Sanctuary NYC

SANCTUARY ESSENTIALS
What is Chi?	Yin and Yang: The Creative Pair	What is Tao?
What are the Five Elements?	The Ba Gua or Feng Shui Compass Explained	Origin and Development of Feng Shui

Welcome to The Sanctuary Earth Post!

WE ARE ALL ONE DEPARTMENT	SERVICE DEPARTMENT	ON THE ROAD DEPARTMENT
Our Avatar Strikes Again	1000 Coffins Memorial, 2004	What is Chi?
What is Chi?	What is Chi?	What is Chi?

One Thousand Coffins, Sanctuary Earth: What Happened and What Came Next. (The Next Thing)

In 2004, in response both to the arrival of the Republican National Convention in New York City and the Bush administration’s attempt to restrict images and coverage of coffins returning from Iraq, a small group of us produced the 1000 Coffins Memorial. With the help of dozens of hard-working volunteers and ultimately thousands of volunteer “coffin carriers”, Mike DeSeve, Jenna Hunt, and myself demanded that “attention must be paid” to the human cost of war. Our five-across and nearly one-mile-long line of flag-draped Memorial coffins processed through New York City in solemn and powerful all-day event.

This action received global media coverage. Photographs of the coffins were on the front page of newspapers from Sydney to São Paulo, Beijing to Berlin, and all over the USA. There were no slogans or songs added to the presentation of our flag draped cardboard “coffins”, just an obvious demand that attention be paid as decisions are made. I believe few missed the point. Most were moved deeply, some shocked – the cost in human life was clear.

In the nearly three-month lead-up to this massive action, and in anticipation of the number of volunteers we would need to pull it off, we contacted every media outlet we could, as well as all the veteran’s groups we could find (and there are very many) and generated considerable buzz. Friends of Mike, movie producers Joel Viertel and Mora Stephens, conceived and award-winning film that was built around the action and the Republican National Convention. Consequently, numerous actors arrived at our production studio, adding considerably to our group of volunteers.

All were set to work cutting and folding 4'x8' cardboard sheets that would, like oversized take-out containers, be assembled quickly on the day of the event, en masse, on the street. For each “coffin” an American flag had also to be created. Having more volunteer energy than cash, we made perhaps the first 300 flags from recycled bunting, with rough but creatively executed (forty-nine star) white-on-blue star fields filling in when we ran out of stars from the bunting.

By the time we had 300 coffins and flags prepared, Mike’s considerable media outreach had turned our Dumbo studio into buzzing media destination in the lead up to the RNC. Positive media interest and response helped to generate support funding, and soon we were pushing to represent the full 974 American soldiers who had died in Iraq by that time. The logistics and the energy required for ultimately incredible. But succeed we did.

It has been ten years since that action. I am quite confident that it had an effect on the hearts and minds of millions. And I have, to my satisfaction, noted since then that the “human cost of war” is much more at the forefront in the minds of our public and many of our leaders.

Not long after the RNC action was completed, I received a call from a self-titled “stealth Democrat” from Texas hoping to spend some of his oil money to support our consciousness raising efforts with the coffins. He agreed to cover all costs for an action in Washington DC, at the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pond. This action memorialized 1,117 fallen soldiers with coffins placed around the pond and a name for each coffin read. His financial support, our recycling efforts, and hundreds of volunteer hours, allowed us to continue coffin-based actions several for years to come.

It is true that protest activism has not been my practice. However, this action captured my imagination because I saw it as primarily a Mindfulness Practice. George W. Bush’s efforts to suppress images of coffins arriving from Iraq seemed absolutely wrong to me. I mean, regardless of what you think of war or the Iraq war, I have learned on the path of mindfulness and in my feng shui practice that attention must be paid appropriately and honestly. That is, if we are to make wise and good decisions regarding the tragic event of war, we should not deceive ourselves on any of the important points. We must do our best to avoid self-deception as individuals and as a society.

Ironically if not surprisingly, in this consciousness-raising “peace” event we saw plenty of hostility and anger arising from within our own group. Naturally, much of this came in the form of trashing George W. Bush and his administration. Also predictably, there was plenty of emotional upset to be found between volunteers at various times during the long execution of these events. In keeping with the feng shui principle that intention and energies allowed or encouraged have a significant effect on outcomes, all pallbearers were encouraged to “be peace”, make peace with their fellow message-carriers, and express peace in their bearing and solemn action. Nearly 2,000 pallbearers, in a sometimes jostling five-hour procession through New York City, managed to retain appropriate levels of respect and dignity and to communicate our demand for respect and dignity for all those lost at war. For this reason I believe, our message entered directly into the hearts and minds of people around the world.

In the end, I realized that this effort to “be peace” and to respectfully present simple and true image of the human cost of war perfectly supported the intention and the outcome. From this was generated an overwhelmingly effective statement which was felt and heard by millions. Ultimately, this statement/message was adopted and repeated many thousands of times as similar actions spread throughout the United States. This is effective feng shui on a global scale.

So, The Sanctuary Earth Post Becomes the “Next Thing”.

The intention is to focus on this very personal business of “being peace”. Taking news items, seasonal events, and human experience as fodder, the Sanctuary Earth Post will highlight the “feng shui effect” of each event, group, or individuals contribution to the energetic/causal state of Sanctuary Earth.

I look forward to the input and insight our readers can supply. Together we’ll work to create Sanctuary Earth.

Thank You All! We are All One!

What is Tao?

Speaking of the Tao has always been considered a fool’s errand, and yet, it seems I must risk playing the fool because understanding Tao understanding the Sanctuary approach. Certainly, we won't nail down what "The Tao" of anything is by separating it from the actuality or the experience of that any-thing as it happens, arises or manifests itself in the world.

A significant part of this certainty comes from observing that Tao arises as a confluence of many or "myriad" forces, just as a river comes from many tributaries. The Tao Te Ching, a primary sourcebook for Taoist wisdom, offers insight into the essence of Tao within its title. To play with the words a bit: where "Ching" translates simply as "book", we could easily/provisionally substitute "River" for the word "Tao" and insert in the place of "Te" the word "tributary". Hence, this great explication of the Tao can be called, if you will, The River-Tributary Book.

To generate a more literal translation of the book's title: where "Tao" means "Way" and "Te" means "Integrity", we might propose an alternative title: "A Guidebook to Integrity along the Way". This suggests that Tao means a literal journey, which, while somewhat helpful, implies movement or direction and possibly even intentional goal-orientation. What's missing is the idea that Tao arises not from a plan but as the natural outcome of things - objects, beings, systems - being just-what-they-are with integrity.

Yes, it is redundant to say that things might be just-what-they-are "with integrity", but this emphasizes the point that the "Tao of things" is the sum-total expression of the true/expressed nature of each and all of its components. As the components interact they give rise to a Tao uniquely expressing their relationship. Hence, when speaking of the Tao of Calligraphy or the Tao of Archery we understand that skills, tools, and the moment of action join to express or become the "Tao" of these art forms.

In other words, Tao represents a natural outcome of things-as-they-are expressing with unmitigated integrity. One simple example from the Tao Te Ching: an infant's crying arises from things-as-they-are in the child - the implication is that there no artificial agenda, just natural arising response: this is the "Tao of baby". We know much about the Tao of magnets and steel: what arises when they are in relationship becomes the Tao of that relationship.

The work of Sanctuary Earth - the Feng Shui, the Shiatsu, the Tai Chi, Chi Kung, and meditation - all operate on Taoist principles. Understanding outcomes, manifestations or even potentials in our lives and world depends on recognizing the true nature behind the ingredients and/or the antecedents of these outcomes.

Like soup, the taste of a spoonful will depend the current state of all of the selected ingredients after preparation and cooking. The integral parts, their transformation process, and even the intention and overall energy of the cook, kitchen and service become the "Tao" of that spoonful. Add to this the palate and the condition of the eater, and you have the "Tao of Tasting Soup".

So, while there are many helpful ways to talk about the Tao, there is no way to identify "a Tao" that is constant or transferrable. This would be like taking wind from your sails to use later as air-conditioning.