Survey extra
More background.
I orginally called this design 'What on Earth and I going to do with my time'? I'd been concerned about Climate Change for some time and thought I 'd like to design a response to that, given that I felt that this way of life as we know it, was going to change dramatically and I wanted to prepare myself mentally somehow. After embarking on the design and tweaking it I felt that the design had evolved into something else - more an exploration of how I can tap into different states and ways of experiencing time. Plus, I realised that time was not really something that tangible or material, it's a concept that we all use to navigate around life. Useful but not 'it'. So I changed the name of design to The Mystery of Time.
Some time in 2012, I attended a class at the London Buddhist Centre on how we can practise ethics and, more specifically, how our actions need to be ethical in relation to the environment. The speaker used the Shambala Mind Trainings as a framework, (see below) which are believed to originate from 8th Century Tibet and refer to our present times.
I found them all really helpful but the one that appealed to me most was ,
‘Simplify. Clear away the dead wood in your life. Look for the heartwood and give it the first call on your time, the best of your energy.’
As I pointed out in the 1. Background and 2. Survey sections of this design, I have been reflecting on my relationship to time and feeling concerned that it wasn’t a positive one
I wrote to an Order member in the Triratna movement in which I practice for advice (see left) . He said 'don't be discouraged' and that Permaculture is very much practised in the Buddhist Centres in the West Country.
I orginally called this design 'What on Earth and I going to do with my time'? I'd been concerned about Climate Change for some time and thought I 'd like to design a response to that, given that I felt that this way of life as we know it, was going to change dramatically and I wanted to prepare myself mentally somehow. After embarking on the design and tweaking it I felt that the design had evolved into something else - more an exploration of how I can tap into different states and ways of experiencing time. Plus, I realised that time was not really something that tangible or material, it's a concept that we all use to navigate around life. Useful but not 'it'. So I changed the name of design to The Mystery of Time.
Some time in 2012, I attended a class at the London Buddhist Centre on how we can practise ethics and, more specifically, how our actions need to be ethical in relation to the environment. The speaker used the Shambala Mind Trainings as a framework, (see below) which are believed to originate from 8th Century Tibet and refer to our present times.
I found them all really helpful but the one that appealed to me most was ,
‘Simplify. Clear away the dead wood in your life. Look for the heartwood and give it the first call on your time, the best of your energy.’
As I pointed out in the 1. Background and 2. Survey sections of this design, I have been reflecting on my relationship to time and feeling concerned that it wasn’t a positive one
I wrote to an Order member in the Triratna movement in which I practice for advice (see left) . He said 'don't be discouraged' and that Permaculture is very much practised in the Buddhist Centres in the West Country.
Habits of Tiredness - not resting when I really need to - frittering energy
I found that I am often losing touch with the preciousness of time and the moments are blurring into hours and days. This might be due to :
I found that I am often losing touch with the preciousness of time and the moments are blurring into hours and days. This might be due to :
- Restricted by routine, somewhat tied in with daughter's at the time!
- Escapism/Avoiding paying attention to something uncomfortable
- Doing rather than being! Going through motions of daily stuff not really paying attention to it or appreciating it, also doing alot.
- Being in a ‘consensual trance’ with the rest of society (see Charles Tart’s books) and living a 'business as usual life' not entirely in touch with reality
- Deferring to the future instead of the experiencing the present
Below: weekly timetable in 2012, showing the gaps in the day, usually around 2.30pm.
my routine, closely linked with parenting tasks and self-employment and staying in touch with Sangha
As well as base mapping, I played around and chose my own words for different types of time, ie, Friendship Time (Lobe or Web Pattern), Wonder time (Pulse/Wave pattern) and Free time (Cloud pattern).
Friendship time, although planned using clocks, could be a form of Being time, where there is no agenda, except maybe to connect with others. A Lobe or Web pattern comes to mind for community events, though can also be cyclical if there is a regular time for this.
Wonder time refers to a certain type of experience that takes you by surprise (so could be Scatter pattern rather than Pulse, depending on whether it's planned). For example noticing something beautiful, the pattern of rooftops or silhouettes and shadows maybe or hearing something funny.
Mechanical time is another word for Clock time and means conforming to a timetable, not always mutually agreed!
Lunchtime in this rough sketch refers to responding to body's needs, (sleep and exercise also) so Cyclical and a wave pattern. Ignoring this pattern wouldn't support the aims of this design at all!
Free time I thought of as pottering about, reflecting, meditation, often alone, uninterrupted and just being, also with very little agenda.
There are so many ways to think about our experiences in time and I could re-jig this forever (the yield is only limited by imagination of the designer!) but for the purposes of this design I will stop here.
Friendship time, although planned using clocks, could be a form of Being time, where there is no agenda, except maybe to connect with others. A Lobe or Web pattern comes to mind for community events, though can also be cyclical if there is a regular time for this.
Wonder time refers to a certain type of experience that takes you by surprise (so could be Scatter pattern rather than Pulse, depending on whether it's planned). For example noticing something beautiful, the pattern of rooftops or silhouettes and shadows maybe or hearing something funny.
Mechanical time is another word for Clock time and means conforming to a timetable, not always mutually agreed!
Lunchtime in this rough sketch refers to responding to body's needs, (sleep and exercise also) so Cyclical and a wave pattern. Ignoring this pattern wouldn't support the aims of this design at all!
Free time I thought of as pottering about, reflecting, meditation, often alone, uninterrupted and just being, also with very little agenda.
There are so many ways to think about our experiences in time and I could re-jig this forever (the yield is only limited by imagination of the designer!) but for the purposes of this design I will stop here.
Peer review
Shambala Mind trainings
What are they?
Firmly establish your intention to live your life for the healing of the world. Be conscious of it, honour it, nurture it every day.
Be fully present in our time. Find the courage to breathe in the suffering of the world. Allow peace and healing to breathe out through you in return.
Do not meet power on its own terms. See through to its real nature - mind and heart made. Lead your response from that level.
Simplify. Clear away the dead wood in your life. Look for the heartwood and give it the first call on your time, the best of your energy.
Put down the leaden burden of saving the world alone. Join with others of like mind. Align yourself with the forces of resolution.
Hold in a single vision, in the same thought, the transformation of yourself and the transformation of the world. Live your life around that edge, always keeping it in sight.
As a bird flies on two wings, balance outer activity with inner sustenance.
Following your heart, realise your gifts. Cultivate them with diligence to offer knowledge and skill to the world.
Train in non-violence of body, speech and mind. With great patience to yourself, learn to make beautiful each action, word and thought.
In the crucible of meditation, bring forth day by day into your own heart the treasury of compassion, wisdom and courage for which the world longs.
Sit with hatred until you feel the fear beneath it. Sit with fear until you feel the compassion beneath that.
Do not set your heart on particular results. Enjoy positive action for its own sake and rest confident that it will bear fruit.
When you see violence, greed and narrow-mindedness in the fullness of its power, walk straight into the heart of it, remaining open to the sky and in touch with the earth.
Staying open, staying grounded, remember that you are the inheritor of the strengths of thousands of generations of life.
Staying open, staying grounded, recall that the thankful prayers of future generations are silently with you.
Staying open, staying grounded, be confident in the magic and power that arise when people come together in a great cause.
Staying open, staying grounded, know that the deep forces of Nature will emerge to the aid of those who defend the Earth.
Staying open, staying grounded, have faith that the higher forces of wisdom and compassion will manifest through our actions for the healing of the world.
When you see weapons of hate, disarm them with love.
When you see armies of greed, meet them in the spirit of sharing.
When you see fortresses of narrow-mindedness, breach them with truth.
When you find yourself enshrouded in dark clouds of dread, dispel them with fearlessness.
When forces of power seek to isolate us from each other, reach out with joy.
In it all and through it all, holding to your intention, let go into the music of life. Dance!
http://whale.to/b/shambhala_warrior.htm
The four reminders
Our precious human birth
Impermanence
Karma
Suffering and our response to it (as only humans can respond to suffering)
Impermanence
Karma
Suffering and our response to it (as only humans can respond to suffering)