I hope the storm that blew through our nation’s capital Friday night is a once in a lifetime experience. Watching from the rear window of our treetop level apartment, the woods behind our building undulated like a giant bed of sea anemone being whipped about by the roiling crosscurrents of an angry ocean. Thinking that the stiff wind would cool our stifling bedroom, I opened the window a crack and then took an anxious step back, feeling as if I’d just admitted a furious phantasm that was eager to smash anything it could reach. Read More »
August 30, 2011 – 5:15 AM
“The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.”
Bhagavad-gita 2.23
This verse came to mind during the past week of back-to-back natural disasters assaulting the east coast of the United States. I have to admit that I was a little slow in getting my yoga mojo in gear during the earthquake: despite the violent trembling of my apartment and the accompanying sounds of shattering objects, I stood stupefied in complete denial of the self-evident truth before pulling it together as the tremors dissipated.
It’s easy to understand why the mental discombobulation inspired by an earthquake (in Washington DC?) would throw one for a loop. As Brooke Gladstone tells us in her book about the media, The Influencing Machine; “Humans are wired to absorb information that confirms their worldview, and to repel information that disputes it. The quality of that information is immaterial.” This explains my denial: in my worldview, I’m immortal. The earthquake was clearly and emphatically disputing my worldview, so my mind reacted by rejecting the information it was receiving.
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I went to visit my dentist not too long ago. Lot’s people are afraid of the dentist. And why not; my dentist is terrifying! She’s a sweet and cheerful woman with lots of long, sharp metal objects and motorized devices that, but for a well-placed shot of an anesthetic to numb half my face, would cause me more pain than I can imagine every time she gets down to business.
But the scariest thing she’s ever done to me had nothing to do with drills or dental scalers. The most frightening moment I’ve ever spent in her chair was the moment she gave me something she insisted I use every day: a toothbrush. Read More »
I hope the storm that blew through our nation’s capital Friday night is a once in a lifetime experience. Watching from the rear window of our treetop level apartment, the woods behind our building undulated like a giant bed of sea anemone being whipped about by the roiling crosscurrents of an angry ocean. Thinking that the stiff wind would cool our stifling bedroom, I opened the window a crack and then took an anxious step back, feeling as if I’d just admitted a furious phantasm that was eager to smash anything it could reach. Read More 
