Author: Susan Menahem

Meditative Nurture for the Heart Here’s a bit of possible meditative nurture for the heart, which, as we learn so slowly, must break and break and break (could be the broken heart of a one year old when Mom takes five minutes to respond to the child’s cry of hunger or loneliness) before the limitless love for self and others hidden deep with every heart can pour freely forth. I don’t know if I don’t want to die, I don’t know if I do, How swell to know I do not know, and go on loving you. Every morning for many years I have practiced visualizing my own death, always hoping to die in a way that would be a gift to other people. I was inspired by the words spoken to my son Michael by Kim, my wife’s half-sister, in her 80’s, when she chose to have no medical intervention, and to die at home. He was about twenty, living with Dearing, his wife-to-be (they now have a 17 year-old daughter and a nine year old daughter, both of them strong and delightful). Michael lay his head on Kim’s lap and wept, and she tenderly stroked his head, and… Read more »

Editor’s Note: May is National Masturbation Month, but it also seems to be Meditation Month at “The Growing Mind.” Neil Selden has posted a couple of times on meditation recently, I’ve put up two posts, and now our ‘guest contributor’ Michael O. Selden writes an in-depth article for those who really want to get into this topic. Don’t be deceived by the title. Meditation is a stupid thing to do. It is mechanistic and unnatural. It would be far better for us simply TO dwell in this moment as it is… unaffected by our biological impulses, UNAFFECTED BY psychological tendencies CAUSED WHEN thoughts come unbidden into our minds and emotions arisE unnoticed. Far better to relate straightforwardly to the integrated interplay of our physical beings – the weight of our bodies… the feel of our skin… the smell of our surroundings… the tastes within our mouths… the colors and textures which dance before our eyes Far better to witness our ever-changing mental states – the subtle currents of joy and sadness which run within us and the quickness of our intellects to apprehend and analyze whatever we encounter. Far better for us to choose, with intention, skill and wisdom, our… Read more »

“To study the Way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self, to forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.” — Dogen, Zen Teacher, 13th Century. I have known people who lived or are living a life of loving-kindness, compassion, justice, joy and peace—what I consider the molecular structure of happiness– and have not ever practiced meditation. Some folks I know and admire have found that meditating put them in touch with too much fear and pain. My wife Lee experienced exactly that, when she began to practice meditation forty years ago, during our sojourn on a Greek island. She did however, much later, find her way into a mantra meditation she finds rewarding. I respect anyone’s decision to forego meditation, temporarily or permanently. Meditation is clearly not the only way to achieve inner happiness. As a matter of fact, some meditation teachers have said that most mothers do not have to practice meditation, because being a mother IS a meditation. Many mothers, when I tell them that, immediately nod their head in approval. Meditation may be inappropriate for some people, but for those of us who stick with it in… Read more »

VISUALIZING LOVE by Neil Selden 4/10 Talk about the power of visualization! Yearning for the warming and healing presence of all the darlings we know and love, and all the darlings we may never know but wish to love, and so grateful for the yearning… Here’s a recent emanation from my ruminations about how I would do my days if I am ever completely unwanted, homeless, and using my years of so-called spiritual practice to find loving kindness, compassion, joy and peace, as I sit with my meager belongings in a small pack or bag, in some park or train station, do all my meditations, smiling, laughing and singing and dancing inside, sending visualized hugs and kisses and blessings and thanksgiving to everyone I have every known and loved, and those I may never know, but wish to love– and creating, creating, creating (my beloved collaborator/role model/brother-in-law Bob Imbrie taught me that our mission is to love and create– ergo, in the park, on a wooden bench, I ask myself, what is the first word of a new poem? Any word may do… ‘Beginning’ is the word that comes to me, and the rest follows effortlessly: Beginning nothing,