More people have heart attacks on Sunday in the West than on any other day,
Photo copyright Suresh Gundappa 2007
The sun represents the male energy, the moon represents the feminine energy. And the heart lies between the two. The heart is neither male nor female. And that is the beauty of the heart: the heart is divine, neither male nor female. And it lies exactly between the two. If you are leaning too much towards the male energy you are too active and you don’t know how to be passive.
That’s what has happened in the West. The West is sun-oriented — too much activity. People are driving themselves mad with their activity. Too much speed — everything has to be done immediately, no patience — no waiting. They have forgotten how to be passive,
How to be patient, how to wait for things. They have lost all capacity to be inactive. They don’t know how to go on a holiday. Even if they go on a holiday they are more active than ever. More people have heart attacks on Sunday in the West than on any other day, because it is a holiday. And people are too occupied. The whole working week they think they will rest when the holiday comes, and when the holiday comes, they have a thousand and one things to do. Not that they have to do them, that they are needed, no, not at all; but they cannot live in rest. They cannot just lie down on the lawn and be with the earth. They cannot just sit silently under a tree and do no-thing. No, they will start doing a thousand and one things around the house. They will fix this and unfix that, they will open their car engines and start doing things to it. They will do something. But they will remain active.
Their whole life people think that when they are retired then they will enjoy. But they cannot enjoy, they cannot rest. People die very fast once they become retired. Psychologists say they die ten years earlier because they don’t know what else to do.
Death seems the only way to get rid of a life which has become meaningless, which has always been meaningless, which has been just a rush. People are rushing not knowing where they are going. All that they know is they have to go fast and faster and faster without ever being worried ‘Where exactly are you going? You may be running in a circle.’ That is exactly what is happening: people are running in a circle.
The West is sun-oriented. The East is moon-oriented.
The East has become too passive, too fatalistic: ‘Nothing has to be done. Simply wait, God will do it.’ This is another kind of foolishness and stupidity. The East is poor, lazy, lousy, and people are not worried by anything. The misery all around, the poverty, the beggars, the illness — nobody is worried. Everything is accepted. ‘What can you do? It is God’s will. We have to accept. We have just to wait. When things get too much, God will come. What else can we do?’ This is the feminine mind.
THE SECRET is you have to be exactly in the middle, neither male nor female, no leaning to any extreme. Then there is balance. Then one is active and yet remains inactive deep inside. Then one is inactive and yet remains active on the outside. On the outside be sun- oriented, on the inside be moon-oriented. Let sun and moon meet in you, and you be just exactly in the middle. And in the middle is transcendence. To stay in middle is awareness. To be in this balance is Meditation.
Love and lots of it dear ones
Suresh
Great picture to express the western right sided overactivness!!! I love it, Suresh!
Would be interesting to know what do YOU unterstand under “meditation”. Nowadays it has become a very popular word, but what is it actually??
shaktipower
January 15, 2007 at 12:59 pm
hi!
i live in Michigan and i talk to people from all over the U.S. every day and i find that the southeast has it right! they are the nicest, most patient, and just feel good people to talk to. the west is always in a hurry and ordering their stuff last minute where the east talk fast but that’s about it.
reg927
January 15, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Incredible photo! I am amazed at your skills to shoot photos! so what happened here? I see no smoking sign!
Cathy Fitzgerald
January 16, 2007 at 3:34 am
Beautiful post – applies a lot to my life.
There’s another contrast between the West and the East made by Osho which I personally relate to a lot.
In the West, there’s a lot of freedom in terms of opportunities and independence of people at a very young age, but not that much love. In the East, esp if we consider joint family system or its variations, there’s a lot of love, but not so much of freedom.
Osho said…
Freedom without love is loneliness,
Love without freedom is posessiveness.
Sanjay M
January 16, 2007 at 6:43 am
Shakti, thanks for asking about Meditation. I have made several attempts earlier to write about Meditation but each time I got cold resposne. So I found a way of addressing meditation thru day to day issues. Somehow If i can communicate to atleast few people art of Meditation thru my site then I feel My objective of this blog has been achieved. friends like you are my constant companion in this journey.
Sanjay, I agree with you completly on your comments. It’s really great pleasure to have you on my blog.
Suresh Gundappa
January 16, 2007 at 9:30 am
Totally love this post suresh!! I guess that’s what they call to have “Fire in your belly and cool in your head”. Lovely
Wishing you the very best!!
praveenc
January 16, 2007 at 12:15 pm
You’ve summed it up quite well. We are extremely impatient in this country having the attention span of a gnat. Can you imagine what it will be like in 10 years if we don’t take a deep breath, learn to relax and find our center or balance?
Great photograph, I’ve never seen you post anything like this. Thanks, Suresh!
Gracie
January 17, 2007 at 6:13 pm
I had to laugh! Really! More heart attacks on SUNDAY! Maybe our churches are more inadequate than we thought! I am joking around….I really enjoyed your insights here. Thanks.
naturalhigh
January 18, 2007 at 12:04 am
i love the photo.
ayakoaya
January 18, 2007 at 7:04 am
Hello Sureshg
Nice blog 
Maybe you going to visit my own
I invite
lots of greets
Caro
you’ve got great photos.
Maybe I should change my blog language,from Polish,on english.
How old are you and where you work ??
I hope that you will be great photographer
Nice dreams.
Caro
Caro
January 18, 2007 at 8:32 pm
You are so right it is scary! Thank you for the very true and important words and the reminder. Also, your photo is astonishing and perfectly illustrates the topic. I’m so glad you found my blog which led me to yours. You are wonderful!
Jana Bouc
January 19, 2007 at 5:43 am
[...] Gundappa’s site with some of the most amazing photos I’ve seen, especially the one linked here that so brilliantly illustrates his powerful essay on how Westerners are so busy and in a hurry all [...]
Always doing « Jana’s Journal and Sketch Blog
January 19, 2007 at 6:09 am
Hello, what a great blog. I hope you don’t mind if Buddha Warrior links you. =)
If you’re suspicious of the blog that’s linking you, here it is: http://buddhawarrior.wordpress.com
I came across your site via enteringthepath.
Some truly breathtaking photos here, thank you.
Raymond Lam
January 19, 2007 at 8:10 am
I spent very many years rushing around and now I spend a lot of time not rushing around so that I can nourish and develop my art. Guess which is the more satisfying way of life?
Great post – I’m going to be recommending it.
Katherine
January 19, 2007 at 12:26 pm
MAny years ago my boss asked me if I meditated. I said no.. Then he sai, if you pause for a moment in the day to think about something, really thinking, you are meditating… That boss was in a long path to enlightment and seekign answers.
I think he was right, but the kind of thinking he referred to is different to what we are used to. We have to be open to maky questions, answers and possibilities — and most of all, we cannot answer to the situation in the same old way we do every day out of custom, culture, imbedded beliefs, etc… We have to really look into the things– with open eyes.
I am glad I found this blog!
yari
January 19, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I thought about this watching your photo: I must fuel my mind with burning questions to really see the world (or myself) as it is (am).
Heliocentric
January 20, 2007 at 10:56 pm
So accordingly both are wrong and yet to find the middle path.
Whats god sitting idle meanwhile? He is definetly on easter side. But his god is yet to come!
Cheers
mohan!
M O H A N
February 2, 2007 at 10:40 am
[...] this brilliant post by Suresh really funny and at the same time some serious food for thought! More people have heart attacks on Sunday in the West than on any other day The West is sun-oriented — too much activity. People are driving themselves mad with their [...]
a common man ಸಂಜಯ » Blog Archive » interesting comparison of West and East
February 2, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Thanks an awesome photo. Beautiful, but kinda scary at the same time.
Jon
February 7, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I agree with shaktipower, What is meditation actually? How to to do it. How are we going to learn it. Can you be my guru? Can i be your student. Thanks you are there.
eloi
February 24, 2007 at 4:03 am
Love this capture. I also appreciate your keen assessment of the West and East and wholeheartedly agree. I wonder if there are countries or even cities where people do strike a healthy balance between rest and activity, or being and time.
photodomo
March 17, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Hi Suresh,
Good point! I think times are changing. The west is now facing a lot more unemployment, poverty and disillusionment thanks to the unnecessary wars devastating our economy and the ignorance of our leaders.
The East is getting most of the jobs and with money pouring in; people are becoming entrepreneurs going out into the world to make something of themselves.
As a disillusioned American citizen ?, I am searching online for meditation methods that can take me to a more passive state of mind, that of India where I grew up in the early 60s.
What the West needs is some type of meditation stress relief
similar to the one at http://www.meditationhome.com to help them deal with the stress of job loss, disillusionment and lack of hope.
Unfortunately, in this land owned by the NRA, non-violence doesn’t stand a chance! ?
Asia, I hope, with its solid foundation of ahimsa and spirituality will be able to deal with the influx of prosperity in a much better way.
Thanks for your meditation photography!. It is awesome!
Maya
Maya
October 3, 2007 at 11:12 am
A couple of questions based on the above discussion:
When even music or a hobby or sports can give a good amount of stress relief, should we seek stress relief from meditation?
Would this relief not be temporary, as sooner or later we start expecting relief, and when it dosen’t work some times, we feel disapppointed. (Eg some music that used to relax me when I was kid bores me now. Wouldn’t meditation then become similar?)
Or is it possible to not seek anything at all, just develop our ability to live with the current situation, even if it happens to be stressful, look at stress as yet another situation to be faced (with love)?
A couple of questions based on the above discussion:
When even music or a hobby or sports can give a good amount of stress relief, should we seek stress relief from meditation?
Would this relief not be temporary, as sooner or later we start expecting relief, and when it dosen’t work any time, we feel disapppointed. (Eg some music that used to relax me when I was kid bores me now. Would meditation be similar?)
Or is it possible to not seek anything at all, just develop our ability to live with any situation – even stress – if and when it happens to us – as yet another situation to be faced (with love)?
[Of course looking for practical solutions is always going to be there in any case, nobody wants to be like "Nero fiddling while rome burns" (which btw is only a phrase and wiki says otherwise)
]
rushmenot
October 10, 2007 at 11:00 am