Religious Roots

 I was born and raised in the Jewish religion. Being an Air Force family, (my father was a Master Sergeant), we moved every few years, each time my Dad was transferred to a new location with each new tour of duty. We were often the only, or one of just a few Jewish families for many miles. 

We were raised in the Jewish religion but mostly weren’t exposed to the culture or community.

 From 1960 through 1963, when we lived in Hawaii, in preparation for my Bar Mitzvah, I went to a civilian Reform Jewish Synagogue for Sunday School in the Nuuanu Valley, near Honolulu. 

I learned Hebrew and was Bar Mitzvahed at the base Synagogue where we often attended Sabbath and Holiday services. Judaism is loosely divided into Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox traditions, and the community in the military was conservative. My Bar Mitzvah was in English and Hebrew. 

It was a good way to grow into Adulthood.

My Mom always taught us that “Religion is in your Heart.” 

In college I read extensively and enjoyed a passion for Native American, Buddhist, Sufi, Daoist (Chinese), Zen, and Christian teachings, traditions and stories.

 I also studied the teachings of Gurdjieff,  Agni Yoga, and other esoteric traditions. 

I always sought to find that Religion that came from my Heart.

In the 1970’s, I joined a Buddhist group and was a student of Chogyam Trungpa, a Tulku and Tibetan Buddhist Teacher. 

My friends had moved away to various parts of the country and that was my community until my marriage to a gal in my T’ai Chi classes that was not a Buddhist.

 As I drifted away from my Buddhist studies, T’ai Chi became my Meditation.

When that marriage ended the 1990’s, I found that my healing included a monthly Sweat Lodge Ceremony led by Barrett Eagle-Bear, a Pipe Carrier of the Lakota Nation. 

I found Community with an eclectic group of Spiritual people and re-connected with the Native American Traditions I had found in the 1980’s during my time with Grey Antelope (John Cisneros), a Pueblo Indian who had felt called upon to start performing Ceremony after the death of his son in a car accident. 

He accepted those of us from different races and traditions that also felt the call. This was in and around Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico.

The Wheel

I have found these and other Teachings to be like the spokes of a wheel. 

Around the outside edge of the wheel, these Teachings all may seem to be different.

 But at their Heart, as we approach the center, they become more and more the same, teaching of Compassion, Love, and the Oneness of All.

T’ai Chi

T’ai Chi, that I have studied since 1976, beginning with the Chows, begins with the physical body. 

It has, for me, become an analogy of this process of connecting all of the various body parts to work together, and by which the Whole may become more than the mere sum of it’s parts. 

This happens not just within our bodies, but extends beyond to connect us all as a part of a larger organism that continues out, from Humanity and beyond, to possibly include the connectedness of the entire Universe.

By means of this Path, we may become a part of all that we see. 

Perhaps it may connect us with all that we can conceive within our Minds! 

 

As we may connect with this through our actions, we may possibly even connect with the immense energies available to the larger organism. 

The Garuda that protects this process is that it requires a Cosmic Perspective to access. 

The personal, us/them perspective that we usually view the universe from cuts us off from acting from the “Oneness of all“ condition that might allow for so called Miracles. 

In the Arthurian Legend, (T H White, The Once and Future King), Sir Galahad says, “My strength is as the strength of ten, because my Heart is pure”.

Wishing to All a Wonderful Year Ahead!

Daniel

Veteran's Day

 Values

I grew up on or near military bases, where I learned to give everyone the respect that a military life may engender. 

It has served me well.

 As I grow older, I appreciate more and more how fortunate I have been to have been taught  this foundation upon which to build a good life. Sometimes, when I encounter those whose upbringing did not include this, I appreciate my good fortune even more. 

Values that I perhaps took for granted in my youth now help me through sometimes challenging times.

My father, born in 1909, was drafted in 1942, into what was then the Army Air Corps, and later became the Air Force. 

His family had lost their self made savings in what was then called the Great Depression of 1929, and instead of going to dental school he wound up selling shoes.

 He found value in the security of a military life. My parents appreciated the secure environment in which to raise a family.

He had flown missions as crew in China/Burma/India (over the Himalayas), from which half the planes didn’t return, and for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and other medals. 

He later flew in the Berlin Airlift, and had also flown the American judges to the trials at Nuremberg.

Growing up, I didn’t know or probably appreciate how special these things were. 

He never talked much about the war.

Before his retirement, he had progressed through to the rank of Master Sergeant.

We lived in Hawaii from 1960 through 1963, where I learned to sail, surf, and got my ham radio license. It was a good place to grow up. 

Dad retired In November, 1963 when John Kennedy was assassinated. 

We then moved to Miami, Florida. I was in the 11th grade. 

Before his retirement, we had moved every year and a half or three year tour of duty. We had lived in Japan when I was 5, in Morocco in the mid 1950’s, and in many parts of the United States, including Ohio, Michigan, and Georgia. 

It was a good life, with the mixed blessings of more travel and exposure to many different cultures, both in the US and abroad, and less opportunities to grow roots and maybe less stability in some ways, being regularly uprooted. 

It was ,was, as is each of our unique upbringings, both a blessing and a curse.

I’m very pleased with how I turned out, although it was somewhat challenging at times!

My grandparents were immigrants from Eastern Europe. (My great grandmother, as the story goes, told my Mom’s mother when she was young, “If you haven’t seen Odessa, you haven’t seen the world.”.

My parent’s took pride in the fact that we always had enough food on the table, and we were taught the importance of education. 

Grandpa Stein, (my mother’s father) was a baker, and my Father’s dad was in construction, and had built stairways for tenement buildings in New York City). 

They came to this country around 1905.

To be continued…

Blessings to All, Daniel

Exercise and Endorphins - Good Medicine

 I offer the following thoughts to perhaps aid others that might find them useful.

The past few weeks, even though I’ve been swimming for exercise three times a week (Sometimes two if I have work or obligations), two different people, a therapist and a cardiologist, have both told me that I need to exercise more. 

The common thread in both situations is that I had told them both that a year and a half after my wife’s passing, I was lately feeling lonely and blue, not all the time, but at times when I was still getting used to being alone. 

I am starting over, and my life has changed. 

The cardiologist, that I see yearly, reminded me that exercise releases endorphins in the body that can bring a more positive attitude and with it, Peace and Joy. 

He suggested at least an hour a day. 

The therapist said that the Heart Association recommended five times a week, for at least half an hour.

The following day I swam. The next day was wet and rainy, so I walked briskly and hiked up and down the escalators and stairs at the Mall. The following day I swam again. 

It’s Working! 

(In addition, I’m doing my T’ai Chi and stretching.)

It’s a little difficult to write about my difficulties but I hope that this might be useful and help some readers out there, or help people that you may know. 

Find your own exercise that works for you. 

- We can all do something! 

(Perhaps start small.)

Very Best Wishes to All,

Daniel

Science and Math

 When Richard Feynman looked at a problem, he would often ask for a nuts and bolts example in order to better understand it.

In order to calculate basic time and distance solutions, simple math is adequate. 

For example, a train traveling at 40 miles per hour for three hours might travel 120 miles. 

Looking at more complex situations such as those involving more variables might require a more rigorous approach. 

Examples of some of these might include variables such as acceleration, gravitation, angular momentum, and so on. 

Also, perhaps speed, direction, etc. of the starting point and destination might also be included. 

All of these variables come into play in the practical task of, say, piloting or navigating a spacecraft. 

Other pertinent dependent factors might include fuel requirements, external environmental components (atmosphere, weather, etc.).

These various components often require much more intense mathematics to resolve.  

Just as we don’t need mathematical solutions to, say, tie our shoe laces each time we put our shoes on, oft times we don’t require a fluency in extremely complicated mathematics to complete our daily activities. 

However, a knowledge of such math and what it can do gives us the certainty that a scientific explanation is available. 

It allows us to trust our intuitive gut feelings that our reasoning is sound and has a scientific basis. That is, we could work it out and prove it mathematically if needed.

Calculus provides just such a framework. 

A Layman’s View of the Math

I’m not so interested in gaining a practical facility in working with vector and tensor calculus, but rather in gaining an intuitive understanding of these concepts. 

With a powerful framework like this as a basis, so much more of our observable universe may become integrated within our possibility of understanding. 

I can then use this understanding to gain a more comprehensive vision of reality. 

This might also be used as a window into seeing and explicating the T’ai Chi movements in a more coherent and scientific way, shining a light on what is often viewed as nonverbal, but perhaps more accurately described mathematically within the format of a matrix of integrated variables!

Just as we wouldn’t have much use for describing tying our shoelaces mathematically, we might not actually benefit from a mathematical description of the T’ai Chi movements. 

Having the ability to do so might lay a solid scientific basis to explain the more intuitive or mindful qualities of the form. 

It could show how the internal integration and relationships of all the variables within each movement creates something in which the whole becomes more than the sum of the parts, explaining the mechanism by which practicing the form may expand the consciousness of the player, not with words but with math!

Namaste,

Daniel

Planning Ahead

“Hitler is gone, but if the majority of our fellow citizens are more susceptible to the slogans of fear and race hatred than to those of peaceful accommodation and mutual respect among human beings, our political liberties remain at the mercy of any eloquent and unscrupulous demagogue.”  

               -S I Hayakowa, Language in Thought and Action, 5th ed., 1990, Preface

"Semantics is the study of human interaction through communication. 

Communication leads sometimes to cooperation and sometimes to conflict. 

The basic assumption of semantics, analogous to the assumption of medicine that health is preferable to illness, is that cooperation is preferable to conflict.”  

                  -Ibid, S I Hayakowa.

Act, Don’t React

When life hits us with something that throws us out of balance, we might often respond automatically, rather than consciously. 

This first response might not be our best option. It might not be in our best interest. 

In the worst cases, we may become open to being manipulated. 

When we act, in the best case, it should be from strength rather than out of weakness. 

We should rise to the occasion and thoughtfully consider the outcome of our decisions, ideally before rather than after we act or speak. 

One way to do this is to journal the pertinent situations and look for patterns in them.

 Don’t get distracted by each individual unbalancing stimulus that we are inclined to react to automatically and emotionally. 

It is usually better to not allow ourselves to be manipulated by these situations that tend to throw us out of balance, and that might cause us to act out of weakness instead of strength. 

We are weaker when we are out of balance, and stronger when we are in balance and are relaxed.

Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation or Mindfulness works by creating a space between a thought and the reaction to that thought. 

It is from this space that a conscious rather than automatic action might be generated. 

Very Best Wishes to All,

Daniel

Late Wu Style

  Every few years I check on Youtube to see who is currently offering videos related to T’ai Chi.  

As I age, T’ai Chi offerings seem to evolve as well. I’m happy to report that the direct Wu Style lineage is doing well and is still in Toronto. 

I am fourth generation. My teachers, Mr. And Mrs. Chow, studied for 17 years with Dr. Young, who spent many years studying with Wu Chien Chuan.

I feel very lucky to have studied with with the Chows for many years, since 1976, and and to have received teacher training as well, until they retired around the beginning of this century. 

Their style, Late Wu, is very traditional and is very much in line with the Wu Family Lineage. 

The weight is shifted 100%. (Mrs Chow would point out when students were ‘Double weighted”, or “Floating”, when their form lacked this.) 

The angles, both within the body (elbows, knees, etc.) and in body or foot orientation (facing direction), were precise. Because of this, Mr. Chow would point out that his form would end in the exact location that he began. 

He said that in the Walk, the back foot in Late Wu would be facing forward, parallel to th front foot, while in early Wu, the back toes would be pointed out 45 degrees.

In our style, the hands were very rarely raised above the head, and the wrists rose to shoulder height when the arms came up. When the elbows bent they dropped down rather than out, and held at 90 degrees. 

When the knees bent they did not extend past the toes. 

Also, Mr. Chow never blinked while doing the form.

Mrs. Chow would sometimes practice the form slowly, and sometimes very fast, always with perfect precision.  

Mr. Chow taught the “Square”, or “Step by step” form, with each movement having it’s own count. (I believe this count for each part was Mr. Chow’s contribution). 

He would teach the entire Square form before teaching the students the “Continual”, or “Round” Form. 

His Continual form might be described as circles within circles, his hands sometimes “Holding a ball” as they moved and encircled the energy, always with perfect economy of movement and always originating from his center.

Mrs. Chow’s form was more martial, and similar to that of their teacher, Dr. Young.

 Football players would come to learn from her. 

She was small and short, and they would be astonished when she easily pushed them over again and again, when practicing “Tu Sho”, (“Push hands”).

Mr. Chow was a Healer, and seemed to be working with the Energy.  Mrs. Chow was very strict, and they wonderfully complemented each other’s styles, that weren’t at all different. 

Rather, it was as though each had their own handwriting style; the same rules, but each had their own unique manifestation, both writing in the same language. 

They were not only my Mentors, they were my friends.

Chinese Watercolor Painting

The Chows taught Painting and T’ai Chi. At some point, their painting students asked them to teach them T’ai Chi. 

They never advertised, but would sometimes give demonstrations. 

I was always amazed when Mr. Chow would dip his brush into 3 different paints, and with one brushstroke create a bird’s tail with all the colors in exactly the right place!

Best to All,

Daniel

Speculative Thoughts

Time, Space, Gravity & Focus

We sometimes move through space at a rate of our choosing. Time can be more complicated. Physically we seem to move only forward at a set rate of speed, and change is measured thus. 

Our conscious awareness of time’s passing is sometimes more fluid. 

We move only forward from moment to moment. 

When we focus our attention on the details of observable change things can get more complicated. 

We might watch each second tick by when we wait for water to boil, but if we go out in the rain it takes but a very short time for us to get wet. 

We seem to always move forward through time, but the rate may change as our focus changes!

Gravity might also be seen differently depending upon one’s focus. 

If we are not in balance, things can happen very quickly, but the “Gravity of a situation” might change dependent upon the rate of flow of the information, which is not so fixed.

Quantum Mechanics

When we attend to the physical or to the conscious frames of reference, one might object that it’s “Apples and oranges”, and they are totally different. 

But if we study these in more and more detail, we eventually enter the quantum realm, and the predictions made based upon the study of quantum mechanics have, time and time again, been validated by experimental data. 

In other words, our attention does matter! 

Artificial Intelligence

What if… What if we begin to use tools to focus our attention? Is it still Our attention?

T’ai Chi, being a physical activity, brings us back down to Earth, and practical experience. 

When we lose our balance, the effects of this validate our physical reality. 

Through time, the effects of our actions come home to roost. 

Just so, the effects of our choice of focus must play a part in deciding what reality we may create.

The Political Pendulum

Short sighted political expediencies, just so, will also eventually come home to roost, and sooner or later create a more optimistic outcome than one might expect.

Be of good cheer. 

Sometimes the pendulum must swing into the negative in order to gather the needed energy to initiate a positive part of the cycle. 

Have faith that no effort is wasted as surely as E = MC squared!

The Future 

(Food for Thought)

Perhaps breakthroughs in our understanding of both time and gravity are nearing a quantum leap, reminiscent  of the slingshot orbital mechanics utilized in recent interplanetary explorations such as the Voyager probes, and just as scientific!

Very Best Wishes Always,

Daniel