One Word

Teresa called me at 915. I was doing Hatha Yoga practice, as I have for 40 years.
She knows I have no TV and don't listen to radio much.
"Turn on the radio. A plane just crashed into the Trade Center."
"A Cessna or Piper Cub?"
"A jet liner"
"Are you ok? Are you at work"
"Yeah I'm ok. I'm at work. Rob and Steve are ok."
By chance, I opened The Collected Works of William Butler Yeats to Meru, p. 157.

Civilisation is hooped together, brought
Under a rule, under the semblance of peace
By manifold illusion; but man's life is thought,
And he, despite his terror, cannot cease
Ravening through century after century,
Ravening, raging, and uprooting that he may come
Into the desolation of reality:
Egypt and Greece, good-bye, and good-bye, Rome!
Hermits upon Mount Meru or Everest,
Caverned in night under the drifted snow,
Or where that snow and winter's dreadful blast
Beat down upon their naked bodies, know
That day brings round the night, that before dawn
His glory and his monuments are gone.
1934

And the Towers fell.
I went out onto the front steps
looked out at the Church and the cemetery and said
'Welcome to Israel"
meaning, that in other places in the world, human beings are all on the front line
every day all day
and now we are too.
Lord have mercy.

The F/A - 18 Hornet is from "an official U.S. Navy web site. GILS Registration Number: 12879."
The Painting, Premonition July 2001 is mine.

Think Locally. Act Locally !

I have a small garden, 125 square feet - smaller than the 5 acres of coffee my friend Shanti Devi has on the Big Island or the 5 acres of vegetables we had at Anandashrama.

It's hewn out of lawn and rocks though and is prospering in the short sun.
And it is a reflection of the commitment I've had to harmony for many, many years.

Think locally. Act Locally.
Farms first.
Unplug the TV.
Talk with each other.
Find your children and reconnect.
Play live music.
Drive as little as possible.
Grow and eat local food.
Exercise by working.
No I am not a socialist.
I am a human ecologist, a Christian, a Buddhist,
a man who believes Jesus and Avalokitesvara are friends.
Or at least questions can that be so?
Here are a photo and two paintings of mine to accompany this query.
Bring these ideas to your heart for consideration.
That is: ask the questions that arise and observe what occurs
while they are being resolved rather than seeking an answer.

Brown Rice

It was 230 in the afternoon. We were in Advanced Sanskrit class in the Vermont Street Ashram working out of the Rupachandrika, a grammar book. They appeared at the back of the room: Padma, Alan, Shelly, Mark, Phil, and Lillian, who'd been in the original Broadway cast of Hair. "We have one more ticket - to the Stones - and we want Tupper to come with us." Somehow, I was reticent. Guruji said "Go".
Stevie Wonder opened and so did we. Soon I was in another world and feeling unglued. As we left, we became separated in the large crowd. Being disoriented, I used forest orientation and knew Ashram was east so walked away from the sun.
17th Street appeared. I recalled there was an IYI, Integral Yoga Institute restaurant somewhere there, found it and sat down. Ordered brown rice, miso soup, tofu and kombi. There was gomasio on the table. It made me feel safe, located, locatable. The brown rice arrived. It was good. I became quiet again.
To accept oneself is not always an easy thing.
Before Yoga, I'd had a fast car, a very fast car and I drove it very fast.
Under that speed and noise and clamor though was only someone who needs quiet sometimes, even when there's a great party and wildly successful music. I mean the Stones and Stevie Wonder, in 1972, in San Francisco. Please. Yes, Silence Please.
Healing Warrior, Yes. Where to put the "the", grammatically. And it does change what is being said, notice ye wordsmiths.
The Healing Warrior.
Healing the Warrior.
All together now.
Healing Warrior drawing and Zen Garden photo are by me, Jon Tupper. Ha.

A Bridge is a Boundary

Cadet Field Training Completed
Cadet Regimental Commander Sarah Fazio,(center)along with Brig. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, Commandant of Cadets (right) and Lt. Col. Stephen Michael, Commander, Cadet Field Training (left)leads the Class of 2011 through Washington Gate during the runback on Saturday, July 26. The runback is the culminating event for CFT. (Photo by John Pellino/DOIM)



Directly from a hotel in Saratoga in 1971, I hitched to Anandashrama in Harriman, NY. We soon travelled to San Francisco, a caravan. I did not participate in America much. I studied Vedanta, Yoga, Sanskrit and meditation. It has been a long road for me to many places and from many valleys and peaks.

Last month, with a crew of four other drivers, I particpated in transporting newly arrived Cadets in training from Central at Trophy Point out to their field trainings locations during The United States Military Academy BEAST Barracks. This year there are a good number of active duty officers, men and women, based stateside who are participating in the training of the young men and women who only two months ago were private citizen High School Seniors.

Now these young men and women are training to be soldiers. They have given their lives over. For this old ashram dweller, gardener, musician, questioner of every ideology that comes along, driving them was a privilege and an honor. The looks on their faces were inspiring: dedication, perseverance, courage, integrity. There was by and large no talking on the bus. The officers got on and said "This does not require talking". They were respectful to me, in a genuine manner.

They are not being brainwashed as far as I can tell. Yes, the initial phase is breakdown. Included in a continual process of respect for command authority hierarchy, today's West Pointer's are inculcated in valued principles that are inscribed in several places on base. They are taught to build cooperation and trust amongst themselves as well as individual leadership skills. We all know that the people fighting us are highly intelligent and many are educated. Symmetrical warfare has its place, which saddens me. Asymmetrical warfare is here though, and that saddens me even more.

However, if we are to meet it, we need people who can be creative, on a moment's notice, problem solvers who can deal with unexpected situations anywhere, anytime. The looks on those young men and women's faces and the few words we did exchange give me a sense that they get that. Hopefully, their instructors and the Cadets working together will create it in real time not just in mind.

The bridges we are crossing as a national culture and a world wide culture are monumental and transformative in a way that may never have occurred before on this earth. Boundary crossings are tricky. What's real? What's fantasy? Is that little girl there with her teddy bear my friend? Or something else? No one ought to have to answer that.

That's for another boundary crossing. For now, creativity, insight, teamwork, individual discipline and strength are being blended in the training at West Point. I am grateful I got to work there for a short while.