Thought of the Day

Humanity is splitting at its seams;

threads that keep us tethered to each other are unraveling, 

string by string.

A Few Haikus

 

Wind breathes a swift sigh

Leaves rustle to give applause

Birds bow in thanks

 

 

Bright blooms now bow down

Dull Frost nibbles edges

Spring or winter now?

 

 

As the phoenix burns

Fireflies twinkle in ether

Cool evening settles

 

 

Fifty-six today?

Just four more to go before

Expendable age

 

 

Stream music notes

Red maple leaves rustle

Helicopters buzz

2020 – “You’re on Mute”

The of year of masking up, or irately prompting “you’re on mute” was the year when people in America spoke up, spoke out, and spoke their loudest.

An administration, personally responsible for deaths of over quarter of million Americans due to its negligence, narcissism and dereliction of duty will be moving out. An administration who spoke for white rights got kicked out by the louder v
oices from Black Lives Matter. An administration that objectified women and trampled on their rights was booted out by the MeToo ladies.

After all the masked citizens of the country showed up and did the right thing, the leader of this administration was muted by the highest court.

Finally, after four years of pretending to be an ostrich, many good human beings in this country can come up for air and breathe a little better, safely within the confines of their masks, six feet apart.

The journey ahead is long and partly even dark, which will lighten to gray, but at least we are marching towards the white light. The dark void is behind us. With leadership of empathetic and diverse individuals, the future state of the nation again has hope.

Even as we put 2020 behind us with all its dark memories, the movements must carry on.

MeToo’s must continue to educate and fight for the rights of women’s choice of what they can or cannot do with their bodies and that no means no.

 Black Lives do continue to Matter, and these cries need to remain loud and clear to drown out the millions of gun toting, white supremacists who still troll the streets of this country, or harbor racist and xenophobic sentiments under the guise of uniforms of protection and law enforcement.

The survivors of this pandemic need to keep shouting at the top of their strong lungs to never let the world forget those whose lungs gave out to this horrid virus. Lives lost must not be in vain.

While we continue to mask up and remind the zoom speakers “you’re on mute”, our voices are louder, our lungs are stronger, and hope is back so we can Breathe Freely!

Aaah

I recline into the chaise

to lounge into its space

my eyes blink to the glare

that winks from above

dark shades assist me

and I…relax…

A shadow lingers close,

gushing water echoes

a steely silence follows

then an ear-piercing screech

Masked face hovers

shiny tool he’s discovered

muffled voice orders

“open up!”

I say, “Aaah”, descends a face

metal against fangs

bitter, sour and coarse

my jaws remain open, but clenched

Alas, the ordeal is over

my mouth closes

my tongue snakes over the grit

the hollow now filled

My dentist removes his mask, smiles and says, “You’re done”.

Freedom - a definition

Freedom is absence of bondage, free of shackles tightly strung around the neck, hands and ankles. To be free is to breath without fear of persecution, of ex-communication, or of denunciation. To be free is to live without fear of death.

Bondage, however, comes in many types, sizes and forms. To be enslaved is not just what we read in historical accounts of the slave business, the cruel business of trading humans based on the color of their skin. Business that forcefully facilitated the movement and separation of so many souls, enforced changes in cultures, ending of uncountable lives and worst of all, torture of innocent living beings. Yes, slavery and bondage of innocent lives is the single most unforgivable historical account of human history.

Then history moves forward as it must, yet humans haven’t learned a thing from their actions of the past. Perhaps even refined their techniques and reasonings for taking away individuals’ freedom. May it be at a grand scale in terms of genocide or holding immigrants in a cruel fashion by taking away their children at the border, or the modern slavery trade known as human trafficking, especially of children and girls.

Then there are subtle bondages under the guise of custom, religion, caste, gender, ethnicity, age and even sexual orientation. Societies and cultures have seemingly evolved, but that is an illusion.

Evolution, by definition, is to move forward, develop from simple to more complex, which it feels like this should mean a higher mind. However, for humans that seems to have not happened, at least not in the time of recorded history. Forward it has not moved, but exactly the opposite it seems. Our brains may be getting more studied, but are minds are shrinking to a size even smaller than that of the beings of the animal kingdom. At least, those creatures only hunt when necessary, for food or defense, but humans not only hunt for pleasure, but also their own kind – another human being to enslave them.

Freedom takes various forms, comes in many sizes and can change lives, generations, cultures, countries. America was founded based on freedom and liberty for all. Oh, how far this great nation has come where so many have made home. The land of the free, it feels, is no more. Today we are in shackles unseen. We remain in bondage caused by fear and chaos of today’s climate, caused by greed and power, caused by the silence of those who refuse to speak up, and caused by the blindness of those who refuse to see the bigger picture of the greater good. Everyone in this great nation remains in bondage.

Countries evolve, world changes, but some things remain the same. However, my concern on the topic of freedom is beyond the external chains or confinement one person puts on the other. I delve deeply on the lack of liberties we allow our own selves and the lines of limits we draw around us. Freedom is a state of mind.

Should an American black person be afraid to drive for fear of being stopped by a policeman, should a legal immigrant be afraid to go out alone with limited language skills of their adopted country, or what about the elderly afraid to interact with strangers for fear of getting scammed and lose their nest egg? Fear is the creature that feeds on freedom, and keeps gnawing at it with its jarred teeth, time and time again. People put restraints on their own selves and the biggest study is women. They self-inflict servitude with submission to authority, in the name of religion, culture, social norms, reputation, or multitude other reasons. They don’t recognize, or opt not to fight, for their right to choose, think or act on their own accord. If the internal will to be free is not strong, their motivation not powerful, or even recognition of their oppression of rights, non-existent, then freedom is not to be had for such women.

For some women, marriage is a kind of bondage where they lead their lives under the oppression of their abusive husbands or in a joint family, their freedom is limited by the demands and expectations of the elders in the family unit. Girls and young women are restricted as soon as they are born in many countries and cultures. Their freedom of movement is limited in the guise of protecting their honor. Their choices of clothing, or mannerisms controlled lest a finger be pointed on their character. The social pressures lead to family adding pressure, resulting in an oppressed girl child who grows up to be afraid, diminutive, weak because that’s what she had been led to believe all her life. Thus, the young woman takes away her own freedom to live to her potential, puts her heart and mind in chains, submits to the authority of the male member in her family and is forever in servitude to another human being.

Oppression comes in many shapes, forms and sizes. There are chains we see and those that exist in our mind. It is the power within to rise above the oppressed to a limitless sky and become free!

Humility

It is time and time again when civilizations develop, rise and then fall, either by their own undoing or external forces or both. This is part of the cyclical nature of the universe, our constellations guiding, but the motions are already in place from the time of the big bang. From the grand view or the minutest point, the cyclical motions carry on as if on a specific journey or a defined path.

So, is it written, or can our path be redefined, even though within a bound of the universal law of motion in a cyclical form?

I believe we can define our path, take the road left or right, but whichever choice we make does bring us to the destination we were meant to be.

A path is not always straight or followed according to plan. The best laid plans most always meander with missteps, detours, potholes. It is how we maneuver and overcome the diversions or challenges, the accidents and the unknowns, is what defines our destination. It is these deviations and how we deal with them is what brings us to where were meant to be in the end. How we stalwartly keep our eye on the summit and move onward taking each misstep and challenge in stride. We do ultimately end up where we were meant to be, just how and when we get there is defined by us, our actions, our attitude, and most of all our fortitude. 

The universe is based on laws of cyclical movements and what goes around does come around, whether it’s the paths we follow, the destinations we set for ourselves or our relationship with everything around us. We choose, and the universe nudges us forward, in stride, each step and misstep at a time. The key is motion, to not hesitate or falter, but to believe in your inner strength, and with determination, keep taking each deliberate step forward, one step at a time while staying aware of, and being respectful of, all that surrounds us in our periphery.

Plan for the best but prepare for the worst. All the planning gives us the confidence to move and to reach our destination quickly by the fastest route. It is important to have a plan, a line drawn around our perimeter to stay within. But that line, if rigid can choke us. Having a flexible mindset allows for working with the unknowns, the spin balls, or even possible calamities and still be able to move forward. We can define our own paths and our pace, but being respectful of things outside our control, to not be cocky and egotistical, but staying humble will help reach our destination in a calm, safe and fulfilling manner.

 

For some it may take longer and others shorter, but we all have our own journey and destination and we all get there somehow, somewhere, sometime. It’s all part of the grand plan of the universe and the natural laws of motions!

SHE

She was happy

She was loved

She had comfort, that

She deserved

She had a life

She adored

She was respected, but

She was bored

She had a passion

She became unsure

She pursued it, and

She ran to the shore

She stood on the edge

She took the plunge

She fell on the rocks, and

She was she, no more.

Giveaway for Beyond Boundaries Started Today - enter to get a free ebook copy

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Beyond Boundaries

by Bela Kaul

Giveaway ends August 31, 2018.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Giveaway of Beyond Boundaries

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Beyond Boundaries

by Bela Kaul

Giveaway ends August 31, 2018.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

LOVE Beyond Boundaries

Love is limitless, it crosses bounds, spreads its wings across landscapes, and soars to encompass all. 

Love adds beauty by moving, testing and crossing the lines that are defined. 

Love's bucket is never full, as it flows like a river over the rim, across borders, into new territories. 

Love gathers more beauty along the journey and carries them in its folds. 

Love is beauty that is boundless.

Travel with LOVE Beyond Boundaries and experience its beauty with Taara and Janki’s journey.

Read...enjoy...review!

https://www.amazon.com/Bela-Kaul/e/B0785D36HJ

http://www.skyponygallery.com/bela-kaul-book-signing.html

Beyond Boundaries Book Reading and Signing Highlights

The Beyond Boundaries Book Reading and Signing was a fun event at Skypony Gallery in Plano, Texas. Chef Tara of Tara's Tasty Table delighted us with her delicious savories. Check out the highlights of the event in the link http://www.skyponygallery.com/our-events.html.

Order your copy of Beyond Boundaries from Amazon today at https://www.amazon.com/Bela-Kaul/e/B0785D36HJ. Journey with two women, Taara and Janki, who are separated by time and place, but bound by blood. Travel with them as they traverse their respective landscapes littered with perils in search for a sense of belonging and prevail beyond all bounds.

Be sure to leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads after you've read the book.

Links: 
https://www.amazon.com/Bela-Kaul/e/B0785D36HJ
https://www.facebook.com/author.belakaulauthor/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard
 www.facebook.com/tarastastytable and www.tarastastytable.com

Buddhism and Modern Psychology - An Essay

Does Modern science lend support to Buddhist ideas about the human mind and to the logic behind Buddhist meditation practice?

Based on Modern science’s understanding, Natural Selection Design’s purpose for the continuation of the species does not care about happiness. Its basis is to create desire, greed, and agitation to be motivated to move forward. As a result of changes in the environment at a faster pace than the evolution of Natural Selection Design for the human species, more and more humans are looking for a scientific understanding as well as seeking a way to overcome our predicament.

Buddhism, a non-theistic religion, recognizes the foundation of Natural Selection Design and challenges it by using meditation, as a tool to seek happiness.  With its mindful meditation technique, Buddhism teaching helps train the mind to be calm and content in order to eliminate agitation and desire, which is the basis of the Natural Selection Design.

Buddhist teaching recognize suffering exists and clinging as the cause of suffering as its first two noble truths.  Scientists have identified a part of the brain as the Default Mode Network, which they have concluded is designed to take advantage of free time.  Through study of brain scans, there is evidence that when one starts to meditate, the Default Mode Network part of the brain becomes active by filling it with thoughts.  However, with continued meditation which works to quieten the mind, Default Mode Network eventually surrenders and becomes quiet. This results in detachment from thoughts and feelings and elimination of desire as the path to end suffering, a logic that has evidentiary support in modern psychology.

Another claim that Buddhist teaching make is the concept of the Not-Self. This doctrine rejects the existence of soul or in essence, the Self.  In fact, it claims the existence of five aggregates which make up who we are. It further claims that these five aggregates are permanent, and we cling to them which is the cause of our suffering. Using mindful meditation we can recognize the five aggregates as fluid and impermanent and learn to detach from them in order to be liberated. Buddhists claim that our mind’s eye is more than its limited vision that Natural Selection Design supplies, and it allows a meditator to see their thoughts without the thinker. The Self is then denied as an ultimate sense and only exists as an abstract, relative sense.

In modern psychology, based on the split-brain experiments specifically by Michael Gazzaniga, there was conclusive evidence that questioned the existence of consciousness and defined the existence of a sub-conscious. In these experiments, each hemisphere reacted separately when the connection between them was severed, one hemisphere buying into fabrication and creativity, while the other honing into the detail and literal truth.  These findings are in line with Buddhist teaching of the question of non-self.

The Buddhist claim that we are an illusion has evidence in modern evolutionary psychology in the Modular View of the Mind. The seven sub-selves identified by Douglas Kenrick in his book, “The Rational Animal” and further defined by Leda Cosmides, endorse the Buddhist claim of no one conscious, and that a specific module is triggered in our mind based on the environment. This view goes further to explain that the modules in our mind choose us by what we express based on a complex algorithm designed by Natural Selection. Furthermore, the psychologists have determined that the modules gain power with victory.  This is evident in the case of addiction, which is in line with the understanding of the Natural Selection Design to create motivation. As a result, mindful meditation is prescribed by psychologists to help one become aware of which module(s) is/are triggered and not allow them to become more aggressive. The practice quietens the Default Mode Network while observing the feelings without judgment. This allows us to let go of the sub-selves without clinging to any one of them, resulting in positive behavior as perceived by the environment.

Some may argue that Natural Selection is a constant drive towards achieving perfection, internal and external. However, while some may define perfection as gaining competitive advantage in furthering our species to new heights, others seek perfection in striving to eliminate suffering. While Modern psychology, through brain scans and experiments, has been able to describe and offer the truth about an unhappy mind, Buddhist teaching and tools have gone one step further by showing the way to find that happiness.

Both Buddhist teaching and scientific evidence lend themselves to accept that Natural Selection Design hasn’t kept up with the changes in the environment and that human species seek a deeper understanding of the mind.  Meditation, a practice ingrained in Buddhism since its inception as the means to a calm, content, and peaceful mind as a path to happiness has become the prescription of choice by modern psychologists for modern day psychological challenges of today’s human species.

Beyond Boundaries now in Paperback also

Dear Readers,

My debut novel, Beyond Boundaries is available for purchase in Amazon in both, paperback and downloadable Kindle e-reader versions.

Whether you like the rustle of a crisp leaf of paper as you turn the pages or the glow of a back-light as words dribble from a tablet, this book will engage you, take you into times and places beyond your boundaries. You will travel with Taara and Janki across oceans, lakes, mountains, valleys and through their journey will cross physical and metaphorical borders.

Order your book today and kick back, relax, cuddle up on a couch with a warm cup of green tea or a glass of red and a copy of Beyond Boundaries and enjoy the read!

Click here to order your copy of either the paperback or e-reader (kindle or kindle-app)

WO! Stand up! Fight back!

Woman is the “Wo” of Man

His power and strength

Ready to give him a hand

like a pillar she stands

Woman appears to live in negative space

Her presence subliminal

Her place profound

Unassuming, unseen but always around

Woman embodies all men

Carries them in her womb

She nurtures their tender soul

With unconditional love

 

Woman suffers in silence

Her tears dry

She keeps her family together

Nestles, fights, and ready to die

She sacrifices not for brevity

Her ego does not rule her

She fights to stand in equality

not to outwit or maneuver

Feminism is not about superiority

It is to stand for deserved rights

to fight for our dignity

We will not be objectified

So listen up Man

WOman today may reside in negative space

But her presence makes the man’s story complete

We are all pieces of a puzzle that fit together in a grand design

Each gender is lost without the other

We are all pillars of the same species

To support one another

To stand tall side by side

To uphold humanity

Woman is not a man

And man is not a woman

They are different for a reason

To help each other’s stance.

When women’s rights are under attack,

What do we do?

Stand up and fight back!

Respect

Showers of admiration

How great you are

You are put on a pedestal

That is not respect

Slaps on back

Praises from the crowd

You find yourself in the center

That is not respect

An audience lends their ears

To stories of your feats

You become the sole speaker

Attention is not respect

Love of family and friends

Who do all to keep you happy

You are the center of their universe

Love is not respect

Praise, admiration, attention

And even love, are not respect

These are given, taken

for a motive or it is so.

Respect is unique

it can only be Earned

the hardest to receive

and fastest to burn.

Beyond Boundaries BookPromo

BEYOND BOUNDARIES

Excited to share my debut novel, Beyond Boundaries is available on amazon kindle for pre-order with a release date of January 1st, 2018!

Here's the link to place your order.
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Boundaries-Bela…/…/ref=sr_1_1…

Beyond Boundaries is a story close to my heart inspired by women in my family. It takes us into the journey of two women separated by time and place, but bound by blood, as they cross borders and boundaries in search of their sense of belonging.

Emptiness Paradox

The world today seems to have exploded with biases. But, then again, it probably always was that way, just not advertised as much. With the advent of mass media, alternate ways of decimating viewpoints, the information overload is twirling people’s mind, questioning their own biases. 

All the arguments discussed in public via Facebook or on CNN panel, each side push their agenda, each side make sense to many after a while and then everything becomes noise. Right or wrong become fuzzy. 

The thing is that humans are born with biases, adopt a label or two and even some sort of stereotypes. We become hard wired with our opinions in all sorts of issues. The biggest discussion that hurts my heart the most is the biases based on gender and race. 

Based on our innate nature, we label people and interact according to the label we have attached to them. When a girl or boy child is born to a couple, she or he is nurtured based on societal gender norms. Selective colors and toys these children are made to associate with and a definition of their place in society is affixed, allowing for even more labels to be attached and stereotypes formed. 

Gender fluidity, on the other hand sets the stage for that child to grow up as an individual, a human being who can go down a path based on her or his innate qualities. When we take the labeling and as a result, stereotypes out, we are allowing a human being to be a good citizen of the world. That world citizen is then free and able to carve a path for her or his self on their, and ultimately, the human race’s success. 

Same thing applies to biases on Race. Seeing a woman in a headscarf, a person of a different skin tone or an individual with ethnic features leads to a mental block. Most of us do not attempt to look behind the curtain of whatever label we have stamped on them from face value. We have already made up our mind on that individual before even saying hello.  

Bringing it down to a more “ordinary” level, we apply labels to everybody we interact with. Seeing a woman at the mall wearing trendy clothes and high heels, we classify her as an upper-class snob. When we see a teenager with a hoody coming our way down the path in the neighborhood, we immediately cross the street. Or in the case of the woman who comes to clean your house or man who comes to mow your lawn, we form an opinion that she and he is uneducated, whereas they may be a Master’s degree holder in the country of their origin and have figured out that there’s more money in running their own business cleaning or mowing than in working for a company as an underpaid employee because of their inability to converse in the language of their adopted country.  To state the cliché, we are judging these books by their cover and labeling our biases accordingly. 

We, as a human race, need to scratch the surface, go beyond and meet eye to eye every individual at a human level. We need to empty our minds and become open to discovery. Allow our biases to recede and flow away as we introduce fluidity of an open mind. Instead of having heated discussion or arguing over whether men are better than women or vice versa, acknowledge that each gender is different and complimentary to each other. We are pieces of a large, grand design puzzle who fit together to make a whole. This mindset will help us take away the question of gender and race all together and allow an individual to be. Just Be.

Just Be.