World Beyond

The Whisperers

I just finished reading an extremely informative and interesting book entitled The Whisperers by the historian Orlando Figes.  The book describes private life in the Soviet Union during the terrible Stalin years.  Figes has written several other books about Russia. The Whisperers combines his masterful expertise with the oral histories of over 300 individuals who survived perhaps the cruelest and most systematic repression ever encountered on this planet.

I’m pretty familiar with Russian history and have read other books describing this period, but to me this is by far the best, because it describes the personal impact of Stalin’s paranoia and extremely dysfunctional nature of the Soviet regime across a broad cross-section of individual Russian lives and generations.  If you’re unfamiliar with this period in Russian history, you may want to bone up on some of the facts ahead of time, or be ready to do a little research on the internet to fill in some gaps.  Either way, you’ll be amazed and assaulted by story after story of the terror generated by this totalitarian regime.
 

I remember reading a quote attributed to Stalin that “the death of one person is a tragedy, the death of thousands is a statistic.”  The genius of this book is that it translates the horrible statistics of the Stalin years: millions arrested arbitrarily and exiled to work-camps, millions dead due to the extreme conditions at these camps, and hundreds of thousands more executed, into stark, individual tragedies.  And not simply the tragedy of the lives cut short, but also the enduring psychological toll the arbitrary arrests and long years of exile inflicted upon the survivors and their families.  These effects can still be felt as you travel throughout Russia and the former Soviet republics. 
 

Figes and those individuals who labored to collect this data have done a wonderful work in memorializing the personal pain and suffering of an entire nation.  The Whisperers stands as a testament to the suffering of millions of innocents at the hands of a morally bankrupt, autocratic regime.

In Russia, hopefully history will not repeat itself.  Certainly conditions are different now than in the days after the Russian Revoltion and Civil War.  But as the Russian government and state industries are dominated by former and current members of the intelligence services, where the rule of law is weak and those that oppose the Putin regime are arrested or die mysteriously, the future is murky at best.   

Leaderless Jihad

I generally only recommend books after I've read them, but in this case I need to make an exception.

Several weeks ago I added the book Leaderless Jihad by Marc Sageman to my list of books to buy.  But since I already had a good-sized stack to take with me on my upcoming trip out of country, I postponed the purchase.  I'll be gone for about seven weeks though, and I didn't want to wait until I get back to mention the book here.

David Ignatius mentioned the book in a recent column.  Quoting Ignatius,

The heart of Sageman's message is that we have been scaring ourselves into exaggerating the terrorism threat -- and then by our unwise actions in Iraq making the problem worse. He attacks head-on the central thesis of the Bush administration, echoed increasingly by Republican presidential candidate John McCain, that, as McCain's Web site puts it, the United States is facing "a dangerous, relentless enemy in the War against Islamic Extremists" spawned by al-Qaeda.

What we have here friends is some real analysis.  Finally.  Not just more fear-mongering and political posturing.  News Flash:  Most politicians want us scared so we'll vote for them, then approve whatever "big brother" agenda they're promoting this week.  Sageman has the credentials and presents a well-reasoned argument.  His policy advice?  (again quoting Ignatius)

is to "take the glory and thrill out of terrorism." Jettison the rhetoric about Muslim extremism -- these leaderless jihadists are barely Muslims. Stop holding news conferences to announce the latest triumphs in the "global war on terror," which only glamorize the struggle. And reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq, which fuels the Muslim world's sense of moral outrage.

It's much too late for the Bushies.  Hopefully the next administration will follow that advice. 

Love Stories

A few weeks ago I wrote a short message prompted by a review of the book My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead edited by Jeffrey Eugenides.  The book contains love stories written by a variety of authors.  If you haven't picked the book up yet, I suggest that you do.

I finished the book yesterday, and although all the stories are good, there are a few stories that I really enjoyed.  Your tastes are probably different, but I recommend them if you're pressed for time.  In no particular order:

Innocence by Harold Brodkey
The Bear Came Over the Mountain by Alice Munro
What we Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud
We Didn't by Stuart Dybek
Fireworks by Richard Ford
Jon by George Saunders
Yours by Mary Robison
Spring in Fialta by Vladimir Nabokov
Lovers of Their Time by William Trevor
The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekov

Happy reading!!

Profile of Courage

Do you think you’re brave?  Have you done anything courageous?  How do you personally define courage?  I’d like to recommend a book to you that will likely stand as a monument to true courage for some time to come. 

The book is "Putin's Russia - Life in a Failing Democracy" written by a Russian journalist named Anna Politkovskaya in 2004.  Ms. Politkovskaya had been pointing out many "inconvenient truths" of Russia under Vladimir Putin for several years in a variety of newspapers.  Her book captures the shortfalls (no pun intended, even though Mr. Putin is only 5’4”), and abuses that she discovered as she researched stories throughout the country.  Topics include the systemic abuse and inhumanity that exists within the Russian Army; a policy of genocide in Chechnya; an explanation of how the “new” Russian economy is controlled by mafia-controlled oligarchs supported by a corrupt police and judicial system; inappropriate government responses to the terrorist tragedies of the Nord-Ost theater in October, 2002 and at the Beslan school in September, 2004. 

As you can see, she took on some very powerful people and groups within Russia. 

She was gunned down in October 2006.  Murdered for her unflinching desire to take on an increasingly all powerful state to defend the individual.  Like many other murders of journalists opposed to the regime, the crime was barely investigated, and her murderer was never discovered.  Putin himself dismissed her as a “person of little consequence.” Does that leave you with any doubt at all??

If you want a good look at what's going on inside Russia today and if you want to truly discover what a courageous life is all about, please read this book. 

Mind Waves

I’m currently reading a book compiled from the teachings of Shunryu Suzuki, a Japanese Buddhist priest who came to America in the late 1950’s and established two Zen centers in California.  The book is “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”, and is very enjoyable.  I recommend reading the entire book, but one short chapter (entitled "Mind Waves") in particular I found to be quite enlightening.  I quote it below:

"When you are practicing zazen, (zazen refers to a form of meditation…basically sitting in a form of the lotus position and focusing on your breathing) do not try to stop your thinking.  Let it stop by itself.  If something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out.  It will not stay long.  When you try to stop your thinking, it means you are bothered by it.  Do not be bothered by anything.  It appears as if something comes from outside your mind, but actually it is only the waves of your mind, and if you are not bothered by the waves, gradually they will become calmer and calmer.  In five or at most ten minutes, your mind will be completely serene and calm.  At that time your breathing will become quite slow, while your pulse will become a little faster.

            It will take quite a long time before you find your calm, serene mind in your practice.  Many sensations come, many thoughts or images arise, but they are just waves of your own mind.  Nothing comes from outside your mind.  Usually we think of our mind as receiving impressions and experiences from outside, but that is not a true understanding of our mind.  The true understanding is that the mind includes everything; when you think something comes from outside it means only that something appears in your mind.  Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble.  You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm.  This mind is called big mind.

            If your mind is related to something outside itself, that mind is a small mind, a limited mind.  If you mind is not related to anything else, then there is no dualistic understanding in the activity of your mind.  You understand activity as just waves of your mind.  Big mind experiences everything within itself.  Do you understand the difference between the two minds: the mind which includes everything, and the mind which is related to something?  Actually they are the same thing, but the understanding is different and your attitude towards your life will be different according to which understanding you have.

            That everything is included within your mind is the essence of mind.  To experience this is to have religious feeling.  Even though waves arise, the essence of your mind is pure; it is just like clear water with a few waves.  Actually water always has waves.  Waves are the practice of the water.  To speak of waves apart from water or water apart from waves is a delusion.  Water and waves are one.  Big mind and small mind are one.  When you understand your mind in this way, you have some security in your feeling.  As you mind does not expect anything from outside, it is always filled.  A mind with waves in it is not a disturbed mind, but actually an amplified one.  Whatever you experience is an expression of big mind.

            The activity of big mind is to amplify itself through various experiences.  In one sense our experiences coming one by one are always fresh and new, but in another sense they are nothing but a continuous or repeated unfolding of the one big mind.  For instance, if you have something good for breakfast, you will say, “This is good.”  “Good” is supplied as something experienced some time long ago, even though you may not remember when.  With big mind we accept each of our experiences as if recognizing the face we see in a mirror as our own.  For us there is no fear of losing this mind.  There is nowhere to come or to go; there is no fear of death, no suffering from old age or sickness.  Because we enjoy all aspects of life as an unfolding of big mind, we do not care for any excessive joy.  So we have imperturbable composure, and it is with this imperturbable composure of big mind that we practice zazen."

Enjoy!!

The Field

I recently finished reading a very interesting (although not perfect) book titled "The Field" by Lynn McTaggart.  Here's a partial review of the book posted on Amazon.com:

McTaggart, an investigative journalist (What Doctors Don't Tell You), describes scientific discoveries that she believes point to a unifying concept of the universe, one that reconciles mind with matter, classic Newtonian science with quantum physics and, most importantly, science with religion. At issue is the zero point field, the so-called "dead space" of microscopic vibrations in outer space as well as within and between physical objects on earth. These fields, McTaggart asserts, are a "cobweb of energy exchange" that link everything in the universe; they control everything from cellular communication to the workings of the mind, and they could be harnessed for unlimited propulsion fuel, levitation, ESP, spiritual healing and more. Physicists have been aware of the likelihood of this field for years, McTaggart writes, but, constrained by orthodoxy, they have ignored its effects, which she likens to "subtracting out God" from their equations. But, McTaggart asserts, "tiny pockets of quiet rebellion" against scientific convention are emerging.

I'm always interested in links between the scientific and spiritual realms, and this book provides a lot of intriguing items for discussion, to include new information about how the brain functions and how the body works at the cellular level.  There are other interesting looks at the power of dreams to include "remote viewing" experiments and programs led by the US government. 

Almost seven years ago I wrote a short article discussing the possibilities of electromagnetic energy being associated with the spiritual realms.  I haven't done much research along those lines since, but from what I read in "The Field" there is a growing body of evidence available that difficult-to-detect energy fields may provide an explanation to many of "life's mysteries".  The evidence can also be used to link together what many consider to be the mutually exclusive fields of scientific and spiritual discovery. 

I recommend this book to you...it doesn't have all the answers, but it will awaken your mind to some very interesting discoveries, and potentially change the way you view the world around you.

   

The First Prophet

I've had the good fortune to spend five of the past six weeks in Kazakhstan.  You can look at the "Travel Tales" section of this blog for a brief rundown of my first few weeks here.  While I was back home for a week, I was searching for a few books to bring back with me.  After going through my "to read" pile, I searched a little more on the bookshelves and discovered a real treasure, In Search of Zarathustra by Paul Kriwaczek.   Talk about your synchronicity.  I'd bought the book a couple years ago and left it unread...now I was traveling back to an area influenced by the great religious leader Zarathustra, also know as Zoroaster.

I love travel books, history books, and books about spirituality.  This very interesting and engaging book combines all three topics.  In reverse chronlogical order, it traces the influence of Zoroaster and his teachings from his initial impact on the Persian empire more than 2500 years ago to today's modern times.

Zoroaster is considered to be the first monotheist.  He taught there was only one true god, that individuals had free choice between good and evil and that all people could follow a righteous path leading to salvation.  According to Kriwaczek, "His basic doctrine was rational, anti-ritual and anti-sacrifice, encouraging his followers to come to personal terms with their God."  Quite a huge departure from the idol worshiping, animal (or human) sacrificing religious scene of his era. 

Zoroaster's teachings became the state religion of the early Persian Empire and influenced the foundations of Judaism and Christianity.  Traveling throughout Europe and Central Asia, Kriwaczek traces these events, and subsequent influence on more modern Persian nations that subsequently mingled with Germanic tribes and moved wholesale into Europe during the early Middle Ages, settling in Spain, France and Italy.  Zoroaster's teachings were also at the root of a battle between Catholic church orthodoxy and a wide variety of sects known as the "Great Heresy", associated with some of the early inquisitions and the torture and death of many "heretics" throughout Europe.  The book also traces further Zoroastrian concepts through modern philosophy, up to the works of Nietzsche.

Finally, the book discusses the continued influence of Zarathustra in the modern world, particularly in what is now Islamic Iran and central Asia.  I've witnessed many of these influences and co-mingling just in the short time I've been in Kazakhstan.  In fact it appears many of the doctrinal conflicts between Shia and Sunni Islam can be attributed to the continued influence of Zoroastrian ideals on the Persian/Iranian population.

If you're interested in history...travel...or religion and spirituality...I highly recommend this book.  I guarantee you'll learn something about life and this world that you didn't know before...always the sign of a great read!

Notes on Tolle

In a previous short article, I recommended Eckhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth".  (Note: for all authors and books mentioned here, please see "What to Read" list on right side of this page.)  I'd like to follow that up with a more in-depth look at the book based on my notes.  They really can't do it justice though.  I hope you find time to read the book itself. 

FIrst, I was impressed by Tolle's use of examples of eastern and western religions to validate his arguments.  It reminded me of another book I read recently that effectively synthesized modern psychological and anthropological thought, Ernest Becker's "Escape from Evil".  Although Becker's book is more secular than spiritual, his diagnosis of humanity's problems are quite similar to Tolle's.  Other authors who share much of Tolle's insight, and who I highly recommend, are Osho and Castaneda. 

Tolle describes the ego as "the insanity of the human mind" a collective "dysfunctional relationship with the moment".  Descartes maxim, "I think therefore I am" is the root of all ego.  We are lost in a maze of our own thoughts and forms of the world.  This has led to a forgetfulness of our true state of being, at one with the universe.  The ego identifies with being separate, being different, being better than others.  Ego-centered relationships involve wanting, thwarted wanting (anger, resentment, blaming) and indifference.

Tolle argues that the only thing required to become free of the ego is to become aware of it.  Elimination of the ego's psychological preoccupation with the past and the future, indeed, elimination of the ego itself is the only true spiritual practice.  This awareness of ego can be developed right now.  It's not a goal we need to work toward or a nirvana or paradise we eventually arrive at.  It's not a utopia that a religion or form of government can offer you.  You can be aware right this moment.  And, you can do it yourself.  No gurus, priests, mullahs or prophets are required!!

Tolle recommends we use conscious breathing techniques to create space and increase our awareness or consciousness of being conscious.  We should say or think "I Am" and seek to be fully present in this moment.  (Visit A Forgetful God's Blog for more on I Am.)  The more you buy into ego, the more you play your "role" in the world, the more tied you become to your form and the forms of this world, the less authentic your life becomes.  You move farther away from awareness of your true nature and potential.

Knowing yourself means to be rooted in Being...not lost in your mind.  Tolle says his secret is this: "I don't mind what happens."  Tied to the Buddhist attitude of "this too shall pass" or non-resistance, non-attachment, and non-judgement to the events of our lives. 

Being is prior to existence.  The joy of being comes from within.  Tolle reveals the secret of happiness, "Be one with life."  By being present, in this moment, aware of the "I am" and ridding ourself of ego, we'll discover our inner purpose: to awaken or discover the mind of God.  Once weve aligned ourselves with our inner purpose, our outer purposes (the details of your life: career, hobbies, family relationships, etc.) can be discovered and fulfilled.

Tolle believes the purpose of humanity is to "express consciousness into this realm" (earth life or the world of forms).  How do we do this?  By aligning ourselves with the present moment, developing awareness (defeating the ego) and discovering our real power.  This should be the goal of anyone seeking to bring forth a "New Earth" or a "World Beyond". 

Let's do it!

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Over the past seven years, I've probably read at least 50 different books on various spiritual topics.  None were more enlightening than Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth".  It was recommended by a friend and I highly encourage you to read it.

Tolle has masterfully fused and explained insights from psychology, Buddhism and early Christianity.  He explains quite clearly the nature of the ego, the collective impact of the individual ego on current events and the importance for each of us to overcome our ego.  Tolle's secret of happiness: "Be one with life."  We need to forget about the future and the past and focus on the "power of now".  He recommends a simple practice of concious breathing to allow ourselves to go beyond the ego and tune into the universal conciousness.  The purpose of mankind is to express universal consciousness into this material realm. 

Pick up a copy for a great read, and great perspective into your potential and the future of mankind.