User talk:MerlynAya

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Americ Azevedo

Overview

Americ Azevedo taught at the University of California, Berkeley; and nearby schools. He is a life-long meditater and philosopher of everyday life. In addition to his background in philosophy and world religions, he has taught and worked in computer technology, where he was a pioneer in online education and virtual communities; and in business, as a consultant specializing in company reorganizations. He has conducted "Philosophers' Forums" in the community, as well as leading meditation retreats. He taught Meditation, Leadership-Dialogue-Actualization, and Nonviolence. He retired at the end of 2015. By the 2018 he feels the deep impact of old age. He has been reviewing his life since retirement. He is becoming more deeply spiritual. He works on quieting the mind during the whole day. He says, "This is the greatest adventure of my life".

Interview

Interviewed by Awakin Call from Richard Whittaker. It was over 60 minutes long and gives a somewhat comprehensive history of Americ Azevedo's work with students as well as his life.

Truth Demands To Be Lived - Interview by Richard Whittaker

Relevant Experience

Meditation Instruction

• UC Berkeley. Theory and Practice of Meditation. Peace & Conflict Studies. 500 to 600 students/semester.

• Pacific School of Religion. Meditation Theory & Practice.

• Berkeley City College. Meditation: Theory and Practice. Humanities Department

Dialogue

• Pacific School of Religion. Dialogue as a Spiritual Practice.

Meditation Mini-Retreats

Shambhala Meditation Center, Berkeley. Berkeley Hillel. Private groups.

Wisdom Enrichment

• Leadership, Dialogue, and Actualization. UC Berkeley.
• Shinnyo-en Foundation, Peace & Conflict Studies, and CalCorps Public Service Center.
• Time, Money, and Love in the Age of Technology. UC Berkeley. Engineering School.
• Engineering Ethics. UC Berkeley, Engineering School.
• Mysticism & Science. San Francisco State University. Philosophy Department.

Workshops

• UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Business & the Good Life. One day workship/retreat. Practiced several ways of meditation & related mindfulness/meditation to business practice.
• Veterans Memorial Hospital. Stress reduction workshop. Organized by San Francisco City College.
• Chevron (Standard Oil). In-house guided meditation stress reduction professional employees.

Public Events

• Philosophers' Forums. Dialogue groups at coffee houses and other public places. From 15 to 80 people for focused Socratic style dialogues on impossible to answer questions.
• Elephant Pharmacy. "Meditation in the Marketplace" and many other topics during three years.
• Paulist Center, San Francisco. Talks and meditations based on inter-religious themes.

Writings

• Australian Science magazine. A science and technology blogging network.
• Philosopher-at-Large Blog. PHILOSOPHY / WISDOM / CONSCIOUSNESS
• Meditation: Waking Up to Life. Based on over 35 years of meditation practice and study of scientific, psychological, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Taoist, and Native People's perspectives. Published 2010.
• The Eye of the Paradox. A collection of philosophical and spiritual essays. ePublished 1992.

Advice to students

"Don't wait for life to start, begin living now. Truth frees us from illusion. Gaining knowledge of truth is a lifetime journey. Everyday contains unrealized opportunities. Uncertainty is everywhere in a life. We can't control the future."

Comments

"You seem to be an Ancient Greek trapped in the 21st century, and thereby you are showing people what you already know... You are doing GOOD work for the education of young minds I see...I have learned more of myself and my own philosophical intuition in your class than I have anywhere else. You have one of the few classes I will leave and say "that class actually taught me something." You are bringing real education to real people, not abstractions to statistics. You are living Nietzsche's impossible command "to bring out another humans overman." This is not kiss-ass words I am writing to you, this is truth, and you are doing GOOD. The least important part of education is learning facts, the most important part of education is finding yourself without abstraction." - God Speed Ryan

I was especially impressed by how people could so freely express themselves during the "silent break" and we just danced with each other so happily! How wonderful!!! Without words and technology, we returned to the original state where we express ourselves by expression and body language. I felt more alive that way. During the silent break, I also watched two ladies hugging each other, smiling at each other and dancing with each other so lovingly. I cried as I saw the intimate and genuine connection between them. It is even hard to build that kind of interaction with a family member or a good friend; only under the meditative & relaxing environment that we had built together could that happen in such a meaningful way. - Yu Wu, UC Berkeley student (Spring 2012 Mini-Retreat)

"I loved it. The professor treated us as equals and we all got to voice our opinions on issues that were brought up in class. It was very stimulating." - Student in Fall 2006 seminar taught by Professor Azevedo

"It was taught extremely well. Professor Azevedo knows what he is talking about and is extremely qualified. He did a great job." - Student in Fall 2006 seminar

Beautiful e-Places

|| Why is there something rather than nothing? || Listen Well: A Spoken Word Website || Our Place in the Universe || Poetry Foundation || Peter Russell || Simple Wisdom Sutra MerlynAya (talk) 17:26, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

Sign your posts on talk pages

Please don't forget, you can sign your messages on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 17:26, 25 December 2017 (UTC) MerlynAya (talk) 16:19, 5 January 2018 (UTC) MerlynAya (talk) 16:21, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

December 2018

Hello, I'm John of Reading. An edit that you recently made to Help:Template seemed to be a test and has been removed. If you want more practice editing, please use the sandbox. If you think a mistake was made, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks! John of Reading (talk) 17:38, 5 December 2018 (UTC)