LT Saloon

Val’s View: The Duality of Existence

By Val Leventhal

Today I’m focusing the scope on the Taoist symbol of the Yin/Yang. The nature of reality is a big question – bigger than any mortal understanding. So when you seek answers, remember that, as in many scientific studies, the work will take many lifetimes. If you believe in reincarnation, as millions of people in the world do, then you’ll have the chance to continue your work beyond this life, but for now let’s look at what you can learn during this one.

There are many schools of thought, both religious and secular, that have answers for the questions of how we are to live. In my own research and experience I have come across a few really useful tools for gaining insight. The Yin/Yang is one of my favorites. It is, to me, a perfect representation of the true nature of things. I’m not a Buddhist scholar, so this is just my personal interpretation of the symbol, but I believe that this is its true usefulness – that everyone who studies it will find his or her own meaning. You only get answers to the questions you ask, after all. And further, I believe that the true nature of reality is that it is all open to interpretation. So, let’s go on to the symbol itself. There are at least four great teachings – each worthy of a lifetime of meditation – contained within this simple symbol.

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Val’s View: There’s Got To Be A Public Option

There’s Got To Be A Public Option
(To the tune of “There’s Got To Be A Morning After”)

There’s got to be a public option
So we must hold on through this fight
A bill will come that’s worth adoption
Let’s keep on heading for the light

This could be change we can believe in
The corporate media is wrong
We’ve got to keep our heads together
For we’ve been waiting far too long

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Val’s View: Winners and Losers

Winners and Losers

By V.J. Leventhal

For as long as I can remember, our culture has taught a competitive model in which everyone is supposed to work toward being “the best,” and anything less than the top position in any endeavor is seen as unworthy of notice. This impossible pyramid makes no sense for the lives of 99% of us. I see it as a misinterpretation of a valid goal of striving for excellence. In reality, there is no “best.” Even among top athletes, where the competition is clear and easy to define (the one with the most points wins the game), players will tell you that the most you can say is that on a given day, in a particular match, someone came out the winner. On another day, with the same competitors, the results may differ. And what sense does it make to call someone the best actor or singer or painter, when these things are so subjective? All this comparing and ranking mostly benefits people whose main concerns are things like market share and sales tallies. The result is a load of low self-esteem for most people, and a weight of unrealistic expectations for those at the perceived “top.”

In the 1960s, experiments in alternative education created methods such as mastery learning, in which each student works at their own pace through a graduated system of material. With the supervision of a teacher, one student may speed through spelling and grammar while another struggles, but no one is held back or pushed too fast. Everyone learns at their own rate, and the teacher is freed to spend more time with the slower learners who need her, while the faster kids are able to move forward and stay interested. It seems to me that since we are all here, a more serious attempt needs to be made to address the needs of every individual, not just those seen as superior.

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Val’s View: Making Peace

Making Peace

By V.J. Leventhal

Though my musings often tend toward the more metaphysical, I feel the need to say something about the place where inner peace meets the outer world.

This is an old question: how does an enlightened being, or society, survive when confronted by unenlightened, violent practices? How do we engage violence without becoming the very thing we are trying to fix? The only way this has ever worked is through passive resistance. South Africa, India, the American civil rights movement – all are examples of non-violence winning the day. Yes, people are injured, jailed, and even killed, but the group, in remaining persistently non-violent, eventually prevails against a seemingly immovable, all-powerful adversary. In fact, violent response to violence usually only creates an excuse to crack down and increase the brutality. In the long view, non-violence is the better answer. In the short term, however, each individual must decide how they will respond when attacked or oppressed. The argument is sometimes made that if Gandhi had been dealing with someone like Hitler, as opposed to the somewhat more civilized British Empire, all resistance would have been futile. And of course, all the inner peace possessed by the Dalai Lama could not stop China from overtaking Tibet. This is where seeing the big picture helps. Where Tibetans have responded aggressively, they have been jailed or destroyed. The Dalai Lama and many of his countrymen had to flee. Sometimes discretion really is the better part of valor. Because he is free, he can continue to inspire and lead the world toward peace while working tirelessly to free his people. So too, did Mandela continue working from jail to free South Africa. There are no easy answers, but if you desire a more peaceful world, you logically must learn to be a more peaceful person.

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Val’s View: Inner Power

Inner Power
by V.J. Leventhal

Last week I began my column with a general discussion of external versus internal power. I’d like to talk about what I mean by “internal” or “spiritual” power.

I’ve been studying Buddhism, especially Zen, and Taoism for many years in my own sporadic but dedicated way, and I have found these teachings to be a useful pathway to personal evolution and inner transformation. This study is not simply an intellectual exercise – although it is certainly that – but also a very specific practice of meditation and expansion of the mind, which includes learning about other states of being. The goal of this practice is to increase one’s awareness of both inner states and outer realities, in order to learn a peaceful and balanced way of living. Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Zen master and founder of what is called “engaged” Buddhism (because it practices both service and contemplation), teaches that wisdom (or enlightenment), requires both clarity of understanding and the practice of lovingkindness. Both the mind and the heart must be developed to live in balance in the world. The Dalai Lama also emphasizes that the key to wisdom is through compassion. Buddhism is a sort of scientific approach to comprehending the true nature of reality, in order to reduce suffering. The Buddha taught that the reality of the world is suffering and also the cessation of suffering. The Tao talks of the rising and falling of the “10,000 things” – in trying to describe the fact that everything is impermanent, and in constant motion. By increasing your awareness of the flow of thoughts, emotions, and physical discomfort or mental anguish, you can learn to put things into a larger perspective, and to become more detached and calmer in your life.

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Val’s View: Power Stations

VAL’S VIEW
by V.J. Leventhal

Power Stations

Power. Power bars, power yoga, power training, power elite, muscles, endurance, speed: we associate the word mostly with a sort of brute strength – the big dog in the room, the most money and influence, the ability to have one’s way whenever one wishes. This kind of power has run the world for thousands of years. It is the inevitable result of a materialistic approach to life. If life is about stuff, then the one with the most stuff has the most power, and also has need of the most power in order to protect the stuff from others who would naturally crave it and the power it represents. In this model of existence, there is only one “pie” and power means having more of it then everyone else. Power means control over other people, over situations. So with enough power and control there should be no need to fear anything, ever again, right? Wrong. Fear remains just under the surface in people who need control over others to have power. Fear and anxiety are the natural results of the belief that there is only one “top,” one “best,” one “winner,” and everyone else is a loser, or lesser somehow. The brute force model of power works temporarily, but it is simply not sustainable to try to build a society where the largest number of people reap the fewest results of their effort. It requires more and more force to maintain control over this unpleasant situation.

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