31 Mar Enjoy the ride
On the road at times there are seemingly overwhelming problems, real or imagined. Best then to remember life is a ride and we're here simply to enjoy it....
30 Mar Open/closed relationships
Sexual relationships are either open or closed. When open, each partner is free to engage sexually with others. Each is happy when their mate enjoys themselves with other mates. This is an enlightened view: life is to be enjoyed with acceptance and no judgement, it is what it is whatever it is. In closed relationships, the couple is either a divine sexual relationship or has vowed sexual loyalty to each other. For the couple in divine love, sex is not an animal activity. It's a rare spiritual connection. As such, neither mate fruitlessly looks for sex beyond their relationship. Beautiful, but extremely rare.. For the couple that's vowed sexual loyalty to each other, their relationship is not about love (however either mate might protest otherwise). It's a prison. If one partner or the other is caught escaping prison, they face the firing squad. Clearly, divine love is divine. Everything else pales. But better the freedom from openness than a closed prison....
29 Mar Self and Soul
We have two identities, our unique individual self and our common soul. We are conscious of our self and often oblivious of our soul. Our self is our ego. It identities us as apart and separate from everything that is other than our physical self. It perceives the world in dualities (self/not self) which often are contentious. The soul is ineffable; some call it God; the essence of everything; no beginning no end, infinite in time and space. When our identity is the soul, we are one with everything and at peace. In life we have the choice of either identity or both. A balanced life assumes both. In death there is only the soul....
27 Mar Love 4
I am me and you are you. Then I am you and you are me. Together we are one and everything....
25 Mar Kanako Iiyama
"God often told me when I was a kid, the word ugly belongs to people." Does that mean that only people make things ugly or that people are ugly? Maybe there is ultimately no difference?...
24 Mar Love 6
I pour my love into us until I have nothing left and then I am nothing and we are everything....
22 Mar Basil Bunting
"I've travelled the world and lived in many a place. Each place is somewhat different but nothing is like America where so many people are kidding themselves." I met Basil Bunting at SUNY Binghamton in 1970 where he was a one-semester professor of poetry. The above quote was my recollection of Basil's insight which has remained with me for more than 50 years. Basil was born in Northumberland, travelled extensively and worked as an international reporter and British intelligence officer. But he is best remembered as a poet who had a close relationship with Ezra Pound in Italy in the 1930s. He was married a Kurdish woman....
19 Mar Sentimental feelings
When we sell a possession that holds sentimental value for us, by definition we feel somewhat sad as we reflect on times now in the past. Alternatively, we can be happy for the new owner of the possession and the happy times they will have going forward with it. Our sadness is selfish, based on a past that only exists in our mind. Reflecting on the new owner's future joy is compassion. For our own joy, better we are compassionate than selfish....
18 Mar We have all the Answers to the Test
Life is a test. We are given all the answers before we take the test but once we get started we focus so much on the test that we forget the answers. Better to remember the answers and pay less attention to the test. In other words, better not too take life too seriously which is one of the answers to the test....
12 Mar Warren Buffett
"You only have to do a few things right in your life as long as you don't do too many things wrong." On investing: "Rule number one: Never lose money. Rule number two: never forget rule number one." In financial markets today, investors are overly focused on the return they can realize on their investments. That might be the wrong approach, especially if we do that long enough. For example, a $20 return on a $100 investment is very attractive. However, as good times can only exist if there are bad times as well (good is a relative concept), best to focus on the bigger of the two numbers; otherwise at some point we might not have anything to invest. However, when financial markets are in panic mode and the focus is on keeping the bigger number safe, then it's best to shop for great returns....