15 Mar Sun God
There is one God. The God before the Big Bang. The God beyond our comprehension. The God that birthed billions of sons. God's sons too are gods. They are the stars. God's son closest to us is our sun....
14 Mar Sense, Nonsense
When we open our eyes we see what we sense, which a fool's mind makes into nonsense. We appreciate a beautiful artwork when we see it. That makes sense. A collector paying millions for such an artwork when an indistinguishable facsimile can be had for a pittance, that's foolish nonsense. Beyond beautiful artworks, there is beauty everywhere for those who have the sense to open their eyes; but not for fools who prefer nonsense. Of course, "collectible" paintings are not purchased for the visual experience they provide but for their speculative value (that there will be a greater fool to pay more for them in the future), or as objects of prestige (identifying those who foolishly need to impress others or themselves) or as a pass to enter certain high-society social circles inhabited by other fools....
14 Mar Blind To Our Shadows When Gazing At The Sun
When facing the sun, shrouded in its warmth and the gazing at the beauty of everything, we're often oblivious to the shadows we cast. In the post, Being In The Present, I talked about my "insider trading" criminal case. Ultimately, as a result of losing at trial, I spent 1994 in a Federal prison in Fairton, NJ. I looked forward to going to prison. Thought I’d have a good time meeting guys outside my social/business/special interests circles. Maybe get to do things I hadn’t previously been exposed to: garden maintenance, car repair, preparing institutional foods; maybe read some books. After having snapped some lawnmower blades on rock outcroppings and making a car's problems worse, I was fired from those jobs. I didn't get a chance to work in the kitchen because I casually mentioned to an inmate that I must have gotten genital herpes years back at a group sex party; as word got around, some were concerned herpes was transmittable through food, so I was nixed from that job. Didn’t get a chance to read much beyond periodicals. Most of the time spent was pondering the nature of things and interviewing the prisoners about their circumstances and how they viewed the world. I joked around a lot, seemed to entertain the mates and the guards. Paid someone $1 to make my bed daily, someone else to make me hand-cut potato fries and broiled New Zealand calves' liver and another mate to clean the shower before I went in to jerk off. I thought I was well liked, until my last night there. Last night there, the prisoners typically threw a party for the one who was departing. As my time neared, I was getting the feeling they weren’t having a party for me. So I ordered 80 ice cream sandwiches from the commissary (from which you could privately buy foods and other stuffs) to ensure a party was to be. Everyone loved it; best party of the season. However, at some point during the party I said to a crowd of mates “you guys will probably miss me.” To which one replied: “We won’t miss you. We hate you.” Incredulous, I said, “really, why’s that?” To which he replied: “because you had too good a time here.” Now, 27 years later, I sometimes think maybe some people in my current life feel the same way about me. But, like in prison, I can’t imagine that to be so. Gazing at the sun I'm oblivious of the shadows I cast....
12 Mar Being In The Present
However dark, foreboding or uncertain the future appears, it doesn't affect us when we are in the true-present, the timeless space before now and all that follows. In late 1985 I was married with one child, unemployed, had little money saved and started a hedge fund managing the funds of a small group of investors. Soon after, in the Spring of 1986, I became embroiled in an "insider trading" scandal. The related investigation made the newspapers and shadowed me everywhere. I was at risk of losing overwhelming sums for legal fees, fines and penalties as well as the prospect of going to prison and being permanently barred from running a hedge fund which was my only viable means of earning a living. The investigation lasted for three and a half years by which time I had two more children. Then I was indicted. The trial concluded in late spring of 1990. I was found guilty. After two years spent on appealing the verdict, I was sentenced to 18 months in prison, fined $1.8M and had the prospect, pending appeals, of losing my license to continue managing money. I had also up until then paid roughly $2M for legal representation. I went to prison in January 1994. In January, 2000 I lost the appeals and was permanently barred from managing other people's money. With the attention I needed to give the investigation and trial and the dire consequences hanging over my head for eight years, investors and friends were astonished that I was able to continue running my hedge fund successfully without a care. My view was that beyond managing the hedge fund I had nothing to worry about one day to the next. The circumstances were what they were and I would deal with them as they unfolded. I wasn't dying of cancer; things could have always been worse. In fact, I was grateful for my circumstances. I was happy. Simply, I was in the present and focused on whatever next was going to be in the now....
10 Mar Way Of Way 158
Enlightenment is when the lights go on in a theater featuring a captivating movie....
08 Mar Heaven
In heaven we are all even as only souls can enter heaven and each soul is the same. We can bring our souls to heaven but we can't bring our soles to heaven. Those who know not of heaven cannot part with their soles until nightfall. Then they become lost souls. For the sun reveals the entrance to heaven and at night heaven's gates are closed....
05 Mar The Soul
There is only one soul. That's why it's called the sole. The soul is rarely visible, like the sole of our feet, but it's the axis connecting us to the Earth and the foundation upon which everything stands....
03 Mar Way Of Way 110
One can live without a mind but not without a heart....
28 Feb Way Of Way 108
Each of us stars in their own play and plays roles in other people's plays. As many plays are not popular, people who star in their own play often spend most of their time in roles in other people's plays. To have these people who are in minor roles in the plays of others perform best, we treat them like special guest stars. Maybe one day they will be stars; but, if not, at least they'll enjoy their roles more than otherwise and that will make our play a better play....
26 Feb Om And Oh
"Om" and "oh" are the sounds before words were born. "Om" is the incantation at the beginning and end of chapters in the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas and Upanishads. It is the sound made in ceremonies relating to the rites of passage such as weddings and during meditative and spiritual activities like yoga. It is the sound of the universe that's meant to encompass all sounds; the sound attesting to our consciousness; the sound recognizing the divine. Likewise, "oh" is a sound used to express our awakening, our immediate emotional reaction to something to which we have just been made aware. The expression "Oh my God" is the most common expression heard at the moment of orgasm. In this context, "oh my God" means one is awakened to one's oneness with God; one's oneness with the universe before the beginning of time and as nothing becomes everything: the Big Bang. As "Om" is an incantation that's chanted as "Ommmmmmmmmm," "oh my God" seems more consistent with the pace of approaching sexual climax than "Ommmmmmmmmm my God."...