Welcome to Black Sun

EDUCATINON, MINDFULNESS

(20:05).- Our schools are, in a sense, factories, in which the raw materials “children”, are to be shaped and fashioned onto products. Elwood P. Cubbery, Dean. Stanford University School of Education, 1898. Schooling the World, documentary. (Carol Black, director.2011).

Education makes us, casts us…shapes us. How do we want our children to grow? …Like “working ants”? …Full of insecurities, debts and with a planet on the dead line of destruction? …Or would we prefer our kids to grow as confident people in themselves, confident in the environment they belong to, strong and intelligent, able to look after themselves and others, able to look after the planet? …Don’t we prefer, that children are educated to be wise, without prejudices, free of mind, free of election and free to express, able to enjoy their free time and free spaces?. Don’t we want our children to forge a better civilization in harmony with the planet, instead to destroy it like we do?. We couldn’t reach these ideals because of greediness and ignorance, but we now are learning from our mistakes.

Education forges us, and at the same time, modifies the emergent culture.

These are talks from the video schooling the world, of Carol Black, director, 2011.

(05:57).- Today, western schooling is responsible for introducing a human mono-culture across the entire world, essentially the same curriculum is been told, and is training people for jobs, very scarce jobs, jobs which are in urban and consumer cultures.

The diversity of culture, as well, as the diversity of unique human individuals, has been destroyed in this way. Helena Norberg-hodge. International society for Ecology and Culture. Schooling the World.

(12:31).- There is no doubt, that if we look at traditional ways of education, and compare them to today’s modern education system, that the traditional forms of knowledge foster sustainability. All these cultures were not perfect, but they did know about their own specific climate, soil, water…and they did manage to survive, independently, in charge of their own lives, for generation after generation. In the modern economy and with the modern education of our system, the children learn nothing about that, but instead they learn how to use, essentially corporative products, in an urban consumer culture. So, once they been educated in “modern” school, they literally don’t know how to survive in their own environment. Helena Norberg-hodge. International society for Ecology and Culture. Schooling the World.

Let’s read Allan Watts’ perspective.

“Them, the duty of the actual education system, consist in to turn the kids able to live in a certain society, persuading them to learn and to accept its custom: rules and conventions of communication, which the society relies on”. The Path to Zen, (p.11). Allan Watts.

Adapting to the codes and rules that "enslaved" the working class at the beginning of the industrial revolution? …Accept the non-moral values of consumerism and non- equity capitalism?

(17:04).- I think the way, western education has grown over the last few centuries, especially with the rise of industrialization, was basically not to create human beings, fully equipped to deal with life and all its problems, independent citizens able to exercise their decisions, and live their responsibilities in community…but elements to fit into an industrial production system. Vandana Shiva. Navdanya Research foundation for science, Technology and Ecology. Schooling the World.

(17:48).- If we look back to at the beginning of so called “education”, the agenda was very clear, there was an elite that wanted to train people to serve their needs. To essentially, create an extractive economy that serve the few at the expenses of many. Helena Norberg-hodge. International society for Ecology and Culture. Schooling the World.

We have been educated to accept the way in which the society’s "wheel" turns, and at the same time they force us to push this "wheel".

Let’s read Tony Benn’s ideas on education

(00:01).- The porpoise of education is to discover the genius in every child, not to grade them as eggs for the market. Everybody in my judgment has mental talent and ability and you have to discover it and bring it out.

(02:09).- The old official view of education, which was: all you need to know, the working class, was to be able to do your job. If you were working in the field you need to know nothing, if you were a slave all you needed to know is if you weren’t doing what you been told, you are going to be doff or executed. And then gradually, in the 19th century’s industrial develop, they realized some form of education was necessary, and that’s how the system of elementary education came on. And now the comprehensive idea is coming with the recognition that everybody is entitle to have access to knowledge.

(02:45).- And I don’t think people at the top are very kind on that, I think there is a great suspicious about the public education, because educated people are harder to control than uneducated people told what to do. So I think education is part of the information revolution. Education is the key to progress, and if people understand better the world where they are living, then they are much more able to control it in their own interest.

(03:13).- I think that that liberation that comes from knowledge is something to be enormous importance in the world which we now live.

In our lives, from the first contacts with education at schools, we are bombarded by all the incentives and pressures of the society, which keeps us "busy". This makes us always worry about our situation and imposed goals.

As a child at school, first, we are all graded and everyone must be equal: no one ought to stand out above or below. They make us leave our concerns and predilections out, been modelled to fit in and be productive in society ... creating a “working ant”: Even if the child wants and feels different wanting to be an artist, a pilot, a farmer, or a expeditionary ... he must adapt to the available social roles other such as: bus driver, lawyer, civil engineer, doctor, plumber, accountant ... all jobs are created for society, positions designed by and for the productivity of the society. They are already designed and rigid positions, not flexible. However every human being is different ...it is normal that we feel stress! We have to adapt into the box, instead of making the box fitting us.

When you get a little older, they keep pushing and bombarding you, making you feel "busy" with the anxiety of consumerism, and the stress of paying debts, manipulating the aims of life. Instead of heading towards fair communities and happiness, the goal is to be richer, to be in that 1%, so we work harder and harder... worrying about having fun in our spare time, because in our non-free time, we are not happy. News and political pressure are orientated to keep us preoccupied with problems that have been "created" to divert our attention and perception of reality.

Like a hamster in a cage, we are spinning round and round the wheel. It could run for freedom and enjoy discovering the world. Instead, it has been put in the wheel that goes round and round, and makes him eventually tired ... and then submit and adapt. This mouse is not free, although we put a plasma TV in the cage and give him free drinks on "happy hour" on Friday evening, although we give him 50% sales in Decathlon .... This mouse is not free, nor is living the reality of the world.

The analogy of the hamster position in the spinning wheel is very similar to our situation in society. The only difference is that our cages have more amenities (obvious, with a smarter hamster, we need a bit more sophisticated toys to deceive ourselves). The wheel that traps us is a complex social structure:

... Need to work to meet the need to buy food, to meet the need to eat, to meet the need to go to work. To meet the need of buying a home to meet the need to sleep, to meet the need to go to work. To meet the need of buying a car, to meet the need of transportation, to meet the need to go to work. To meet the need to go on holiday to meet the need to be a little happy, at least to continue living to meet the need to go to work, to cover the need to pay taxes to support society ... which, by the way, organizes all this need to go to work…always meeting needs. That is how they control this hamster.

(19:07).- Now in different countries in the so called “third world”, the basic fundamental agenda is the same, it is to pull people into dependence, on modern centralized economy. It is to pull them away from their independence, and from their own culture and self-respect. Helena Norberg-hodge. International society for Ecology and Culture. Schooling the World.

We haven’t been educated and guided to grow to be happy and free. Not with consciousness and a developed attitude in accordance with our nature.

(13:38).- Education is not simply the transmission of information. It is by definition the transmission, and indeed, the “culturation” or indoctrination of the child into a certain way of knowing, a way of learning, a way of being. Again, when we project our notions of what education is overseas, into others people’s lives, we forget that we are projecting just something that we made up. And, one of the things that I see in my work, is that, different ways of knowing, different ways of being, different ways of learning…really create different human beings. Wade Davis. Schooling the World.

If we had been educated fully... we would not be the hamster running around in this wheel. An important detail to note is what is the wheel for...? Its produces power ... power. It is not a coincidence. This huge “wheel” (or our actual society) has been created by and for that "1% of the world population who holds and collects 40% of the global wealth. It is the same people who lead the trend of the society.

To change education, we must first change ourselves. We need to free ourselves from the pressure of the culture, that has shaped us to "see and accept" what the corporations wants. Once we can get rid of the veil of "culture" we can be free to educate ourselves and educate our children in a healthy, comprehensive, equanimity and intelligent way.

“More than a century ago, Emile Durkheim rejected the idea that education could be the force to transform society and resolve social ills. Instead, Durkheim concluded that education “can be reformed only if society itself is reformed.” He argued that education “is only the image and reflection of society. It imitates and reproduces the latter…it does not create it” (Durkheim, 1897/1951: 372-373).

ON MINDFULNESS…

The following texts are from the book Mindfulness In Plain Englishm by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana. One of the best book on mindfulness.

“It is often translated as Insight meditation, since the purpose of this system is to give the meditator insight into the nature of reality and accurate understanding of how everything works.

Theravada Buddhism presents us with an effective system for exploring the deeper levels of the mind, down to the very root of consciousness itself.

The Vipassana meditator uses his concentration as a tool by which his awareness can chip away at the wall of illusion which cuts him off from the living light of reality.

This book is an introduction to the attainment of mindfulness through bare attention to, and clear comprehension of, the whole process of breathing. Using the breath as his primary focus of attention, the meditator applies participatory observation to the entirety of his own perceptual universe.

Meditation takes 'gumption'. It is certainly a great deal easier just to kick back and watch television. So why bother? Why waste all that time and energy when you could be out enjoying yourself? Why bother? Simple. Because you are human. And just because of the simple fact that you are human, you find yourself heir to an inherent un-satisfactoriness in life which simply will not go away. You can suppress it from your awareness for a time. You can distract yourself for hours on end, but it always comes back--usually when you least expect it.

The essence of our experience is change. Change is incessant. Moment by moment life flows by and it is never the same. Perpetual alteration is the essence of the perceptual universe.

You can't ever get everything you want. It is impossible. Luckily, there is another option. You can learn to control your mind, to step outside of this endless cycle of desire and aversion. You can learn to not want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them.

Wait a minute, though. Peace and happiness! Isn't that what civilization is all about? We build skyscrapers and freeways. We have paid vacations, TV sets. We provide free hospitals and sick leaves, Social Security and welfare benefits. All of that is aimed at providing some measure of peace and happiness.

We are just beginning to realize that we have overdeveloped the material aspect of existence at the expense of the deeper emotional and spiritual aspect, and we are paying the price for that error.

You can't make radical changes in the pattern of your life until you begin to see yourself exactly as you are now. As soon as you do that, changes flow naturally. You don't have to force or struggle or obey rules dictated to you by some authority. You just change. It is automatic. But arriving at the initial insight is quite a task. You've got to see who you are and how you are, without illusion, judgement or resistance of any kind.

Meditation is intended to purify the mind. It cleanses the thought process of what can be called psychic irritants, things like greed, hatred and jealousy, things that keep you snarled up in emotional bondage. It brings the mind to a state of tranquillity and awareness, a state of concentration and insight.

The Dhammapada is an ancient Buddhist text which anticipated Freud by thousands of years. It says: "What you are now is the result of what you were. What you will be tomorrow will be the result of what you are now. The consequences of an evil mind will follow you like the cart follows the ox that pulls it. The consequences of a purified mind will follow you like your own shadow. No one can do more for you than your own purified mind-- no parent, no relative, no friend, no one. A well-disciplined mind brings happiness".

An accomplished meditator has achieved a profound understanding of life, and he inevitably relates to the world with a deep and uncritical love.

The purpose of meditation is personal transformation. The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side. It changes your character by a process of sensitization, by making you deeply aware of your own thoughts, words, and deeds. Your arrogance evaporates and your antagonism dries up. Your mind becomes still and calm. And your life smoother out. Thus meditation properly performed prepares you to meet the ups and downs of existence. It reduces your tension, your fear, and your worry. Restlessness recedes and passion moderates. Things begin to fall into place and your life becomes a glide instead of a struggle. All of this happens through understanding.

Meditation sharpens your concentration and your thinking power. Then, piece by piece, your own subconscious motives and mechanics become clear to you. Your intuition sharpens. The precision of your thought increases and gradually you come to a direct knowledge of things as they really are, without prejudice and without illusion. So is this reason enough to bother? Scarcely. These are just promises on paper. There is only one way you will ever know if meditation is worth the effort. Learn to do it right, and do it. See for yourself.

There are three integral factors in Buddhist meditation --- morality, concentration and wisdom. These three factors grow together as your practice deepens. Each one influences the other, so you cultivate the three of them together, not one at a time. When you have the wisdom to truly understand a situation, compassion towards all the parties involved is automatic, and compassion means that you automatically restrain yourself from any thought, word or deed that might harm yourself or others. Thus your behavior is automatically moral. It is only when you don't understand things deeply that you create problems. If you fail to see the consequences of your own action, you will blunder.

Meditation is running into reality. It does not insulate you from the pain of life. It allows you to delve so deeply into life and all its aspects that you pierce the pain barrier and you go beyond suffering. Vipassana is a practice done with the specific intention of facing reality, to fully experience life just as it is and to cope with exactly what you find. It allows you to blow aside the illusions and to free yourself from all those polite little

You will start seeing changes right away, but really profound effects are years down the line. That is just the way the universe is constructed. Nothing worthwhile is achieved overnight.

All Buddhist meditation aims at the development of awareness, using concentration as a tool.

Vipassana is the oldest of Buddhist meditation practices. The method comes directly from the Sitipatthana Sutta, a discourse attributed to Buddha himself. Vipassana is a direct and gradual cultivation of mindfulness or awareness.

The object of Vipassana practice is to learn to pay attention. We think we are doing this already, but that is an illusion. It comes from the fact that we are paying so little attention to the on-going surge of our own life experiences that we might just as well be asleep. We are simply not paying enough attention to notice that we are not paying attention.

Vipassana is a form of mental training that will teach you to experience the world in an entirely new way. You will learn for the first time what is truly happening to you, around you and within you. It is a process of self-discovery, a participatory investigation in which you observe your own experiences while participating in them, and as they occur.

This process leads to insight into the basic reality of whatever is being inspected. Put it all together and 'Vipassana Bhavana' means the cultivation of the mind, aimed at seeing in a special way that leads to insight and to full understanding.

In Vipassana meditation we cultivate this special way of seeing life. We train ourselves to see reality exactly as it is, and we call this special mode of perception 'mindfulness.' This process of mindfulness is really quite different from what we usually do. We usually do not look into what is really there in front of us. We see life through a screen of thoughts and concepts, and we mistake those mental objects for the reality. We get so caught up in this endless thought stream that reality flows by unnoticed. We spend our time engrossed in activity, caught up in an eternal pursuit of pleasure and gratification and an eternal flight from pain and unpleasantness. We spend all of our energies trying to make ourselves feel better, trying to bury our fears. We are endlessly seeking security. Meanwhile, the world of real experience flows by untouched and un tasted. In Vipassana meditation we train ourselves to ignore the constant impulses to be more comfortable, and we dive into the reality instead. The ironic thing is that real peace comes only when you stop chasing it.

Buddhism is 2500 years old, and any thought system of that vintage has had time to develop layers and layers of doctrine and ritual. Nevertheless, the fundamental attitude of Buddhism is intensely empirical and anti-authoritarian. Gotama the Buddha was a highly unorthodox individual and real anti-traditionalist. He did not offer his teaching as a set of dogmas, but rather as a set of propositions for each individual to investigate for himself.

His invitation to one and all was 'Come and See'. One of the things he said to his followers was "Place no head above your own". By this he meant, don't accept somebody else's word. See for yourself.

From the Buddhist point of view, we human beings live in a very peculiar fashion. We view impermanent things as permanent, though everything is changing all around us. The process of change is constant and eternal”.