I Is Time

Haiku 120

Those who are loving are like the sun.

Those who want to be loved are black holes.

Haiku 119

Every thing seems a duality,

a light side and a dark side.

The sun makes things shine.

Things make shadows.

Kotodama 90

“Soooo” is the sound of inhaling.

“Hmmmmm” is the sound of exhaling.

Together, the cycle of breathing is “Soham”, a Hindu mantra meaning “I am” in Sanskrit.

I am the now. I am the universe.

In the Abrahamic religions, God is identified as “I am.”

Haiku 118

We rise at birth and set at death like the sun.

Yet, rising and setting is an illusion.

Rising and setting happens simultaneously.

The sun is eternally shining.

Kotodama 89

As male/female titles “Mr.”, “Mrs.” and “Ms.” are out of fashion in the digital age, perhaps punctuations should be used to identity people and their sexual proclivities; to wit:

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.

Alternatively, 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.

Way Of Way 467

In the play of life, we play many roles. The most coveted are the scarce and elusive roles of the wealthy, the powerful and the celebrated.

While talent and effort is needed, most actors awarded these roles are simply lucky.

Unfortunately, even for the lucky ones, all roles are temporary, ending before or by the time whomever plays them gets scripted out of the play.

Unlike other roles in which an actor’s self assumes a role, there is a role that’s only available to actors who forego their self in audition. It’s a role that survives the length of the play. It is easily obtainable and requires little effort beyond paying attention. Yet, as we can’t see what we can’t imagine, few players know of its availability.

The role of God.

As God, we know life is a play we produce for our entertainment. We are the actors and the audience. We recognize every thing is a manifestation of us, God, and we love everything accordingly.

Haiku 117

Sun crashes pond’s surface.

Water only ripples.

Sun not wet.

Koan 185

Once you’ve awakened, always the best time in life can only be now.

Koan 184

“There are no facts, just interpretations.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Koan 186

Every thing is temporarily unique and forever the same.

Koan 181

What we can’t identify is fascinating, until we give it an identity. Then, it becomes a noun and we relegate it to our peripheral vision.

Koan 182

Life is a game of hide and seek. We win by finding the soul before the soul finds us.

Way Of Way 464

In Judaism, God is nameless.

God is not one thing to the exclusion of other things.

God is the Everything: the now and what is before and after the now.

However, the Everything is not a thing.

God is not a static noun.

Jews refer to God as: “I am”.

God is an unspecified verb, the process of the Everything.

Koan 136

All we see in the now are reflections of light. When the now disappears, all that remains is light.

Kotodama 181

Knowing the world through our senses makes sense.

When our mind makes sense of our senses, we aren’t experiencing our senses.

Koan 180

Time cannot be saved or spent.

Way Of Way 217

We’re surrounded by an infinite number of things.

As we distance our way from them, we see them as one thing.

Way Of Way 466

We have freedom of speech as long as no one is listening.

Way Of Way 463

The soul’s love and the self’s love are the same but feel different.

The soul has only one emotion: love.

The self has a multitude of emotions, including love.

The soul loves every thing, as every thing is a manifestation of the soul. Simply, the soul loves itself.

The self’s love is conditional, loving some things sometimes.

The soul’s love is peace. It is a feeling beyond words, as oneness with the Everything is beyond description.

The self’s love is ecstasy; love sandwiched between other emotions in striking contrast to love.

Ecstasy is energizing, joyful, stress-relieving,

The confluence of love from the soul and love from the self is cosmic.

Koan 175

However fast a river runs, it’s always in the same place.

Koan 178

Ultimate truth is difficult to find. When it appears it’s followed by laughter.

Koan 173

When we are one with the universe, we miss nothing until we see it.

Koan 176

If something is same each time we experience it, we haven’t experienced it.

Koan 155

Any description without uncertainty is an illusion.

Haiku 16

It is what it is whatever it is.

What it is is of no matter.

What matters is that it is.

Koan 172

When we don’t forget from where we came we know where we are going.

Koan 153

Those who can’t distinguish between someone loving themselves and selfishness are selfish.

Koan 156

What you see outside your self looks different when you are outside your self.

Koan 158

How can one soul transition into what appears as an infinite number of things?

Koan 170

If life is a test, those with more answers than questions are sure to fail.

Koan 167

When we see something that is not unique, we are seeing it with our mind.

Koan 168

When the past is real, the present is an illusion.

Koan 160

We can’t open our eyes if we don’t know they are closed.

Koan 164

When we are the person we once were, we are nothing.

Koan 166

Until we know we know nothing, we know nothing.

Haiku 116

What’s good for you is good for me

as I can choose who to be,

you, me, or you and me.

Koan 161

What was once and is no longer, never was.

Koan 174

No thing is perfect but nothing is perfect.

Haiku 115

We begin life as a tiny circle, looking like a dot.

As we grow, we have an inside and outside.

Until we grow beyond the circle and become space.

Haiku 113

Water downstream is water past.

Water upstream is water future.

Water here is water present.

Water flows like time, but doesn’t mark time.

Koan 163

Those who love certain people but not all people are sentimental. Those who love everyone are practical.

Koan 152

Enlightenment is simple: one is one with the light. Yet, it seems very complicated to the unenlightened who can’t agree on what it is.

Focusing on what it is, instead of observing the now, keeps them unenlightened.

Haiku 107

Living the life of water is the best thing.

As snow, it’s the most reflective thing.

As it flows, it’s more practical than anything.

When it evaporates, it becomes one with everything.

Koan 151

Those who love you, help keep you alive. Those you love are the reason you are alive.

Koan 98

As everyone describes the same thing differently, how can you understand anything unless you understand everyone?

Kotodama 74

“Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe.” — Galileo Galilei

Mathematics connects everything in the universe. Contrawise, the human mind created the word “number” whose etymology is “to divide.”

Koan 183

All things are two things, a reflection of light and a shadow.

The sun creates the light, the thing creates the shadow.

Koan 185

What happens when we die?

What happens when we die! That is, when we die we transition from the “Who” into the “What.”

The “Who” is consciousness; all that is in the material world of the now.

The “What” the transcendental; the ineffable energy that is the invisible essence of all things that are the “Who”.

The “Who” is the expression of the “What”.

In the now, we are the “Who”. In the time before and after the now, we are the “What.”

The “What” is constantly transitioning into the “Who” and the “Who” transitioning into the “What”.

The “Who” is one thing, but our self sees the “Who” as an infinite number of seemingly independent things.

When we realize the “Who” is one thing that’s created by our consciousness, we know the “What”.

Those that know they are the “Who” and the “What” are eternal beings.

Those that view themselves as solely a “Who” (the self) will surely die.

Koan 187

Sleeping is a state of consciousness based on the illusion of knowledge.

Awakening is the realization we don’t know anything.

Enlightenment is knowing nothing.

Haiku 96

Nothing is perfect, as nothing has nothing to complain about.

Before and after the now, there is nothing.

Before and after the now must be heaven.

Haiku 103

Those who are bored

see life as a game board,

but a board it can’t be

as every thing is 3-D.

Koan 149

The mind can grasp enlightenment as easily as a hand can grasp itself.

Koan 148

How can the now be eternally unchanged, yet the now that’s now is different than the now before now?

The now that’s passed and the now to come are somewhere light seconds or years from here.

Haiku 106

Using constellations to navigate our way,

we don’t see the stars which are the Way.

Koan 143

As each of us describes the same thing differently, is the same thing the same thing?

Koan 141

Are the brightest those who reflect the brightest light or those who emit light which reflects from everything around them?

Koan 31

When the mind lights the road ahead, day turns into night.

Koan 146

The foundation of wisdom is knowing you know nothing.

Koan 145

“Some things are too important to be taken seriously.” — Oscar Wilde

Koan 144

You find the soul when you lose your self.

Koan 142

When the self is absent, we are present.

Koan 136

Once you know nothing, there is nothing else you need to know.

Way Of Way 446

Life is a dream.

Some think it’s a good dream, some think it’s a bad dream.

To those who are not oblivious they are dreaming, it’s a wonderful dream.

Koan 130

The senses connect us to reality and the mind separates us from reality.

Kotodama 73

Upon awakening,

i becomes !

Koan 139

Every thing, but the Everything, creates duality.

Koan 133

An enlightened man loves every thing equally; though some things he likes and some things he doesn’t.

The play of life is wonderful entertainment; though some actors, roles or plots are more or less likeable.

Koan 176

Truth is difficult to describe, but is identified by the sound of laughter.

Koan 130

There is no time, just space. Every thing that was, is and will be happens at the same time but in different spaces.

Koan 134

The memories we hold onto are real, until we open our hand and see there is nothing there.

Kotodama 72

I + Word = World

My word creates the world.

My Mother’s Transition 2

In the last year of my mother’s life, she was mentally clear but otherwise incapacitated.

Living in a nursing facility, she couldn’t do much but be carted around to group entertainment activities like movie watching. Her days must have been intolerably long, as she had little to do to kill time until time killed her.

Yet, her perspective was otherwise.

I once asked her if she was often bored, to which she replied, “Oh, I am busy all day; barely have time to do anything.” What was she busy with? “Thinking about my life.”

My mother traveled to the land of her memories. Her memories must have been happy as she never complained and had no regrets.

That’s how my mother transitioned, living in her memories until she became a memory. For me, only a happy memory.

Koan 131

A wise man may appear foolish being uncertain of every thing, but only a fool is certain of any thing.

Koan 61

The mind cannot see, it can only compare.

Koan 125

“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” — Lao Tzu

He who speaks tries to explain. He who knows does not speak as nothing can be explained.

The Everything is the everchanging noisy now and the silent space outside the now.

He who speaks is the now. He cannot grasp the now, as a hand cannot grasp itself.

He who knows does not speak as the now can only be known by observing it from the silent space outside the now,

Describing the now is a fool’s errand. Descriptions are static, while the now is everchanging. Descriptions are empty, as what’s described is now no longer.

He who knows does not speak, for the endless and everchanging now is like a circle. The space inside a circle cannot be squared.

He who knows delights in observing the now; an experience he cares not to interrupt by speaking which would transition him into the now.

Kotodama 13

“Sol” is the name of the Roman sun god.

From soul comes light.

Kotodama 88

The etymology of the word “universe” is literally “turned into one.”

The universe is the Everything turned into one thing.

The Everything is the now and what is before and after the now.

Sometimes, the Everything is called “God.”

As many people pray to God for many specific things but ultimately happiness, the workings of the universe may reveal the peace beyond near-term happiness.

God is like a shiny coin rapidly flipping and reflecting light.

One side is called “heads” and the other called “tails.” The plural is used to describe each side because each time we see the same side it is different in time and space than it was before and we are not the same person from one minute to the next.

The side we see is the now. The side we don’t see is what is before and after the now.

As God is rapidly turning, the visible side is just reflections of light. However, the mind slows down the turning and creates detailed images from the light. The images and the stories we tell about them are illusions.

The heads and tails seem a duality. However, the duality is also an illusion. All there is are two sides “turning into one,” the universe in the form of a coin.

Rarely noticed is the edge of the coin, the “third side.” The third side interconnects the two seemingly independent sides that are actually interdependent as one cannot exist without the other.

Horizontally from edge to edge is an invisible central axis, or path, around which the coin dances in perfect harmony. The path is the “Tao.”

The Tao is ultimate reality,* the underlying principle or source from which all things arise and to which they return. The Tao is the natural flow and harmony of the universe.

When we simply appreciate the coin fluttering like a butterfly, we are in tune with the Tao. We are not distracted by images and related stories we’ve created. We are in a state of peaceful harmony.

Most of us are oblivious of the Tao, as our attention is on what was now, what is now and what will be now, the visible side of the coin.

We see what is now in the context of what was and we hope to get lucky; that the next visible side, the next now, will bring us happiness.

“Hap” means luck. It is the root of happiness.

We pray to God to bring us luck.

Yet, when we experience the simple beauty of the Tao, we realize eternal peace rather than temporary happiness.

*While a coin flipping in the air seems a simple process, it’s actually extremely complicated to explain in terms of physics. It involves classical mechanics, rotational dynamics, angular momentum and precession, fluid dynamics, chaos theory and quantum mechanics. In perspective, the theory of relativity is considered easier to come to know than coin flip dynamics.

Koan 129

To the curious mind, awareness of its ignorance is bliss.

Koan 128

Life is a test to which we are given the answer before taking the test. But before the test we have a choice: we can remember the answer or take the test seriously.

Koan 123

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus

Koan 122

You are in harmony with the world when you know who you are.

You are harmony when you know what you are.

Koan 23

“Enlightenment is like everyday consciousness, but two inches above the ground.” — D.T. Suzuki

Enlightenment is proverbially described as “being one with everything.” It is a state associated with the dissolution of the illusory self, transcending duality and realizing our oneness with the Everything.

Consciousness is consciousness. The consciousness of enlightenment is not different from the self’s consciousness in the now.

Describing enlightenment as being two inches above the ground seems the antithesis of enlightenment, as it implies separation/duality. No! Two inches above the ground implies enlightenment is transcendental, beyond our conventional understanding of the material world with forces like gravity.

The “ground” represents the now. When we are on the ground, we are in the now. Through the consciousness of the self, we experience the now as a duality: the self and all that is not the self.

The consciousness of enlightenment is experiencing the now two inches above the ground. When we distance ourselves from the now, we can observe the now and thereby come to know the now. We come to know we create the now, we are the now and not a part of the now.

This realization can happen through meditation. The now is breathing. We observe the now when we are in the space between exhale and inhale. In this space, we realize we are the consciousness that creates the now and in so doing we become the now.

Koan 7

What do we see everywhere but rarely notice?

Light.

Things we see are not things, just light reflecting off things.

What we don’t see, the essence of all things, is also light. All things are energy slowed by the speed of light squared. (Energy is mass times the speed of light squared (E = MC²). Reformulated, mass is energy divided by the spend of light squared (M = E/C²).)

All things, outside and inside, are light.

Perceiving things otherwise, as solid or distinct from other things, is an illusion.

As all things are light, all things are enlightening.

When you see things as things are, what are you?

Koan 137

At the moment our senses awaken us, the mind puts us to sleep.

Koan 111

What separates people is not space but time.

Kotodama 69

As everyone who is not me is U and I am U to everyone else, all beings are Us.

Koan 100

When we categorize others, we don’t know what they or we are.

Koan 116

To the eyes, every thing is unique because the eyes have no memory.

Koan 99

When you love everyone, it feels like everyone loves you.

Koan 98

Certainty makes us comfortable with reality because it’s not reality.

Koan 42

As enlightenment is so simple and obvious, it’s funny (as in odd) that some people don’t get it.

It’s actually funny when someone tries to explain it; like pointing their finger at the sun, yet the listener keeps looking at their finger.

Koan 113

Awakened, we don’t recognize any thing we see. Enlightened, there are no things, just light.

Koan 112

To the eyes, every thing is beautiful. To the mind, few things are beautiful.

Koan 114

Awakening is the realization that our memories are just dreams.

Koan 96

We move forward by walking backward, experiencing things only after they’ve passed.

Koan 95

Our eyes see things horizontally, but our mind sees things vertically.

Kotodama 2

When past is passed, it’s absent in the present.

Koan 94

As the hand cannot grasp itself, how can the mind grasp itself?

Kotodama 38

I + dolls = Idols

Kotodama 65

“I”, “Is”, and “Time” are the most frequently used pronoun, verb and noun.

While these words are never together in a sentence, “I is time”, they reveal the ultimate truth of existence.

“Is”, unlike “am”, suggests an identity relating to universal reality beyond the personal self.

“I is time” implies I is not static; not this or that thing, emotion or characteristic.

“I is time” is transcendental. I is a flow of events. I is infinite, continuous and eternal.

The acronym “I-IT” (I Is Time) also illuminates.

“IT” is the most unspecific description. “IT” is what “IT” is whatever “IT” is.

As the “IT” can refer to anything, the “IT” is essentially every thing.

“I-IT” implies oneness: “I am every thing”

I is time, a flow of events; not a thing, just the Everything; being, not a being.

Way Of Way 444

Love is love like water is water.

It’s all the same but its source different.

There is love from the self and love from the soul

The self expresses many emotions, including love.

The soul only expresses itself only with love.

Love from the self is temporary, as the self also needs to express other emotions.

Love from the soul is unending.

Love from the self is love of specific things.

Love from the soul is love of the Everything.

Love from the self is conditional.

Love from the soul is unconditional.

Love from the self is demonstrative.

Love from the soul is ethereal.

Love from the self is as finite as the self.

Love from the soul connects us as one to the eternal now.

Love from the self is empathy.

Love from the soul is compassion.

Koan 89

Once you know what you are is not your self, what else do you need to know?

Way Of Way 441

Knowing who you are, you can make the best of your roles in life.

Knowing what you are is the best role.

Koan 87

“Where does a thought go when it’s forgotten?” — Sigmund Freud

Kotodama 64

As every thing we see is but a reflection of light, take things lightly.

Kotodama 22

“The Great Way” begins with “no know” and ends with “know no.”

“The Great Way” (or Tao), a central concept in Taoism, is the natural flow of the universe and the path to harmony. It is the path to liberation from our temporary individual self (which exists only in the now) to realizing our eternal oneness with the Everything.

The Everything is the soul and its manifestation in the now.

The soul is what every thing is before and after it is what it is whatever it is in the now. The soul is “no-thing,” just energy.

The now is an infinite number of seemingly separate things. However, their separateness is an illusion, as all things are interdependent. Ultimately, all things in the now are one thing: the manifestation (expression) of the soul.

The self is who we are in the now.

The self conceives the now as a duality: the self and that which is not the self. Upon this foundational duality, we perceive separateness between all things in the now.

The self’s perception of separateness is based on illusions (memories, stories and identities) that define who we are, not what we are (the Everything).

The path to liberation begins when we realize we “no know.” That is, our self does not know what we are. We then dispense with our heretofore perception of reality based on the self and its illusions.

Dispensing with the illusion of separateness, we come to “know no;” to know the “no-thing” (the soul).

Knowing the soul, we experience the expression of the soul, the now, as an interconnectedness of all things.

From the soul to the soul’s expression and the reverting to the soul is the natural flow of the universe. Realizing that this is what we are, the Everything, we are in harmony with the flow of the universe.

Meditation is a central practice of “The Great Way.” Through meditation, we can let go of the self which in turn liberates us from the self.

Holding the self makes the hand a fist, an aggressive gesture suggestive of duality. Letting go the self, the hand opens like a handshake that allows us to connect with all things (facets of the now). The connection is love.

In meditation, we focus on breathing and the space between breaths. The breaths are the now and the space between breaths is the “no-thing” (the soul).

In the space of the “no-thing,” we can observe the now and come to realize the now is one thing (the expression of the soul) and we are the consciousness that creates it. We are the Everything.

With the wisdom of knowing we are the Everything, we realize our self’s sense of separateness and the self itself are illusions. This wisdom leads us to love all facets of the now.

The sounds of “no know” and “know no” are the same, but their meanings distinct. The same energy vibrations (sound) from the soul is manifested differently as words in the now.

Liberation is reverting from words to their sounds; from distinct to harmonious. The path back is the Tao. The Tao reveals that “no know” and “know no” are one; that we and the energy are one.

Koan 90

“The most dangerous thing of all is habit.” — Kotzker Rebbe

Koan 85

Can you be enlightened if you are not enlightening?

Kotodama 63

Affects are the means and effects are the ends, but effects affect affects.

Koan 84

“More important than writing is erasing.” — Kotzker Rebbe

Koan 83

Eureka! All There Is Is Is.

Eureka means “I have found it.” Yet, there is nothing to be found as all there is is being and becoming; the Everything that is eternal and everchanging.

Acronym: EATIII (pronounced as “80”)

“8” is the symbol of infinity (∞) drawn vertically, reflecting the human form. Graphically, it has no beginning nor end; an endless knot constantly twisting and turning in different directions.

“8” is human consciousness; infinite in time and everchanging as it is manifesting in the now.

“0” is a hole with two separate sides, inside and outside. However, their separateness is an illusion as they are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other. Together they are a whole, not a hole.

“0” is our experience of the now: an illusion of separate things that are actually one thing.

“80” is one thing that is not a static thing; just eternal consciousness that is everchanging as it creates the now.

Way Of Way 435

“In the beginning…God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” — Genesis 1:1-3

Every thing subsequently is a derivative or an illusion.

Kotodama 44

It Is What It Is Whatever It Is

Acronym: II-WII-WII (pronounced: I why why)

Why do I exist? Why is the universe as it is?

It Is What It Is Whatever It Is.

There is no why. All there is is is.

Kotodama 61

Each sense connects us to a facet of reality. Thoughts are a senseless connection.

Lester Wunderman

Lester Wunderman was a successful advertising executive, renowned as the father of direct marketing which he created in the late 1950s. Lester was also an avid collector of Dogon African art, having amassed a “world class” collection which now resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Musee Du Quai Branly in Paris.

I knew Lester as an investor in my hedge fund in the late 1980s. However, as we both had an interest in tribal art, we spoke more about art than investing.

Lester started collecting Dogon art from Mali in a chance view of a figurative object at a gallery in LA. He didn’t quite know why this artwork stirred a passion, but “it spoke to me.” After much time and money spent on amassing his collection, Lester visited the Dogon people who lived at desert’s edge and for whom sourcing water was often a preoccupation. Warmly received and aware of the water issues facing the Dogon, upon his return to NY, Lester contracted geologists and engineers to drill several drinking water wells for the Dogon. He later returned to visit the Dogon and was initiated as a shaman, with a animist festival highlighted by singing and dancing at a village where he had connected the Dogon to a water source.

The singing and dancing resonated within him. It was then he realized the artworks in his collection were essentially empty; for what he was seeking was not artworks, but the singing and dancing connecting him and all in the community as one. Soon after, Lester distributed his collection to museums for those less fortunate than himself to experience the life of the Dogon vicariously.

Kotodama 41

The now is always the same and all ways different.

Koan 118

Time is like water, drink it or it evaporates.

Koan 79

Before and after the now, there is no time.

The now comes and goes in an instant, yet the now is eternal.

Where is time?

Koan 119

The light we see disappears in an instant. The light itself is forever.

Koan 76

When you know what you are, you always appreciate who you are.

Koan 186

Everything is in the now. Yet, when you miss something in the now, something is missing: you.

Koan 38

You are what you are forever. Who you are is subject to change.

Koan 94

What is your Way:

Earth, fire, air or water?

Earth is physical.

Fire is emotional.

Air is conceptual.

Water is practical.

Rock, paper, or scissors?

Rock is nature.

Paper is civilization

Scissors is technology.

Red, yellow or blue?

Red is emotional.

Yellow is intuitive..

Blue is conceptual.

Knife, fork or spoon?

Kotodama 77

Heaven is “have-even,” where every thing is even, as every thing is one thing in the space before and after the now.

Koan 120

The soul and the self are complimentary. The soul emits energy. The self absorbs energy. What then happens with the energy?

Merton Simpson

Merton Simpson was a black man born in 1928 in racially segregated South Carolina. Merton was a musician, painter and, after settling in New York, a world-renowned tribal art dealer.

As a collector of tribal art, I met Merton in 1991 and over the years purchased a few objects he had on offer. More significantly, we became friends; that is, we were completely open in our talks; taking vicarious joy in each other’s tales and perspectives, without judgement.

I did much of the talking as Merton was not a man of many words or paragraphs. Yet, Merton conveyed his feelings by laughing which is what he did much of our time together.

Merton loved the physical experience of being alive. He loved looking at art, listening to music, eating and fucking. I could appreciate that.

While in his day Merton was considered a top tribal art dealer, in his later years there was much talk about some of the objects he had on offer being of dubious authenticity. (Authenticity is the foundation of the collectible art market, without which art prices could not rise to as high as the sky. For if art was simply a visual experience, high quality “fakes” would be as valuable as authentic artworks.)

Some in the field of tribal art collecting suggested that Merton’s “fakes” were not offered with malintent, but perhaps Merton with age lost his critical “eye” for identifying artworks that were “real” or “fake.” However, I suspect Merton evolved beyond these artificial categorizations. Merton came to simply enjoy and appreciate art things, as well as things generally, as there were, not as a function of how they were categorized or relative to other objects. He saw things not as this, that or another, but as is.

In one of our many get-togethers, we looked at an African Nkisi figure, commonly called a “nail fetish,” to consider whether it was “real” or a “fake.” After some minutes, I asked Merton what he thought, to which he responded: “It is what it is.”

That’s as God self-identified to Moses: “I am what I am.” Simply, Merton delighted at the light from the “Burning Bush.”

Koan 75

The self that thinks it knows, only knows illusions.

Koan 74

“Speech and silence are one and the same.” — Fuketsu Ensho

Haiku 85

$38 can of paint

brushed on a canvass: priceless

spilled on the floor: worthless.

Way Of Way 420

The winners in the game of life receive grand prizes.

But, every participant gets a consolation prize: the transition to heaven.

The winners who rejoice with their grand prizes often forget to pick up the consolation prize.

Way of Way 418

In the play of life, we are both the actors and the audience.

Wonderful entertainment for all but those who forget they are also the audience.

Way Of Way 438

“He who doesn’t see God everywhere isn’t capable of seeing God anywhere.” — Kotzker Rebbe

Way of Way 385

Desiring what we don’t have distracts us from appreciating what we have.

Koan 63

“Whoever gets angry, it is as if he worshipped idols” — Zohar 1:27b

Getting angry at some one or thing presumes it has an independent existence, like an idol. That denies the existence of God which is the interconnected oneness of every thing.

Koan 71

Love your self to escape from your self.

Koan 62

The devil is in the details.

Without details, all things are one thing: God.

Kotodama 54

I am being, not a being.

Kotodama 66

The eyes see the sea, what’s there.

The ears hear what’s here.

The nose knows.

Kotodama 53

When every day is holy, every day is a holiday.

Kotodama 52

Those who can explain “what it?” have wit.

Those who know “what is?” are wise.

WoW, 429

Talking about others, we are talking about our self; for the self creates the others.

Koan 30

We see “its” everywhere and rarely notice “is”, though all there is is is.

There are two types of vision, foveal and peripheral.

Foveal vision is when our eyes focus and we mentally create static images of seemingly independent things (“its”). However, the “its” are illusions as all things are interdependent.

Peripheral vision is unfocused, where all things are one undifferentiated thing. This is reality; an ambiguous and fluid thing that is beyond description, other than that it is what it is whatever it is.

We rarely notice reality, other than sensing relative changing motions within it. For example, when we are in a car and someone in a car next to us turns to look at us; we notice this change in motion and look back at them.

While 99% of our visual field is peripheral vision, we think the world is what we see via foveal vision.

Koan 59

The mind easily convinces us of the illusion that we can square a circle.

It’s impossible to construct a square with the same area as a given circle.

The space inside a circle is the product of multiplying the squared radius of the circle and π (pi)

π is a transcendental number; an infinite, non-repeating decimal expansion. That means the knowable space inside a circle is imprecise.

The space inside a square is precise.

As an imprecise space cannot precisely fill a precise space, a circle cannot be squared.

Transcendental numbers arise naturally in exponential growth and decay processes. They are used extensively in calculus, probability, and mathematical analysis.

Transcendental is also the nature of the universe; infinite expansion and everchanging.

The mind is a square and the universe is a circle.

The mind convinces us of the illusion that we know the universe. Yet, the universe is transcendental. It cannot be precisely known.

LSD Remembered

In college, I had three LSD psychedelic journeys of which I have distinct memories.

One was of my wanting to eat my brain. I felt that my mind and body were a duality. If I ate my brain, my mind and my body would be one.

The second was looking at a painting and seeing its colors dripping beyond its frame and onto the floor.

The third was when I was wallowing naked in mud in the backyard of my parents’ attached house in Brooklyn and saw myself holding onto Earth with dear life as it was spinning incredibly fast and I as afraid I would otherwise fall away from Earth and into endless space.

Looking back now, the first journey was the recognition of the duality between our animal consciousness (the body) and divine consciousness (the mind) and our purpose in life which is to integrate the two as a whole.

The second revealed that no thing is an independent thing, as it is our mind that creates the forms and shapes of things which are otherwise one interconnected and interdependent thing in the now.

The third journey suggested that if we let go our self-identity (Earth life), we will be one with the universe.

Koan 91

How were my parents and I born at the same time?

When I was born on Earth, my parents were born somewhere 25 light years from Earth.

Kotodama 40

Idol worshipers are idle.

God worshipers work at realizing divine consciousness.

Kotodama 51

God’s son is the sun.

God’s offspring is light.

Kotodama 29

Only hours are ours.

Our time in life is the only thing we have.

Koan 24

I am time.

Kotodama 50

When our tale defines us, the tail is wagging the dog.

WoW 427

As no one has ever complained about the night sky, the universe must be heaven and Earth must be hell.

Way Of Way 468

“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.” — James Mason

WoW 430

Soulful love is the joy of feeling how someone emanating love feels.

Selfish love is basking in the love showered upon us by others.

Way Of Way 469

Our soul loves the light of the sun.

Our self loves the warmth of the sun.

Kotodama 36

Accepting is the path of unity.

Excepting is the path of duality.

Wow 428

Ignorance is bliss.

Temporary bliss for those who think they know what they don’t,

eternal bliss for those who are curious.

Kotodama 43

We chase our tales like dogs chase their tails.

Kotodama 46

On Earth, we are we.

In the eternal and endless universe, we are wee.

Koan 33

An “enlightened master” with many students is a powerful illusion.

Kotodama 39

The holy is holey when some things are holy and some not.

Koan 115

Enlightenment is realization every thing is essentially light.

Koan 47

What is calmer, the sea or me?

Koan 44

When we can’t identify what we are seeing, we are experiencing reality.

Way of Way 384

We cannot choose our future, but we can choose how we remember the past which frames how we experience the future.

Kotodama 33

The inside of a circle: a hole.

The inside and outside: a whole.

Way Of Way 438

Enjoy your self, otherwise it might make you miserable.

Sexual Identity Idenifiers

With sexual pronouns abounding, it’s hard to keep up with new and changing sexual identity groups. Perhaps a better approach would be punctuation marks. Everyone could choose whether they were visibly a colon (:) or a semi-colon (;). The dot on top is the anus and the dot or comma at bottom is a vagina or a penis. This general identifier could be tailor-made with people choosing whether they were a top or a bottom by changing the size of their anus relative to the size of the dot or comma. Moreover, those who are dominant or submissive would put an apostrophe before or after their punctuation mark accordingly. Those who are into a weird public appearance would put a quote sign before their punctuation mark. Those who are weird in their secret lives would have the quote sign behind the punctuation mark. Those who are weird every which way and need lots of attention would have quotation sign front and back. And, finally, those who don’t know who they are would have the quotes but nothing between them.

Of course, other modifiers (exclamation points, asterisks ampersands and currency symbols, etc.) can create additional sexual identity groups. However, the number of groups and the descriptions/meanings of their identities could make things complicated. This complexity could be addressed by having everyone enroll in re-education camps which would in turn help swell the ranks of teachers whose union dues would allow increased spending by union bosses.

Clearly, many would benefit from the adoption of a punctuation-based sexual identity system; but for the average citizen who would ultimately pay its cost through higher grocery bills. Yet, costs could be reduced by fines on those who can’t wean themselves off addressing those implementing the system as “fucking assholes” or “fucking pricks.” If fines are not a sufficient deterrent for people so expressing themselves, prison time would be justified. That would create additional court/prison jobs and related benefits for the political class.

Way of Way 383

Those who hate the rich but want to be rich hate themselves.

Way Of Way 439

Love makes all things one thing.

Kotodama 31

I see the sea,

not the ocean which is greater than me.

Kotodama 25

All Ways lead to always.

All mystical paths lead to oneness with eternity.

Way Of Way 470

Empirical studies suggest eating “junk food” is a precursor for dementia. However, the relationship may be reverse-causation. That is, an early sign of latent dementia is eating “junk food”.

Kotodama 4

The grateful are great-full.

Kotodama 5

The definition of passion is:

emotion
an intense or overwhelming feeling
an outbreak of anger
a strong desire for some activity, object, or concept
sexual desire

The etymology of passion is suffering.

Way of Way 382

The rich think the poor are lazy and the poor think the rich were just lucky.

They are both right.

The key to success is luck. Those who work 40 hours/week get paid accordingly and receive 40 lottery tickets. Those who work 60 hours/week receive 200 lottery tickets. Those who work 75 hours/week receive 400 lottery tickets. As well, the rich are more conscientious in checking their tickets for winning numbers.