“You were born an original. Don't die a copy.” We are billions of unique individuals but are socialized into common roles in the play of life. Our roles become our identities which retard our realizing our inherent unique potentials....
"You are the universe, expressing itself as a human for a little while." As we are the universe, we are eternal. But if we solely identify with our fleeting human form, we will surely die....
The universe is the manifestation of God. Loving God is loving every thing; even those things we don't like and seek to avoid....
The serenity of this mother goddess amulet from the dawn of civilization is reminiscent of certain sculptures of Buddha who arrived at the dawn of human consciousness....
The Buddhist path to liberation refers to enlightenment. Liberation is liberation from the personal mind. There is only one mind, the universal mind, the mind of God. The universe is the manifestation of the universal mind in the now. Dwelling in our finite body (which seems apart and separate from the universe) is a personal mind that is connected to the universal mind. However, we identify with our personal mind and are mostly oblivious to the universal mind. The path of liberation is realising our connection to the universal mind. The personal mind buffers us from directly experiencing the now. In other words, we experience the now not as it truly is but as a function of our personal mind. The personal mind defines, describes and compares; transforming the now, which is a flow, into a static experience. The now we experience with our personal mind is illusionary, empty of reality. However, we embrace our personal mind for we fear losing our identities and in turn being alone, not knowing who we are and where we are. The personal mind is grounded in memories. The memories are stories we create based on our intentions, actions and their consequences in previous lives. (Previous lives are previous days of our life.) These illusionary stories frame, define and describe the now. These stories are our karma. By not allowing us to experience the now directly, our karma essentially holds us in a karmic prison. Liberation is liberation from our karmic prison. Once liberated, we can experience the now as it is and in so doing we become one with the now, one with everything, eternal. There are no words to describe or compare this experience. All that can be said is that it is what it is whatever it is. The path to liberation is how we escape the karmic prison of our mind. Our escape is difficult, blocked by fears created by our personal mind. To escape, we need to quiet our mind until it falls asleep. Then, we can sneak passed it to liberation. Meditation puts our mind to sleep. When our mind is asleep via meditation, we transition from our personal mindlessness to universal mindfulness as our personal mind merges with the universal mind. Beyond meditation, we can renounce our personal mind. This is done by surrendering to the reality that we know nothing and that every-thing our personal mind tells us is not real, just illusions. Then, our curiosity is aroused; what am I, who am I, why am I? To answer these questions, we observe the universe with our eyes; not with our personal mind. We know we are experiencing the universe with our eyes when every-thing is unique, an experience like no other; nothing can be described, nothing can be compared. All we can say is WOW, as we feel connected to and love every-thing and everything. (Mouthing the word "wow" is like mouthing a kiss.) With our eyes open, we can see the light and come to know that we and the light are one. Now the path is clear. We are the path, the way of way (WOW). This is the path of the Buddha. A path guided by the light, not by a guru who at best can only reflect the light....
Life is a present we receive when we are present....
We see things not as they are but as a function of our position and disposition. Having recently spoken with some people on the Left, they all view Joe Biden as maybe a bit old but certainly of sound mind and effective in performing his job. Moreover, they view Kamala Harris as possessing more than average intelligence, but not as articulate as most politicians. Those on the Right view Biden as obviously in early senility. As to Harris, they view her as a moron (IQ between 50 - 75 (average IQ is 100)), though none identify her as an imbecile (IQ 25 - 50). As to disposition, those who are happy with their economic position and prospects, favorably view Biden and Harris. Those who feel their way of life, in terms of safety and individual liberties, is threatened and that the country is "going in the wrong direction" (presumably right is right and left is wrong) are very unhappy with Biden and Harris. Clearly, those who are wise know it's difficult to know who Biden and Harris really are. Moreover, as politicians, it's unlikely they know....
As an abstract, non-representational, cylindrical sculpture, this artwork is referred to as an"idol." Its solar eye suggests the universe is revealed by the light emanating from the eyes of God....
"Those who understand only what can be explained understand very little." Little of the universe has been explained. If we don't understand that, we don't understand much and are unlikely to understand more. To know the universe we need to discover it ourselves, not simply rely on explanations given to us by others....
"I used to get a laugh from students by quoting a Soviet citizen I talked to once. He said to me, 'Of course we have freedom of speech. We just don't allow people to lie.' That used to get a laugh! They don't laugh anymore." Today we have freedom of speech, as long as no one is listening....