To paraphrase Newsweek\u2019s Jon Meacham on Brian Lehrer\u2019s WNYC November 5th broadcast, \u201cIf there\u2019s ever a time that we can feel sticky-sweet gooey sentimental puppy love it\u2019s today.\u201d Kumbaya-all-we-are-saying-is-we-shall-overcome-signed-sealed-and-delivered-Obama-is-yours!\u00a0 USA work it out!\u00a0 Wednesday I had a realization that for pretty much all of my adult life (I\u2019m 27) I\u2019ve been a walking, talking embodiment of disenfranchisement.\u00a0 I\u2019ve felt my values were not commercially valuable, my aspirations esoterically idealistic and the majority of my fellow men cynical and depressingly delusional.\u00a0 Wednesday morning ushered in\u00a0the possibility of feeling communion with more humanity in a real physical way then I\u2019ve ever felt before.\u00a0 And while we\u2019ve just begun and there\u2019s a lot of \u201cokay yes we will\u201d Americans must do in the following years, I\u2019m thrilled about the prospect of looking to Barack Obama as a leader in the true sense of the word.\u00a0 Lead me President Obama \u2013 I promise I\u2019ll do my best to follow.
\nCinnabun sentiments aside, I do find that giddiness, celebration and happy times, for me at least, offer some of the most intense challenges on the Buddhist path.\u00a0 Those tingling, excited feelings morph into gripping anxiety about their inevitable departure faster than I can say Vladimir Putin.\u00a0 As Ethan always says, it\u2019s really easy and great to believe in impermanence when things aren\u2019t going so well.\u00a0 But that flying-high feeling feels so prime for a crash landing that I find myself chain smoking and writing songs with titles like, \u201cIcarus Ascending.\u201d I know that the anxiety about suffering is the suffering itself, but it seems so much harder to temper when it\u2019s based on events that are essentially positive\u00a0rather\u00a0than negative.\u00a0 Not getting what I want?\u00a0 No worry, JJ \u2013 suffering exists.\u00a0 Getting what I want?\u00a0\u00a0Sweating time, Jonas –\u00a0you know you know that all conditioned phenomena is subject to change.\u00a0 Particularly the phenomena that is awesome and makes you feel great.\u00a0 That phenomena is so subject to change its not even here any more because you\u2019re so worried about it changing.
\nTherefore\u00a0I was pleased that on Saturday, November 1st 2008 in HC Dharma class, our hearts beating like the liberal worried rabbits we were, we discussed one of my favorite teachings, a Theravaden teaching called the seven factors of awakening.\u00a0 The Factors are divided into three categories \u2013 balancing, arousing and stabilizing.\u00a0 The idea of the teaching is to coax all of these factors into balance and achieve the perfect (yet fluid) mix on the radio dials of your internal vibe.
\nThe balancing quality is mindfulness \u2013 knowing what we\u2019re doing while we\u2019re doing it. The arousing qualities are 1. investigation of phenomena (What\u2019s Goin\u2019 On?) 2. Energy, (Let\u2019s Get It On!) and 3. Joy (It\u2019s On!).\u00a0 The stabilizing qualities are concentration, (Stay On It), tranquility (Stay In It), and equanimity (or as my friend Robyn likes to say, \u201cI\u2019m in pain.\u00a0 It\u2019s really interesting\u201d).\u00a0
\nWhen I took the refuge vow with Archarya Eric Speigel, (who tells Buddhist stories like a poet) he spoke of the moment when the Buddha was about to become enlightened and then has a moment of doubt: \u201cWhat if nobody believes me?\u201d\u00a0 In response, the Buddha actively rouses an upsurge of confidence within him, places that infamous hand on that infamous ground and swears that the earth will be his witness.
\nWhile Buddhism is all about accepting things as they are, it also suggests that we may cultivate, rouse and bring forward helpful qualities that make present moment acceptance more possible.\u00a0 The contemplation for this week\u2019s class was to go through a checklist of those 7 factors of awakening, observing which faders on the soundboard of our experience were turned up or down.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve been working with this contemplation, I\u2019ve found that simply taking a moment to think about the quality strengthens it within me.\u00a0 In a way, remembering that joy is a factor of awakening makes it okay for me to indulge in some qualm-less, tender joy.\u00a0 Likewise on the tranquility tip \u2013 right I\u2019m *supposed* to feel calm \u2013 it\u2019s not irresponsible, it\u2019s encouraged!\u00a0 So each time a tornado of anxiety threatens the blue skies of my own private Idaho I\u2019ll try to prioritize those 7 factors over my trepidations of imminent doom.\u00a0 Rouse my mindfulness, energy, investigation, joy.\u00a0 Strengthen my concentration, tranquility and equanimity.\u00a0 Pay attention, buck up and chill the hell out.
\nI\u2019m sure Barack Obama would want nothing less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To paraphrase Newsweek\u2019s Jon Meacham on Brian Lehrer\u2019s WNYC November 5th broadcast, \u201cIf there\u2019s ever a time that we can feel sticky-sweet gooey sentimental puppy love it\u2019s today.\u201d Kumbaya-all-we-are-saying-is-we-shall-overcome-signed-sealed-and-delivered-Obama-is-yours!\u00a0 USA work it out!\u00a0 Wednesday I had a realization that for pretty much all of my adult life (I\u2019m 27) I\u2019ve been a walking, talking embodiment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-media"],"yoast_head":"\n