A Joyful Practice

Next Generation Dreaming & FTWMI: Still Dreaming the Heart’s Wildest Dream (the “missing” Monday post) August 28, 2023

Stay safe. Breathe. Hydrate and nourish your heart, body, and mind.

This is a “missing” post for Monday, August 28^th. It includes some new and some previously posted material. You can request an audio recording of either practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.

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“We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast again,

And by that destiny to perform an act

Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come

In yours and my discharge.”

— Antonio, Prospero’s brother, the usurping Duke of Milan, in Act I, Scene i of The Tempest by William Shakespeare

In the early 1600’s, William Shakespeare offered what can be considered a very succinct explanation of karma (act, word, and deed – as well as the result or effect of effort): “what’s past is prologue….” As much as I love the quote, I hardly every use it, because Antonio (the brother of the Duke) and Sebastian (the brother of the King) are discussing murder – and I don’t want people to get it twisted. I’m not ever about justifying murder or violence. Today’s practice, however, does reference murder, violence, and war – as well as the ignorance, hate, discrimination, and inequity that has (historically) led to murder, violence, and war.

Sometimes, when I reference things in history (and how they parallel current events), I seem to be proving Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s point – “[that] what experience and history teach is this, — that peoples and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” Note that he references “peoples,” i.e., nations (and specifically mentions rulers and statesmen), which gives me a little hope in each of us individually. Perhaps, with a little svādhyāya (“self-study”), we can individually learn (collectively) and then come together in a way that proves Hegel wrong.

The problem with my theory is that not everyone is interested in svādhyāya – let alone in exploring history according to the rubric Hegel outlined in The Lectures on the Philosophy of History. Additionally, not everyone learns those various ways to discuss history. This is turning into a particular challenge in the United States, where some U. S. history is not taught. There may come a time when almost no one in the U. S. knows about some of the things that happened today, throughout U. S. history. But, today, despite the way history is taught in certain parts of the United States – and despite the way people are trying to change the way history is taught – most adults will have some passing knowledge of the events that I reference during the August 28^th practice. Most people, however, will be most familiar with one particular event. Or, to be more accurate, people remember one part (of one part) of one event: Martin Luther King Jr.’s words about a dream.

In many ways, that dream, that speech, and that march 60 years ago today is both past and prologue. As Dr. King’s only grandchild pointed out this weekend, that dream, that speech, and the reason people were marching 60 years ago today are as much a part of our present as they are a part of our past.

“‘If I could speak to my grandfather today, I would say I’m sorry we still have to be here to rededicate ourselves to finishing your work and ultimately realizing your dream,’ [15-year old Yolanda Renee King] said. ‘Today, racism is still with us. Poverty is still with us. And now, gun violence has come for places of worship, our schools and our shopping centers.’”

— quoted from the August 26, 2023, Associated Press article “Thousands converge on National Mall to mark the March on Washington’s 60th anniversary” by Aaron Morrison and Ayanna Alexander

For Those Who Missed It: The following was originally posted in 2022. I have added an extra quote and a (tiny) bit of extra philosophy.

“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.”

– quoted from the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou

Take a moment to consider how you deal with difference, imbalance, and/or injustice. You can consider it from your perspective as an individual and/or as part of a collective, a community… a republic. Either way you look at it, consider that your unique perspective – based on your past experiences – determines what you believe is a reasonable and rational way to deal with differences, imbalance, and/or injustice. Just to be clear: “past experiences” include everything you have felt, thought, said, done, and experienced around you. Past experiences make up your “mental impressions” (samskaras) – which, over time, can become vasanas, the “dwelling places” of our habits.

I was thinking about vasanas the other day when I heard Caroline Myss use the idea of living in a high rise as a metaphor for how we live in the world. The point she was making is that, if we live in the penthouse, we have a different understanding of the world and our circumstances than if we live on the first floor (or in the basement). Additionally, she talked about people not really caring about the problems people were having on other floors and she talked about perspective as it relates to the view outside, the vista. All of this made me think about how our perspectives determine how we resolve conflict.

Consider, if you will, that we “might be” in the habit of dealing with difference, imbalance, and/or injustice in ways that are not alleviating our suffering. I put “might be” in quotes, but let’s be real; if we look at some of the events that happened today in U. S. history (from 1862 to 1963 and beyond), we find a lot of suffering. Like a lot, a lot, of suffering. But, there’s not a whole lot of alleviation. We do, however, find dreams, hopes, promises, and possibilities.

As many of y’all know, I’m a big fan of “dwell[ing] in Possibility.” I sometimes wonder, however, at what point that idea becomes counterproductive. At what point do we have to pack up our baggage and move from unlimited possibilities to unlimited probability? At what point do we realize that moving means getting rid of some old, outdated stuff that no longer serves us?

At what point do we recognize that the problems in the basement (and on the first floor) contribute to the problems in the penthouse – and vice versa? And, at what point do we recognize that we are all in the same dwelling place?

Better yet, at what point do follow the Patanjali’s advice and steady the mind by “resting on the wisdom arising from dreams and sleep” (YS 1.38)? At what point do we recognize that it’s time to move from dreams to reality?

“[We are our] ancestors’ wildest dreams!”

– variations attributed to Brandan Odums, Darius Simpson, and others

There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices.

The playlist previous years is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “08282021 The Heart’s Wildest Dream”]

“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends – ” 

“Tell them about the dream, Martin. Tell them about the dream.”

[Clarence B. Jones to the person beside him: “These people out there, they don’t know it, but they’re about ready to go to church.”]

“So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”

– words spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahalia Jackson, and Clarence B. Jones on Wednesday, August 28, 1963

“The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.”

– quoted from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig

### To Have Wild Dreams, We Have to Live Wild Dreams ###