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Weeks 5 & 6: The Power of the Smaller Route

Posted on Feb 29th, 2008 by jpjako : Rational Mystic jpjako
The word "routine" is really a powerful one. It is dervived from Latin, and from there it's found its way to French, where it means literally "a smaller road". In essence it means a path or a clearing in a forest.

By working with different parts in ourselves we little by little cut down our inner wilderness
and make way for something else to appear. With our daily routines we create something alive inside us, a place of rest where we can take refuge when the going gets tough. I guess the tough get going like that.

Routines must be many-sided
, I reckon. Just making a singe path in the woods is like putting all the eggs in one basket. Man is a many-storied machine, and so should be our practices as well. The big idea behind my Integral Life Practice is just that: by creating routines in body, mind, spirit and shadow, I actually make every respective path a bit stronger. Or that's my working belief, anyway.

As to my actual practice, I've now successfully gotten up at 6 am every morning for almost four weeks now. This week I started excercising daily in addition to that. Both of those practices have a behind them an actual value, that I wish to acquire into my being. Namely, self-reliance and will. Getting up early increases my feeling of being able to rely on my self, my promises, my being. And doing what I dislike almost the first thing in the morning is an attempt to create a small path to the refuge of Will, where I can have a certain sense of trust in "mind over mattress", as Robin Sharma put it.

Today I will give a lecture of sorts on the basics of AQAL philosophy of Ken Wilber. That should be nice. And it's just about two weeks before our baby should arrive! Kinda exciting, to say the least... :)
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Week 7 - Integral Naked Seminar @ my place

Posted on Mar 9th, 2008 by jpjako : Rational Mystic jpjako
Blog 007


This weekend I hosted a seminar for me and my wife. It was held in the comfort of our house, based on a series of videolectures by mr. Ken Wilber. The topic was "Integral Buddhism".

I love organizing it as if it were a "real" seminar I'm attending.
I always make a brochure for it with Microsoft Word and print it out. It's the next best thing to flying out to one of Integral Institute's gathereings. And besides, it suits my budget.

Besides the seminar I've continued excercising daily, getting up at 6 am, and continuing with my studies and the translation of Wilber's book. I have noticed the power of ritual: yesterday I got up late, at 9 40 am, which meant that the rest of the day was spent trying in vain to get my mind back to decent tracks. Eventually I eneded up renting Saw & Saw II, and that gave me some rest. Desperate measures, indeed, are sometimes needed.

So what I've learned is that I really do tend to get the
80% of my good cheer for the day from the 20% (or less) of my time that  I use with my morning rituals (getting up early, reading some good blogs, exercising + today I added meditation, and writing a blog). I guess as human beings we are always addicted to something. What we can choose is what it is we're addicted to: bliss, sorrow, good mood, sulking, whatever. I choose happiness!

And if that doesn't work, I'll go for horror films.
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Weeks 8 & 9 - Life Is Born

Posted on Mar 30th, 2008 by jpjako : Rational Mystic jpjako
Whew! What a day, what a week! Actually, what a slice of life I got in my feeble, trembling hands.
Vauvakuvia 005

Today me and my dear wife came home from the hospital with our first-born, a beautiful baby boy named Jura Aleksanteri. This week I've been shuttling between my desk where I'm working on a translation of philosopher Ken Wilber's amazing book A Brief History of Everything, and the local hospital where my wife + our son were stationed. So lots of changes at the moment going on, lots of adapating and lots of reasons to keep on excercising body, mind, shadow and spirit.

Actually my practices have been so and so during the last two weeks
. I wouldn't say it's because of the changes, but there is something I've learned through them neverthless. When new stuff appears on our radar, we have a tendency to get caught up in it. Better yet: get caught up in our reactions to whatever it is that takes our attention.

It is nigh-on impossible to control the world. What we do have control over is our reactions to what happens, to what is. Intelligent thing to do is -at least at first- to accept what is. That  requires not letting our attention to be mesmerized by our habitual, machine-like, knee-jerk reactions to what happens, to what is. Acceptance may then lead to actually doing something about what is, if that is called for. But at first, we must try and stay centered, not get flying after every fancy of our mind.

So many more reasons to keep on trying to practice
; consistently, diligently, humbly. To bow in front of the greatest mystery, the conondrum of life, in front of living, breathing, gesticulating human being, is indeed, the function of this proud new dad's Integral Life Practice. Whatever forms it will take in the coming days, and weeks, and maybe -hopefully, I pray- even years, I will keep on relating in this blog. Keep reading! :)
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