Puppy Time

No not entitled “Puppy Love”   

We love our puppies, I don’t think our puppies love us…  

Not in the way we think out puppies love us, that is our projection…    

Often, I believe, that is the beginning of where we get things wrong when bringing up puppies…  probably kids as well...  

Been reading…  always reading…  

I think Melissa Holbrook Pierson gets things right, she usually does.

She does her research…  

Her book is titled, “The Secret History of Kindness:  Learning From How Dogs Learn”  

The title didn’t make sense, until I was about halfway through.  

She is an eclectic writer, started reading her books on motorcycling…  

What could be better that a woman who likes to ride!  

Mellissa has a great voice, very revealing of her failings, and successes… 

My wife was a motorcyclist.  That was before I met her…

Both my wife and I had Labrador Retrievers in our past lives, BWGT…

Before we got together…  

We are both dog people… 

We are also kid people…

My wife is a people person, she even likes adults…  she is an extrovert…   

I prefer dogs and kids…  

I enjoy the company of adults, just for shorter periods of time…  I am an introvert…  

Zev arrived into our lives about 8 week after being born on Halloween 2020

My wife and I have been together for 16 years.

Her 2 kids were grown and out of the house, and I had one kid out on his own when we started living together.

My last child was about 16 when we got together, and he was only with us a couple of days each week, and had a car, so was free to come and go.  An easy kid, did his homework, never got into any trouble, that I got to find out about anyway…  

We always talked about how freeing it was to be without dependent small kids and dogs…  

Yet, we always enjoyed what we called a “dog fix,” similar to a “baby fix,” the joy of spending time with young, usually, joyful creatures.  

We did think we would eventually bring dog presence back into our lives…  

Many conversations about the meaning of dogs in people’s lives…  

We agreed on trying to get a dog that would be easier to train, not one that would be a fixer upper…  

There are many that would fault us on that…  

There are some vet practices that seem to discriminate against people that get a purebred puppy…  apparently, only rescues allowed…  

We love labs, but wanted a breed that would be a bit calmer, and not such a food machine, less likely to eat half a giant pumpkin, $200 in cash, toilet paper (even more true stories, untold)… 

We are still active, wanted a dog that could hike, maybe run along biking…  

Our friend had a lovely Labradoodle, that probably started the ball rolling… 

I had a patient who is a veterinarian, and I asked her about Labradoodles, she said, it is hard to know what you might get, they can have the problems of both breeds, why not get a Standard Poodle.  

My wife took to her research…  Came up with a few breeders that breed for the stockier, original hunting dog type, Standard Poodle.  

She is a small breeder, only 2 litters per year…  

My wife got on the list…  We originally thought next Spring, 2021, but the litter was large, and we got in line for this Fall, 2020.  

We watched the pictures posted each week, not knowing which of the 10 would be ours.  

We made up lists of possible names… 

We made pros and cons of each pup, weight, color, gender…  

We bought a big crate, toys, food, treats, dog bed…  

Then drove 5.5 hours to Nebraska to pick up the little creature…  

I had some underlying resistance…  

Despite being 67, I am not retired, I work full-time, busy weeks in clinic, and really like my free time…  

My wife said she would carry the majority of the work caring for the pup, and she has lived up to that promise.  

However, a puppy is part of a household, changes the whole energy of the house, a lot, almost as much as having a new baby…  

Yet, we can’t help but fall in love with these young creatures…  

And, if we wish a well-behaved dog, we have to start training as puppies…  

Luckily, Melissa’s book came into our lives before Zev.  

The book well outlines the history of behavioral training… 

Highlights BF Skinners work, and, most importantly, the advantages of Karen Pryor’s clicker training.  

Melissa’s book is compelling, with a simple overall message:  

Reward good behavior, IGNORE bad behavior!!!

We don’t always use the clicker.  

We use lots of treats.  

The message is simple, carrying it out is more difficult.  

Humans like to punish.   

I won’t go into the details, read Melissa’s book…  

However, this does not only relate to training animals, this relates to bringing up children, to how we treat prisoners…  

The human obsession with punishment needs to change…  

This is how we can change our society for the better…  

Heretic!  

I love being a Heretic…  

Can’t write as much these days, have a puppy that keeps me busy…  

Oh, to add to being a heretic, as a gun lover, our dog is actually named after a favorite G19 from Zev Industries…  

We tell most people Zev means Wolf in Hebrew…  

We like that too…  

Namaste  

An Interesting Question

This question came from a former mentee in the CIIS program in psychedelic sciences, now a friend and colleague.  

Hi D,

I have been reading a lot of Ecknath Easwaren's books over the last year.   I was curious of your thoughts about his advice on meditation.  Here is the short run down:

https://www.bmcm.org/learn/getting-startedoverview/?home=True

Curious about the focus on a passage to train the mind vs. vipassana, or other methods.

Hope you are well!

T

Hi T

What a wonderful question!

You actually introduced us to the books by Ecknath Easwaren, we particularly like his commentary and translation of The Dhammapada.  

I, and others, often think about meditative practices as being either “open,” or “concentration.”

Concentration practice is particularly good in the beginning, when the mind easily wanders, “monkey mind.”  In Vippassana usually starts with feeling the breath, at the nose, or at the abdomen.  Counting to 10, then beginning again, helps the concentration, so you know when you have stopped counting.  

There are innumerous types of concentration practices, staring at a flickering candle, etc.  

I did buy his book on passage mediation as well, on your mentioning his works last year.  I think of this as a special kind of concentration meditation, more contemplative.  More similar to a longer Mantra practice, or Koan practice.  Or, reading a book that activates the contemplative mind.  

A great teacher, can’t remember who, likens concentration practice to keeping the demon busy trying to straighten a curly hair over and over.  That demon is our Ego mind.  

We try to keep the Ego mind busy with something, so that something else might emerge.  

That something else is what could be called baseline consciousness, “the enlightened mind.”  

Now we start talking about fingers pointing at the moon… 

Words start to fail, but we try anyway…  

Each and every one of us have an enlightened mind, just sitting there, underneath the jumble of everyday Ego consciousness.   

Meditation can quiet the Ego mind, psychedelics can do so as well, the latter with less control.  

Open meditation “simply” is being open to whatever arises.  You might be listening to the refrigerator running, or stopping, distant voices or noises, externals.  Often our internal voice overwhelms us.  We make up stories about the future or dwell on the past, the classic monkey mind. 

In open meditation we let whatever arises, arise, but we do not let it carry us away.  We let each thought go.  Like clouds in the sky, we notice them and let them drift away.  

With time the voices get quieter.  Until they disappear completely.  

There are many discourses on stages of the meditative mind.  

I visualize the last stage as when the witness disappears.  

This feels as “seeing through” the witness.  

Then there is nothingness…  and everythingness…

Empty fullness…

The darkest place, full of light…  

Truth is only found in paradox…

There is no “I” that has ever existed…  

That is the “baseline consciousness.”

We all share this same consciousness…  

The entire Cosmos, every person, animal, vegetable, rock, and star shares this…  

Within this, often great compassion arises…  

Compassion for ourselves and everything, sentient and non-sentient.  

That compassion arising often brings us back to our Ego selves.  

There is nothing wrong with having an Ego.  

Our Ego allows us to walk in the world, doing good.  

Practice that allows a rest in the enlightened mind had been termed resting in a place of Wisdom.  

Putting back on the Ego overcoat and doing good in the world has been termed walking in Compassion…

The key here is that you cannot get to this enlightened mind by force of will…  

You can only get there by letting go of everything that gets in the way.  

This has been likened to a destructive process, that can be very painful…

The Ego does not like to die!  

As far as passage meditation, I like to think that each practice is a boat.  If you resonate with a certain practice, has attraction energy, try it out.  Give it a few months, or years…  

Ask questions of your practice, does it get you to closer a place of peace, of wisdom?

Has it helped you to get across a river, perhaps, to the next practice?  

Is it time to leave this boat behind for another boat for a different river, lake, sea… 

Perhaps there is now a mountain to climb, or a cave to explore.  

Practice is never ending…  

There is always more to learn, and, particularly, to unlearn…  

If that is the path you choose…  

Whether you walk through life with love and ease…  

Or walking thought life in pain and unease…  

Each walk along the path is information, be open to it all…  

(a very long answer to your question :-D)

Love and hugs

D

(PS- I’ll probably use this in my Blog without your name)

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(PPS-I am having difficulty learning how to post properly text in this "downgrade" of Blogger...)

Namaste to all this Holiday Season

 

Thank You All! (and a musing…)

I had a good first few days, a little tired, did a lot of napping.  

Not much swelling, minimal pain, no narcotics.  

Did what I advise my patients, took acetaminophen 500 mg with ibuprofen 200 mg every 4 hours…  

Research says this can work as well as narcotics…  

I did take the week off from going in to see patients in the clinic, not back in till Monday afternoon.  

Only took the day of surgery off the computer…  

Easier to keep up with lab, x-ray results and prescription refills, if you check daily!

So, thanks to you all for your beautiful healing energy, past, present, and future…  

Please keep it going, figure about 6 weeks until most healing is complete…

------------------

So, a musing…  

I’ve been reading “Braiding Sweetgrass”

Each chapter seems to be a separate thought, with some elements of a flow, I’m resonating with some chapters more than others…  

One chapter in particular piqued my interest, Allegiance to Gratitude, page 105.  

Discusses a Native American alternative to “The Pledge of Allegiance”

As an aside, in reference to my lifelong interest in monsters, I as a child learning “The Pledge” in school, I had asked my mom in likely great interest, “where do the 4 witches stand?”  

I have experienced ceremony honoring the 4 directions…

http://www.starstuffs.com/prayers/fourdirections.html

This is more comprehensive called the “Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address”

https://americanindian.si.edu/environment/pdf/01_02_Thanksgiving_Address.pdf

What struck me the most is the refrain between each acknowledgement “Now our minds are one.”   

To me this felt as a deep resonance with Eastern philosophy, One Mind, No Mind…  

Additionally, what came up for me was related to René Dubos’ book “So Human an Animal: How We are Shaped by Surroundings and Events” 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/600168.So_Human_an_Animal

For example, the geography that is “Russia,” will always tend to have a “Czar.”

Perhaps these, currently not so, “United States,” will always be a nation of tribes.  

Perhaps influenced by our geography, but also by our genetics…  

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-genetics-of-politics/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion%27s_Seed

Many of us resonate with Native American practices, honoring the land, our food…  

I agree the land we live upon, the actual geography, influences who we are, how we grow, how we resonate with everything with which we interact…  

I have written about the powerful interaction of science and mysticism…  

How science exists as a piece of a larger less definable whole… 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2015/12/what-is-consciousness.html

Yet, how science is so important, the scientific method of uncovering of these relative truths, how this information can enable us to live longer, fuller, more healthy lives…  

Then, how also letting go of science, engaging in personal self-growth practices, such as meditation, in part growing out of Eastern philosophy, can lead to a rich full life, honoring the Mystery…  

So, to Science, and Eastern Philosophy, I would like to add a 3rd leg of a stool, perhaps a 3rd pillar to my practice, that of Native American gratitude practice.    

That is not to denigrate Western meditation and prayer practices, nor Western and Eastern gratitude practices, all are welcome…  

I see this as in service of deepening our connection to this land, in service of honoring the Native Americans who first were here, and not to perform any cultural misappropriation…    

Each of you must walk your own path…  

I honor each one of you, as to whatever path you are drawn, and to whatever practices your being resonates…  

Walk on…  

Namaste

A Brief Request

I am heading in for a relatively minor surgery on Tuesday 10/27/2020 from about 9 AM till 10 AM Mountain Standard Time.  

It is a left hydrocelectomy with general anesthesia.  

I am asking anyone reading this beforehand, at the time, and even in the future, even way after this event, to hold good thoughts for a safe surgery, no complications, and a full recovery.  

There was a study where people were assigned to pray for people hospitalized in the distant past.  

A randomized study…

Those prayed for, did better…  With analysis in the future of past data…  Interesting!  

I have been lucky.  

I have never had any significant surgery.  

Had a skin tag removed, a small cyst in a finger, minor lacerations, joint dislocations and injuries from karate.  Only local anesthesia.  

Some level of fear.  

Yes, “fear is the mind killer” (for us Dune fans…)

There will be pain.

I trust I can deal with physical pain…  

So, I am sending this message out into the Universe, to all you readers in the Past, Present, and Future…  

Even just an instant thought of good wishes… 

Thank you all!

Namaste

Trump Is LSD

Well it does feel like it has been a really bad trip… 

 

My wife and I were having a lazy in-bed Sunday morning discussion.

 

We both individually perused the NY Times online headline articles on our phones… 

 

She was saying she was thinking she needed a break from the news

 

Nothing but articles about white supremacists walking around armed, leading to shootings

 

Police overreaction to peaceful protesters

 

Another individual shot

 

Both peaceful and violent aftermaths…

 

Yesterday, I read the “The last word” article in “The Week”

 

An article about Stephen Miller, a protégé of Steve Bannon, excerpt from the book “Hatemongers:…” by Jean Guerrero.

 

How Stephen, even in high school, left trash around because he thought the janitors were there to clean up after any mess he made… 

 

My mind was going to how this administration has revealed the ugliest parts of these United States

 

This still poorly evolved cohort in our society, those who feel that most others are beneath them, others that exist only to serve them, or get out of their way… 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

 

Then it came to me how much of these ugliest parts, these poorly evolved parts, have been there all the time.

 

I support the “Southern Poverty Law Center.”  They publish yearly on the hate groups that exist in the US.

 

What has changed in these past 4 years is that these hate groups have been given permission to be more active.  Both showing themselves and actively committing crimes… 

 

Why not, they see their administration committing crimes, and, for the most part, getting away with them… 

 

This title above arose…  

 

Perhaps not a perfect metaphor

 

All this ugly behavior

 

Arising from hate and racism

Has been the mostly unconscious parts of these United States

 

Mostly hidden from our sights

 

Certainly, seen less in the previous 8 years of the Obama administration… 

 

Drumpf as a classic psychedelic

 

A disruptor of our consciousness

Allowing the unconscious to become conscious

 

I told this to my wife

 

She asked “Where are the guides?” 

 

(We have worked together as guides in psychedelic research)

 

Good point!

 

May be that is why this is such a bad trip! 

We have no guides… 

 

But, maybe there are guides…

 

Robert Reich, the Obamas, a multitude of sane voices out there… 

 

Some of us like to say in psychedelic therapy “There are no bad trips…”

 

“Only things we need to learn…”

 

Perhaps, just as in an a highly uncomfortable experience with LSD, it is very painful to see the unconscious made conscious… 

 

This is where healing starts… 

 

I can only hope that those who are at a slightly lower level of evolution, still filled with hatred for “the other…” 

A portion of those will awaken… 

 

They might see this ugly unconsciousness

 

Now made manifest before them… 

 

Some will continue to embrace their hatred, their fear… 

 

Others will see clearly

Will be appalled… 

 

Will realize

 

This is not the way they wish to live and think… 

 

Not the way they wish to treat others… 

 

Perhaps, then this small percentage of people in the US will vote for a more compassionate administration… 

 

Perhaps preventing another 4 years of increasing fear and hatred… 

 

4 more years of a bad trip… 

 

Perhaps this new administration would address what the Obama administration did not, you cannot label people as “deplorables” as “clinging to their guns…” 

 

This labeling is as bad as any racism… 

 

People are fearful

We must alleviate fear

 

Everyone deserves to feel safe

 

I do not think we can bring the fundamentalist and liberal green meme thinkers to be on the same page on gun control, abortion, etc.

However, those at the liberal green meme level who reject anyone thinking at a lower level than themselves, need to evolve themselves, to accept the fundamentalists, just as they are… 

 

It is the duty of any liberal Democratic administration to help everyone to feel they are safe, to feel they are heard… 

 

Namaste

 

 

 

 

 

My Wife’s First Name Is Karen

My last blog outlined fundamentals of labeling “the other.”

 

Currently, highest in the news is racism and police brutality… 

 

We also outlined other external factors that may result in such assaults as fat shaming, misogyny… 

 

I missed one.

 

Hateful name memes… 

https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2018/01/karen-sharon-becky-and-chad-how-it-feels-when-your-name-becomes-meme

 

When my wife originally heard about this meme she shrugged it off… 

 

She is an RN, works part time as a triage nurse in a largely indigent clinic, she is a guide and teacher in psychedelic medicine research, has a Master’s in Holistic Health, is a certified yoga therapist, has been trained and certified in massage therapy, and an esoteric healing practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu.  She is a dedicated, supportive, wife and life partner to me, mother to her children, and grandmother to her grandchildren. 

 

Yes, kind of saintly.  Which she would deny… 

 

This morning she was reading an article about a sommelier who was of color and discriminated against.  However, he also used the “Karen meme.” 

 

This felt particularly hurtful…

 

Here was someone writing about discrimination, and, yet, using a discriminating hurtful/hateful meme. 

 

She was tearful… 

 

My wife’s mom is from Japan, married to an America-jin…

 

Her mom once sat down with Karen to tell her that she named her Karen, because she felt it was such a beautiful name… 

 

This morning my wife related now every time she says her name is Karen, when doing phone triage nursing, she feels, in my words, “assaulted.” 

 

There is a meanness that permeates the world… 

 

There is also goodness that permeates the world… 

 

Let us all raise our conscious awareness of how our actions and words lead to harm… 

 

Choose love and compassion

 

Choose to be aware of how we flow in the world

 

Namaste

 

 

 

Black Lives Matter

Been incubating, perhaps ruminating, these past months…

 

Should I even write anything related to this subject…

 

Reading widely, reading wildly… 

 

All this unfolding

 

within unprecedented times,

 

A world pandemic,

 

The most dysfunctional administration,

 

At least in my lifetime,

 

At least in my country… 

 

A most perfect storm.

 

I love storms… 

 

I hate to see people suffer… 

 

That is what this is all about

 

Perhaps…

 

Love and Hate

 

Let us lay out some possible fundamentals

 

Keeping in mind

 

These are my own thoughts and speculations

 

Fueled by reading

 

Fueled by anger… 

 

Fundamental 1

 

People are inherently fearful

 

They fear for their lives, their economics, families, friends…  in no specific order

 

The lower their evolutionary level, the smaller the circle of who is in their family

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

 

They fear “the other”

 

Those who are not in their family

 

Those who are perceived to be “different”

Fundamental 2

 

External differences are easier to perceive than internal differences

 

Easier to discriminate external differences

 

Color of skin, body weight, deformity, accents, being female, transgendered… 

 

Internal differences are easier to hide

 

But, may be expressed externally

 

Clothing, hair, makeup, jewelry, tattoos, what car you drive… 

 

You can try to lighten your skin, change your hair or your accent… 

 

It is sometimes possible to change appearances

 

Where does poverty fit in… 

 

Poverty is often intimately connected to appearance

 

Fundamental 3

 

Fear breeds violence

 

Some people are inherently violent

 

Usually due to being victims of violence growing up

They may be attracted to jobs where they can be violent

 

Such as policing

 

We have been slowly militarizing policing

 

That contributes to violence

 

How do we turn this around

 

There is only one cure for hate and fear

 

That has been labeled as Love

 

Love is a difficult concept

 

How do you define wishing for everyone to be able to rise up, to evolve, to be the best they can be

 

How do you change society to give everyone the chance to evolve

 

I have written my suggestions previously

 

In general, follow the 3 commandments, without making the common mistakes

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-second-commandment-love-everything_24.html

 

In this particular case, in no particular order: 

 

1 – Make all drugs legal, put policing money toward treatment and psychological help

 

2 – Use the psychedelics, including MDMA, to heal the injuries of psychological trauma and attachment disorders

 

3 – Provide everyone with basic living conditions, eliminate homelessness, dire poverty, fear for personal and family safety, opportunity for education and economic advancement

 

4 – Give everyone a reason to exist, even if it is the smallest ability to help another

 

5 – Train police better, and for longer, kick out inherently violent officers

 

I am not talking about absolute equality or burning down capitalism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

 

Would this be easy

 

No

 

Could this be possible

 

Yes

 

Society is a gigantic ship

 

Hard to steer a gigantic ship

 

Hard to change course

 

Slowly slowly slowly…

 

Turning in a direction

 

Toward Love

 

Toward Compassion

 

Toward giving more to those who have little

 

Giving not just money

 

Most want opportunity

 

They want to grow, to evolve, to have a place where they can feel good about living a life

 

The past 4 years

 

We have been turning in the wrong direction

 

Toward hate and fear

 

Please do your part in turning this ship… 

 

Namaste