WILLA CATHER ON THE BEAUTY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Willa Cather, The Selected Letters of Willa Cather, edited by Andrew Jewell & Janis Stout (New York: Knopf, 2013) (From a letter to Read Bain, dated October 22, 1932: "No, I am not a Catholic, and I do not think I shall become one. On the other hand, I do not regard the Roman Catholic Church merely as 'artistic material'. If the external form and ceremonial of that Church happens to be more beautiful than that of other churches, it certainly corresponds to some beautiful vision within. It is sacred, if for no other reason than that is the faith that has been loved by human creatures, and loved over the great stretch of centuries." Id. at 458.).

I AM LOOKING FOR A NEW--AND MORE TRADITIONAL--YOGA STUDIO

. . . which is hard enough when living in a major metropolitan area, such as New York, Chicago, or Boston, but nearly impossible when one exists in a midget city, as is New Haven, Connecticut. There is more to yoga than the asanas. See photograph below.

On an unrelated note:

William J. Broad, The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012) (light read).

John E. Sarno, Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (New York Warner Books, 1991) (light read; be careful; see your physician first).

HE WHO HOLDS THE GUN

Christopher J. Koch, The Year of Living Dangerously (New York: Penguin Books, 1978, 1995) ("Hamilton had a hard, essentially simple cast of mind; he never lost sight of the notion that power in the state resides with the man who holds the gun. And all through the year he would simply keep asking who held. it. Intellectuals and experts more subtle than he was failed to do so, and for that reason proved to be wrong." Id. at 39. "The West asks for clear conclusions, final judgments. A philosophy must be correct or incorrect, a man good or bad. But in the wayang no such final conclusions are ever drawn. The struggle of the Right and the Left never ends, because neither side is wholly good or bad. The kasar can have noble qualities; the alus, mean ones. So it was with you, Bung Karno. Unlike Arjuna, you failed to heed the advice of Krishna--that advice which Billy was so insistent about. All is clouded by desire: as fire by smoke, as a mirror by dust . . . Through these it blinds the soul." Id. at 249.).

"SENTIENT BEINGS ARE INNUMERABLE: I VOW TO SAVE THEM ALL."

Thich Thien-An, Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice (Berkeley, CA: Dharma Publishing/College of Oriental Studies, 1975) ("A key virtue of Buddhism is humility. To be humble is to avoid placing oneself above other people. A Vietnamese Zen Master once taught his disciples: 'I am not necessarily a saint or a sage, and you are not necessarily a common man.' From the Buddhist point of view, everyone is a human being, and because we are all human,we all have our weak points as well as out strong points. Nobody short of a Buddha, a completely Enlightened One, can be considered perfect. If we recognize that we are not yet perfect, then we cannot expect others to be more perfect than we are ourselves. This recognition creates better relations between men. To be aware that we are not yet perfect will not only make us more humble towards one another, but also more respectful and tolerant. [] Tolerance is a key factor in interpersonal relationships." "Every action we take, every word we speak causes a reaction in people around us. For example, if we feel anger, when others see us, they also share that anger with us. And when they see us happy, then they also share the happiness with us. We share not only our physical life and our material goods with each other; we share spiritual and emotional characteristics as well. Such is the act of relating between oneself and another. Because we are all related to each other, none of us is an island; all of us are a part of the whole, Men are not separate. The separation between oneself and another is not real. Our ego-consciousness and out illusion create the separateness. If we see through this egocentricity and this illusion, then we see that we are not really different, Buddhist philosophy, as well as Hinduism, always describes it this way: 'You are my extension and I am your extension.' Therefore, because everyone is our extension, when we intend to hurt someone, at that time we hurt ourselves. Likewise, because we are their extension, when they intend to harm us, they harm themselves as well." "Buddhism recognizes that all men and all living beings are interdependent. Through their bodies and minds are different, they are still interrelated. Since they are interrelated, they are not separate. We are all different facets of the same reality, different parts of the one while, just as the numerous waves rising and falling in the ocean are interrelated transformations of the one ocean. Because we are all so inseparably bound together in the vast ocean of existence, Buddhism suggests that we should love one another, We must shift our sense of identity away from the narrow, constrictive ego-consciousness to the all-embracing universal consciousness. We must learn to see each other as extensions of the same reality. Then we can live together in the world as friends and brothers, and this world of hatred and suffering will be charged into an abode of peacefulness and bliss. This samsaric world will be transformed into Nirvana." "The Buddhist tries to develop in himself a universal consciousness and non-discriminatory love during both sitting meditation and daily activities. To express this compassion, Buddhists remind themselves of the Bodhisattva vow: 'Sentient beings are innumerable; I vow to save them all.'" Id. at 138-140.).

ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: SOMETHING WORTH DYING FOR

Chan Khong (Cao Ngoc Phuong), Learning True Love: How I Learned and Practiced Social Change in Vietnam  (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1993) ("But in April 1963, the most extreme anti-Buddhist proclamation was issued by the Diem regime. They declared that Wesak, the Buddha's nativity, could no longer be celebrated as a national holiday in Vietnam, and that it was a crime to display the Buddhist flag. In twelve northern provinces of South Vietnam, Wesak was the most important holy day. All fish and meat markets and nonvegetarian restaurants were closed, and anyone could enter a Buddhist temple and receive a vegetarian meal. Buddhist flags were on display everywhere, and processions of carts made of flowers carting a statue of the baby Buddha could be seen throughout the cities, towns, and villages. In Hue, the Buddhist stronghold in Central Vietnam, every household traditionally prepared an altar in the front yard on the eve of Wesak to welcome the baby Buddha. Imagine what a shock it was for the people to learn that all of these practices were suddenly forbidden." Id. at 34. "On June 11, 1963, Thay Quang Duc immolated himself to call for religious freedom. No one had informed me that he was going to do this, but just as the moment he set himself on fire, I happened to be driving by the corner of Phan Dinh Phung and Le van Duyet Streets on my motorbike, and I witnessed him sitting bravely and peacefully, enveloped in flames. He was completely still, while those of us around him were crying and prostrating ourselves on the sidewalk. At that moment, a deep vow sprang forth in me: I too would do something for the respect of human rights in as beautiful and gentle a way as Thay Quang Duc." Id. at 38. "The number of Buddhists who sacrificed themselves increased. Thay Nguyen immolated himself in Phan Thiet on August 4, 1963; the nun Diew Quang in Nha Trang on the same day; Thay Thanh Tue in Hue on August 13. I know that in the West it is hard to understand why Vietnamese burned themselves. It looked like a violent act. Please try to be in the heart and mind of the person performing such an act of great love and sacrifice. To move the hearts of the hardest en and women, you have to give a gift of great value-- even your own life. These people did not die when their bodies turned to ash. When I looked deeply at Thay Quang Duc's sacrifice, I could see his love and deep commitment to human rights born again in me and in thousands of Vietnamese and others all over the world. We received the fire of love and commitment to act from his great sacrifice." Id. at 39-40. Perhaps, those of us who have not found something worth dying for, have not found anything really worth living for.).

ON EDUCATION

Krishnamurti, Think on These Things, edited by D. Rajagopal (New York: HarperPerennial, 1964, 1970) (From "The Function of Education": "I wonder if we have ever asked ourselves what education means. Why do we go to school, why so we learn various subjects, why do we pass examinations and compete with each other for better grades? What does this so-called education mean, and what is it all about? This is really a very important question, not only for the students, but also for the parents, for teachers, and for everyone who loves this earth. Why do we go through the struggle to be educated? Is it merely in order to pass some examination and get a job? Or is it the function of education to prepare us while we are young to understand the whole process of life? Having a job and earning one's living is necessary--but is that all? Are we being educated only for that? Surely, life is not merely a job, an occupation; life is something extraordinarily wide and profound, it is a great mystery, a vast realm in which we function as human beings. If we merely prepare ourselves to earn a livelihood, we shall miss the whole point of life; and to understand life is much more important than merely to prepare for examinations and become very proficient in mathematics, physics, or what you will." Id. at 1, 1-2. From "The Problem of Freedom": "The function of education, then, is to help you from childhood not to imitate anybody, but to be yourself all the time. And this is the most difficult thing to do: whether you are ugly or beautiful, whether you are envious or jealous, always to be what you are, but understand it. To be yourself is very difficult, because you think that what you are is ignoble, and that if you could only change what you are into something noble it would be marvelous; but that never happens. Whereas, if you look at what you actually are and understand it, then in that very understanding there is a transformation. So freedom lies, not in trying to become something different, not in doing whatever you happens to feel like doing, nor in following the authority of tradition, of your parents, of your guru, but in understanding what you are from moment to moment."  Id. at 9, 11. From "Orderly Thinking": "In this country, unfortunately, as all over the world, we care so little, we have no deep feeling about anything. Most of us are intellectuals--intellectuals in the superficial sense of being very clever, full of words and theories about what is right and what is wrong, about how we should think, what we should do. Mentally, we are highly developed, but inwardly there is very little substance or significance,; and it is this inward substance that brings about true action, which is not action according to an idea." Id. at 59, 61.).

ENVY AND NARCISSISTIC CHARACTER DISORDER

Nathan Schwartz-Salant, Narcissism and Character Transformation: The Psychology of Narcissistic Character Disorders (Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts) (Toronto: Inner City Books, 1982) ("It is clear that notions such as 'fear of the Self' or 'rejection of the Self' have little meaning within a psychoanalytic framework. At best it is see as the fear of allowing the formation of the narcissistic transferences, lest the earlier wounding be repeated. But this is quite a different thing from fearing the 'will of the Self,' whose numinosity far exceeds the energy content of the ego, In terms of Jung's approach to the psyche, however, it would be the rejection of the Self, the failure to live one's true pattern, that leads to what we now call the narcissistic character disorder." Id. at 23. "Envy, the felt conviction that 'anything I need will be withheld form me, so I will spoil or otherwise destroy the withholding object,' is one of the most difficult emotions to experience and integrate. Envy, the 'evil eye' of folklore, is a central feature of the narcissistic character. It can take a grossly destructive form, but equally a subtle, spoiling one of precisely withholding what a person needs, for instance encouragement, warmth, bodily comfort, etc. In this manner, the narcissistic character often treats people in the way he experiences being treated himself." Id. at 41. "Envy is the dark side of the narcissistic character. I view it with great importance, because I find it to be the 'psychic glue,' the element of affinity that keeps the components of the self, in it grandiose form, cohesively together,  Dealing with envy and its associated components of rage and sadism can allow the deintegration of this self structure. As a result, a properly functioning anima or animus can emerge." Id. at 42-43. "If her partner is stuck in narcissistic  patterns, however, he cannot be of any help to her in her quest for real feminine identity, linked as it always is to the Goddess. The narcissistic male, indeed, is the greatest obstacle to the development in a woman of real, feminine power." Id. at at 112. Query: With many early twentieth-century women opting for same-sex relationships, is a woman's narcissistic female-partner an equal obstacle to the development in a woman of real feminine power? "Anima (Latin, 'soul'). The unconscious, feminine side of a man's personality. She is personified in dreams by images of women ranging from prostitute and seductress to spiritual guide (Wisdom). She is the eros principle, hence a man's anima development is reflected in how he relates to women. Identification with the anima can appear as moodiness, effeminacy, and oversensitivity. Jung call the anima the archetype of life itself." "Animus (Latin, 'spirit'). The unconscious, masculine side of a woman;s personality. He personifies the logos principle. Identification with the animus can cause a woman to become rigid, opinionated, and argumentative. More positively, he is the inner man who acts a a bridge between the woman's ego and her own creative resources in the unconscious." Id. at 180.).