Getting Real
16 July 2008
Posted in
Getting Real
Background Statement
About thirty seven years ago I was both unlucky and lucky enough, to be incarcerated for five months in a Greek prison during a military dictatorship. Myself and many other foreigners were swept up by the military government in an attempt to rid the country of "undesireables".
I say "unlucky" because even though I was never charged with a crime, I was forced to live in harsh and dangerous prison conditions. I say "lucky" because I met some of the finest people in the world while in jail, and learned much that has sustained me in the rest of my life.
I've decided to finally share some of my Greek stories with you, in the hope that you might benefit from what I learned "the hard way."
I would love some feedback to get a sense of how these stories reach you and touch you. Please drop me a line at charlie at seishindo.org.
Regards,
Charlie
PS.Today's story is offered as a gift to S. Roger and C. Scott.
A friend of mine, Julia, sent me the text below. When I tried to get in touch with her to ask if she herself had written it, she had already left on a trip and I don't know exactly when she will be coming back.
Well, meditation is the- is when we- is the-- Well, when we actually experience meditation, when we're not trying to do it, it's the awakening to consciousness itself so specific-
Rumour has it that over a cycle of seven years, our body completely replaces itself.
Hi Friends, Like you, I have been trying to find some way to make sense of the tragedy in Tibet. By the time you read this, hopefully, things will have changed for the better. But how to find the ‘good' in such a catastrophe...? This has been my koan since the news broke. How do we find a ‘yes' to a situation which seems so unjust and unfair? I find myself angry and frustrated – but at the same time knowing that if there exists a ‘no' in any given situation, there must also be a ‘yes' hidden in there somewhere.
The
fear of failure is an emotion that knocks on everyone's door at one
time or another. I hope this story helps you reconsider failure from a
new, more heartfelt perspective.
I wrote the letter below on March 9, 2003, ten days before the
invasion of Iraq. It is the most widely read text I have written,
having been published in the leading newspapers across the world and
all over the Internet: close to 500 million people have read it. 