Salt Lake City Lost Coin
8-3-10

A couple of points of business: 1) Lost Coin is moving toward having a "non-profit" status. One of the benefits will be that we, as members, will be able to write off our yearly dues as a contribution to a non-profit on our taxes (at least in the U.S.). 2) Long-time member Arlene is actively trying to raise money for the group. She's trying to make contact with film maker David Lynch, who has been supportive of organizations like Lost Coin. Doen feels good about these endeavors, as they are coming from Lost Coin students, rather than being driven by him.

-Doen is writing his second book. The format of the book will be that he starts each chapter with a story. One of the first chapters will be called "Paul Zeiglebaum's (sp?) Mother." 

-Doen tells the tale of befriending Paul Z., who lived downstairs from him in their Bronx, NY apartment building when Doen was a boy. Doen's parents socialized with other Europeans and generally didn't approve of too many Americans, but they did approve of Paul Z.Paul was kind of a geeky, skinny, chess-playing kid, and Doen bonded with Paul over their shared love of chess. Chess for Doen and his father (and for most Europeans and Russians of the time) was more than just a past time--it was a passion. Doen and Paul spent hours playing chess together. And on Saturdays, Doen was especially fond of watching nature programs and eating hot dogs and french fries at Paul's. 

-Doen's neighborhood was grimy and garbage-ridden: trash in the gutters; buildings broken down, deserted, and in myriad states of disrepair; empty lots full of rubble and broken glass; street kids looking for fights. Doen had the competing  influences of his parents at home (insisting that he read fine literature and study classical music daily) and the streets of the Bronx when he outside (delinquent kids looking to fight, etc.). Doen remembers loving "snow days" (when kids get the day off school because of snow), because the snow would come and wipe the grim of the streets clean (or at least cover it temporarily). Until the snow melted, it was like living in new, more pristine, neighborhood. And, of course, it was a time for neighborhood kids to empty out into the streets for snowball fights. Snow days were wonderful. 

-One snow day Doen went to Paul's to see if he could come out for the fun in the snow. Paul said he couldn't come out , so Doen went to Paul's mother to ask her why he couldn't come out: "Paul can't come out because it's cold and wet outside," she replied. Doen was dumbfounded.  As a young boy he had never considered such an idea. For him the snow was a source of wonder and unadulterated fun. It created a clean, new landscape in which to go play. "Cold and wet" was far, far beside the point--not even a consideration. As he stood there stunned, it occurred to him for the first time in his young life just how completely differently two people could view the exact same thing. Snow.

-Another story that Doen will be using in his new book is one based on his travels to Canada as a young man. Doen frequently made trips into the wilds of Canada to go camping, hiking, and exploring. One trip in particular, Doen and friends crossed the border into Canada and were set to explore a very remote area. Their plan was to travel with little gear and catch fish and forage off the land to eat. It was at this point that Doen had a conversation with a ranger. Upon hearing Doen's plan, he advised Doen to really "hang on" upon casting his fishing line into whatever waters he was going to be fishing. Doen's response was polite but dismissive: "Yeah, sure," he thought to himself. "I've caught plenty of fish--there's nothing out there that's going to pull the pole right out of my hand." But the ranger went on: "No, REALLY, hang on," he implored. The ranger left the young explorers with, "These are largely unexplored parts, and no one's really sure what's in those waters." Doen set out with a slight chink in his confidence. 

-The fish were abundant. No sooner would Doen cast his line than he would reel in another fish. As night fell on the remote waters, however, an ominous sense fell upon the party. Dusk brought with it a cacophony of strange and disheartening sounds. "Were those bird noises?" " What kind of creature could be making that sound?" Doen thought to himself. The night began to feel overwhelming. Bugs, disorienting noises, bad weather ... it just got worse. This night was so miserable and frightening that it would be burned indelibly into his memory.

-Doen and his friends had gone to the wilderness for adventure and fun many times before. Why was this time so different? After this adventure, it occurred to Doen that it was in how he and his compatriots perceived their surroundings and circumstances. Somehow this time was different. The lenses through which they viewed this experience were not the same lenses through which they had viewed  past experiences. The question "Who creates the emotions we have?" came to Doen. He came to the conclusion that it's not so much our circumstances that dictate how we feel but, more so, how we interpret  our circumstances that dictates our feelings. It's the stories that we tell ourselves about our particular circumstances that dictate our emotions. Doen iterated that, sure, our physical environment does make a difference in our experience, but so much of our experience is derived from the stories we tell ourselves about our physical circumstances--the lenses through which we view the world. This is empowering because we can then see that we don't have to be at the whims of our surroundings; we can be self-authoring in how we feel. We largely create our emotions.  

-Both of these stories speak to how we, as individuals, perceive the world; and how different people look at the same thing--snow in the first story, a wilderness experience in the second--through such vastly different lenses. It's the lenses or filters through which we experience the world that largely determine our emotions. 

-Later in the class we did a sitting clinic with Doen. He was pleased, overall, with our postures. He reminded us that, when first sitting, sitting will be uncomfortable, but that, with time, it will become the most comfortable and natural-feeling posture that we can take. We will be sitting for years to come--we should learn to do it right and do it well.

-We were reminded, also, to put our heart and our will into what we do, not our heads. Our heads are fine, but lead with the heart and apply our heart and our will diligently to what we do.    
