic clouded by conflicting data and different theories regarding the need for repeated booster shots.

On the other hand, acquiring diseases naturally in childhood almost always confers lifelong immunity, which in the case of females, is then available for the next generation of infants via the maternal antibodies in breast milk. There is great concern by some that by attempting to circumvent the normal process of gaining immunity naturally through childhood illness, over time we are weakening the genetic viability of our immune system as a species.

Making your own investigation. It is both possible and appropriate to take charge of this decision and conduct your own investigation into the pros and cons of vaccination. As the average person attempts to unpack these diverse claims in an understandable way, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by medical terminology and a sea of statistics whipped up in a typhoon of competing claims.

This article can only present the briefest of summaries on such a complex topic. For parents wishing to take full responsibility for this decision, I refer you to the list of resources at the end. In addition to making your own investigation, I do suggest that you discuss this issue with your primary health care provider. As a lay person, it may be difficult to find a pediatrician who has actually examined the research in depth. Given the time constraints of health care in the era of managed care, it is quite possible they have just accepted the general (pro-vaccination) recommendations. One doctor told me this is likely to be the case.

If you make a decision that your pediatrician or nurse practitioner seems reluctant to support, you may be better off finding another practitioner who can support you. During an emergency, you and your child will need it. If you chose not to vaccinate, you will be acting in a manner that is inconsistent with general societal standards. You need to be firm in your convictions and prepared to explain them to others, demonstrating the knowledge and thoughtfulness that motivated your decision.

Be knowledgeable of the risks of various childhood diseases and other non-pharmaceutical options for treatment (e.g. rest and self care, acupuncture and homeopathy). If you choose to vaccinate, learn how best to prepare your child, how to detect adverse reactions and what to do when they occur. Ask to see the vial containing the vaccine to insure there is no obvious mistake before the shot is given. Record the batch number and manufacturer of each vaccine, and be ready to contact the national Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

Contraindications.
The following contraindications to vaccination are often mentioned: a history of convulsions, twitching, insomnia, teething, family history of epilepsy, weak immune system with recurrent coughs and colds, child has already had the disease, hyperactivity. If an allergy to egg is present, one should check whether the particular vaccine is made from egg protein. Assuming that a busy medical doctor will rule these out could prove to be a fatal oversight.

Medicine and science in the modern age. I was too young to ever see the an iron lung – an artificial breathing machine that assisted individuals paralyzed by polio. Smallpox has been eliminated from the world. Though some dispute even this, most agree that scientific knowledge has undeniably made great leaps forward, helping greatly to alleviate suffering on the planet. However, it is not a system of knowledge free from error, and biases in research are an ever present concern.

Vaccines are now a seventeen billion dollar a year industry (2008, having tripled in revenue in the last nine years.  Source.

Too often it seems, the corporate money behind today’s research, at best leads to a loss of objectivity. At worst, it perpetuates suffering by manufacturing misinformation, and relegates viable alternative solutions to the fringe.

Furthermore, scientific research has never been able to accurately account for a very elusive variable, the human mind. Leaving aside this major shortcoming, do epidemiological statistics account for variances such as genetics, nutrition, environmental toxins, or other lifestyle factors? Such statistics are mainly gathered through voluntary case reporting of physicians which are widely thought to grossly under-represent the actual incidence of adverse responses to vaccination, besides giving little information on individual differences.

Children and people are viewed as the same from a western disease point of view, and so the standard reasoning goes, the drugs created to fight bacteria and viruses should also be uniform. But do scientific discoveries and advances in medicine remain consistent over time? Our unexamined cultural tendency is to see phenomena as existing in a solid, objective and permanent manner.

Chinese medicine does not deny the existence of viruses, but places health in a much wider context which includes variables such as genetics, lifestyle, nutrition, environmental influences, emotions, etc. Why do some children get sick even when they have been immunized for a particular disease? And why are other children quite healthy without immunizations?

These variances do not fit with our western reductionist tendencies which like to place people and diseases into neat little cubby holes instead of grappling with their infinite diversity. Science depends upon controls – hence the importance of controlled studies with double blind design to minimize the potential biases of participants and researchers. Such rigorous research is both expensive and faces difficult design problems in revealing the complex and constantly changing dynamics of living organisms. Within these limitations, good studies are possible. The problem is that so far government and industry has not shown much resolve in funding them. There are many studies claiming to prove the desired status quo, but what about these studies which make it clear that the scientific community as a whole is not of one unanimous opinion.

Is Pasteur’s germ theory valid? As an acupuncturist without extensive training in infectious disease and virology, I can only offer my unproven doubts. Eastern medicine utilizes a different paradigm and has worked well for thousands of years for a vast sector of humanity.

Good medicine today uses all knowledge traditions as appropriate for the predisposition of the individual, respecting both the unique contexts and historical frameworks of the medicine, and the cultural predispositions of individuals. We are fortunate to live in a country which recognizes and upholds the value of such diversity and openness in today’s health care.

Do vaccinations do what they are purported to do – confer immunity? People in the pro-vaccination camp, namely public health officials and medical doctors answer almost unanimously – yes, though there does seem to be growing dissent.

Some doctors suspect that the net effect of vaccination may be an immunized population protected from acute and virulent infection, but prone to chronic low level infection. In short, the immune system may be compromised in the long term. The growth in a long list of health disorders which have exploded mainly since the mass vaccination era – autism, AIDS, ADD (attention deficit disorder), diabetes, fibromyalgia, Gulf War Syndrome – to name a few, highlights this concern.

This question simply has not been answered with any degree of certainty, and it seems likely that many factors may be involved – for example, environmental toxins in air, soil, water, and food, and increasing levels of mental stress in modern life.

RECOMMENDED READING:

O’Mara, P., ed. “Vaccination, the Issue of our Times”. Santa Fe, NM: Mothering Magazine, 1997.
Scott, Julian, Dr.; “Natural Medicine for Children”, William Morrow & Co; 1990.

LINKS:

*Barbara Loe Fischer of NVIC – You Tube Video – Swine Flu Mild & Vaccine Overhyped (2009).  One billion dollar giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry!

*Integrity in Science: Details the extensive monetary ties between non-profits and industry.

*National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC).

*Dr. Joseph Mercola

*Seattle King County Public Health Department. Sign up for email alerts on influenza outbreaks (flu) infectious disease, information on other illnesses, etc.

*Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

Washington State Department of Health – Certificate of Exemption (multiple languages .pdf download). Note: You have the legal right to choose not to vaccinate your child in Washington state. You only need to sign the exemption on page two of the Immunization Certificate. During an outbreak of disease, your child may be asked to stay home from school.

This article first appeared in the Evergreen Monthly, published in Seattle, Washington, January 2003. Revised Oct. 2009.

Jordan Van Voast, L.Ac.©

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First day of autumn

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

I’ll never forget waking up in my wilderness cabin one morning long ago in my late twenties, climbing down the hand carved driftwood ladder from the loft, bowing to the sun rising over the forests of Texada Island and Georgia Strait to the south, sitting down at my desk, picking up a pen, and beginning to write.  At the time, I was taking a writing class with Canadian novelist, poet, and screenwriter, Anne Cameron and her assignment was…”just write”…don’t stop. “If you feel blocked and unsure what to say, just write ‘unsure’ or ‘blocked’ and keep writing that over and over” until your vast and flexible intelligence jars loose your inner Shakespeare.  Watch the blocks disappear like bubbles in the wake of a morning kayak paddle across a placid cove.  Round the point and head out into the open sea of infinity, limitless possibility.

Writing is like cooking is like living. To master these arts, one needs to lose oneself in the act, to let go of rigid adherence to ego go-go-go straight line goal oriented mental bondage. Many thanks and a deep bow are offered to Sylvia Taylor, who posted a great gem on her Twitter page highlighting the top 5 business blogging mistakes of which I have certainly committed all five. Certainly, as a business owner and entrepeneur, the financial balance sheets should never be more than a few clicks away from the desktop of my mind, but who wants Quickbooks icons cluttering up the desktop?  Wouldn’t we all rather float in the screen shot of a tropical lagoon, or attune our mind with an image of the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, or whatever great spiritual leader we admire? To these great beings, there is only one overarching concern – helping others. As the Dalai Lama often says, “be wisely selfish, care for others.” What does he mean by “wisely selfish”? If we take care of others, we will be happy. The cramped egocentric me-me-me mind will evaporate like a dark cloud into the brilliant blue sky of an autumn day.  Furthermore, we’ll create skies of good karma which will bring us good fortune in the future. Something to tuck away in your pocket of magic for the coming gray days in the Northwest.

I think I lost myself a couple of times there. Feels really good after several blog posts that were maybe just a wee bit overly rectilinear. And sorry, can’t help myself here, it’s all coming from a place of wanting to share the feeling of being in the mind-space of inner freedom – there’s an energetic parallel here to what happens in the community acupuncture room. Anybody who’s tilted a recliner back and rode the inner Chi waves to the Sea of Aculand knows exactly what I’m talking about. Getting lost in the rise and fall of one’s own breath and vibrating waves of energy is to dive beneath the chaotic surface of the push-pull-money-schedule-success-failure dualities. Sinking below our struggles on the surface for a while, we see light rays fanning out into the depths. We see diamond sparkles shimmering above. We float along effortlessly, at one within the sea of life. And when we return to the surface in order to focus single-pointedly on our chosen tasks of service, that focus is held within a vast container of open hearted compassion and awareness of interdependence and unity.

All of this is to say, don’t give up on your search for meaning and fulfillment in this sometimes strange and irrational world we live in. If you feel like you’ve been rushing forward too fast for too long – slow down and do nothing for a while.  Summer’s riotous energy blooms are now fading. Soon the parks will be empty of all but raindrops, cold puddles and decaying leaves.  Listen to the heartbeat of mother nature as we move into autumn. Maybe even skip your morning espresso one morning a week as  a reminder. What matters in the long run is not how many hits we get on our blog, the size of your paycheck, or whether your life is going as planned. What matters is how much space you create in your heart – for yourself and all others.

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Introduction to Meditation

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

water-lilies.jpg

When I was a teenager (1972-79), I suffered from a sense of confusion, uncertainty and fear as I tried to make sense of things. This was at the height of the nuclear arms race, a time when our world leaders subscribed to the theory of “mutually assured destruction” (MAD). The idea that Mr. Reagan and the Soviet leader would refrain from pushing their red buttons knowing that the other would certainly retaliate with enough megatons of explosives to blow up the planet fifty times over – did little to reassure me that the world was a safe place.

If we look around the world today, there is still great conflict and suffering, not just among human beings, but all life forms. Nonetheless, in the past thirty years, somehow, I’ve learned to feel a greater sense of peace in the face of the ever present insecurities which come with the gift of life. I’d like to share with you what has been helpful for me in developing that inner peacefulness.

In the eleventh grade, while I was on a school field trip, I attended a seminar on meditation. I can’t remember why I signed up for it, except that I was curious. Something inside told me that there might be something interesting here to learn.

I learned a technique to calm the mind by sitting quietly on my bed each morning before breakfast, and each evening before sleep, observing my breath. Immediately I felt a sense of calmness and peace that I had never really experienced before.I remember the teacher sharing that practicing meditation is like watering the garden of your mind. In time, the soil becomes very rich, flowers blossom, and one creates a beautiful inner sanctuary within.

But meditation seemed weird because none of my friends or family did it. I succumbed to the peer pressure of wanting to fit in with my friends, and after about a year, I stopped doing it. Ten years later, while I was going through another difficult transition in life, I remembered how meditation had helped calm my mind and so I picked it up again and began searching for a teacher.

What is meditation? Meditation is different things to different people. A general definition of meditation is that it is a training of the mind or the heart. While it is true that our school years and the business world provide a sort of training, meditation is qualitatively different.

In school and the business world, we tend to focus a lot of energy on increasing our intelligence, our conceptual knowledge, in a broad range of subjects like math, language, science, history, economics, and so forth. This is important. Our world depends on people with practical knowledge and information in order to solve problems of modern society – everything from urban growth, transportation, employment, technology, education, childcare, family planning, environmental restoration, and so forth.

But in order to begin to solve these problems, we need a balanced approach. Thinking and analysis, which involve concepts, needs to be balanced by peaceful reflection and wisdom. A machine can process data, but it lacks the human qualities of compassionate awareness and non-conceptual wisdom. If we rely only on the thinking part of the mind to solve the problems of our life our solutions will be mechanical and we run the risk of burning out (e.g. hypertension, stress) when faced with many difficult problems. Knowledge without wisdom is not helpful, even dangerous in today’s world.

How do we develop the qualities of peaceful reflection and wisdom? Through meditation. Meditation utilizes the same spirit of inquiry as science does. Scientists seek greater understanding of the physical universe through experimental analysis of matter, motions, energy, etc. Meditators are like spiritual scientists, seeking deeper understanding of the mind by learning to see the mind clearly.

At first, this inner inquiry is like a trip to the local landfill as we discover the heaps of mental garbage we are carrying around with us. Eventually though, we learn to remove the layers of garbage – anger, pride, greed, ignorance, etc. Once this is done, we begin to experience our innate purity from which we access and develop all the positive qualities – wisdom, love, altruism, compassion, equanimity, patience, generosity, etc. Meditation is not a destination we are seeking, but a doorway through which we continually engage in spiritual practice.

Working with Anger. For example, we all have to work with the energy of anger if we wish to be happy within ourselves, as well as to live in a peaceful world. If someone directs anger at us, through thoughts, words, or behavior, instead of simply responding to anger with anger, causing the conflict to escalate, we can choose to resist our habitual impulse, realizing that this will only increase pain, both within our self, and the other person.

In that moment when someone has directed anger at us, we can utilize our reflective capacity of mind, which is what we strengthen through meditation practice, and we can begin to perceive the situation from a different perspective: less self-centered and close-minded, more compassionate, understanding, and open-minded. “A mind is like a parachute, it only functions when it is open.”

So instead of responding to anger with anger, we can reflect on the fact that the other person is in pain and wants to be happy, but is experiencing some confusion and difficulty. Instead of resorting to our habitual way of seeing things, through the filters of “I”, “me”, and “mine”, we can adopt the perspective of “we”, “us”, and “ours,” all beings. Again, this takes practice, but it is possible to change. In fact, change is the only stable principle of our lives.

So you see, meditation is more than just getting calm and emptying the mind of all its thoughts. Calming the mind is a wonderful foundation and will certainly help lower our blood pressure, but if we wish to truly transform our minds, we need to build on the foundation by developing various levels of wisdom which can enhance our happiness infinitely.

We need to meditate on the disadvantages of anger, and it’s antidotes. Remembering how anger makes us feel, we practice developing compassion for people who suffer from anger. After all we don’t get angry when other people are sick with the flu, or have a broken leg – we give them medicine for their illness. The most effective response to the disease of anger is the medicine of kindness and understanding. So these are just a few among many techniques for developing a healthy response to anger.

Meditation has been part of the cultures of all people throughout recorded history and probably a lot longer. In America, meditation has become more and more popular in recent decades. As people witnessed the horrors of the Vietnam War, the nuclear arms race, the injustices of the Civil Rights era, and other struggles, many began to realize that without creating inner peace, there can be no peace in the world. His Holiness the Dalai Lama frequently refers to “inner disarmament.”

Guided Meditation. (Read this slowly to yourself, or record these instructions and play them back):

Begin by adjusting your posture so that your spine is vertical, head tilted slightly forward, tongue lightly touching the upper palate just behind the upper teeth. If you are sitting in a chair, place your feet flat on the floor, hands gently folded in your lap.

Now, take a few deep breaths and close your eyes…or you can leave them slightly open. Beginning at the base of the neck, imagine that your spine is getting longer, like a sturdy tree growing in the sunshine.  Imagine your mind as a sphere of light. Move this light down the spine, filling all the internal organs, relaxing all of the muscles, letting go of all forms of tension.

At the base of the spine, the light divides in two and travels simultaneously out through the hips, down through the thighs, calves, ankles, feet, toes, entering the Earth and reaching deep down into the core of the planet.

Bring the ball of light back to the base of the neck, and again dividing this in two, move the light out into the shoulders, upper arms, forearms, wrists, hands, fingers. From the tips of the fingers, the light radiates out as far as you can imagine, to the most distant galaxies in the universe. Allow all of the joints in the body to relax, open, and lengthen.

Again, bring the light back to the base of the neck and move it upwards, across the base of the skull, over the crown of the head, spilling downwards in all directions, softening the eyes, relaxing the jaw, relaxing the tongue, filling the entire space inside your skull with light.

Now, imagine a ball of white light floating in space above your head. As you breathe in, imagine that this light enters your body at your crown and washes down through you like a waterfall. Breathing out, it sweeps away all disease, toxic emotions, stress, negativity, anxious or busy thoughts, and sleepiness, leaving your body as black smoke, through the soles of your feet.

If you have a particular illness, focus the healing power of the light in that area. If you are habitually troubled by emotions such as fear, guilt, anger, sadness, worry, imagine the light purifying those emotions. Imagine feeling confident, happy, kind, joyful, relaxed, content.

Stay with this visualization if it feels right, or expand it a little by reflecting for a moment that all beings desire happiness, just as you do, and imagine what it would be like to live in a world where gentleness and kindness for others was universal.

Visualize yourself surrounded by all beings, your parents, brothers, sisters, friends, teachers, even strangers, and enemies if you can. Above each of these beings is a white light which purifies and heals them of their physical and mental sufferings.

Feel that your body and mind, as well as all others have become like crystal – clear and bright, like a perfect mirror reflecting all the light in the universe. Concentrate on this for a while.

If you get lost in day dreams, simply notice that there is thinking, conceptuality, and gently, without any self-judgment or condemnation, bring the attention back to the awareness of the innate clarity of your mind. If you notice emotions, or moods, such as judgment or condemnation, gently acknowledge these and bring the mind back to spacious awareness.

So as we return our awareness to this room and the people around us, make a determination to act with greater wisdom and kindness for the rest of today, and every day. And remember that whenever life seems overwhelming, you can return to this perfect place of knowing inside. All you have to do is remember to breathe in peace, breathe out stress. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free of suffering.

[end of guided meditation]

Sometimes meditation may bring up painful experiences, which have been lying hidden in the dark corners of our mind. This is natural and it is part of the cycle of healing. Patience with the process is very important. Too often we expect push button results in life. It is very helpful to remember the patience of Nature: the mighty oak tree that grows from a tiny acorn, the drop of water that falls on the mountain and gradually makes its way to the sea, the spring that returns each year.

Meditation is a refined art form that involves making full use of our mind, which is dependent upon taking care of our physical health and using our time well. Modern science has estimated that we are only using about five percent of our brains. I think a person who uses ten percent is considered a genius. So we have a lot of room for improvement. If we forever stay enmeshed with our old habits, it is difficult to develop our mind’s infinite potential. It takes work, but every one of us has the potential to improve.

Dedication. By reading this article and practicing the meditation, may this plant the seeds of peace in your life. May these seeds grow into a beautiful garden, a source of happiness for you and all beings.

Further Reading:

Open Heart, Clear Mind, by Thubten Chodron,

A Path with Heart, by Jack Kornfield,

Practicing the Path, Yangsi Rinpoche

The Experience of Insight, Joseph Goldstein.

Healing into Life and Death, Stephen Levine.

Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, Sharon Salzberg

Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective, The Dalai Lama

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Tathagatagarbha

Monday, August 11th, 2008

Sometimes it seems we are resigned to being passive listeners to Big Media spewing its endless toxic effluent stream of multi-international corporate newspeak. Yesterday, a Tibetan nun asked me if I was following the Olympics and I said no, I did not wish to lend legitimacy to a political regime with an open policy of genocide towards Tibet and its unique culture, but on closer examination, that was not found to be true. One has to be highly disciplined to both stay in tune with what deserves our careful attention in the media, and to tune out that which does not.

Now that every major media outlet is ramping up nationalistic medal counts from Beijing, while perennially feeding and lampooning the hubris of political dignitaries, I must again remind myself that each person creates their own reality. Yes, the responsibility is ours to choose‚ resignation? Or hope? So while it is important to have our eyes open and not deny troublesome situations- for example, Microsoft’s cowardly deference to this same Beijing regime, denying protected First Amendment free speech rights based on thinly disguised fables conveniently protecting their bottom line- the task of a peace warrior is to see the bigger story fable (called samsara in Buddhism) – not to get sunk by it, and to help free others from drowning in it.

Yesterday, I listened to a 75 year old Tibetan lama one of the few remaining great masters who escaped from Tibet in 1959 during the Chinese invasion, explain that all sentient beings, even ants, mosquitoes, pythons, piranha, hell beings, ghosts, and all 6.5 billion humans on Earth, have at their core, tathagatagarbha or Buddha nature. This is outlined in full in a Mahayana sutra called Uttaratantrashastra.

Briefly, Buddha nature means that every sentient being is essentially pure, without any sin, transcending all concepts of good and evil in a state which is only fully realized after lifetimes of spiritual practice. It sounds remote and inaccessible, but anyone can achieve it. All of our mental garbage can be removed- sent to the recycle bin or compost heap. The fundamental clarity of our mind is like a perfectly stainless mirror- sometimes referred to as the innate mind of clear light. Okay, this may seem a weighty load of esoteric jargon for a general interest blog?

Please take what you like and leave the rest. The point I am trying to make here is that there is hope. Our demons and problems are only temporary. You and I can make a difference in the world. Just as importantly, you and I can make a difference in achieving a state of lasting happiness within ourselves, without needing to ride the rollercoaster of drama fed to us by personal and social conditioning.

Yesterday, I had a momentary insight into the surrealistic fantasies of modern life which obscure our ability to see things as they are. I had blissfully soaked up a morning of teachings from my Tibetan teacher, and then after being transported across town in a fossil fuel burner, found myself in Cal Anderson Park for an afternoon of play with my five year old daughter. As she started in on the monkey bars, we heard a commotion of strange and foreboding musical sounds coming from a different part of the park.

“What’s that? Let’s go see”, her five year old mind busily scanning the world for new information to analyze. We walked closer and encountered three female dancers with painted white faces, moving in mysterious ways in the middle of the water sculpture – designed to resemble a large river flowing down from a volcano. A man was playing the trombone. Another man was sounding gongs. Everyone was in the water, moving in unison.

We had stumbled into the middle of a free outdoor performance of the Greek opera, Psyche. The dancers at times stepped out of the sculpture river, moving out and around the onlookers. Nearby, some people were juggling. A woman walked through the middle of the performance, talking on her cell phone, seemingly oblivious to all dramas but her own. Mothers nursed their infants. A 747 flew directly overhead. Broadway, Seattle, Planet Earth time: Now. The brilliant orb of the sun moved in and out of the clouds casting shimmering diamonds on a Columbia River in miniature, flowing from Mount Olympus. The American tragicomedy of our incessant search for happiness blended with the jealousy and revenge of ancient Gods and Goddesses, like the waters of the fountain mixing with itself.

We follow the performance as it moves from one area of the park to another. I swim through multiple worlds of mind simultaneously. We stay mesmerized halfway through a second showing, before eventually the monkey bars and playmates call my daughter away. I sit down in the shade, one eye on my singing giggling dynamo, the other studying non profit quarterly balance sheets, pausing now and then to savor my momentary insights into inner freedom.

What does any of this have to do with community acupuncture? Nothing, everything. Water in water. Time and freedom to contemplate and practice seeing things clearly.

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