Category Archives: Social Conditioning

Social Conditioning

The Law of Perversity

Photo by: David Victor

The Law of Perversity, better known as Murphy”s Law states that if anything can go wrong it will. According to Bonewits’ “The Real Energy” all psychic, magical, spiritual, artistic, sexual, and other creative energies are filtered by the subconscious hopes, fears and assumptions of the people involved; it is always wise to pay attention to internal processes.

It seems people may have self-destructive circuits in their subconscious minds or spirits. In my case I often second guess myself. My husband has caught me several times verbalizing my intentions for what I expect to manifest. But in the same breath I recite a litany of what ifs
negating what could have manifested.

     I feel better about my unrealized wishes in this context. I prefer the possibility that I myself have prevented the coming forth into reality of my wishes rather than my former understanding that God didn’t want to grant my wishes. What a relief to discover that God is not a joyless and tyrannical Supreme Being.
     Relatedly one can consider “39 New Scientific Concepts that Everyone Should Understand” in wwwbusinessinsider.com.

Greatness


I am a critical Catholic. I repeatedly choose to stay in the church in spite of my frustrations. I go from one Sunday Mass to another pleading God for conversion.
I write because like Arlene Babst Vokey (Philippine Daily Inquirer,March 16, 2013) who has a son, I have a daughter Whom I desire to catapult to her birth right of greatness and “being made to the image and likeness of God” beyond Catholic guilt and false humility.
I write because with a new pope, a Jesuit at that I hope some of my issues will be resolved. I write because inspired by the parable of the one talent I don’t want to let my one talent: writing, to go to waste.

 

The New World

Maria Perla M. Hudtohan

February 25, 2013

It’s more than just climate change. The world did not end in 2012 but practically everything has changed for me.  I  am a product of a predominantly rote-memory education.  It has served me well.  After all, it gave me a comfortable retirement package.  With the help of my husband and our only daughter we are now settled comfortably in a condo.

However, I want a life.  Nowadays, I thrive with the help of my Buddhist mental adapted from the books of Sylvia Boorstein.  I do a lot of new perceptual training with the help of Peter Ralston’s Zen-Body-Being. Continue reading

Right Speech

Photo by David Victor

Being silent to Boorstein my favorite American Buddhist writer is “receiving in a balanced, non-combative way what is happening.’ What is implied is that one will be able to relax and be able to listen to one’s inner voice calling for the recognition of the truth one’s present situation. The more important implication is to be present to the NOW!
There are several considerations before one can break silence. Consider the intention for any remark. Do you want to help? Is it to show off? Or do you want to denigrade? Continue reading

Sense Drenching

David Victor Photography

 

I’ve learned a useful technique from Martha Beck. Instead of indulging in useless worries I use moments,especially when I wait for deliveries: laundry, meals, packages etc. to delight in sense memories.
For example, I enjoy thinking of beef broccoli and the peculiar taste of the vegetable so different from the healthy but unpalatable green leafy vegetables. Next I move on the smell of freshly cut grass which leads me to think of a relaxing back massage.

I also enjoy thinking of the sensation of twirling my fingers along smooth locks of hair. All these while I listen to the bell-like sound of rain hitting metal. The crowning glory of this musing is the picture of topiaries in the Botanical Garden of Singapore and the regal trees in Hyde Park in Sydney.

David Victor Photography