{"id":1342,"date":"2010-09-16T18:13:45","date_gmt":"2010-09-16T23:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/09\/16\/just-sitting-there\/"},"modified":"2010-09-16T18:13:45","modified_gmt":"2010-09-16T23:13:45","slug":"just-sitting-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/09\/16\/just-sitting-there\/","title":{"rendered":"just sitting there"},"content":{"rendered":"

My favorite line in Patrick Groneman’s account<\/a> of a group of Buddhist meditators’ attempt to bear witness, by just sitting, amidst the rival armies of 9-11 protestors in downtown New York City (anti-mosque, pro-mosque, et al) is the passer-by yelling<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is New York, don\u2019t just sit there\u2026stand up and say what you believe in.\u201d<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

Which made me think: Isn’t that what blogging is — everyone standing up and waving their beliefs for everyone else to see?<\/p>\n

Ideally, of course, it isn’t that. Saying something is only one part of communicating; listening is the second, and attending to the ecology of speaking and thinking — the links made up of one’s interlocutors, the things spoken of and those left unsaid, the feeling and impulse giving rise to the speaking, and so on — is the third.<\/p>\n

Nathan at Dangerous Harvests<\/a> has a good wrap-up of the debates over Socially Engaged Buddhism<\/a> that have followed this summer’s symposium<\/a> on that topic. (See also Fly Like a Crow<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, this video<\/a>, shared by Santi Tafarella, stages the encounter between the “two Americas” in a way that leaves me a little uncomfortable (because of the ethical issues the experiment raises) but that at least gives us some figures: 6 for (racism), 13 against (and willing to act in defense of a Muslim American’s rights), and 22 not willing to stand up and say what they believe, or much of anything. That’s a majority. Definitely not New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My favorite line in Patrick Groneman’s account of a group of Buddhist meditators’ attempt to bear witness, by just sitting, amidst the rival armies of 9-11 protestors in downtown New York City (anti-mosque, pro-mosque, et al) is the passer-by yelling \u201cThis is New York, don\u2019t just sit there\u2026stand up and say what you believe in.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[691847],"tags":[4417,123663],"class_list":["post-1342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion-spirituality","tag-buddhism","tag-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-lE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1081,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2009\/06\/01\/more-lessig-kelly-socialism\/","url_meta":{"origin":1342,"position":0},"title":"more Lessig, Kelly, socialism","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"June 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that I've taken the time to read the growing list of responses to Lessig's post, I have to say that I'm much more impressed with the collective hive mind -- the network of respondents he's grown around himself -- than with the Queen Bee (Lessig himself) on this matter.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media ecology"","block_context":{"text":"Media ecology","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/media_ecology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13530,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/03\/05\/white-smoke\/","url_meta":{"origin":1342,"position":1},"title":"White smoke","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"March 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Everyone sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for geologists to finally decide whether or not we have entered the Anthropocene epoch can now breath a sigh of relief. They've sent up their white smoke signal to indicate that yes, they've decided. (Oh, maybe I'm mixing it up with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14456,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2026\/03\/28\/chornobyl-40-upcoming-talks\/","url_meta":{"origin":1342,"position":2},"title":"Chornobyl @ 40 & upcoming talks","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"March 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Cross-posted from UKR-TAZ. Ukrainian Review has published a special issue on \"Legacies of Chornobyl\" that includes a fascinating interview with historian Serhii Plokhy (who seems to be writing at the incredible rate of a book a year) alongside several articles on the muliple dimensions of the accident and its impacts.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2026\/03\/image-4-1024x525.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2026\/03\/image-4-1024x525.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2026\/03\/image-4-1024x525.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2026\/03\/image-4-1024x525.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1345,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/09\/17\/shooting-it-green\/","url_meta":{"origin":1342,"position":3},"title":"shooting it green","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"September 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I write about film from an ecocritical perspective, I feel obliged to share information about the greening of filmmaking practice. Transforming Cultures has a post about that. Here's the trailer for Lauren Selman's\/Real Green Media's Greenlit, a film that, like No Impact Man, appears to fall into the \"it's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cinema_zone\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/szQPd7FazXQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5366,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/10\/05\/reforest-wall-street\/","url_meta":{"origin":1342,"position":4},"title":"Reforest Wall Street","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"While I've been too busy to follow the Wall Street occupation very closely, let alone participate in any but the most vicarious ways, I'm encouraged by the persistence of its participants. Isn't it time Americans started saying basta! to government of the lobbyists, by the politicians, and for the corporations?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/politics_postpolitics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10465,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/04\/17\/comments-on-process-relational-meditation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1342,"position":5},"title":"Comments on process-relational meditation","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Part Two of my book Shadowing the Anthropocene (open access to all) outlines a system of \"bodymindfulness\" practice rooted in the mindfulness meditation system of Shinzen Young, but extended triadically to account for the active nature of living. Here are a couple of comments on and tweaks to that system,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Process-relational thought"","block_context":{"text":"Process-relational thought","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/process-relational-thought\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/04\/moment-of-nothingness-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}