Cultural Wisdom

Cultural Wisdom: Zen Wisdom, Water Peace Meditation

2010-03-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

Cultural Wisdom: Zen Wisdom, Water Peace Meditation

Zen Wisdom, Water Peace Meditation

2010-03-29T12:33:00.001-07:00

Meditation on Peace at a Zen garden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsaSecqsU4o

THE STAGES OF EARTH PEOPLE.-

2010-02-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

By Roberto Dansie

In a world where one is often lost in data and details, our liberation may come faster if we just get in touch with our senses. Hans Christian Anderson illustrated this point quite well when he created his story of the Emperor's clothes. In the story, it is the kid who trusts his senses who says, “But the emperor has no clothes!” Just apply that to any political discourse, or to the bombardment of the television propaganda; or to the created wants; or to the set of priorities in the world; or to the food for our bodies; or to the chat of a friend. Just see. Listen to yourself. And, above all, don’t betray your self.

In terms of our chronological development, we can find ourselves in four main stages of development: childhood, youth, adulthood, and elderhood. The earth element has specific challenges at each one of these stages.
Earth in childhood, is exclusively the experience of physical sensations centered on the self. We lean towards comfort and avoid discomfort. In extreme cases, we may have little or no tolerance of discomfort, which make us prom candidates to delay growth and risk taking. We may decide to stay a child for the rest of our lives. And we have all seen this individual. It is the man at the store who has no sense of others. Only his senses matter. So in touch with himself, and so out of touch with others. “Me” is his favorite word. And whatever he cannot experience is not happening in the world. When they talk, it is all about them. If you are in their world, it is because what you mean to them, and to be part of “their” story. Without them –they are sure- there is no world.
With earth children, we must emphasize, their ability to put themselves in the place of the other person. At the same time, we must encourage them to remain in touch with themselves without loosing touch of the others. In terms of their relations, we can encourage them to share with others the sensual clarity with which they see the world, telling them the wonderful words of Thomas Paine who said, “common sense is not so common.” And not just common sense: just sense, your ability to use your senses.
Earth people can talk sense into people. It is basic clarity, simple but essential factors of life.
Earth children may experience challenges in motivation, for they will have a tendency to try to store energy and make the less effort with the highest impact. Wise as this can be, we must not hesitate to give discipline to earth children, often taking a pro-active role in helping them discover new talents in themselves.
When earth people reach adolescence, their preference for stability can give them fear towards the changes that come with youth. Making peace with imperfection can render wonderful results, and this is as good a time to do it with earth-teens. In order to minimize the intensity of self-criticism for imperfection, it will be good to have a range of activities, so that the attention can be shift from one to the other, staying ahead of the criticism that remains in one single area of life. Insight into the temporal condition of adolescence can be a powerful ally for earth-teens who happen to be experiencing fluctuating and often conflicting sensations. “And this too shall pass.” Those were the words that a wise man put into a ring that gave a king equanimity during all of the years of his rulership, for which he was given the title of “the wise one.” Well, these words are to be kept constant and near to earth-teens, for they can provide perspective to them particularly in times of fluctuations.
Given the tendency for quality rather than quantity in earth people, earth-teens will tend to have few but close friends. That will work well, as long as the friends that they have chosen have positive qualities. If they don’t, then we must intervene to expose them to new acquaintances, often taking them to new settings where this interaction can be made possible.
Earth adults will have a tendency to seek their comfort zone and to be particularly defensive of their sense of order and environment. If you are in a relationship with one, be sure to take into consideration their opinion every time that you foresee a change. If you can talk about it first, then there will be little or no problem later. And since they are sense oriented, don’t expect them to verbalize what is going on with them, particularly at the time that this is happening. Pay attention to their senses, their physical expressions, their movements, their poses, their breathing patterns, and to their habits. By letting them know how you are translating their senses into your words, your empathy will render extraordinary results, particularly during resolution of serious or grave matters: the fact that you can find words for their senses brings light to them, and this light reduces the gravity of alienation that otherwise earth people tend to experience when they don’t feel understood by others.
Earth elders are keenly in touch with the limitations of their body and the loss of sensations along the years. Their world can be experience as “less sensational”. But that is only if they limit themselves to seeing themselves as material. Experience by them, will also provide them with the awareness that they are energy and consciousness. They can then decide to shift their sensation to the place of energy, where they can discover new sensations that are extended to their loved ones, and to rise their sensations to their field of consciousness, where they can direct their attention at will to any part of their living experience: what ever they choose to re-live they can infuse with new energy. And they can also tune themselves in the direction of the earth body and cultivate a deeper integration of their being by living and resting in the earth itself. They will cross the veil of death by staying conscious of their sensation of the earth; they will transcend their personal sensations, dying into the sensations of the earth itself: their own senses will give them the experience that there is, at the sensual level, no death indeed.
In terms of spiritual paradigms, even while avatars of all traditions have acknowledge the Earth as an essential factor for their realization, the fact remains that Earth has not been viewed in many spiritual practices, as sacred. This has been painfully so for western civilization. The growing ecological consciousness has done something to alleviate part of this predicament, but nothing can be so powerful enough to turn consciousness and behavior as the experience of unity and identity with the Earth. The spirituality of our time is being articulated by the earth people and all of the indigenous communities of our planet. We, as human beings, can benefit from the ceremonies and insights of those who have experience the earth as self, the ones who did so ahead of science and technology, those who did it by the path of the heart and acted accordingly.

2010-01-07T20:33:00.001-08:00

2010-01-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

See what Cultural Wisdom can do for you!

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A message from our client:

Andrew J. Imparato, President & CEO
American Association
of People with Disabilities,
Washington, D.C.

“Roberto Dansie is a dynamic facilitator, keynote speaker, leadership coach, and spiritual guide. He seamlessly blends
his deep knowledge of many different cultures, languages, and disciplines
to get through to people and inspire
them to work better together and individually.
In our busy day-to-day lives, it is
easy to lose touch with what is
important. Roberto is the
kind of person who helps to
remind us what truly matters in
life and how to bring out the
best in ourselves and our colleagues.”

View Cultural Wisdom Lecture at The University Of Arizona

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Shana Davis Roanoke, Virginia
Comments:
I heard you speak at the Radford University this week and just wanted to express my sincere thanks and gratitude for the seeds of healing you planted in the conference attendees. I will take so much back with me and know I will be able to use this knowledge to improve working relations with my clients.
Again.......Thank you.

Yolanda Solis ~ Salinas, CA

Comments:
Thanks for all the great advise that I have learned from one of your lectures on 3/29/08 at Hartnell College her in my home town. Keep up the great work you do and offer to other people like myself.

Pit River Indian Health ~ Burney, CA

Roberto;
We need you to come back to Pit River, we need a Administrator to operate our clinic as you once did, you were the best Health Administrator we ever had. You gave us Munik-Chun Day Care, Karate, and other programs...Please apply for the position or call the Tribal Office @ 530-335-5421 and talk to the Tribal Administator.
Thanks

Thomas Wilkinson ~ Emery, South Dakota
Clinicarecorp.com
It has been a while since I have been able to hear you speak. I have found strength and solice in your written words. I still have the Atl which you gave me 3 years ago and I fodly and powerfully remember the song that we shared several months later. Thank you for you guidance y para siempre te llamare amigo,
Con carnino...Solo le pido a Dios, Que el dolor no me sea indeferente...

2009 18th Annual Western Migrant Stream Forum HIGHLIGHTS

Roberto Dansie was the keynote speaker during Saturday’s lunch plenary. As always, Roberto’s presentation was as entertaining as it was informative as he good-naturedly encouraged participants to work collectively for meaningful change. Moreover, Roberto offered a staunch example of the importance of solidarity, reminding participants of the origins of President Obama’s “yes we can” campaign slogan: “It is from the fields of the farmworkers that the voice of liberation has found its way to the top – ¡Sí Se Puede!”

FIRE PEOPLE- By Roberto Dansie

2010-01-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

Fire is the symbol for energy and fire people have it in abundance.
The ancient cultures came to the realization that we are fire. The energy of the sun is processed in our earth, and broken down as stored energy in our systems. It is this energy that makes life possible.
The Mayas called it “Kin” and they said the storing center was in our navel, in what we call “solar plexus”, Latin, for center of the sun. Japanese masters called it “Ki”, just one letter away, even though Mayas and Japanese are in opposite sides of the earth.
There is a morning exercise to bring balance into our fire.
It consists of facing the rising sun, bend our knees, take a deep breath, and release all of our energy with our palms towards the sun. We do this four times.
After words, we receive the fresh light of the sun inhaling and moving our hands by our side from head to toes. We do this procedure four times as well.
Now, we take the energy from the sun and move towards the four directions, each one taking a deep breath and releasing it with our extended arms and our feet extended.
Having completed the salute to the four directions, we stand, facing the sun, take its energy, and put our hands in our solar plexus. Then we take another breath, and place our hands in our heart. Take another breath; place our hands on our throat. Take another breath; place our hands in our closed eyes. Take another breath and place our hands in our forehead. Take another breath, and place our hands in our head-crown. Take our next breath, and move our hands over our heads all the way down to our toes.
We close our sun-work by taking energy from the sun with our breath, placing both of our hands over our heart and saying, “light”; take another breath, place our hands over our heart and say, “peace”; another one, and say, “love”; another one and say, “health”; another one and say, “prosperity”. With our closing breath, we take our hands to our heart, and when we release our breath, we extend our hands and say, “to all my relations.” This is the time, when we send our best self to our loved ones, a feeling that can stay with us all through the day. We are connected in a conscious, positive way, and the best of our energies flows to our relations.
Fire people are morning people. Their energy rises early in the morning, and their mind kicks in as they open their eyes. Their challenge is that the mind reaches focus only when their body is at peace. Physical activities, like the exercise described above, can set the body in harmony, which will allow the mind to focus on the tasks at hand.
Activity is the royal road for balance for fire people who are very sensitive to energy.
Sugar is gasoline for fire people. If one craves something sweet, then use local honey, which aside from being healthier and having a calming effect in the body, it also boosts our system against allergies.
In the tradition of indigenous healing among the Mexican community known as “curanderismo” we are told of three herbs that bring balance to fire people.
These herbs, prepared as tea, are:
Spearmint, chamomile, and anise star.
The combination of these herbs –taken every morning on an empty stomach- was called “three miracles” because of its ability to have a positive effect in our three main centers: body, heart and mind.
Martial arts seemed to have been designed with fire people in mind. Behaviors that get children in trouble in regular school –intense energy, screaming and fighting- are standard practices in the schools of martial arts. Fire people then find a place where their energy can be channeled, and then they function perfectly in the other place: they can be very peaceful in one, because they release their combative energy in another one: is just a matter of finding the right place and the right time. And wonders happen when we synchronize the flow of our energy with the activities that the world demands from us every day.
In Curanderismo we are told that a balanced fire becomes flame, while an unbalanced fire becomes wild-fire, something quickly apparent to anyone who has dealt with a fire-child.
If you are fire, you cannot choose to be another element: you will remain fire. But what is within your power is to choose to be either wild-fire or a flame. Elements are neither good nor bad in and of themselves. And the element of fire has its place. For once, energy is contagious, the positive one being called “good medicine” in Indian Country, and the negative, “bad medicine.” Just think of the energetic resonance that you get when you are with people you like: energy rises. If you were to be in coma, in a hospital and they were to enter your room, chances are, you would feel their energy and your links to this world would be strengthened. On the other hand, you can also feel your energy being drained or being negatively affected when you are in the energetic field of a person you dislike. A way to neutralize negative energy is by raising your left hand and silently saying, “Poison.”
In the other hand, when you are being given positive energy, make a motion with your right hand towards you and silently say, “Welcome”. If we are only on guard against negative energy, but don’t accept positive energy, we will not find neither rest nor renewal. A balanced stance towards positive and negative energy is the proper way to advance in the path of rising energy represented by two tigers guarding the entrance of the Shoaling Temple, in China, the center for mastery over energy. “Show me the tiger and I will show you the dragon” says an old Chinese maxim. What it means is that, if we master the tiger energies in our being –anger and fear- then we will be able to use and transform fire –like the dragon- without getting burned. We will burn-up, without burning out, the main challenge of our working life.
We are told that Bodhidharma, the founder the martial arts, was a monk who traveled through the forests and observed the animals in great detail. He noticed the way they would master their peculiar skills. There was no effort, just neutrality in their motion: the precise action would spontaneously emerge with grace and power. Visualizing the element of fire, Bodhidharma internalized these motions, fire giving him the element by which he could take on any form. Transformation is the main domain of fire people.
The high voltage of fire people can make them a challenge to be around others. Not all light-bulbs are set up to channel the same electrical discharge, therefore, fire people tend to act as our sun, with several planets in its orbit, but rarely with another sun around.
In mystical terms in the Christian tradition, John the Baptist represents water, and Jesus represents the power of fire. That is why John says, “I baptize you with water, but the one that comes after me will baptize you with fire.” And later we read in “acts of the apostles” that after his death, when the apostles were in hiding, during the day of Pentecost, fire came from above and they were baptized with it. From that moment on, they became fearless.
In the view of the ancient Mexicans, both elements, water and fire, were the symbols for spiritual transformation, what they called, and “burning water”.
And the use of fire in a sacred ritual was implemented by Zarathustra, in Persia, and his view of “Aura-Mazda”, the lord of light fought the forces of darkness.
Fire is ageless. It is constantly being generated by transforming matter. Yet, it has a particular point of ignition. From that moment on, the flame appears, dances, and expands upwards. It seeks the high places, as if it cannot stay down on the earth for long. Perhaps it was this quality that gave birth to conceptions around the world that fire was the essence of divine life returning to its source. Then our soul was a kind of fire, a fire that it’s never extinguished. And that is what Moses encounters when he climbs the Sinai, the shining bush that speaks to him, and tells him, “I AM who I AM.”
That is the voice of eternity, the voice that is now in the domain of timelessness. And that is why John the apostle, writes, “In the beginning was the word.” It is this voice that he is talking about, and that is why Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” And it is he who speaks with the voice of fire, the voice of the present moment, the timeless being.
And that is why he went to the desert: to see everything he was not, burned completely, and his eternal nature overcomes the power of him who is the lord of time and the world of form. Every great Avatar has had to the confront the world of illusion with the fire of the invisible spirit.
The same symbolism was used in the Toltec story of the serpent and the Eagle, by which we find the eagle instructing the serpent to go to the highest place on earth and jump to the sun. The serpent who follows this path, reaches the pyramid, and jumps, finds that wings emerge from within (just like our lungs pulled air at the time of our birth) and the serpent becomes the plumed serpent, and eventually a bird that reaches the sun: it becomes the “sun bird” with everything worldly burning in the sun, and then the bird descending back to the world to help others realize their true nature and reach the sun, the fire, the light, our source.
Now, just like we have seen the good earth, the good water, the good air, there also the good fire.
The good fire consists of a rising of energy that is uplifting, and everywhere. It is the one in all, the sublime love by which all stars are moved. It is there in the experience of oneness of all of those who go beyond the ego. Just like Rumi who experienced this state said, “Enough words, I want burning, burning, and burning!” And he was set aflame. Some avatars followed this path of realization: the one of passionate love, the volcanic irruption of the spirit, the formless expression of being without holding anything back. These are beings that are the reversal of an atomic explosion: in them, all life is fused together, finds their beginning, their middle and their fulfillment, it is instantaneous, everywhere and total.
And yet, when that fire is not balanced, it becomes “wild-fire” and it is the destroyer of worlds. That is why, in the Hindu tradition, it was represented by the dual nature of Shiva, who on one side is the “destroyer” and on the other one, is the “transformer.” The fire, out of balance, represents the destroyer.
Now, when individuals are infused by rising energy –the kundalini rising of the Hindu yogis- and the ego is not disciplined enough, the ego becomes inflated with the rising fire, and what you have is not “illumination”, but fire intoxication of the ego: the personal ego being taken for god: a personal idolatry, that turns the individual demonic. That was the predicament of the Lucifer, the fallen angel, who, decided to take the place of God, and became malignant, that same angel who had been the most perfect and beautiful of them all.
This also represents the inability of letting go of one’s self. Just like the mature person, not being able to depart from his or her youth. You can see their fear creeping up, festering, and taking over their consciousness. Then they become like Dorian Dray, that character of Oscar Wild’s novel, who, due to his enormous attachment to his youthful beauty, infuses one of his paintings with the power to absorb the passage of time of his life, while he became immune to it, and the longer he goes on with this predicament, the most cruel and damaging he becomes to the world. That is what happens when one is unwilling to accept life with all its limitations and petrifies any aspect of one’s passing ego. Thus, our glorified ego becomes our personal demon, that is, us as God, or the bases of extreme narcissism. And this is the kind of energetic illness that predates on those who are in the public spot light, with the projection of many other minds and energies on them as they are on stage or the public eye. These are the stars that end up believing that they are it. And the higher they go, the stronger they are going to hit the grown. That is why Lao Tze tells us, that we do well when we remain low and close to the ground, without bringing much attention to ourselves, and without taking ourselves to seriously or as if we are it. And that is why there were some particular forms of meditation for people in the public eye, to become mindful of all of their imperfections, so that they stayed honest and humbled, without the fire of personal grandiosity. And if they had experiences of rising energy in their consciousness –as they are common for fire people- they did not become self-absorbed, but saw them as some kind of temptation. If they give in to the temptation of self aggrandizement, they became the mad-buddhas, individuals who had the illness of an undigested spiritual experience. Spirit can cause a sort of illness to the unprepared ego personality. And that fire, just like the air before it, can become toxic if there is no proper outlet. And nothing is as dangerous as implosive fire.
When a person is infected with “toxic fire” –that is, fire intoxication- they need to spend sometime in secluded places, away from others, and in nature, particularly on high places, on the mountains. Here, the cold –even better, the winter- provides them with the ideal opportunity to release their excess of energetic heat and become empty to receive self transcending fire. But first they must release the excessive fire. This can be done too by certain positions, songs, and ceremonies, including the use of sweat-lodges and ice melted creeks.
With good fire, one is burning up in balance; with toxic fire one is flaring up, overly imposing, overbearing and with no sense of timing or patience.
Balance, in fire, as well as with every other element, is the key factor for harmony, well being, and community making.

WATER PEOPLE– By Roberto Dansie

2010-01-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

Water people are moved by one thing: emotions. They go with their feelings, and from the heart center they see and experience the world.

Water in balance and motion, can make them beam with life, flowing in the world, and connecting with every living being. But when water is not in balance, when there is an excess of it, then people can literally drown in their own water.

Traditional healers look into the eyes of people. “Drowning” can be one of their assessments. If this is the case, the remedy will be “un-drowning”, a word that exists in several languages outside of English.

And how is it that people can un-drown?

One of them is by being listened with skill by another person.

Now, this listening is a real art. The person doing the listening must be using all of his or her being. When the other person is releasing water, they must be bringing in good air; otherwise, the water that has been just released can find its way back into its source, like the rivers returning to the sea. The environment also, must be free of negativity. If in the air there is toxic or troubling energy, this air will find its way into the person that has created a new space. And the bad air can have even more negative factors than the water that had just was released. That is one of the main reasons why traditional healers, before they proceed to do any thing, create a sacred space and follow a ritual to open up and later to close in a good way the encounter.

The ancient Mexicans used the symbol of “burning water” to indicate sacredness, healing and transformation. And that is what takes place when the excess of water is turn into air by fire, which purifies of all negativity that which it burns. Air with light then goes back into the being of the person, and the light air elevates their spirit. That is why the ancient Greeks spoke of “inspiration” as the spirit in the air that elevates us, thus, “inspire us.”

Water was associated with the heart. And the fact that some people have a big heart does not mean that they are in any way weaker than others. To the contrary, they have the courage to feel, and as the old healing saying goes, “what you can feel you can heal!”

Water people are, by nature, healers. They have the ability to take into themselves the water of others, water that can contain their pain or suffering.

Because of this quality, others seek them out, often pouring their inner life out to them. At the end, they can say, “thank you, I feel much better now that I have talked to you” which may not be the experience of the one who listened.

Why is this?

Well, water people, kind and compassionate as they tend to be, are also aware that they have a tendency to take into heart everything that the other person may be feeling. And just like the waters of the earth always seek the lower ground, in the same way the energetic waters gravitate towards the heats of water people. Most people shield their heart from the world, but just look at the water people: their heart go out to people. They are like the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: a heart that is literally out of their body, a heart that is larger than life. They are the antidote to the illness of modern man, the one who thinks too much and feels too little. Water people feel it all. Because of this they can get quite overwhelmed. Waters, theirs and others, inundate their being. Hans Christian Anderson could feel profoundly, the suffering of others, particularly the children. This pain, he later said in is biography, would have destroyed him had he not found a way to channel these emotions. Which he began doing with his puppet show. And later he found that stories grew from these feelings, and that the stories were filled with a hidden meaning that often came towards the end. Then, all of that pain main sense and became something else, something aching to labor, the pains of giving birth, or growing pains that made us stronger for life. And that pain was also the source of compassion, our ability to feel the pain of others and be moved to do something about it. We are told that Christian Anderson, old and fragile towards the end of his life thought that his stories had come and gone like the wind, but the king of his country who had him at his palace told him, “Mr. Anderson, please come with me towards the window.” Anderson did. “They are coming out for you.” The king added. And Anderson saw points of light as far as he could see. It was his people, lighting candles all across his land.

That story reveals a trend of water people: they are rarely aware of the greatness of their actions. They just did them, from the heart.

And what is it that the author of “The Little Prince” tells us. He has the wise fox tell the little prince an eternal truth: “for that which is essential is invisible to the eye, it can only be seen by the heart.”

EARTH PEOPLE by Roberto Dansie

2010-01-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

Earth people are guided by their body and sensation. Their cycle flourishes in the evening, and their psychological orientation dives into the self like no other element. They are the deep divers of the world within, the ones that rise with the mystical “pearl.”

The pearl is made over the ages, through solitude and depth, and when it comes to the outer world it brings wisdom and light.

But that is the key: the pearl that lives within must be brought out to see the light.

This externalization is what Jesus was talking about when he said according to the Gospel of Thomas, “if you don’t bring forth what is within you, what is within you will destroy you. If you bring forth what is within you, what is within you will save you.”

Going in is not a challenge for the earth-people: their challenge strives in going out, and sharing their self with others. Often times, they find a way to be of help to others, and fulfill beautifully the role of the helper. But if we look deeper, we will find that there is little intimacy in their lives for they fail to share themselves with others and the world.

Joseph Campbell speaks of three stages in the hero’s journey, the departure, the solitude and their return. The earth-person is someone who has as his or her main challenge the return to the world, for where they go and what they find in their journey seems untranslatable to the rest of the world. So deep is their finding that no words reach it. Still, their challenge is to convey it even when it is done indirectly. The example of our breathing can help us with this point. We breathe in, and we breathe out. When our breath goes out, something of us goes with it. This is our deepest self, the most private and personal, and yet capable of extending out into the world. Our task is to do this consciously and deliberately. When we succeed in this process we join Carl Rogers the famous humanist psychologist who told us, “it often happens that what we consider the most private and personal part of our self is also the most universal.” And in the words of the poet Gibran Jalil, “what I say today with one voice, tomorrow will be said by many voices.”

And here we find another quality of earth people: given their inclination for the depth, they often extend the horizons for the rest of humanity. They stay longer in the dark, therefore, their eyes eventually adjust enough for them to discern the reality of a world that others tend to believe invisible. Thus, earth people have to have the courage of their own personal experiences even when these experiences seem to be neither common nor ordinary.

Silence and space are the great contributions of the earth people. And because they have been the first to master these powerful qualities, they can bring a sense of “presence” to the world they inhabit. Their being –rather than their doing- is their main source of power. They can also provide stability and order to relations, situations and organizations, making sustainability one of their priorities. By the same token, precisely because of the relevance of stability and order in their way of being, earth people are inclined to the world of inaction, and are keenly aware of the downfalls of the world of action. The problem arises when this preference becomes a fixation, and initiative is avoided. Then they don’t dwell in peace but in inertia; then, they don’t enter the world of non-resistance but the one of non-participation.

The concept of the circle, the one that brings together our inner and our outer world is one that earth people are to follow if they are ever to reach balance in their lives. To bring forth what they experience within is the main discipline of their lives. A doing that is rooted in their experience. Just like the Huichol Indians, who, having experience their vision of the spiritual world, they follow the discipline of drawing their journey, or expressing it by movement, words, sounds, songs or stories. The important factor being its expression. The Huichol Indians also give us good advice in this practice: when they express this experience in a painting, you can always find some deliberate imperfection. When you ask them, “what is this?” they tell you, “that is me.” And this pointing to their ego, is done so that they don’t become inflated with the divine and afflicted with the illness of the geniuses, narcissism.

Those who go to the deep, they are constantly taking the risk of taking themselves too seriously and becoming energetically heavy.

Lightness of being, and humor are wonderful allies for earth people, and they shall be cultivated by them as members of their closest family.

When earth people are in balance, we refer to them as “light earth”. When they begin to loose balance, we describe them as “heavy earth”, and when they loose balance completely, we call them “earth-quake!”

AIR PEOPLE – By Roberto Dansie

2010-01-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

>AIR PEOPLE –

By Roberto Dansie

Air represents the mind, people who experience and see the world mostly through the prism of the mind. Just like earth people are body centered, and water people are feeling centered, the air people are centered in the mind. Thought, is the guiding principle of their lives. Their challenge is to get out of their head. Because of their constant application of their minds to life, they have a tendency to get lost in thought. Yet, thought provides them with a fine instrument to analyze the world, their relations, and the way to handle the challenges of life. Often, air people play the role of advisor or leader in their social circle; when they are growing up, their perspective tends to be more rational and responsible than that of the adults around them. They figure out systems and patterns, and are unlikely to take things personally. We are told that Vladimyr Lenin, the author of the Russian revolution, having been captured by his opponent, analyzed the situation and told a friend, “You will see, this is the time when they will kill us.” Then he proceeded to tell his comrade all of the reasons why their opponents would choose such a time to take them out. When this didn’t happened, and the comrade was celebrating their being alive, Lenin just shook his head, and said, “They just did not know when they had the upper hand.”

Those are comments proper of an air person: they never loose their cool, they just considered their situation, check their options, and deal with issues.

I remember, growing up, Martin, my youngest brother, got a beautiful toy truck for Christmas. The truck will move on its own, without batteries or electric plugs: it just needed to be cranked long enough, and it would take off on its own. A few hours later, my parents found Martin on the floor: he had disassembled the toy into its parts, looking carefully at each one of them. He was warned that he would not get a toy for a long time, but he did not understand why. For him, the main thing was to figure out how the toy worked. Being still a child, and ego centered in his understanding of others, he figured that they would be just as interested as he was to find out how the truck worked. Focus is the great strength of air people: it is also their main weakness. Remember, when people are in “point cero” (the place which gives them perfect balance) they apply their inclination without attachment, which gives them skill (or “virtue”). When they are off balance, their inclination becomes attached. It is then that problems or imbalances appear. In the case of the air person, under pressure, they tend to become extremely focus, which makes them come across as insensitive because they simply are focusing, exclusively, with what they determined the priority at that time and place.

Air people are particularly aware of the multiplicity of perspectives that can take place beyond the objective world. If, for example, they see a person who does not often make their bed, they don’t rush into judgment. They consider all of the different reasons why such person has for that behavior. They consider that maybe it is a person who likes to be taken cared off; or that they have a different set of priorities; or they balance their order at work with the chaos at home. And their search for explanations may continue for a long time: air people see the many worlds that live in our world. For them, the mind is the world to be lived and explored: they are minds seeing minds. They venture into the world of ideas, the field of equations, of causes, of explanations; they enjoy solving or figuring out solutions; for them, insight into the principles that affect the universe gives them their major trill. It is like a Greek wise man, which declined being the king of his country: he would not change a kingdom for the experience of finding out how the world worked. Or, Archimedes who, when about to be killed by an invading soldier was absorbed in equations that he had drew in the sand, and was not distracted with the impending death that he had seen coming to him. A mind, so real, that the ordinary world just disappeared.

Creativity And The Heart

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The ancient Chinese call our creative faculty “Tao”, the way of life. With our heart, our waters become the flow of our energy in the world, all emotions being welcomed into the field of life. Those who articulate the waters often lend words to the feelings of all people, like John Newton who wrote amazing grace after his heart conversion, and having once been a slave trader, became a dedicated abolitionist. His words, “amazing grace, how sweat the sound that save a wrench like me, for I was lost and now I am found, was blind but now I see.” Are words that lift us all.

Our heart is our source of our deepest insights.

What is it that your heart tells you? Let your heart speak, find your voice, and help others find theirs. This determination, according to Stephen Covey, is the greatest of all skills, what he calls “the 8^th habit.”

Emily, my youngest daughter, is a water child. She feels deeply, and is a keen observer of life. At age four she made her first poem, when I answer one of her questions that had to do with the movement of the moon and the stars. This is what Emily had to say:

“The sky is blue, the clouds are red, and the moon and the stars are asleep in their bed.”

At age eight, as we were driving in our road of French Gulch, she spontaneously said, “sometimes, the clouds in the sky become the way to heaven.”

And when her beloved cat died at age three, Emily made poems for her, and honored her memory with a photo of her in our living room. “Pumpkin” was her name, because she had some orange fur, and had come to us during the season of Halloween. And there was sadness and joy in Emily’s heart, her tender heart big enough for both of them, what the Brazilians refer to as “saudachi”, sad-joy.

Water people also develop through their journey of life. When they are children, they tend to live in the reality of their emotions: what they feel is their criteria for reality. They easily take things to heart, and are often hurt by behaviors that others either ignore or let go by. We will do well in helping them articulate what is going through their heart. They often bring a higher sensitivity to their social environment. For them, nothing is far away. An ordinary photo in the newspaper can stay with them. Like a child who learned of the need of water in Africa, and got involved in raising funds for a well. That became his task, the photo that we let seat on our table, with nothing but a passing feeling. Not for this little guy. And the well was dig, and the people of the village wanted to know the name of this child, and they named their well after him. Water child. He stayed with the feeling until he found resolution. The water is the solution: his action, the resolution. The child lives was made whole. But feeling without action can become a source of suffering. That is why wise teachers tell us that suffering is a call to action, not just for us to afflict ourselves with emotions of hurt or pain. Feel, do. That is the nature of the flow of water. That is why the lady of the lake appears to King Arthur, and gives him the sword, Excalibur, to bring justice to the world. Of this water calling, Jesus said, “and bless are those who cry for justice, for they claim will be fulfilled.”

Thomas Aquinas said that there was something wrong with those who were unperturbed by the injustices of the world. He said that there was something such as “rightful anger”. There was indeed, the extreme of negative anger, rage, “ira-cundia” and it’s opposite, being a wimp. But in the middle between these two extremes, in the area of “manas inominata” (in the unnamed field) lives the virtuous anger, the rightful indignation against abuse and injustice, that place from where a Gandhi rises, or a Mandela, or a Helen Caldecott, the Pediatrician who gave up her practice to denounced nuclear weapon proliferation all over the world.

Water people are often called for tasks that seem insurmountable. Such was the case of the first female student to ever be admitted into the school of Medicine, in Italy, at the turn of the 20^th century. Maria was welcomed by her teachers and colleagues, to undertake a trial by fire. She was given the mentally retarded children, the poorest of the poor in the central hospital of Rome. Surrounded by these children, Maria felt her heart break, the waters too abundant for her heart. It was then that she heard these powerful words that often come to the aid of water people: “when you reach the end of the road, the journey begins!”

And her journey began then and there. She got back on her feet, saw the children, and saw them as children. What is it that they needed? They needed to learn, to study, to grow. They needed their childhood back. That is what her heart told her. It did not say how: just what needed to be done, what was needed, what was fair. And the sword appeared. Her will became unbreakable, her love, unlimited. And she made the way by walking. She focused on each one of those children, and allowed them to guide her in her efforts to teach them. And teach them she did, and in the process brought forth a method that still illuminates the lives of countless children around the world. I am so glad she did not give up. I am so glad that she endured, and went the distance, and listened to her heart. Her last name? Montessori.

Cultural Wisdom

Cultural Wisdom: Zen Wisdom, Water Peace Meditation

Zen Wisdom, Water Peace Meditation

THE STAGES OF EARTH PEOPLE.-

Andrew J. Imparato, President & CEO American Association of People with Disabilities,Washington, D.C.

2009 18th Annual Western Migrant Stream Forum HIGHLIGHTS

FIRE PEOPLE- By Roberto Dansie

WATER PEOPLE– By Roberto Dansie

EARTH PEOPLE by Roberto Dansie

AIR PEOPLE – By Roberto Dansie

Creativity And The Heart

Andrew J. Imparato, President & CEO
American Association
of People with Disabilities,
Washington, D.C.