18 Jul

Posted at 10:15h in Anecdotes, I Am Time

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....

27 May

Posted at 10:15h in Anecdotes

The British-American author and journalist Christopher Eric Hitchens (1949–2011)…once recounted a story about Chou En-lai, who served as the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China from 1954 until his death in 1976. According to Hitchens, Chou had been invited to speculate on how the course of history would have been altered if, say, Nikita Khrushchev had been assassinated instead of John F. Kennedy. Chou’s austere version of Marxism made him dubious about the importance of things like sheer accident and mere individuals. But in this instance, he was prepared to allow that things might have been different. How different? “Well,” said Chou with complete gravity, “I hardly think that Aristotle Onassis would have married Mrs. Khrushchev.”...

10 Apr

Posted at 10:15h in Anecdotes, I Am Time

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?

...

09 Apr

Posted at 10:15h in Anecdotes, I Am Time

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."...

29 Mar

Posted at 10:15h in Anecdotes, I Am Time

"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....

25 Mar

Posted at 10:41h in Anecdotes, I Am Time

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."...

18 Mar

Posted at 10:15h in Anecdotes, I Am Time

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....

07 Mar

Posted at 10:55h in Anecdotes, Images

At first sight, this object engaged my attention; great presence (which has not diminished with time), surreal, and enigmatic as it seemed to have an ambiguous utility function. Initially, I thought it was a hearing aid; the top inserted in the ear and the bottom the mouthpiece. Others have guessed it a spout for pouring wine or an implement used for snuffing out a candle. However, notwithstanding other creative uses, it's a mini trumpet a shepherd would use to get the attention of another shepherd in the distance. Now, I see this mini-trumpet as a mouthpiece through which the breath of God enters a human head which processes the breath into sounds. The sounds are music. The sounds are signals, like words. An apt metaphor of this book, as its purpose is to convert the breath of God into words for all to hear....

23 Feb

Posted at 23:15h in Anecdotes

Educational institutions identify smart guys who society ushers into jobs that make laws and rules. The smart guys painstakingly work at rule-making, take themselves very seriously and get quite upset when people break or find ways around their rules. Wise guys figure ways around laws and rules and invariably laugh, for relatively less effort they are better remunerated than smart guys. When wise guys figure ways around rules, smart guys eventually take notice and write more rules to thwart the wise guys. Of course, the wise guys figure ways around the new rules. This minor cycle continues until at some point the rules cause the wise guys to work relatively longer and for less renumeration than the smart guys. Then, the wise guys move on to other venues for better opportunities. Soon after, price goes up and quality goes down for the goods or services subject to the rule-making. Ultimately, it’s clear that the smart guys weren’t so smart. They’re fired from the organization at which they worked and their rules are abolished. A new system emerges with limited rules, causing prices to go down and quality to rise. However, soon after, smart guys are hired again to make rules. A new grand cycle then begins....

21 Feb

Posted at 10:15h in Anecdotes

There is a Buddha parable that goes like this: One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. “You have no right teaching others,” he shouted. “You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake.” Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?” The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me, because I bought the gift.” The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger is yours to deal with." At that moment, the angry young man awoke and became a lifelong disciple of Buddha.   This story is reminiscent of my relationship with my father. From the time I was 13 until I went to college, my father was often angry with me; frustrated that I questioned his authority and mocked his core social and political beliefs. He screamed at me and on occasion hit me (not to hurt me but to vent his frustration). One time he said: "I wish you were never born." To which I replied: "That's your problem." Was my reply reflective of a Buddha nature or a psychopathic mental disorder? My father would likely say the latter (he at times called me a "sadist") as my reply didn't bring him to see the light; it just made him more angry. After my father's untimely transition from life at 60 years old, I was once overwhelmed by sadness and tears; reflecting on not having awakened father to experience life as it is and not solely as he was....