A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Mahatma
Gandhi said that mute prayer was his greatest weapon and that we must
ourselves embody the changes we want to see in the world. To me, that
means we can work from the inside out to make a better world. I call
this spiritual activism.
More than a few years ago, a film I dearly love
"Moon over Parador" was filmed mostly here in Ouro Preto. It is one of
those very silly-everyone-is-in-it over the top films with a message - mostly how the CIA messed up much of Latin America by supporting some very nasty dictatorships. For those of us who
have lived and worked in Latin America it is a very poignant parody of the
80’s.
I recently wrote a posting here about the current pie fights and shenanigans in politics and how I am morphing, spiritually speaking. The political stress here has been giving me not a
few nightmares about things that I saw and experienced living under martial law
in Guatemala.
Yesterday on our way home from work,
M & I stopped off at the farmácia, and with out thinking, stepped into a lively discussion re:
the impeachment proceedings going on. One guy in line told me “You know the CIA is behind
it.”
And I thought, with a big sigh, oh no, here we go again... Steady as she goes, gringo.
Milton immediately, and very, very
calmly began to talk to him… tactfully showing him that he was off by quite a few
meters. I finally entered into it, and said,
"Look, its 2016, not 1980… and unfortunately no one in the
States really gives a damn about Brasil… most people I know haven’t even bothered to ask me at
all what is going on down here. And most estadounidenses are preoccupied by basketball, ISIS
and spring…”
In Brazilian culture, Gérson's Law (Portuguese: Lei de Gérson) is an adage which reflects
the way Brazilians behave towards themselves, immortalizing concepts such as jeitinho and malandragem.
In short, Gérson's Law is taking advantage of every thing and every one
and having no concern for ethics. This expression came into use since a TV
commercial for the cigarette brand Vila Rica,
starring Brazilian footballer Gérson, was
aired around 1970. While he is a very well known football player in Brazil and worldwide,
Gérson had always been a source for controversy. In the commercial, that
particular cigarette brand was portrayed as advantageous for being better and
cheaper in comparison to other brands, and at the end of the commercial, Gérson
says "I like to get an advantage in everything". Later, the player
resented having his image connected to the ad, since all kinds of unethical
behaviors were linked to his name with reference to the law. (obrigado Charles for the remind!)
The Vila Rica brand uses the old name for Ouro Preto, btw.
To those of my two deeply beloved and dedicated readers, the
Lei de Gérson is a big and very obvious part of Brazilian culture, but to be honest, it applies just about anywhere. But we here have made it a true art form... all the way to the current political scandals happening in Brasília at the moment. Rarely do we want to
take responsibility for any of own actions, it is far easier to blame the other… it applies in many of the diverse places I have lived, but I digress.
Yesterday's farmácia incident reminded me as well of
living in Guatemala or "Parador" in the 80’s. And how I was often approached by locals in a café or market and was asked something like,
“What
do you think of our problem?”
Since it was early 80's Guatemala and we were smack dab in the middle of a very, very violent and often scarry US supported military dictatorship, one
never really knew who you were talking to. I soon learned to avert disaster with a,
“You
know you don’t really need a foreigner’s opinion about the situation. Guatemalans are clearly able
to solve this problem. If you came to my house and told me to move the
furniture and paint the room a different color, I’d be offended. This is the
same thing.”
I
always, I mean always got an offer of a free beer or drink or coffee after this. And I used the opportunity to tone up my español around lighter subjects related to art, music or futebol.
So maybe, just maybe its time to dust off that old pre Powerpoint presentation, translate it from español to the
world’s most beautiful language aka “português mineiro”… uai!
So I leave you dear ones, with the the Paradorian National Anthem here sung by Sammy Davis Jr. with the over the top ending filmed in our Praça Tiradentes of "Luar sobre Parador":
Which reality do you dwell in? If you stand anywhere, you’re missing
part of the show. Don’t stand anywhere. I have no idea who you are or
who I am. Then I am free. The minute I get trapped in a label, I have
just imprisoned myself. No matter how well I furnish the prison, it’s
still a prison.
“Quando, através da auto-observação, conseguimos apenas testemunhar o
fluxo compulsivo de pensamentos, podemos interromper o mecanismo de
projeção, através do qual reagimos a tudo com base nas nossas
experiências do passado. Assim como reagimos aos pensamentos que passam
por nós, da mesma maneira reagimos diante das situações da vida. Ao
aprofundarmos nessa prática, percebemos que a maioria das nossas ações
é, na verdade, o resultado de uma projeção.”
“Cuando a través de la auto-observación conseguimos tan solo atestiguar
el flujo compulsivo de pensamientos, podemos interrumpir el mecanismo
de proyección, a través del cual reaccionamos a todo con base en
nuestras experiencias del pasado. Así como reaccionamos a los
pensamientos que pasan por nosotros, de la misma manera reaccionamos
delante a situaciones de la vida. Al profundizar en esta práctica,
percibimos que la mayoría de nuestras acciones son, en verdad, el
resultado de una proyección.”
“When we are able to simply
witness our compulsive flow of thoughts by using self-observation, we
can put an end to our projection mechanisms. Our projections cause us to
react to everything based upon the past experiences we have had. Just
as we react to our own thoughts that pass through us, we also react to
the situations we encounter in life. As we deepen in this practice of
self-observation, we begin to perceive that the majority of our actions
are, in truth, the result of a projection.”
Learning
to transform obstacles into objects of meditation provides a much
needed bridge between the stillness of the concentrated mind and the
movement of real life.
Meditation
looks inward, poetry holds forth. One is private, the other is out in
the world. One enters the moment, the other shares it. But in practice
it is never entirely clear which is doing which.
“Precisamos focar na educação das crianças. O autoconhecimento precisa
tornar-se política pública, ou seja, ele tem que chegar em larga escala
para a população. Essa é a única chance que temos de trazer uma nova
consciência para esse planeta, caso contrário seguiremos assim: um ou
outro desperta do sonho ruim. Porém, para promovermos uma mudança de
eixo na consciência planetária, precisaremos trabalhar em larga escala com
as crianças. Isso não é trabalho para um homem só - é trabalho para
todos nós. A mudança só acontecerá se unirmos nossos dons e talentos em
prol dessa meta.”
“We need to focus on our children’s education. Self-knowledge needs to
become public policy; it needs to reach a large-scale audience. This is
the only way we can bring a new consciousness to the planet. Otherwise,
there may only be a small number of people who awaken from this bad
dream. In order to create a real shift in the axis of our planet’s
consciousness, we need to work on a large scale with the children. This
is not one person’s job; rather, this is a task for each one of us. This
change can only happen if we unite all our gifts and talents in order
to achieve this goal.”
As
a culture we swing from being afraid of anger to romanticizing it. I
try to see anger for what it is, in myself, and neither fear it nor
idealize it.
There’s no clinging to that which dies. For who we are, was, is and will
be, these are just processes of transformation. Just like it’s hard for
a pre-pubescent to understand that a time will come when his baseball
cards aren’t that relevant; so the time will come when even our mortal
coil is not that relevant.
“Precisamos nos harmonizar com a natureza e resgatar a nossa
naturalidade. Porque, em algum momento, nós perdemos a naturalidade e
nos tornamos artificiais. Isso ocorreu porque fomos contaminados pelo
medo e deixamos de confiar na vida. Então desenvolvemos máscaras através
das quais nos protegemos e fingimos ser algo que não somos para agradar
alguém; para conseguirmos alguma coisa em troca. E o que nós queremos
em troca é amor. Este é o grande medo: o de não sermos amados.”
“Necesitamos armonizarnos con la naturaleza y rescatar nuestra
naturalidad. Porque en algún momento, perdimos la naturalidad y nos
volvimos artificiales. Esto ocurrió porque fuimos contaminados por el
miedo y dejamos de confiar en la vida. Entonces desarrollamos máscaras a
través de las cuales nos protegemos y fingimos ser algo que no somos
para agradarle a alguien, para conseguir algo a cambio. Y lo que
nosotros queremos a cambio es amor. Este es el gran miedo: el de no ser
amados.”
“We need to become more in harmony with nature and
rescue our own naturalness. At some point in time, we lost our
naturalness and we became more artificial. This happened because we were
contaminated by fear and lost our trust in life. Consequently, we
developed masks to protect ourselves and pretended to be something that
we aren’t in order to please the other and to get something in return.
What we want in return is love. Our greatest fear is not to be loved.”
Liberation
does not come when you conquer your ego, silence it, or through
repression and denial get it to behave “properly.” Liberation comes when
we release our attachment to the habitual conditioned nature and
structure of our temporary egos.
“Com as brutais mudanças a que já estão ocorrendo no planeta, talvez
até mesmo algumas das nossas tradições sociais e culturais precisem ser
revisadas, porque elas deixarão de fazer sentido. Se a natureza passa a
funcionar de outra maneira, isso vai gerar um descompasso ainda maior
entre os nossos hábitos e os fenômenos naturais. E isso é uma das
consequências da nossa total desconexão com a natureza. É a nossa falta de naturalidade se manifestando nela.”
“Con los brutales cambios que están sucediendo en el planeta, tal vez
hasta algunas de nuestras tradiciones sociales y culturales necesiten
ser revisadas, porque dejarán de tener sentido. Si la naturaleza pasa a
funcionar de otra manera, esto va a generar un desajuste aún mayor entre
nuestros hábitos y los fenómenos naturales. Y esto es una de las
consecuencias de nuestra total desconexión con la naturaleza. Es nuestra
falta de naturalidad manifestándose en ella.”
“In lieu of the
brutal changes that are already taking place on our planet, it may be
time to revise some of our social and cultural traditions as they no
longer make sense in this era. Nature is acting in totally unprecedented
patterns, due to our habits that treat the environment as something
entirely disconnected from ourselves. We disregard our inner nature, and
that gets reflected all too clearly in Mother Nature herself.
“Estando perturbado, você atrai mais perturbação; e isso vai se
transformando numa bola de neve. Ação gera reação e as consequências
podem ser infinitas. A única maneira de parar esse processo é
identificando onde a sua mente ficou presa. Isso é feito através da
auto-observação e da presença. Sente-se, alinhe o corpo, feche os olhos e
permita-se observar os pensamentos e emoções. Aos poucos você verá que
existe uma canção psicológica, um fluxo
de pensamentos repetitivos. Isso significa que você está identificado
com esses pensamentos pois eles te dão um senso de identidade. Mas, ao
observar-se a identificação começa a perder força, pois você se dissocia
dos pensamentos.”
“Estando
perturbado, atraes más perturbación; y esto se va transformando en una
bola de nieve. Acción genera reacción y las consecuencias pueden ser
infinitas. La única manera de detener este proceso es identificando
dónde quedó atrapada tu mente. Esto se hace a través de la
auto-observación y de la presencia. Siéntate, alinea el cuerpo, cierra
los ojos y permítete observar los pensamientos y emociones. Poco a poco
verás que existe una canción psicológica, un flujo de pensamientos
repetitivos. Esto significa que estás identificado con estos
pensamientos porque te dan un sentido de identidad. Sin embargo, al
observarse la identificación comienza a perder fuerza, pues te disocias
de los pensamientos.”
“When we are disturbed, we attract even
more disturbances, and so the snowball effect continues. One action
generates a reaction, and the consequences can be infinite. The only way
to halt this process is to identify where our minds got trapped. This
is done through self-observation and presence. We can sit down, align
our bodies, close our eyes and allow ourselves to observe our thoughts
and emotions. Slowly, we will see that there is a psychological
soundtrack, a flux of repetitive thoughts, playing in our minds. This
means that we are identified with these thoughts because they give us a
sense of identity. But, as we continue to observe, the identification
begins to lose its strength and we can begin to disassociate from these
thoughts.
