The Mindful Life with Waylon H. Lewis

Why “elephant”?

By Waylon H. Lewis, 6-20-06

	latest issue of 'elephant'--cover by ScotLeFavor.com

I publish a little magazine, called 'elephant.' We've been around for 4 plus years, now, we print 35K eco-copies of each issue, we're available free in five states in the Rockies, and we're finally, slowly starting to go national. 'elephant' focuses on 'the mindful life'—living a good life that also happens to be good for others (most folks just do one or the other--witness my mom, a poorly-paid teacher, who is all about others but lives in a one-bedroom, unheated apartment—or your average hedge fund manager with requisite 10,000 square foot mansion in Greenwich with indoor squash court, underground parking garage and beachfront access).

People ask me all the time. "Why's your magazine called 'elephant'? What's that about?" The answer really isn’t very interesting -- it has something to do with the virtues of three-syllable titles that are highly visual and yet vague enough to accommodate many meanings. After all, what’s one word for yoga and organics and slow food and sustainability and green living and responsible business and conscious consumerism and local, indie business and Buddhadharma and any genuine religious practice and the arts and anything else we can think of that fosters a good life that also happens to be good for others?

I grew up in a Buddhist community, and in that community ‘Shambhala’ represents the vision of an enlightened, healthy society in which all religions and traditions coexist in harmony with one another and the world. But ‘Shambhala’ doesn’t have a patent on enlightened society. Jews and Christians and Muslims...hippies and yuppies...Democrats and...oh...well anyway, we all have our ways of walking the bodhisattva’s path.

So ‘elephant it’ was. Elephants are matriarchal, intelligent, live as long as humans, communicate, and grieve for their dead. They’re the largest living land creature, they’re regaled in the East for their patience and memory, they’re considered sacred in every culture they’ve been a part of. Lord Ganesh was my favorite weird Indian deity as a kid -- the only one that held my attention in the museums. (Buddha? Just sitting there, all peaceful? Borrrrinnnng. Give me a fat guy with an elephant head.)

And there’s that fable about the six blind men & the elephant. One grabs the trunk, and says, ‘this is a snake!’ One grabs a leg, and says ‘this is a tree!” One grabs the tail, and I don’t remember what he said. The point? The fable reminds us that we all have our own ideas of what the whole is all about. Different paths to the mountaintop. And this is immediately analogous to what elephant’s trying to do.

We’re not trying to present Eastern wisdom to Western yuppies. We’re not after the LOHAS demographic, or any demographic for that matter. That’s why we’re a free magazine -- we’re trying to preach not only to the choir but to those who don’t give a shiite. Because it’s folks who don’t already walk the mindful path that are doing the most harm -- driving 21 or less mpg vehicles, kicking puppy dogs... The choir already knows about mediation, organics, the importance of being physically active (climbing, yoga, cycling, running, bball, etc.). So if the magazine’s free, they can pick up a copy at their local Whole Foods or café and read it for five minutes over coffee or lunch and then toss it over their shoulders, if they don’t like it.

And so, as with the blind men and the elephant, we all have our p.o.v. Some think it’s all about living environmentally, and they’re right. But spiritual types know that if you’re yelling at your children to turn the lights off or recycle, you're missing a point. They think it’s all about meditation, about working with your aggression and craving, about being kind. And they’re right. Yogis know that precise physical poses, when synchronized with the breath, can lead to a life that’s harmonious in every way. Artists and businessfolk and politicians etc. all find that if you want to create a better world, you’ve got to do it their way. And we’re all right. But we’re also all parts of the whole, blind men hanging onto a part of the whole: the elephant.

So there you go. That’s where we’re coming from. More importantly, let us know where you’re coming from. Write an article. Review something you’re passionate about. The more elephant, like craigslist.org (or this web site you might know, newwest.net) becomes a container not only shaped by its creative team but filled by those who read it and live the life already, the more elephant's pages will have to offer.

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