16 May Delphi
"Know thyself and thou shalt know all the mysteries of the gods and of the universe." -- Inscription on the Greek temple at Delphi. You, I, the gods and the universe are one....
15 May The Pundits
They understand much and know little; long on intelligence, short on wisdom; have more answers than questions. High on an imaginary pecking order. Never in doubt, often wrong. The more they look the less they see for they cannot see what they cannot imagine. Following the advice of pundits is the penalty we pay for not thinking independently....
14 May Henry Demarest Lloyd
"Liberty produces wealth, and wealth destroys liberty." The consequences of too much of a good thing are not a good thing for the good thing. Liberty allows capitalism; capitalism creates wealth; wealth leads to power which soon concentrates among an elite and in turn disenfranchises all of their liberty. "Under socialism everyone (except the leaders) is equal. As in equally fucked" in terms of individual liberties. -- William Wisher....
12 May Terry Lenzner
"[T]he truth is what you can get enough people to believe."...
10 May Mindlessness
The mind is like a pond reflecting reality. We experience reality not as it is but as reflections. The reflections most accurately represent reality when the mind is calm, undisturbed by motion beneath the water and activity above. Motion beneath the pond is a function of us not having integrity and our reacting to stories of our past we've created. Activity above the pond is a function of multitasking and distractions like desiring that which we don't need. Mindlessness is the purpose of meditation. Meditation is a tool to calm the mind by focusing on, say, solely our breathing. This is mindfulness meditation. Beyond mindfulness, we can advance to mindlessness meditation wherein we focus on the space of nothingness between breaths; that is, the space between when we exhale and before we inhale again. In the space of nothingness we are free from distractions and are ready to experience reality (the present) before it becomes just a reflection from mind. In the space of nothingness we experience the present and the nature of mind is revealed. Once revealed, we realize the mind's reflections are not reality but a derivative based on reality that's distorted by a disturbed state of mind. This realization transforms our relationship with mind from the mind being our master to our servant. The is the foundation of enlightenment. So remember, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. If we forget this, enlightenment will be the least of our problems....
04 May William Wisher
"No one lies on their death bed and thinks: I wish I had more money." At some point in life we reach a crossover point when we realize we have more money than time. Certainly we reach the crossover point in our last moments of life. But as each of has thousands of lives encapsulated as a life each day, we are at the crossover point soon after we awaken from our sleep....
03 May Kotodama 35
"Real eyes realize real lies." -- Tupac Shakur...
02 May Present-passed and True-present
The past is the past and what we perceive as the present is also the past. We consciously experience the present as "present-passed," not the "true-present." The true-present is the universe, waves of seemingly chaotic energy in an otherwise empty space. The true-present is the pre-sent, the universe before we consciously experience it. The conscious experience of the past (the past and present-passed) is our perception of the universe as reflections from our mind. The mind is a mnemonic device (etymology of mind: memory). Memories are illusions, stories we've created. The two constants in the universe are change and interdependence. Thus, the true-present cannot be described beyond saying that it is what it is whatever it is. Like God's response when Moses asks who God is: "I am who I am." Like the Tao, it is nameless. We experience the true-present when we are in the gap between true-present and present-passed. This is the space of nothingness. It is like breathing. After we exhale we pause before inhaling. That pause is the space of nothingness. When in that space, we are set to experience the true-present as it unfolds. The true-present unfolds as waves of light and sound energy; visually, like a kaleidoscope. It is overwhelming, like trying to drink water coming off a fire-hose. The purpose of the mind is to organize the true-present so that it's drinkable, not overwhelming. Experiencing the true-present is akin to hallucinating. The etymology of the word hallucinate is to wander in the mind. In our everyday life, we experience the world as reflections from a point along the perimeter of the pond-mind. As is our habit, every day we go to the same point on the perimeter which results in us having a consistent perspective of the world. However, the mind often is turbulent (a function of our lacking integrity and other distractions) and its reflections distorted. When we calm the mind (through practices like meditation), we can leave its perimeter and wade into the pond, wander in the mind. It is here we can experience the true-present. In experiencing the true-present, we realize that the reality we've heretofore experienced was not reality; just reflections, illusions. The true-present is curvilinear and rectilinear cosmic waves of images and sounds that overwhelming come upon us until we drown. Our drowning however results not in our personal demise; it's the demise of the various identities we've created that define us, the various stories we've made up about who we are. It is here when we realize that the past was just an illusion; that we are truly one of the waves, one with everything; as we've always been from before our beginning. Then, we fall down laughing as we realize the play of life and our roles in it are based on illusions. The play starts as a tragedy and ends as a farce when the true-present is revealed....