Post by Admin on Jun 29, 2018 11:36:36 GMT -5
The banner of Dr. Gus Castellanos' website -referenced here earlier -- www.innerinmate.com reads: Inner Inmate Mindfulness, Wisdumb and such
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I don't need to know if I am coming or going, I just need to be mindful of where I am...
bit.ly/Gus-Castellanos-4th
I continue to love Gus Castellanos' blogs. Gus is an MD in Florida who is an MBSR leader, focusing lately on MBSR in dealing with the present USA opiate crisis. What I love most about Gus is his talent at drawing back and offering broader (and deeper) perspectives on what's going on in the present. So, following the news of the retirement of Justice Kennedy from the Supreme Court and the uproar in the media and social media, I found his latest blog a bit of a comfort, a loving nudge to extend my own integration of mindfulness and compassion into my thinking on things political. With that preface, I'll put down here his opening paragraph of yesterday's blog, and then a following paragraph, and then a link to read his entire reflection on the meaning of the Fourth of July celebration in the USA, "On the Edge". I encourage you to read it all and ponder his wisdom:
PLEASE read entire blog here: bit.ly/Gus-Castellanos-4th
:
I don't need to know if I am coming or going, I just need to be mindful of where I am...
bit.ly/Gus-Castellanos-4th
I continue to love Gus Castellanos' blogs. Gus is an MD in Florida who is an MBSR leader, focusing lately on MBSR in dealing with the present USA opiate crisis. What I love most about Gus is his talent at drawing back and offering broader (and deeper) perspectives on what's going on in the present. So, following the news of the retirement of Justice Kennedy from the Supreme Court and the uproar in the media and social media, I found his latest blog a bit of a comfort, a loving nudge to extend my own integration of mindfulness and compassion into my thinking on things political. With that preface, I'll put down here his opening paragraph of yesterday's blog, and then a following paragraph, and then a link to read his entire reflection on the meaning of the Fourth of July celebration in the USA, "On the Edge". I encourage you to read it all and ponder his wisdom:
Gus Castellanos, MD, Blog June 28,2018:
Happy 4th of July. At this time of year, in previous newsletters, I have written about our interdependence - as much as it can be ‘American’ to be independent and individualistic, the 4th of July has been a holiday celebrated by festive gatherings of family and friends – more an expression of interdependence than independence! This is not to minimize the importance of our Country's independence, but to underscore the importance of interdependence for growth and flourishing. Interdependence is encouraged by all major Religions and Spiritual traditions as well as by modern psychology by their emphasis on community-fellowship-sangha, and the helpfulness of fellow travelers and spiritual friendships. And the opposite - isolation and loneliness - are quite unhealthy, even deadly, as they are associated with addiction, depression and suicidality. We know humans are social creatures with social brains - scientists have found that we are wired to connect with each other, since natural selection favored humans with a strong propensity to organize into groups....
....That said however, and even more so then I alluded to my 4th of July newsletter last year, our Country seems to be more divided and polarized than in recent memory! We are in the middle of a Culture War, with both sides acting immaturely, mean and spiteful. Why this is happening and how we got here is beyond my expertise. However, as I take an evolutionary, 30,000 foot view of the grand scheme of things. Even though it may feel as if we regressing, I feel that this a correction, allowing for further evolution since evolution tends to occur at times of friction not when things are stable. Evolution happens at the edges, as in the new forms and capacities that develop along the borders of different ecological zones and where people of different fields and diverse perspectives meet. So, one could say that while this Civility War we are in is not pleasant, and is rude, disrespectful, and hateful, at least it is not producing the bloodshed that the Civil War did. Not to detract from the lives lost and the suffering caused by the Civil War, that was was associated with the abolition of slavery, the granting of citizenship to all people born in the U.S., to many medical and surgical innovations, and with the women's rights movement gaining traction. Most importantly, the country banded together again and strengthened the people as a whole, since the War was also about whether or not the states had the right to secede and how far state rights extended....
Happy 4th of July. At this time of year, in previous newsletters, I have written about our interdependence - as much as it can be ‘American’ to be independent and individualistic, the 4th of July has been a holiday celebrated by festive gatherings of family and friends – more an expression of interdependence than independence! This is not to minimize the importance of our Country's independence, but to underscore the importance of interdependence for growth and flourishing. Interdependence is encouraged by all major Religions and Spiritual traditions as well as by modern psychology by their emphasis on community-fellowship-sangha, and the helpfulness of fellow travelers and spiritual friendships. And the opposite - isolation and loneliness - are quite unhealthy, even deadly, as they are associated with addiction, depression and suicidality. We know humans are social creatures with social brains - scientists have found that we are wired to connect with each other, since natural selection favored humans with a strong propensity to organize into groups....
....That said however, and even more so then I alluded to my 4th of July newsletter last year, our Country seems to be more divided and polarized than in recent memory! We are in the middle of a Culture War, with both sides acting immaturely, mean and spiteful. Why this is happening and how we got here is beyond my expertise. However, as I take an evolutionary, 30,000 foot view of the grand scheme of things. Even though it may feel as if we regressing, I feel that this a correction, allowing for further evolution since evolution tends to occur at times of friction not when things are stable. Evolution happens at the edges, as in the new forms and capacities that develop along the borders of different ecological zones and where people of different fields and diverse perspectives meet. So, one could say that while this Civility War we are in is not pleasant, and is rude, disrespectful, and hateful, at least it is not producing the bloodshed that the Civil War did. Not to detract from the lives lost and the suffering caused by the Civil War, that was was associated with the abolition of slavery, the granting of citizenship to all people born in the U.S., to many medical and surgical innovations, and with the women's rights movement gaining traction. Most importantly, the country banded together again and strengthened the people as a whole, since the War was also about whether or not the states had the right to secede and how far state rights extended....