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....

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....

On watermelon: "I can tell it's delicious without looking inside. That's like my life." Our initial impressions can reveal the essence of things. The stories we tell about ourselves are unnecessary to having a wonderful life. Shoji Ilyama is true to his name. Shoji means quickly and smoothly....

Once we know we don't know anything we can get on our way. Our destination is the way of the Way where we come to know there is nothing to know as everything is nothing but one thing that is ever-changing and interdependent; it is what it is whatever it is....

We are manifestations of God, like the burning bush. Our lives are the flames, ever-changing, temporary and the focus of our attention. The bush is our soul, unchangeable, eternal and little noticed. However wild our lives, we are calmed by our soul unless we forget there is only one soul to which we are all connected....

We create stories from our selective memories. Some of our stories are sad, painful, traumatic or otherwise disturbing. However, we have much latitude in the stories we create. Even the most tragic stories we can reconstruct to be funny. If not funny from our perspective, then from the perspective of others. We can deploy the perspective of others once we detach ourselves from the person we identify as ourselves in the past. While doing so may be difficult, illesim can help the process. Illesim is referring to ourselves in the third person. By doing so, we recognize that who we are now is not the same person we once were. For example, I recall that "when I was a child my father would often scream and at times hit me for irritating him. In fact, one time he said he wished I was never born." That's a brutal recollection. Alternatively, I can recall the same story as "when Victor was a child his father would often scream and at times hit him because Victor irritated him. In fact, one time his father said he wished Victor was never born." Recounting this story in the third person detaches me from it; makes me feel like I'm in the audience watching it as a play. From that perspective, it's funny. Funny because Victor seemed to enjoy irritating his father even at the cost of his father going berserk and being abusive. Clearly the scene was not a problem for Victor. That Victor's father wished Victor had never been born was his father's problem. In the audience sit the Gods....

Joy is cosmic, the highest level of happiness. J is a finger calling us to come. O is totality, perfection, God. Y is two lines becoming one. J is male O is female. Joy-us when the two become one.    ...