Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
What is Your Preferred Pronoun?
I must be getting old.
Having dinner out with my 90 year-old mom and my 25 year-old niece, the
subject of “preferred pronouns” came up.
Apparently plural pronouns can be used in the singular. They, them, theirs; for example, Leslie ate
their food because they were hungry. Really? That doesn’t sound quite right to me.
Most of us have read about the past horrors of too early
surgical sex assignment for children with anomalous genitalia, or even a
botched circumcision, most often mentally male children surgically made female,
and then brought up as female. Then as
the child goes through puberty, if not much earlier, the strong realization for
the child arises that they are clearly male.
Thanks to more current thinking, these cases are much less likely to occur.
Interestingly, there is an undercurrent of androgyny that
exists within spiritual traditions.
Celibacy itself leans towards androgyny. The Shaman within several cultures have been
described as being androgynous. Similar
stories are told within Zen Buddhism.
Preferred pronoun?
That was a new one to me!
Language is a powerful, although imprecise, method for
shaping how we think.
Apparently plural pronouns can be used in the singular. They, them, theirs; for example, Leslie ate
their food because they were hungry. Really? That doesn’t sound quite right to me.
However, recently, new pronouns have come into use such as ze,
and hir; for example, Leslie ate hir food because ze was hungry.
Ze is pronounced like "zee" can also be spelled
zie or xe, and replaces she/he/they. Hir
is pronounced like "here" and replaces her/hers/him/his/they/theirs.
We will see what happens with time. Language does change, Ms replaced Miss and
Mrs, over time.
Many people are uncomfortable with sexual ambiguity. There was this old study of babies dressed in
yellow, that is, not dressed in blue or pink to clearly indicate their gender. Adults who did not know the babies were studied
as they were asked to play with these infants dressed in yellow. Invariably these adults would try to peek at
the infant’s genitalia to try to identify their gender. Presumably so they could interact with them
in a “gender appropriate” manner.
I have noticed that the younger generations are much more
comfortable with friends of various genders and sexual orientations, perhaps much
more comfortable than most in my generation.
As a physician, and ersatz philosopher, I have had a
long-term interest in the question of “Who am I?” This phrase can also be used as a subject of
deep meditation.
This question merges into important questions regarding
self-descriptions of being heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgendered
within both physical and mental states of being.
Most of us have read about the past horrors of too early
surgical sex assignment for children with anomalous genitalia, or even a
botched circumcision, most often mentally male children surgically made female,
and then brought up as female. Then as
the child goes through puberty, if not much earlier, the strong realization for
the child arises that they are clearly male.
Thanks to more current thinking, these cases are much less likely to occur.
A young patient recently told a colleague in clinic that
they were “pan-sexual.” Now that leaves
a lot to the imagination. Some of the
other adjectives coming into use include, “bi-curious,” “heteroflexible,”
“polyamorous,” and even more non-descript “wiggly.”
The vast majority of us firmly self-identify as male or
female, and as heterosexual. Current
data is quite poor but estimates that about 3% of the population identifies as
other than heterosexual, but this rises to as much as 15% in larger cities such
as San Francisco. I don’t know what the
population data is on being transgendered.
If language shapes how we think, will these figures change
over time? Perhaps not such as bad
thing, as Woody Allen said about bisexuality, it instantly doubles your chances
for a date on Saturday night.
Interestingly, there is an undercurrent of androgyny that
exists within spiritual traditions.
Celibacy itself leans towards androgyny. The Shaman within several cultures have been
described as being androgynous. Similar
stories are told within Zen Buddhism.
Within the Hindu mystic tradition Ramakrishna also known as
The Great Swan lived as a woman for a while.
This could be a chicken and egg hypothesis, where an
individual with a tendency toward androgyny, or homo-or bi-sexuality would
perhaps find themselves pulled, or pushed, toward Shamanism or spiritual
practice within their society.
Additionally, deep spiritual practices may lead someone
towards more androgyny as they explore the unconscious shadows which include
the opposite gender.
Interesting topics to contemplate, gender identity and
sexual orientation, and relationship to preferred pronouns.
More on anima and animus, our hidden inner opposite genders,
in the future.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Alone
What can we
Learn
Being
Alone
Boredom
May arise
Can we hear
More acutely
Our mind’s play
Our mind’s noise
Trying to
Fill in
The spaces
Between thoughts
Can we listen
Closely
To the
Silence
In that space
Between
Thoughts
What might
We
Find
Is Consciousness
In that space
Between
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Nothing is Art within the Eye of Source
Hmmm… did I not just say the opposite? Everything is art, beautiful,
interesting.
I wrote previously about beauty and ugliness. How really above them all is True Beauty, the
appreciation of All-That-Is, really the appreciation of being alive, and being
embodied.
Just for a little pleasure, or pain, of being.
Yet, Source is all one thing. Everything that is, and everything that is
not. Within that realization there is
everything and nothing.
Therefore, there is no one to appreciate, and label,
beauty.
The quintessential paradox.
I wrote previously about beauty and ugliness. How really above them all is True Beauty, the
appreciation of All-That-Is, really the appreciation of being alive, and being
embodied.
This can only occur when Source splits itself into “the
10,000 things,” the billions and billions of things. Hiding and pretending to be separate things.
Source can then appreciate itself, as embodied within a
rock, a tree, a sunset, a flower, a human being, a human doing, the creation of
libraries and particle accelerators.
A wonderful unfolding of the entire Universe.
Just for a little pleasure, or pain, of being.
When we drop the doing, when we drop even the being, that is
when we are closest to Source.
When we realize we are always already Source.
We taste the empty fullness, delightful, a gift, of being
alive.
Friday, May 3, 2013
All is Art when Looking with the Eye of Source
Another trail ride.
Alone today.
I only have my iPhone camera.
Everything looks like beautiful art today.
I want to stop and take pictures of
Everything.
I notice my mind.
Grasping mind.
Desire to capture the moment.
Store it on my computer.
Post it on my blog.
But
I have no agenda aside from riding 30 miles.
Stopping to examine what is attractive.
Taking a few photos.
Riding.
This title arises in my mind.
I ride on.
Source rides on.
The world streams by.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Helicopters and Enlightenment
I was recently at a scientific meeting about creativity and
consciousness, very cool!
Yes, to go from a temporary state of seeing All-That-Is
using an entheogen, to a stage of being able to enter that state at will,
without entheogens, and to “keep a toe dipped in,” takes time and effort.
There was a very interesting conversation between a famous
Buddhist monk and a famous psychedelic researcher regarding the use of
psychedelics (entheogens) compared to meditation for seeing All-That-Is.
The conversation started with the monk relating a story of
taking a helicopter to Mount Everest and looking at the wonderful sights. He had previously hiked 15 days to get to the
same view.
When the monk came back he felt that because it was such a
short trip, he wondered if he had ever been there? I think most of us agreed this was an
excellent metaphor for the long trek of 5, 10, or 30 years of meditation that
it might take to see clearly All-That-Is compared with psychedelic use.
The researcher then noted that many current Buddhist
teachers had their first experience of All-That-Is during psychedelic
explorations, and then later traveled to the East for meditation training. Further, he described that entheogen
experience as a “peek” at the “peak.”
An interesting question!
What is the role for entheogens in the evolution of the human mind, in
spiraling up the ladder of consciousness?
Of course I have a strong prejudice regarding this question,
as yours truly also had his first peek at All-That-Is during one of several LSD
“trips.” Then, later, found meditation
through martial arts.
Further, I also had an opportunity to take a helicopter ride
to a glacier in Alaska. The feeling of
seeing that vast expanse of mountains and ice from the air was profound, truly
spiritual. Walking around on the glacier
was amazing as well.
So as you can see, I am not buying the argument that you
must only take the slow route. The use of
an entheogen to take a peek at the peak, is a choice that each of us needs to
make individually.
We do need to keep in mind that right now, except for within
research studies or religious ritual, the use of entheogens is illegal. Further, we can get caught in a spiritual
bypass by depending only on entheogen use for spiritual experience. I would say that doing this is likely to
block your continued evolution up the spiral.
Yes, to go from a temporary state of seeing All-That-Is
using an entheogen, to a stage of being able to enter that state at will,
without entheogens, and to “keep a toe dipped in,” takes time and effort.
As I have said before.
You all want it, enlightenment.
Go and get it!
Or, at least start to drop all the parts of the survival ego
that gets in the way of seeing that you are always already there.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
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