More trees means more abundance

Tim De Chant (persquaremile.com); Wisdom Quarterly

Why do we love trees?

  

The love of trees (NoahOz/flickr.com)

Urban trees -- or the lack thereof -- can reveal income inequality. After writing that article, De Chant got curious: Could we actually see income inequality from space? Yes, and it turned out to be much easier to see than expected. Simple satellite images from Google Earth show adjacent neighborhoods from a selection of cities around the world. In case it isn’t obvious at first sight, the first image is that of the less well-off neighborhood, the second a nearby wealthier one. For example, two space photos follow, taken near Berkeley, one of blighted Oakland, another of blessed Piedmont. It turns out trees are an excellent predictor of poverty and therefore also of abundance. More

Beautiful residential green Piedmont in hills above Berkeley (persquaremile.com)

Dreadful residential concrete-grey Oakland south of Berkeley (persquaremile.com)

Read More

Dalai Lama: Tiger Woods? Who's that?

Besides the obvious advice of cultivating self-discipline, I think the best thing about the Dalai Lama's comments in regard to Tiger Woods and Buddhism was that he needed to be told who Tiger Woods was in the first place!! I think the Dalai Lama's ignorance about celebrities and their lives is a good thing--it's a good example to put forth. So many of us are obsessed with celebrities because we find our own lives unsatisfactory, boring or inadequate in one way or another. This obsession is a craving for a different life, one where we are famous, beautiful and/or rich. Anything but our "ordinary selves."

The world of celebrity looks glamorous and ideal but it's a facade for fellow, flawed humans who are just as miserable as anyone else in this sea of samsara. Because when we peel back the layer of glitz, glamour, make-up and good acting skills we see that they live very flawed lives of sex, drug and money addictions amongst many other chains of suffering that bind them. Our obsession is a form of escapism in a desperate but futile search for happiness in the material world. Yet once we return from the movie or finish reading the celebrity magazine we must face our lives again. The waves of reality come washing back in like a tidal wave to inundate and knock us over with the suffering that we tried to ignore.

This is why, like the Dalai Lama, I generally am not very interested in the lives of celebrities. I appreciate their art but I don't see them as examples of how to live a life with less suffering. One of the only "celebrities" that I think does that is the Dalai Lama himself.

~Peace to all beings~

Read More