MONTHLY GEMS DISCOVERED BY SHIRLEY WILLETT
ILLUMINATION Writing Challenge -Building Great Conversations, June 2020
I am delighted with Dr. Mehmet Yildiz’s “Challenge for ILLUMINATION Writers.” Since April 2019 when joining Medium, I have saved comments and replies of some Medium writers — because conversations are what I desire most from writing. Dates attached to each are when I put it in my journal, not the date written. “Inspiration points” and authors’ names are in bold.
Deepak Chopra, Deepak Chopra 6.1.20 “Oneness is the coming together of all opposites. It’s always with us as the basis and underlying essence of everything.”
“We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness.” — Albert Einstein
Scientific American: S.B. Kaufman, The belief that everything is part of the same fundamental whole exists throughout many cultures and philosophical, religious, spiritual, and scientific traditions, as captured by the phrase ‘all that is.’ The Nobel winner Erwin Schrodinger once observed that quantum physics is compatible with the notion that there is indeed a basic oneness of the universe. Therefore, despite it seeming as though the world is full of many divisions, many people throughout the course of human history and today truly believe that individual things are part of some fundamental entity.
Deepak Chopra, 6.16.20, “Whether you call it your spiritual life, your inner journey, or a search for a higher power, there is a necessary process, known as waking up. It consists of no longer being unaware. … To find out who you really are, you must look into the human mind, where everything about you begins. … You are as unbounded as consciousness itself, as limitless as existence, as timeless as eternity. The purpose of your life is purely and simply to wake up. Everything that exists is part of the play of consciousness as it endlessly transforms itself. When you are awake, you can fully participate in this play, the cosmic dance of creation.
My reply: Really love the cosmic dance of creation.
Deepak Chopra, 6.24.20, “Better Ways to See Yourself Clearly — Mind 3 is uncreated. It is the womb of creation, and when we arrive there, the inevitable feeling is that we’ve returned home at last. — Lao Tzu “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”
Aurora Eliam, CMP Aurora Eliam, CMP 6.1.20, “Each of us has a unique spiritual journey before us, which constantly challenges and enriches our lives.”
My reply: Each of the great philosophy masters in history describes it differently and uniquely, yet each connects with my own feelings. Most of them struggle, as I do between inner and outer. Do we reflect outer on the inner, or do we reflect inner on the outer world?
Galen Guengerich, Galen Guengerich“Rise to This As a Spiritual Challenge”, 6.2.20 Tells the story of a farmer who asks a student to sit with a tree for a semester. “Each leaf and branch on her tree was alive, as was each individual bug, and each individual bird, and each individual worm. Her tree was a community of life — alive in its own unique, distinctive, and irreplaceable way.”
Claire Elaine, Claire Elaine All Alone? 6.2.20 “Aloneness, loneliness, isolation — none of these states can be experienced by any one person in the same way as any other”
My reply: Your article is beautifully said, Claire. I always say alone — “all one”. I did go through periods that it was disturbing. But now, for the past decade I have come to know, love and communicate with my inner spiritual self. I published an article on Illumination: Illuminating My Inner Spirituality: Building an inner environment of trees. Trees are magnificent companions.
Claire Elaine, 6.25.20, “Hands”
My reply: Beautiful, Claire, on appreciation of hands. In all my physical pursuits my hands taught my brain, and I taught this to my students and protégés. I haven’t thought as much about hands in my present period of inner spirituality. You helped me to think about them in gratitude. Thank you Claire
Niklas Goke, @Nicklas Goke “What’s the point of online courses?” 6.5.20
“It’s about telling stories for the people of your time. If you can find a way to make what’s tried and true resonate today, that’s more than enough — and you’re doing a great job.”
My reply: This point really struck me, Niklas. I have had enormous experience in fashion apparel industry since 1940s: working as a garment stitcher, then CEO of my own design and manufacturing business, getting design engineering grants from the National Science Foundation. Then, I also did teaching of my experiences to my workers, in schools and colleges, and my own classes, with mentoring. There were many that followed me and did some good things themselves. Then, by 2000 and 2010 the young changed dramatically, especially college graduates. After some study, they wanted me to hold their hands like a parent, almost as if I was to set everything up for them like teachers had done — even trying teaching online. I do not know how to make my experiences “resonate [with them] today”. I still have some of the older ones that are still friends, but I truly miss teaching this young generation.
Luke B. Luke B.What is Meditation? 6.7.20
“Vipassana Meditation: insight into the true nature of subjective reality. Meditation: process of becoming familiar with your mind. “If you want to understand your mind, simply sit down and observe it.”
The Buddha said ‘rest your attention lightly, like a butterfly resting on a flower’. ”-Sharon Salzberg
My reply: Your definitions of meditation are good, and you have some points, which old-time meditators (45 years) can relate to. I do believe it is somewhat different for each of us. At this point I am observing delightful experiences of my “inner soul mind”, and studying how some of the great philosophers explain their inner minds. Andas Buddhas said, “rest attention lightly, as a butterfly.”
Anna Breslin, Anna BreslinI breathe the sky. 6.7.20
My reply: I share your feelings “I breathe the trees”. Right now they seem to mean more than my meditation
Mathew Ward, Mathew Ward Education, Remote Learning … 6.7.20
“But teachers can’t make a student learn. It all happens on the student end at home.”
My reply: I learned everything I know ON MY OWN. But I give great credit to my mother, who motivated simply by getting excited by anything I learned on my own. I graduated high school (1951) with all straight A’s, and on the highest honor society, owing nothing to teachers. The biggest problem with education today is that very few parents send students to school motivated to learn. And that is first the parents’ responsibility. Then it goes on from there. Colleges say high schools don’t send students prepared to learn. High schools say the elementary grades don’t send students to learn. And the beginning classes say the parents don’t send them prepared to learn — parents! I have taught in colleges and schools and taught seminars in the lower grades — and it is getting worse.
Dan Peterson, Dan Peterson 6.7.20, The Mystery of Life… There’s a mind beyond the brain, which we sometimes call our “consciousness” or our “spirit.”… Anything you need to know will come to you when the time is right.
My reply: I love the way you phrased this. It implies that brain and mind are not the same, as many scientists insist. No one knows exactly how to explain their relationship — perhaps because it is different for everyone? As you say, “The Mystery of Life”.
George J Ziogas George J. Ziogas 6.8.20, “What It Means to Be Spiritual but Not Religious — Learning about yourself and your place in the world might even be the true meaning of life.
My reply: Learning is the purpose for my coming to the physical world — and indeed is “the true meaning of life”. Thanks George for some great points
Dr. Christine Bradstreet, Dr. Christine Bradstreet 6,8.20, “The point is to grow the self, so that you’re improving the world for everyone“ — Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.” Thich Nhat Hanh
Jessica Cote, Jessica Cote 6.12.20, “Education on the run — “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”― Maya Angelou
My reply: I very much like your thoughts on education. But, they do present a problem. How many different things can we give our students, when it becomes overload and confusing? I spoke to Lester Thurow at MIT in the 1990s, and suggested we should teach the young about entrepreneurship. His rely was “too much — they cannot teach well all the subjects already given, let alone add another.” Somehow, though, I wish we could create a new education system with “something of everything and everything about something for each.”
Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, Dr Mehmet Yildiz 6.12.20, Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. — George Orwell
Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, 6.30.20, “My Top Stories on MediumThe dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. — Abraham Lincoln
“In order to create effective business architecture for complex digital transformation programs, we must follow an established yet innovative framework. A framework is a basic structure underlying a business and technology system.”
My reply: Your framework is what I called foundation in my Shirley Willett, Inc, design, engineering and manufacturing of high fashion apparel.
Linda Latt, Linda Latt 6.13.20, Been thinking about death — I worry about being ready. I feel a need to take care of so many things. I want to be prepared and be tidy. Debris of my life should not be left for others to clean up.
My reply: I feel the same way, Linda
Isabella Beckett-Smith, Isabella Beckett-Smith 6.15.20, Philosophers Stone, Descartes –“ Princess Elizabeth wanted to know how the mind or ‘the soul’ could interact with the body, if they are completely independent from each other, as Descartes had argued”
My reply: I don’t agree. The soul has the greater power over the body, but allows free will for the body in all physical matters.
Thomas Oppong, Thomas Oppong 6.15.20, “The Beginning of Wisdom — Albert Einstein, “Don’t think about why you question, simply don’t stop questioning. Don’t worry about what you can’t answer, and don’t try to explain what you can’t know. Curiosity is its own reason. Aren’t you in awe when you contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure behind reality? And this is the miracle of the human mind — to use its constructions, concepts, and formulas as tools to explain what man sees, feels and touches. Try to comprehend a little more each day. Have holy curiosity.”
Lisa Wathen, Lisa Wathen 6.15.20, “Teaching: The Hidden Impact, We never know when we may touch a life.”
My Reply: I have done many things, but the best is being a teacher. I have taught and mentored hundreds of students in fashion design and engineering — and some have thanked me. But a great delight was on Facebook, when a past student that I don’t remember put up a photo of me teaching — a moment I don’t remember. I was thrilled!!! Thanks Lisa in helping to remind me.
Caroline de Braganza, Caroline de Braganza 6.16.20, “I continue learning and growing every day — Because that is our soul purpose.”
My reply: “I agree completely Christine. It is my purpose too. And I continue every day at 87. Thanks”
Steven Gambardella, Steven Gambardella “To Philosophize is to Learn to Die. … Montaigne made the point that “all the wisdom and reasoning boils down finally to this point: to teach us not to be afraid to die. … “A man who has learned to die,” he wrote, “has unlearned how to be a slave.”
Joe Duncan Joe Duncan 6.17.20, “What if Nothing Actually Exists?”quotes Edgar Allan Poe’s poem Dream Within a Dream: ““O God! can I not save — One from the pitiless wave? — Is all that we see or seem — But a dream within a dream?”
My reply: In an answer to the question Who Created God? — Karen Armstrong in her book “God”, started her first sentence with “In the beginning humans created God” Thanks Joe for making us think about this.
David Gerkin, David Gerken6.21.20, “TAO, “The TAO that can be told is not the eternal TAO. What that sentence means is that the Tao/God cannot be understood by talking about it or thinking about it or reading about it or writing about it. So how does one come to understand the Tao? By sensing it. …Meditate to get quiet inside… “Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?”
Mitch Horowitz, Mitch Horowitz 6.21.20, “Scholastic philosophers can debate the existence of an intelligent creator — but the jury is in: You possess a metaphysical existence.”
Louis Parkinson, Louis Parkinson 6.24.20, “Where did I go? I, like you, and all those that have risen and fallen through this plane of existence, subjected to a unique causal flow of energy and observation. We are part of an ever-changing, interconnected system, in constant motion. [His photo below] An exotic storm of cosmic consequence and amusing irrelevance
My reply: You really see it Louis. Thanks. I have had many “me’s” in 87 years of life. But I don’t lose them. I build upon them and will continue to do so in my next lifetime
Thank you everyone for reading. I have enjoyed reading all of your articles.
