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Be present! Freely be as you are!
Trust each moment to bring out your highest potentials.
Be aware of what is in you and what God is doing for you.
You are becoming the best you are supposed to be—what is right, good and beautiful.

Just as our spring garden reveals aspects of the image of God, the story of Easter also reveals aspects of the image of God. About two millennium years ago, a young man named Jesus lived near Palestine. He was different from others. His energy was spent on healing the wounds, comforting the hopeless, empowering the voiceless and seeking divine guidance.

His unconventional manner agitated the local officials. He was indicted and went through a public trial. In the end, he was killed by the death penalty. He tried neither to blame anybody nor look for a way around. Rather he accepted his fate in the face of affliction and injustice. His mortality could not reverse the death charge. It was God whose almighty loving power brought his lost life back. Accordingly, Jesus was liberated from death. His spirit has become immortal and present even now. The life of Jesus disclosed God’s image.

Every person is able to live akin to the example Jesus set for us. With a conviction that God’s nature is in us and God is working for us we can embody God’s image: goodness, beauty and faithfulness during our life span.

However, the human condition reveals that death-like incidents interfere—hatred, war and natural disaster. Our ordinary life is often daunted by self-generated thoughts such as fear, anger and loneliness.

Spiritual masters teach us that our lives can be enlivened by rekindling the image of God within us through practicing deep silence. During silent meditation and prayer, we become free from troubling thoughts, detach ourselves from what our bodies and minds crave and our highest potentials are awakened. Taking each breath with the inhale and exhale, we connect with the deepest part of ourselves, where we experience the pure, untarnished and powerful presence of God. During this form of prayer we enter the realm of infinite stillness and utter selflessness. And there we experience peace and the power to embody God’s image.

As I perceive the generative power and animated beauty in our garden, I am convinced each plant and tree manifests God’s nature. We as human beings can embody God’s image if we truly believe God is in us and working for us. When we are attentive and mindful of each moment with absolute trust, our lives transform to lives of peace and happiness.
SJS, 0430’11

“無爲以’無不爲, while not doing anything, nothing is unaccomplished”.

Withstanding all sorts of harsh weather, the tree has grown over 20 feet high. Standing by the entry gate, she is the first one to greet everyone who passes by. Enduring many days and nights, the trunk has become strong and big. My arms can barely encircle it. Her tender limbs have flourished, reaching out in every direction. Standing next to the pond, she provides ample shade for the fish, turtle and water lilies. Her drooping branches and the abundant leaves gives a green canopy for those who meditate.
Just as the willow tree has grown, the Myra House has also grown and weathered various ups and downs. The Myra House has, from its inception, strived to carry out the following mission: (1) cross cultural learning, (2) eco-spiritual living and (3) service and work. All those angels who support and pray for us have a special place in the heart of the house.
We are exceptionally grateful for all that has happened this past year. The internship program with the three interns, Andrew, Jason, and Max, was rewarding. The patio garden project and earth day event took place. Andrew and James became long term residents. Jason teaches meditative yoga every Monday since fall. Returning back home, Lydia and David added energy and helped to continue morning prayer, weekly communal dinner, and Ecoterra work. The 400 miles backpack trip with David was precious. Last but not least, the Kim family joined the Ecoterra business and they have been amazing partners.
During Advent, the weather gets more chilly and rainy and the willow tree enters into a full respite. Losing all its twigs and leaves, she withdraws into zero active stage. Having name Weeping willow, she may enter into deeper silence of mourning with endangered natural species. Possibly, she dreams of a new year, perhaps letting go of many things. Just like the willow tree, the Myra House enters into a winter break—praying with family of illness, friends of loneliness or victims of violence. Letting go of all grief, regrets, failures, and unfulfilled goals, we dream of a new year. Remaining mindful of the proverb, “nothing is unaccomplished while not doing anything” we foresee another new decade.

Sung and Myra House family

This field trip of the spring semester revolved around the Santa Monica area with 2 major stops. First stop was the Santa Monica farmers market which was a sensory stimulating experience. With the freshest and most colorful of fruits and vegetables accomponied by an abundance of free samples, it was a perfect start to the day.

With the ocean providing the all-loving backdrop, the scene is one of these which synchronizes perfectly with the imagination of what one visualizes the california lifestyle to be. Beautiful people, organic food and lots of words combining to create an ever evolving sculpture, the Santa Monica farmers market.

The second stop was a nonprofit community garden called Ocean View farms. A beutiful plot of land located on a hill in Santa Monica, the community garden is thriving with over 300 indiviudal plots and about 450 people on the waiting list. Shown around by an amazing gentlemen named Ed, we were granted access to a relatively private enviroment which we were thankful for. The attention to detail and beauty of it all was truly inspiring as tending to a small plot of land is an activity that offers little reward in the typical sense of the word when relating to the current societal context. The main driver of work is solely monetary these days and it gave great hope as to the positive shift in mindset which is occuring between the earth and the human species, which has temporarily taken itself out of the laws of nature and believed to exist outside of that which is naturally so. With the impacts becoming more evident, a recoil movement to harmonizing with the natual laws is in full effect and orginazations like Ocean View farms and the Myra House are creating amazing enviroments for learning and self expression.

Great teachings about the importance of soil were learned this past week as members of the people community added 2 new members to the Myra House Arbor community.  What we don’t see is often most important and this certainly holds true when relating it to the proper enviroment to grow a tree.

The majority of the 2-day tree planting event involved digging very deep into the southern california desert like underground to make room for a cosy cocoon of freshly composted soil.  This proper soil is the most important step we as human beings can do for a new tree as the other aspects such as amount of sunlight and water are basically out of our control.  The two new members are a Persimmon Tree & a Asian Pear Tree.

“Realize that every mode of perception is subjective, that what is seen or heard, touched or smelt, felt or thought, expected or imagined, is in the mind and not in reality, and you will experience peace and freedom from fear.” -Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s

This past Sunday marked the largest community dinner we have had the entire semester as the host, Jason, prepared cuisine from India, a culture that he holds dear in his heart.  The dinner was more than a nice gathering to consume organic food as it felt more like a crash course into various aspects of the culture, teachings and practices.  Making connections between seemingly non related actions and ideas is one true mark of knowledge in my eyes and this dinner was full of these symbols.  For example, the host chose to bring out each dish one by one, instead of the typical community dinner style of bringing all dishes out at once.  He relayed to us later that this method of serving the guests was a teaching in and of itself about an important idea that is prevalent in many Indian teachings, and teachings across cultures.  This way of serving was a reminder to fully taste and appreciate your dish when it is there and then to completely let go of it when the next dish comes out.

Letting go seems to be one of the most popular topics among the interns and residents this semester as we try to figure out universals, constants in this human experience and keep arriving at the same point. The only constant is that everything is in a continuous flux.   So much strife seems to stem from our habits to create expectations for something to be exactly how it was and this is revealing itself as the ultimate reminder to let go of past regrets and future expectations to become ever more engulfed in the present moment. As the present is the only time anything is ever alive.  From naan to red dahl, from jasmine rice to mango lassi, the cuisine came and went as we all got a microcosmic experience of the practice of letting go and syncing up to the natural flow of the dinner and on a broader scale, life.

After the physical feeding was over, we engaged in spiritual feeding practices with a mediation at the table and a typical multi-religious Sunday night service in the chapel.  Jason took us through self-inquiry exercises and we shared our feelings on the question which is the most basic and most unknown all at the same time, Who am I?.  The variety of answers were amazing and the host connected all of our answers together at the conclusion of the exercise by reminding us that simply I am…, We are…  We can fill in anything after the 2 word phrase but when expanding our perspective we realize we are a person, an existence of limitless potential.  The chapel service was highlighted by readings from four scriptures: Confucian, Hindu, Jewish, Christian.  The Confucian text offered one temporary answer to the question who am I and I thought that this one best sums up how the Myra House community would answer the question.  We are…

“Heaven is my father and earth is my mother, and even such a small creature as I finds an intimate place in their midst.   Theorfore, that which extends throughout the universe I regard as my body and that which directs the universe I consider as my nature.   All people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions…” -Chang Tsai

“We accept the love we think we deserve.” – Stephen Chobsky

The spirit of Valentine ’s Day ushered in experiences and conversations of subjects not typically discussed in everyday rhetoric.  It was also the Asian New Year and a very special day in the Myra House because some members are of Korean descent.

  These two unique energies merged and the dinner and communal sharing were very meaningful and transparent.  The theme of the dinner was the color red in honor of Valentine ’s Day.  From red quinoa to red cabbage to goji berries, basically all edible things that we carry at Ecoterra encoded with the red frequency were prepared.

Ingesting these red frequency foods is said to promote vitality of the first bodily energy center, the root chakra, which relates to survival in the physical world and the lessons learned from this material experience.  The underlying topic of the night was the divine concept of love and the various ways each of us has given, received, or witnessed the condition less feelings.  Feeling a sense of love seems to be very important in the attempt to create a relaxed and contempt existence.  This state of acceptance in turn helps sustain our survival in our respective societies and the world.

The discussion was a great reminder that love is an immaterial root and its abstractions into the third dimension take infinite forms.  We typically think that the ecstatic feelings of love are accessed predominantly through human relationships and attractions but the conversation was a great reminder that what we call love is entirely subjective and can be felt with and through whatever beings or symbols we are open enough to feel it with.  This quote by Stephen Chobsky is becoming ever more apparent as reality seems to be this collection of material events in which the individual, the engager, attaches whatever emotions he or she feels to these objective events and experiences.  Thus it might be just as Chobsky says, a mere choice to get ever closer to bliss on the love gradient. The Myra House community strives to become conscious choosers as devote a great part of our everyday life to promoting and receiving love. This relates to another topic discussed which was the relationship between love and acceptance.

“To believe is to utterly let go; to love is to utterly accept.” – mff

  Seeing connections in practices and instances that seem to be not related is a meaningful practice and one that seems to be prevalent here amongst the community.  In all that we do the idea that this community is a microcosm of the whole seems to pop back into the collective.

Seeing metaphors  and symbols in our garden activities are very useful in learning lessons and teachings that are helpful in understanding more about the human existence.  Stinging Nettle is a great reminder that there are very few universals in this experience and that most people, environments and beings exhibit a certain quality but always carry the complimentary quality along with them.  Through the human perspective, while alive and connected to the ground Stinging Nettle is considered a plant to steer clear from because of its stinging qualities. However, all the while Nettle is one of the most powerful medicinal when cut from the roots and dried for a couple of days.  It is a good teaching on not “judging a book by its cover”, as if we only experienced the Nettle through touch than we would  just get rid of it and its powerful medicinal qualities along with it.  Symbolism of treating all as delicate creatures and the power of changing form and changing perspectives.

“A search for roots in a place where we see just trees…Allows for the unknown to pervade and the subjective to create meaning within the leaves” -mff

Sunday services take on the pluralistic vibe with an intent focus on delving into religions and faiths of all kinds.  The Myra House is a community that is trying to see past names and into truths.  This is promoted as residents and interns of all backgrounds are accepted without predisposition. The past Sunday night service harped on the similarities between those persons on a quest for those emotions or feelings which are not readily seen and more specifically revolving around three questions that seem to underlie the spiritual journey. Who am I (Who are we)? How should I (we) to live? What can I (we) hope?.

Letting these questions play out and allowing oneself to transcend innate assumptions can often be an experience unlike ever faced before, no matter if the trio of questions arises at age 20 or 70.  Trying to get to the root of an infinite concept, ie. The universe in which we are a part, can be overwhelming without the proper environment and people to be their when you are in need.  The Myra House has supplied this comfort and holistic environment for so many in the past for the support necessary to progress on their journey of limitless potential.  The 3 current interns certainly share this thanks as the community has become the perfect atmosphere to learn about everything holistic and sustainable, but even more importantly to learn more and more about these three questions which so many face.  The basis of the daily spiritual practice in the Myra House chapel gatherings were relayed to us in the service in the following italicized text.

HUMBLE -> we keep our heart open and mind empty as we sit on the cushion either by kneeling or arranging legs in a comfortable position centering each own balance.

SIMPLE -> we follow a lead and gong sound casting eyes on the flickering flame of a candle (or the cross or an icon), sing songs and attentive to the reading and brief sharing of grateful things.

MINDFUL -> we contemplate with Divine presence in attention to particular incident  and a person’s suffering, hurting and groaning in aware of what is happening locally and globally with full compassion.

Aligning with above quest, we as a community grow and mature holistically toward a more wholesome way to know better own nature and identity, to learn to be happier by meaningful and compassionate choice, and to live confidently sensing desirable future.

“What do I need to give up? The car, the money, the house. What??? No, not so easy, give up the one doing the doing. Simpler, but much harder. The final great surrender, and the only one that matters.  Only then, only then, That.” – Gary Weber

The community was in full attendance for the initial launch of a new weekly event at the Myra House. Jason Gorenstein, a Myra House community member, will be hosting communal meditations Monday night’s beginning at 7:30 p.m. Jason has most recently studied under a significant figure in the non-dual movement, Gary Weber, and has acquired amazing techniques in leading meditations to help all those involved promote silence in our mind and mindfulness in our hearts. The basic sequence for last nights gathering was yoga, self inquiry, yoga, shavasana (lying down meditation). Jason organically incorporates free flow yoga postures and stretches into the time which provides a fine compliment to the stillness.  The session that he lead us through is one for people with any kinds of experience or non-experience in meditation and yoga as his respect for the individual and uniqueness of every body and mind is amazingly present as there is no forcing of anything.

This mantra that he has incorporated into his teaching and living practice is one of the upmost importance.  When the realization that difference is a characteristic that we should revel in as opposed to resist, our world and our relationships with people, animals and the environment become much more respectful and delicate.  We are all unique expressions of the same divine light, consciousness and it is this that we must remember. All other persons and aspects of this life are different pieces of the collective self that are the most precious learning tools and mirrors which promote self-realizations. The continuous collection of present moments which we are hooked up to provides this necessary washing anew to see all persons with a clear lens without bias’s and prejudices that we carry over from the past and other tangential experiences.

Happiness Beyond Thought Meditations

Monday @ 7:30

Questions or Concerns please email: JGHappinessBeyondThought@gmail.com