Overall, I really enjoyed reading this excerpt, and was left wanting to read more. Although Michael acknowledged the fact that this article does not focus specifically on the yoga practice, I feel that it can be applied to our practice both on the mat and off. It may be for the fact that I have not had enough experience reading the yoga-related articles that they were harder to comprehend. However this reading seemed more understandable because I could apply it to various aspects of my life, it was not as dense, and it is written in a way that I find appealing.
The very beginning starts out with a vivid, detailed description of the author’s surrounding environment. The author could have easily simply stated that he was sitting outside at night looking at a lake. However, by describing the scene as he does, it sets us up to better understand the message of the entire story. It’s interesting to note that the author must travel so far away to find the meaning of beings that exist worldwide.
On several occasions, I was reminded of the Transcendentalists- I could imagine someone sitting at Walden while contemplating these subjects. One section in particular that drew my attention to this way of thinking was when the author talked about the spider and its web in the storm. It was through watching this seemingly insignificant creature that the author was able to see that that what he initially perceived wasn’t what truly existed– there was not one spider, but rather a great multitude of them in a stunningly interconnected pattern.
The author addresses the fact that perception and life itself involves a great deal of reciprocity. This idea reminds me of our practice in yoga when Michael explains the importance of not only being open to sending out our grace to others but also receiving others’ grace. I enjoyed pondering reciprocity concerning mechanical goods and non-human animals. Today, we devote so much time to computers, television and other objects that only serve specific functions. In return, we ourselves become more mechanical, and forget about the other more worldly aspects of living– we forget that we too are animals. Because of this, we lose relationships with other animals, and begin to think that we belong to some higher hierarchical level than them and claim to know their reasons for interacting as they do. It is impossible to fully understand why the bee, baboon or bull act the way they do because we are not them. Yet it is imperative to realize that just as we perceive the bee, the bee perceives us. I think we need to take time to distance ourselves from technological means, and to acknowledge all the animals of the world as equal and intertwined.
Furthermore, the sections concerning perception as being temporal included ideas that I hadn’t previously considered, but which really made sense once thought about. I fully agree with the fact that we are never capable of seeing the entire “big picture,” whether that be simply only being able to view one side of a bowl, or understanding our role in this universe. I believe it is for this reason that our perception of others, and our acceptance of how they perceive us constantly changes.
I really liked the section concerning the recuperation of the senses, which talks about the natural disaster that caused the people of Long Island to go without power for several days. It seems like the natural disaster was relaying a universal message to encourage all people to stop overcrowding their minds with mechanical objects and technology, and to appreciate their surroundings. The natural disaster allowed the people to see that which had always been surrounding them, but had not been acknowledged. It reminded me of a few summers ago when the power went out for a large portion of the eastern coast, and how it affected my life at the time. I feel like not using modern technologies allowed me to enjoy laying in the grass at night or admiring the flickering of fireflies. While the author talks about this experience as inviting people to experience non-human senses and activities, I believe it furthermore creates a bonding of the senses among humans. During this time, my family and I were “forced” to not use electricity, which enabled us to interact more with one another and to better understand each other’s emotions and ideas.
