What does the film Never Cry Wolf have to do with Juice Feasting?

The Hero’s Journey!

I addressed the connection at the Raw Food World Gathering here in Vilcabamba, Ecuador this week in my two-hour presentation on Juice Feasting: A Modern Hero’s Journey.

The film is based on Canadian writer and legend Farley Mowat’s book Never Cry Wolf. The hero is sent on a government study into the arctic to study wolves – alone. It is a story of one person’s solitary hero’s journey of the call to adventure, trials, self-discovery, and finding perennial truths that society has forgotten.

The Hero’s Journey is a going out, and a return, and during the talk I spliced in excerpts from Never Cry Wolf – the movie – to illustrate this path. I highly recommend both the short book and the beautiful film in building a knowledge and a felt-sense of what the Hero’s Journey is.

If you are working to transform your life, you are on The Hero’s Journey!! I have dedicated a whole Day of JuiceFeasting.com to this important mental / emotional / spiritual aspect of Juice Feasting and life transformation. I have a 50-minute talk on The Hero’s Journey on that day, complete with an interview with Angela Stokes about her 92-Day Juice Feast.

Members can find this excellent Day here: Day 9: The Hero’s Journey

You will also find a talk by Joseph Cambell on The Hero’s Journey on Day 9, as well, along with a whole file I have created for you to download and enjoy.

(If you are not a member of JuiceFeasting.com. you can sign up now and receive access to the entire 92-Day Program, with 92 Days of important files, videos, articles, information and inspiration to spur you on in your own Hero’s Journey!!!)

WHAT IS THE GREAT STORY OF MY LIFE?

The great psychologist Carl Jung asked himself, “What is the myth I am living by?” Jung, when he realized he did not know, wrote, “I took it upon myself to get to know ‘my’ myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks.”

This question burns in many of us. What is the great story of my life?

If you want some help answering it, look to Joseph Campbell. The Hero with a Thousand Faces is an excellent book, and even more approachable is the series The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell presented on PBS. You can find it here:

Enjoy Day 9 of the Juice Feasting Program, and the discovery of the deep mythology and meaning of your life. You are on a Hero’s Journey!

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek, MA

www.JuiceFeasting.com
www.DavidRainoshek.com
http://twitter.com/DavidRainoshek
http://www.facebook.com/davidrainoshek

Do you want proof? Most of us do. How about a FILM and a BOOK that prove we can heal diabetes?

You can find the goods in the powerful documentary film “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days.” If you haven’t yet seen this film there’s something really special going on this week only that you should check out.

You can see the trailer for the film right here:

Click Here to Watch the Trailer Now

When Dr. Gabriel Cousens and I released the book There is a Cure for Diabetes, we were certain that the proof was in the Green Vegetable Juice: A live, plant-based diet is the most powerful way to bring down high blood sugar and heal the health challenges associated with diabetes.

One out of three children born in the U.S. today will develop diabetes, if we maintain our current course. Wow. As a researcher and health practitioner, I can tell you that this is a precursor for the decline of a civilization, if left unchecked. OR it is an opportunity to reassess, to reorient to the Hero’s Journey of healing. That is what you will witness in the film: heroics in healing.

P.S. – For 5 days only the producers of the film are giving away “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days” and the companion “Raw for Life” 2 disc DVD set for 50% OFF the regular price in an effort to raise awareness on how to reverse diabetes and other illnesses with raw and living food

It’s all part of the April 25th Reversing Diabetes Action Day celebration which is taking place this week.

Make sure to check out the trailer right away…

Click Here to Watch the Trailer Now

Finally, on JuiceFeasting.com, I have dedicated a whole Day 72 of the 92-Day Member Program to Diabetes, so that excellent information is available, as well!

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek, MA
www.JuiceFeasting.com
www.DavidRainoshek.com
http://twitter.com/DavidRainoshek
http://www.facebook.com/davidrainoshek

David Rainoshek: I love this video (full transcript below). Carlin makes the excellent point that “saving the planet” is not the issue – saving ourselves is. The planet is fine, and will be fine. It is the biosphere as suitable for maintaining human life that is in question. And even that will come to an end.

Here is the mystical perspective: There is no Earth, and no one to save it. From that place of Big Mind, Ein Sof, Suchness, the All – we recognize that the only thing that lasts is the Ground of Being: Spirit itself. All that is will decay, and it is okay. Before you allow Big Heart and your mind to come back in, just rest in the knowing that impermanence is completely okay. It is all lila – the sport and play of Spirit with Spirit. Big Mind. Everything is Spirit. No beings to save, no environment to save, no one to save them.

Big Heart can now enter. Yet here is manifestation – yes, it is all Spirit, it is all impermanent, but there are beings here nonetheless, and there is suffering. From the place of Big Mind (no beings, no one to save) we can therefore work very hard to save them.

I said it was the mystical view. You might enjoy two other videos: Stuart Davis: A Foothill in the Mouth, and Ken Wilber: Hurts More, Bothers You Less.
Full transcript of George Carlin on Saving the Planet

You got people like this around you? Country is full of them now! People walking around all day long, every minute of the day — worried about EVERYTHING! Worried about the air, worried about the water, worried about the soil. Worried about insecticides, pesticides, food additives, carcinogens; worried about radon gas; worried about asbestos. Worried about saving endangered species.

Let me tell you about endangered species, all right? Saving endangered species is just one more arrogant attempt by humans to control Nature! It’s arrogant meddling! It’s what got us into trouble in the first place! Doesn’t anybody understand that? Interfering with Nature! Over 90 percent.. over… way over 90 percent of all the species that have ever lived — EVER LIVED — on this planet are gone. Whissshht! They are extinct!

We didn’t kill them all.

They just… disappeared! That’s what Nature does! They disappear these days at the rate of 25 a day, and I mean regardless of our behavior. Irrespective of how we act on this planet, 25 species that were here today, will be gone tomorrow! Let them go… gracefully! Leave Nature alone! Haven’t we done enough?

We’re so self-important. So self-important! Everybody’s going to save something now. “Save the trees; save the bees; save the whales; save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all, “Save the planet.” WHAT? Are these fucking people kidding me? Save the planet? We don’t even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven’t learned how to care for one another, we’re gonna save the fucking planet?

I’m getting tired of that shit. Tired of that shit. Tired! I’m tired of fucking Earth Day! I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists; these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don’t give a shit about the planet. They don’t care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don’t. Not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They’re worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn’t impress me.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked. Difference. Difference! The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We’ve been here, what? A hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we’re a threat? That somehow we’re gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just a-floatin’ around the sun?

The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles; hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors; worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages… And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet… the planet… the planet isn’t going anywhere. WE ARE!

We’re going away. Pack your shit, folks. We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet will be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.

You wanna know how the planet is doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash, “How the planet’s doing?” You wanna know if the planet’s all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilowaia, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.

The planet will be here for a long, long — LONG — time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself; it will cleanse itself, because that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover; the earth will be renewed; and, if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the Earth plus plastic! The Earth doesn’t share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the Earth. The Earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the Earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old philosophical question, “Why are we here?” “Plastic! Assholes.”

So! So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that it has already started already, don’t you? I think, to be fair, the planet probably sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And I am sure the planet will defend itself in the manner of a large organism, like a beehive or an ant colony, and muster a defense. I am sure the planet will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet trying to defend against this pesky, troublesome species? “Let’s see… What might… Hmm.. Viruses! Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh…viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps, this first virus could be one that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction.”

Well, that’s a poetic note. And it’s a start. And I can dream, can’t I? See I don’t worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we’re part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron.” The Big Electron…whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn’t punish; it doesn’t reward; it doesn’t judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while.

Thanks for being here with me for a little while tonight!

Note: Carlin uses profanity like Pollack used paint.

George Carlin, in his inimitable comic style, illustrates the point that the western overuse of antiseptics and washing can actually diminish our body’s natural ability to protect itself from opportunists. Says Carlin, “We swam in raw sewage – to cool off. We were tempered in raw shit.” One of Katrina and my favorite selections from George Carlin.

Want to boost your immunity? Check out:

+ Noble Mushrooms
+ Pau D’Arco Tea
+ Cat’s Claw
+ Vitamin D3
+ Berries
+ Ginger
+ Cayenne
+ Adequate Hydration

This week on The Stuart Davis Show Episode 6: Zen and the Zen of Zen.

It’s a Special Episode, all about Buddhism. What is Zen? What is not Zen? The Stu Clones debate the essence of the ineffable. Is Zen madness? Sanity? Is it simply the direct apprehension of Reality as-it-is, or does it involve a practice, and the development of one’s World View. Is there a difference between Horizontal and Vertical Englightenment? What the hell does that even mean? Find out this week, FREE on You Tube, Episode Six is full of Nude Buddhas and Inscrutable Grooves, with all the hilarity and heresy you’ve come to expect from the Stuart Davis Show, plus the news from Sex, God, and Rock ‘n Roll, including:

+ The Shadow and the Shaft: Thai Monk Severs Penis As A Sign of Detachment. Or… Dissociation?
+ David Lynch forms The David Lynch Foundation, dedicated to implementing TM in educational systems as a means to increase IQ, happiness, decrease stress, blood pressure, and boost immunity among kids. Is Transcendental Meditation the secret to smarter, healthier kids?
+ Leonard Cohen, Bad Ass Bodhisattva. A salute to the Zen Monk who’s shown us over and over “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
+ Also, an important message our sponsor. Do you find meditation to be a pain in the ass? A chore? A bore? Then you’ll want to check out Surrogate Sitters, this week’s sponsor.

Reports Lt. Taeko McFadden, U.S. Navy: “The classes here average about 20 each time. It is amazing how word spreads and how much people like it. Military personnel don’t realize how much they need yoga until they try it.”

David Rainoshek: Let’s encourage all military personnel – right up to the very top – to do Yoga as a life practice, and see what happens.

To see more photos, find The Give Back Yoga Foundation on Facebook, then see this page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=485362&id=181484145373

Lou Charloff was born in Romania and moved to New York (specifically, the Bronx) when he was two years old. He speaks five languages and served as an interpreter for the military government of occupied Germany after World War II. Four years ago, he decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, making him, simultaneously, one of the oldest and one of the newest comics in the business.

Source: Old Jews Telling Jokes

I am going to – as compassionately and skillfully as I can – encourage you to acquire some stable practices that will never fail to provide and reveal meaning and purpose in your life as an active expression of the evolution of Spirit.

No matter what tradition you follow, if you take your particular lineage into the mystical, you will find that all the saints and sages, yogis and common folk who had a bead on the deep features of life and the human condition all practiced meditation and contemplation.

FIRST, WHAT IS MEDITATION?

Ken Wilber writes in Grace and Grit:

There are many ways to explain meditation, what it is, what it does, how it works. Meditation, it is said, is a way to evoke the relaxation response. Meditation, others say, is a way to train and strengthen awareness; a method for centering and focusing the self; a way to halt constant verbal thinking and relax the bodymind; a technique for calming the central nervous system; a way to relieve stress, bolster self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and alleviate depression.

All of those are true enough; meditation has been clinically demonstrated to do all of those things. But I would like to emphasize that meditation itself is, and always has been, a spiritual practice. Meditation, whether Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, or Muslim, was invented as a way for the soul to venture inward, there ultimately to find a supreme identity with Godhead. “The Kingdom of Heaven is within” – and meditation, from the very beginning, has been the royal road to that Kingdom. Whatever else it does, and it does many beneficial things, meditation is first and foremost a search for the God within.

I would say meditation is spiritual, but not religious. Spiritual has to do with actual experience, not mere beliefs; with God as the Ground of Being, not a cosmic Daddy figure; with awakening to one’s true Self, not praying for one’s little self; with the disciplining of awareness, not preachy and churchy moralisms about drinking and smoking and sexing; with Spirit found in everyone’s Heart, not anything done in this or that church.

Mahatma Gandhi is spiritual; Oral Roberts is religious. Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Albert Schweitzer, Emerson and Thoreau, Saint Teresa of Avila, Dame Julian of Norwich, William James – spiritual. Billy Graham, Archbishop Sheen, Robert Schuller, Pat Robertson, Cardinal O’Connor – religious.

Meditation is spiritual; prayer is religious. That is, petitionary prayer, in which I ask God to give me a new car, help with my promotion, etc., is religious; it simply wishes to bolster the little ego in its wants and desires.

Meditation, on the other hand, seeks to go beyond the ego altogether; it asks nothing from God, real or imagined, but rather offers itself up as a sacrifice toward a greater awareness.

Meditation, then, is not so much a part of this or that particular religion, but rather part of the universal spiritual culture of all humankind – an effort to bring awareness to bear on all aspects of life. It is, in other words, part of what has been called the perennial philosophy.

My [David Rainoshek] intention here is to give you – with a western, rational mind – an appreciation for why meditation is so transformative, and then a practical introduction to the practice by several westerners who have been around the block a few times, namely Jack Kornfield and Jon Kabat-Zinn.

MEDITATION AND VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT

So here is a little from Ken Wilber on how meditation accelerates vertical development. What we are talking about here is something we will return to – lines of human development, such as
cognitive, moral, aesthetic, spiritual, emotional, interpersonal….. Well, heck, let’s jump ahead briefly – they look like this:

These are identifiable lines of development and their stages, and we all move through them. Some of us excel in some, and less in others. For now, don’t worry if this seems daunting now – we will get back to these lines in more detail in our second week! Now here is Ken:

Ken Wilber: How Meditation Accelerates Vertical Development

MEDITATION PRACTICE(S)

There are many meditation practices, but they are all based on the
ability to develop a one-pointed focus on something: your breath, a
part of the body, a mantra or prayer, or a subject of devotion such
as Jesus, Krishna, Avalokitesvara, or Godhead. But this can be
difficult to do. Moment-to-moment, monkey-mind tends to be a very
dominant aspect of our awareness.

Meditation is, in part, a means to become the witness of
monkey-mind, and the development of the ability to act as witness
is called mindfulness. The practice of establishing the witness
builds a strength of concentration, and concentration (as opposed
to being scattered) gives rise to insight. It is the age-old:

Mindfulness —> Concentration —> Insight

And the easiest way to train one’s mind and establish the witness
is one-pointed focus on the breath. For the duration of the Juice
Feast, we will keep meditation simple:

30 minutes, sitting upright, counting one’s in-breath and
out-breath to ten, watching the mind do whatever it does, but not
jumping into the river of thoughts…. and when you do jump the
bank into the river and notice you have, return to shore, and begin
counting from one to ten.

Will you always meditate this way? No. But to establish greater
concentration, this is one of the best, tried-and-true ways of
doing so. In the future, once you can sit for a half-hour and not
lose count, following the breath is sufficient, and other
meditations we will review from Jack Kornfield in his book
Meditation for Beginners will provide a greater span of meditative
subjects.

But for now in your practice during this Juice Feast,
breath-counting is perfect training.

Here is a basic introduction to meditation by Jack Kornfield:

Jack Kornfield is an author
and psychologist. After graduating in Asian studies from Dartmouth
College in 1967, he trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma,
and India. In 1975, Kornfield cofounded the Insight Meditation
Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and later, the Spirit Rock Center
in Woodacre, California. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
His books include A Path With Heart; After the Ecstacy, the
Laundry; The Art of Forgiveness; and most recently, The Wise
Heart.

HOW TO CULTIVATE A DAILY MEDITATION PRACTICE

Source: Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield

ONE OF THE most important aspects of meditation is to cultivate a
daily practice. If you do, the first thing you will notice is that
on Monday you might be able to be with your breath very well, but
on Tuesday it will be a struggle, and on Wednesday it will be even
worse than that. Then on Thursday it might be better again, but on
Friday it could be completely frustrating.

It is important not to judge your meditations. Your job is to sit
on the cushion or the chair and to accept and relate to whatever
happens, which will always be solely a reflection of whatever state
your mind and body are in at that moment. Even if you are frantic
at the end of the day and you can sit and watch three breaths in
the twenty minutes and the rest is a lot of thinking, do it anyway.
Try not to have expectations. Just commit to practicing it as an
exercise, and do not get discouraged by whatever happens. Remember
that meditation practice is very much like learning how to play the
piano. At first it amounts to little more than getting your fingers
to work a series of exercises. Later, you may be able to forget
about the exercise and hear the music behind it. We have all spent
probably a hundred million moments of wandering mind in our lives
already, so to try to change the wandering mental habit overnight
is not very likely. Meditation works, but it takes perseverance and
a gentle training of yourself.

Here are some suggestions to help you establish a daily
meditation routine.

• Choose a time of day that works for you, and then try to meditate
around that time every day.

• Accommodate your personal style. If you are a morning person, you
may want to meditate shortly after rising. Others find it easier to
sit in the afternoon, or in the evening.

• Find a quiet corner where you can practice every day. It can be
anywhere, as long as you can remain relatively undisturbed during
your meditation session. Use a chair, a cushion, or any support
that best helps you maintain your meditative posture and
awareness.

• Sit for fifteen minutes, half an hour, or longer each day. Even
just five minutes a day will be beneficial, as long as you make the
simple commitment during that time to feel your breath and bring
your awareness to your physical sensations, thoughts, and
feelings.

• Depending on your inclination each day, use any of the eight
meditations featured in this book, or any combination of them.

• You may find it helpful to place inspiring objects In your
meditation space: an image, some incense, or possibly a book. You
might want to read a short passage from a book before meditating.
Many meditators light a candle to symbolize the illumination that
is the gift of awareness.

• Seek out a meditation group. These can be found through churches,
temples, Buddhist or Hindu groups, and various secular
organizations. Joining such a group does not commit you to becoming
a follower of any particular teaching; it simply surrounds your
practice with the support of other meditators.

• Remember that meditation is not an accomplishment, but a lifelong
practice. As you work with your breathing, bodily sensations,
thoughts, and emotional energies, you will become more adept at
remaining calm and curious in the midst of any life situation.

• Keep it simple. The point of vipassana meditation is not to have
any particular experience, but to become aware of whatever
experience you are having. An attitude of childlike openness will
help you discover the truth of your life in the present moment.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Below in the attachments are two excellent conversations
between Tami Simon of Sounds True and Ken Wilber on his experiences
over the last few decades with meditation. You many enjoy listening
to them!

Also, check out the following books:

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn [HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED]

Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield

The Meditative Mind by Daniel Goleman

A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield

Meditation: The First and Last Freedom by Osho

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

And this audio program:

The Inner Art of Meditation by Jack Kornfield (9 CD Set)
[EXCELLENT REVIEWS]

Remember, the map is not the territory. These books and
resources are excellent, and such a huge gift, but only to the
extent that you practice.

Enjoy your breathing!

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek, MA

Here Ken Wilber discusses the noble (though occasionally misplaced) drive to help raise the consciousness of the world. This sort of spiritual urgency can be very difficult to work through—on the one hand, considering the fairly dismal state of this world, urgency seems the only appropriate response. On the other hand, many of our ambitions to transform the world might actually be coming from a somewhat less-than-bodhisattvic place within us, a sort of “spiritual ego” that thrives upon creating opportunities to display just how enlightened it is. Assuming the drive is authentic and selfless, how can we effectively bring just a little more light into the world, without spinning our psycho-spiritual wheels in the muck of ignorance, casting our most precious pearls of wisdom before the swine of self-deception?