When causes and conditions come together, a result is sure to follow

-

"When causes and conditions come together, a result is sure to follow" is a line from one of my favorite meditation practices. This line from the Nectar of the Path, composed by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, reminds me that all outcomes are the result of many factors, of which many are unseen or unrecognized.

Ph.Done.

Having recently completed a PhD, I've appreciated receiving so many congratulatory messages from friends, family, colleagues, collaborators, students, mentors and so on. It was a long road (7-years), with many twists and turns. Earning this degree took an almost incalculable number of hours, and certainly added more than a few gray hairs to my pate. However, my own hard work and sacrifice were merely the seed that was planted in the soil of conditions. Thankfully, the soil proved to be sufficiently fertile as to support the germination and sprouting of this doctoral vine.

The following text is from the introduction to my doctoral dissertation. While I do not always succeed, I strive to acknowledge when good fortune provides the platform that my labors are built upon. I have had a fortunate roll of the "karmic dice," and hope that this education supports future work that benefits beings.

Many of the conditions that supported this dissertation were put into place through no skill of mine – they arose solely from getting a fortunate roll of the “karmic dice.” As a child I had the good fortune to have been read to regularly, along with the opportunity to attend preschool. Entering kindergarten associating books with stories, and knowing my letters & numbers built the foundation for pursuing an advanced degree. I had further good fortune to attend public schools with relatively small class sizes and many passionate teachers, and the education I received continued building the foundation that an advanced degree is built upon. Through no skill of my own, I had the good fortune to be born into a relatively sturdy body that responds well to long work days, which further facilitated this doctoral work. Along the path to dissertating, a global pandemic threatened to shut down the global economy, including the small business I run with my wife. Thanks to the Payroll Protection Program and local small-business grants, our business weathered the pandemic and I could return to my studies. I could go on and on citing the various fortunate causes and conditions that supported this doctoral work – to that end, I intend to pay it forward by focusing future work on benefiting beings.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You have lots of... things

-
Image
The hearse pulled into my family’s driveway at the appointed hour. My parents mentioned that an artist was stopping by, though I had no idea the artist’s entrance would imprint so indelibly in my mind. From his ginormous, black hearse, to the wild hair and beard, this man-in-black was the antithesis of the early-1970s, suburban world that I inhabited. My adoptive parents were thoroughly suburban. We had lots of stuff, and hungered for the stuff that we didn’t have. I thought nothing of this – it’s how all my friends and I lived. With one sentence, however, the artist showed me another view of all this stuff, initiating a conflicted relationship with stuff that I’ve been working with for 50+ years. Repurposed hearses are really big station wagons that can haul lots of things. As he entered our house, he hesitantly said “You have lots of… things .” The pause on “things” was pregnant with meaning, and even though I was scarcely of school-age, I grokked the layered meanings implied by the
Read more

Sweets and Your Mitochondria

-
Image
The vitality of your cellular mitochondria are a significant predictor of your health. To support your overall health, it's best to avoid low-fiber foods that are sweet. Fruit is sweet, though is generally high in fiber. A donut, on the other hand, is low in fiber and sweet. The metabolic pathways of each are significantly different, and interact with enzymes in your liver in very different ways. This plant-based donut did not check the whole-foods box Metabolic health is your mitochondria working at peak efficiency, and your liver is a mitochondria factory. When you eat low-fiber foods that are sweet, the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in your liver isn't able to bond with the receptors that initiate the production of healthy mitochondria. While your tissues may be crying out for refreshed mitochondria, the factory doors are locked when you consume low-fiber, sweet food. Not all sweet food is created equal - there are many types of sugars, such as sucrose, fructose, lac
Read more

Worklife Bardo

-
Image
  I’m currently parked in a Bardo. What, you may ask, is a Bardo? According to meditation teacher Andrew Holecek, the Tibetan word “Bardo” is translated as “gap, interval, intermediate state, transition process or in between…” The next chapter of life has yet to be written, and the final page of the previous chapter has been turned. Last month I graduated – a milestone I eagerly anticipated since my first day of grad school, nearly seven years ago. While I (mostly) appreciated the process of earning the Ph.D., I never lost sight of the goal. I was not in grad school for the sake of being in grad school – I consistently had a sense of purpose… almost a mission. Interestingly, that mission took multiple twists and turns throughout the duration of the process. Now that the final page on the grad-school chapter has been turned, the first pages of the next chapter aren’t what I expected. The various twists and turns appeared to lead into a long hallway. Like MIT’s Infinite Corridor , this h
Read more