"Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition." "I'm a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine - and that's all I want to have." "To be alive, to able to see, to walk...
According the Guinness Book of World Records, "drunk" holds the world's record for the word with the most synonyms, as many as 2,241. This attests to how varied each of us experiences things in a free state of mind. However, when really drunk, we're unlikely to articulate but a couple of synonyms and not remember them after we recover. When we're not drunk, our experience of things is likely as varied as when we are drunk which makes it remarkable that we can understand and stand each other. Maybe that's why we get drunk....
Together as two we see each other much of the time. Familiar, comfortable and at ease in the rhythm of habits. From a distance we look as one, very close but not open. Together as one maybe far but far closer. Always open, connected joyfully all ways, beyond stretches of time. Together as one and together as two, altogether, joy-us every which way....
Almost everything is measured today. There's more focus on measurements and relative ranking than on the experience of that which is measured. Measurements are abstract, having nothing to do with the experience something provides. Ultimately, our focus on measuring leaves us experiencing things as a function of our mind rather than our senses. That makes experiences absurd, not real. It precludes us experiencing the absolute beauty in something that is relatively not beautiful. As such, we become oblivious that there is much about which to be grateful. As gratitude is a key to happiness, focusing on measurements diverts us from the path of happiness....
"Art is the order of all things. Confusion adds life to art." The preceding quote was from stream of consciousness writings by Hilton Root, a friend since the age of 13, when he was 16 years old. The quote has stayed in memory over the decades as I found it, ironically, confusing. Now, I read the quote as chaos is the fundamental art (that which is art-ificial, manmade) is an assemblage of natural elements. When an artwork is ambiguous, meaning different things to different people, it reflects the nature of life itself....
I'm uncomfortable unless I'm uncomfortable. High anxiety can be extremely debilitating. It can cause us to freeze or panic, not a good state of mind when we need make a decision. Low levels of anxiety may be uncomfortable but can be beneficial. Low anxiety spurs our imagination to envision many potentially negative consequences that can result from our choices. As negative consequences generally unfold slowly and then suddenly, imagining these negative consequences allows us to see them and act accordingly before they fully unfold and it's too late to do much about them. With little anxiety, we are comfortable, tend towards laxity and not see dangerous outcomes even when they may be obvious. Thus, I'm uncomfortable (unless feeling uncomfortable with low levels of anxiety) when I'm comfortable....
Sage is a spice that enhances the taste of certain foods. A sage is a wise man who adds spice to certain aspects of life. Though many are sagacious, a true sage knows not to add sage to salads or uncooked foods generally as most people would find that unpalatable....
Recognizing divine consciousness in others, enlightened people treat others with compassion. Yet, sometimes the enlightened may seem insensitive or even intentionally hurtful when they laugh at others, bruising their foolish egos. Compassion doesn't necessarily mean one suffers fools gladly....
Essentially, life is a physical experience to be enjoyed. There is little difference between the time before our birth, the time of our lives and the time after but for our ability to enjoy physical pleasures in our lifetime. The joy of our physical experience is enhanced when we help others enjoy it as well. That's called making love. It is joy-us. While physical pleasures are temporary, their temporariness is to remind us that everything is temporary, including ourselves; thus, it's best to physically enjoy ourselves in life. Otherwise, we are not truly alive....
The wisest cannot be wise when they identify themselves as wise. Wisdom is the ability to see from many different perspectives, multi-centric perspectives. Amalgamating the many perspectives allows us to best know the nature of something now and how it may change in the future. Identifying ourselves as wise is egocentric which limits our ability to have multi-centric perspectives and view things wisely. Moreover, when we think we are wise we think we have little to learn. Hence, we learn little more and know less and less about that of which we once knew something as everything is forever changing. That leaves us thinking we know more than we do which is very unwise....