Dharma Bum

Self..

I am fond of how philosopher Daniel Dennett deals with this problem of perceived, but illusionary selves. He attributes these philosophical problems to the fact that often we think in all-or-nothing terms. Either the self exists or it doesn’t. Dennett thinks that this line of thought leads to the conceptual pitfalls and muddles that arise in thought experiments such as the teleportation case. Under Dennetts view, the self is best viewed as a “center of narrative gravity”. Essentially, we build up a series of micro-stories about ourselves and our place in the world and this autobiographical conglomeration gives rise to the illusion of a central self simply due to the fact that all these stories happen to a single body. However, this “bundle view” of the self has important philosophical ramifications simply because it calls into question ideas concerning responsibility and agency. As Dennett phrases it, “Our tales are spun, but for the most part we don’t spin them;they spin us. Our human consciousness, and our narrative selfhood, is their product, not their source”. - Ministry of Truth

No words. Brilliant?

Questions

If something appears that we cannot explain, that is O.K. Our Zen practice leads us back to become comfortable living inside of questions and not constantly seeking answers. - Rev. Paul Yuanzhi Lynch (my teacher)

 

 

Narrative Therapy Consultation Groups

Hello DB Readers! Narrative therapy consultation groups facilitated by Anne Arnold are forming and will be starting at the end of the month. If you're interested in learning about narrative therapy or want to discuss narrative therapy literature, participate in skills training, and get some consultation with the work you may be doing than these groups are for you! The Narrative Project of OC consultation groups offer an excellent opportunity for staying connected to narrative therapy work, expanding skills, as well as networking with people who share an interest in narrative therapy. Contact me (Chris Hoff) if interested. Thanks!

Activism in The Grey

A recent wonderful discovery I've made is the iPhone app for This American Life (thanks Steve). It has been a much needed addition to the boring treadmill runs I've been doing lately. This morning I heard a fascinating episode where they interviewed Brandon Darby a well-known activist, anarchic, and revolutionary who ended up spying on other activists for the FBI. I think they did a great job of capturing the many layers of activism through Darby's story. If you have some time I recommend a listen HERE.

Therapeutic Conversations 10

The registration and the full schedule for Therapeutic Conversations 10 is up and running. TC10 is the premier North American narrative therapy conference and not to be missed. It's running from May 8-10th in beautiful Vancouver, CA. I can't wait. Hope to see you there. Info HERE.

How To Doubt Your Writing

This post on the Disquiet Blog really captured my attention so I thought I would share with any current or prospective bloggers that might read this here blog. I needed to read it as well. How To Doubt Your Writing..

1. Assume that the best blogs need to be written in the Grad Student Voice because you follow a lot of grad students on Twitter and quite a number of them follow you, and so you to try to write like they write their blogs, because other grad students like it, and retweet those blogs, and;
2. Assume that retweets mean something, and assign GRAVE IMPORT to those retweets, and become convinced that they not only create meaning about your worthiness as a writer but also assume that retweets are an indication of your worthiness AS A HUMAN BEING AND IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN RETWEETED YOU’RE JUST A FUCKING FAILURE, OH JUST GIVE UP ON LIFE ALREADY and then realising, in essence, sometimes retweets, i.e. attention, is like bird shit, sometimes you get splattered, and most days you don’t, really, because;
3. Quite a bit hangs on spheres of influence, networks, and who knows you, who really knows you, and whether or not they’re influential in the blogosphere and the Twittersphere, and how;
4. One day, if they decide to like what you write and say, “THIS IS AWESOME”, then all the people who are their friends and who want to be their friends or who are merely influenced by their tastes or opinions will also retweet what you wrote and say, “THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER, I LOVE HER BLOG”;
5. And promptly forget about you or your blog the next time you link to a post or to something you wrote;
6. Which you, being silly and foolish, will see as a sign of your failure as a writer or a blogger, and perhaps it is a sign of your failure of a blogger, if being a blogger means garnering page views and “hits”;
7. After which you try to repeat your style, your writing, whatever it is that brought about that first bout of attention, and slowly realising:
8. The influential grad students of Twitter have probably stopped paying attention to your blog, and they’ve stopped talking to you anyhow, and you’ve stopped talking to them, and the previous compliments and attention had really nothing to do with what you wrote, it just had something to do with you being there at the right moment, i.e. it’s all about whether the BIRD HAD TO SHIT AT THAT PARTICULAR MOMENT;
9. And you realise that you’ve wasted a lot of time on really stupid self doubt and you’ve been a fool for not actually using your blog the way you promised yourself a year or so ago when you started it – to test out ideas, to write bullshit, to think through things, to write, to write in any way that comes to you without being hemmed in by the “right style” or the “right form”, and realising that maybe, just maybe, the grad-student style was never your thing because;
10. You’re not a fucking grad student, and;
11. You remind yourself that the things you write should not be contingent on retweets and attention, or maybe-
12. In the digital economy and online spaces where you publish, retweets, links, and attention are exactly the factors that make or break a writer, except with the volume of writing that is online these days, you either get noticed or you don’t, and then you remember the people who have noticed you and who have taken the time to consistently remind you, even through emails and private DMs, that they read what you write, and that you tend to forget about them thinking about the people who don’t pay attention to you;
13. And there is really no particular explanation or reason as to what makes people consider you good one day and meh the next, but then you realise this isn’t true, that there are perhaps complex factors about your “audience” and where you live and where they live, and that the politics of space, race, gender, sexuality, and class will also have a role to play online, both in the type of attention you get and don’t get, and the type of attention and validation you seek, and then realise you’re beginning to have a headache;
14. Because does it, and if so, how?
15. And you entertain the idea that far from erasing boundaries and limitations and constraints, Twitter really does reinforce “the power of place” and that maybe, politics aside, because you don’t know how to deal with the politics of digital attention at the moment, but you can deal with your Individual Feelings, so you deal with your feelings and decide that this is what they meant when they said be fearless and fail in your writing, when they said that if it mattered to you, you really should not care who else cares or who else does not care, and maybe this lack of attention allows you to fail spectacularly, in front of an audience, an audience that is present and aware but does not really care either way whether you write or you don’t, an audience that does not really pay attention to you unless you say something at the right moment, when circumstances are right, when people see what you say and feel moved enough to want to read what you wrote, which is essentially Twitter in a nutshell;
16. And you learn to show up and write, regardless of who’s paying attention to your fucking tweets, grad students or no, and you suddenly think of Rilke, who will be shocked, and then embarrassed, at this woman who is sitting here writing, nay BLOGGING, about retweets and page views, a woman who will then comfort herself by imagining him repeat these words: “I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now.”*
17. (And to ignore the little voice that won’t shut up, that wants to ask Rilke how to ignore the outside when the outside seeps into the inside, and the inside exists in the outside?)

Zen - On Becoming a Teacher

I don't post much about my spiritual practice on this blog. I've been thinking about that recently. Maybe it's something I will do more this year. I was directed to the following video by my teacher Paul Yuánzhì Lynch. I used to think I wanted to be a teacher, I'm currently a novice priest in a Korean Zen order, but lately I haven't been so sure. Maybe it's time. The following video is of Jakusho Kwong-roshi, the abbot of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center where I hope to do a solo retreat this year. Kwong-roshi is a dharma heir of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and also had a close relationship with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In this video, Kwong-roshi discusses his own path of becoming a Zen practitioner and eventually a teacher. It got me thinking..

Hope Continued..

What is hopelessness insisting that you understand about your life? - Kaethe Weingarten

A friend posted the following on Facebook today. I've been re-reading Kaethe Weingarten's writings on hope, and the need to move from an individualistic view of hope, to acknowledging hope as the responsibility of the community, a view of hope as something we do together. Weingarten believes that hope and despair are unevenly distributed in lives, and positions us differently and calls for different actions. One of these actions is encouraging and supporting others to resist the powerful pull of fear .. as a way that we can do hope together. Weingarten also believes that hope is a resource we hoard at our peril, just as the effects of hopelessness are profound, so are the effects of hope. Weingarten believes hope to be a human rights issue, and so do I. So over the next 30 days I will participate in Chloe's move away from fear and isolated hope in her life and witness, offer, and imagine hope with her.

I'm Chloe Flores. Everyday I wake up with hope and press repeat.
not today. it's a new year. it's a new me. For the next 30 days i'm going to write from my heart, I'm not going to edit myself, and I'll pour my truest feelings onto this facebook page. It's an understatement to say that i'm a private person. If you know me, you know this about me. I don't reveal anything personal. I often leave out relevant information about daily events. I've learned to communicate through my images. So I, Chloe Flores, am going to reveal what's on the inside. I'll be Naked for you. This is the scariest thing i could do. - i'm going to jump off this self created mountain of insecurities; a giant black hole which is on the verge of stealing my life and my future . I've held my cards close. I've gained nothing. i've lost friends and lovers. My youthful wild imaginings which blossomed like fantastic fountains spewing fourth fireworks into the brightest future has become a treadmill of 'same ole thing.' I'm always left with my fear wrapped tight around me, a blanket of silence. offering no comfort and carried everywhere. In trying to protect myself. I've become a prisoner in a terrible fortress. The definition of insanity. I'm making a change today. I'm going to look into the eyes of fear and press enter. Love, Chloe.

Chew your way into a new world.
Munch leaves. Molt. Rest. Molt
again. Self-reinvention is everything.
- Amy Gerstler
Advice from a Caterpillar