Getting More Light [On Gratitude & Happiness] (the “missing” Tuesday post w/an excerpt) October 22, 2024

“Chag sameach!” to those celebrating Sukkot! Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone grateful for friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom.

May everyone be healthy and strong; may everyone be peaceful and happy. May everyone follow through on a good idea!!

This is the “missing” post for Tuesday, October 22^nd (with some references to October 21^st). It includes some previously posted content and an excerpt. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

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“Breath of breath, said the Teacher; [like the shadow of mist that passes], all is breath.*

What profit has man in all his toil that he toils under the sun?

A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth endures forever.

The sun rises and the sun sets, and to its place it yearns and rises there.

It goes to the south and goes to the north; the will goes around and around, and the will returns to its circuits.”

— Kohelet — Ecclesiastes (1:2 – 6)

(*NOTE: The Hebrew word “hevel” (variations of which occur in K-E 1.2, 3 times in the singular and twice in the plural, for a total of 7 times) is often translated into English as “vanity,” “futility” or “meaningless,” but is literally translated as “breath.)

Once again, we are faced with that time-honored — and time-honoring — question: “How could I spend my time?”

Since last Wednesday at sunset marked the beginning of Sukkot, some people have spent time in a  a sukkah, a temporary shelter consisting of three walls of any material and a roof made of natural fiber. (Natural being something grown from the earth.) As I have mentioned before (see link above), people within the Jewish community and people who observe holidays commanded in Devarim / Deuteronomy, celebrate the “Festival (or Feast) of the Tabernacles (or Booths)” for seven days, 8 in the diaspora.

People will eat, sleep, socialize, and sometimes work in their temporary shelter — but, not necessarily every day. The first two days of Sukkot are both yom tov (“good day”), meaning they are the commanded days with obligations and restrictions similar to those observed on Shabbat (the Sabbath). For some, this means that normal every day work is forbidden. Depending on ethnicity and tradition, certain prayers, rituals, and traditions are only observed on the first two days, on the first and last two days, or throughout the week. For example, in some traditions, the time in the sukkah is the time to read Kohelet / Ecclesiastes.

“Everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under the heaven.”

— Kohelet — Ecclesiastes (3:1)

While many people — even non-religious people in various religious traditions — are familiar with the third chapter of Kohelet / Ecclesiastes, they may not realize that what comes before could be translated in a less than hopeful way. For example, if “hevel” is translated as “vanity,” “futility” or “meaningless,” the beginning not only reinforces the temporal nature of life, it makes it seem as if there is no point in doing anything. When everything we do — all the work we do — is seen as pointless, then our earlier question becomes, “Why bother doing anything?” or “What’s the point of doing anything?”

Of course, the point that the Teacher (King Solomon) reaches is the same point that Krishna explains to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: there is good, there is evil, there is wisdom, there is ignorance/foolishness and — perhaps most importantly — that we are “supposed to live a truth-based life, a life of dharma [duty].” (BG 2.2)

Oh, and also, “Be happy. This is your opportune moment!” (BG 2.32)

“‘The ideal, Arjuna, is to be intensely active and at the same time have no selfish motives, no thoughts of personal gain or loss. duty uncontaminated by desire leads to inner peacefulness and increased effectiveness. This is the secret art of living a life of real achievement!’” (2.47 excerpt)

“‘To work without desire may seem impossible, but the way to do it is to substitute thoughts of Divinity for thoughts of desire. Do your work in this world with your heart fixed on the Divine instead of on outcomes. Do not worry about results. Be even tempered in success or failure. This mental evenness is what is mean by yoga…. Indeed, equanimity is yoga!’” (2.48)

— Krishna speaking to Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley

Being “even tempered in success or failure” is easier said than done. While there are some people who seem to be born with an even-tempered disposition, many (maybe most) others have to work at it; practice, in order to cultivate the habit. We can learn a lot from either personality type, especially if we do a little svādhyāya (“self-study”) and put ourselves in their shoes.

For instance, how would you react if, like Alfred Nobel (born October 21, 1833), you spent much of your adult life working to make the world a better place — only to find out in a moment of grief that the world hated you (and your life’s work)?

Or, how would you spend your time if, after several months of working long hours (and after what others considered failures), you finally successfully tested the first (commercially viable) electric light bulb — as 32-year old Thomas Edison did in the late on the evening of October 21^st, or sometime in the wee early morning hours of October 22^nd, 1879?

Finally, how would you react if, after 35 years of success, all your hard work went up in smoke? Would you spend your time the way Thomas Edison and his team did in 1914? Would you give up or would you be gleeful, joyful, and grateful for what was to come?

“There’s only one thing to do, and that is to jump right in and rebuild.”

— A. H. Wilson, vice president and general manager of Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park

The following excerpt is from 2020/2023 post:

“Some would say that the ‘ah-ha’ moment came to Thomas Edison one night when he was ‘absent mindedly’ rolling a piece of lampblack (or black carbon) between his fingers. But such a depiction ignores all the previous experiments, his scientific knowledge, and the fact he had used lampblack in his telephone transmitter. Such a premise also discounts the additional changes that would be made before the bulb was commercially viable.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE!

“These are some sombre thoughts which amount to morbidity in one so young. Yet they ran like leitmotifs through the heart and brain of the youthful Liszt. The fifteen-year old boy kept a diary…. Containing quotations from St. Paul and St. Augustine, this journal also preserves Liszt’s own thoughts.

Wasting time is one of the worst faults of the world. Life is so short, every moment is so precious and yet, we live as if life will never end. [page 21]”

— quoted from “Book One: The Young Prodigy, 1811-1829 — Paris and the First World Tours ~ [Part] IX” of Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847 (Revised Edition) by Alan Walker

Franz Liszt is on the 2024 remixed playlist (and the earlier playlists for this date), because he was born October 22, 1811, in Doborján, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire. During the Tuesday evening practice, I mentioned that he was on the playlist because it was the anniversary of his birth and that I knew some people found hope in his music (and his life story) during the Holocaust. I did not know, however, how he dealt with setbacks and/or “failures”.

Turns out, Franz Liszt lived a somewhat charmed life up until his father died unexpectedly, when Franz was 16. That is not to say that he didn’t have any bad days before that. In fact, he definitely struggled a bit over touring versus the possibility of religious life. However, after his father’s death, those struggles become all-consuming. His health suffered; he developed some bad habits (which made his health worse); he suffered his first romantic heartbreak; and even stopped playing and composing music. Eventually, however, he rallied, bounced back, and even played concerts that benefited people who had suffered great tragedies. Some credit his resilience to him cultivating a deeper spiritual/religious connection.

“‘Those who see Me in everything and everything in Me, know the staggering truth that the Self in the individual is the Self in all. As they live in constant spiritual awareness, I am never out of their sight or lost to them – nor are they every out of My sight or lost to Me.’” (6.30)

— Krishna speaking to Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley

Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “Sukkot 6 for 10222024”]

“‘I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come indirectly through accident, except the phonograph. No, when I have, fully decided that a result is worth getting, I go about it, and make trial after trial, until it comes.’”

— Thomas Edison, as quoted in “A Photographic Talk with Edison” by Theodore Dreiser (printed in Success Magazine, Feb. 1898)

If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.

White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.

If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).

### Sunlight/Daylight, Sustainable Electric Lights, Heart Light ###