Morning. Tyler is learning to hang out in his playpen during practice time. The playpen is wedged into the doorway of the yoga room so I can pull it across and close off the room when I’m not in it — which is necessary because nothing says DOG TOY like pretty much any yoga prop.
After work. Tyler climbs into my lap.
Before dinner. Waiting… Waiting…
I have too many books. The Cop will verify. Tyler will chime in, too — though he mostly likes them because they are tasty and fun to chew.
Every so often, I look at my bookshelves and am amazed at something I find there. I worked in independent bookstores in Boston, New York, and Mountain View for 10 years — and I collected some exceptional books. One of which I rediscovered yesterday: The Future of the Body.
Esalen cofounder Murphy has produced a massive tome that could become a bible of the New Age movement. His main thesis is that each of us harbors latent metanormal capacities rooted in biological evolution: ESP, clairvoyance, extraordinary movement abilities, uncanny somatic awareness and self-regulation, superabundant vitality and universal love, among others. Our genetic inheritance, he argues, predisposes us toward developing these powers, which can be mediated by Christian grace, the Tao or the workings of Buddha Mind, and also can be developed through specific practices. These include psychotherapy, fitness training, martial arts, meditation, biofeedback and prayer. Murphy’s claims for extraordinary human potential are annotated with references to 3000 sources, ranging from physiological studies of meditators to reports of near-death experiences. In closing he scans the impulse toward wholeness in ancient and modern cultures and warns of the mental imbalance that misuse of transformation discipline can cause.
I love that along with Christian grace, the Tao or the workings of Buddha Mind, he suggests that latent metanormal capacities can be developed through practices like psychotherapy, fitness training, and martial arts. I would also, definitely, throw rock climbing in there.
I am a firm believer that it isn’t WHAT you practice so much as THAT you practice. Your body can learn as quickly and clearly as your mind. This comes as no surprise, of course, to the naturally athletic, the Bodily-Kinesthetic among us. But for those of us who are “brains in a jar” (i.e., hyper-identified with our minds), it’s a big deal. I mean, look at me: psychoanalyzed, fitness-trained, taekwondoing, rock climbing gal. STILL I go around thinking my MIND is where it’s at — that all of the magic happens inside my jar.
You know, this is all just a conspiracy of that mind.
But I know better.
***
Any fits that get thrown or opinions that get heated about Esalen, Michael Murphy, the terms “New Age,” “metanormal capacities,” ESP, clairvoyance, extraordinary movement abilities, uncanny somatic awareness, universal love, human potential, or near-death experiences will be made fun of. By me. Consider yourself warned.