Rolf Gates
Pachamama
November 11, 2021
Sanskrit: Utkata Konasana
Western Term: Goddess or Victory
English Translation: Fierce Angle Pose
Type of Asana: Standing Pose and a fierce pose that connects to the divine feminine.
To put the world right in order we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
~Confucius
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The Eagle and The Condor Prophecy
“The Eagle and the Condor is an ancient prophecy that speaks of human societies splitting into two paths—that of the Eagle, and that of the Condor.
The path of the Condor is the path of heart, of intuition, and of the feminine. The path of the Eagle is the path of the mind, of the industrial, and of the masculine.
Read about the importance of balancing feminine and masculine energies.
The Eagle and Condor prophecy says that the 1490s would begin a 500-year period during during which the Eagle people would become so powerful that they would nearly drive the Condor people out of existence. This can be seen in the conquering of the Americas and the killing and oppressing of the indigenous peoples in the subsequent 500 years—up to and including today.
The prophecy says that during the next 500-year period, beginning in 1990, the potential would arise for the Eagle and the Condor to come together, to fly in the same sky, and to create a new level of consciousness for humanity. The prophecy only speaks of the potential, so it’s up to humanity to activate this potential and ensure that a new consciousness is allowed to arise.”
As the years pass, I unearth layer after layer of the habitual thinking that caused me suffering. Most of it would be considered pathological in a clinical sense. It is simply the typical thinking of my culture, class, gender, time, and space, and I have internalized all of it.
I am also encountering the stored memories of many lifetimes. The experience is akin to cleaning out your grandmother’s attic and discovering, amongst the trunks and boxes, some clues to your family’s behavior.
My years on the [planet] have revealed to me, first, that I have suffered profoundly by allowing the flawed thinking of the world, [others], to define me, and second, that there has always been a part of me that has known better. I think of the part of me as sanity.
-Rolf Gates
Liberation & Love
November 7, 2021If liberation is collective, we need way more work…and awareness.
Image: The Camino de Santiago de Compostela…along the Way.
Those of us who live in privilege due to wealth or ethnicity may not understand interdependence with the collective, with all species, and other. Listen.
Compassion refers to the arising in the heart of the desire to relieve the suffering of all beings. […] It arises from a desire created by the collective suffering of all beings.
-Ram Dass
Where we have withheld love, we have had to learn to extend love. But if this doesn’t not carry over into the rest of our relationships, nothing of any lasting value will have been gained.
-Rolf Gates
Should you be mistaken, then slowly and with time the natural growth of your inner life will bring you to fuller awareness.
-Rilke
This call to love our neighbor is the foundation for reestablishing and reclaiming the common good, which has fallen into cultural and political—and even religious—neglect.
-Jim Wallis
The zeitgeist of this moment is not so much about the brilliance of any one individual, though certainly our times do not lack for geniuses. It’s more about the strength and power of the group and the genius that emerges from our collective wisdom. This isn’t an age of the soloist but an age of the choir. Soloists have their part to play, yes, but the song belongs to the choir itself.
And we will endure, rise up and triumph too. Somehow we will find a way to make the world a better place. We will repair the earth and learn how to tend to it lovingly. We will put down our arms and find a way to make peace. We will heal ourselves, and heal the earth, and heal each other. We will learn how to live in another kind of way.
-Marianne Williamson
May the Beloved use me today.
Love will save the world, but only if we express it. May everything I do today be an expression of God‘s love.
May I be a channel for love today, co-creating with God a more perfect world. With every thought of love, I create a miracle. And every time I withhold love, I deflect one. Today may I only love.
Dear God,
Use my hands and feet,
My words and actions today.
Use who I am and what I do
To help You heal the world.
Amen.
May our Beloved use me today.
#MOSKA 🤍
July 1, 2021“We show up, burn brightly, live passionately, hold nothing back, and when the moment is over, when our work is done, we step back and let go.“
-Rolf Gates
M O K S A is liberation. To be free. In the flow of our practice, it is the action of letting go.
We do our duty, live abundantly, express gratitude, and let go.
M O K S A is the state of non-attachment, the rereleasing of the fruits of our actions, our efforts, our hopes [magic], and dreams.
The open space of M O K S A has no meaning without the focus and drive of dharma and artha.
(Dharma: inner harmony. Artha: outer harmony.)
Albert Einstein:
A hundred times a day I remind myself that my life depends on the labors of other (wo)men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give, in measure as I have received, and am still receiving.
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Intentionally moving energy.
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I am holding space for the new era on planet Earth. -Allysha Lavino
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June 21, 2021
Prime Minister of Bhutan:
“Happy to be observing a day that reinforces importance of health and replenishes our spirit during such stressful times. It reminds me of Shri Narendra Modi whose passion pushed him to propose this ancient tradition on the calendar.”
Change leads to disappointment if it is not sustained. Transformation is sustained change, and it is achieved through practice.”
-B.K.S. Iyengar
“A sustained yoga lifestyle is one that doesn’t fluctuate with the latest trends but is informed by the historic yoga philosophies of peace, no harm, discipline, and contentment.
We need to choose practices that are life affirming rather than draining in order for them to be transformative the practices we choose need to benefit not only our personal lives but our relationship with Gaia and with each other.”
-Cindy Senarighi and Heidi Green
If one knows what the particular disease is there is the possibility of curing it. To know the particular limitation, bondage or hindrance of the mind, and to understand it, one must not condemn it, one must not say it is right or wrong. One must observe it without having an opinion, a prejudice about it, which is extraordinarily difficult because we are brought up to condemn.
-J. Krishnamurti
“What would it mean to simply acknowledge our behavior without judgment, without denial, without hedging? Right now, in this moment, can you control your habitual responses to experience? Can any of us not be afraid?
As we observe other individuals, companies, political parties, and nations, we tend to bring the same kinds of judgments to bear, expecting different results.”
-Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison
Go to the mat. -dayle
ℒℴve
MLK
January 18, 2021A
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“A friend of mine told me of a guru from Sri Lanka who asked, ‘What will be the undoing of humanity?’ He answered: ‘The separation between you and me.”
Ahimsa, nonviolence, asks us to abandon the notion of separation.”
-Rolf Gates
When nonviolence in speech, thought, and action is established, one’s aggressive nature is relinquished and others abandon hostility in one’s presence.’ -Yoga Sutras
“Not everybody can be famous, but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service; you only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.” -Martin Luther King, Jr
Emerson Collective:
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This week, our nation will shift to new leadership and take the next step in creating a country rooted in justice and opportunity––a country we know is possible. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a 1967 speech at New York’s Riverside Church characterized these moments of transformation as “revolutionary times” when “new systems of justice and equality are being born.” As we look to this day as a moment to celebrate and honor Dr. King’s work, let’s take time to continue his legacy of forging a new and better day by serving our communities. Below are some ways to do so: |
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#1 – Volunteer with a number of organizations working in areas ranging from education to homelessness through the Presidential Inaugural Committee
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#2 – Volunteer to transcribe historical documents through the Smithsonian Digital Volunteer program
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#3 – Write letters to seniors who are in self-isolation with Letters Against Isolation
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#4 – Support our military and first-responders with Operation Gratitude
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#5 – Send a message of hope and healing to a child awaiting surgery through the World Pediatric Project
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#6 – Transcribe Library of Congress documents with By the People
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#7 – Help Food Pantries near you serving those who continue to face food insecurity
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#8 – Provide groceries to those who are at heightened risk for COVID-19 with Invisible Hands
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#9 – Strengthen emergency relief efforts with the American Red Cross
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#10 – Check out MLKDay.gov, which allows you to search additional volunteer opportunities in your community
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https://www.emersoncollective.com
Seth Godin
3 Types of Kindness
There is the kindness of ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ And the kindness of “I was wrong, I’m sorry.” The small kindnesses that smooth our interactions and help other people feel as though you’re aware of them. These don’t cost us much, in fact, in most settings, engaging with kindness is an essential part of connection, engagement and forward motion.
And then there is the kindness of dignity. Of giving someone the benefit of the doubt. The kindness of seeing someone for the person that they are and can become, and the realization that everyone, including me and you, has a noise in our heads, a story to be told, fear to be danced with and dreams to be realized.
And there’s another: The kindness of not seeking to maximize short-term personal gain. The kindness of building something for the community, of doing work that matters, of finding a resilient, anti-selfish path forward.
Kindness isn’t always easy or obvious, because the urgent race to the bottom, to easily measured metrics and to scarcity, can distract us. But bending the arc toward justice, toward dignity and toward connection is our best way forward.
Kindness multiplies and it enables possiblity. When we’re of service to people, we have the chance to make things better.
Happy Birthday, Reverend King.