In California, the animist gods of forest fires, floods, droughts, mudslides and earthquakes are screaming for people to leave. Yet, the false god of sentimental thinking (the self) tells people to stay.
Way Of Way 23
Fiction is our memory of non-fiction.
Way Of Way 26
What happened historically is remembered hysterically.
Way Of Way 29
We are born of the soul and into the self for a short journey in the play of life.
When we are scripted out of the play, we return to the soul.
The play is a divine comedy for those who remember the way of the ever-present and eternal soul.
The play is a tragedy for those who’ve lost the way, the lost souls.
Koan 216
When our eyes are closed, we see with our ears. When our eyes are open, we can listen to our nose.
Kotodama 30
Things without matter don’t matter.
Koan 215
“Before you can find God, you must lose your self.” — Ball Shem Tov
Way Of Way 30
Political decadence is when right or wrong is replaced by right or left.
Koan 214
Everything happens all at once but in different places or over time in the same place.
ChatGPT responds:
The statement you’ve made touches on some fundamental ideas related to the nature of time and space in physics and philosophy. Let’s break down its implications:
- Simultaneity and Relativity: The idea that “everything happens all at once but in different places” is somewhat related to the concept of simultaneity in the theory of relativity. In Einstein’s theory of special relativity, events that are simultaneous in one frame of reference may not be simultaneous in another. This suggests that the notion of “now” is relative and depends on your perspective or frame of reference.
- Space-Time: In the theory of general relativity, space and time are intertwined in what is known as space-time. Events in the universe are described as occurring at specific points in space-time. This implies that everything that has ever happened or will happen is already “located” in space-time, and events occur at different points within this continuum.
- Change and Persistence: On the other hand, the idea that things happen “over time in the same place” highlights the concept of change and persistence. In our everyday experience, we perceive events unfolding sequentially, and we see objects enduring through time. This concept aligns with the common-sense notion of time as a linear progression.
- Philosophical Considerations: Philosophically, your statement raises questions about the nature of time, causality, and the relationship between the past, present, and future. It invites contemplation on whether the past, present, and future exist simultaneously in some sense or whether they are purely sequential.
In summary, your statement touches on the complex and often paradoxical nature of time and space. It highlights the interplay between different perspectives, such as the relative nature of simultaneity and the idea of events existing within space-time, while also acknowledging our everyday experience of time as a linear progression. These ideas have fascinated physicists and philosophers for centuries, and they continue to be subjects of exploration and debate.
Kotodama 34
The mystical experience is mistical; realizing one is in a fog, beyond which is the light.
Kotodama 19
Art is artificial.
Koan 140
Though we are wee, we are the infinite and eternal.
In the now, who we are is infinite as we are everchanging.
At all times now and otherwise, what we are is eternal.
Haiku 122
Every thing unique, every thing everchanging.
Can’t know every thing, but can know nothing.
The essence of every thing.
Way Of Way 31
When we know the world solely by what we see and hear, we are out of touch and can’t tell whether something doesn’t smell or taste right.
Haiku 125
Some things high, some things low.
We live in a vertical world.
In sleep and at death, all things equal;
the world is horizontal.
Haiku 23
Stars seem motionless, with no sense of time.
Randomly dispersed, without rhythm or rhyme.
Yet, constellations tell time far and near.
Hour of night and month of year.
Koan 107
“Where we stand depends on where we sit.” — Rufus Miles
Way Of Way 58
Nouns are photos. Verbs are movies.
Nouns are the it. Verbs are the is.
Nouns are empty generalizations. Verbs are meaningless.
Nouns are created by our consciousness. Verbs are the experience of consciousness.
Koan 210
Why is accidentally seeing our spiritual guru sexually engaged with a disciple in a meditation room funny, but not when the disciple is our spouse?
Way Of Way 186
The goal in the material world is self-actualization, realizing one’s potential; like a seed becoming a fruitful tree.
The goal in the transcendental world is self-realization, realizing what we are: the eternal soul which is manifested as an infinite number of everchanging things.
There are two paths to both self-actualization and self-realization: the institutional path and the self-discovered path.
The institutional path in the material world starts with a formal education and continues as one develops in a corporate or governmental organization.
The self-discovered path in the material world going it alone by starting a business.
The institutional path in the transcendental world is marked by religious texts, codes of conduct, collective rituals and individual practices under the guide of a guru or spiritual leader.
The self-discovered path in the transcendental world is sitting still, observing, seeking answers — like a dog chasing its tail — until the sound of laughing wakes us to the absurdity of it all.
The institutional paths limit risk and reward.
The self-discovery paths are only limited by the self.
Koan 207
It is easy to fall asleep but difficult to awaken unless we know we are sleeping.
Koan 202
“I love to find the good inside everyone, even if that good is only me.” Robert Faithful
Koan 192
Being best is best, but good enough is better.
Koan 191
We can be certain we don’t know what we are looking at when we are certain we know what we are looking at.
Haiku 122
Once I have passed,
many will think of me as past.
Those who know of timeless love,
that which emanates from above,
will not shed a tear
as I am forever here.
Koan 97
We experience reality through our senses but remember it through our emotions.
Way Of Way 19
A subscriber to our blog recently mentioned some of the posts repetitive.
This suggests a main point of the blog has been lost on them; for even if two posts are identical, they are not the same.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus
IAWIA
God is everchanging and eternal; a way not going away.
In the Hebrew Bible, YHWH is the name of God.
In Paleo-Hebrew, the written text only included consonants and the reader would supply the vowels during reading. This oral tradition was passed down through generations, but was eventually lost. Today, there is no consensus as to how to pronounce YHWH.
However, the nature of God reveals a possible pronunciation of God’s name.
God self-identifies as: “I am who I am” or “I will be what I will be”. God is manifested in the now as a tangible “who” and outside the now as an unspecified “what”. Taken together: “I am what I am.”
Acronym: iawia
iawia can be pronounced two ways.
As “I why” wherein the first of two consecutive vowels is pronounced and the second vowel is silent.
Or as “a way” wherein only the second vowel is pronounced.
With both pronunciations, one vowel is voiced and the other silent. God is the manifested and the unmanifested.
“I why” or, in common speech, “why do I exist?” I am what I am. There are no reasons or explanations.
God is “a way“; an everchanging path, being rather than a discrete being.
“a way” is akin to the Taoist concept of Tao (the Way). The Way is ultimate reality; the seen and unseen; the source of all being; the eternally transitioning; ineffable, beyond human comprehension.
“a way” is also a possible pronunciation of YHWH.
“a way” is the sound of breathing (inhale “a”, exhale “way”).
Likewise, “soooo” is the sound of inhaling and “hmmmmm” is the sound of exhaling. Together, they form the word “Soham”, meaning “I am” in Sanskrit.
Every breath of life recalls the name of God.
Koan 127
Nothing is always the same as nothing is nothing, but no thing the same is the same.
Koan 159
All beings are illusions based on the illusion of the self as a being.
Koan 178
When everyone is laughing, there are no selves; just God laughing.
Koan 191
A selfish fool seeks to find God, for God is everywhere when you lose your self.
Way of Way 120
No one is getting out of here alive, but those who know the way. The way is love.
Love connects who we are in the play of life, an expression of the soul, to what we are before and after the play, the soul.
Way Of Way 127
In light of our inevitable death and countless potential disasters, everyday problems aren’t as significant as our mind makes them.
Kotodama 79
How you roll gets you the role and the role affects how you roll.
Koan 104
You cannot love every thing, unless you are the Everything.
Koan 124
The now is filled with descriptions, yet all descriptions are empty.
Haiku 68
Earth breathes the air, fire eats the Earth,
water drowns fire, air evaporates water.
Different things, same thing.
Kotodama 27
As I am this
as I am that
as I am many things,
I am not one I.
I am many Is.
But the Is are not Is.
The Is are is,
as all there is is is.
Koan 101
What’s odd is funny when it makes things that are not odd funny.
Kotodama 37
Choosing between vow and wow sounds easy but is difficult.
Kotodama 42
As U are who you are, a person in the play of life;
as U are what you are, God in the audience;
U are W (double U).
I am nothing, O.
With W on my left, the past, and a W on my right, the future;
WOW.
Koan 211
When we are present, we miss nothing until we have it again.
Koan 69
Are we free when we have more money than time or more time than money?
Way Of Way 157
We rarely stress about something we can do something about.
The mind causes stress, not circumstances.
Haiku 121
All time is now.
What was is the past now.
What will be is time passed now.
Koan 140
The now begins with M = E/C² and ends with E = MC².
M = Mass
E = Energy
C = Speed of Light
Before the now, all there is is Energy.
When Energy is slowed down by the speed of light squared, energy becomes Mass.
The Mass is the now.
When Mass accelerates to the speed of light squared, it reverts into Energy.
The process of Energy to Mass and back happens in an instant; again and again and again.
It happens so quickly, we don’t sense it happens. The mind creates an illusion of continuity and stability.
Koan 68
Every thing is nothing as it seems, as it is constantly changing.
Only the mind makes it seem otherwise.
Koan 65
Life is a play. It’s purpose is to play.
To play as your self’s various emotions at whatever your roles.
To play as to have fun in the process.
Kotodama 45
Soul is sole is sol.
One transcendental thing, manifested by light.
Koan 60
The brilliant reflect the sun’s light.
The wise emanate light to guide the way through the night.
Koan 37
While we are naturally eccentric, it’s difficult to be eccentric.
Koan 57
The universe is an infinite number of things, each with their own center; yet, there is only one center.
Koan 97
Awakening is always the same, all ways different.
Koan 58
No one is getting out of here alive but those emitting unconditional love.
Unconditional love comes only from the soul. The eternal universe is the manifestation of the soul.
Kotodama 56
When you meet someone, it is customary to ask: “What is your name?’
Recognizing everyone is God, the question is the answer: “What is your name!”
“What” is everything before and after it is a who (or any thing else) in the now.
Koan 56
Who I am is many things.
What I am is one thing.
Way Of Way 36
If we are not dancing, we are not listening to the music.
Koan 54
The soul is selfish, yet is has no self.
Koan 55
“I don’t mind what happens.” — J. Krishnamurti
The “eternal what” is every thing before and after the now.
The is “what happens”; a temporary expression of the “eternal what”.
The “what happens” is a mirror of the “eternal what”.
The “eternal what” loves seeing itself in the mirror.
The love is divine love, peace beyond understanding.
The mind, the self’s emotions and memories, precludes us from seeing the “what happens”.
Though the mind we see only illusions.
When we don’t mind, we accept “what happens” and the illusions disappear.
Then we realize we are the “eternal what”.
Way Of Way 18
Love your self with your soul, not with your self.
Otherwise, you might fuck your self.
Way Of Way 38
Stress is a selfish state of mind.
Stress happens when the self takes control of the mind.
The remedy is freeing the mind from the self.
The etymology of the word “mind” is “memory”.
Remembering what the universe is can free us from the shackles of stress.
The etymology of the word “universe” literally means “turned into one”.
All things are temporarily things in the now, but eternally one thing: the universe.
Who we are is a self. What we are is the universe.
When we only perceive being a self, we suffer selfish states such as stress.
Remembering we are the universe, we have no stress.
Feeling great and being stressed are mutually exclusive states of mind. When we feel great, we cannot be stressed.
When we are grateful, we are “great-full” with no space for stress.
We are grateful when we remember we are lucky. However stressful our circumstances, we are lucky they are not worse.
The word “hap” means luck. The root of happiness is remembering we are lucky.
When we are happy, we cannot be stressed.
Life is a play.
For the actors in the play, it’s a tragedy; good times, bad times, meaningful relationships here and there, but everyone dies at the end.
For the audience, it’s a comedy; watching actors take their roles seriously, though it’s only a play.
When we identify as the self, we are the actors.
The audience is Gods. When we remember we are Gods, we are also the audience.
As Homer once said, near the home of the Gods, Mount Olympus, there is a deafening sound of the Gods laughing. The Gods are laughing at us.
When we die, we leave the play and join our fellow Gods in the audience.
Remembering we are both the actors and the Gods, we can laugh at our selves.
When laughing, we are not stressed.
Much stress is a function of things from the past.
These things are karma: our intentions, actions and consequences of past lives. Karma affects how we experience the now.
Our past lives are not lives we had before this life. Our past lives are passed days of our life. Each day is not a day in a life but a life in a day.
We accumulate much karma over our passed lives.
The people we were in passed lives are illusions. Our memories of them are just a dream; yet, the self tells us otherwise.
When we don’t believe the self-stories about the past, we remember we are only the person we are right now.
Karma of the past is passed and we cannot be stressed in the now.
The self has many faces or emotions, like stress.
The self’s emotions control our mind.
To escape the self we need to calm the self with unconditional love.
Unconditional love comes only from the soul. When we love unconditionally, we are the soul.
The soul is never stressed.
Way Of Way 24
Loving those who dislike you shows them the way to disliking no one.
Way Of Way 53
A meal is judged twice. At the sitting and at the shitting.
Kotodama 57
No know now
Now know no
Know now no
No know now. I don’t know the now.
Now know no. I now know nothing.
Know now no. I know the now is nothing.
I don’t know the now.
As the now is all there is, I now know nothing.
The now is nothing.
Kotodama 13
Our senses connect us to the now.
Our mind makes sense of our senses.
The mind’s sense is non-sense, separating us from the now.
Koan 126
With an infinite number of centers, the universe has no center.
Each thing our eyes focus on is a center.
Each of us is a center.
As the universe is the one and only thing, it has no center.
Way Of Way 40
Pantheism is a religion without religion.
Organized religions are identity groups typically defined by institutionalized characteristics: belief systems, sacred texts, rituals, moral codes, communal practices, symbols and anecdotes.
As each organized religious group perceives itself different from other groups, religious identity groups (as well as secular identity groups) are inherently dualistic
Pantheism dispels with duality.
Pantheism is the view that while every thing seems unique, all there is is one everchanging thing: God.
Oneness with God is a transcendental experience that dissolves the illusionary and dualistic boundaries that differentiate organized religion and secular groups generally.
Oneness is a direct connection to the divine; much like mystical experiences in organized religions (Sufism, Kabballah, tantra, and Zen meditation) but without the institutional structures framing it.
The state of oneness is characterized by the transition from individual consciousness to divine consciousness; from the view that every thing is finite in space and time (having a beginning and end) to the view that all there is is the everchanging and eternal Everything, God.
In the mystical state of oneness, one loves every thing; though one may not necessarily like every thing from the perspective of their individual consciousness.
When one loves every thing, one feels every thing loves them.
The reciprocal connection of love engenders a transcendental peace, a peace beyond understanding.
Pantheists appreciate organized religions and secular beliefs as different expressions of God; but often view as funny the rituals, dogmas, and hierarchies of organized religions and secular life (non-pantheists) as they obscure the fundamental truth that every thing is sacred.
Those who are non-pantheists often don’t appreciate a pantheist’s perspective. People who take their religious and secular beliefs seriously are put off by those who are laughing at them, though simultaneously loving them.
Way Of Way 41
“Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear.” — Lao Tzu
In each body resides a self.
But the self is many selves, as each of our emotional states is a unique self.
The selves are like the grains of sand in a muddy pond, the mind.
They preclude us from seeing within the pond and reflections without the pond.
To clearly see within and without, the selves need to settle at pond’s bottom.
In this process the many selves turn into one.
Calming the mind let’s the selves settle.
This is the purpose of meditation.
Koan 125
“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” — Lao Tzu
He who speaks reveals a dot in a pointillist painting. He who knows does not speak as reality is a creation of infinite dots.
He who speaks conveys the now as a photo.
He who knows does not speak; for the now is an everchanging flow, like a movie.
A speaker’s words are like the finite and precise space inside a square. The endless and everchanging now is like the imprecise space inside a circle (a function of the transcendental number, π (pi)). He who knows knows a circle cannot be squared.
He who speaks does not know the now, as descriptions are empty; the now that’s described is now no longer.
He who knows the now does not speak, as the essence of the now is nothing.
He who speaks describes that which his consciousness creates; what his foveal vision carves out of peripheral vision.
He who knows knows peripheral vision eludes specific description.
He who speaks is in the now. He cannot grasp the now, as a hand cannot grasp itself.
He who knows does not speak as only from the silent space outside the now can one observe and ultimately come to know the now.
He who speaks is an actor in the play of life. For actors, the play is a tragedy; as every actor eventually dies.
He who knows is the audience. For the audience, the play is a comedy; wherein people take their selves seriously. He who laughs cannot speak.
He who knows delights in watching the play; an experience he cares not interrupt by speaking which would transition him from being the audience and into an actor.
Like speaking: “As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.” — Lao Tzu
Kotodama 20
The universe seems an infinite and endless number of unique and everchanging things.
However, all things are interdependent, making all things one thing: the universe. The etymology of the word “universe” is literally “turned into one.”
As things are unique and everchanging, nothing can be described but with one (uni) verse: It is what it is whatever it is.
Way Of Way 17
With eyes open, our mind shows us the infinite manifestations of reality.
With eyes closed, we see one thing: nothing, the true nature of reality.
Haiku 101
I first see you as another.
Then I see the you as myself.
Until there is no you or me, just us.
Haiku 202
A picture is made of an infinite number of small dots invisible to the eye.
Inside each dot is the essence of creation.
The universe is a dot beyond imagination.
Haiku 121
With one eye, we can see.
With two eyes, we have depth perception.
With one mind, we have a view.
With many minds, we have perspective.
Way Of Way 91
Everyone is brilliant in some way. The brilliance of those who seem dull is to remind us that we can seem dull too.
Haiku 104
Under the sun,
Earth with an infinite number of things.
In the night sky,
an endless universe, one thing.
Koan 193
Very few things affect us. What we think things are affects us.
Koan 121
How do you know whether you are seeing something through your eyes or mind?
Koan 198
The book with blank pages is only empty if that’s what we see.
Koan 197
Without a different perspective we have no perspective.
Way Of Way 10
Those with microscopic or telescopic minds can see what few others can, but often can’t see what’s before their eyes.
Way Of Way 185
If we are not one with the Everything, we are nothing; in life, relatively nothing; after life, absolutely nothing.
Way Of Way 131
Loving some things even more than your self is selfish when you don’t love all things.
Way Of Way 14
As 85% of disease-related deaths are a function of age. To stay healthy, don’t grow up.
Haiku 52
Thank you sun for rising to awaken me.
For without the sun,
I would be no one and not one.
Koan 196
God is everywhere the self is not.
Koan 195
The Way to awakening is not to take your self seriously.
The way to begin the Way is not to take me seriously.
Way Of Way 12
When the wealthiest and most powerful man in the world, Alexander the Great, asked Diogenes of Sinope what he can do for him, Diogenes replied: “Yes, stand a little out of my sun.” .
The greatest gift is to escape the self’s shadow and connect with the source of all things.
Koan 194
Life is a play; a tragedy for the actors and a comedy for the audience.
A tragedy as every actor eventually is scripted out of the play and dies.
A comedy as the actors that their selves seriously.
People are the actors and the gods is the audience.
We can always choose who we are, actors or gods.
Way Of Way 182
Those who know the soul experience a peaceful death; for when the self and its home (the body) are no longer, they will be one with the Everything.
Yet, at their passing, their loved ones will grieve and mourn.
Newborns cry as they transition from one with the Everything into finite beings.
Yet, those welcoming newborns rejoice.
Those peacefully departing and those entering the material world know the joy and peace of oneness with the Everything.
Those distracted by the dualities in daily life are often oblivious of the oneness before and after the material world. They grieve when others leave or rejoice when others arrive, because misery loves company.
Kotodama 67
Nothing, but nothing, is certain.
Koan 15
Those who are enlightened enlight others. Yet, everyone enlights the enlightened.
Way Of Way 11
When good times lead to worse times and bad times lead to better times, that’s called “regression to the mean”.
When good times lead to better times and bad times lead to worse times, that’s called “momentum”.
The Way depends on identifying and balancing these countervailing forces.
Koan 190
Seven thousand miles away is 14 hours away by way of flying. Yet, someone 10 feet away is often many years away in different ways; too far away for us to hear each other.
Frank Zappa
Sometime in 1967, I went to the Garrick Theatre in New York City to see Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention perform a sparsely attended show.
It was a rainy day and Frank wore a rain hat which brought a few streams of sweat rolling down his face.
After the show, I went backstage to meet Frank. My sole question was: “What do you look like without that prophylactic hat?” To which Frank responded: “Like a real man.”
Frank was a real piece of work; not one of infinite copies or an overpriced fake.
The following year, Frank produced a song, some of whose lyrics have ever since resonated with me as funny and profound:
“What is the ugliest part of your body?
Some say your nose
Some say your toes
But I think it’s your mind.”
Nothing to the eye is inherently ugly or beautiful. However, the mind, by comparing things, deems some things uglier or prettier than other things. The mind is the ugliest part of the body, for it’s the only part that makes things ugly.
Koan 189
God is in plain sight, just hidden behind the self.
Koan 188
When we are present in the now, we are absent-minded of being in the now.
Koan 171
All things are constantly changing, yet there is nothing new under the sun.
Haiku 120
Those who are loving are the sun.
Those who want to be loved are black holes.
Haiku 119
Every thing seems a duality,
a light side and a dark side.
The sun makes things shine.
Things make shadows.
Kotodama 59
“Soooo” is the sound of inhaling.
“Hmmmmm” is the sound of exhaling.
Together, the cycle of breathing is “Soham”, meaning “I am” in Sanskrit.
“Soham” is an often used mantra in meditation to connect to the universal self.
“YH” mimics the sound of inhaling.
“WH” mimics the sound of exhaling.
Together, the cycle of breathing is “YHWH”, the word for God in the Old Testament; suggesting the sound of breathing is the unconscious utterance of God’s name.
God self-identifies as: “I am”. I am being, not a being.
Haiku 118
Like the sun rising and setting,
we rise at birth and set at death.
Yet, rising and setting is an illusion.
The sun is always shining,
rising and setting simultaneously, but in different places.
Kotodama 89
As male/female titles “Mr.”, “Mrs.” and “Ms.” are out of fashion in these contentious times, perhaps punctuations should be used to identity people and their sexual proclivities; to wit:
Female appearance: (:)
Male appearance: (;)
Straight: (|)
Gay: (\)
Bisexual: (<>)
Trans (\/)
Dominant Female: (‘:)
Submissive Female: (:’)
Dominant Male: (‘;)
Submissive Male: (;’)
Weird Female in public: (“:)
Weird Male in public: (“;)
Weird Female in private: (:”)
Weird Male in private: (;”)
Weird Female every which way: (“:”)
Weird Male every which way: (“;”)
Undecided Person: (?)
Materialistic: ($)
Into group sex: (#)
Sexually loyal: (&)
Mental connection priority: (i)
Physical connection priority: (!)
Wants children: (+)
Doesn’t want children: (-)
Self-conscious: (%)
Dreamer: (*)
Religious: (^)
Homebody: (@)
For example, a person describing themselves as:
(“$^&’:@+) is a publicly weird materialistic religious loyal dominant Female homebody interested in having children.
(‘;!<>#*”-) is a dominant Male physically focused bisexual into group sex fantasies privately weird stuff and not interested in having children.
Alternatively, recognizing our unity, everyone could simply be referred to as “it”. This identifier is suggested by the long-used greeting: “How’s it going?”
Ultimately, those who know the true nature of things can only describe anyone or thing as “it is what it is whatever it is “. They are at peace, as they know the devil is in the details.
Way Of Way 49
In the play of life, we play many roles. The most coveted are the scarce and elusive roles of the wealthy, the powerful and the celebrated.
While talent and effort is needed, most actors awarded these roles are simply lucky.
Unfortunately, even for the lucky ones, all roles are temporary, ending before or by the time whomever plays them gets scripted out of the play.
Unlike other roles which require an actor to have a self, there is a role that’s only available to those who forego their self. It’s a role that’s easily obtainable, requires little effort beyond paying attention, and survives the length of the play. Yet, few players know this role is available.
The role of God.
As God, we know life is a play we produce for our entertainment. We are the actors and the audience. We recognize every thing is a manifestation of us, God, and we love everything accordingly.
Haiku 117
Sun crashes pond’s surface.
Water only ripples.
Sun not wet.
Koan 185
All ways the best time in life can only be now.
Koan 184
“There are no facts, just interpretations.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
Koan 186
Every thing is temporarily unique and forever the same.
Koan 181
Something we see and can’t identify is fascinating.
Once we identify it, it becomes a noun and we relegate it to our peripheral vision.
Koan 182
Life is a game of hide and seek. We win by finding the soul before the soul finds us.
Way Of Way 52
In Judaism, God is nameless.
God is not one thing to the exclusion of other things.
God is the Everything: the now and what is before and after the now.
However, the Everything is not a thing.
God is not a static noun.
God self-describes as “I am”.
God is an unspecified verb, the process of the Everything.
Koan 6
All we see in the now are reflections of light. When the now disappears, all that remains is light.
Koan 180
Time cannot be saved or spent.
Way Of Way 195
We’re surrounded by an infinite number of things.
As we distance away from them, we see them as one thing.
Way Of Way 50
We have freedom of speech as long as no one is listening.
Way Of Way 9
The soul’s love and the self’s love are the same but feel different.
The soul has only one emotion: love.
The self has a multitude of emotions, including love.
The soul loves every thing, as every thing is a manifestation of the soul. Simply, the soul loves itself.
The self’s love is conditional, loving some things sometimes.
The soul’s love is unconditional, loving all things all times.
The self’s love is ecstasy; love sandwiched between other emotions in striking contrast to love. Ecstasy is joyful and energizing.
Love from the soul is peace; a feeling beyond words, as oneness with the Everything is beyond description.
Ecstasy and peace simultaneously is orgasmic.
Koan 175
However fast a river runs, it’s always in the same place.
Koan 173
When we are one with the universe, we miss nothing until we see it.
Koan 176
When one experience seems like another, we have experienced neither.
Koan 155
Whatever we are certain about is an illusion.
Haiku 16
It is what it is whatever it is.
What it is is of no matter.
What matters is that it is.
Kotodama 83
Those who need to be important are impotent.
Koan 172
When we don’t forget from where we came we know where we are going.
Koan 153
Those who can’t distinguish between someone loving themselves and selfishness are selfish.
Koan 156
What you see outside your self looks different when you are outside your self.
Koan 158
How can the soul appear to transition into an infinite number of things?
Koan 170
If life is a test, those with more answers than questions are sure to fail.
Koan 167
When seeing something not unique, we are seeing it with our mind.
Koan 168
When the past is real, the present is an illusion.
Koan 160
We can’t open our eyes if we don’t know they are closed.
Koan 164
When we are the person we once were, we are nothing.
Koan 166
Until we know we know nothing, we know nothing.
Haiku 116
What’s good for you is good for me
as I can choose who to be,
you, me, or you and me.
Koan 161
What was once and is no longer, never was.
Koan 174
No thing is perfect but nothing is perfect.
Haiku 115
We begin life as a tiny circle, looking like a dot.
As we grow, we have an inside and outside.
Until there is no more circle, just space.
Haiku 113
Water downstream is water past.
Water upstream is water future.
Water here is water present.
Water flows like time, but is timeless.
Koan 163
Loving certain people, but not all people, is sentimental. Loving all people is practical.
Koan 152
Enlightenment is simple: one is one with the light. But it’s complicated by the unenlightened who can’t agree on what it is.
Haiku 107
Living the life of water is the best thing.
As snow, it’s the most reflective thing.
As it flows, it’s more practical than anything.
When it evaporates, it becomes one with everything.
Koan 151
Those who love you, help keep you alive. Those you love are the reason you are alive.
Koan 98
As everyone describes the same thing differently, how can you understand anything unless you understand everyone?
Kotodama 74
“Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe.” — Galileo Galilei
Mathematics connects everything in the universe.
The mind created the word “number” whose etymology is “to divide.”
Way Of Way 37
All things are two things, a reflection of light and a shadow.
The sun creates the light, the thing creates the shadow.
Koan 177
What happens when we die?
What happens when we die!
When we die we transition from “Who” we are when we are in the now to “What” we are in the time before and after the now.
The “Who” is the self, our identity in the now.
The “What” is transcendental. The “What” is God.
In the Bible, God self-describes: “I am what I am.”
In several religious traditions, God is nameless; for if God is this, then God is not that. God is nameless because God is what it is whatever it is.
As every thing in the now is a manifestation of God, the “Who” is an expression of the “What”.
As the “Who” exists only in the now, the “Who” is finite.
Those who view themselves as solely a “Who” die when they are no longer in the now.
Those realizing they are the “What” are eternal beings, constantly transitioning from “What” to “Who” and to “What”.
Koan 187
Sleeping is a state of consciousness based on the illusion of knowledge.
Awakening is the realization we don’t know anything.
Enlightenment is knowing nothing.
Way Of Way 22
Nothing is perfect, as there is nothing about which to complain.
Before and after the now is nothing.
Before and after the now must be perfect.
Way Of Way 56
“When I was a kid, God often told me that only people create ugliness.” — Kanako Iiyama
Through the eye of God, the manifestation of God (the now) radiates beauty.
Through people’s minds, the beauty is often elusive or even made ugly.
The mind cannot see, it can only compare. The mind compares the now that’s now with the now that’s passed and the future now it imagines or desires.
Comparisons shroud the now with words; precluding a direct experience of the radiant now. As well, comparisons can make the absolutely beautiful relatively ugly.
The now is perfect; eternally now. Yet, none of the things in the now are perfect as all things are ever-changing; at best, perfect temporarily.
Focusing on things, people often complain about imperfections. Complaining is ugly.
Those who know all things in the now are one thing, the manifestation of God, unconditionally love all things as they do themselves.
Those who see things as other than themselves, connect to things with various emotions; many of which are ugly.
Koan 132
When we understand all is One, is 1 + 1 = 1?
Haiku 103
Those who are bored
see life as a game board,
but a board it can’t be
as every thing is 3-D.
Koan 149
The mind can grasp enlightenment as easily as a hand can grasp itself.
Koan 148
How can the now be eternally unchanged, yet the now that’s now is different than the now before now and the now after the now?
Haiku 106
Using constellations to navigate our way,
we don’t see the stars which are the Way.
Koan 143
As each of us describes the same thing differently, is the same thing the same thing?
Koan 141
Are the brightest those who reflect the brightest light or those who emit light which reflects from everything around them?
Koan 31
When the mind lights the road ahead, day turns into night.
Koan 146
The foundation of wisdom is knowing you know nothing.
Koan 145
“Some things are too important to be taken seriously.” — Oscar Wilde
Koan 144
You find the soul when you lose your self.
Koan 142
When the self is absent, we are present.
Koan 136
Once you know nothing, there is nothing else you need to know.
Way Of Way 64
Life is a wonderful dream as long as we’re not oblivious we are dreaming.
Koan 107
We transform the now into words, the words become the now.
Koan 110
The senses connect us to reality and the mind disconnects us from reality.
Kotodama 73
Upon awakening,
i becomes !
Koan 139
Every thing, but the Everything, creates duality.
Koan 133
An enlightened man loves every thing equally; though, in selfish moments, some things he likes and some things he doesn’t.
Koan 108
The sound of laughter indicates the truth is near.
Koan 130
There is no time, just space. Every thing that was, is and will be happens at the same time but in different spaces.
Koan 134
The memories we hold onto are real, until we open our hand and see there is nothing there.
Way Of Way 7
The electromagnetic spectrum reveals the universe.
We see the universe through a pinhole: visible light is 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum.
If we saw the universe through the entire electromagnetic spectrum, we would wish we were blind.
Kotodama 72
I + Word = World
My word creates the world.
My Mother’s Transition 2
In the last year of my mother’s life, she was mentally clear but otherwise incapacitated.
Living in a nursing facility, she couldn’t do much but be carted around to group entertainment activities like movie watching. Her days must have been intolerably long, as she had little to do to kill time until time killed her.
Yet, her perspective was otherwise.
I once asked her if she was often bored, to which she replied, “Oh, I am busy all day; barely have time to do anything.” What was she busy with? “Thinking about my life.”
My mother traveled to the land of her memories. Her memories must have been happy as she never complained and had no regrets.
That’s how my mother transitioned, living in her memories until she became a memory. For me, only a happy memory.
Koan 131
A wise man may appear foolish being uncertain of every thing, but only a fool is certain of any thing.
Koan 201
The only thing certain is that we can never be certain of anything.
Koan 61
When we see something familiar, we are seeing it with our mind not our eyes.
Kotodama 88
The etymology of the word “universe” is literally “turned into one.”
The universe is the Everything turned into one thing.
The Everything is the now and what is before and after the now.
Sometimes, the Everything is called “God.”
People pray to God for many specific things, but ultimately happiness generally. The workings of the universe reveals the way to eternal happiness, peace.
God is like a shiny coin rapidly flipping and reflecting light.
One side is called “heads” and the other called “tails.” The plural is used to describe each side because each time we see the same side it is different in time and space than it was before and we are not the same person from one minute to the next.
The side we see is the now. The side we don’t see is what is before and after the now.
As the Everything (God) is rapidly turning, the visible side is just reflections of light. However, the mind slows down the turning and creates detailed images from the light. The images and the stories we tell about them are illusions.
The heads and tails seem a duality. However, the duality is also an illusion. All there is are two sides “turning into one,” the universe in the form of a coin.
Rarely noticed is the edge of the coin, the “third side.” The third side interconnects the two seemingly independent sides that are actually interdependent as one cannot exist without the other.
Horizontally from edge to edge is an invisible central axis, or path, around which the coin dances in perfect harmony. The path is the “Tao.”
The Tao is ultimate reality,* the underlying principle or source from which all things arise and to which they return. The Tao is the natural flow and harmony of the universe.
When we simply appreciate the coin fluttering like a butterfly, we are in tune with the Tao. We are not distracted by images and related stories we’ve created. We are in a state of peaceful harmony.
Most of us are oblivious of the Tao, as our attention is on what was now, what is now and what will be now, the visible side of the coin.
We see what is now in the context of what was and we hope to get lucky; that the next visible side, the next now, will bring us happiness.
“Hap” means luck. It is the root of happiness.
We pray to God to bring us luck.
Yet, when we experience the simple beauty of the Tao, we realize eternal peace rather than temporary happiness.
*While a coin flipping in the air seems a simple process, it’s actually extremely complicated to explain in terms of physics. It involves classical mechanics, rotational dynamics, angular momentum and precession, fluid dynamics, chaos theory and quantum mechanics. In perspective, the theory of relativity is considered easier to come to know than coin flip dynamics.
Koan 129
To the curious mind, awareness of its ignorance is bliss.
Koan 128
Life is a test to which we are given the answer before taking the test. We always have a choice: we can remember the answer or take the test seriously.
Koan 106
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus
Koan 122
You are in harmony with the world when you know who you are.
You are harmony when you know what you are.
Koan 23
“Enlightenment is like everyday consciousness, but two inches above the ground.” — D.T. Suzuki
Enlightenment is proverbially described as “being one with everything.” It is a state associated with the dissolution of the illusory self, transcending duality and realizing our oneness with the Everything.
Consciousness is consciousness. The consciousness of enlightenment is not different from the self’s consciousness in the now.
Describing enlightenment as being two inches above the ground seems the antithesis of enlightenment, as it implies separation/duality. No! Two inches above the ground implies enlightenment is transcendental, beyond our conventional understanding of the material world with forces like gravity.
The “ground” represents the now. When we are on the ground, we are in the now. Through the consciousness of the self, we experience the now as a duality: the self and all that is not the self.
The consciousness of enlightenment is observing the now which can be doing through meditation.
The now is breathing. We can observe the now when we are in the space between exhale and inhale.
In this silent space we realize we create the now and, once created, we are the now.
Koan 7
What do we see everywhere but rarely notice?
Light.
Things we see are not things, just light reflecting off things.
What we don’t see, the essence of all things, is also light. All things are energy slowed by the speed of light squared (E = MC²). Reformulated, mass is energy divided by the spend of light squared (M = E/C²).)
All things, outside and inside, are light.
Perceiving things otherwise, as solid or distinct from other things, is an illusion.
As all things are light, all things are enlightening.
When you see things as things are, what are you?
Koan 137
At the moment our senses awaken us, the mind puts us to sleep.
Koan 111
What separates people is not space but time.
Kotodama 69
As everyone who is not me is U and I am U to everyone else, all beings are Us.
Koan 100
When we categorize others, we don’t know what they or we are.
Koan 116
To the eyes, every thing is unique because the eyes have no memory.
Koan 99
When you love everyone, it feels like everyone loves you.
Koan 25
Certainty makes us comfortable with reality because it’s not reality.
Koan 42
As enlightenment is so simple and obvious, it’s funny (as in odd) that some people don’t get it.
It’s actually funny when someone tries to explain it; like pointing their finger at the sun, yet the listener keeps looking at their finger.
Koan 113
Awakened, we don’t recognize any thing we see. Enlightened, there are no things, just light.
Koan 112
To the eyes, every thing is beautiful. To the mind, few things are beautiful.
Koan 114
Awakening is the realization that our memories are just dreams.
Koan 96
We move forward by walking backward, experiencing things only after they’ve passed.
Koan 95
Our eyes see things horizontally, but our mind sees things vertically.
Kotodama 2
When past is passed, it’s absent in the present.
Koan 94
As the hand cannot grasp itself, how can the mind grasp itself?
Kotodama 38
I + dolls = Idols
Kotodama 65
“I”, “Is”, and “Time” are the most frequently used pronoun, verb and noun.
While these words are never together in a sentence, “I is time”, they reveal the ultimate truth of existence.
“Is”, unlike “am”, suggests an identity relating to universal reality beyond the personal self.
“I is time” implies I am not a thing, emotion or characteristic. I am not one thing to the exclusion of other things; essentially, I am not the self.
“I is time” is transcendental. I is a flow of events. I is infinite, continuous, eternal. I is being, not a being.
I is time
Acronym: “I-it” or “Eye-it”
“It” is the most unspecific description. It is what it is whatever it is.
As “it” can refer to anything, it is essentially every thing.
“I it”: I and the universe are one.
“Eye-it”: what I see is what I am.
I is time. I am the flow of the universe.
Way Of Way 68
Love is love, but is different depending on its source.
There is love from the self and love from the soul
The self expresses many emotions, including love.
The soul expresses itself only with love.
Love from the self is temporary, as the self also needs to express other emotions.
Love from the soul is unending.
Love from the self is love of specific things.
Love from the soul is love of every thing.
Love from the self is conditional.
Love from the soul is unconditional.
Love from the self is demonstrative.
Love from the soul is ethereal.
Love from the self is finite like the self.
Love from the soul is eternal as it connects us to the Everything.
Love from the self is empathy.
Love from the soul is compassion.
Love from the self is joyous.
Love from the soul is peace.
Koan 89
Once you know what you are is not your self, what else do you need to know?
Way Of Way 71
Knowing who you are, you can make the best of your roles in life.
Knowing what you are is the best role.
Kotodama 48
A nation that gets into pissing contests is a urine-nation.
Koan 88
“Love is the absence of judgement.” — Dali Lama XIV
Koan 87
“Where does a thought go when it’s forgotten?” — Sigmund Freud
Kotodama 21
“Wow” is an instinctive sound we make when we encounter something that captivates, astonishes, or delights us.
The sound of “wow” is like love, made by puckering our lips when making a kiss.
Kotodama 64
As every thing we see is but a reflection of light, take things lightly.
Kotodama 22
“The Great Way” begins with “no know” and ends with “know no.”
“The Great Way” (or Tao), a central concept in Taoism, is the natural flow of the universe and the path to harmony. It is the path to liberation from our temporary individual self to realizing our eternal oneness with the Everything.
The Everything is the soul and its manifestation in the now.
The soul is what every thing is before and after it is what it is whatever it is in the now. The soul is “no-thing,” just energy.
The now is an infinite number of seemingly separate things. However, their separateness is an illusion, as all things are interdependent. Ultimately, all things in the now are one thing: the manifestation (expression) of the soul.
The self is who we are in the now.
The self conceives the now as a duality: the self and that which is not the self. Upon this foundational duality, we perceive separateness between all things in the now.
The self’s perception of separateness is based on illusions (memories, stories and identities) that define who we are, not what we are (the Everything).
The path to liberation begins when we realize we “no know.” That is, our self does not know what we are. We then dispense with our heretofore perception of reality based on the self and its illusions.
Dispensing with the illusion of separateness, we come to “know no;” to know the “no-thing” (the soul).
Knowing the soul, we experience the expression of the soul, the now, as an interconnectedness of all things.
From the soul to the soul’s expression and the reverting to the soul is the natural flow of the universe. Realizing that this is what we are, the Everything, we are in harmony with the flow of the universe.
Meditation is a central practice of “The Great Way.” Through meditation, we can let go of the self which in turn liberates us from the self.
Holding the self makes the hand a fist, an aggressive gesture suggestive of duality. Letting go the self, the hand opens like a handshake that allows us to connect with all things. The connection is love.
In meditation, we focus on breathing and the space between breaths. The breaths are the now and the space between breaths is the “no-thing” (the soul).
In the space of the “no-thing,” we can observe the now and come to realize we are the consciousness that creates it.
With the wisdom of knowing we are the Everything, we realize our self’s sense of separateness and the self itself are illusions. This wisdom leads us to compassion, to love all things in the now.
The sounds of “no know” and “know no” are the same, but their meanings distinct. The same energy vibrations (sound) from the soul is manifested differently as words in the now.
Liberation is reverting from words to their sounds; from distinct to harmonious. The path back is the Tao. The Tao reveals that “no know” and “know no” are one; that we and the energy are one.
Koan 90
“The most dangerous thing of all is habit.” — Kotzker Rebbe
Habits don’t kill you, but keep you from being alive.
Koan 85
Can you be enlightened if you are not enlightening?
Kotodama 63
Affects are the means and effects are the ends, but effects affect affects.
Koan 84
“More important than writing is erasing.” — Kotzker Rebbe
“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” — Lao Tzu
Haiku 92
Under the sun, the world of the self.
In the night sky, we the soul.
Koan 28
“Now that I no longer desire all, I have it all without desire.”– St. John of the Cross
Koan 86
Eureka! All There Is Is Is.
Eureka means “I have found it.” Yet, there is nothing to be found as all there is is being and becoming; the Everything that is eternal and everchanging.
Acronym: EATIII (pronounced as “80”)
“8” is the symbol of infinity (∞) drawn vertically, reflecting the human form. Graphically, an endless knot constantly twisting and turning in different directions.
“8” is consciousness; infinite in time and everchanging as it is manifesting in the now.
“0” is a hole with two separate sides, inside and outside. However, their separateness is an illusion as they are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other. Together they are a whole, not a hole.
“0” is our experience of the now: an illusion of separate things that are actually one thing.
Both “8”and “0” are continuous, a flow with no beginning and no end.
Eureka! All there is is the flow of eternal consciousness; everchanging as it creates the now.
Way Of Way 75
“In the beginning…God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” — Genesis 1:1-3
Every thing subsequently is a derivative or an illusion.
Kotodama 44
It Is What It Is Whatever It Is
Acronym: II-WII-WII (pronounced: I why why)
Why do I exist? Why is the universe as it is?
It Is What It Is Whatever It Is.
There is no why. All there is is is.
Koan 4
“Water is the face of fire.” — Kanako Iiyama
The appearance of things is unlike their true nature.
Water, like most things, slowly changes its form. Yet, beneath the surface, all things are rapidly and constantly changing, like fire.
Water is transparent and reflective. When we don’t see the fire within water, what we see is a reflection of our self.
We perceive the world as discrete things, like water and fire. However, all things are aspects of the same interconnected thing, the Everything.
This koan is Kanako’s family motto: how the family presents itself to others:
We are like water: calm, nourishing and practical. Yet, like fire, we can cause great destruction.
Kotodama 62
Work is business, jobs are busyness.
Work implies purposeful, goal-oriented activity. Jobs evaluations are based on whether you show up or not.
Many people want jobs, not work; though appearing busy is tough work.
Kotodama 61
Each sense connects us to a facet of reality. Thoughts are a senseless connection.
Lester Wunderman
Lester Wunderman was a successful advertising executive, renowned as the father of direct marketing which he created in the late 1950s. Lester was also an avid collector of Dogon African art, having amassed a “world class” collection which now resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Musee Du Quai Branly in Paris.
I knew Lester as an investor in my hedge fund in the late 1980s. However, as we both had an interest in tribal art, we spoke more about art than investing.
Lester started collecting Dogon art from Mali in a chance view of a figurative object at a gallery in LA. He didn’t quite know why this artwork stirred a passion, but “it spoke to me.” After much time and money spent on amassing his collection, Lester visited the Dogon people who lived at desert’s edge and for whom sourcing water was often a preoccupation. Warmly received and aware of the water issues facing the Dogon, upon his return to NY, Lester contracted geologists and engineers to drill several drinking wells for the Dogon. He later returned to visit the Dogon and was initiated as a shaman, with a animist festival highlighted by singing and dancing at a village where he had connected the Dogon to a water source.
The singing and dancing resonated within him. It was then he realized the artworks in his collection were essentially empty; for what he was seeking was not artworks, but the singing and dancing connecting him and all in the community as one. Soon after, Lester distributed his collection to museums for those less fortunate than himself to experience the life of the Dogon vicariously.
Kotodama 41
The now is always the same and all ways different.
Koan 29
Time is like water, drink it or it evaporates.
Way Of Way 76
When we are grateful and love the now that is now, we are poised to be happy with the now that will be later.
Koan 79
Before and after the now, there is no time.
The now comes and goes in an instant, yet the now is eternal.
What is time?
Koan 119
The light we see disappears in an instant. The light itself is forever.
Koan 76
When you know what you are, you always appreciate who you are.
Koan 34
Everything is in the now. When you feel something is missing, the thing that’s missing is you.
Koan 38
You are what you are forever. Who you are is subject to change.
Koan 35
What is your Way:
Earth, fire, air or water?
Earth is physical.
Fire is emotional.
Air is conceptual.
Water is practical.
Rock, paper, or scissors?
Rock is nature.
Paper is civilization
Scissors is technology.
Red, yellow or blue?
Red is emotional.
Yellow is intuitive..
Blue is conceptual.
Knife, fork, spoon or chopsticks?
Kotodama 77
Heaven is “have-even,” where every thing is even, as every thing is one thing in the space before and after the now.
Koan 120
The soul and the self are complimentary. The soul emits energy. The self absorbs energy. What then happens with the energy?
Way Of Way 77
“[C]ynic…a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing…a sentimentalist…is a man who sees an absurd value in everything and doesn’t know the market price of a single thing.” — Oscar Wilde
A cynic doubts the value of everything; hence, he accepts values based on market prices. For example, he accepts that a Rolls Royce is worth $400K because that’s the price at which a willing buyer and seller agree, regardless of the relative merits of the car or its cost of production. A sentimentalist values everything based on personal feelings and thoughts without regard to the reality of prices determined in the marketplace. For example, a sentimentalist might be unwilling to sell for $10K a ring received as a gift and replaceable for $1K.
The cynic values things empirically: it is what it is whatever it is. The sentimentalist values things based on concepts and theories that rarely comport with reality.
Successful traders are cynical. They tend to view the current price of something as the best predictor of its price in the immediate future. Thus, they buy and sell things based on price trends. As something is moving higher in price they buy more and more of it at higher and higher prices. When the price trend breaks, they liquidate their positions at whatever the prevailing prices. Thus they buy high and sell low.
Successful investors are sentimental. They believe the value of something is a function of its relative value and cost of production. That belief allows them to continue buying something as its price declines and sell when prices go higher. They buy low and sell high.
From a political perspective, a cynic is the capitalist and the sentimentalist is the socialist. The cynic applies a cost/benefit analysis to government programs, while the socialist considers the benefits without the direct, indirect and opportunity costs of the programs. Moreover, the cynic perceives government programs as self-serving to those espousing and implementing the programs, while the sentimentalist views the programs solely in terms of their beneficial objectives. Essentially, the capitalist is rational and self-serving, while the socialist is an emotional do-gooder. Ultimately, the capitalist is frustrated by the socialist’s inability to see what the capitalist feels is common sense (economics) and the socialist feels that the capitalist simply “doesn’t get it;” that is, we all live in a community and need serve the community (high taxes) which in turn cares for its members (welfare).
Individually, sentimentalists are emotional and cynics are practical; symbolically represented by fire and water. Fire hates and fears water. Water knows fires will eventually burn out, but not without causing great destruction.
Way Of Way 84
As children we need to be loved, for we will surely die without the help of others who presumably will help us because they love us.
At the end of days, we need to love everyone and everything, for otherwise we will surely die if we don’t realize we are one with the Everything.
Merton Simpson
Merton Simpson was a black man born in 1928 in racially segregated South Carolina. Merton was a musician, painter and, after settling in New York, a world-renowned tribal art dealer.
As a collector of tribal art, I met Merton in 1991 and over the years purchased a few objects he had on offer. More significantly, we became friends; that is, we were completely open in our talks; taking vicarious joy in each other’s tales and perspectives, without judgement.
I did much of the talking as Merton was not a man of many words or paragraphs. Yet, Merton conveyed his feelings by laughing which is what he did much of our time together.
Merton loved the physical experience of being alive. He loved looking at art, listening to music, eating and fucking. I could appreciate that.
While in his day Merton was considered a top tribal art dealer, in his later years there was much talk about some of the objects he had on offer being of dubious authenticity. (Authenticity is the foundation of the collectible art market, without which art prices could not rise to as high as the sky. For if art was simply a visual experience, high quality “fakes” would be as valuable as authentic artworks.)
Some in the field of tribal art collecting suggested that Merton’s “fakes” were not offered with malintent, but perhaps Merton with age lost his critical “eye” for identifying artworks that were “real” or “fake.” However, I suspect Merton evolved beyond these artificial categorizations. Merton came to simply enjoy and appreciate art things, as well as things generally, as there were, not as a function of how they were categorized or relative to other objects. He saw things not as this, that or another, but as is.
In one of our many get-togethers, we looked at an African Nkisi figure, commonly called a “nail fetish,” to consider whether it was “real” or a “fake.” After some minutes, I asked Merton what he thought, to which he responded: “It is what it is.”
That’s as God self-identified to Moses: “I am what I am.” Simply, Merton delighted at the light from the “Burning Bush.”
Koan 75
The self that thinks it knows, only knows illusions.
Koan 74
“Speech and silence are one and the same.” — Fuketsu Ensho
Haiku 85
$38 can of paint
brushed on a canvass: priceless
spilled on the floor: worthless.
Haiku 84
The road ahead is very clear,
as the light reveals all that’s near.
Shadows form from light that’s passed,
as what is now doesn’t last.
Way Of Way 88
The winners in the game of life receive grand prizes.
But, every participant gets a consolation prize: the transition to heaven.
The winners who rejoice with their grand prizes often forget to pick up the consolation prize.
Koan 205
It’s easy to equally divide a pie without knowing math, but impossible when you know the math of pi.
Way of Way 90
In the play of life, we are both the actors and the audience.
Wonderful entertainment for all but those who forget they are also the audience.
Koan 53
Those who seek will not find for what they are seeking is seeking.
Way of Way 118
Someone who asks you a question wants to learn.
Someone who provides you an answer wants to teach.
Someone who asks you a question and provides you an answer wants to sell you something.
Koan 72
The it is an illusion, but not when the it is what it is whatever it is. What is it?
Way Of Way 6
“He who doesn’t see God everywhere isn’t capable of seeing God anywhere.” — Kotzker Rebbe
Way of Way 111
Desiring what we don’t have distracts us from appreciating what we have.
Koan 63
“Whoever gets angry, it is as if he worshipped idols” — Zohar 1:27b
Getting angry at some one or thing presumes it has an independent existence, like an idol. That denies the existence of God which is the interconnected oneness of every thing.
Koan 71
Love your self to escape from your self.
Koan 62
The devil is in the details.
Without details, all things are one thing: God.
Kotodama 54
I am being, not a being.
Kotodama 66
The eyes see the sea, what’s there.
The ears hear what’s here.
The nose knows.
Kotodama 53
When every day is holy, every day is a holiday.
Kotodama 52
Those who can explain “what it?” have wit.
Those who know “what is?” are wise.
Way Of Way 79
Talking about others, we are talking about our self; for the self creates the others.
Koan 30
We see “its” everywhere and rarely notice “is”, though all there is is is.
There are two types of vision, foveal and peripheral.
Foveal vision is when our eyes focus and we mentally create static images of seemingly independent things (“its”).
Peripheral vision is unfocused, where all things are one undifferentiable flow; the “is”. The “is” is reality; an ambiguous flow of interdependent and everchanging things beyond description, other than that it is what it is whatever it is.
While 99% of our visual field is peripheral vision, we think the illusions we create through foveal vision are reality.
Koan 59
The mind easily convinces us of the illusion that we can square a circle.
It’s impossible to construct a square with the same area as a given circle.
The space inside a circle is the product of multiplying the squared radius of the circle and π (pi)
π is a transcendental number; an infinite, non-repeating decimal expansion. That means the knowable space inside a circle is imprecise.
The space inside a square is precise.
As an imprecise space cannot precisely fill a precise space, a circle cannot be squared.
Transcendental numbers arise naturally in exponential growth and decay processes. They are used extensively in calculus, probability, and mathematical analysis.
Transcendental is also the nature of the universe; infinite expansion and everchanging.
The mind is a square and the universe is a circle.
The mind convinces us of the illusion that we know the universe. Yet, the universe is transcendental. It cannot be precisely known.
LSD Remembered
In college, I had three LSD psychedelic journeys of which I have distinct memories.
One was of my wanting to eat my brain. I felt that my mind and body were a duality. If I ate my brain, my mind and my body would be one.
The second was looking at a painting and seeing its colors dripping beyond its frame and onto the floor.
The third was when I was wallowing naked in mud in the backyard of my parents’ attached house in Brooklyn and saw myself holding onto Earth with dear life as it was spinning incredibly fast and I as afraid I would otherwise fall away from Earth and into endless space.
Looking back now, the first journey was the recognition of the duality between our animal consciousness (the body) and divine consciousness (the mind) and our purpose in life which is to integrate the two as a whole.
The second revealed that no thing is an independent thing, as it is our mind that creates the forms and shapes of things which are otherwise one interconnected and interdependent thing in the now.
The third journey suggested that if we let go our self-identity (Earth life), we will be one with the universe.
Koan 91
How were my parents and I born at the same time?
When I was born on Earth, my parents were born somewhere 25 light years from Earth.
Kotodama 40
Idol worshipers are idle.
God worshipers work at realizing divine consciousness.
Kotodama 51
God’s son is the sun.
God’s offspring is light.
Kotodama 29
Only hours are ours.
Our time in life is the only thing we have.
Koan 24
I am time.
Kotodama 50
When our tale defines us, the tail is wagging the dog.
Way Of Way 81
As no one has ever complained about the night sky, the universe must be heaven and Earth must be hell.
Way Of Way 47
“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.” — James Mason
Way Of Way 78
Soulful love is the joy of feeling how someone emanating love feels.
Selfish love is basking in the love showered upon us by others.
Way Of Way 13
The soul loves the light of the sun.
The self loves the warmth of the sun.
Kotodama 36
Accepting is the path of unity.
Excepting is the path of duality.
Way Of Way 80
Ignorance is bliss.
Temporary bliss for those who think they know what they don’t.
Eternal bliss for those who are curious.
Kotodama 43
We chase our tales like dogs chase their tails.
Kotodama 46
On Earth, we are we.
In the eternal and endless universe, we are wee.
Koan 33
An “enlightened master” with many students is a powerful illusion.
Kotodama 39
The holy is holey when some things are holy and some not.
Koan 115
Enlightenment is realization every thing is essentially light.
Koan 47
What is calmer, the sea or me?
Koan 44
When we can’t identify what we are seeing, we are experiencing reality.
Way of Way 1
We cannot choose our future, but we can choose how we remember the past which frames how we experience the future.
Kotodama 33
The inside of a circle: a hole.
The inside and outside: a whole.
Way Of Way 74
Enjoy your self, otherwise it might make you miserable.
Way of Way 113
Those who hate the rich but want to be rich hate themselves.
Way Of Way 73
Love makes all things one thing.
Kotodama 31
I see the sea,
not the ocean which is greater than me.
Kotodama 25
All Ways lead to always.
All mystical paths lead to oneness with eternity.
Way Of Way 15
Empirical studies suggest eating “junk food” is a precursor for dementia. However, the relationship may be reverse-causation. That is, an early sign of latent dementia is eating “junk food”.
Kotodama 4
The grateful are great-full.
Kotodama 5
The definition of passion is:
- emotion
- an intense or overwhelming feeling
- an outbreak of anger
- a strong desire for some activity, object, or concept
- sexual desire
The etymology of passion is suffering.
Way of Way 114
The rich think the poor are lazy and the poor think the rich were just lucky.
They are both right.
The key to success is luck. Those who work 40 hours/week get paid accordingly and receive 40 lottery tickets. Those who work 60 hours/week receive 200 lottery tickets. Those who work 75 hours/week receive 400 lottery tickets. As well, the rich are more conscientious in checking their tickets for winning numbers.
Kotodama 28
Hap is the root of happiness.
Hap means luck.
Happiness is realizing that however difficult our circumstances, we’re lucky things aren’t worse.
Way of Way 116
Love connects us with the everything, while the self separates us from the everything.
Haiku 67
Verbs are fluid, time passing.
Nouns are imaginary, moments frozen in time.
Verbs are the happening, nouns are the happened.
Kotodama 26
Good evening.
Have a good transition to sleep-death, where all beings (the smart, the stupid, the rich, the poor, etc.) are even.
Good morning.
Have a good time mourning the person you were yesterday, who is now no longer.
“The world is new to us every morning. Every man should believe he is reborn each day.” — Baal Shem Tov
Lost Souls
Before we are born
we are undifferentiated
we are the eternal soul.
Upon birth, we are quickly told otherwise;
given personal, social and various other identities:
our temporary self.
Soon enough, some of us forget
every thing is a manifestation of the soul.
These are the lost souls.
With only their self identity,
one day they surely die;
for the gates to eternity are only open to the soul.
For those who retain their soul identity
life is heaven on Earth.
Haiku 63
Good or bad.
wrong or right.
What’s black or white is colorless.
Koan 13
How can the now be infinitesimally small, yet contain an infinite number of things?
Way of Way 119
Unconditional love is loving everything. It is the peace of being one with the Everything.
Conditional love is loving some things sometimes and not others. It is an intense physical and emotional state as it’s preceded and followed by other emotional states.
Koan 12
Is that so?
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. One day, her parents discovered she was pregnant.
This angered her parents, especially as she refused to tell them who got her pregnant. Eventually, she told them Hakuin was the father.
Furious, the parents told everyone in the community what Hakuin had done and confronted the master.
“Is that so?” was all he said.
After the child was born, the parents gave it to Hakuin. By then, he had lost his reputation as a righteous man, but that did not trouble him. He accepted the child and took very good care of it as if it was his.
A year later, the baby’s mother could no longer hold back the truth. She told her parents the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.
The girl’s parents immediately went to Hakuin. They asked for forgiveness and to have the child back.
Hakuin willingly gave them the child and all he said was: “Is that so?”
“Is that so?” encourages self-reflection and the questioning of assumptions we hold without doubts.
“Is that so?” Hakuin asks the girl’s parents to question their initial certainty that Hakuin fathered their daughter’s baby and their later certainty that he did not. Ultimately, no one knows who fathered the baby; even the mother might not know.
“Is that so?” simply suggests we consider things from many perspectives. This is the essence of wisdom.
Wisdom is knowing that perceived truths change (like the girl’s claim as to who fathered her baby) and that, ultimately, no thing is truly knowable.
The girl’s parents lack wisdom.
They also lack compassion as they carelessly ruin Hakuin’s reputation.
Hakuin, a man of wisdom and compassion, knows what he is and is unfazed by who others think he is.
Embodying wisdom and compassion, we gracefully accept what comes our way and make the best of it.
Way of Way 121
All emotional states, other than love, are a form of selfishness. Love too is selfishness when it connects us with some things but not every thing. Soulful love is love of one thing: the everything.
Koan 11
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
The Pope: “It depends on the size of the pin.”
The Zen master: “What’s a pin?”
Koan 10
“Does a dog have Buddha nature?”
This is the first and perhaps most famous of 48 Zen koans compiled in the early 13th century in “The Gateless Gate.”
To the question, the Zen Master Zhaozhou responded: “Mu.”
Mu means “nothing.”
A dog is a dog. Buddha nature, the innate potential for enlightenment, is a concept. Two seemingly independent things in the now.
Yet, all things before and after the now are one thing: nothing, mu.
Kotodama 15
Kindness connects things of like kind.
When we realize every thing is a facet of one thing, the Everything, we connect to all things with love.
Koan 8
What is it now?*
One day, a Zen master with a clay pot on a wooden table before him asked several students: “What is this?”
Some said it was a clay pot. Another said that it was an artifact. Another said it was an assemblage of clay and wood. Soon there were other perspectives as well. A lively debate ensued, while the Zen master shook his head and laughed.
One student approached the table and threw the pot to the ground, shattering it into many pieces. An audible silence enveloped the room, until the student asked: “What is it now?”
Silence again filled the room. Some students were shocked and others embarrassed by the aggressive arrogance of the student who shattered their master’s clay pot. Then the silence was shattered by laughter from the Zen master and the student.
The Zen master and student laughed as they recognized the other students were like the blind men in the “Ten Men and the Elephant” parable. Each certain of a their individual identification of the pot and the collective view that breaking the pot was disrespectful.
A pot is a pot, temporarily. All things are ever-changing. The pot cannot be described, as it is different now than it was in the now upon which the description is based. Those who know it can only say that it is what it is whatever it is.
*Courtesy of Bill Wisher.
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Sometime in late 1988, I found myself on a hundreds long line of people awaiting to ask for a blessing from Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Chabad-Lubavitch spiritual leader.
As customary, the Rebbe gifted everyone on line a crisp, new US dollar bill. The gift was a sign of humility; the great Rebbe expressing gratitude to those who ventured to his house. As well, it suggested the bill recipient treat others likewise; that is, on every occasion, treat others with kindness.
I imagine all those dollar bills are still around, in wallets and places of safekeeping. They are sacred mementos. My dollar I’ve kept in my wallet. Now, 36 years later, it has virtually disintegrated. What a loss! It would have been more valuable had I given it to someone soon after receiving it; more valuable to both me and the recipient.
Way Of Way 122
No one is getting out of here alive, but those who realize they are the Everything.
Koan 17
Does a rock have consciousness?
Consciousness generally refers to the state of being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts, feelings, and sensations. It is the subjective experience of being alive and having a sense of self as separate from that which is not one’s self. However, what exactly is consciousness has been long debated by philosophers, theologians, linguists, and scientists and no consensus has emerged.
While a rock is a rock, what is a rock?
Is a rock an independent thing or something given agency by our consciousness?
If a rock is an independent thing, it may have consciousness that is beyond our general understanding of consciousness.
Alternatively, if a rock is an illusion created by our mind, a rock does not have consciousness.
Every thing in the now is interdependent and interconnected. That is, every thing is not a thing, but a facet of one ever-changing thing, the Everything. Things in the now that appear independent, like a rock, are illusions created by the mind.
As a rock is an illusion, it does not have consciousness.
If we don’t recognize our consciousness has created the things in the Everything, we have the consciousness of a rock.
Koan 5
Who are you?
I am a mountain range. I am the sea.
I am the Everything, but not specifically me.
I am everchanging, that’s what I be,
not who you think you see.
I am what I am. There’s nothing else to me.
Haiku 61
A bell ringing in the empty sky.
Sound here, after it’s not.
Much ringing from times passed.
Can’t see the sun on a noisy day.
Koan 3
“A man of wisdom delights at water” — Confucius
Water is like the universe: one thing and yet many things.
As it’s everchanging, describing water is beyond the grasp of words; other than that it is what it is whatever it is.
Water manifests different shapes (clouds, rivers, oceans) and forms (vapor, liquid, and ice).
Water is interdependent, as a wave cannot be a wave without the sea.
Water is interconnected, from cloud to rain to river to sea.
As drops of water, we fear not rain over us. Together as a flood, water reigns over us.
On water we effortlessly float or panic and sink.
While essential to life, water also brings drowning and death.
Sound travels four times faster and further in water than air, though we can’t hear what someone is saying underwater.
Water is odorless and tasteless, yet present in everything that smells and tastes.
Though colorless in a glass, water has a bluish hue when it gathers in the ocean.
Water in lakes and oceans seems impassable, but the easiest path between places is by boat over water.
Still water is dead-silent. Moving water is alive with sounds.
In a pond, still water is clear and turbulent water opaque.
Seeing ourselves and surroundings in a reflecting pond, we don’t notice the water.
Water is impossible to grasp, but easily captured in cupped hands.
Water is weak, flowing to places of least resistance; unlike fire which destroys all in its way. Yet, water easily extinguishes fire.
While not hard like stone, high-pressure water cuts stone like it’s butter.
As quart of water weighs more than a quart of ice, ice floats on water. Unlike most materials, water expands when it freezes.
Water symbolizes the cycle of life; born as drops of rain, living together in rivers and seas and disappearing as vapor to form clouds for its rebirth.
Like the universe, water is so many things; yet, not one thing. It is being, not a being.
Water is what it is whatever it is, but how we see it is a reflection of who we are. A man of wisdom sees water variously. That’s the essence of wisdom.
Way Of Way 123
Many a thank you is heard in the Rewards Department.
Many complaints in the Complaint Department.
God runs the Rewards Department and the Devil runs the Complaint Department.
Way Of Way 45
Before and after the now, we are the eternal soul.
In the now, we are the self; a temporary expression of the soul.
The soul simply is, asking for nothing.
The self is selfish, demanding all our attention.
As the self denies the soul’s existence, we lose touch with the soul.
Ironically, the self will inevitably no longer exist and we will surely die
if we lose our connection to the soul.
Koan 22
Now is forever. Everything else is out of time.
Koan 2
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
Mu! (nothing). Sound, hand and clapping do not exist as independent things; as all things are interdependent; essentially one everchanging thing.
Sound, hand and clapping are illusions our consciousness creates. They appear in foveal vision which is what consciousness carves out of the flow that is peripheral vision.
The sound of one hand clapping is the sound of one hand clapping. It is what it is whatever it is.
Koan 1
How old is Buddha?
Which Buddha are you asking about?
How (in what way) is Buddha old?
How old is Buddha at which point in Buddha’s life?
How old is Buddha now or at another time?
Isn’t Buddha now one day older than Buddha was yesterday?
How old is Buddha where; on Earth or some place light years away?
How can Buddha be different in age than the Everything of which the Buddha is just a facet?
How can we know how old is Buddha as all things are forever changing, including the Buddha’s age as we speak?
Buddha is as old as Buddha is, whatever that is.
Koan 36
“The child is father of the man.” — William Wordsworth
Haiku 5
There’s nothing new under the sun.
All there is is the Burning Bush,
ever-changing flames and eternal branches.
Haiku 87
As the self
I am the world.
As the soul
I is the universe.
Koan 20
Both those who think they are rich or poor are poor.
Koan 28
In the past and future are an infinite number of things. The now is only one thing.
Way Of Way 125
Those who rejoice at reflecting the brightest light are often oblivious they cast the darkest shadows.
Way Of Way 200
Praise takes little effort to create, is risk free to distribute and rewards those who dispense it.
Valuing praise at its cost of production, praise is worthless. Yet, most people love being praised and pay handsomely those who praise them, who often appear in the role of salespeople.
Criticism takes thought, effort and is a thankless job; often received as umbrage.
I feel those who criticize me love me and my criticism of others is given out of love. Maybe that’s why I was never much of a salesman.
Koan 199
The way forward is clear when looking backward from the end of days.
Way Of Way 21
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
Haiku 49
Every eye is unique.
Yet, the reflection of my face
the same in every pupil.
Way Of Way 129
Fake artworks are real, but real artworks are often fake.
Fake artworks are forgeries or facsimiles of real artworks.
For most, the experience provided by a fake or real artwork is the same.
As the prices of real artworks often more than 100x the price of fakes, the prices of real artworks are fake.
Haiku 48
The universal mind is a reflecting pond.
We sit around its perimeter.
One thing, many perspectives.
Kotodama 58
The sole of a foot and the soul of a man are rarely seen foundations.
Haiku 62
When we forget from where we come,
we know not where we are going.
Not knowing what we are,
we go the way of others.
Way Of Way 201
The now is the everything, yet contains no things.
The now is eternal, yet ever-changing.
The now is real, yet an illusion as what is now is now no longer.
The now is unpredictable.
The now is overwhelming.
We are the now, yet don’t know the now.
All we know is our reactions to the now.
When we observe the now from before and after the now we can we know the now.
Mike McCarthy
“We clearly picked the wrong day to have a bad day.” — Mike McCarthy, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, after his football team lost their playoff game in a major upset.
We’re blamed or credited for the consequences of our actions, though the consequences are often a function of luck.
Koan 14
“There is nothing new under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes
As every thing is unique and everchanging, there is nothing new as newness doesn’t differentiate one thing from another.
There is nothing new as there are no things; just the Everything. The Everything is timeless, not old or new.
There is nothing new under the sun as the unchanging essence of all things is light. In Genesis, “In the beginning…God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.” Everything else is a derivative of light or an illusion.
Koan 37
“Growing old, man’s sight worsens, but this allow him to see more.” Jewish proverb
Koan 43
The now is always the same, always new.
Kotodama 60
Before time begins, all is the NON.
Upon birth, the I of the self and the NON become the NOW.
With the I of the soul, the NOW is a WOW.
The I of the self is red, symbolizing emotions. We experience the now through a myriad of selfish emotions. The I of the soul is yellow; light, the essence of everything. Experiencing the now as one interconnected thing is love. The experience of the “non” with the I of self and the I of the soul is a “wow.”
Koan 200
“Man plans, God laughs.” — Jewish proverb
Way Of Way 44
With more than a glance at the rearview mirror, we are likely to have an accident.
Haiku 3
The mind is a reflecting pond,
but do I see my true face
as backward letters hard to read?
Koan 32
“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” — Linji Yixuan
In the now, there is only one thing: the Everything.
The Everything is manifested as an infinite number of seemingly independent things.
Yet, as all things are interdependent, essentially all things are one thing.
Thinking of things (like the Buddha) as independent is an illusion.
Illusionary things create duality, the thing and all that is not the thing.
On the road to enlightenment, we need to vanquish all illusions to realize the oneness of the Everything.
Happy New Year 2024, Hopefully
2024, the year of consequential choices; harmony or death.
In 2024, all roads lead to 4; 2 + 2 = 4, as does 2 x 2.
The number 2 is associated with duality, representing two complementary or opposing forces; light and dark, good and evil, male and female, or yin and yang.
Likewise, 2 + 2 is additive, complementary; while 2 x 2 (like measures of length and width) suggests intersection, conflict.
In the West, 4 represents stability, balance and harmony; the complementary. However, in China, Korea and Japan, 4 is associated with death (often what results from conflict), as the word for “4” in their respective languages is pronounced identically like their word for death.
So here we have it, 2024, the year of harmony or death; hopefully we make the better choice.
Haiku 6
So much depends upon
five baby rubber ducks
walking behind a red rooster.
Haiku 74
Every thing is two things,
reflected light and a shadow.
As each cannot be without the other,
they are one thing.
Koan 200
“There is only one mind to which we are all connected. But that mind has its own mind.” — Simon Stark
Way Of Way 134
Awakening dispenses with boredom, as every moment is unlike another.
Koan 48
“You already are what you want to become.” — Thich Nhat Hahn
Koan 46
Love is selfless. But when the self expresses love, that’s selfish.
Way Of Way 43
“Questioning the fabric of reality can led you to either madness or the truth and the funny thing is that you won’t know which is which.” — Lex Fridman
Ode To Wood
Knotted wood with odd streaks of brown hue,
useful for many a thing to do.
Building a desk, feeding a fire;
so many possibilities, one can never tire.
While its static form seems not to change,
what happens below its surface is beyond imagination’s range:
The atoms are dancing to the music of electrons
as compounds are mating as they have for eons.
Now the wood is not as it once was,
it’s a marvel beyond words and without flaws.
Haiku 64
There is no fountainhead, river or sea
just something flowing freely, whatever it be.
Haiku 71
Under the sun and without the self
we would surely starve to death.
Those who forget we are the soul
cannot survive death, the black hole.
Koan 41
As all here is is is, what is is?
All There Is Is Is
it is ever-changing and always the same
it is finite and infinite
it is temporary and eternal
it cannot be compared to anything
it is not part of anything
it is not missing anything
it is whatever you think it is
it is nothing you think it is
it cannot be described
it is what it is whatever it is
it is who you are
it is perfect
it is nothing
it is the everything
it is the is.
Way Of Way 135
Life is a play; at times a drama, a tragedy, a comedy. Upon realizing it’s a play, the dramas and tragedies are funnier than comedies.
Kotodama 49
Whether depends on weather which depends on whether which depends on weather…
Koan 26
I am nothing and here and now. What am I?
Way Of Way 202
A maze puzzle is a metaphor of our approach to life; focusing on achieving specific goals or a journey to freedom.
The conventional approach to solving a maze puzzle is starting from the edge until we find our way to the middle. This is a goal-oriented approach. Upon realizing our goal, we find ourselves surrounded by the puzzle.
Alternatively, we can start from the middle to find our way out of the maze. Once out, we are “free;” we find ourselves beyond the puzzle, though where we are cannot be described.
Going into the maze puzzle is descending into a rabbit hole. Coming out is arising to the light.
Google Bard describes mindset of those who start at the edge vs those who start at the middle:
Starting from the edge:
- Methodical thinkers: Those who prefer a step-by-step approach and logically navigate through challenges might start from the edge to follow a systematic path.
- Safety-conscious individuals: People who prefer to avoid dead ends and deadlocks might start at the edge to ensure a clear path forward.
- Traditionalists: Those who follow established norms and conventional methods might start from the edge as it’s the most common approach.
- Pragmatists: Individuals who focus on the most efficient solution might start from the edge as it offers a clear path to reach the destination.
Starting from the middle:
- Independent thinkers: People who prefer to forge their own path and explore the unknown might start in the middle to avoid any preconceived notions of direction.
- Risk-takers: Those who enjoy a challenge and are comfortable with uncertainty might find the middle a more exciting starting point.
- Holistic thinkers: People who prefer to see the big picture and analyze all options at once might start in the center to get a sense of the maze’s overall layout.
- Creative problem solvers: Individuals who enjoy unconventional approaches might find the middle a unique way to tackle the puzzle.
Kotodama 17
“i” symbolizes the duality of body and mind.
“I” symbolizes integrity.
Koan 80
As God is the Everything, why is God rarely noticed in every thing?
Way Of Way 138
The mind can be a dark place, when we don’t open our eyes and see the light.
Koan 45
As the now moves at incomprehensible speeds, how can our senses inform us of the now?”
The Earth is rotating at 1,037 miles/hour and revolving around the sun at 66,616 miles/hour. Our solar system is revolving around the center of the Milky Way galaxy on average at 514,000 miles/hour. The Milky Way is moving towards the Andromeda Galaxy at 1,339,200 miles/hour.
At these speeds, our senses cannot inform us of the now, yet the now seems stable and continuous.
Our mind slows everything down, creating the illusion of the now.
Tiki ivi po’o
This Marquesas Islands personal adornment is made of human bone and often worn as a necklace, hair braid or used as a fan handle. It represents a generic ancestor deity.
While the deity is in human form, the head is disproportionally large; implying the deity embodies far greater wisdom than humans. Likewise, its eyes are disproportionally large, implying the deity sees far more than mortals.
Perhaps the presence of such an ancestor deity in physical form as a personal adornment humbles its owner, reminding them there is more to this world than they are capable of knowing and seeing. Humbled, the owner will not suffer the consequences of hubris.
Way Of Way 141
Some things are less perfect than other things which themselves are not quite perfect. Only the now is perfect, as there is nothing else.
Self-Realization And Self-Actualization
The etymology of “realization” is the Latin verb “realizare,” meaning “to bring back to reality, to make real.”
The etymology of “actualization” is the Latin verb “actuare,” meaning “to make something happen” or “to bring something into effect.”
In the context of their etymologies, self-realization is a noun and self-actualization is a verb.
When a tree knows it’s a tree, it is self-realized. When it bears fruit, it is self-actualized.
The self-realized are enlightened. The self-actualized are enlightening.
Way Of Way 35
Shit generally trades between $5 – $10/pound. When on a rare occasion it trades at $2/pound, it may be cheap but it’s still shit.
Way Of Way 112
Money is a beautiful thing as it equates the value of all exchangeable things. Yet, money is often ugly in the context of our personal relationship with it.
Way Of Way 142
Unsolicited advice might come from the heart, but often debuts as a bowel movement; a relief to the provider, but a put-off to the recipient.
Way Of Way 143
The work of a man of wisdom is to make happy memories.
Way Of Way 144
God sees God in every thing.
Koan 73
The mind is like a hand, only open when it lets go of whatever it holds tight.
Koan 77
The mind is an addicting medicine. It’s good for solving problems, but in doing so it creates other problems.
William Wisher
“With modern Western medicine, the upside is you’re alive; but at the cost of being a slave forever.”
Kotodama 14
As a self, we win or lose.
As a soul, it’s one or lost; one with the Everything or a lost soul.
Koan 83
“The Universe is the everchanging expression of the Ever-Changeless Is.” — Joe Bruno
Haiku 59
Gently rafting down river.
Calm as the pulse in my veins.
Rapids approach, pulse quickens.
Haiku 58
With the eye of the sun,
we see things as they are.
With our eyes, only illusions.
Haiku 56
Many see what looks to be
the distant river flowing into the sea.
All I see is me.
Haiku 203
Knowledge is a vertical,
a double helix perpetual.
As we climb this ladder to the heavens from where we came,
soon enough nothing is ever the same,
Twisting and turning, what’s right becomes left and left becomes right.
Upward and onward, until Earth is completely out of sight.
Haiku 69
I am eye,
a pupil studying the world
filtered by colors and patterns of my iris.
Haiku 204
Going back or forward in time is a race,
a journey to Earth’s center or outer space.
Death by implosion/explosion, by fire or ice.
Best stay where I am, everything here, everything nice.
The Enlightened: Eternal Being
In the now, every thing is what it is whatever it is.
Every thing, before and after the now, is the soul.
Before our birth and after our death, our sole identity is the soul.
Upon birth, we transition from being one with everything, the soul, to becoming a unique manifestation or expression of the soul; a seemingly independent entity.
To sustain our independent existence, we develop a self; a sense of being apart and separate from every thing that is not our self. The purpose of the self is to provide us with our needs of food, shelter, security and health. However, the self also engenders desires that become indistinguishable from our needs, putting us in an endless cycle; needs/desires to temporary satisfactions to needs/desires. Clearly, the self demands much of our attention.
Alternatively, our soul identity has us living a life of wisdom and compassion; wisdom, as we experience life not solely from the perspective of our self, but through the perspectives of the infinite manifestations of the soul; compassion, as we love and treat all that is not our self as we love and treat our self.
In the transition to life, we initially remember our identity as the soul as we in turn develop our identity as the self. In childhood, our soul identity embraces magical (animist) thinking as we feel every thing has a spirit within it that can be conjured for our benefit through our living harmoniously with its spirit.
However, over time, as we are educated and socialized, our self becomes our primary identity. While we are both self and soul identity in various proportions, many of us become oblivious of our soul identity.
Ultimately, no one is getting out of here alive. Our bodily death coincides with the demise of our self identity. However, before we complete our transition from physical death to our essentialness, the soul; if our soul identity is our primary identity, we realize we are an eternal being.
Fountainheads Of Love
Love from the self and love from the soul.
Each love in life plays a role.
Love from the soul connects us to all.
Love from the self helps us grow tall.
Love is love, it all feels the same
both from places that sound alike in name.
Love from the soul comes from the whole
Love from the self comes from the hole.
Way Of Way 145
Love expressed by the soul is unconditional, unlike love expressed by the self which is conditional.
Love from soul is gold, while love from the self is fool’s gold. A simple acid test can determine whether love comes from the soul or the self.
The test is how do we feel when someone we love engages sexually with someone else. If our love is from the soul, we are happy for them and for whomever they were intimate, as how can we not be happy with the thought of people enjoying themselves. If our love issues from the self, we are angry, jealous, sad or have other unpleasant states of mind.
Haiku 205
I don’t know who in the mirror is it I see
but everywhere else I look I see me.
Clarinet
We appear as a clarinet, but are the wind traveling through it; making sounds that are noise to some and music to others.
Way Of Way 146
Love is love. From where it issues is of little immediate matter as love is love.
However, over time, love that flows from the self is temporary; at times running dry as it transitions into other emotional expressions. Love that flows from the soul is eternal, as the only emotional expression of the soul is love.
Moreover, love from the self is conditional, while love from the soul is unconditional.
Love from the self is proclaimed with “I love you.” Love from the soul is expressed as “We love you.” “We” are the gods. Those who don’t recognize everyone is god cannot love unconditionally.
Haiku 206
Waves of sound and light come down.
So many waves, we can easily drown.
But all we hear and see
is only our memory.
IAWIA
“I am what I am.” — God, Exodus 3:14
In the Bible, one day as Moses was tending his flock, he encounters a “burning bush” whose flames were not devouring its branches.
The burning bush was the manifestation of God; everchanging and eternal.
When Moses asked God: “What is your name?”, God said (depending on translation): “I am who I am” or “I will be what I will be”.
In the now, God is a “who” and in the time after (and presumably before) the now God is a “what”.
Encapsulating all times, we can paraphrase God: “I am what I am”.
In the now, God is a nameless “who”; for a specific name would mean God is one thing and implicitly not another. God is nameless because God is every thing.
As “what”, God is an unspecified transcendental potential of infinite manifestations.
But God is not a thing. As God also refers to himself as “I am”, God is being; not a being.
God is the essence of every thing which is one thing: a flow.
Acronyms: “I WHY” (IA-WIA, first vowel pronounced and second vowel silent) and “A-WAY” (first vowel silent and second vowel pronounced)
I WHY
Why do I exist?
As the etymology of the word “universe” is literally “all turned into one”, I am the universe. Hence, more broadly, why does the universe exist?
There are no reasons or explanations.
The universe is the uni-verse, one verse: It is what it is whatever it is.
A WAY
In the Bible, God is identified by a four letter word: YHWH (pronounced as “a way”).
Unlike spoken words, YHWH as no vowels. This is consistent with the prohibition to verbalize the name of God.
YHWH is the essence of creation, an unspoken word with no vowels.
Vowels are speech sounds produced without any significant constriction or blockage of airflow in the vocal tract. Vowels are typically voiced, meaning the vocal cords vibrate when producing them.
Man, with the vibrating breath of vowels, creates the universe out of God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1, The Gospel of John.
The word is the consciousness that connects man to God.
The Palestinian/Israeli War
I hear the stories, each told in a different light.
My mind struggles to comprehend, as the stories clash and ignite.
I long to see the truth, but the lights are too bright.
In the heat from the many lights, I await the cool night
where distant stars guide the way and there is no wrong or right.
Haiku 207
Better to be unique than perfect.
We are naturally unique, but takes great effort to be perfect.
Uniqueness is forever, but perfection temporary.
Being unique is perfect.
Way Of Way 147
Religions are like sheep.
Their wool warms and protects us.
Their bodies provide us sustenance.
But, beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
They may make us feel comfortable and safe,
but their only interest is to sustain themselves.
Way Of Way 148
There is a nameless place; before time begins; before we are born; before things become the now; a place of infinite possibilities.
While no one ever speaks badly of this nameless place, we often curse people and things that come from it. By doing so, we are not encouraging that place to send us something we will cherish.
Way Of Way 150
We don’t need to worry about the future as that will be what it will be. However, we need to worry about the past, what we remember and how we remember it, as that will frame how we experience the present.
Way Of Way 151
Those who appreciate life are on the way to happiness. Those who focus on trying to understand life may lose their way.
Way Of Way 152
The luckiest are those who recognize they have been lucky, for they will recognize other lucky opportunities that come their way.
Alan Watts
“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself.”
When we see God in every thing, we are God.
Koan 51
When a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Mu (nothing). There is no tree, forest or sound, as they are all manifestations of our consciousness.
The universe is not an infinite number of things; only one thing: the universe. Consciousness creates an infinite number of things out of the universe.
Koan 123
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” — Shunryu Suzuki
Experts think of possibilities based on their experience. The inexperienced are not likewise constrained.
Haiku 54
After the purple crayon didn’t taste like a grape,
no grape tasted like a grape.
Haiku 53
Our pupils are like stars and black holes.
Like the sun, they illuminate everything around us.
Yet, whatever light enters them is never seen again.
John Dewey
“Art as Experience.”
We experience art suddenly, through our eyes (“wow, oh, hmmm”); and slowly, with our mind (words, thoughts and comparisons).
It’s a unique experience for each of us and a unique experience from one moment to the next; otherwise, our eyes are closed.
Kotodama 12
Asking whys makes wise.
Koan 93
The universe is made up of matter. Our world is made up of stories.
Haiku 51
The sun is the eye of the soul,
revealing all through our pupil, a black hole.
As our iris filters the light of the sun,
we each see differently which makes life fun.
Who Am I?
I am who I am.
I am various emotional selves in various roles in the play of life. Depending on perspective, I am in my play or other people’s plays.
I am.
I cannot be described otherwise as I am ever-changing. Any description is empty, as by the end of a self-description I am not the person described at the start. description.
I am a verb, not a noun, as I am everchanging. I am being, not a being.
I am what I am.
In the now, I am a who. Before and after the now, I am what, the essence of every thing.
I am the Everything.
I am the soul and its expression in the now.
I am eye.
I am what I see, as every thing I see is me.
I am 1.
I, like all seemingly independent things, am not an independent thing; just a facet of 1 thing, the Everything.
I is time.
The most frequently used pronoun, verb and noun are: I, is, and time.
Taken together, the most frequent sentence would be: “I is time.”
“I is time” is transcendental. I is a flow of events. I is infinite, continuous, eternal.
I am God.
God, to entertain itself, has created the play of life. God is the actors and the audience.
For the actors, the play is a tragedy as everyone is eventually scripted out of the play, dies.
For the audience, the play is a comedy, as the actors take their roles and themselves seriously.
I am 11
In numerology, “Victor Teicher” is the number 11.
Victor: V = 4 I = 9 C = 3 T = 2 O = 6 R = 9
Add the numbers together: 4 + 9 + 3 + 2 + 6 + 9 = 33
Since 33 is a master number, we do not reduce it any further.
Teicher: T = 2 E = 5 I = 9 C = 3 H = 8 E = 5 R = 9
Add the numbers together: 2 + 5 + 9 + 3 + 8 + 5 + 9 = 41
Since 41 is a two-digit number, we need to reduce it to a single digit by adding the digits together: 4 + 1 = 5.
Now we add the numerology for each name together: 33 + 5 = 38
Since 38 is a two-digit number, we need to reduce it to a single digit by adding the digits together: 3 + 8 = 11.
Therefore, the numerology of the name ‘Victor Teicher’ is 11, which is a master number in numerology. This suggests that the person with this name may have a special spiritual mission or purpose in life.
In numerology, master numbers are the numbers 11, 22, and 33. These numbers are considered to have a higher vibration and are believed to carry a special spiritual or energetic significance.
Master numbers are not reduced to a single digit in numerology, unlike other numbers. They are thought to represent spiritual enlightenment, heightened intuition, and a strong connection to the universe or higher power.
Those who have master numbers in their numerology chart may be seen as spiritual leaders or visionaries, and may have a heightened ability to manifest their desires or tap into their intuition. However, master numbers are also associated with greater challenges and responsibilities, as they require a strong commitment to personal growth and spiritual development.
Overall, master numbers are considered to be very powerful and significant in numerology, and are often seen as a symbol of great potential and spiritual evolution.”
I am Victor Teicher.
My role in the play of life is preordained by my name. In German, Teicher is one who ponders. In English, where two vowels together are pronounced as the first vowel with the second vowel silent, Teicher would be pronounced as “teacher.” In Japan, Teicher is pronounced as “taisha,” the ancient shrine where all the gods meet annually. Victor is “conqueror.” Since entering the play of life, I have long pondered the nature of consciousness which led me to where the gods reside. The revelations that have come my way are to teach us how to conquer the self (our personal identity) which imprisons us, precluding us from connecting with the soul and being one with the Everything.
Tao Te Ching — Verse 45
True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
True fullness seems empty,
yet it is fully present.
True straightness seems crooked.
True wisdom seems foolish.
True art seems artless.
The Master allows things to happen.
She shapes events as they come.
She steps out of the way
and lets the Tao speak for itself.
“True perfection seems imperfect, yet it is perfectly itself.”
What may not seem perfect in our mind is actually perfect as it is what it is whatever it is, undisturbed by our perception.
“True fullness seems empty, yet it is fully present.”
Even when we have all the possessions we may desire, we are still empty as the more we have the more we want. In the present (the pre-sent, where every thing is one thing before it is what it is whatever it is in the now), we are one with the everything; truly fulfilled and need nothing more.
“True straightness seems crooked.”
The way of a meandering river is the straightest way to the ocean.
“True wisdom seems foolish.”
Wisdom is the synthesis of many perceptions; some seemingly well reasoned, some silly.
“True art seems artless.”
Art is all that is art-ificial, manmade. Yet, wonderful art doesn’t seem artificial, contrived.
“The Master allows things to happen. She shapes events as they come. She steps out of the way and lets the Tao speak for itself.”
Being open, accepting and making the best of what comes our way leads us to harmony with all that’s about us.
Way Of Way 154
The self and the soul have a symmetrical relationship, laughing at each other.
As the self cannot see the soul, the self laughs at those who identify with the soul; thinking they are fools.
As the soul sees people taking seriously the illusions created by the self, the soul laughs.
But, as the self is temporary and the soul eternal, the soul has the last laugh.
Kotodama 16
The soul has only a sole expression and a sole emotion.
The sole expression is the now.
The sole emotion is love, connecting every thing in the now.
Kotodama 10
I am eye. What eye see is what I am.
Kotodama 9
Awareness is like clothing.
It comes in two styles: “A-ware” and “B-ware.”
“A-ware” is open, loose fitting and comfortable.
“B-ware” is buttoned up and uncomfortable.
When approached, those wearing A-ware ask: “How can I be of help?”
Those wearing B-ware ask: “What do you want?”
Introduction
Before and after the now, the sole thing that is is the soul, the everything. In the now, every thing is the everything.
Upon our manifestation in bodily form, we assume a temporary self which disappears when our body is no longer.
As every thing is a manifestation of the soul, the soul is what connects every thing as one thing, the everything. This connection is called love.
Unlike the soul, the self views itself as apart and separate from every thing that it perceives as not its self. The self connects with every thing with ever-changing emotions like joy, hate, love, anger, indifference, envy, etc.
Our experience of life is a function of how we connect, through the soul or our self.
In a world inherently hostile to the self-sustainment of our bodily form, we need the self to survive. When we do so, we experience life with the emotions of our self. However, when we are not oblivious we are eternally the soul, we can return from the emotional rollercoaster of our self to the eternal love that is the soul; where there is peace beyond words and every thing is absolutely beautiful. That is the purpose of this blook, to guide us to the realization we are the soul.
Koan 78
“Having no destination, I am never lost.” — Ikkyu
Haiku 46
The big Buddha statue sits in silent meditation,
bird droppings encrusted on his cheeks like tears.
Some sit at his feet with offerings and prayers,
while a boy named Buddha laughs, swimming in the reflecting pond.
Koan 157
Every thing is fascinating, but the mind can make it boring.
Haiku 70
Each of us is a self that covers the soul.
Like a shoe, the self is the visible surface atop the sole.
However shiny and polished, a shoe is useless without a sole.
Psilocybin Mushrooms’ Depression Magic
Psilocybin mushrooms have been long and widely used, extensively studied and identified as having the highest success rate relative to other medicines and treatments for depression. How psilocybin scientifically works this magic is unclear, but below is a metaphoric explanation.
In our everyday life, we view the world exclusively through the light that informs our eyes. The light is interpreted by our mind which in turn creates stories and generalizations we accept as reality. That reality affects how we feel; happy, sad or a multitude of other ways.
Light is roughly 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum. The spectrum otherwise consists of various wavelengths of energy; gamma rays, X-Rays, microwaves, radio waves, infrared waves, etc.
The psilocybin journey is a journey along the electromagnetic spectrum. The journey is hallucinogenic; in effect, we see things that do not otherwise exist as they are not visible to our light-receptive eyes. However, these things do exist, only revealed by wavelengths outside the visible light spectrum.
Viewed from outside the light spectrum, every-thing we see is unlike anything we have heretofore seen; energizing, engaging, beautiful. Everything is alive.
It is then we come to realize our mind heretofore saw the world through a tiny pinhole in the electromagnetic spectrum. Clearly, there are infinite views and interpretations that are equally valid to those we had previously unquestionably held; much of what we heretofore had taken seriously is now funny; hence, it’s silly to take our self too seriously. This is wisdom.
Realizing there are infinite views and mind interpretations of every-thing, a question arises: “Who am I?” As we know we can be perceived in infinite ways, we ultimately realize we must be one with everything and every-thing is an ever-changing manifestation of that which is beyond our understanding, the soul. As one with everything, we treat that which heretofore we viewed as other than ourselves as we treat ourselves. This is compassion.
After the psilocybin journey, we are not whomever we were before. Now, our reaction to what we see through the view of the light spectrum is like our reaction had been when viewing the world for he first time through other electromagnetic wavelengths; things are energizing, engaging, beautiful and alive. We are now free from solely experiencing life in the context of our earlier mind’s interpretations, stories and generalizations. We are free of thinking that everything is either us or not us.
An effective psilocybin journey frees the depressed from their pre-journey view of reality. Enlightened to the nature of reality, one is beyond temporal selfish feelings. With wisdom and compassion, one now has a deep appreciation for life. Gratitude is a key to happiness. One can’t be depressed when they’re happy.
Post Card, 1910
“Don’t worry about the future,
the present is all thou hast;
the future will soon be present,
and the present will soon be past.”
Family post card sent from Kansas to Tennessee, 1910. Courtesy of Kate Bowers.
Homespun advice from the farm belt; reminiscent of Buddhist teachings, long before they were popularized in America.
Vernon Howard
“You can not escape a prison if you do not know you’re in one.”
The mind creates a familiar and comforting world out of the seemingly chaotic universe. In so doing, it separates us, imprisoning us, from directly connecting with the universe as it is and, ultimately, realizing we are the universe. Unless we come to know we are prisoners of mind, we can never escape. To recognize we are in mind’s prison, we need to realize we don’t know anything. That’s scary, or at least our mind makes us feel it is.
“You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.” — Vernon Howard
The mind galvanizes in us desires that can never be satisfied but temporarily. This is how the mind distracts us from recognizing we are in its prison.
Koan 97
A good death defines a good life.
Koan 102
“When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” — Bob Dylan
When we have something we think we can lose, the something has us and to it we have lost our freedom.
Albert Einstein
“People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
Everything is all at once. As that is overwhelming, our mind has created time to make it all a seemingly manageable to experience.
Koan 183
“The way to live eternal life is in a state of perpetual orgasm.” — Karen Uppal
Orgasm is like the Big Bang, the moment when nothing transitioned into an infinite number of things; when we are one with the Everything.
Few words are every said at the moment of orgasm, other than: “Oh my God.”
Way Of Way 156
Much of what we undoubtedly think we see as reality is just a movie projected from our mind. To see reality we need to close our mind and open our eyes.
Anonymous
“Someday people will understand what you are talking about and I’m sure this world will be a better place for it, but sure as hell I’ll never understand.” — Inscription in my high school graduation album from a fellow graduating student.
Those sure there is hell don’t know of heaven, for heaven is all there is.
Koan 203
“[I]t is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth.” — Matthew 15:10-20
Kotodama 8
Upon awakening, every day is not everyday.
Koan 82
When the inside becomes the outside, we are the creator. When there is no outside or inside, we are creation.
Koan 204
“Anyone who thinks they’re stupid is not as stupid as they think.” — Lee Moncho
Being Eccentric Is Fun
Since I was a young boy, many people thought me funny; a bit odd and laughable in terms of my thinking and lifestyle.
I’ve occasionally been asked : “Which planet do you come from?” I laughed, as it was true; I must have come from someplace else as I didn’t think the way they did.
However, as I was always happy regardless of circumstances, it should have been clear I didn’t come from a another planet. I came from heaven.
They too came from heaven, but forgot they did.
Koan 39
As all things are everchanging, no thing is perfect but nothing is perfect.
Haiku 75
I thought an ant small and meaningless,
until I saw the night sky and realized I was.
Koan 206
Judging someone reveals less about who they are than who we are.
Way Of Way 160
The universe is perfect but we see it otherwise when we see ourselves as otherwise.
Alexander Teicher
“I used to think that everyone saw the same thing in a different way, until I realized everyone sees the same thing in the same way but describes it with different stories.”
Kotodama 6
The Everything is no-thing and now-thing.
No-thing before and after the now-thing.
Way Of Way 161
An extraordinary genius is successful and celebrated by society.
A true genius is happy whether or not successful or celebrated.
Way Of Way 163
Intelligence makes things interesting. Wisdom makes things funny.
Way Of Way 34
“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness[.]'” — Genesis 1:26
Each of us is a unique face of God.
Koan 127
“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” — Lao Tzu
Haiku 2
Bell ringing in the empty sky
bouncing sound
awakens me to time passing.
Kotodama 18
The two letters in the Hebrew word for “life” have a numerical value, in terms of sequential order in the alphabet, of 8 and 10. Added together, they total 18.
The number 18 is symbolic of life. Monetary gifts between Jews for various rites of passage (birthdays, weddings, holidays, etc.) are always given in multiples of 18 ($18, $54, $180, etc.).
The number 18 also informs us that life is finite and eternal.
1 is finite as it’s drawn from top to bottom, from heaven to Earth, from birth to death.
8 is eternal as it’s continuous, with no beginning and no end.
In life, the eternal soul is expressed as a finite self.
Moreover, 1 implies that every thing is essentially one thing: the expression of the soul. 8 implies every thing is interconnected.
Upon realizing all things are one interconnected thing, we treat every thing as we treat ourselves. That’s compassion.
Our oneness with every thing allows us to view the world from infinite perspectives. That’s the essence of wisdom.
With wisdom and compassion, we are a fully realized life.
Richard Feynman
“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.”
Way Of Way 165
Having more questions than answers is energizing.
Having more answers than questions is tiring.
Mark Twain* 2
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
*Misattributed to Mark Twain but not inconsistent with Twain’s insights generally.
Haiku 94
The mind of God creates the universe.
Our mind creates our world.
When our mind merges with the mind of God,
we are the universe.
Way Of Way 166
Those who claim their success came from luck are able. Those who think their success came from their abilities are bound to be unlucky.
Haiku 41
Holding something tight,
our hand forms a fist.
Letting go, it’s a handshake.
Koan 208
When we closely hold tight to who we think we are, we cannot be open to what we are.
Way Of Way 167
The time before and after we are alive must be a happy time as no one has ever complained about it.
Way Of Way 168
Awakening is the realization that all times past are a dream.
Way Of Way 170
Those who want to work want work.
Those who don’t want to work want jobs.
Way Of Way 171
In the world of collectible art, the tail wags the dog: the price of an artwork is more impactful than the artwork.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
“It’s not a failure; it’s steps to success. There’s always steps to it. Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships. The other nine years was a failure? That’s what you’re telling me? It’s a wrong question; there’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days. Some days you’re able to be successful, some days you’re not. Some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn. And that’s what sports is about. You don’t always win. Sometimes other people win. And this year somebody else is going to win, simple as that.
This has to be the worst postseason ever. We have a number in [the locker room] and we were stuck on 15 [wins to the NBA Finals] … which is kind of hard to deal with. But at the end of the day, I feel like they were playing to beat us, and we were playing to win a championship.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the star player for the Milwaukee Bucs basketball team that was the favorite to win the NBA Championship this year. Above, his reaction yesterday when asked if losing in the first round of the postseason means this year was a “failure.” While an avowed Eastern Orthodox Christian, Antetokounmpo seems to be a Taoist as well.
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Tao
This symbol of Taoism reveals the essence of Taoism. Tao, in Chinese, literally means the (right) way. The Tao is the way, the nature, of reality; the way of the universe; and the harmonious way or path through life.
The circle represents the universe. Within the universe are two seemingly independent abstract fish forms, in shades black and white, that are actually interdependent as curled together they form the universe as a whole. The fish represent life, consciousness, which is what makes the universe whole.
Each fish has an eye, black or white, reflecting the shade of the other. Looking eye to eye, each sees its own shade in the other. Likewise, when we look in the eye of others, we see ourselves.
The way through the life, along the interface of the white and black forms, is everchanging; bending left and bending right; requiring us to be conscious of our way, lest get lost in the white or black forms.
Ultimately, the symbol of the Tao implies all things in the universe are interdependent; the path through life is everchanging; however, life is in balance, harmonious, when we consciously move between counterbalancing forms.
Another interpretation is the symbol represents two animals engaged in a sexual position commonly known as “69.” If so, the message there is that a happy way to make it through life is simply enjoy yourself.
As above, the Tao acknowledges there are different ways for different people.
Haiku 40
A coin is integrity,
its different sides duality.
A coin is worth something,
its sides worth nothing.
Koan 211
“We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are.” — Anais Nin
We don’t see things as they are, we only see light reflecting off things. Light is 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum. Things look quite different when viewed from other parts of the spectrum (e.g., X-Rays).
Our eyes see the reflections. Our mind reflects on the reflections. Our mind’s reflections are a function of definitions and stories we’ve created about what we see.
Way Of Way 172
When we identify someone as of our kind, we treat them with kindness. When we identify with the universe we treat all with kindness.
Koan 212
Your life is a fascinating story. Perhaps you could imagine a better one, but then you would miss out on your life.
My Awakening
When I was 16, living in Brooklyn with my parents, one summer night I drove to Brighton Beach and sat on the rocks along the shore. Reflections from the moon danced on the water, the ocean breathed in the surf and breathed out a roar. The night sky was a black blanket with pinholes to unknowable worlds on its other side. Lights and sounds vibrating the air, every-thing teeming with aliveness; unique, unlike anything experienced before.
I wondered why the ocean, expressing itself with motion and sound, was not considered as alive as are plants and animals. What did it mean to be alive? The “alive” classification made little sense. Classifications, descriptions and thoughts generally felt artificial, man-made; helpful for organizing and communicating, but otherwise empty of aliveness.
Who am I in all this?
The sounds, the lights, the ever-changing shapes unfolding from nothing, the ocean smells; overwhelmingly beautiful, yet eerie as in the presence of a great spirit. Then, the infinite number of finite things were no longer finite, but manifestations of one infinite thing. I was infinitesimal before the infinite, until I realized I was the infinite.
This was a religious experience, but not connected to an organized religion. It was initially animism and then pantheism. This was my awakening and realization of our immortality.
The Spiritual Master And The Way
A couple of years back, I was introduced with a renowned “spiritual master.” We spoke at length and when it was clear that I was comfortably retired, he suggested: “As I know the workings of God and you’ve got the money and time to do as you wish, let’s spend a year together studying spiritual matters.” I then asked him what would we do following year, to which he replied: “Then I’ll have the money and time to do as I wish and you’ll know the workings of God.”
Mourning Rituals
Each morning
I return from sleep-death
and ever so slowly separate
from being one with everything in a timeless place
to a finite and temporal self.
Before forgetting from whence I came,
I recite the Mourning Prayer:
Oh eternal universe
oh ever-changing universe
oh timeless universe
oh endless universe.
Thank God for creating the universe
and granting us consciousness to realize our oneness with everything.
The people I’ve been and the roles I’ve played in days passed,
my prior lives,
are illusions
Now,
and every-thing
Regardless of circumstances,
I am grateful for however my life unfolds today,
hopeful to realize divine consciousness,
happy helping others likewise
and laughing at my efforts to realize that which is always here.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
Now awakened,
I reposition from horizontal pose, where all are of equal height, to vertical.
Footsteps away is the throne
for the ritual burial of what nourished me last life.
Then, shower calls my name
for washing and massaging the temporary envelope that holds me together
and, without mirror, mind concentrates on shaving the face.
Once dried and dressed for appearance on stage,
fresh-squeezed blood orange juice
seaweed salad
hardboiled quail eggs toped with anchovies,
followed by a Robusto-size cigar and black coffee.
My new life begins,
for which I already have much to be grateful.
With that in mind, it’s a wonderful day.
Haiku 26
Guru and I shared stories.
His stories: histories.
My stories: mysteries.
So quickly, roles reverse.
Way Of Way 174
To live a life of compassion and wisdom, best to avoid those who lack compassion and their friends who obviously lack wisdom.
The Daughter Of A Different Color
“When the time comes our adopted daughter asks how she is different than her brother and sister whom we had naturally, I’ll tell her that her brother and sister came from mommy’s stomach and she came from mommy’s heart.” — S.S.P.
S.S.P. is a dear friend who adopted a four year old from an orphanage in India.
Way Of Way 180
Apocalypse is the complete and final destruction of the world as described in the Book of Revelation. While most of us will not be around for the world’s collective apocalypse, each of us will have our own apocalypse/revelation, the end of our days in unitary bodies.
Apocalypse and revelation are used interchangeably, but are different. The etymology of both words is to “uncover, unveil.” However, apocalypse is more about the destruction of the world as we know it and revelation is about what’s revealed by what remains after the destruction.
Apocalypse/revelation is like the lifting of a bride’s veil to reveal her face before the groom kisses her to consummate their marriage. After the kiss, the groom’s unitary existence is over as he is now one with the bride. Likewise, at the end of our days we realize that we are no longer unitary beings; we are one with all that heretofore seemed other than us.
Apocalypse/revelation is when the truth is revealed about consciousness and reality. The veil represents our personal consciousness; the meanings, generalizations and stories we create that mask reality. When the veil is lifted, we see reality as it is: the nothingness that everything is before and after it is what it is whatever it is.
That’s who we are: The nothing that everything is before and after it is, one with everything.
For those who know the veil is illusory, the veil is translucent; allowing them to see reality. Thus, as they know they are one with everything, they treat others as themselves (compassion) and are able to see the world from many perspectives (wisdom). Moreover, when the veil is lifted, apocalypse, it is the time for revelation; to revel with laughter as the illusions are now clearly absurd.
However, for those who think the illusions are real, the veil is opaque. They live as unitary beings and when the veil is lifted the revelation is frightening as hell. Not a surprising outcome as taking our personal consciousness seriously is at times hellish, even before the apocalypse. Unfortunately, it is fear of reality than keeps us from seeing through our personal consciousness which is the foundation of our fear.
My Birth
I was born a bit after my mother’s due date.
It was a difficult birth as the delivering doctor struggled to pull me out from my mother’s womb; ultimately needing forceps to do so.
As it was a long and fraught procedure, out of curiosity my mother asked the doctor if such a difficult birth signaled anything about me. The doctor looked at my mother, who didn’t come across as having lots of shiny marbles in her head, and said: “Your son may not be particularly smart, but is very wise. He delayed coming out as long as he could, knowing he came from heaven and life on Earth is anything but that.”
Way Of Way 86
While a lie may initially hide the truth, when the truth is revealed the lie ultimately reveals more than it hides.
Happy Birthday
Every night at sleep-time we die. Every morning upon awakening we are born. Each day is not a day in a life, it is a life in a day. Thus, we’ve lived thousands of lives before our reincarnation today upon awakening.
Before sleep-death, we acknowledge each other with “good evening;” that is, “good even-ing” for in sleep-death everyone (the smart, the stupid, the rich, the poor) is even, equal.
In sleep-death, our soul leaves our body and merges with the universal soul, which in some traditions is called God. When the soul returns to our body, we are born.
Upon awakening, we greet each other and ourselves with “good morning;” that is, “good mourning,” have a good time mourning the people you were in past lifetimes (yesterday and all days now passed) by remembering them in the light of wisdom and compassion; but, don’t identify their life experiences as your own.
Upon awakening and before we assume the roles and circumstances of the person we were yesterday, we recite out loud the Mourning Prayer. The Mourning Prayer acknowledges God’s creation, the universe, and expresses our gratitude for the life and consciousness we have been given which allows us to be one with God. Moreover, we declare that we are free from karma (our intentions, actions and consequences in past lifetimes (days of our life)) and look forward to realizing our purpose in life: to have a wonderful experience, realize our potential of divine consciousness and help others likewise.
Mourning Prayer
Oh eternal universe
Oh endless universe
Oh ever-changing universe
Oh timeless universe
Oh universe of infinite finite things.
Thank you for granting me today a role in the play of life.
The people I’ve been and the roles I’ve played in days passed,
my prior lives,
are illusions in the seemingly real form of memories.
Now, I am who I am
and every thing is what it is whatever it is.
Regardless of circumstances,
I am grateful for however my life unfolds today,
hopeful to realize divine consciousness before I’m scripted out of the play,
happy helping others awaken to their good fortune
and laughing at my efforts to realize that which is always here.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
We recite the mourning prayer aloud, again and again and again, until we feel it and truly awaken. Then, hopefully, we won’t forget who we are as we make our way through this day of life with the peace that comes from not taking our self too seriously; as we know that our self, which will die in the even-ing when our soul departs, is not who we are.
At day’s end, it is time for the Even-ing Prayer before our sleep-death.
Even-ing Prayer
Oh eternal universe
oh ever-changing universe
oh timeless universe
oh endless universe.
Thank God for my role in the universe
and for now,
sleep-death,
when my soul joins God
which is what every-thing is before it is the universe.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
As few remember that every day is our birthday, we should remind whomever we meet with the greeting: “Happy birthday.” Whether they recognize today as their birthday or not, they will undoubtedly have a laugh. What better gift can we give someone on their birthday?
Koan 27
“Life goes on within you and without you.” — George Harrison
Covid
The Covid pandemic was a once in a generation psychological test that revealed the nature of each mind; a reality check. Though the pandemic panic has subsided, many people still refuse to give up on the vaccines, masks, social distancing, etc. They are held captive by their traumatic memories, prisoners of their mind. They cannot experience the now as it unfolds, only as it is framed by their mind in the context of Covid. Those who are free of the past, look back and laugh at the Covid fiasco.
As to the pandemic itself, it was beautiful. An experience shared worldwide as it was the focus of everyone’s attention. One felt connected to all sentient beings as sentient beings, oblivious to their identity group memberships. It was like the end of days, the apocalypse; the lifting of the veil of artificial constructs like race, nationality, religion and economic status to reveal all as simply sentient beings; all as one. A brief and powerful peak moment in the making of collective history that quickly descended into a Tower of Babel.
Moreover, Covid was a healthy systemic process. Like a hurricane, Covid cleansed the human tree of life of weak limbs that were otherwise dying slowly. This was good for the environment as it resulted in less adult diapers to dispose of.
Koan 21
Why can’t a self-identifying vegetarian become enlightened?
Peter Schjeldahl
“[T]he years that you spend as a nobody are painful but golden, because no one bothers to lie to you. The moment you’re a somebody, you have your last truth. Everyone will try to spin you–as they should, with careers to think of.”
It is a blessing to interact with those who don’t respect us, as it reveals much about their nature and how they perceive us; as well as our nature by virtue of how we react to them.
In a society where people are politically correct to the point where even close friends don’t speak openly about personal matters, no one knows who they or anyone else is.
Haiku 95
“I love you” is the self expressing love.
“I love us” is love beyond the self.
“I love it all” is divine love.
Way Of Way 28
Intellectuals are mischievous entertainers. They make fools of those who take them seriously who in turn wreak havoc on everyone who doesn’t.
Koan 213
“He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.” — Michel de Montaigne
Way Of Way 203
Empathy is giving a beggar some money. Compassion is giving a beggar a job.
Haiku 72
When past is passed
it is over and under, finished and buried.
When past is past
it is over and over, lingering over the present.