When good times lead to worse times and bad times lead to better times, that's called "regression to the mean". When good times lead to better times and bad times lead to worse times, that's called "momentum". The Way depends on identifying and balancing these countervailing forces....
Sometime in 1967, I went to the Garrick Theatre in New York City to see Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention perform a sparsely attended show. It was a rainy day and Frank wore a rain hat which brought a few streams of sweat rolling down his face. After the show, I went backstage to meet Frank. My sole question was: "What do you look like without that prophylactic hat?" To which Frank responded: "Like a real man." Frank was a real piece of work; not one of infinite copies or an overpriced fake. The following year, Frank produced a song, some of whose lyrics have ever since resonated with me as funny and profound: "What is the ugliest part of your body? Some say your nose Some say your toes But I think it's your mind." Nothing to the eye is inherently ugly or beautiful. However, the mind, by comparing things, deems some things uglier or prettier than other things. The mind is the ugliest part of the body, for it's the only part that makes things ugly....
"Soooo" is the sound of inhaling. "Hmmmm" is the sound of exhaling. Together, the cycle of breathing is "Soham", meaning "I am" in Sanskrit. In meditation, Soham, as a mantra, implies pure being; not a specified being or self, just ultimate reality (God). Cross-culturally, in the Bible, "I am" is how God self-identifies. ...
Traditional gender titles of Mr, Mrs, and Ms are self-limiting in contemporary times. Perhaps punctuations should be used to identity people and their sexual identities, such as: Female appearance: (:) Male appearance: (;) Straight: (|) Gay: (\) Bisexual: (<>) Trans (\/) Dominant Female: (‘:) Submissive Female: (:’) Dominant Male: (‘;) Submissive Male: (;’) Weird Female in public: (“:) Weird Male in public: (“;) Weird Female in private: (:”) Weird Male in private: (;”) Weird Female every which way: (“:”) Weird Male every which way: (“;”) Undecided Person: (?) Materialistic: ($) Into group sex: (#) Sexually loyal: (&) Mental connection priority: (i) Physical connection priority: (!) Wants children: (+) Doesn't want children: (-) Self-conscious: (%) Dreamer: (*) Religious: (^) Homebody: (@) For example, a person describing themselves as: ("$^&':@+) is a publicly weird materialistic religious loyal dominant Female homebody interested in having children. (';!<>#*"-) is a dominant Male physically focused bisexual into group sex fantasies privately weird stuff and not interested in having children. It's clearly ridiculous when the mind categorizes ourselves and others with punctuation. Categorization rejects the truth which is that each of us is unique and yet share a oneness. Recognizing our unity, everyone could simply be referred to as "it". This identifier is suggested by the long-used greeting: "How's it going?" Ultimately, those who know the true nature of things can only describe anyone or thing as "it is what it is whatever it is ". They are at peace, as they know the devil is in the details....
