The self hears the sound and watches waves crash on the shore,
yet overlooks the soul, the silent ocean, the source of all before.
Koan 299
The real reason we die is that the self’s consciousness is a finite construct–having a beginning and an end–carved from the soul’s infinite consciousness.
When we transcend the self’s consciousness, we are what we are: eternal being.
Koan 298
In the chaos of the now, the self seeks peace; yet, the consciousness of the self is the impediment to peace.
Individual consciousness creates many an edgy piece from what is otherwise eternally one continuous piece harmoniously at peace.
Way Of Way 278
Mysticism refers to the pursuit of communion, identity with, or conscious awareness of ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight. It’s often characterized as a profound spiritual experience that transcends ordinary understanding.
Mysticism is the foundation upon which most religions are based.
On this foundation, early adherents stand together; united by a shared spiritual experience.
As more people join a religion, structures are built upon its foundation to house them.
The structures have many stories, stories upon stories; each supporting the story above it.
The most desirable living spaces in these buildings are those with the best views; those on the highest stories, closest to the heavens.
In the high stories live religious leaders and their wealthy supporters.
As for the foundation, it’s deep underground; making mysticism hard to find.
All that’s visible are the stories: the doctrines, rituals, and traditions that sustain the religion.
This is the way religions transition from a mystical experience into a community sharing inherited stories.
At the end of days a fire erupts in the building, allowing only two ways to escape to eternal life: through the basement at the foundation with the aid of a mystic or jumping out of the stories.
Many will die in the fire, as they are afraid to jump out a high story; for they think they would surely die.
Those willing to abandon their comfortable stories above the foundation, descend to the foundation, and ask for guidance will find rescue in the hands of the mystics.
Koan 297
Why be upset at the idea of people enjoying themselves?
There have been instances where a Zen master, though married, privately engaged in sexual relationships with one or more students.
When these actions came to light, the community’s reactions were divided.
Some students felt betrayed and responded with anger, ultimately demanding the master’s resignation from the monastery.
Others laughed, viewing the scandal as the master’s final koan before retirement: “Why be upset at the idea of people enjoying themselves?”
Those who know, do not speak; for they are laughing. They can’t explain what’s funny, for a joke is not funny to those who need it explained.
What’s funny is that we are laughing at our selves.
Those who have preconceived ideas about what things mean are often blind to what’s real.
Way Of Way 289
Rich are those who appreciate all things.
Poor are those who can only appreciate things in comparison to other things.
Koan 296
The value of the past and future is not about what it can teach us or remind us to prepare for what might happen; but to view the present from various points past and future.
Psychedelic Journeys, Remembered
In college, I had three psychedelic journeys.
Now, in hindsight, I understand their revelations.
In the first journey, I wanted to eat my brain. I felt that my mind (the consciousness of the soul) and body (the self) were a duality. By eating my brain, my self and the consciousness of the soul would merge into oneness with everything.
In the second, I was looking at a painting and seeing its colors dripping beyond its frame and onto the floor. This was a revelation that all things are interconnected, like in peripheral vision; yet, our mind, through foveal vision, creates independent things.
In the third, I was wallowing naked in mud in the backyard of my parents’ attached house in Brooklyn. I was holding onto Earth for dear life as Earth was spinning incredibly fast and I was afraid I would otherwise fall away from Earth and into endless space. This suggested that if we let go our self-identity (as Earthlings), we will be one with the universe.
While these journeys might sound somewhat harrowing, I remember them as wonderful—psychedelic, soul-revealing. Each vision, in its own way, was a lesson in dissolving boundaries: between mind and body, between things, between self and cosmos. Perhaps, in the end, all journeys—psychedelic or otherwise—are invitations to remember our oneness with everything.
Koan 19
“Crow with no mouth”
— Ikkyu, 1394 – 1481
Can a crow with no mouth caw?
Does a crow with no mouth have a craw?
Is a crow with no mouth a crow?
Is a crow with no mouth simply a crow with no mouth?
Crows are exceptionally intelligent birds. They can solve complex problems, use tools, and even recognize human faces. They are also highly adaptable, learning to thrive in various environments. They are keen observers and can consider alternative strategies to realizing their goals.
Crows are symbolic of wisdom.
Those who are wise as a crow observe that birds have beaks but no mouths. A crow with no mouth is not unlike any other crow; only our thoughts make it otherwise.
Crows don’t need a mouth, for wisdom cannot be conveyed with words:
“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” (Lao Tzu)
Way Of Way 292
The intelligent excel at certain things, for they have the ability to see clearly through a microscope.
But they look foolish at most things, as they believe they can glimpse the future by looking at the dark sky with a microscope.
Koan 290
The within becomes the without but the within is never without.
What flows out and becomes the now (the without) is not what it is before the now (the within).
The now is infinite things.
Before the now is one thing.
The within is eternal and never without infinite possibilities.
Ultimate reality, the within, hides behind the now, the without.
Koan 287
As I see “it” as I do,
you see “it” as you do,
every one sees “it” otherwise;
is “it” the same thing?
We all see “it” likewise,
when we recognize “it” is the soul.
Way Of Way 288
“Unfortunately, most people don’t get it. They will, but they’ll have to die first before they understand that they don’t.”
— William Wisher
Koan 292
“It’s easier to choose between black and white than between shades of gray.”
— William Roth
Koan 291
The difference between the self and the soul is day and night.
The self understands day and night and the soul does not.
Way Of Way 285
“The exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler.”
— Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was identified as having “impostor syndrome”, having doubts about his significant accomplishments and talents and fear that others would ultimately realize he was a fraud, not the extraordinary genius they held him to be. Impostor syndrome is not a mental illness, rather a psychological behavior pattern. Other luminaries with impostor syndrome include Tom Hanks, Sheryl Sandberg, David Bowie and Serena Williams.
Einstein didn’t suffer from impostor syndrome.
In describing himself as a willing swindler, he realized that he was simply another physics researcher among thousands in the world; that he was now not the same person who long ago made the great discoveries associated with him.
This realization is the genius of an awakened one.
Way Of Way 284
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”
— Albert Einstein.
We navigate the now with knowledge.
Imagination takes us to the invisible place before and after the now, from where we can discover knowledge we can bring into the now.
Way Of Way 277
Awakening is the realization that every thing heretofore is a dream.
The dream is like a movie. All the characters and events seem real; yet, it’s just light projecting through film onto a screen.
Awakening is realizing we are the light and the movie is our creation.
When we’ve awakened and see those who take their movie seriously, our movie is a comedy.
Way Of Way 269
Life is a play.
Our purpose is to play.
Otherwise, we’re just acting; which is rarely fun.
Way Of Way 270
Upon awakening, no thing is like anything heretofore.
Arousing our curiosity, every thing is enlightening.
Filled with light, we emanate light; enlightening everything.
No thing remains, but infinite forms of light.
“Maybe They Don’t Mind”
Years back, on a frigid winter evening, my son, Max, 8, and I walked passed some homeless men setting up their cardboard sleeping surfaces under an overhang at the foot of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church on 5th Avenue and 55th Street in New York City.
Seeing them with few liberties for food and shelter, I commented: “When you grow up, if you’re not successful, this is a kind of prison where you might find yourself.”
Max replied: “Maybe they don’t mind.”
“Wow! Role reversal. The homeless are free and I’m a prisoner of a bourgeois mindset,” I said; followed by a good laugh that warmed the evening.
Way Of Way 278
Tangible things and thoughts reflect light, enlightening us.
The soul, emanating light, enlightens the universe.
Koan 283
In the now, where time exists, every thing is either dead or alive.
Before and after the now, a timeless space, things are both dead and alive; as everything is undifferentiated, possibilities.
My mother died some ten years ago, but I see her clearly as a teenager from a place 100 light years away from here.
As to where I am, here or at any of infinite there’s, I do not know.
So, who and what am I?
Way Of Way 268
When you love what you are, you can only be amused when someone doesn’t love you; though it might be that they love what you are, but their self doesn’t like your self.
Koan 271
The hole defines the whole.
Our mouth forms a circle to pronounce the word “hole”.
We are the darkness within the circle and the light-filled universe is the whole without.
From the hole come sounds for words describing the whole.
Way Of Way 263
Consciousness is the manifestation of the soul in the now; infinite realities.
The self creates its reality from the soul’s consciousness; like foveal vision painting a picture from peripheral vision.
Yet, each self’s reality is just a dot of paint in a painting of infinite dots.
When dots come together, many paintings emerge.
Merging the paintings into one is abstract expressionism; a painting that allows the self to transition into the soul seeing itself.
Haiku 97
What you hold dear holds you dearly.
Let it go and you can go.
With no thing holding you, nothing holds you.
Way Of Way 261
Who I am is many things, to others and myself; each conditional and temporary.
What I am is beyond description; unconditional, timeless.
Koan 279
The seemingly everchanging now never changes, as the universe is timeless.
What changes is what we see through the light spectrum pinhole of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The electromagnetic spectrum moves through space, not time.
The seemingly everchanging now is just what becomes visible in the light spectrum and hidden in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
What we see changes, but not what is.
Koan 275
When the familiar is unfamiliar, have you awakened or lost your mind?
The etymology of the word “mind” is memory.
Awakening is escaping from the mind’s dark prison. Every thing is then unlike anything you remember, reflecting its unique light.
Beyond awakening is enlightenment, when every thing is the Everything: oneness with the light.
When you are confused or anxious by what would otherwise be familiar, you’ve lost your mind.
Koan 277
Why does every one, including me, describes me differently?
Who I am is many things.
What I am is one thing: no thing.
My Grandson Recognizes I Am God
At a recent family birthday party with twenty or so people, I asked my 10 year old grandson, Penn: “What I am?”
“You’re grandfather,” Penn said.
“Grandfather is who I am to you. But, what am I?” I replied.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“I am God,” I said. “Anyone who doesn’t recognize I am God doesn’t recognize they too are God.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Penn said. “No one thinks you’re God. If you are God, you could help me do anything which you can’t.”
“Those who see my essence, recognize I’m God,” I replied. “If I take off my clothes right here right now, many here will say: “Oh my God.”
We then both burst out laughing.
“We’re both God,” I said. “As God, we can help people who don’t take their self too seriously; otherwise, we can’t do much but laugh.”
Kotodama 91
The Ultimate Self (US) is the eternal flow from before, to and after the now.
While invisible before and after, in the now the timeless Ultimate Self is manifested as the temporary Individual Self (IS).
In the now, US IS.
Way Of Way 258
The universe is composed of stuff (tangible things like stars, planets, asteroids, dust and gas) and the space between stuff.
The everchanging stuff is the now.
Before and after the now is the timeless space between the stuff.
Approximately 99.9999999999999% of the universe is space.
Meditation takes us from the now and into space.
Way Of Way 162
Unconditional love can only be love of the whole universe, as loving some parts or people and not others is conditional love.
Way Of Way 254
Enlightenment is not being one with everything or being in the now; but being oneness and timeless before, in and after the now (whatever that means).
Haiku 10
Waves of sound and light come down.
So many waves, we can easily drown.
Oceans of memories is what we hear and see.
All just stories, even me.
Koan 273
Light reveals all things, but the absence of light reveals their presence.
We see not things, just light bouncing off things.
Shadows, the absence of light, confirm their presence.
Way Of Way 255
Consciousness is what I create when Eye focus and separate things from the oneness of the peripheral.
Koan 272
Life is a circle, like an ouroboros (a snake eating its own tale).
It’s continuous, with no beginning, no end.
The circle is a whole, but seem like a hole with parts within and without.
The within and without are the same, unless the within feels it’s without.
Way Of Way 252
Welcome the moments when the self is upset,
for they call for our soul identity.
The soul does nothing but laugh at the self.
Way Of Way 251
It’s a fool’s errand to try to know the universe by focusing on the infinite things it contains.
Instead, focus on the space between your self and the things.
When you no longer see the space, the self disappears and you are the universe.
Way Of Way 229
The soul is the invisible key that unlocks invisible doors.
A lost key is a lost soul; imprisoned by the invisible self.
Koan 57
“What was your original face before your parents were born?”
— Hui-neng (638-713 CE), the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism in China (predecessor of Zen Buddhism)
My original face before my parents were born was my original face before my parents were born; it was what it was whatever it was. Thinking of it otherwise is an illusion.
The question declares the answer: What was my original face before my parents were born.
Before some thing is a this, that or who, it is unrecognizable and beyond description; a what as in “What is it? What is it.”
“What” implies a pre-conceptional reality.
The “what” is the soul; what every thing is before and after it is in the now.
A Zen master might respond: “Mu.”
“Mu” means “no” or “nothing” in Japanese, a common response to koans. “Mu” is a kind of emptiness; not a void, but devoid; like an empty room with the potential to be filled. “Mu” isn’t “no”, it’s challenging the framework of the question.
My original face before my parents were born was nothing but infinite potential: the soul.
My original face before my parents were born is my true nature: the indescribable peace from oneness with the unmanifested soul.
Kotodama 96
When you recognize the soul,
two are too and two is one:
“an other” becomes “another”
“every thing” becomes “everything”
“in sight” becomes “insight”
“every where” becomes “everywhere”
“all ways” become “always”
“no thing” becomes “nothing”.
Haiku 74
The soul is the ocean.
The ocean expresses itself as waves riding the electromagnetic spectrum,
visible only when passing through as light.
The ever-changing waves are the face of the eternal ocean.
Seeing distinct faces in the waves, we’re oblivious of the ocean
until the faces return to the ocean, which is what we are.
Way Of Way 249
The mystical experience is when your reference point shifts from self consciousness to soul consciousness.
Self consciousness is perceiving the universe through your individual experience.
Soul consciousness is experiencing the universe as the observer and the observed.
What you observe is that all that your self had previously thought was just thoughts. Things are not as you had always imagined them to be.
As you see colors dropping from a painting, over the frame, onto the wall and floor; you realize everything is interconnected. Nothing is as discrete as seems.
What you see is what you are.
I am eye.
You love every thing as it is not a thing but a temporary manifestation of the universe; a flowing expression of the soul.
We are love.
We are the soul.
Koan 266
How can you drink water gushing out of a fire hydrant without measuring cups of time and space?
Way Of Way 26
The self loves some things and not others.
The soul loves only one thing: the universe.
The universe is “all things turned into one”.
The soul loves all things as they are (whatever they are in the now), as all things are otherwise the universe.
I’ve often met strangers and declared that I love them no less than I love my children. That’s because I love all things.
One such stranger responded: “Well, if you love everyone, you love no one.” That is the perspective of the self.
Koan 265
The way to heaven is open to everyone, but those who think it is only open to those in their religion but not another.
They are going in the opposite direction.
Kolodama 94
Every thing, a finite “I” to itself.
The universe is infinite I’s.
Letting go the possessive, the “I’s” are “is”; not things, just a flow.
Koan 264
An empty jar for holding change is broke, but not broken.
If full, it would be broken; useless.
Koan 261
Zen master, speaking to class, pointed to a star:
“If you know this one, enlightened you are.”
Way Of Way 248
Those who are present don’t agonize over what’s lost or get emotional about what’s next.
Unless we are celebrating the present, we are not present.
Way Of Way 241
The universe is a flow that consciousness divides with time, space, and words.
A moment in time is a photo of the flow in our mind.
Foveal vision creates things from undifferentiable peripheral vision.
Words are allusions creating illusions from nothing.
Koan 135
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
— John 1:1, The Gospel of John.
Unlike seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching which absorb energy, the spoken word is like the Big Bang; a burst of energy from within to without.
Words are a medium to define and encapsulate infinite everchanging things from a universe that is an eternal flow.
Words transform God into man and man into God.
As a mantra, meditating on a word (its sound, meaning, etymology and uses), we realize its allusions are illusions as we melt into the eternal flow of the universe.
Way Of Way 219
Mysticism is the experience of gazing at the dark sky until we merge with it (whatever it is).
Mystics use koans, kotodama and poetry as stars; points to bring the dark sky to our attention.
Way Of Way 48
In the now, everyone is an Individual Self and the Ultimate Self.
True to its acronym (“IS”), the Individual Self is being, as being is the now.
The Individual Self has many emotions.
Each emotion is a separate self.
Emotions make the Individual Self multi-selves.
Unlike an Individual Self, the Ultimate Self is invisible and indivisible.
The Ultimate Self is the sole-self, the soul.
The soul is what every thing is before and after the now.
The now is the manifestation of the soul.
True to its acronym, the Ultimate Self is “US”; the unity of every thing in the now and the soul.
As US, the soul has only one emotion: love.
Love connects the Everything as one.
In the now, we are often oblivious of the invisible soul, as the emotions of the multi-selves continually captivate our attention.
To realize the Ultimate Self, we need to separate from and observe the now.
This happens when we are in the space before and after the now, where only the Ultimate Self resides.
To escape from the emotional clutches of the multi-selves that imprison us in the now, we need to calm the multi-selves.
When calm, the multi-selves disappear as they integrate and all that remains is the Individual Self.
The mind is the Individual Self’s interface with the universe.
In the now, the mind is like a pond muddied by the frantic motion of emotion of the multi-selves.
When calm, the multi-selves settle to the bottom of the pond and the mind clears.
A clear mind allows us to see the now as reflections on the surface of the pond.
We then realize we are the eternal Ultimate Self.
Meditation is a practice that allows us to calm the mind.
In meditation, breathing is the now and the space between exhaling and inhaling is what’s before and after the now: the Ultimate Self.
Koan 259
How can you know “heads” from “tails” when a coin has infinite sides depending on who is viewing it, which way, and when?
When you know what you are, you know that you can’t know.
Simple things like heads or tails, black or white, are complex.
Complexity melts away rigidity to reveal fluidity.
What seems independent is interdependent as we are one eternal everchanging is.
Koan 257
In business, you’re paid for losing money.
You suffer through periods of losing money, and get paid when luck arrives and money is made.
Koan 260
How do we find God, as God has no name or address?
Taoism, Mystical Christianity, Sufism, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism identify God as the “Nameless One”.
God is nameless, as having a name would mean God is one thing and not another, implying duality.
God, the antithesis of duality, is the whole universe.
We see the manifestation of God everywhere in the everchanging and eternal now. We are this manifestation.
Yet, as God resides in the timeless space before and after the now, it’s difficult for us in the now to find and commune with God.
It is easy to find God when we look in a mirror and realize we are God.
Koan 256
“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.”
— Meister Eckhart
As there is only one eye, there is only one I.
Koan 255
Though I am here now as an adult and my parents are children somewhere many light years from here, why do my parents always see me as a child?
Way Of Way 247
Everyone is going to heaven.
When the pure light beckons us to heaven, we alight Earth and join it.
As we become one with the pure light, our self disappears.
Then we are in heaven.
Heaven has an infinite number of gates.
Statues of Jesus, Moses, Mohammad, Buddha, Lao Tzu and others greet us at the gates.
At each gate are barkers distributing various religious books.
The books are free, but freedom is the price of admission.
Once we enter one of heaven’s gates, we will spend eternity there.
While the heaven behind each gate sounds attractive, we need to choose between them.
To choose wisely, look for the souls living lightly on Earth as if they are already in heaven.
Koan 190
Electronically we immediately connect with people thousands of miles away. Yet, people in front of our nose can be light years away.
Koan 250
As every thing in the universe has a unique and everchanging identity, is the universe an infinite number of unique things or just an undifferentiable flow?
Way Of Way 236
Religions are communities living in tall edifices pointing to the sky.
Mysticism is the foundation and the space within and without the edifice, the unseen and the indescribable scene framing the seen.
Way Of Way 246
The self is who we are in life, not what we are eternally.
As all we know is our life, we identity with the self and its various emotions.
Yet the self separates us from what we and every thing in the universe is: manifestations of the soul.
Enlightenment is self-realization: realizing the self is an illusion.
Enlightenment frees us to see the universe as it is, not as our self sees it.
Upon enlightenment, every thing is enlightening as all things are expressions of undifferentiated pure light (the initial manifestation of the soul).
As what you see is what you are, the enlightened are the pure light.
The pure light makes the enlightened lighthearted. They find funny those who are slaves to the self.
Their pure light also allows they to enlighten others.
They enlighten with words but not sentences; as words emanate light while sentences reflect light and cast shadows.*
*For example, the Zen student asks his teacher: “Does a rock have consciousness?” The teacher responds: “Mu”, a word meaning “nothing”. As a rock is constantly changing (though imperceptibly so) and is nothing before and after whatever it is in the now, it doesn’t have an enduring reality that can be described (as conscious or otherwise). It is a manifestation of nothing.
Alternatively, the teacher responds: “Who asks?” That is, a rock and consciousness are understandable when you know what you are.
Or, famously: “Five pounds of flax.” Rocks and pounds of flax, however seemingly unrelated, are temporary manifestations of one thing: the soul. Focusing on philosophical concepts like the consciousness of a rock strays us from coming to know the soul by observing the now.
Otherwise, communicating in sentences, many sentences gives agency or reality to a thing (rock) that is everchanging and a concept (consciousness) that is debatable in light of its context.
Way Of Way 245
Words are stars illuminating the darkness.
Sentences are constellations, reflecting light and casting shadows.
Way Of Way 244
No thing in the universe is perfect, but the universe is perfect.
No thing is perfect and nothing is perfect.
Haiku 96
Life is a balance sheet of left and right.
the left is day and the right is night,
where what is real is out of sight,
not what is but what just might.
Way Of Way 242
The universe is made of an infinite number of interdependent things.
Yet, things seem independent when we see our self as independent of the universe.
Kotodama 42
U are who U are, a self in various roles in the play of life.
The self is an experience of roles, circumstances and various emotional reactions.
As the self inevitably dies, the play is a tragedy.
The play of life unfolds in the now.
As the now is ever-changing, you are nothing (O) in the now but memories.
U are what U are, the soul in the audience.
As the play is the manifestation of the soul, the soul’s sole emotion is love.
Yet, as the soul is forever laughing at the self taking its memories seriously, the play is a comedy.
U are double U (W), self and soul and nothing (O).
Knowing who and what U are, the play of life is WOW.
Koan 249
As a self has many faces expressing various emotions, can you love the self without loving all its faces?
Way Of Way 238
“What if the solution to every problem is just to chill the fuck out?”
— Maddy Albright
Our emotional reactions often obscure solutions to problems.
Problems, identified by the words “oh fuck”, cause emotional distress, a rise in our body temperature and inflammation.
Rising temperature further exacerbates emotional distress.
Stepping back from a problem lowers our body temperature and reduces inflammation.
That’s chilling the fuck out.
Haiku 94
Divine are the waves.
God is the ocean.
Divine are sunset and sunrise.
God is the sun.
The everchanging is divine.
The essence is God.
When we see the divine in every thing, we are divine.
When we see God in every thing, we are God.
Koan 247
As talking to a spiritual guru is like reading a book; when you are reading a book, how does the book read you?
Koan 246
When you know that you know no thing, you can know ultimate knowledge: knowing nothing.
Nothing is where all things come from, and eventually go to.
Haiku 94
Words are stars, pure light,
allowing us to see at night.
Sentences are constellations,
only real in our imaginations.
Koan 244
Why is the truth upsetting to those who take their selves seriously, yet funny to those who don’t?
Haiku 93
The soul is the ocean.
We are its waves.
While we are often oblivious of the ever-present ocean,
the ocean loves its waves.
Kotodama 88
The void is devoid.
Not nothing, just no thing; the absence of things we can experience.
Way Of Way 232
We are born as a flash of light in a dark theater.
Soon enough, the light transitions into a movie among many movies playing simultaneously.
Family, friends and others beckon us to play roles in their movies as we invite them to play roles in our movie.
We assume many different roles as actors in various movies.
The roles and our emotional reactions to circumstances define our experience in life.
It all seems very real.
Yet, when the theater lights break the darkness, we realize our lives were just a two-dimensional illusion, a movie.
Knowing we are just watching a movie, we can enjoy it as it is, suffer little regardless of our roles and circumstances and realize we are still alive after the movie is over.
Haiku 92
Under the sun,
an infinite number of temporary things.
In the night sky,
one infinite eternal thing.
Way Of Way 230
Through the self we see reflections of light from infinite things.
Without the self, there is only light, no things.
Way Of Way 231
When a somebody sees you as a nobody, they will show you who they are.
How that makes you feel shows you who you are.
Koan 48
Who laughs when the mirror doesn’t smile?
The soul laughs at those who don’t laugh at their selves.
Koan 241
No thing is inherently funny, but nothing is funny.
The self’s reactions to illusions it creates from nothing are funny.
Kotodama 16
Each language has different sounds (words) that identify the same thing.
However, there are certain sounds that carry the same meaning across many unrelated languages.
This is called sound symbolism, or phono-semantics.
These sounds evoke a visceral reaction, rooted in collective consciousness.
For example, the sound made upon coming to an obvious realization (“ah”) and the sound of laughing (“ha”) at ourselves for not realizing it earlier.
Interestingly, ah and ha are anadromes (words or phrases that spell different words or phrases backward). Simply looking at the same thing from opposite perspectives is the essence of wisdom.
Another example of sound symbolism is “wow”, a palindrome (a word read the same forwards or backwards). “Wow” is a sound we make when something captivates, astonishes, or delights us; an expression of love.
The sound of “wow” is made by puckering our lips as when making a kiss.
“Wow” reveals love is a palindrome; what we express is expressed back.
Sounds reflecting wisdom and love are as primordial as wisdom and love.
Haiku 91
On the night sky we draw lines with our imagination
creating a story in the form of a constellation
which tells time and guides our navigation.
Way Of Way 341
I often don’t remember what others claim I’ve said, but remember, in great detail, what others have said to me.
Maybe what goes inside my head is mine and what leaves my head is someone else’s.
Haiku 89
Some see themselves in everyone.
Others see others as different from themselves.
That’s what makes them different.
Way Of Way 223
The true beauty of beautiful things is that they are the gateway to the soul.
In the presence of beautiful things, we are energized, yet calm; present and open. The self is disarmed and we are free to unite with the soul, the essence of all things.
As the soul, we see beauty in every thing.
Ugly things make us recoil, creating a duality. We embrace the self, seeking it to protect us; distancing us from the soul.
Every thing we see with our eyes is beautiful.
Things seen by the mind are sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly.
Haiku 90
He who loves everyone is often seen as loving solely his self.
He loves the sole self, the soul.
Everyone is a manifestation of the soul.
Way Of Way 221
An overwhelming problem is like being trapped in a box. To escape, think outside the box.
The solution to problems comes not by searching for solutions but by simply moving forward.
Haiku 88
There are more stars above than grains of sand below.
I look so much larger than a star,
but am I smaller than a grain of sand?
Way Of Way 220
Ultimate reality is energy, as it moves in waves (radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, light waves, ultraviolet waves, x-rays, gamma rays, cosmic rays) along the electromagnetic spectrum.
We construct our reality from light waves.
Light inhabits 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The invisible spectrum seems void.
In the light, we see things entering from and exiting to the void; things being born and dying.
Yet nothing is truly born or dies; things simply transition, appearing and disappearing as they move along the spectrum.
Ultimate reality is a dance of energy; endlessly transitioning, yet eternal in essence.
Kotodama 87
Simple mantra:
I B I
I C U
Y R U
I R U
U B I
I am me.
I see you.
Why are you?
I am you.
You are me.
Way Of Way 211
Our memory is the repository of all we know.
Realizing our memory is a dream, an illusion; we realize we know nothing.
Then we can experience reality as never before, as there never was a before.
Way Of Way 210
Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, is often described as animistic and polytheistic.
Shinto has animistic qualities as it recognizes the spirit or god (“kami) in every natural force (e.g., growth and fertility), phenomena, animate and inanimate object, ancestor, and deity; reflecting a deep reverence for the interconnectedness of the seen and unseen universe.
It is polytheistic, as the number of kami is traditionally said to be 8 million.
As the number 8 in Japanese culture symbolizes infinity, the 8 million kami imply every thing is God and the universe is a manifestation of divine energy. This is the essence of pantheism.
Experiencing the entire universe, including ourselves, as a single manifestation of divine energy can feel overwhelming. Shinto practices and rituals are an accessible way to engage with the omnipresent divine.
Describing Shinto as pantheistic or polytheistic depends on perspective. From a distance, it is pantheistic, though in practice it is polytheistic. Ultimately, the perspective is of little matter; either way, Shinto is an expression of awe and gratitude.
Way Of Way 206
A wonderful life is not one full of wonderful memories, but when the most wonderful time is now.
Way Of Way 209
If one can speak their own mind and yet does not feel powerful, they will never be powerful.
Way Of Way 207
Religions provide their adherents a community life and communion with God.
Adherents drawn to community life appear authentic.
Those drawn to God are sincere.
The authentic focus on the material. They are the self.
The sincere seek the transcendental. They are the soul.
The authentic prize beauty which represents the divine.
The sincere prize the truth. In truth, every thing is beautiful.
Kotodama 85
The words “new” and “now” look similar, for they describe the same thing.
New is unlike anything in the past. That’s being in the now.
Way Of Way 20
The wise change their minds proactively as they consider perspectives in perspective.
The intelligent are quick to change their minds reactively in response to changing circumstances.
Koan 235
We experience reality only via our senses but we rarely do.
Way Of Way 204
If one has food, shelter, security and health and yet does not feel wealthy, they will never be wealthy.
Way Of Way 205
Wealth and power comes to those who are self-actualized.
Eternal being comes to those who are self-realized.
Eternal being has no need for wealth or power.
Eternal being has no needs.
Eternal being is the whole of being.
Way Of Way 77
All things are everchanging.
All things are different from different perspectives.
All things of which we are certain are illusions.
Koan 3
“A man of wisdom delights at water” — Confucius
Reflections from slowly stirring water in a pond are like an abstract painting. The images we identify are illusions we create.
Water is like the universe: one thing and yet many things.
Water manifests in different shapes (clouds, rivers, oceans) and forms (vapor, liquid, and ice).
Still water seems not to change, but is constantly transitioning through evaporation.
Water is interdependent, as a wave cannot be a wave without the sea.
Water is interconnected, from cloud to rain to river to sea.
As drops of water, we fear not rain over us. Water amassed as a flood reigns over us.
On water we can calmly float or panic and sink.
While essential to life, water also brings drowning and death.
Sound travels four times faster and further in water than air, though we can’t hear underwater what someone next to us is saying.
Water is odorless and tasteless, yet present in everything that smells and tastes.
Though colorless in a glass, water has a bluish hue in large bodies like the ocean.
Water in oceans seems impassable, but it’s easy to traverse by boat.
Still water is dead-silent. Moving water is alive with noise.
In a pond, still water is clear and turbulent water opaque.
When seeing ourselves in a reflecting pond, we don’t notice the water.
Water is impossible to grasp, but easily captured in cupped hands.
Water is practical, finding the easiest way to flow.
Water is weak, flowing to places of least resistance; unlike fire which destroys all in its way. Yet, water easily extinguishes fire.
While not hard like stone, high-pressure water cuts stone like butter.
Unlike almost every substance, water expands when it freezes. Thus, a quart of ice floats because it weighs less than a quart of water.
Water symbolizes the cycle of life; born as drops of rain, living together in rivers and seas and disappearing as vapor to form clouds for its rebirth.
Water is what it is whatever it is, but how we see it is a reflection of who we are. A man of wisdom sees water variously. That’s the essence of wisdom.
Koan 232
How can we see an infinite number of individual things in the now, yet the now is indivisible?
Final Post
After it’s born, a human being will surely die unless it is loved.
At the end of our days, eternal being will elude us unless we love unconditionally.
Being loved enables us to survive in life. Loving enables us to survive eternally.
In the now, we are a self.
Before and after the now, we are the soul.
The now never changes, but all forms in the now are ever-changing.
Forms transition until no longer recognized as being what they once were; simply, they die.
When our individual form dies, we are solely the soul.
Unlike a self, the soul is eternal.
As we are the soul, we are eternal.
The now is the manifestation of the soul.
The soul loves the now, as the soul loves its manifestations.
When we love the now and all its forms, we are the soul. We are eternal being.
Wisdom delivers this realization and compassion delivers its actualization.
Koan 231
A man widely recognized as wise sees through the perspectives of others, yet doesn’t see himself as wise.
Haiku 86
The tangible things we see as whole
are just a surface surrounding a hole.
All there is comes from a hole,
the eye’s center, creating the whole.
Way Of Way 50
We experience life in reality and as illusions.
Reality is what it is whatever it is, beyond description.
Describing it precludes us from experiencing it.
Descriptions are allusions to illusions.
Haiku 85
An ice cube alone quickly melts and evaporates.
Many ice cubes together, slowly.
Way Of Way 8
The son of God is the sun.
“I” is the name of God’s son.
The sun is God’s eye.
God’s eye creates the everchanging, infinite and timeless universe.
Looking into God’s eye, we can only glimpse the blinding whole of creation.
Not to be overwhelmed, we see the whole through the hole of our eye.
Our world is created by our hole into the whole.
You here, long time?
More than 40 years back, I found myself in a NYC taxi. Though the driver didn’t greet me, he didn’t seem unfriendly.
As he was dressed in clothes from the Indian subcontinent, I assumed he had recently arrived in the States.
To know his story, I asked him in mock pidgin English: “You here, long time?”
He responded in the King’s English: “I have been here 10 years, but I don’t know if that is long or short.”
We laughed.
There is nothing to know.
Koan 228
Funny is the self that looks to be enlightened, as the more it looks the less it sees the light.
Way Of Way 25
In California, the animist gods of fire, water (floods/droughts), earth (mudslides/earthquakes) and air (inflation) are screaming for people to leave. Yet, sentimental thinking (the self) keeps people from listening.
Way Of Way 23
Fiction is our memory of non-fiction.
Way Of Way 29
We are born of the soul as a self for a short journey in the play of life.
When we are scripted out of the play, we are no longer a self but remain the soul.
The play is a divine comedy for those who remember the way of the ever-present and eternal soul.
The play is a tragedy for those selves who don’t know the way. They are the lost souls.
Way Of Way 30
Political decadence is when decisions are not based on right or wrong by right or left.
Koan 214
Everything happens all at once but in different places.
What I did 10 years ago is happening in the now somewhere 10 light years from here.
Kotodama 34
The mystical experience is seeing every thing shrouded in mist and realizing we are the light beyond the mist.
Haiku 4
Every thing unique, every thing everchanging.
Can’t know every thing, but can know nothing.
The essence of the Everything.
Way Of Way 31
When we know the world solely by what we see and hear, we’re out of touch and can’t tell whether something doesn’t smell right.
Haiku 18
Some things high, some things low.
We live in a vertical world.
In sleep and at death, all is horizontal.
The universe knows no such measures.
Haiku 23
Stars seem motionless, with no sense of time.
Randomly dispersed, without rhythm or rhyme.
Constellations tell time far and near.
Hour of night, month of year.
Way Of Way 58
Nouns are photos. Verbs are movies.
Nouns are an it. Verbs are the is.
Nouns are created by our consciousness. Verbs are the experience of consciousness.
Koan 210
Why is accidentally seeing our spiritual guru sexually engaged with a fellow disciple in a meditation room funny, but not when the disciple is our spouse?
Koan 192
Being best is best, but good enough is better.
Koan 225
We can be certain we don’t know what we are looking at when we are certain we know what we are looking at.
Haiku 21
Once I have passed,
many will think of me as past.
Those who know of timeless love,
that which emanates from above,
will smile with joy and not shed a tear.
While my body is gone, I am forever here.
Way Of Way 19
A subscriber to our blog recently mentioned some of the posts repetitive.
This suggests a main point of the blog has been lost on them; for even if two posts are identical, they are not the same.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus
YHWH
God is everchanging and eternal flow; a way never away.
In the Hebrew Bible, YHWH is the name of God.
In Paleo-Hebrew, the written text only included consonants and the reader would supply the vowels during reading. This oral tradition was passed down through generations, but was eventually lost. Today, there is no consensus as to how to pronounce YHWH.
However, the nature of God reveals a possible pronunciation of God’s name.
God self-identifies as: “I am who I am” or “I will be what I will be”. God is manifested in the now as a tangible “who” and outside the now as an unspecified “what”. Taken together: “I am what I am.”
Acronym: IAWIA
IAWIA can be pronounced two ways.
IAWIA can be pronounced two ways.
As “I why” by voicing the “I” in each consecutive vowel.
Or as “a way” by voicing the “A” in each consecutive vowel.
With both pronunciations, one vowel is voiced and the other silent. God is the manifested and the unmanifested.
“I why” is commonly asked as “why do I exist?” I am why I am. I exist because I exist. Creation creates itself without explanations. All there is is is.
God is “a way“; a journey on a path rather than a static path.
“A way” is akin to the Taoist concept of Tao (the Way). The Way is ultimate reality; the seen and unseen; the source of all being; the eternally transitioning; ineffable, beyond human comprehension.
“A way” is also a possible pronunciation of YHWH.
“A way” is the sound of breathing (inhale “a”, exhale “way”).
Likewise, “soooo” is the sound of inhaling and “hmmmmm” is the sound of exhaling. Together, they form the word “Soham”, meaning “I am” in Sanskrit.
Every breath of life recalls the name of God, and a self-reminder of how to return to God.
Koan 159
All beings are illusions based on the illusion of the self as a being.
Way of Way 120
Nobody is getting out of here alive, but those who know the way. The way is love.
Love connects who we are in the play of life, an expression of the soul, to what we are before and after the play, the soul.
Way Of Way 127
In light of our inevitable death and countless potential disasters, everyday problems aren’t as significant as our mind makes them.
Way Of Way 259
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
— Bernard M. Baruch
Koan 104
You cannot love every thing, unless you are the Everything.
Koan 209
If you think there’s a difference between your memories and your dreams, you’re dreaming.
This koan questions how we differentiate reality and illusion.
The conclusion: all memories, like dreams, are illusions.
Therefore, we know nothing.
Recognizing we know nothing is the dawn of awakening.
Koan 222
The now is full of descriptions, yet all descriptions are empty.
Haiku 68
Earth breathes the air, fire eats the Earth,
water drowns fire, air evaporates water.
Different things, same thing.
Koan 282
What’s odd is funny when it makes things that are not odd funny.
Koan 227
When we are present, we miss nothing until we have it again.
Koan 69
As we inevitably have more money than time, why do we spend so much time making money?
Way Of Way 157
We rarely stress about something we can do something about.
The mind causes stress, not circumstances.
Koan 140
The now begins with M = E/C² and ends with E = MC².
M = Mass
E = Energy
C = Speed of Light
Before the now, all there is is Energy.
When Energy is slowed down by the speed of light squared, energy becomes Mass.
Mass is the manifestation of Energy in the now.
When Mass accelerates to the speed of light squared, it reverts into Energy.
The process of Energy to Mass and back happens in an instant; again and again and again.
It happens so quickly, we don’t sense it happening.
The mind creates an illusion of continuity and stability.
Koan 68
Every thing is not as it seems, as it is constantly changing.
Only the mind makes it seem otherwise.
Koan 60
The brilliant reflect the sun’s light.
The wise emanate light to guide the way through the night.
Koan 102
While we are naturally eccentric, it’s difficult to be eccentric.
What’s odd is not normal but what’s normal is odd.
Koan 219
Awakening is always the same, and all ways different.
Koan 58
No body is getting out of here alive, except those emitting unconditional love.
Every thing is a manifestation of the soul.
Unconditional love is the soul’s love of its manifestation.
When emitting unconditional love, we are the soul.
The soul is eternal.
Koan 56
Who I am is many things.
What I am is one thing.
Way Of Way 36
If we are not dancing, we are not listening to the music.
Koan 54
The soul is selfish, yet has no self.
Koan 55
“I don’t mind what happens.” — J. Krishnamurti
The “eternal what” is every thing before and after the now.
The “what happens” is a temporary expression of the “eternal what”.
The “what happens” is a mirror of the “eternal what”.
The “eternal what” loves seeing itself in the mirror.
This love is divine love, peace beyond understanding.
The mind, the self’s emotions and memories, precludes us from seeing “what happens”.
Through the mind we see only illusions.
When we don’t mind, we accept “what happens” and the illusions disappear.
Then we realize we are the “eternal what”.
Way Of Way 18
Love your self with your soul, not with your self.
Otherwise, you might go fuck your self.
Way Of Way 38
Stress is a selfish state of mind.
Stress happens when the self takes control of the mind.
The remedy is freeing the mind from the self.
The etymology of the word “mind” is “memory”.
Remembering what the universe is can free us from the shackles of stress.
The etymology of the word “universe” literally means “turned into one”.
All things are temporarily things in the now, but eternally one thing: the universe.
Who we are is a self. What we are is the universe.
When we only perceive being a self, we suffer selfish states such as stress.
Remembering we are the universe, we have no stress.
Feeling great and being stressed are mutually exclusive states of mind. When we feel great, we cannot be stressed.
When we are grateful, we are “great-full” with no space for stress.
We are grateful when we remember we are lucky. However stressful our circumstances, we are lucky they are not worse.
The word “hap” means luck. The root of happiness is remembering we are lucky.
When we are happy, we cannot be stressed.
Life is a play.
For the actors in the play, it’s a tragedy; good times, bad times, meaningful relationships here and there, but everyone dies at the end.
For the audience, it’s a comedy; watching actors take their roles seriously, though it’s only a play.
When we identify as the self, we are the actors.
The audience is Gods. When we remember we are Gods, we are also the audience.
As Homer once said, near the home of the Gods, Mount Olympus, there is a deafening sound of the Gods laughing. The Gods are laughing at us.
When we die, we leave the play and join our fellow Gods in the audience.
Remembering we are both the actors and the Gods, we can laugh at our selves.
When laughing, we are not stressed.
Much stress is a function of things from the past.
These things are karma: our intentions, actions and consequences of past lives. Karma affects how we experience the now.
Our past lives are not lives we had before this life. Our past lives are passed days of our life. Each day is not a day in a life, but a life in a day.
We accumulate much karma over our passed lives.
The people we were in passed lives are illusions. Our memories of them are just a dream; yet, the self tells us otherwise.
When we don’t believe the self-stories about the past, we remember we are only the person we are right now.
Karma of the past is passed and we cannot be stressed in the now.
The self has many faces or emotions, like stress.
The self’s emotions control our mind.
To escape the self we need to calm the self with unconditional love.
Unconditional love comes only from the soul. When we love unconditionally, we are the soul.
The soul is never stressed.
Way Of Way 24
Loving those who dislike you shows them the way to disliking no one.
Way Of Way 53
A meal is judged twice: at the sitting and at the shitting.
Kotodama 57
“No know” is the way to “know no”.
When we know that we know no thing, we can come to know nothing; the essence of every thing.
Koan 126
The universe has an infinite number of centers, yet the universe has no center.
Each thing our eyes focus on is a center.
Each of us is a center.
With no beginning and no end, the universe has no center.
Way Of Way 40
Pantheism is a religion without religion.
Organized religions are identity groups typically defined by institutionalized characteristics: belief systems, sacred texts, rituals, moral codes, communal practices, symbols and anecdotes.
As each group perceives itself different from other groups, every religion is inherently dualistic
Pantheism dispels with duality.
Pantheism is the view that while every thing seems unique, all there is is one everchanging thing: God.
Oneness with God is a transcendental experience that dissolves the illusion or separateness.
Oneness is a mystical experience (like Sufism, Kabballah, Tantra, and Zen meditation) that doesn’t require a religious framework.
Oneness transitions us from individual consciousness to divine consciousness. Our view changes from the world being finite things to all there is is the everchanging and eternal Everything, God.
In the mystical state of oneness, one loves every thing; though one may not necessarily like every thing.
Loving every thing feels like every thing loves us.
The reciprocating love is a transcendental peace beyond understanding.
Pantheists appreciate organized religions and secular beliefs as different expressions of God; but view them as unnecessary and often funny as they mask the fundamental truth that every thing is sacred.
Non-pantheists often don’t appreciate pantheistic perspective. People taking themselves seriously are unamused and confused by those who laugh at them with unconditional love.
Way Of Way 41
“Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear.” — Lao Tzu
In each body resides a self.
But the self is many selves, as each emotional states is a unique self.
The selves are like the grains of sand in a muddy pond, the mind.
They preclude us from seeing what’s within the pond and reflections without the pond.
To see clearly within and without, the selves need to settle at pond’s bottom.
This allows the many selves to turn into one.
This is the purpose of meditation.
Koan 125
“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.”
— Lao Tzu
What is there to know?
What is there to know!
What is every thing before and after it is what it is whatever it is in the now.
What is nothing and potentially every thing.
He who speaks does not know what (or what they are talking about); for if what is one thing, it cannot be another; yet, what is the essence of every thing.
He who speaks describes ever thing as though it has an independent existence.
He who knows does not speak, for every thing is the Everything; the universe flowing in and out of the now.
He who speaks does not know he is only describing an individual dot in a painting.
He who knows does not speak, for the infinite number of interdependent dots that make a painting are beyond description.
He who speaks describes what he sees in foveal vision which is 1% of peripheral vision.
He who knows all that can be seen does not speak, as peripheral vision is too vague to be described.
He who speaks is the now. Yet, he does not know the now, as a hand cannot grasp itself.
He who knows the now observes it from outside the now. He does not speak, as speaking can only be done in the now.
He who speaks creates the illusion of time-passing from the sound of one word to the next.
He who knows the universe is timeless does not speak, for speaking creates the illusion of time.
He who speaks does not know the now he describes is now no longer.
He who knows does not speak as what’s no longer is an illusion.
He who speaks is the self. The self does not know the oneness of ultimate reality (the soul), for the self’s identity is that which is separate from ultimate reality.
He who knows is the soul. He does not speak, for only the self can speak.
He who speaks thinks effects come from affects; that things can be explained.
He who knows does not speak, for he knows the universe is spontaneously manifesting.
A speaker’s words are like the precise space inside a square.
The endless and everchanging now is like the imprecise space inside a circle.
He who knows does not speak, for a circle cannot be squared.
He who speaks is an actor in the play of life.
He who knows is the audience.
The actors speak of matters they take seriously.
The audience knows it’s a play, not to be taken seriously.
The audience does not speak, for they are forever laughing.
The play is a divine joke that he who speaks thinks can be explained.
He who knows does not speak, as a joke that needs to be explained is not funny.
Kotodama 20
The etymology of “universe” is “turned into one.”
The universe is not an infinite number of unique things. It is all things turned into one.
Thinking of the universe as separate and independent things is an illusion.
As these illusions are everchanging, they cannot be described except but by the one (uni) verse: it is what it is whatever it is.
Way Of Way 17
With eyes open, our mind shows us the infinite manifestations of reality.
With eyes closed, we see one thing: nothing, the true nature of reality.
Haiku 47
I first see you as other than me.
Then I see you are another me.
There is no other, just we.
Haiku 95
With one eye, we can see.
With two eyes, we have depth perception.
With one mind, we have a view.
With many minds, we have a wide perspective.
Way Of Way 91
Everyone is brilliant in some way. The brilliance of those who seem dull is to remind us that we can seem dull too.
Koan 193
Very few things affect us. What we think things are affects us.
Koan 121
How do you know whether you are seeing something through your eyes or mind?
Koan 198
The book with blank pages is only empty if that’s what we see.
Koan 197
Without a different perspective we have no perspective.
Way Of Way 10
Those with microscopic or telescopic minds can see what few others can, but often can’t see what’s before their eyes.
Way Of Way 185
If we are not one with the Everything, we are nothing; in life, relatively nothing; after life, absolutely nothing.
Way Of Way 131
Loving some things even more than your self is selfish when you don’t love all things.
Way Of Way 14
As 85% of disease-related deaths are a function of age. To stay healthy, don’t grow up.
Koan 196
God is everywhere the self is not.
Koan 195
The Way to awakening is not to take your self seriously.
The way to begin the Way is not to take me seriously.
Way Of Way 12
When the wealthiest and most powerful man in the world, Alexander the Great, asked Diogenes of Sinope what he can do for him, Diogenes replied: “Yes, stand a little out of my sun.” .
The greatest gift is to escape the self’s shadow and connect with the source of all things.
Koan 194
Life is a play; a tragedy for the actors and a comedy for the audience.
A tragedy as every actor eventually is scripted out of the play and dies.
A comedy as the actors take their selves seriously.
People are the actors and the gods are the audience.
We can always choose who we are, actors or gods.
Way Of Way 182
Those who know the soul experience a peaceful death; for when the self and its home (the body) are no longer, they will be one with the Everything.
Yet, at their passing, their loved ones will grieve and mourn.
Newborns cry as they transition from one with the Everything into finite beings.
Yet, those welcoming newborns rejoice.
Those peacefully departing and those entering the material world know the joy and peace of oneness with the Everything.
Those distracted by daily life are often oblivious of the oneness before and after the material world.
They grieve when others leave and rejoice when others arrive. Misery loves company.
Koan 230
Nothing, but nothing, is certain.
Koan 15
Those who are enlightened enlight others. Yet, everyone enlights the enlightened.
Way Of Way 11
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.
Frank Zappa
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.
Koan 189
God is in plain sight, just hidden behind the self.
Koan 188
When we are present in the now, we are absent-minded of being in the now.
Koan 171
All things are constantly changing, yet there is nothing new under the sun.
Haiku 25
Those who are loving are the sun.
Those who want to be loved are black holes.
Haiku 27
Every thing seems a duality,
a light side and a dark side.
The sun makes things shine.
Things make shadows.
Kotodama 59
“Soooo” is the sound of inhaling.
“Hmmmm” is the sound of exhaling.
Together, the cycle of breathing is “Soham”, meaning “I am” in Sanskrit.
Soham is a Hindu meditative mantra implying pure being; not a being (self), just ultimate reality (God).
Soham, I am God.
Likewise, in the Bible, “I am” is how God self-identifies.
Haiku 28
Birth and death are illusions, like the sun rising and setting.
The soul is forever here, like the sol shining.
Kotodama 70
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 that each of us is unique and yet shares a fundamental oneness.
Recognizing our unity, everyone could simply be referred to as “it”. This identifier is suggested by the common 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 punctuated in the details separating us from our essential unity as God.
Way Of Way 49
In the play of life, we play many roles. The most coveted are the elusive roles of the wealthy, powerful and celebrated.
While talent and effort are needed, most actors awarded these roles are simply lucky.
Unfortunately, even for the lucky ones, all roles are temporary. Eventually, everyone is scripted out of the play.
Actors bring their selves into their roles. However, there is a role that’s only available to those who relinquish their self. The role is easily obtainable and survives the play.
Yet, few players know this role is available: the role of God.
As God, we know life is a play. We’ve created the play 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 29
Sun crashes pond’s surface.
Water only ripples.
Sun not wet.
Koan 184
“There are no facts, just interpretations.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
Koan 186
Every thing is temporarily unique and forever the same.
Koan 181
Something we see and can’t identify is fascinating.
Once identified, it becomes a noun relegated 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 52
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; it’s the only thing.
God is not a static noun.
God self-describes as “I am”.
God is an unspecified verb, the process of the Everything.
Koan 6
All we see in the now are reflections of light. When the now disappears, all that remains is light.
Koan 180
Time cannot be saved nor spent.
Way Of Way 195
We’re surrounded by an infinite number of things.
As we distance away from them, we see them as one thing.
Koan 220
We have freedom of speech as long as no one is listening.
Way Of Way 9
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 unconditional, loving all things all times.
The self’s love is ecstasy; love sandwiched between other emotions in striking contrast to love. Ecstasy is joyful and energizing.
Love from the soul is peace; a feeling beyond words, as oneness with the Everything is beyond description.
Ecstasy and peace simultaneously is orgasmic.
Koan 175
However fast a river runs, it’s always in the same place.
Koan 173
When we are one with the universe, we miss nothing until we see it.
Koan 176
When one experience seems like another, we have experienced neither.
Koan 155
Whatever we are certain about 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 think loving yourself is selfish are selfish.
Way Of Way 54
Cancel culture is a cancer culture.
When a group of like cells in the body prioritize their growth over the welfare of the body whole, the body eventually dies.
“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has first destroyed itself from within.” — Will Durant
Haiku 34
Successful students reflect their teacher’s light.
Brilliant students reflect the sun’s light.
Enlightening students emit light.
Koan 156
What you see outside your self looks different when you are outside your self.
Koan 158
How can the soul appear to transition into an infinite number of things?
Kotodama 82
A showman is a shaman.
A shaman is a showman.
When your attention is focused outside your self, you are free from your self.
Koan 170
If life is a test, those with more answers than questions are sure to fail.
Koan 167
When seeing something not unique, we are seeing it with our mind.
Haiku 35
Light reveals infinite ways
we can travel through the end of days.
Which way to take is not clear
until in noise music we hear.
Then we don’t need the ways revealed by the sun
as music makes us dance as one.
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.
Koan 162
When we realize everyone is God, we love everyone and everyone loves us.
Haiku 30
What’s good for you is good for me
as I can choose who to be,
you, me, or we.
Haiku 36
Everything revealed by light is beautiful,
unlike sounds which are noisy.
Yet, hidden in noisy sounds is music,
the most beautiful thing of all.
Koan 174
No thing is perfect but nothing is perfect.
Koan 161
What was once and is no longer, never was.
Haiku 31
We begin life as a tiny circle, looking like a dot.
As we grow, we have an inside and outside.
Until there is no more circle, just space.
Haiku 33
Water downstream is water past.
Water upstream is water future.
Water here is water present.
Water flows like time, but is timeless.
Koan 16
As there are few who have realized enlightenment, the unenlightened often think an enlightened life is lonely. That’s what makes them unenlightened.
Koan 163
Loving certain people, but not all people, is sentimental. Loving all people is practical.
Haiku 32
When off the common path we wander,
we see the world with wonder.
Haiku 37
Those who absorb light are dull.
Those who reflect light are shiny.
Those who emit light are brilliant.
Koan 152
Enlightenment is simple: one is one with the light. But it’s complicated by the unenlightened who can’t agree on what it is.
Way Of Way 51
The ratio of thanking/thinking measures our state of happiness.
Koan 165
Every thing is always beautiful, but not all ways beautiful.
Haiku 39
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 the Everything.
Way Of Way 55
The universe is a circle.
The space inside a circle is imprecise.
The logical mind sees things as squares, as having a precise space.
The logical mind cannot see the universe, as the space inside a circle cannot be squared.
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
Words are the essence of language which man uses to understand the universe.
Mathematics connects everything in the universe.
The etymology of the word “number” is “to divide.”
God unifies, man divides.
Way Of Way 37
All things are two things, a reflection of light and a shadow.
The sun creates the light, the thing creates the shadow.
Haiku 38
If you are shy
look to the night sky.
Standing tall
in the vastness of it all,
there’s nothing to fear
from the small people here.
Koan 177
What happens when we die?
What happens when we die!
When we die, we transition from “Who” we are in the now to “What” we are before and after the now.
The “Who” is the self, our identity in the now.
The “What” is transcendental. The “What” is God.
In the Bible, God self-describes: “I am what I am.”
In several religious traditions, God is nameless; for if God is this, then God is not that. God is nameless because God is what every thing is whatever it all is.
As every thing in the now is a manifestation of God, the “Who” is an expression of the “What”.
As the “Who” exists only in the now, the “Who” is finite.
Those who view themselves as solely a “Who” die when they are no longer in the now.
Those realizing they are the “What” are eternal beings, constantly transitioning back and forth between “What” and “Who”.
Koan 187
Sleeping is a state of consciousness based on the illusion of knowledge.
Awakening is realizing we don’t know anything.
Enlightenment is knowing nothing.
Way Of Way 22
Nothing is perfect, as there is nothing about which to complain.
Before and after the now is nothing.
Before and after the now must be perfect.
Way Of Way 56
“When I was a kid, God often told me that only people create ugliness.” — Kanako Iiyama
Through the eye of God, the manifestation of God (the now) radiates beauty.
Through people’s minds, the beauty is often elusive or even made ugly.
The mind cannot see, it can only compare. The mind compares the now that’s now with the now that’s passed and the future now it imagines or desires.
Comparisons shroud the now with words; precluding a direct experience of the radiant now. As well, comparisons can make the absolutely beautiful relatively ugly.
The now is perfect; eternally now. Yet, none of the things in the now are perfect as all things are ever-changing; at best, perfect temporarily.
Focusing on things, people often complain about imperfections. Complaining is ugly.
Those who know all things in the now are one thing, the manifestation of God, unconditionally love all things as they do themselves.
Those who see things as other than themselves, connect to things with various emotions; many of which are ugly.
Koan 132
When we understand all is One, is 1 + 1 = 1?
Haiku 44
Those who are bored
see life as a game board,
but a board it can’t be
as every thing is 3-D.
Koan 150
What are we thinking when we think we know what someone else is thinking?
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 and the now after the now?
Haiku 45
What I see
is outside of me.
What I smell, taste and hear
draws everything near.
Haiku 42
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 147
How do you know when you are looking at something whether you are seeing it through your eyes or your mind?
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 64
Life is a wonderful dream as long as we’re not oblivious we are dreaming.
Koan 107
When we transform the now into words, the words become the now.
Koan 110
The senses connect us to reality and the mind disconnects us from reality.
Koan 138
No thing and nothing are both forever.
Koan 139
Every thing, but the Everything, creates duality.
Koan 109
When every thing is enlightening, you are enlightened.
Way Of Way 57
The “smart dumb” are like hedgehogs. With microscopic or telescopic minds, they do one thing well. Yet, they often fail to see what’s obvious to the naked eye.
The “dumb smart” are like foxes. They don’t do anything especially well but can figure out how to get what they want.
In a changing environment, a hedgehog is less likely to survive than a fox.
Koan 133
An enlightened man loves every thing equally; though, in selfish moments, some things he likes and some things he doesn’t.
Koan 108
The sound of laughter indicates the truth is near.
Haiku 55
Light shines brightly
on both “dark” and “light” sides of the moon.
Those who think there’s a “dark” side are in the dark.
Haiku 50
Enlightenment cannot be described to real effect;
other than by pinholes of insights,
like stars in the night sky.
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 mind and see there is nothing there.
Way Of Way 7
The universe is the manifestation of the electromagnetic spectrum.
We see the universe through light waves which are 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum.
If we saw the universe through the entire electromagnetic spectrum, we would wish we were blind; otherwise we would go mad.
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.
Kotodama 30
U are the self.
U are the soul.
Together, the U’s are W, like in the word “whole”.
Without the U’s, there is just a “hole”.
Koan 131
A wise man may appear foolish being uncertain of every thing, but only a fool is certain of any thing.
Koan 201
The only thing certain is that we can never be certain of anything.
Way Of Way 62
Some mindsets are emotional, some practical.
Fire is emotional, water practical.
Fearing its demise, fire hates water.
Fear and anger drive fire to separate water into various small pots to vaporize it easily.
Fire from the political left labels the pots “misogynist”, “racist”, “fascist”, “oppressor”, etc.
Fire from the political right labels the pots “communist”, “anti-Christian”, “immoral”, “un-American”, etc.
Water people don’t like being vaporized, but know ambient temperatures will make them liquid again. Ever-practical, water laughs at fire, knowing fire people will eventually run out of fuel and extinguish themselves.
Haiku 57
A grain of sand is no smaller than a star,
one is near, the other far.
Size depends on where you are.
Koan 61
When we see something familiar, we are seeing it with our mind not our eyes.
Koan 103
As the now is now no longer, what does the mind clutch when it grasps the now?
Way Of Way 208
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.”
People pray to God for many specific things, but ultimately happiness generally. The workings of the universe reveals the way to eternal happiness, peace.
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 the Everything (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 26
“He learns so much. When does he have time to know anything?” — Kotzker Rebbe
We can come to know the now by observing the now. We cannot observe the now when we are engaged with the now.
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. We always have a choice: we can remember the answer or take the test seriously.
Koan 106
“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. Enlightenment consciousness is not different from self consciousness.
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 observing the now which can be done through meditation.
The now is breathing. We can observe the now when we are in the space between exhale and inhale.
In this silent space we realize we create the now and, once created, we are the now.
Koan 7
What do we see everywhere but rarely notice?
Light.
Things we see are not things, just light reflecting off things.
We don’t see that light (Energy) is the essence of all things. Energy is Mass moving at the speed of light squared (E = MC²). All things (Mass) are energy slowed by the speed 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?
Messiah Is Here
In January, 1990 I went to trial in U.S. Federal Court for “insider trading.”
Prior to trial, I went to Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the spiritual leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Judaism dynasty, to ask for a blessing. The “Rebbe” as he was commonly referred to was renowned for his wisdom, compassion and connection the the Almighty. As there is a good deal of randomness determining the outcome of a trial, I had hoped the Rebbe would put in a good word for me and bring me some luck.
Some days after my visit, the Rebbe sent me a message: “Hopefully, the Messiah will arrive before the trial ends.”
I took this message to mean I would lose the trial which three months later I did.
However, as I considered my good fortune in terms of healthy, family and future opportunities, I gracefully accepted the loss and the resultant financial penalties and time in prison.
Now, 34 years hence, the Rebbe’s message still resonates with me.
Life is a trial.
Everyone is executed at trial’s end.
Yet, there is hope for reprieve before execution.
The Messiah will bring reprieve.
In the “Messianic Era” there will be peace, harmony, abundance and prosperity. God will be universally recognized and communicated with and evil will cease to exist. Moreover, the dead will be resurrected; that is, we will realize no one dies. Essentially, all will be enlightened.
Looking around the world today, it seems a far cry from the Messianic Era.
Yet, Messiah is here for those who open their eyes, for they will be enlightened.
Enlightened, they realize that however difficult their circumstances, they are lucky their circumstances are not worse. They realize that when circumstances are difficult, things will likely get better.
The Rebbe’s message did bring me luck. The luck to realize the Messiah is here. “Hap” means luck. Hap is the root of happiness.
Koan 137
The senses awaken us, while the mind puts us to sleep.
Koan 111
What separates people is not space but time.
Koan 118
Our days are numbered, but we have less time when we count them.
Koan 105
As every thing is unique, no thing is weird. But the mind is weird, as it sees things as normal or weird.
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 25
Certainty makes us comfortable with reality because it’s not reality.
Koan 42
As enlightenment is so simple and obvious, it’s funny 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 realizing that our memories are just dreams.
Koan 96
We move forward facing backwards, experiencing things only after they’ve passed.
Koan 95
Our eyes see things horizontally, but our mind sees things vertically.
Koan 117
The Way to Liberation is a long meal with many courses; some to our liking, some not; some salty, bitter, sour or sweet. The meal culminates not with sweet dessert, but when the means and the ends are one.
Koan 94
As the hand cannot grasp itself, how can the mind grasp itself?
Way Of Way 65
The soul is the center from which everything springs.
That which is closest to the center is closest to the soul. That is the heart.
Further away from the soul is the self. That is the head and genitalia.
The heart expresses love from the soul.
The head and genitalia express love from the self.
Kotodama 65
“I”, “is”, and “time” are the most frequently used pronoun, verb and noun.
While these words never appear together as a sentence, “I is time” reveals what we are.
“I” implies a personal self that’s separate from all that is not the self.
“Is” (unlike the customary “am”) suggests a universal identity beyond the personal self.
Our universal identity is the soul.
The soul is the Everything; all that’s before, in, and after the now.
However, the soul only manifests in the now.
“Time” is a concept that frames how the self perceives the now, as everchanging independent things; not as it is: timeless and interdependent.*
“I is time”: I, the self, am the soul having a human experience.
I Is Time
Acronym: “I IT”
“IT” is a general noun for undifferentiated reality, the Everything before it is in the now.
“IT” is the soul.
“I IT”: I am the soul.
“I IT” is “eye it”: what I see is what I am.
*The soul is infinite, eternal, and unchanging; yet it expresses itself as the ever-changing now.
Though changes appear to unfold in the now over time, the now itself remains constant; for time is but an illusion of perception.
What changes is simply what appears within the now.
What appears is revealed by the visible light spectrum–just 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum– as it dances across the soul, illuminating what has always been there eternally and unseen.
Way Of Way 68
Love is love, but is different depending on its source.
There is love from the self and love from the soul
The self expresses many emotions, including love.
The soul only expresses 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 every thing.
Love from the self is conditional.
Love from the soul is unconditional.
Love from the self is demonstrative.
Love from the soul is ineffable.
Love from the self is finite like the self.
Love from the soul is eternal like the soul.
Love from the self is empathy.
Love from the soul is compassion.
Love from the self is joyous.
Love from the soul is peace.
Koan 89
Once you know what you are is not your self, what else do you need to know?
Way Of Way 71
Knowing who you are, you can make the best of your roles in life.
Knowing what you are is the best role.
Kotodama 48
Urine-nation: a nation that gets into pissing contests and ends up pissing off the world.
Koan 88
“Love is the absence of judgement.” — Dali Lama XIV
Koan 87
“Where does a thought go when it’s forgotten?” — Sigmund Freud
Haiku 76
We enter and leave on a path of white light.
Once here, we are red, yellow or blue.
The white light is the world as it is, not as we are.
Way Of Way 250
“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 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. Separateness is an illusion, as all things in the now are one thing: interdependent manifestations of the soul. interdependent. Ultimately, all things in the now are one thing: interdependent manifestations (expressions) 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”: we don’t know what we are. We then dispense with basing reality 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 expressions of the soul (the now) as an interconnectedness of all things.
From the soul to the soul’s expressions and then reverting to the soul is the natural flow of the universe. Realizing 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 liberates us from the self.
Holding onto the self makes the hand a fist, an aggressive gesture suggestive of duality. Letting go the self, the hand opens like a handshake to connect with all things. 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 we are the consciousness that creates it.
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 compassion, to love all things in 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 as different 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
Habits don’t kill you, but keep you from being alive.
Koan 85
Can you be enlightened if you are not enlightening?
Haiku 77
Under the sun, the world of the self.
In the night sky, only the soul.
Koan 92
“Now that I no longer desire all, I have all without desire.”– St. John of the Cross
Koan 86
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, an endless knot constantly twisting and turning in different directions.
“8” is consciousness; infinite in time and everchanging as it manifests 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.
Both “8”and “0” are continuous, flowing with no beginning and no end.
Eureka! All there is is the flow of eternal consciousness; everchanging as it creates the now.
Way Of Way 75
“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 (I why why?)
Why do I exist? Why is the universe?
There is no why; there are no things like the universe and me.
All there is is is.
Is is what is is whatever is is.
Koan 4
“Water is the face of fire.” — Kanako Iiyama
The appearance of things is unlike their true nature.
We present ourselves like water; calm, nourishing and practical.
Yet, like fire, our inner state is everchanging; at times illuminating, at times destructive.
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 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.
Koan 29
Time is like water, drink it or it evaporates.
Way Of Way 76
When we are grateful and love the now that is now, we are poised to be happy with the now that will be later.
Koan 79
What is time?
Before and after the now, there is no time.
The now comes and goes in an instant, yet the now is eternal.
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 34
Everything is in the now.
When you miss something in the now, the only thing missing is you.
Koan 38
You are what you are forever. Who you are is subject to change.
Koan 35
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, spoon or chopsticks?
Haiku 78
In the white light
we see things right.
Yet our mind is a prism
that puts us in prison.
We see things as red, yellow or blue
but that’s simply not true.
Kotodama 77
Heaven is “have-even”.
Heaven is before and after the now, where every thing is even; one thing: infinite potentialities.
Way Of Way 82
The messiah is here, but is hiding; yet, revealed through our acts of kindness to all, treating others as we want to be treated.
Within each of us is the messiah, hiding behind our self.
Way Of Way 4
“The Great Way” to enlightenment is like the infinite paths of light that lead to the sun.
“The Great Way” is the realization that the light that’s here is the light that’s there.
Koan 120
The soul and the self are complimentary.
The soul emits energy.
The self absorbs 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.
Way Of Way 87
It is not the fittest (most able) or the fattest (wealthiest) who are most likely to survive; it is those who are the finest at identifying changing environments and either adapting to change or changing their environment.
Koan 74
“Speech and silence are one and the same.” — Fuketsu Ensho
Haiku 83
$38 can of paint
brushed on a canvass: priceless
spilled on the floor: worthless.
Haiku 84
The road ahead is very clear,
as the light reveals all that’s near.
Shadows form from light that’s passed,
as what is now doesn’t last.
Way Of Way 88
Winners in the game of life receive grand prizes.
But every participant gets a consolation prize: the transition to heaven.
The winners completely engaged with their grand prizes often forget to pick up the consolation prize. They will not transition to heaven.
Koan 205
It’s easy to equally divide a pie without knowing math, but impossible when you know the math of pi.
Way of Way 89
The play of life is a great cosmic joke for those who “get it.” Those who don’t “get it” are the butt of the joke.
Those who “get it” love those who don’t; for without those who don’t, the play wouldn’t be funny.
Moreover, those who “get it” express their gratitude and respect to the ones who don’t; for if those who don’t “get it” abandoned their roles, the ones who “get it” might be recruited for the most difficult roles, the roles of the ones who don’t.
Sometimes, even those who “get it” forget it. This is even funnier when they “get it” again and laugh at themselves.
Way of Way 90
In the play of life, we are both the actors and the audience.
Wonderful entertainment except when we forget we are also the audience.
Koan 53
Those who seek will not find for what they are seeking is seeking.
Way of Way 118
Someone who asks a question wants to learn.
Someone who provides an answer wants to teach.
Someone who asks a question and provides an answer wants to sell you something.
Koan 72
What is it?
The “it” is.
What the “it” is is whatever it is.
More definitively, “it” becomes an illusion.
Koan 9
When we choose to be loved over loving, we will surely die.
Love is connectedness that dispels the duality of self and not self.
When connected by love, our finite self merges with what we love, creating a “beyond self.”
The “beyond self” continues beyond the lifespan of our finite self.
The self that prioritizes being loved cannot be loving. It is a powerful and controlling self, but not powerful enough to survive death.
Way of Way 100
Intellectuals are undoubtedly smart, but lack wisdom when they think they are smarter than others.
Way Of Way 6
“He who doesn’t see God everywhere isn’t capable of seeing God anywhere.” — Kotzker Rebbe
Way of Way 111
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.
Way of Way 3
Those who “get it” are eternal. Those who don’t “get it” never lived.
Way Of Way 79
When talking about others, we are talking about our self. The self creates the others.
Koan 30
We see “its” everywhere, yet rarely notice the “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”).
The “its” are illusions.
Peripheral vision is unfocused. We don’t see static “its”, we see a continuous fluid “is”.
The “is” is reality; an ambiguous flow of interdependent and everchanging things beyond description.
Peripheral vision is the visible universe unaffected by the mind.
While we don’t see “its” in peripheral vision, we are sensitive to changes in the flow in areas of peripheral vision. These changes engage our attention causing us to focus with foveal vision on what has changed.
When we shift from peripheral vision to foveal vision, the mind creates an “it” from the “is”.
While 99% of our visual field is peripheral vision, we think the illusions we create through foveal vision are reality.
Koan 59
Can the universe (metaphorically, the space inside a circle) precisely fit in a space of a square our mind creates?
A circle cannot be squared.
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 logical mind segregates things precisely, convincing us we know various parts of the universe.
However, the universe cannot be precisely known.
Kotodama 51
Before time began, God named his son, Sun.
Sun’s progeny is light, the essence of everything.
When the light slows down by the speed of light squared, it transitions into matter.
Matter seems real, but is an illusion; as it’s essentially light.
The Timeless One knows this.
Koan 24
I am time.
Way Of Way 81
As no one has ever complained about the night sky, the universe must be heaven and Earth must be hell.
Way Of Way 47
“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.” — James Mason
Once you’re a copy, you’re already dead.
Way Of Way 78
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 13
The soul loves the light of the sun.
The self loves the warmth of the sun.
Condolences
A dear subscriber to our blog “had a very good friend who recently passed away from a heart attack while riding his bike. He was in his late 60’s.” And now, “the void…without him has created an overwhelming sadness.”
Our subscriber friend asked about what alternative perspective might lift his sadness.
Clearly, no one is getting out of here alive. Moreover, when someone transitions, it’s only difficult for the ones who are left behind.
How can we not be happy for those who have transitioned! They transition into the space from which every thing transitions into and out of the now. As it is a space about which no one has ever complained, it must be what the old ones called heaven.
However, those who are left behind are often saddened; made sad by their self.
We have two principal identities, the eternal soul and the temporary self. The soul is what every thing is before and after it is what it is whatever it is in the now. The self is our individual identity in the now.
While the now contains an infinite number of self identities, the now is actually one thing: an expression of the soul. As such, our soul identity, seeing its expression in the now, has only one emotion: love. The soul also loves those who have transitioned; for while they are not in the space of the now in which we inhabit, they are alive in the now as it unfolds in spaces lightyears away from our now. As love is mutually exclusive of other emotions, as the soul we love those who have transitioned and there is nothing about which to be sad.
Our self experiences the spectrum of emotions; love, hate, anger, envy, sadness, etc., etc. Our feelings, like sadness, arise when we perceive our experiences as a self and are oblivious of our soul. Our self is sad when it has lost a good friend.
Our temporary self, as is its nature, is selfish, always demanding our attention. The self doesn’t want us to remember we are eternally the soul; for if we do remember, we experience the now as the soul and are free of the demands of our self. As the soul, we can look dispassionately at the self and enjoy it; otherwise, the self will at times make us miserable with its chaotically changing emotions.
So, with the transitioning of someone dear, let’s appreciate our feelings of sadness; but, not take them too seriously. To wit, remember we are not just our self, we are an expression of the soul; as such, we never die.
Way Of Way 80
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.
Our tales are our tails. What we want is what we are already.
Koan 33
An “enlightened master” with many students is a powerful illusion created by the students.
Koan 115
Enlightenment is realizing 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 1
We cannot choose our future, but we can choose how we remember the past which frames how we experience the future.
Way Of Way 74
Enjoy your self, otherwise it might make you miserable.
Way of Way 113
Those who hate the rich but want to be rich hate themselves.
Way Of Way 73
Love makes all things one thing.
Way Of Way 15
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 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 114
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.
Way of Way 115
The soul and the hole makes us whole.
When the love of the soul and the love of the self cross in sexual union, it’s a cosmic orgasm.
Kotodama 28
Hap is the root of happiness.
Hap means luck.
Happiness is realizing we are lucky, however difficult our circumstances. That is, we are lucky things aren’t worse.
We are also lucky we are in difficult circumstances, as circumstances are likely to improve.
Way of Way 116
Love connects us with the everything, while the self separates us from the everything.
Haiku 67
Verbs are fluid, time passing.
Nouns are imaginary, moments frozen in time.
Verbs are the happening, nouns are the happened.
Kotodama 26
Good evening.
Have a good transition to where all beings are the same (even); to sleep-death.
Good morning.
Have a good time mourning the person you were yesterday, who is now no longer.
Each day is not a day in a life, but a life in a day.
We’ve lived thousands of lifetimes within each conventional definition of a lifetime.
Each day we are reincarnated.
By not realizing our memories are dreams, we identify with who we were last lifetimes. This makes our mourning difficult; we can’t be free to experience the now as it is our first time.
Forget the memories and you have a good mourning.
Haiku 63
Good or bad.
Wrong or right.
What’s black or white is colorless.
Koan 13
How can the now be infinitesimally small, yet contain an infinite number of things?
Way of Way 119
Unconditional love is loving everything. It is the peace of being one with the Everything.
Conditional love is loving some things sometimes and not others. It is an intense physical and emotional state as it’s preceded and followed by other emotional states.
Koan 12
Is that so?
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. One day, her parents discovered she was pregnant.
This angered her parents, especially as she refused to tell them who got her pregnant. Eventually, she told them Hakuin was the father.
Furious, the parents told everyone in the community what Hakuin had done and confronted the master.
“Is that so?” was all he said.
After the child was born, the parents gave it to Hakuin. By then, he had lost his reputation as a righteous man, but that did not trouble him. He accepted the child and took very good care of it as if it was his.
A year later, the baby’s mother could no longer hold back the truth. She told her parents the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.
The girl’s parents immediately went to Hakuin. They asked for forgiveness and to have the child back.
Hakuin willingly gave them the child and all he said was: “Is that so?”
“Is that so?” encourages self-reflection and the questioning of assumptions we hold without doubts.
“Is that so?” Hakuin asks the girl’s parents to question their initial certainty that Hakuin fathered their daughter’s baby and their later certainty that he did not. Ultimately, no one knows who fathered the baby; even the mother might not know.
“Is that so?” simply suggests we consider things from many perspectives. This is the essence of wisdom.
Wisdom is knowing that perceived truths change (like the girl’s claim as to who fathered her baby) and that, ultimately, no thing is truly knowable.
The girl’s parents lack wisdom.
They also lack compassion as they carelessly ruin Hakuin’s reputation.
Hakuin, a man of wisdom and compassion, knows what he is and is unfazed by who others think he is.
Embodying wisdom and compassion, we gracefully accept what comes our way and make the best of it.
Way of Way 121
All emotional states, other than love, are a form of selfishness. Love too is selfishness when it connects us with some things but not every thing. Soulful love is love of one thing: the everything.
Koan 11
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
The Pope: “It depends on the size of the pin.”
The Zen master: “What’s a pin?”
Koan 10
“Does a dog have Buddha nature?”
This is the first and perhaps most famous of 48 Zen koans compiled in the early 13th century in “The Gateless Gate.”
To the question, the Zen Master Zhaozhou responded: “Mu.”
Mu means “nothing.”
A dog is a dog. Buddha nature, the innate potential for enlightenment, is a concept. Two seemingly independent things in the now.
Yet, all things before and after the now are one thing: nothing, mu.
Koan 8
What is it now?
One day, a Zen master with a clay pot on a wooden table before him asked several students: “What is this?”
Some said it was a clay pot. Another said that it was an artifact. Another said it was an assemblage of clay and wood. Soon there were other perspectives as well. A lively debate ensued, while the Zen master shook his head and laughed.
One student approached the table and threw the pot to the ground, shattering it into many pieces. An audible silence enveloped the room, until the student asked: “What is it now?”
Silence again filled the room. Some students were shocked and others embarrassed by the aggressive arrogance of the student who shattered their master’s clay pot. Then the silence was shattered by laughter from the Zen master and the student.
The Zen master and student laughed as they recognized the other students were like the blind men in the “Ten Men and the Elephant” parable. Each is certain of their personal perspective of the pot and the collective view that breaking the pot was disrespectful.
A pot is a pot, temporarily. All things are ever-changing. The pot cannot be described, as it is different now when it was described; so what is it now? It is what it is whatever it is.
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Sometime in late 1988, I found myself on a hundreds long line of people awaiting to ask for a blessing from Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Chabad-Lubavitch spiritual leader.
As customary, the Rebbe gifted everyone on line a crisp, new US dollar bill. The gift was a sign of humility; the great Rebbe expressing gratitude to those who ventured to his house. As well, it suggested the bill recipient treat others likewise; that is, on every occasion, treat others with kindness.
I imagine all those dollar bills are still around, in wallets and places of safekeeping. They are sacred mementos. My dollar I’ve kept in my wallet. Now, 36 years later, it has virtually disintegrated. What a loss! It would have been more valuable had I given it to someone soon after receiving it; more valuable to both me and the recipient.
Way Of Way 122
No one is getting out of here alive, but those who realize they are the Everything.
Koan 84
“More important than writing is erasing.”
— Kotzker Rebbe
“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”
— Lao Tzu
When we’ve erased or removed everything we think we know, we know nothing; we are as when we were born.
Without preconceived notions, we can see from many perspectives. That’s the essence of wisdom.
With a clear mind, the universe is no longer defined by objects and concepts our consciousness has created. The universe is just an undifferentiated flow, which is what we are.
Koan 17
Does a rock have consciousness?
Consciousness generally refers to the state of being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts, feelings, and sensations. It is the subjective experience of being alive and having a sense of self as separate from that which is not one’s self. However, what exactly is consciousness has been long debated by philosophers, theologians, linguists, and scientists and no consensus has emerged.
While a rock is a rock, what is a rock?
Is a rock an independent thing or something given agency by our consciousness?
If a rock is an independent thing, it may have consciousness that is beyond our general understanding of consciousness.
Alternatively, if a rock is an illusion created by our mind, a rock does not have consciousness.
Every thing in the now is interdependent and interconnected. That is, every thing is not a thing, but a facet of one ever-changing thing, the Everything. Things in the now that appear independent, like a rock, are illusions created by the mind.
As a rock is an illusion, it does not have consciousness.
If we don’t recognize our consciousness has created the things in the Everything, we have the consciousness of a rock.
Koan 5
Who are you?
I am a mountain range. I am the sea.
I am the Everything, but not specifically me.
I am everchanging, that’s what I be,
not who you think you see.
I am what I am. There’s nothing else to me.
Haiku 61
A bell ringing in the empty sky.
Sound here, after it’s not.
Much ringing from times passed.
Can’t see the sun on a noisy day.
Way Of Way 123
Many a thank you is heard in the Rewards Department.
Many complaints in the Complaint Department.
God runs the Rewards Department and the Devil runs the Complaint Department.
Way Of Way 45
Before and after the now, we are the eternal soul.
In the now, we are the self; a temporary expression of the soul.
The soul simply is, asking for nothing.
The self is selfish, demanding all our attention.
As the self denies the soul’s existence, we lose touch with the soul.
Ironically, the self will inevitably no longer exist and we will surely die
if we lose our connection to the soul.
Koan 22
Now is forever. Everything else is out of time.
Koan 2
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
Mu! (nothing). Sound, hand and clapping do not exist as independent things; as all things are interdependent; essentially one everchanging thing.
Sound, hand and clapping are illusions our consciousness creates. They appear in foveal vision which is what consciousness carves out of the flow that is peripheral vision.
The sound of one hand clapping is the sound of one hand clapping. It is what it is whatever it is.
Koan 1
How old is Buddha?
Which Buddha are you asking about?
How (in what way) is Buddha old?
How old is Buddha at which point in Buddha’s life?
How old is Buddha now or at another time?
Isn’t Buddha now one day older than Buddha was yesterday?
How old is Buddha where; on Earth or some place light years away?
How can Buddha be different in age than the Everything of which the Buddha is just a facet?
How can we know how old is Buddha as all things are forever changing, including the Buddha’s age as we speak?
Buddha is as old as Buddha is, whatever that is.
Koan 36
“The child is father of the man.” — William Wordsworth
Haiku 79
As the self
I am the world.
As the soul
I is the universe.
Koan 20
Both those who think they are rich or poor are poor.
Koan 28
In the past and future are an infinite number of things. The now is only one thing.
Way Of Way 125
Those who rejoice at reflecting the brightest light are often oblivious they cast the darkest shadows.
Way Of Way 200
Praise takes little effort to create, is risk free to distribute and rewards those who dispense it.
Valuing praise at its cost of production, praise is worthless. Yet, most people love being praised and pay handsomely those who praise them, who often appear in the role of salespeople.
Criticism takes thought, effort and is a thankless job; often received as umbrage.
I feel those who criticize me love me and my criticism of others is given out of love. Maybe that’s why I was never much of a salesman.
Koan 199
The way forward is clear when looking backward from the end of days.
Way Of Way 21
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
Haiku 49
Every eye is unique.
Yet, the reflection of my face
the same in every pupil.
Way Of Way 129
Fake artworks are real, but real artworks are often fake.
Fake artworks are forgeries or facsimiles of real artworks.
For most, the experience provided by a fake or real artwork is the same.
As the prices of real artworks often more than 100x the price of fakes, the prices of real artworks are fake.
Haiku 48
The universal mind is a reflecting pond.
We sit around its perimeter.
One thing, many perspectives.
Haiku 62
When we forget from where we come,
we know not where we are going.
Not knowing what we are,
we go the way of others.
Way Of Way 201
The now is the everything, yet contains no things.
The now is eternal, yet ever-changing.
The now is real, yet an illusion as what is now is now no longer.
The now is unpredictable.
The now is overwhelming.
We are the now, yet don’t know the now.
All we know is our reactions to the now.
When we observe the now from before and after the now we can we know the now.
Mike McCarthy
“We clearly picked the wrong day to have a bad day.” — Mike McCarthy, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, after his football team lost their playoff game in a major upset.
We’re blamed or credited for the consequences of our actions, though the consequences are often a function of luck.
Koan 14
“There is nothing new under the sun.”
— Ecclesiastes
In the Bible, Genesis 1:3 states: “In the beginning… God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.”
Beyond the beginning, there is nothing new as every thing is a derivative of light.
As every thing is unique, every thing is new; yet, nothing is new, as newness doesn’t differentiate things.
There is nothing new as there are no things; just the manifestation (consciousness) of the soul. The things we see as new are what the consciousness of the self creates out of the consciousness of the soul.
The now appears to be everchanging which makes it seem “new”. Yet, the now is forever unchanged. What changes is what’s revealed by the light spectrum passing over what is eternally before, in and after the now.
Koan 37
“Growing old, man’s sight worsens, but this allow him to see more.” Jewish proverb
Koan 43
How can the now be always the same and always new?
Kotodama 60
Before time begins, all is the NON.
Upon birth, the I of the self and the NON become the NOW.
With the I of the soul, the NOW is a WOW.
The I of the self is red, symbolizing emotions. We experience the now through a myriad of selfish emotions.
The I of the soul is yellow; light, the essence of everything.
The experience of the NON, with the I of self and the I of the soul, is a WOW.
Koan 226
“Man plans, God laughs.” — Jewish proverb
Way Of Way 44
With more than a glance at the rearview mirror, we are likely to have an accident.
Haiku 3
The mind is a reflecting pond,
but do I see my true face
as backward letters hard to read?
Koan 32
“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” — Linji Yixuan
In the now, there is only one thing: the Everything.
The Everything is manifested as an infinite number of seemingly independent things.
Yet, as all things are interdependent, essentially all things are one thing.
Thinking of things (like the Buddha) as independent is an illusion.
Illusionary things create duality, the thing and all that is not the thing.
On the road to enlightenment, we need to vanquish all illusions to realize the oneness of the Everything.
Happy New Year 2024, Hopefully
2024, the year of consequential choices; harmony or death.
In 2024, all roads lead to 4; 2 + 2 = 4, as does 2 x 2.
The number 2 is associated with duality, representing two complementary or opposing forces; light and dark, good and evil, male and female, or yin and yang.
Likewise, 2 + 2 is additive, complementary; while 2 x 2 (like measures of length and width) suggests intersection, conflict.
In the West, 4 represents stability, balance and harmony; the complementary. However, in China, Korea and Japan, 4 is associated with death (often what results from conflict), as the word for “4” in their respective languages is pronounced identically like their word for death.
So here we have it, 2024, the year of harmony or death; hopefully we make the better choice.
Haiku 6
So much depends upon
five baby rubber ducks
walking behind a red rooster.
Koan 18
What does the universe look like from the other side of the mind, where there is no mind?
Koan 236
As a thing cannot be separated from its shadow, are the thing and the shadow two things?
Koan 200
“There is only one mind to which we are all connected. But that mind has its own mind.” — Simon Stark
Way Of Way 134
Awakening dispenses with boredom, as every moment is unlike another.
Koan 218
“You already are what you want to become.” — Thich Nhat Hahn
Koan 46
Love is selfless. But when the self expresses love, that’s selfish.
Way Of Way 43
“Questioning the fabric of reality can led you to either madness or the truth and the funny thing is that you won’t know which is which.” — Lex Fridman
Ode To Wood
Knotted wood with odd streaks of brown hue,
useful for many a thing to do.
Building a desk, feeding a fire;
so many possibilities, one can never tire.
While its static form seems not to change,
what happens below its surface is beyond imagination’s range:
The atoms are dancing to the music of electrons
as compounds are mating as they have for eons.
The wood is never in a state of pause,
it’s a marvel beyond words and without flaws.
Haiku 64
There is no fountainhead, river or sea
just something flowing freely, whatever it be.
Haiku 71
Under the sun and without the self
we would surely starve to death.
Those who forget we are the soul
cannot survive death, the black hole.
Koan 41
As all here is is is, what is is?
Haiku 15
All there is is is
Is is ever-changing and always the same
Is is finite and infinite
Is is temporary and eternal
Is cannot be compared to anything
Is is not part of anything
Is is not missing anything
Is is whatever you think it is
Is is nothing you think it is
Is cannot be described
Is is what it is whatever it is
Is is who you are
Is is perfect
Is is nothing
Is is the everything
Is is the is.
Way Of Way 135
Life is a play; at times a drama, a tragedy, a comedy. Upon realizing it’s a play, the dramas and tragedies are funnier than comedies.
Koan 52
I am nothing and here and now. What am I?
Way Of Way 202
A maze puzzle is a metaphor of our approach to life; focusing on achieving specific goals or a journey to freedom.
The conventional approach to solving a maze puzzle is starting from the edge until we find our way to the middle. This is a goal-oriented approach. Upon realizing our goal, we find ourselves surrounded by the puzzle.
Alternatively, we can start from the middle to find our way out of the maze. Once out, we are “free;” we find ourselves beyond the puzzle, though where we are cannot be described.
Going into the maze puzzle is descending into a rabbit hole. Coming out is arising to the light.
Google Bard describes mindset of those who start at the edge vs those who start at the middle:
Starting from the edge:
- Methodical thinkers: Those who prefer a step-by-step approach and logically navigate through challenges might start from the edge to follow a systematic path.
- Safety-conscious individuals: People who prefer to avoid dead ends and deadlocks might start at the edge to ensure a clear path forward.
- Traditionalists: Those who follow established norms and conventional methods might start from the edge as it’s the most common approach.
- Pragmatists: Individuals who focus on the most efficient solution might start from the edge as it offers a clear path to reach the destination.
Starting from the middle:
- Independent thinkers: People who prefer to forge their own path and explore the unknown might start in the middle to avoid any preconceived notions of direction.
- Risk-takers: Those who enjoy a challenge and are comfortable with uncertainty might find the middle a more exciting starting point.
- Holistic thinkers: People who prefer to see the big picture and analyze all options at once might start in the center to get a sense of the maze’s overall layout.
- Creative problem solvers: Individuals who enjoy unconventional approaches might find the middle a unique way to tackle the puzzle.
Kotodama 17
In spiritual evolution, “i” becomes “I”.
“i” is body and mind duality.
“I” is integrity.
Koan 80
As God is the Everything, why is God rarely noticed in every thing?
Way Of Way 138
The mind can be a dark place, when we don’t open our eyes and see the light.
Koan 45
As the now is moving at incomprehensible speeds, how can our senses inform us of the now?”
The Earth is rotating at 1,037 miles/hour and revolving around the sun at 66,616 miles/hour. Our solar system is revolving around the center of the Milky Way galaxy on average at 514,000 miles/hour. The Milky Way is moving towards the Andromeda Galaxy at 1,339,200 miles/hour.
At these speeds, our senses cannot inform us of the now, yet the now seems stable and continuous.
Our mind slows everything down, creating the illusion of the now.
Tiki ivi po’o
This Marquesas Islands personal adornment is made of human bone and often worn as a necklace, hair braid or used as a fan handle. It represents a generic ancestor deity.
While the deity is in human form, the head is disproportionally large; implying the deity embodies far greater wisdom than humans. Likewise, its eyes are disproportionally large, implying the deity sees far more than mortals.
Perhaps the presence of such an ancestor deity in physical form as a personal adornment humbles its owner, reminding them there is more to this world than they are capable of knowing and seeing. Humbled, the owner will not suffer the consequences of hubris.
Way Of Way 141
Some things are less perfect than other things which themselves are not quite perfect. Only the now is perfect, as there is nothing else.
Way Of Way 35
Shit generally trades between $5 – $10/pound. When on a rare occasion it trades at $2/pound, it may be cheap but it’s still shit.
Way Of Way 112
Money is a beautiful thing as it equates the value of all exchangeable things. Yet, money is often ugly in the context of our personal relationship with it.
Way Of Way 142
Unsolicited advice might come from the heart, but often debuts as a bowel movement; a relief to the provider, but a put-off to the recipient.
Way Of Way 143
The work of a man of wisdom is to make happy memories.
Way Of Way 144
God sees God in every thing.
Koan 73
The mind is like a hand, only open when it lets go of whatever it holds tight.
Haiku 60
From the flow we grow
into a temporary island
eroding back into the stream of consciousness.
Koan 77
The mind is an addictive medicine. It’s good for curing problems, but in doing so it creates problems.
William Wisher
“With modern Western medicine, the upside is you’re alive; but at the cost of being a slave forever.”
Koan 83
“The Universe is the everchanging expression of the Ever-Changeless Is.” — Joe Bruno
Haiku 59
Gently rafting down river.
Calm as the pulse in my veins.
Pulse quickens, rapids approach.
Haiku 58
With the eye of the sun,
we see things as they are.
With our eyes, only illusions.
Haiku 56
Many see what looks to be
the distant river flowing into the sea.
All I see is me.
Haiku 14
Knowledge is sexual,
double helix perpetual.
As we climb this ladder to the heavens from where we came,
soon enough nothing is ever the same.
Twisting and turning, what’s right becomes left and left becomes right.
Upward and onward, until Earth is completely out of sight.
Haiku 69
I am eye,
a pupil studying the world
filtered by colors and patterns of my iris.
Haiku 13
Going back or forward in time is a race,
a journey to Earth’s center or outer space.
Death by implosion/explosion, by fire or ice.
Best stay where I am, everything here, everything nice.
The Enlightened: Eternal Being
In the now, every thing is what it is whatever it is.
Every thing, before and after the now, is the soul.
Before our birth and after our death, our sole identity is the soul.
Upon birth, we transition from being one with everything, the soul, to becoming a unique manifestation or expression of the soul; a seemingly independent entity.
To sustain our independent existence, we develop a self; a sense of being apart and separate from every thing that is not our self. The purpose of the self is to provide us with our needs of food, shelter, security and health. However, the self also engenders desires that become indistinguishable from our needs, putting us in an endless cycle; needs/desires to temporary satisfactions to needs/desires. Clearly, the self demands much of our attention.
Alternatively, our soul identity has us living a life of wisdom and compassion; wisdom, as we experience life not solely from the perspective of our self, but through the perspectives of the infinite manifestations of the soul; compassion, as we love and treat all that is not our self as we love and treat our self.
In the transition to life, we initially remember our identity as the soul as we in turn develop our identity as the self. In childhood, our soul identity embraces magical (animist) thinking as we feel every thing has a spirit within it that can be conjured for our benefit through our living harmoniously with its spirit.
However, over time, as we are educated and socialized, our self becomes our primary identity. While we are both self and soul identity in various proportions, many of us become oblivious of our soul identity.
Ultimately, no one is getting out of here alive. Our bodily death coincides with the demise of our self identity. However, before we complete our transition from physical death to our essentialness, the soul; if our soul identity is our primary identity, we realize we are an eternal being.
Fountainheads Of Love
Love from the self and love from the soul.
Each love in life plays a role.
Love from the soul connects us to all.
Love from the self helps us grow tall.
Love is love, it all feels the same
both from places that sound alike in name.
Love from the soul comes from the whole
Love from the self comes from the hole.
Way Of Way 145
Love expressed by the soul is unconditional, unlike love expressed by the self which is conditional.
Love from soul is gold, while love from the self is fool’s gold. A simple acid test can determine whether love comes from the soul or the self.
The test is how do we feel when someone we love engages sexually with someone else. If our love is from the soul, we are happy for them and for whomever they were intimate, as how can we not be happy with the thought of people enjoying themselves. If our love issues from the self, we are angry, jealous, sad or have other unpleasant states of mind.
Haiku 11
I don’t know who it is in the mirror I see
but everywhere else I only see me.
Haiku 24
The clarinet is the self,
the wind is the soul.
When the sound is music
it makes them whole.
Way Of Way 146
Love is love. From where it issues is of little immediate matter as love is love.
However, over time, love that flows from the self is temporary; at times running dry as it transitions into other emotional expressions. Love that flows from the soul is eternal, as the only emotional expression of the soul is love.
Moreover, love from the self is conditional, while love from the soul is unconditional.
Love from the self is proclaimed with “I love you.” Love from the soul is expressed as “We love you.” “We” are the gods. Those who don’t recognize everyone is god cannot love unconditionally.
IAWIA
“I am what I am.” — God, Exodus 3:14, The Bible
The Bible recounts Moses grazing his flock of sheep and encountered a “burning bush” whose flames were not devouring its branches.
The burning bush was the manifestation of God and symbolic of God: apparently everchanging and yet eternal.
Moses asked God: “What is your name?” God said (depending on translation): “I am who I am” or “I will be what I will be”.
In the now, God manifests as a “who”; a self of infinite everchanging selves (the flames of the Burning Bush). In the time after the now, God is an undifferentiated potential (the eternal branches of the Burning Bush), a “what”.
Encompassing the now (“I am…”) and after the now (“I will be what…”), we can paraphrase God: “I am what I am”.
God also self-identifies as, simply, “I am”; implying being, not a being; a flow, not a thing.
God is flow of the Everything.
“I am what I am” as an acronym (IAWIA) can be pronounced two ways:
“I WHY” (first vowel pronounced, second vowel silent).
“A-WAY” (first vowel silent, second vowel pronounced).
I WHY
Why do I exist?
There are no reasons or explanations.
Simply, I am because I am God.
A WAY
In the Bible, the written word for God is YHWH.
With no consensus as to its pronunciation, YHWH may have been pronounced as “A WAY”.
God (“A WAY”) is like the Tao (“The Way”).
The Way is the ineffable and eternal energy that flows through all things; bringing all things into harmony, as all the pieces of the universe come together as one peace.
The Palestinian/Israeli War
The war in Gaza is a never-ending fight.
Each side has a story, told in a different light.
Each difficult to understand as they fuel the blight.
I long to see the truth, as the fires rage bright.
In the heat from emotions, I await the cool night
where distant stars guide the way, with no wrong nor right.
Haiku 8
Better to be unique than perfect.
We are naturally unique, but it takes great effort to be perfect.
Uniqueness is forever, but perfection temporary.
Being unique is perfect.
Way Of Way 147
Religions are like sheep.
Their wool warms and protects us.
Their bodies provide us sustenance.
But, beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
They may make us feel comfortable and safe,
but their only interest is to sustain themselves.
Way Of Way 148
There is a nameless place; before time begins; before we are born; before things become the now; a place of infinite possibilities.
While no one ever speaks badly of this nameless place, we often curse people and things that come from it. By doing so, we are not encouraging that place to send us something we will cherish.
Way Of Way 150
We don’t need to worry about the future as that will be what it will be. However, we need to worry about the past, what we remember and how we remember it, as that will frame how we experience the present.
Way Of Way 151
Those who appreciate life are on the way to happiness. Those who focus on trying to understand life may lose their way.
Way Of Way 152
The luckiest are those who recognize they have been lucky, for they will recognize other lucky opportunities that come their way.
Alan Watts
“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself.”
When we see God in every thing, we are God.
Koan 51
When a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Mu (nothing). There is no tree, forest or sound, as they are all manifestations of our consciousness.
The universe is not an infinite number of things; only one thing: the universe. Consciousness creates an infinite number of things out of the universe.
Koan 123
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” — Shunryu Suzuki
Experts think of possibilities based on their experience. The inexperienced are not constrained.
Haiku 54
After the purple crayon didn’t taste like a grape,
no grape tasted like a grape.
Haiku 53
Our pupils are like stars and black holes.
Like the sun, they illuminate everything around us.
Yet, whatever light enters them is never seen again.
John Dewey
“Art as Experience.”
We experience art suddenly, through our eyes (“wow, oh, hmmm”); and slowly, with our mind (words, thoughts and comparisons).
It’s a unique experience for each of us and a unique experience from one moment to the next; otherwise, our eyes are closed.
Koan 93
The universe is made up of matter. Our world is made up of stories.
Haiku 51
The sun is the eye of the soul,
revealing all through our pupil, a black hole.
As our iris filters the light of the sun,
we each see differently which makes life fun.
Who Am I?
I am who I am.
I am various emotional selves in various roles in the play of life. Depending on perspective, I am in my play or other people’s plays.
I am.
I am a verb, not a noun; I am being, not a being.
I am what I am.
In the now, I am a who. Before and after the now, I am what, the essence of every thing.
I am the Everything.
I am the soul and its expression in the now.
I am eye.
I am what I see, as every thing I see is me.
I am 1.
I, like all seemingly independent things, am not an independent thing; just a facet of 1 thing, the Everything.
I is time.
The most frequently used pronoun, verb and noun are: I, is, and time.
Taken together, the most frequent sentence would be: “I is time.”
“I is time” is transcendental. I is a flow of events. I is infinite, continuous, eternal.
I am God.
God, to entertain itself, has created the play of life. God is the actors and the audience.
For the actors, the play is a tragedy as everyone is eventually scripted out of the play, dies.
For the audience, the play is a comedy, as the actors take their roles and themselves seriously.
I am 11
In numerology, “Victor Teicher” is the number 11.
Victor: V = 4 I = 9 C = 3 T = 2 O = 6 R = 9
Add the numbers together: 4 + 9 + 3 + 2 + 6 + 9 = 33
Since 33 is a master number, we do not reduce it any further.
Teicher: T = 2 E = 5 I = 9 C = 3 H = 8 E = 5 R = 9
Add the numbers together: 2 + 5 + 9 + 3 + 8 + 5 + 9 = 41
Since 41 is a two-digit number, we need to reduce it to a single digit by adding the digits together: 4 + 1 = 5.
Now we add the numerology for each name together: 33 + 5 = 38
Since 38 is a two-digit number, we need to reduce it to a single digit by adding the digits together: 3 + 8 = 11.
Therefore, the numerology of the name ‘Victor Teicher’ is 11, which is a master number in numerology. This suggests that the person with this name may have a special spiritual mission or purpose in life.
In numerology, master numbers are the numbers 11, 22, and 33. These numbers are considered to have a higher vibration and are believed to carry a special spiritual or energetic significance.
Master numbers are not reduced to a single digit in numerology, unlike other numbers. They are thought to represent spiritual enlightenment, heightened intuition, and a strong connection to the universe or higher power.
Those who have master numbers in their numerology chart may be seen as spiritual leaders or visionaries, and may have a heightened ability to manifest their desires or tap into their intuition. However, master numbers are also associated with greater challenges and responsibilities, as they require a strong commitment to personal growth and spiritual development.
Overall, master numbers are considered to be very powerful and significant in numerology, and are often seen as a symbol of great potential and spiritual evolution.”
I am Victor Teicher.
My role in the play of life is preordained by my name. In German, Teicher is one who ponders. In English, where two vowels together are pronounced as the first vowel with the second vowel silent, Teicher would be pronounced as “teacher.” In Japan, Teicher is pronounced as “taisha,” the ancient shrine where all the gods meet annually. Victor is “conqueror.” Since entering the play of life, I have long pondered the nature of consciousness which led me to where the gods reside. The revelations that have come my way are to teach us how to conquer the self (our personal identity) which imprisons us, precluding us from connecting with the soul and being one with the Everything.
Tao Te Ching — Verse 45
True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
True fullness seems empty,
yet it is fully present.
True straightness seems crooked.
True wisdom seems foolish.
True art seems artless.
The Master allows things to happen.
She shapes events as they come.
She steps out of the way
and lets the Tao speak for itself.
“True perfection seems imperfect, yet it is perfectly itself.”
What may not seem perfect in our mind is actually perfect as it is what it is whatever it is, undisturbed by our perception.
“True fullness seems empty, yet it is fully present.”
Even when we have all the possessions we may desire, we are still empty as the more we have the more we want. In the present (the pre-sent, where every thing is one thing before it is what it is whatever it is in the now), we are one with the everything; truly fulfilled and need nothing more.
“True straightness seems crooked.”
The way of a meandering river is the straightest way to the ocean.
“True wisdom seems foolish.”
Wisdom is the synthesis of many perceptions; some seemingly well reasoned, some silly.
“True art seems artless.”
Art is all that is art-ificial, manmade. Yet, wonderful art doesn’t seem artificial, contrived.
“The Master allows things to happen. She shapes events as they come. She steps out of the way and lets the Tao speak for itself.”
Being open, accepting and making the best of what comes our way leads us to harmony with all that’s about us.
Way Of Way 154
The self and the soul have a symmetrical relationship, laughing at each other.
As the self cannot see the soul, the self laughs at those who identify with the soul; thinking they are fools.
As the soul sees people taking seriously the illusions created by the self, the soul laughs.
But, as the self is temporary and the soul eternal, the soul has the last laugh.
Way Of Way 212
The soul has only a sole expression and a sole emotion.
The sole expression is the now.
The sole emotion is love, connecting every thing in the now.
Introduction
Before and after the now, the sole thing that is is the soul, the everything. In the now, every thing is the everything.
Upon our manifestation in bodily form, we assume a temporary self which disappears when our body is no longer.
As every thing is a manifestation of the soul, the soul is what connects every thing as one thing, the everything. This connection is called love.
Unlike the soul, the self views itself as apart and separate from every thing that it perceives as not its self. The self connects with every thing with ever-changing emotions like joy, hate, love, anger, indifference, envy, etc.
Our experience of life is a function of how we connect, through the soul or our self.
In a world inherently hostile to the self-sustainment of our bodily form, we need the self to survive. When we do so, we experience life with the emotions of our self. However, when we are not oblivious we are eternally the soul, we can return from the emotional rollercoaster of our self to the eternal love that is the soul; where there is peace beyond words and every thing is absolutely beautiful. That is the purpose of this blook, to guide us to the realization we are the soul.
Kotodama 32
Children are, unlike adults, unadulterated.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
— Pablo Picasso
Koan 78
“Having no destination, I am never lost.” — Ikkyu
Haiku 46
The big Buddha statue sits in silent meditation,
tears of bird droppings encrusted on his cheeks.
Some sit at his feet with offerings and prayers,
while a child Buddha laughs, swimming in a reflecting pond.
Koan 157
Every thing is fascinating, but the mind can make it boring.
Haiku 70
Each of us is a self that covers the soul.
Like a shoe, the self is the visible surface atop the sole.
However shiny and polished, a shoe is useless without a sole.
Post Card, 1910
“Don’t worry about the future,
the present is all thou hast;
the future will soon be present,
and the present will soon be past.”
Family post card sent from Kansas to Tennessee, 1910. Courtesy of Kate Bowers.
Homespun advice from the farm belt; reminiscent of Buddhist teachings, long before they were popularized in America.
An Experience Is Whatever You Want It To Be
“Some squirrels in south Georgia, they’ll taste a little bit more nutty. Up here [Baltimore], our acorns and stuff aren’t really as strong as the ones down south. Most of them up here, it just tastes like squirrel. If you put enough seasoning on it, you can make it taste like anything you want it to taste like.” — Ben Cleveland
Cleveland is a football player for the Baltimore Ravens. He comes from Georgia where he ate squirrel meat when there wasn’t much else to eat.
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Koan 97
A good death defines a good life.
Koan 234
“When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” — Bob Dylan
Thinking we have something to lose means we have already lost our freedom.
Nothing is free.
Koan 99
You cannot escape a prison if you don’t know you’re in one.
The self creates a familiar and comforting world out of an otherwise chaotic and scary universe.
We escape to this world, not realizing it imprisons us.
The self’s prison separates us from the universe.
However, there is nothing to fear as we are the universe.
Inside our prison we’re engaged with what happens in life and our self’s emotional reactions.
We rarely disengage to wonder who, where and what we are.
Yet, by observing our world and what surrounds it, we realize we know no thing.
The illusory knowledge of our self’s creation is the foundation of our prison.
We can then know nothing; what every thing is before and after it is what it is whatever it is in the now.
Nothing is the essence of every thing.
As our illusory knowledge lifts like clouds, we see the vastness of the night sky and realize we are the universe.
Albert Einstein
“People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
Everything is all at once. As that is overwhelming, our mind has created time to make it all a seemingly manageable to experience.
Koan 183
“The way to live eternal life is in a state of perpetual orgasm.” — Karen Uppal
Orgasm is like the Big Bang in reverse. Instead of nothing becoming an infinite number of things, we become the Everything.
Few words are ever said at the moment of orgasm, other than: “Oh my God.”
Way Of Way 156
Much of what we undoubtedly think we see as reality is just a movie projected from our mind. To see reality we need to close our mind and open our eyes.
Way Of Way 155
In a world in which we can have innumerable pronouns, we’re allowed only one ideology.
“According to the survey by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, 44 percent of those aged 25-34 think “referring to someone by the wrong gender pronoun (he/him, she/her) should be a criminal offense,” versus just 31 percent who disagree.” — Newsweek
High School Graduation Yearbook
In the U.S., it’s customary for the High School graduating class to have a Yearbook with individual photos that people sign with some parting well-wishes.
Susan, a girl I found attractive at the time, signed my Yearbook with the following inscription:
“Someday people will understand what you are talking about and I’m sure this world will be a better place for it, but sure as hell I’ll never understand.”
Those who are “sure as hell” don’t know heaven, for heaven is all there is.
Needless to say, I couldn’t convince Susan to spend a couple of hours with me in heaven.
Koan 203
“[I]t is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth.” — Matthew 15:10-20
Koan 82
When the inside becomes the outside: we are the creator.
When there is no outside or inside: we are creation.
Koan 204
“Anyone who thinks they’re stupid is not as stupid as they think.” — Lee Moncho
Being Eccentric Is Fun
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.
Koan 39
As all things are everchanging, no thing is perfect but nothing is perfect.
Haiku 75
I thought an ant small and meaningless,
until I saw the night sky and realized I was.
Way Of Way 479
“I’m not a fan of big government or big corporations. But at least corporations can’t put you in jail.”
— William Wisher
Koan 206
Judging someone reveals more about the judge than the judged.
Way Of Way 160
The universe is perfect but we see it otherwise when we see ourselves as otherwise.
Alexander Teicher
“I used to think that everyone saw the same thing in a different way, until I realized everyone sees the same thing in the same way but describes it with different stories.”
Way Of Way 161
An extraordinary genius is successful and celebrated by society.
A true genius is happy whether or not successful or celebrated.
Way Of Way 163
Intelligence makes things interesting. Wisdom makes things funny.
Way Of Way 34
“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness[.]'” — Genesis 1:26
Each of us is a unique face of God.
Koan 127
“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” — Lao Tzu
Haiku 2
Bell ringing in the empty sky
bouncing sound
awakens me to time passing.
No Yacht For Mrs. Khrushchev
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.”
Kotodama 18
The Hebrew word for “life” is composed by two letter with numerical values of 8 and 10, based on their sequential order in the alphabet. Together, they sum to 18.
The number 18 is symbolic of life. Monetary gifts between Jews for various rites of passage (birthdays, weddings, holidays, etc.) are traditionally given in multiples of 18 ($18, $54, $180, etc.).
The number 18 reveals life is both finite and eternal.
1 is finite as it’s drawn from top to bottom, from heaven to Earth, from birth to death.
8 is eternal as it’s continuous, with no beginning and no end.
In life, the eternal soul is expressed as a finite self.
1 also implies that every thing is essentially one thing: the expression of the soul. 8 implies every thing is interconnected.
Upon realizing all things are one interconnected thing, we treat every thing as we treat ourselves. That’s compassion.
Our oneness with every thing allows us to view the world from infinite perspectives. That’s wisdom.
Wisdom and compassion are the essence of a fully realized life.
Richard Feynman
“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.”
Way Of Way 165
Having more questions than answers is energizing.
Having more answers than questions is tiring.
Mark Twain* 2
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
*Misattributed to Mark Twain but not inconsistent with Twain’s insights generally.
Haiku 73
The mind of God creates the universe.
Our mind creates our world.
When our mind merges with the mind of God,
we are the universe.
Way Of Way 166
Those who claim their success came from luck are able. Those who think their success came from their abilities are bound to be unlucky.
Haiku 41
Holding something tight,
our hand forms a fist.
Letting go, it’s a handshake.
Koan 208
Holding tight to who we are, we cannot open to what we are.
Way Of Way 167
The time before and after we are alive must be a happy time as no one has ever complained about it.
Way Of Way 168
Awakening is the realization that all times past are a dream.
Way Of Way 170
Those who want to work want work.
Those who don’t want to work want jobs.
Way Of Way 171
In the world of collectible art, the tail wags the dog: the price of an artwork is more impactful than the artwork.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
“It’s not a failure; it’s steps to success. There’s always steps to it. Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships. The other nine years was a failure? That’s what you’re telling me? It’s a wrong question; there’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days. Some days you’re able to be successful, some days you’re not. Some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn. And that’s what sports is about. You don’t always win. Sometimes other people win. And this year somebody else is going to win, simple as that.
This has to be the worst postseason ever. We have a number in [the locker room] and we were stuck on 15 [wins to the NBA Finals] … which is kind of hard to deal with. But at the end of the day, I feel like they were playing to beat us, and we were playing to win a championship.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the star player for the Milwaukee Bucs basketball team that was the favorite to win the NBA Championship this year. Above, his reaction yesterday when asked if losing in the first round of the postseason means this year was a “failure.” While an avowed Eastern Orthodox Christian, Antetokounmpo seems to be a Taoist as well.
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Tao
The Yin-Yang symbol reveals the essence of Taoism.
Tao, in Chinese, literally means the (right) way. The Tao is the way, the nature, of reality; the way of the universe; and the harmonious way or path through life.
The circle represents the universe. Within the universe are two seemingly independent abstract fish forms, in shades black and white, that are actually interdependent as curled together they form the universe as a whole. The fish represent life, consciousness, which is what makes the universe whole.
Each fish has an eye, black or white, reflecting the shade of the other. Looking eye to eye, each sees its own shade in the other. Likewise, when we look in the eye of others, we see ourselves.
The way through the life, along the interface of the white and black forms, is everchanging; bending left and bending right; requiring us to be conscious of our way, lest get lost in the white or black forms.
Ultimately, the symbol of the Tao implies all things in the universe are interdependent; the path through life is everchanging; however, life is in balance, harmonious, when we consciously move between counterbalancing forms.
Another interpretation is the symbol represents two animals engaged in a sexual position commonly known as “69.” If so, the message there is that a happy way to make it through life is simply enjoy yourself.
As above, the Tao acknowledges there are different ways for different people.
Haiku 40
A coin is integrity,
its different sides duality.
A coin is worth something,
its sides worth nothing.
Koan 211
We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are. Yet, we rarely notice our selves.
Way Of Way 172
When we identify someone as of our kind, we treat them with kindness. When we identify with the universe we treat all with kindness.
Koan 212
Your life is a fascinating story. Perhaps you could imagine a better one, but then you would miss out on your life.
My Awakening
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?
The sounds, the lights, the ever-changing shapes unfolding from nothing, the ocean smells; overwhelmingly beautiful, yet eerie as in the presence of a great spirit. Then, the infinite number of finite things were no longer finite, but manifestations of one infinite thing. I was infinitesimal before the infinite, until I realized I was the infinite.
This was a religious experience, but not connected to an organized religion. It was initially animism and then pantheism. This was my awakening and realization of our immortality.
The Spiritual Master And The Way
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.”
Mourning Rituals
Each morning
I return from sleep-death
and ever so slowly separate
from being one with everything in a timeless place
to a finite and temporal self.
Before forgetting from whence I came,
I recite the Mourning Prayer:
Oh eternal universe
oh ever-changing universe
oh timeless universe
oh endless universe.
Thank God for creating the universe
and granting us consciousness to realize our oneness with everything.
The people I’ve been and the roles I’ve played in days passed,
my prior lives,
are illusions
Now,
and every-thing
Regardless of circumstances,
I am grateful for however my life unfolds today,
hopeful to realize divine consciousness,
happy helping others likewise
and laughing at my efforts to realize that which is always here.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
Now awakened,
I reposition from horizontal pose, where all are of equal height, to vertical.
Footsteps away is the throne
for the ritual burial of what nourished me last life.
Then, shower calls my name
for washing and massaging the temporary envelope that holds me together
and, without mirror, mind concentrates on shaving the face.
Once dried and dressed for appearance on stage,
fresh-squeezed blood orange juice
seaweed salad
hardboiled quail eggs toped with anchovies,
followed by a Robusto-size cigar and black coffee.
My new life begins,
for which I already have much to be grateful.
With that in mind, it’s a wonderful day.
Haiku 26
Guru and I shared stories.
His stories: histories.
My stories: mysteries.
So quickly, roles reverse.
Way Of Way 174
To live a life of compassion and wisdom, best to avoid those who lack compassion and their friends who obviously lack wisdom.
The Daughter Of A Different Color
“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.
Way Of Way 180
Apocalypse is the complete and final destruction of the world as described in the Book of Revelation. While most of us will not be around for the world’s collective apocalypse, each of us will have our own apocalypse/revelation, the end of our days in unitary bodies.
Apocalypse and revelation are used interchangeably, but are different. The etymology of both words is to “uncover, unveil.” However, apocalypse is more about the destruction of the world as we know it and revelation is about what’s revealed by what remains after the destruction.
Apocalypse/revelation is like the lifting of a bride’s veil to reveal her face before the groom kisses her to consummate their marriage. After the kiss, the groom’s unitary existence is over as he is now one with the bride. Likewise, at the end of our days we realize that we are no longer unitary beings; we are one with all that heretofore seemed other than us.
Apocalypse/revelation is when the truth is revealed about consciousness and reality. The veil represents our personal consciousness; the meanings, generalizations and stories we create that mask reality. When the veil is lifted, we see reality as it is: the nothingness that everything is before and after it is what it is whatever it is.
That’s who we are: The nothing that everything is before and after it is, one with everything.
For those who know the veil is illusory, the veil is translucent; allowing them to see reality. Thus, as they know they are one with everything, they treat others as themselves (compassion) and are able to see the world from many perspectives (wisdom). Moreover, when the veil is lifted, apocalypse, it is the time for revelation; to revel with laughter as the illusions are now clearly absurd.
However, for those who think the illusions are real, the veil is opaque. They live as unitary beings and when the veil is lifted the revelation is frightening as hell. Not a surprising outcome as taking our personal consciousness seriously is at times hellish, even before the apocalypse. Unfortunately, it is fear of reality than keeps us from seeing through our personal consciousness which is the foundation of our fear.
My Birth
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.”
Way Of Way 86
While a lie may initially hide the truth, when the truth is revealed the lie ultimately reveals more than it hides.
Happy Birthday
Every night at sleep-time we die. Every morning upon awakening we are born. Each day is not a day in a life, it is a life in a day. Thus, we’ve lived thousands of lives before our reincarnation today upon awakening.
Before sleep-death, we acknowledge each other with “good evening;” that is, “good even-ing” for in sleep-death everyone (the smart, the stupid, the rich, the poor) is even, equal.
In sleep-death, our soul leaves our body and merges with the universal soul, which in some traditions is called God. When the soul returns to our body, we are born.
Upon awakening, we greet each other and ourselves with “good morning;” that is, “good mourning,” have a good time mourning the people you were in past lifetimes (yesterday and all days now passed) by remembering them in the light of wisdom and compassion; but, don’t identify their life experiences as your own.
Upon awakening and before we assume the roles and circumstances of the person we were yesterday, we recite out loud the Mourning Prayer. The Mourning Prayer acknowledges God’s creation, the universe, and expresses our gratitude for the life and consciousness we have been given which allows us to be one with God. Moreover, we declare that we are free from karma (our intentions, actions and consequences in past lifetimes (days of our life)) and look forward to realizing our purpose in life: to have a wonderful experience, realize our potential of divine consciousness and help others likewise.
Mourning Prayer
Oh eternal universe
Oh endless universe
Oh ever-changing universe
Oh timeless universe
Oh universe of infinite finite things.
Thank you for granting me today a role in the play of life.
The people I’ve been and the roles I’ve played in days passed,
my prior lives,
are illusions in the seemingly real form of memories.
Now, I am who I am
and every thing is what it is whatever it is.
Regardless of circumstances,
I am grateful for however my life unfolds today,
hopeful to realize divine consciousness before I’m scripted out of the play,
happy helping others awaken to their good fortune
and laughing at my efforts to realize that which is always here.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
We recite the mourning prayer aloud, again and again and again, until we feel it and truly awaken. Then, hopefully, we won’t forget who we are as we make our way through this day of life with the peace that comes from not taking our self too seriously; as we know that our self, which will die in the even-ing when our soul departs, is not who we are.
At day’s end, it is time for the Even-ing Prayer before our sleep-death.
Even-ing Prayer
Oh eternal universe
oh ever-changing universe
oh timeless universe
oh endless universe.
Thank God for my role in the universe
and for now,
sleep-death,
when my soul joins God
which is what every-thing is before it is the universe.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
As few remember that every day is our birthday, we should remind whomever we meet with the greeting: “Happy birthday.” Whether they recognize today as their birthday or not, they will undoubtedly have a laugh. What better gift can we give someone on their birthday?
Koan 27
“Life goes on within you and without you.” — George Harrison
Covid
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.
Leftist Cities
New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are leftist cities; those who still live there are politically on the left and those who aren’t have left. It’s like a virus, either you are the virus (you are left) or you’ve had enough of the virus and have left. Those who know the consequences of having the virus for a long period leave to live in other cities. Those who are the virus are hopefully slow in their migration to other cities.
The virus is an ideology. Those who conform and live according to the left ideology are not human; they are the ideology. Those who can observe and reflect on how real life unfolds know the impracticality of the left ideology. They are generally ok humoring the ideology but don’t want to be prisoners of it.
Those who have left may find the foregoing funny, unless those who are left have invaded their reasonably well-functioning cities. Those who are left cannot find it funny because viruses don’t have a sense of humor.
Governments created the virus in a lab. The work of highly educated people.
Irish Catholic Boys School, Late 19th Century
“There once was a beautiful nun
who didn’t have any fun
taking boys for a run
because she had none.”
Merry Saint Patrick’s Day
Koan 21
Why can’t a self-identifying vegetarian become enlightened?
Bactrian Silver Trumpet, Late 3rd – Early 2nd Millennium BC
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 it metaphorically; 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 description of this blog as I, your humble writer, am just here to convert the breath of God into words for all to hear.
Haiku 66
“I love you” is the self expressing love.
“I love us” is love beyond the self.
“I love it all” is divine love.
Way Of Way 28
Intellectuals are mischievous entertainers. They make fools of those who take them seriously who in turn wreak havoc on everyone who doesn’t.
Koan 213
“He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.” — Michel de Montaigne
Way Of Way 203
Empathy is giving a beggar some money. Compassion is giving a beggar a job.
Smart Guys, Wise Guys
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.
Buddha Or Psychopath
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.
Lying To The Public
Lying to a government official is a criminal matter. Yet, when governments lie to the public, that is not a crime; though it often leads to disastrous results like wars, wide scale prosecutions and poor health outcomes (drug laws) and political repression.
If lies promulgated by governments were a crime, governments would dramatically shrink in size as many government workers and politicians would be imprisoned; especially the most dangerous ones, those who are truly sincere, the ones lying to themselves.
Soul
Image of the soul created by artificial intelligence.
The image suggests the soul is like a sun that our body shrouds in darkness. The soul represents love as it resides as does our heart in the center of our upper body. In the stillness of meditation, we realize our soul is but one of an infinite number of eternal stars (a universe of infinite centers) and our body (the personal self) is nothing but empty space.
It Is What It Is Whatever It Is
Our mind is quicker than our eyes in defining what we see. It’s funny when our eyes prove our mind wrong. Unfortunately, we rarely open our eyes; otherwise, much of what our mind sees would be funny.
Atrocities
There have been and are now countless atrocities mankind has committed against mankind. We have created many stories about these horrors, such as who should be blamed for causing them. Yet, the horrors will continue until we collectively accept them as a reminder that we have much about which to be grateful in our current circumstances. Gratitude is an essential element of happiness. Happy people don’t commit atrocities.
God
God is beyond our perception and imagination.
But God has birthed an infinite number of visible sons, the stars.
One son of God is our sun.
Our sun is a generous god.
It creates and energizes us upon our birth at sunrise.
That’s why the first day of the week is Sunday.
Our sun is also a jealous god,
hiding from us all of God’s sons
whom we can only see upon our death at nightfall
when we become like God,
beyond perception and imagination
Bert Lance
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Those who are broken try to fix that which isn’t broken; a fool’s errand, as they can never find something unbroken until they fix themselves. Appreciating things that serve their function allows us the time to appreciate much more; that’s how an unbroken mind works.
Way Of Way 181
Only when we shed our clothes are we ready to make love. Likewise, only when we shed the self that covers our soul are we ready to love everyone.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing. Love is knowing I am everything.”
In Memory Of Moke Mokotoff
Those who seek the knowledge of spiritual teachers are destined to be students forever. Seeking, like desires generally, cannot be satiated but temporarily; thus, creating an endless cycle of seeking, realizing and seeking again. Moreover, identifying with a role, such as a student in the play of life, makes it difficult to free oneself from one’s self; the essence of spiritual awakening.
Awakening is the realization there is nothing to seek. All is within us. To see the light we need to be aware it exists, so we can see it when it arrives. Awareness of the light creates the light.
Moke Mokotoff was a dealer of ancient Asian art. More significantly, Moke was a lifelong devoted student of Buddhism, attending countless guru-led meditation retreats and immersing himself in Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. While the presumed endgame was awakening and enlightenment, Moke prioritized his studies instead. Being was not his goal, seeking was. That made for fun conversations with a “serious” Buddhist. However, perhaps Moke was right as we all eventually become, as Moke is now, one with everything; in the meanwhile, enjoy you time in life in roles that make you and others happy.
Way Of Way 242
Four organs define our relationship with others.
Our upper organs, head and heart, represent wisdom and compassion which connect us as one with others. With wisdom we see the world through the eyes of others. With compassion we help others as we would ourselves.
Our lower organs, stomach and genitals, represent our needs and desires and drive us to compete with others.
Our upper organs can bring us to heaven. Our lower organs often make for a hellish experience.
While our upper organs have divine potential, often they are like our lower organs in terms of our relationship with others. Whether the relationship is divine or offensive is revealed by what comes out of our mouths, the top of our alimentary canal. What comes out the bottom of the canal, near our lower organs, is invariably offensive.
Koan 154
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean.” — Rumi
Way Of Way 183
Regretting certain choices we’ve made in the past distracts us from making the most of the present which leads us to future regrets.
Vector
Dear Subscribers,
A rose is a rose is a rose and what we choose to call a it doesn’t change what it is. Yet, to organize the world about us and facilitate communication, we have created words as symbols for things and actions. Some words are names which identify individual people. Those words often have other symbolic meanings which may reflect the nature of the person identified by the name.
My name, given me at birth, is Avigdor. It is an Israeli name. It means “by father, the tall and courageous.” Jewish tradition has it that newborns are named after deceased relatives. I was named after my great grandfather, Wigdor. Wigdor, by some accounts, means “logical thinker.” My name was revelatory as my early years were somewhat defined by my father who was taller and more courageous than me and as such ruled over me in ways that made little logical sense to me. For example, metaphorically, at times he got angry and cried over milk I spilled and punished me accordingly, while it seemed to me that we should simply mop up the milk and go buy some more to replace it.
At 13, bar mitzvah time, when Jewish boys graduate to become men, I changed my name to “Victor.” Victor suited me as I aimed to be victorious in the matters that held meaning to me, commercial matters and romantic relationships.
In the play of life, “Terrific,” in Act 1 we are born and socialized. In Act 2 we have our Earth experience of career, family and pursuing various other personal and social interests. Act 3 is The Transition. The Transition is the path or way from our alive bodily state to our bodily death. Successfully done, we realize our potential of divine consciousness as we transition from being a finite person on Earth to being one with everything.
In Act 3, my name in Act 2, Victor, no longer suits me. As The Transition is the way from our life as a finite self to the eternal soul which is what we are before we arrive on Earth, my name should reflect my role in the play of life which is to follow and show others the way. A vector is a course or compass direction. Thus, henceforth, my new name is Vector.
Always and all ways,
Vector Teicher
Empathy Is Harmful, Compassion Is Helpful
In the early 1980s, I worked at Oppenheimer & Co, a medium-size stock brokerage firm. At year-end, employees were evaluated and given bonuses. However, for some, the news was otherwise; they were fired. John, with whom I was friends, was fired. This came quite unexpectedly to John who had envisioned a lifelong career at the firm.
John, distraught, took to tears. John’s empathetic friends were quick to console him. I didn’t. I saw him as selfish, focusing on a small disappointment instead of being grateful for his good fortune relative to 99% of others living on this planet. I eventually came by and congratulated John at now having all sorts of opportunities he hadn’t considered before his firing. As well, I thought we could figure a way John might wrangle some termination payments from Oppenheimer. But John would have none of this talk of making the best out of current circumstances. He wanted to continue wallowing in self-pity. He wanted empathy, not compassion.
From my perspective, John was not in any immediate financial difficulties. He was a talented guy who could easily find another Wall Street job. As he didn’t have a cancer protruding out of his ass, he had much about which to be grateful and happy. His sadness was about being fired, an event that seemed real as the self is obsessed with the past; not letting John accept it as passed. John was a prisoner of his self. That was sad.
Empathy is harmful, compassion is helpful. When someone is distraught, it is their self that has upset them. Empathy acknowledges the self’s thoughts and feelings which encourages us to take the self seriously, allowing the self to continue wreaking havoc upon us. Alternatively, compassion dismisses the self and efforts to helping others make the best of their circumstances. Simply, empathy is consoling someone who’s upset about having lost their job which keeps them from finding a new job and compassion is helping them find a new job.
Courtesy Of David Hamono
“The richest person is not the one who has the most but who needs the least.”
Once we have our basic needs of food, shelter, security and health and have no desires, we do not suffer from selfish distractions in pursuit of things material or otherwise. All that remains is gratitude for what we have and have not, a key to happiness; the purpose of wealth.
David Hamono
“Hard to wake someone who believes their eyes are already open.”
Koan 40
Those who are enlightening are different than others; they know they are not different which is what makes them different.
Ten Men And The Elephant
The ten men and the elephant is a parable in many variations from the Indian subcontinent, dating back more than 2,500 years.
In a small village in India there were ten men who had heard of but had never seen the greatest animal in the jungle, the elephant. Determined to see an elephant, they hired a guide to lead them to one. After several days of trekking in the jungle, the guide saw an elephant and called forth the ten men. The men approached the elephant and in their excitement each touched a different part of the it. The man who touched its tail said the elephant was like a snake. The man who touched the elephant’s leg said the elephant was like a tree trunk. The man who touched the elephant’s tusk said it was like a seashell. Each of the ten men described the elephant very differently. Soon the ten men, each insisting that their view of the elephant was right, started to argue and eventually came to blows.
Clearly, the ten men were blind and didn’t know it. As to the elephant, clearly it is big; bigger than one blind man can imagine it in the context of his pervious experiences. Moreover, the elephant is like the universe itself; having so many facets, it is beyond description; it is what it is whatever it is.
The moral of this parable is that (1) as our individual perspectives are limited, we cannot come to know the nature of things. (2) When we are certain of the infallibility of our perceptions, we are blind and don’t know it. (3) Things appear quite different up close (as when we are within) than from a distance (when we are without). (4) Our understanding of things is limited when we understand things in the context of our memories of other things. (5) Taking our perceptions too seriously, we make fools of ourselves and at times come to strife. (6) Yet, the audience for this story, the Gods in the form of children, find it funny.
Way Of Way 184
A wise man knows he can change the past by changing his perspective. A fool thinks he can affect the future..
The Quarantine
In January, 2022, during the waning days of the quarantine pandemic (yes, a pandemic of quarantines), I travelled to Japan where strict quarantine protocols were still in effect; upon entering Japan I would be sequestered for three days in a government managed hotel. While I could have delayed the trip until the quarantine was lifted, it seemed fun to experience a quarantine.
Given a choice between three days of quarantine and three days of leisure, clearly I’d choose leisure. However, the quarantine didn’t seem it would be much of a problem and as 90% of any experience is experiencing oneself, the quarantine like most things would be fun for me. Moreover, the stories my memory could weave out of the quarantine experience would make it fun regardless of what it was at the time.
After a 14 hour flight from New York City to Tokyo, I was among a thousand or so people held at Tokyo airport for processing. We were held captive for 15 hours by dozens of police officers and people running around in hazmat suits. Everyone was in operating room mode, all masked up. It felt otherworldly, even in Japan which is already otherworldly. Food rations were limited to the inedible that no dietician would ever recommend; hot dogs, bread, sugary fruit juices. As we were closely packed together, people slept on chairs and floor, a veritable petri dish where a single Covid infected individual could easily spread the virus. At some point, people’s street clothes looked like pajamas needing a wash; people became restive. Finally, after extensive testing of secretions from nose to spit and waiting on innumerable lines with paperwork in hand, we were taken to a government hotel and placed in solitary confinement. My room was luxurious from the perspective of anyone living before 1850 or currently in a refugee camp, but otherwise basic. Fortunately, there was a big clock in the room, allowing me to identify breakfast, lunch and dinner as each meal was essentially the same thing, whatever the thing was. I did have the freedom to smoke cigars in the room; though the hotel stopped offering coffee three years back and what’s a cigar without a coffee! Entertainment was via cell phone and emails; fun connecting with others who pitied my plight which truly wasn’t bad. Ultimately, I’d recommend a quarantine as a good remedy for jetlag.
After the quarantine, I returned to the everyday world and typical high points of a trip to Japan; restaurants, onsens, meetings with colorful people, viewing gardens and landscapes and visiting shrines. Today, I hold little memory of those moments, but the odd and peaceful time in quarantine is with me forever. If we can’t enjoy a quarantine in a civilized country, how can we enjoy most things.
Discrimination Is Funny
Early in my Wall Street career I was rejected as a applicant for a trading job at a premier money management firm because I am a Jew. The firm’s managing partner was a reasonably smart and affable US born gentleman who was proud of his German roots. While we met for interviews many times, got along along very well and clearly I was the best candidate for the job (the person ultimately hired was not particularly talented and didn’t last long at the job), he was uncomfortable with Jews based on his family’s lore. This was clear based on his social club memberships, that he had no Jews on staff and that as a member of the board of directors and employee of a Wall Street brokerage firm he was the sole vote opposing the merger of the brokerage firm with a Jewish-owned commodity trading firm which resulted in the commodity firm become the largest stockholder of the brokerage firm. That is, that he would henceforth be working for Jews.
Ultimately, rejected from this plum job, I took a job at a third tier firm. While opportunity lost and rejection on the grounds of religious heritage might have provoked anger or dismay in others in like circumstances, I thought it was funny.
I loved this managing director (as I do everyone) but viewed him as struggling with a mental handicap that limited his ability to make choices that would be in his best self-interest. His mental handicap is “labeling,” the generic form of discrimination.
Labeling, like broad generalizations and categorizations, seems to make us comfortable, thinking we understand individual things; but, ultimately, labeling reveals we know nothing about the individual things we label. When someone knows nothing but thinks otherwise, that’s funny. It’s funny that his ignorance was my bliss and, in hindsight, the story of the experience is better than would have been the job.
First Love
Years ago, soon after college, I had a girlfriend with whom I was in love like never before. It was wonderful every which way, a fine balance of complementary roles and common interests. Moreover, she had a stimulating mind and body. Sex was cosmic; orgasm was the Big Bang, we were one with everything.
One day, she declared that she met another guy and wanted to leave me. I was happy for her as she felt she was going to greener pastures. I was also happy for myself as her leaving allowed me greater freedom to connect with others.
Ultimately, she returned and we continued our relationship where we left off. It was terrific once again. However, when I had an occasion to leave for another girl, she was quite upset, but not sad. It was then I realized she may have loved having me but not me.
Trip To Tibet
Robert Thurman is a scholar, author and academic who founded Tibet House and was in 1965 the first American Tibetan Buddhist ordained by the Dalai Lama.
For many years, Thurman biannually lead groups on tours of the holy sites in Tibet. In the late 1990s, I sought to join Thurman on such a tour.
I contacted Geographic Expeditions (GE), the tour organizer, two years before Thurman’s next trip. I was told that as I was the first inquiry, I would head the list of those going. After, periodically I called GE for an update on the timing and particulars of the trip. Finally, some months before the trip, I was told that as they had received more interest from people than available slots, 15, everyone was required to write an essay as to why they wanted to go; however, as mine was the first inquiry, my essay was proforma and I could rest assured that I’d be included on the trip. In my essay, I spoke about my collection of ancient Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhist art and that I had read a couple of Thurman’s books.
As the tour was coming together in final form, GE contacted me to say that Thurman was only accepting applications from “serious Buddhists” which he didn’t deem me to be one. Thus, my application was rejected. I was surprised as “serious Buddhists” seemed an oxymoron. Inquiring further, GE said they had 16 essay applications. I was the only one rejected from going on the trip.
My reaction to this news: a hearty laugh. It was funny, like other similar situations I’ve been in, but I hadn’t thought why until recently. What’s funny is imagining that some people in my situation would be upset about it, something that’s passed, instead of otherwise rejoicing about their good fortune. After waiting two years, spending time with inquires, writing an essay, being told they are good to go and very much looking forward to the trip, some would be upset being rejected. However, their consolation prize was having the financial resources, health, time to take such a trip and now, not going on the trip, extra time and money to spend on something else. As such, they should be grateful for their good fortune; especially as thinking about a trip is more than half the experience of it.
It’s funny to think that some people choose to view their circumstances in ways that make them unhappy. Maybe that’s what serious Buddhists do. If so, it’s good the serious Buddhists were allowed on the trip and not me, as that precluded anyone becoming unhappy.
J. Robert Post
“…searching for your true self is a bit like wandering around in your living room wondering how to get home[,]” like a dog chasing its tail.
The wanderer and the dog take their ways seriously, until they’re overwhelmed by frustration or exhaustion. However, they’re funny from the perspective of the Gods watching the play of life. The Gods are the embodiment of wisdom, having different perspectives with at least one that’s funny.
The Gods have no empathy for the wanderer or the dog, but they have compassion. The Gods know that the overwhelmed wanderer and dog having lost their ways now have the opportunity to realize where and who they are.
Way Of Way 187
We start in life in front of a rabbit hole on a dark night and are given a map through the maze before us. In the darkness underground the map is useless but some are lucky to find their way through to the light. Those who toss the map and look up at the sky realize they’re not rabbits as what they see is what they are.
Way Of Way 188
A house described as “charming” you would never buy from a practical point of view.
Nothingness And Emptiness
Nothing is every-thing before it is what it is whatever it is. As nothingness, every-thing is one indescribable thing,
In the stillness and quietude of meditation we can experience the nothingness of everything. Otherwise, we are overwhelmed by the infinite things that make up everything, so we organize things in containers; words, descriptions, generalizations, categories and stories describing many seemingly similar things.
However, as every-thing is unique and ever-changing, no thing can be containerized. Thus, the containers are empty. Anything within them is an illusion.
Likewise, the Self is an empty container. However we describe it is an illusion. The soul is the nothingness from which every-thing springs.
Way Of Way 85
Why I loved my father is why he hated me. I thought it was funny when he got angry, but he didn’t get the joke.
Ross Levin
“When you believe in Santa Claus you can get lots of presents because there is always someone who wants to be Santa.”
It’s easier for us to find Santa than for Santa to find us. If we work to find Santa, it makes it easier for Santa to find us. Practically, if we work and socialize with wealthy people we have a good chance some of them will be our Santas.
Way Of Way 189
Empathy is selfish. Compassion is selfless.
New Year 2023
Dear Subscribers,
Hope all is well and getting better.
May you have a healthy, wealthy and happy New Year and all time thereafter.
Health is key to realizing wealth. Wealth is having our needs provided and not distracting us from realizing happiness.
Always and all ways,
Victor Teicher
C. S. Lewis
“You can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
While this quote is misattributed to C. S. Lewis, a British writer and Anglican lay theologian, it is consistent with his general thinking.
We can’t simultaneously hold onto the past and have a firm grip of the steering wheel.
Preface
IAWIA, the acronym for “I am what I am.” Pronounced: “I why?”
IIWIIWII, the acronym for “It is what it is whatever it is.” Pronounced: “I why why?”
Why do I exist? Why am I here? Ultimately, what am I?
There is only I and there is no why.
I am who I am and it is what it is whatever it is.
Whoever knows eye and I are one does not suffer death.
The universe is a glass of sparkling water.
Each of us a bubble that seems to come out of nowhere,
takes a unique journey to the top of the glass
and then seems to disappear.
We don’t disappear.
We become one with everything
as we are before we appear as bubbles.
“If the thoughts herein echo Zen Buddhism, Taoism, the Abrahamic faiths, or any philosophical school, consider this a familiar path explored from a new vantage point. If this is entirely uncharted territory, welcome to the journey. Ultimately, this book posits that our reality is a complex tapestry woven from interdependence. Our perceptions, shaped by memory and context, are illusions of separation in a fundamentally interconnected universe. You are this universe experiencing itself, and in this realization lies both profound freedom and profound mystery. Or perhaps, you already knew this. In that case, enjoy the contemplation.”
My name is Victor Teicher and this is a book about the nature of consciousness.
Many of the observations herein are based on Kotodama; the interconnectedness of language, spiritual matters and the material world; wherein, broadly, the sounds, meanings and etymologies of words hold mystical revelations and affect the material world. For example:
Teicher is a German name. In German, “teich” means pond; Teicher, someone who ponders. That’s what I do; ponder reflections from the universal mind which is a reflecting pond.
In English, a digraph (two letters together that are pronounced as only one of the letters) made of two vowels is pronounced as the first vowel with the second vowel silent. Thus, Teicher would be pronounced as “teacher.” Teaching, sharing these reflections, is the purpose of this blook.
In Japanese, the second vowel of the digraph is pronounced; hence, “Teicher” is pronounced “taisha.” In Japan, Taisha is the ancient shrine where all the gods meet annually. I am, through this book, a forum for the gods.
Finally, the etymology of “Victor” is “conqueror.” The purpose of this blog is to conquer the self (our personal identity) which imprisons the soul, precluding us from experiencing the world through the universal mind (the mind of the soul). The soul is every-thing is before and after it is what it is whatever it is and before time begins.
Moreover, synchronicity has it that in numerology the name “Victor Teicher” is “11” which is a master number. Those whose name is a master number (estimated to be around 1% of the population) are thought to represent spiritual enlightenment, heightened intuition, and a strong connection to the universe or higher power. They are idealistic and have a special spiritual mission or purpose in life to make a difference in this world. This book is the realization of my mission.
Yet, I claim no ownership of the chains of the thoughts in this book as I am merely a conduit for the author who is us. Ultimately, hopefully, this book reveals there is nothing new under the sun; all ways always bring us to the here and now which is forever-new and never-changing, eternal.
Kate Moss
“Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”
This motto is the mindset of those with the eating disorder anorexia.
Anorexia aside, the motto may serve well those trying to diet and exercise for good health outcomes and conventional good looks.
A change in diet and an exercise routine take time before their effects on health and looks are noticeable. For many, these desired outcomes are not as enticing as the immediate gratification from eating with abandon while sedentary, watching TV. However, a diet and exercise program also provides immediate gratification when we focus on how we feel when we dress in the morning and our clothing feels a bit but noticeably less tight than yesterday; a wonderful feeling that lasts all day. Nothing tastes, or lasts as as long, as good as that feels.
Moreover, while a healthy diet and exercise are positively correlated with life expectancy, time and effort spent to increase one’s life expectancy is a fool’s errand as no one is getting out of here alive. However, diet and exercise forestall chronic diseases which are often overwhelming distractions from simply enjoying being alive. Health life expectancy is the time before the onset of chronic diseases. On average, health life expectancy is ten years less than life expectancy. Ten years maybe is a reasonable sentence for the foolish crime of abusing one’s body instead of rejoicing with consciously eating and sex, an exercise which provides immediate gratification and longer-term health and appearance benefits. Maybe that’s why Kate Moss liked the feeling of being thin, that made her attractive so that she could engage sexually with anyone she wished and have fun exercising.
My Guides
When I was a child in Act 1 of the play of life, “Terrific,” my parents, friends and teachers showed me the ways of this world. However, their views were not as interesting to me as the views of the elders, my grandfathers. As my grandfathers’ perspectives were from the end of days, Act 3, I felt the light they projected from their position to mine would best show me the way forward.
My paternal grandfather came from Leipzig, Germany. He, my grandmother and father escaped to Israel in 1938, just before all roads out of Germany closed to Jews. My grandfather was a successful businessman in the printing business in Germany and the envelope manufacturing business in Israel. Yet, after 18 years in Israel, my father, who worked for my grandfather and had married my mother in 1950, yearned for the economic opportunities he envisioned in America. So in 1956, when I was 6 and my sister was 2, we moved with my grandparents to Brooklyn, N.Y.
My grandfather opposed moving to America. Before leaving Israel, he told my mother to take a long deep look at the comforts she had in Israel because it would be a long time before she would have those comforts in America. He was right. My family arrived in America during a recession and struggled for several years.
My grandfather went through many ups and downs in life. However, with his ability to see situations from many different perspectives, he always found creative solutions to whatever problems arose. Moreover, he always found a perspective that made a situation funny and was always grateful as every situation could have always be worse. This was the foundation of his happiness. His was the attitude that I naturally adopted.
My maternal grandfather was a dry goods store owner in Haifa, Israel. His approach to life was to enjoy the physical pleasures of life; eating, talking and sex. However, as his lifestyle took its toll, in his last years, he was overweight, diabetic and unsteady on his feet. That taught me that getting fat is just deserts for eating just desserts. While he would likely have been in better shape had he restrained his desires, in his last days he felt the pleasures he realized were greater than their costs. He too was happy. Enjoy the physical pleasures of life is what I learned from his life.
My grandfathers made clear my way; to physically enjoy life and realize my potential by making the best of every situation. That describes my life in Act 2. While my grandfathers would likely not have approved many of the choices I made on the way to where I am now, a grandfather in Act 3, their light guided my way on a happy life which is all my grandfathers would have hoped.
Moreover, now that I’m in Act 3, the transition, I’m no longer interested in the views of elders. I’m drawn to the energy of those younger; especially my grandchildren. They are closer to where I’m going than I am. Maybe they can reflect the light from which they come to guide me to where I’m going.
Expensive, Defined
The definition of “expensive” is costly. It’s etymology is Late Latin expensa, “disbursement, outlay.”
However, perhaps the root of expensive is simply things people buy without (ex) thinking (pensive) about price.
Only without thinking about price, one easily buys an off-the-rack Kiton sports jacket ($9,995) at Neiman Marcus instead of an equally functional jacket at Men’s Warehouse for $100. That’s what the Emperor does if the emperor has no clothes.
Those who buy expensive jewelry are schmucks. Schmuck is the German word for jewelry.
Sara Teasdale
“I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.”
All that’s now is now no longer.
What is gone doesn’t exist.
All there is is what comes next
with which we can just do our best.
Alex Bernand
“Like Bernie Madoff made off with the money, Sam Bankman-Fried will be a bankman fried.”
In German, a digraph (two letters together that spell one sound) made of two vowels is pronounced as the second vowel. Thus, “Fried” is pronounced as “freed.” In English, only the first vowel is pronounced. Thus, “Fried” is pronounced as “fried.”
In Germany, which is not as punitive as the U.S., Sam Bankman-Fried, if found guilty, would likely be “freed” after a handful of years in prison. In the U.S., he would be “fried,” imprisoned for a couple of decades.
Third Anniversary
Dear Subscriber,
As we come to the the third anniversary of our blog, I, your humble narrator, thank you for your presence, accepting the blog’s presents which I’m happy to deliver. However, I wonder, as I rarely receive comments on the posts but from a few people, whether many in our small audience of subscribers are finding the blog entertaining or otherwise worthwhile. My aim is that at least one person gets something out of it; otherwise, why continue with it. But, I may be hedged as I thoroughly enjoy it.
Always and all ways,
Victor Teicher
Jim Rohn
“Formal [college] education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
A college education reduces the risk of winding up with a low paying job. Those who are self-educated are precluded from most well paying jobs; hence, they can take a low paying job or try their luck with self-employment where there’s a chance they make it big or lose whatever they had. Clearly, the self-education route is risky. Risk taking is a key to making a fortune.
A formal education is a reactive process as students strive to come up with what their teachers have determined are the conventionally “right” answers. Essentially, successful students excel at conformity of thought, not at creative thinking, which limits their ability to create exceptional value in the confines of a large organization. Self-education is proactive, motivated by having more questions than answers and characterized by independent thinking which ultimately can lead to discovering new, better or cheaper ways of doing things.
Buddha and Christ had no gurus.
Steven Wright
“Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until they speak.”
Matt Haig
“Tragedy is just comedy that hasn’t come to fruition. One day we will laugh at this. We will laugh at everything.”
“Everyone is a comedy. If people are laughing at you they just don’t understand the joke that is themselves.”
Life is a play, “Terrific.” The play is our journey in life. It starts as a tragedy and ends as a farce. When we get scripted out of the play, we join the gods in the audience for whom the play of human follies provides entertainment. Those who realize this truth have a wonderful journey; forever, whether on stage or in the audience. For those who don’t, life is a mix of good and bad roles in the play and eventually they die.
W. C. Fields
“A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money.”
A funny line because we have mental associations and make generalizations about the rich which bear little truth regarding an individual who happens to be rich. The undoubtable truth is that the rich man is simply a man who has money. When the truth is revealed and we realize our mental constructs are illusionary is the essence of something funny.
Being rich is a matter of money, but otherwise it’s meaningless. Any inferences made based on someone having money is poor judgement. Good judgement is more valuable than money.
Money comes and goes. Good judgement doesn’t necessarily assure money coming, but it’s helpful in keeping it from going.
Poor judgement and good luck can bring great wealth, as in heavily playing the lottery and winning. Good judgement, unlike poor judgement, more likely assures our basic needs of food, shelter, security and health. Once our basic needs are met, we are absolutely rich. Realizing this truth is good judgement.
When we are absolutely rich but perceive ourselves as poor relative to others, we will always be poor because we have poor judgement.
Recognizing Father
Some years back, when one of my children passed puberty, one day they called me “Victor.” It sounded odd, but that’s a way some children assert themselves. I laughed at what some might take as disrespectful and said: “You can call me whatever you wish but if you cease calling me “father” I might forget I’m your father and you might not like the consequences of having our relationship like that I have with others whom I equally love but who aren’t in my will.” They never again called me “Victor,” but that might be because I would not have recognized them if they had.
Way Of Way 197
When our mood is dark, we absorb light and our body temperature rises.
When we are lighthearted, we reflect light and are calm and cool.
Way Of Way 198
When you marry someone like your wealthy grandparents, you’re clearly farsighted, not nearsighted.
Helen Keller
“Blindness cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people.”
As we make our way in this world, we are seemingly more vulnerable and less likely to survive without the ability to see than without the ability to hear. Hence, it would seem better to be deaf than blind. Yet, when we connect with others by hearing and talking, we can see through their perspectives which is the essence of wisdom. Moreover, connecting with others is fundamental to love. Wisdom and love (compassion) transform this world into heaven. There is little point trying to make our way in this world by seeing if we can’t arrive at its ultimate destination, heaven. Hence, it is better to be blind than deaf as deaf is death.
Seeing allows us to connect (experience) things. However, seeing confirms that we are apart and separate from things. Hearing allows us to connect with and as such be one with others. Better to be able to hear which has us one with everyone, than to see which confirms our separateness. When we are one with everyone, we are in heaven.
Most people would rather be deaf than blind; implying that most people feel vulnerable, apart and separate from others. For them, there is no heaven.
Way Of Way 199
I am God and anyone who doesn’t recognize I am God doesn’t recognize they too are God.
Frieda Teicher
“Life is a dream; some have a good one, some have a bad one.”
Dreams are dynamic, changing from good to bad and good again. Hoping our dream gets better keeps us dreaming. However, when we awaken, everything is neither good nor bad. There is no good nor bad. All that is is just beautiful.
Frieda Teicher is my grandmother. When Victor was 6, she sparked his curiosity to wonder what happens when we wake up from our dream.
John Dryden
“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”
Orson Welles
“We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create for the moment the illusion that we’re not alone.”
Orson Welles was an actor, director, producer and screenwriter; an innovator in film, radio and theatre; considered among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. He was also a master illusionist or magician.
When our identity is our finite self in time and space (which we perceive as apart and separate from everything that is not our self), ipso facto we are alone regardless of how we might delude ourselves otherwise.
When we come to realize that every-thing is not a separate thing but a temporary facet of one thing, the everything; we are not alone as we do not have an independent existence. It is then that the eternal light dispels all illusions as we are one with the light which has no beginning and no end. We are God which is that which is beyond our mind’s descriptions as descriptions imply that something is one thing and not another. We are no longer a piece but at peace, beyond our mind’s comprehension for the mind has deluded us to identifying ourselves as apart and separate from the everything.
Way Of Way 196
Heaven is real, hell an illusion.
In heaven are those who realize everything is an expression of God. In hell are those whose mind tells them otherwise.
Koan 124
“He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.” — Lao Tzu
It’s easy to satisfy our needs, but not our desires.
Haiku 20
The sun is rising and setting
simultaneously and continuously.
Day and night is about space, not time.
Way Of Way 194
Raw intelligence is characterized by one’s abilities in matters of conceptual thinking, memory, compiling and analyzing information and creativity. However, the truly intelligent are those who have the ability to learn something from virtually anyone.
Every-Thing Is Not A Thing, It’s Interdependent
My arms and legs work well together but I wonder whether they know each other exists. With little self-awareness, each likely feels it has an independent existence. If they knew who they were they would quickly realize that they are not independent things; they are interdependent as they couldn’t exit without everything else to which they’re part of and connected. Maybe when I think of who I am I’m thinking the way my arms and legs are thinking, with little self-awareness. Upon awakening, it’s clear I only exist as one with everything.
Homophone 1
Balabusta is a Yiddish word derived from the term for a woman who is “master of the house.” Balabusta is pronounced as she would often be described: ballbuster.
What The Psilocybin Said
It was 1971, Victor was 20, sitting on a futon and waiting for the journey to begin, to see what the psilocybin mushrooms had to say. As his eyes looked up, a painting on the wall was melting, colors spilling beyond its frame, on the wall, covering the floor; brilliant colors bubbling and burping. Then, Victor noticed he was elevated six to ten inches above the futon; weightlessness; the peace beyond description. After, he directed the paint colors to dance and form paintings.
A profound journey.
While the journey was wonderful in and of itself, it beckoned explanation beyond a write-off as simply an hallucination where the abstract and surreal supplant the realistic.
However, only recently, did the message from the psilocybin vision dawn on me: everything is one thing, forever-changing; being one with everything is the ultimate peace to which our mind is the greatest impediment; and, ultimately, when we are one with everything, we create the universe.
The paint overflowing its canvas implies that what we see in the realistic world as discrete, self-contained things is actually one continuous, interconnected, interdependent, ever-changing thing; the everything.
However, our mind convinces us that the universe is made of discrete things. The mind does this so that we view the mind itself as discrete; different from other minds and, as such, it needs to be protected from the others. The mind feels protected and thrives when we pay it attention and take it seriously. Maybe our mind has convinced us of other falsehoods; e.g., who we are.
The weightlessness implies that discrete things cannot be differentiated by weight, as all things are equally weightless. In that sense, all things are one. The peace that accompanies weightlessness is the peace of being one with everything.
In a world where everything is continuous, interconnected, interdependent and equal, everything is one.
Victor directing the paint colors to dance and form paintings implies that when we are one with everything the world is our creation as are our interpretations of psilocybin visions.
Waves Come And Go
Waves of light come and go
but when is hard to know
as what we see
is only our memory.
Waves of sound come and go
neither fast nor slow.
All we know is when they show.
Way Of Way 193
Doing stupid things allows you to learn you are stupid. Those who don’t learn this lesson are stupid.
Spilled Champagne
A funny (as in odd and humorous) thing recently happened to Victor. Victor was taking a night flight from NYC to Lisbon, sitting in First Class. As Victor never eats on commercial airplane flights, Victor wasn’t paying attention to the food service. Apparently, he was not alone. The Stewardess also wasn’t paying much attention until she saw Victor drenched in 3/4 of a bottle of Champagne which she inadvertently dislodged from its casing. Victor’s immediate reaction was to laugh. Likewise, in other similar passed situations, Victor was quick to laugh . However, until now, I didn’t realized why Victor thought such situations funny.
Now, upon reflection, Victor’s nature is such that Victor instinctively views a situation as how others in the situation might react and how others would perceive the situation. These perspectives are generally funny. Victor has been embracing alternative perspectives since he was a child, when he realized that everyone views a situation differently and as such there is no definitive perspective, including Victor’s. Thus, to understand a situation, Victor automatically takes many perspectives.
What’s funny about a passenger’s Champagne accident is that many people in that situation would have been upset or even angry. That’s a selfish reaction as being upset is succumbing to their ego and not realizing how happy they should be in their circumstances relative to most people in the world. An egotistical fool is always funny. Moreover, many people who are forever stressed out about money matters would love to be in the passenger’s situation, with the presumed freedoms accorded to someone wealthy enough to fly First Class. Yet, these people are fools as well because an angry passenger has no freedom; he is a prisoner of his ego, as are those who admire his situation.
Of course, the Champagne accident could have been actively made funny had Victor had asked the stewardess to give him her shirt as she had wet his and he needed a replacement.
Now. I understand why when Victor has been to the movies, he is often laughing while others are not.
P.S. While I am who I am, people socially refer to me as Victor. I refer to myself as “I” when talking in the present and as “Victor” when referring to myself in the past, a person who is now passed. Referring to oneself in the third person is call illeism.
Wayne Dyer
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
We see what’s passed in reflections our mind has constructed. The reflections are illusions, not real. When we change our reflections, what we see invariably changes as it never had an inherent reality to it.
Sigmund Freud
“It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement — that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.”
Material things come and go, if not in our lifetimes then when we exit the play of life. The true value in life is life itself; appreciating the wonderfulness of it all, awakening to our divine consciousness, and helping others likewise.
Way Of Way 192
Politicians are a form of comic entertainment. However, when many people take politicians seriously, we’re forced to take politicians seriously because the politicians often lead people to war when they haven’t done a good job at their other responsibilities.
Evening Prayer
Even-ing is when we are all made even; the smart, the stupid, the rich, the poor; all even, equal, in sleep-death. In sleep-death, our soul returns to its source where all souls are sole, one, even.
Evening Prayer
Oh eternal universe.
Oh endless universe.
Oh ever-changing universe.
Oh timeless universe.
Thank you all for giving me a role in the play of life, “Terrific.”
Thank you for divine consciousness.
Now, in sleep-death
my soul returns to its source
to which it has always been connected
to be one with everything
before everything becomes something
that is what it is whatever it is and before time begins.
Hopefully soon, my soul returns and awakens the vessel holding the light of life.
Life begins not upon our awakening, but in sleep-death. A wonderful Earth life awaits us upon awakening when we enter sleep-death in a happy state of mind. In the Evening Prayer we express our gratitude. Gratitude is the essence of happiness.
Way Of Way 191
Many people audition for seemingly exciting roles in the play of life. Roles of the wealthy, powerful, successful, happy, etc. However, there are more people auditioning that roles available.
One role for which very few audition and which anyone can have is the role of God. To pass the audition, one needs to just give up all other roles which require the self.
Casey Stengel
“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for… reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration.”
However upsetting our circumstances, we can always be grateful they aren’t worse. Gratitude is the foundation of happiness.
Let what’s past be passed. Holding on to the past limits our ability to grab whatever opportunity next comes our way.
The foundation of anger is selfishness. When we’re angry we take ourselves so seriously we are oblivious to the dire circumstances of others who would be thrilled to be in our shoes. However, when we’re compassionate, we’re grateful as we see our circumstances through the perspective of those less fortunate. Selfishness precludes us from happiness.
Elohim
Elohim is a Hebrew word that literally means “gods” but is used in prayer to refer to God in the singular, one God.
Literal meanings relate to the mundane. In the secular world, there are a virtually infinite number of human manifestations of God, the faces of God. These are elohim, gods. In prayer, we enter the spiritual realm in which there is only one God from which everything emanates.
As humans, we are elohim; we are gods. As such, we can view ourselves as different from other elohim (in which case we don’t recognize them as gods) or realize that we are one of the infinite faces of God; that is, that we are God.
Hashem, “the name,” is a Hebrew word referring to God. This name for God is purposely ambiguous, unspecified. If God’s name was specifically identified, it would imply God is one thing and not another; the antithesis of God as God is everything. However, referring to God as “the name” suggests that knowing God’s name reveals the nature of God. When we come to know the meaning of Elohim, the secret of our oneness with God is revealed.
The Flood
Earth is an eyeball peering from all sides into peaceful space.
Here and there, a restless mist scrubs its face.
The dew left in its wake
makes a watery mess of the landscape.
The flood and the hideous
gather the attention of those now oblivious
to everything beyond the sky
where those who rest in peace lie.
Way Of Way 190
As every-thing is interdependent
every-thing is no-thing
just a facet of everything.
No-thing can be described
as descriptions are empty generalizations,
the personal mind’s creation,
making something out of nothing.
Every-thing is temporary
and everything is eternal.
Descriptions are the personal mind’s vanity,
vain attempts to eternalize that which is no longer.
The universal mind is empty of words.
It is still
and yet busy
eternally manifesting itself as everything.
When our personal mind is still
it merges with the universe mind
and we are one with everything.
Haiku 19
Birth is fission.
Love is fusion.
Fusion has greater energy than fission.
Anonymous
“May you live in interesting times.”
This quasi-blessing is actually a curse. Times that are not interesting are peaceful, while times that are interesting are times of great conflicts. Clearly, it’s better not to live in interesting times.
Interesting times are generally interesting. To wit, most history books are about wars and conflicts, very few are about when the world was at peace.
People are likewise. They have more interest in their traumas than when they were carefree. Perhaps they would be better served showing little interest in their personal history. That way, they can move forward carefree.
Sigmund Freud
“Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.”
Life is essentially simple and beautiful, unless we complicate it with our mind.
Narges Obaid
“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.”
We are billions of unique individuals but are socialized into common roles in the play of life. Our roles become our identities which retard our realizing our inherent unique potentials.
Eckhart Tolle 2
“You are the universe, expressing itself as a human for a little while.”
As we are the universe, we are eternal. But if we solely identify with our fleeting human form, we will surely die.
Way Of Way 109
The universe is the manifestation of God. Loving God is loving every thing; even those things we don’t like and seek to avoid.
Mother Goddess, 7th millennium BC
The serenity of this mother goddess amulet from the dawn of civilization is reminiscent of certain sculptures of Buddha who arrived at the dawn of human consciousness.
The Path To Liberation
The Buddhist path to liberation refers to enlightenment. Liberation is liberation from the personal mind.
There is only one mind, the universal mind, the mind of God. The universe is the manifestation of the universal mind in the now. Dwelling in our finite body (which seems apart and separate from the universe) is a personal mind that is connected to the universal mind. However, we identify with our personal mind and are mostly oblivious to the universal mind. The path of liberation is realising our connection to the universal mind.
The personal mind buffers us from directly experiencing the now. In other words, we experience the now not as it truly is but as a function of our personal mind. The personal mind defines, describes and compares; transforming the now, which is a flow, into a static experience. The now we experience with our personal mind is illusionary, empty of reality. However, we embrace our personal mind for we fear losing our identities and in turn being alone, not knowing who we are and where we are.
The personal mind is grounded in memories. The memories are stories we create based on our intentions, actions and their consequences in previous lives. (Previous lives are previous days of our life.) These illusionary stories frame, define and describe the now. These stories are our karma.
By not allowing us to experience the now directly, our karma essentially holds us in a karmic prison. Liberation is liberation from our karmic prison.
Once liberated, we can experience the now as it is and in so doing we become one with the now, one with everything, eternal. There are no words to describe or compare this experience. All that can be said is that it is what it is whatever it is.
The path to liberation is how we escape the karmic prison of our mind.
Our escape is difficult, blocked by fears created by our personal mind. To escape, we need to quiet our mind until it falls asleep. Then, we can sneak passed it to liberation. Meditation puts our mind to sleep. When our mind is asleep via meditation, we transition from our personal mindlessness to universal mindfulness as our personal mind merges with the universal mind.
Beyond meditation, we can renounce our personal mind. This is done by surrendering to the reality that we know nothing and that every-thing our personal mind tells us is not real, just illusions. Then, our curiosity is aroused; what am I, who am I, why am I? To answer these questions, we observe the universe with our eyes; not with our personal mind. We know we are experiencing the universe with our eyes when every-thing is unique, an experience like no other; nothing can be described, nothing can be compared. All we can say is WOW, as we feel connected to and love every-thing and everything. (Mouthing the word “wow” is like mouthing a kiss.) With our eyes open, we can see the light and come to know that we and the light are one. Now the path is clear. We are the path, the way of way (WOW).
This is the path of the Buddha. A path guided by the light, not by a guru who at best can only reflect the light.
Position And Disposition
We see things not as they are but as a function of our position and disposition.
Having recently spoken with some people on the Left, they all view Joe Biden as maybe a bit old but certainly of sound mind and effective in performing his job. Moreover, they view Kamala Harris as possessing more than average intelligence, but not as articulate as most politicians.
Those on the Right view Biden as obviously in early senility. As to Harris, they view her as a moron (IQ between 50 – 75 (average IQ is 100)), though none identify her as an imbecile (IQ 25 – 50).
As to disposition, those who are happy with their economic position and prospects, favorably view Biden and Harris. Those who feel their way of life, in terms of safety and individual liberties, is threatened and that the country is “going in the wrong direction” (presumably right is right and left is wrong) are very unhappy with Biden and Harris.
Clearly, those who are wise know it’s difficult to know who Biden and Harris really are. Moreover, as politicians, it’s unlikely they know.
Iberian Idol, 3rd Millennium B.C.
As an abstract, non-representational, cylindrical sculpture, this artwork is referred to as an”idol.” Its solar eye suggests the universe is revealed by the light emanating from the eyes of God.
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
“Those who understand only what can be explained understand very little.”
Little of the universe has been explained. If we don’t understand that, we don’t understand much and are unlikely to understand more.
To know the universe we need to discover it ourselves, not simply rely on explanations given to us by others.
Gary Saul Morson
“I used to get a laugh from students by quoting a Soviet citizen I talked to once. He said to me, ‘Of course we have freedom of speech. We just don’t allow people to lie.’ That used to get a laugh! They don’t laugh anymore.”
Today we have freedom of speech, as long as no one is listening.
Reflections
All things are reflections.
Initially reflections of light,
then reflections of mind.
In the first instance our eyes see the truth,
in the second our mind starts lying to us.
The truth is revealed in the present
but disappears when we reflect on what has passed.
Albert Einstein
“A human being is a spatially and temporally limited piece of the whole, what we call the “Universe.” He experiences himself and his feelings as separate from the rest, an optical illusion of his consciousness. The quest for liberation [enlightenment] from this bondage [illusion] is the only object of true religion. Not nurturing the illusion but only overcoming it gives us the attainable measure of inner peace.”
“It seems to me as though our ideas of ourselves, including “space and time” (known more modernly as a single entity space-time, which Einstein was a pioneer in discovering), are entirely psychological constructs, “limitations” of our common state of “consciousness,” and these thoughts and ideas in our common state of consciousness is what generally creates the “illusion” of “separateness.” We can only perceive separateness if there is a space in which there is something here and another thing there, in space.
Our experience of being separate is an illusion of consciousness, just as much as space-time is an illusion of consciousness. But our consciousness itself is ultimately an inseparable “part of the whole” that we call the “Universe,” the One, the Absolute, Reality, Nature, or what many refer to as God. Our brains and bodies, and consequently our minds and consciousness, emerge from out of Nature, from the Universe, while still being absolutely a part of that Nature and Universe. We are not separate from Nature looking out onto Nature, but we are Nature looking at itself.
Our minds construct the perception of reality such that we appear separate from all that is around us, independent, isolated, as siloed islands in the ocean of the world. We have an incredibly strong subject-object duality in the everyday nature of our perceptions, such that “I” am perceived as here, and everything “else” is out there separate from me. This often makes us feel alone, weak, fragile, broken, temporary, mortal, and thus in “bondage.” We are prisoners of our own perceptions, of these “illusions,” of our own typical state of consciousness which perceives the world in this way.
Through “liberation,” which religions call by many different names, we free ourselves from this limited nature of our perceptions, of our consciousness, to see the greater whole directly. The inquisitive, thinking, intellectual, rational, thoughtful, conceptual, inner chatterbox, monkey mind, of our brains can become quiet in certain times of spiritual reflection, contemplation, meditation, walks in nature, extreme activities, near death experiences, etc. Our consciousness actually shifts to a different mode of perception, like in sleep or in dreams, where the “I” falls away, the ego is dislodged, the psychological self seems to dissolve, and we perceive reality much differently. It can seem like a kind of death (death of ego-self), but it is also a liberating realization that we are not fundamentally this ego construction, and all that goes along with it.
It seems to be a much more direct, intimate, personal, immediate, primary perception, devoid of thoughts, concepts, ideas, and even images that typically pervade our conscious mind. It is a direct knowing of awareness itself, which has no center, no distinct sense of “I,” but rather sees the wholeness and interconnected nature of reality, and this essentially and fundamentally includes one’s own awareness and consciousness. We are freed from the bondage of our egoic thoughts, of our typical selfish nature or “natural man,” and we can perceive the One indivisible nature of reality more directly. We have “overcome” our ego-self, our ego mind, our “separate” perception.
And we realize we are that One, we are a manifestation of This, an emanation of This, and we have never been separate from This, we only thought we were, in our mind. Our mind often makes it seem like we are separate from it (which is the illusion), but how could we be? We are fundamentally the One, but in order to perceive the One we must become separate from it, to divide ourselves from it, so that we can turn around and witness it. An eye cannot see itself, but must use a mirror. Similarly, the One cannot perceive its Self, except by dividing its Self, so that its parts can see the other parts. But the error comes in thinking that we are witnessing something separate, apart, and isolated. We are not, but we are witnessing our own Self, our own true Nature, the Source from which we’ve come, of which we are, and which we will always be. When we look out onto Nature, we are looking in a mirror. We are looking at our Self. We are looking at the One which we are.
The “overcoming” of our typical state of consciousness to perceive the One Great Whole of the universe in this way is the objective of perennial ancient wisdom found at the core and origin of the world’s major religions, and it is that core that is “true religion.” It is what gives us “inner peace,” to know we are not separate, “limited,” apart from this Universe, but eternally at-One with it, in It, as It. This is “liberation,” enlightenment, salvation, redemption, transcendence, freedom, resurrection, rebirth, peace, and rest. Christians seeking salvation, seeking to end the separation of the Fall and reunite again with God, through realizing at-one-ment in Christ, even realizing Christ in themselves as at-one in the Father, are seeking the same thing as Buddhists in the awakening or enlightenment of their consciousness to their eternal Buddha-nature or true essence or original nature, or as Hindus in the moksha or liberation/freedom of knowing their soul or Atman is One and the same in Brahman, the Ultimate Reality of the universe.
These are all just a diverse array of different symbols pointing at the same One Great Whole of Reality, and how we may experience This. Every religion and spiritual tradition on Earth has their own set of symbols, and this includes science. We can appreciate the wide diversity and beautiful uniqueness of each point of view, while also recognizing that underneath their apparent differences they are ultimately pointing at the same Ultimate Reality, Nature, the One, the Absolute, the Universe, the Transcendent, the Eternal, the Source, what theists call “God.” Just as we can love all the diverse and different and apparently separate and beautiful individuals, beings, life forms, and infinite array of creation all around us, while realizing that there is a much deeper and more fundamental unity, oneness, nonduality, and infinite indivisible eternal Love that keeps it all together, interconnected, interexchange, united, and as One, forever and always.
For all those apparent separate things out there are not separate from you at all, but they are You! Coming to this profound realization directly, in our own consciousness, is a very much “attainable” Peace and Rest in our lives.” — Bryce Haymond
While Einstein is considered genius incarnate for his discoveries related to the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, much of his later work on the unified field theory or the Theory of Everything was never successfully proven. However, Einstein transitioned from physics to metaphysics; realizing the nature of consciousness and enlightenment, matters that cannot be subject to proof as they are an experience.
Dan Brown
“The only difference between you and God is that you have forgotten you are divine.”
Humans are a transitional species, born with animal consciousness and the potential of divine consciousness.
Money
Money is to humans is like fertilizer is to flowers. It helps flowers realize their potential but too much of it can make beautiful roses smell like shit.
Specifically, “over fertilization can actually decrease growth and leave plants weak and vulnerable to pests and diseases. It can also lead to the ultimate demise of the plant. Signs of over fertilization include stunted growth, burned or dried leaf margins, wilting, and collapse or death of plants.” — Gardineningknowhow.com
Way Of Way 179
We should always acknowledge and express our gratitude to the God of Luck.
If we think our success comes solely from our abilities and efforts and not from the presence of the God of Luck, the God of Luck will not acknowledge us with his presents.
Way Of Way 178
Those who blame their misfortunes on others don’t learn from their misfortunes which brings them more misfortunes.
Haiku 17
We come from a black hole
arrive with a big bang
make fireworks
then turn into confetti.
Kongo Fetish
This surreal 19th century Kongo fetish (an inanimate object worshiped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit) depicts a bundle containing juju (magical substances that empower an object) from which a mirror-faced head with a feather atop emerges. When we look at the mirrored face of the object, we see ourselves. This suggests we are the fetish and the fetish works its magic through us. The feather protruding from the head suggests the mind of the fetish connects it to the spirit world; that can take flight and see beyond the range of man.
Victor And The Elephant In The Room
When Victor was a little boy (though maybe he’s still a little boy), he was always mystified how almost everyone was certain about things. People were certain about matters of God, about who is smart or stupid, about concepts of right or wrong, etc. Victor, however, was uncertain of seemingly everything, especially as each person had a different perception of the same thing and each certain theirs was correct.
Only after reading the story of the Ten Men and the Elephant Victor realized why so many people were without doubts. They each looked at things through their mind, (conceptually, comparatively and through group thinking), not through their eyes; hence, they didn’t know what they were looking at.
If they saw through their eyes, they would know that each person’s perspective is as valid as one’s own since every individual perspective is limited; hence, they could be certain about nothing.
Living with uncertainty can be stressful. Thus, most people relieve the stress by believing their perspective is undoubtedly right. However, “uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.” — Voltaire
Benjamin Disraeli
“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.”
We recall an infinitesimal fraction of our past experiences. What we do believe we recall we weave into a story that bears little connection to our actual experiences. In effect, we are playing the game of Chinese whispers, unaware we are playing with ourselves.
Marcel Proust
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but having new eyes.”
Viewing something from different perspectives is more enlightening than viewing different things.
Way Of Way 177
Those who see the light embody wisdom.
Those who feel its warmth embody compassion.
Without wisdom and compassion, there is no light.
Way Of Way 176
Something is wrong with our head if we can’t enjoy the pleasures of sex and recreational drugs. Nothing is wrong when we enjoy these things, unless they get to our head.
Way Of Way 175
When you look down on others you cannot see the light.
Way Of Way 173
You can’t push on a string.
Unsolicited monologues get little attention.
However, we have people’s attention when we respond to their questions.
When we question others, they give us their mouth. When they question us, we have their ears.
Ask enough questions and when their mouths tire, they will ask some questions and open their ears.
Jason Zweig
“We need to realize…that when we look back at the past, we don’t recapture it; we reconstitute it. We turn it into something it never was: clear from the start.”
Myopia
When I was 13 I didn’t need glasses but marveled at the experience of those who did. I thought people with myopia could see things two ways, with and without glasses. Poor eyesight seemed like a blessing that could lead to interesting insights.
This might be the case.
With myopia, one realizes they don’t know what they are looking at. This arouses curiosity which exercises the mind.
A well-exercised mind is fitter.
Statistically, people who are myopic have a higher IQ than those who are not.
Love 9
Love is like light.
It can be bent and redirected but can never be broken.
The more light that’s emitted, the more shines back at us.
Without light, we are in a cold dark place.
With light, we can connect with everything around us.
Way Of Way 169
When we focus on the details, we often fail to see the beauty of the whole.
A beautiful artwork that’s deemed a “fake” becomes less beautiful.
Thich Nhat Hanh
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.”
“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.”
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
“Many people think excitement is happiness…. But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.”
“You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free [to be themselves]”
“We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”
“Life is available only in the present moment.”
“When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace and love.”
“The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself.”
“Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.”
“You cannot resist loving another person when you really understand him or her.”
“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.”
“If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything.”
“Attachment to views is the greatest impediment to the spiritual path.”
Political Parties
Political parties are like flavors at an ice cream shop. We often busy ourselves deciding which flavor we want without considering whether we’re allergic to its ingredients or looking at whether the shop is clean.
Peace Pilgrim
Life is like a mirror. Smile at it and it smiles back at you.”
Our attitude forms our experiences.
Clouds
I see all sorts of animals up in the clouds,
their shapes changing as the wind blows.
Some are angry
some are happy
and with some it’s hard to read their minds.
Only when I climb a distant mountain
I get above the clouds
and realize the clouds are just clouds.
Niccolò Machiavelli
“[S]ince love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.”
When others fear us, they don’t attack us; thereby fear provides us a certain level of safety. However, fear can turn into aggression as a cornered rat can leap to bite us in the jugular or starving peasants revolt against their king.
Love is unconditional. Moreover, those we love we treat as we wish to be treated. Thus, when we are loved, though we may not necessarily be liked, we never need worry of coming into harm’s way as a consequent of the actions of someone who loves us.
Hence, it is safer to be loved than feared.
Democrats Vs Republicans 2
Some years back I was friendly with a man, Everett, the parking attendant in my New York City office building garage. Everett hailed from South Carolina which he left in the late 1950s to serve in the Korean War. After his military service, he lived in Boston for 15 years and then moved to New York City where he was living for 10 years when we met.
As he lived in the South before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I was curious what life was like in the South from the perspective of a black man. (Oh, did I forget to mention Everett was black!) Everett said life down South was good in terms of black/white relations. Whites and blacks lived segregated; everyone knew their place and relations were friendly. He never felt uncomfortable with whites. He never felt anyone hated him because he was black until he moved to Boston. In Boston, black people were marginalized and often came in harm’s way if they went to white neighborhoods but as service workers. Things got progressively worse when schools were forced to integrate. New York City he found was more friendly to black people but not by much.
On occasional trips to visit family in South Carolina, Everett found the good old days no longer as mandated integration disturbed the old social order and tensions were high between whites and blacks. He often wondered whether the idealists pushing for integration were more interested in creating racial conflicts and upsetting the social and political order than peaceful coexistence or whether they had good intentions but no common sense and insights into unintended consequences.
Moreover, while integration provided more economic opportunities or high-paying token jobs, Everett felt the cultural collapse of the black community and the economic divisions and related stress that integration created came at too high a cost. That is, as the creation of an integration focused social order required the destruction of an older order, perhaps integration via evolution would have been better than via revolution.
I asked Everett what others in his community thought of his views. He said no one took him seriously because he was a Republican.
Democrats Vs Republicans 1
Walter Williams:
How often do we hear the claim that our nation is a democracy? Was a democratic form of government the vision of the Founders? As it turns out, the word democracy appears nowhere in the two most fundamental founding documents of our nation—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Instead of a democracy, the Constitution’s Article IV, Section 4, declares “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” Our pledge of allegiance to the flag says not to “the democracy for which it stands,” but to “the republic for which it stands.” Is the song that emerged during the War of 1861 “The Battle Hymn of the Democracy” or “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”?
So what is the difference between republican and democratic forms of government? John Adams captured the essence of the difference when he said, “You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.” Nothing in our Constitution suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is envisioned as a protector of rights.
In recognition that it is government that poses the gravest threat to our liberties, the framers used negative phrases in reference to Congress throughout the first ten amendments to the Constitution, such as shall not abridge, infringe, deny, disparage, and shall not be violated, nor be denied. In a republican form of government, there is rule of law. All citizens, including government officials, are accountable to the same laws. Government power is limited and decentralized through a system of checks and balances. Government intervenes in civil society to protect its citizens against force and fraud, but does not intervene in the cases of peaceable, voluntary exchange.
Contrast the framers’ vision of a republic with that of a democracy. According to Webster’s dictionary, a democracy is defined as “government by the people; especially: rule of the majority.” In a democracy the majority rules either directly or through its elected representatives. As in a monarchy, the law is whatever the government determines it to be. Laws do not represent reason. They represent power. The restraint is upon the individual instead of government. Unlike the rights envisioned under a republican form of government, rights in a democracy are seen as privileges and permissions that are granted by government and can be rescinded by government.
There is considerable evidence that demonstrates the disdain held by our founders for a democracy. James Madison, in Federalist No. 10, said that in a pure democracy, “there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual.” At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Edmund Randolph said, “that in tracing these evils to their origin every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy.” John Adams said, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” Later on, Chief Justice John Marshall observed, “Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.” In a word or two, the Founders knew that a democracy would lead to the same kind of tyranny the colonies suffered under King George III.
The framers gave us a Constitution that is replete with anti-majority-rule, undemocratic mechanisms. One that has come in for frequent criticism and calls for elimination is the Electoral College. In their wisdom, the framers gave us the Electoral College so that in presidential elections large, heavily populated states could not use their majority to run roughshod over small, sparsely populated states. Amending the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, or two-thirds of state legislatures, to propose an amendment and three-fourths of state legislatures to ratify it. Part of the reason for having a bicameral Congress is that it places another obstacle to majority rule. Fifty-one senators can block the wishes of 435 representatives and 49 senators. The Constitution gives the president a veto to thwart the power of all 535 members of Congress. It takes two-thirds of both houses of Congress to override the president’s veto.
There is even a simpler way to expose the tyranny of majority rule. Ask yourself how many of your day-to-day choices would you like to have settled through the democratic process of majority rule. Would you want the kind of car you own to be decided through a democratic process, or would you prefer purchasing any car you please? Would like your choice of where to live, what clothes to purchase, what foods you eat, or what entertainment you enjoy to be decided through a democratic process? I am sure that at the mere suggestion that these choices should be subject to a democratic vote, most of us would deem it a tyrannical attack on our liberties.
Most Americans see our liberties as protected by the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, but that vision was not fully shared by its framers. In Federalist No. 84, Alexander Hamilton argued, “[B]ills of rights . . . are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous. For why declare that things shall not be done [by Congress] which there is no power to do? Why, for instance, should it be said that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given [to Congress] by which restrictions may be imposed?” James Madison agreed: “This is one of the most plausible arguments I have ever heard urged against the admission of a bill of rights into this system . . . [because] by enumerating particular exceptions to the grant of power, it would disparage those rights which were not placed in that enumeration, and it might follow by implication, that those rights which were not singled out, were intended to be assigned into the hands of the general government, and were consequently insecure.”
Madison thought this danger could be guarded against by the Ninth Amendment, which declares “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Of course, the Ninth Amendment has little or no meaning in today’s courts.
Transformed into a Democracy
Do today’s Americans have contempt for the republican values laid out by our Founders, or is it simply a matter of our being unschooled about the differences between a republic and a democracy? It appears that most Americans, as well as their political leaders, believe that Congress should do anything it can muster a majority vote to do. Thus we have been transformed into a democracy. The most dangerous and insidious effect of majority rule is that it confers an aura of legitimacy, decency, and respectability on acts that would otherwise be deemed tyrannical. Liberty and democracy are not synonymous and could actually be opposites.
If we have become a democracy, I guarantee you that the Founders would be deeply disappointed by our betrayal of their vision. They intended, and laid out the ground rules for, a limited republican form of government that saw the protections of personal liberties as its primary function.
Walter Williams is John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University.
Way Of Way 164
Whether awake or asleep, we are always dreaming.
Those who are asleep don’t know they are dreaming.
Those who are awake know they are dreaming.
More Money Than God
There are people who are said to “have more money than God.”
These presumably few people can have whatever they want in the material realm. However, everyone has more money than God; as God, the supreme being that is manifested as everything there is, has no need for money; for God has no wants. The truly few people who have no wants are akin to God; surely a better role in the play of life than having all the money in the world.
The Labyrinth And The Maze
Life is a journey through a labyrinth.
Before we are born, we are in the center or mandala of a labyrinth where everything is one thing until it is born as a unique something. Soon after birth, we develop a sense of self that has us as the center of the universe and outside the labyrinth. It is then we begin our journey through the labyrinth and back to the center from where we came.
The path through the labyrinth is clear when we open our eyes and follow the light emanating from the mandala. While our mind often helps us along the path, at times it’s a great impediment as it turns the labyrinth into a maze. This happens when we see things not as they are but as a function of our memories, ideologies and imaginations.
The difference between a maze and a labyrinth is that labyrinths have a single continuous path which leads to the center, while mazes have paths which branch off, some leading to dead ends, which keep us from reaching the center.
The critical choices in life are which labyrinth to enter and to not allow our mind to turn the labyrinth into a maze. The optimal labyrinth we choose comports with our strengths and weaknesses. When we follow the path of light, our mind cannot make the labyrinth a maze.
Truly Wealthy
We are truly wealthy when we have what we need for sustenance and realize we don’t need what we want.
The truly wealthy are easily identified by their manners not their manors.
Those who are well-mannered treat others as they themselves wish to be treated because they identify with others. Those living in manors choose to separate themselves from others. The truly wealthy have everything as they are one with the whole, not apart from the whole.
Awakening
Being asleep is like death,
we are one with everything.
Upon awakening from sleep
we slowly separate from everything
and our self is formed.
Our self makes life a dream.
When we awaken from the dream
our self disappears
and we are not oblivious of from where we come and go.
Then we are one with everything again.
Some have good dreams,
some have bad dreams.
But waking up is wonderful for all.
Koan 169
The right questions are more important than the right answers.
Time Is A Silent Rapid River
Time is a rapid river dancing thing
when we are in the river rafting.
Over the rapids, too quick for us to think
about what’s past, what’s future or anything;
just engaged with what’s about to be now.
and how to deal with it somehow.
On the shore
we can hear the river roar.
But when still and silent within,
time moves without a din.
Life, Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness
America is a funny partner on the dance floor; singing one song and dancing to another.
An often-sung phrase from the Declaration of Independence is that the purpose of government is to protect each citizen’s right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Ironically, in terms of life, directly (through overseas military adventures in Korea, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Kosova, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq) and indirectly (as the biggest arms exporter in the world), the US has caused more deaths outside its immediate borders in the past 60 years than any other country Moreover, as regards liberty, the US has the highest incarceration and solitary confinement rates in the world. As to happiness, the US steers its citizens away from happiness, the hallmark of which is gratitude. Instead, as a consumption-driven economy, its citizens are encouraged to become addicted to never-ending desires.
While singing euphoniously about personal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, clearly the country dances to another tune. This lack of integrity is funny to watch but not if we want to dance and sing until we are one with everything.
Hank Forrester
“The more you look the less you see.”
When we are frantically searching for something, we might not see the obvious. When sitting still, we can sense the presence of everything. A spotlight reveals great detail but a floodlight illuminates the room.
Jay Jennifer Matthews
“Nothing would exist without our awareness of it. Our thoughts, our awareness, allows its existence. Without our thoughts there is nothingness. This is wisdom. That’s why when we see someone take their thoughts seriously we can only laugh.”
Ramana Maharshi
“Does a man who is acting on the stage in a female part forget that he is a man? Similarly, we too must play our parts on the stage of life, but we must not identify ourselves with those parts.”
Life is a play named “Terrific.” For most of the actors it’s not terrific as they identify with their roles, take themselves seriously and in turn make fools of themselves. Often, for them the play is a tragedy. As to the enlightened actors, they know the play is a play and their roles are not who they are. For them, seeing the others take themselves seriously, the play is a comedy.
Two Ways To Heaven
Before birth, we are in the present, the pre-sent; the peace before the universe expresses itself.
At birth, we are in the Now. The Now is the universe expressing itself. In the Now, we have an intense sense of awareness as everything is unique, ever-changing and interdependent. It’s so intense, it’s exhausting; that’s why babies sleep much of the day. In the Now, nothing can be described or has meaning as nothing is comparable to anything before or after the Now as the Now is all there is.
As the Now is overwhelming, our mind artificially transforms the Now so it’s palatable. Our mind does this by creating stories, descriptions, categorisations and generalisations about our past experiences in the Now. These memories are our mind, not the Now. The memories seem real, but are illusions. They mask the Now, precluding us from experiencing the Now directly. In effect, the illusions imprison us.
However, we can escape from our mind’s prison when the past is passed; that is, when we let go our belief that the past is real. Freed from the past, we can enter the Now and now know Now for all its beauty and wonder. While it’s beyond words and descriptions, in the Now we know we are one with everything, connected by love.
As it’s at times overwhelming, we can only be in the Now temporarily and need periods to rest. Soon, questions arises: Who am I, where am I?
To answer these questions, we need to separate ourselves from the Now by minimizing sensory stimulation via meditation or other sensory deprivation technique. Then, with our mind calm, we can enter the present; the pre-sent; the peace before the universe expresses itself. This is heaven.
In the pre-sent there is nothingness but the soul; the fountainhead of everything, creation. In the pre-sent, we and God are one. We are the audience watching the universe and the play of life unfold in the Now. While what we see is beyond descriptions and words (the operating system of our mind), our reaction to it is twofold, funny and sad. Funny to see people take their illusions seriously and sad to see them imprisoned by their mind. However, our sadness is temporary as we know they will all be in the pre-sent, in heaven, when they leave their bodily lives.
Thus, there are two ways to heaven; experiencing heaven on Earth or after the inevitable.
Voltaire 1
“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
Time heals all wounds, sooner or later. When our time runs out we have no wounds.
Ramana Maharshi
“Silence is truth. Silence is bliss. Silence is peace. Hence, Silence is the Self.”
Silence, nothingness, is what everything is before it is and what everything is after it is. The essential nature of everything is nothing. Hence, every thing is one thing, a unique temporary manifestation of nothing.
When we identify as one thing, nothing, we can self-describe ourselves only as “I am who I am” and everything is what it is whatever it is. It is then that we are free from the identity our mind has constructed and are one with everything.
Our mind cannot see but it can hear and speak. Through hearing and speaking our mind constructs the world and our identity. Silence calms the mind and keeps it at bay from performing its mischief.
Ramana Maharshi
“Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.”
Those who favor country or worldwide government programs as the solution to every perceivable woe lack a practical understanding of human nature. Allowing individuals and small communities to choose their way is more economically practical as well as equitable, as people can vote with their feet.
Anonymous, Overheard At Pasta Nostra Restaurant, Norwalk CT
“I would be fine with living until 120 as long as I could fuck everyday.”
As we go deep into old age much of our body and mind fails us. The ultimate testament of our love of something is wanting to be alive as long as possible with all the attendant ailments as long as we can do our favorite thing.
Enthusiasm is contagious. When someone, like the person quoted above, is so enthusiastic about a certain activity, we’re excited to join them.
Haiku 22
Stars are events from the past.
Imaginary lines between stars create constellations.
Each constellation is a story we think is real.
The Ultimate Act Of Selfishness
Suicide is the ultimate selfish act; selfish on a macro and micro level.
On a macro level, suicide is selfish as it implies we are focused on our suffering and not the far greater suffering of others who would love to be in our shoes. We are not suicidal when we recognize the suffering of others and come to their aid as that in turn distracts us from our suffering. Moreover, when we recognize our relative good fortune, we are grateful. Gratitude is one of the keys to happiness. Happiness precludes suicidal thoughts.
On a micro level, when we die, it is most difficult for the ones that we leave behind. Thus, suicide is selfish as we think our death is an exit from our suffering and don’t consider the suffering it will cause others.
Of course, if we are painfully and terminally ill and a burden to others, suicide is not selfish. Unfortunately, most suicides are premature, mistaking one’s current mentally-induced suffering for physical terminally ill pain and the misperception that we are a burden to others.
Oscar Wilde
“Give a man a mask, and he will show you his true face.”
What an individual does when they’re an anonymous member of a mob reveals their true nature.
We can learn more from someone’s internet searches than through the answers to their searches.
Love 8
Love is like water in a stream
connecting all, far and near.
Thoughts are like a bend in the bay
not allowing water to go its way.
When the stream or bay overflows
it’s beyond imagination how far it goes.
Corporate Hierarchy
There are three levels in the corporate hierarchy: standing up, sitting down and laying on one’s back. Companies work well when management is standing, pushing their firms forward; workers are sitting, getting the work done; and salespeople are laying on their backs pulling customers in. Companies are dysfunctional when people take positions that ill suit their roles. For example, when management is on its back, doing nothing, or when salespeople are standing up, pushing workers around. However, workers will always be workers because they have been neutered, having no desire for push or pull.
Love 5
Our mind is the greatest impediment to true love.
True love is unconditional connectedness, whereby a subject and object are one. For example, we love our hands as we love ourselves as we and our hands are one. We may not like our hands when they are dirty, but we still love them.
Our mind often makes love conditional. For example, it is rare that the “deep love” we have with our mate is not conditioned on their sexual fidelity.
True love, unconditional love, braves space (physical separation), time (continues to energize us over long periods of time) and distractions; but not the workings of our mind.
A Life In A Day
Every day is not a day in a life but a life in a day.
This is a simple but subtle truth. While our mind has us believe that we transition seamlessly from one day to the next, we are not the same person today as the person we presumably were lifetimes ago, days now passed. Perhaps this is easiest to see when we consider the physical appearance and the interests and perspectives of the person we are today with those of the person we presumably were ten years ago.
This truth implies two apparently conflicting but complementary corollaries: each day is our first and last day of life. Thus, the qualifiers of first and last are meaningless as are most things to which our mind attributes meanings.
However, as our first day of life, everything is new; intensely beautiful forms and colors engaging our attention and arousing our curiosity. We are present, grateful we are alive.
As our last day of life, we are at peace; knowing we came from being one with everything in sleep death to which we will soon return.
The realization that each day is our first and last makes for a wonderful life.
Sol Lieberman
“I loved money and I loved children but couldn’t afford to have both. I chose to have children because they could love me back.”
Hopefully, children pay us more interest than does money. Likewise, hopefully, the time and resources we invest in children realizes a higher return than otherwise.
Philosophers And Economists
Philosophers are like economists, they can explain everything but don’t know anything. Philosophers can’t tell us where we are and economists can’t tell us where we are going.
Way Of Way 153
More praise and love is given to the dead than the living, because the dead can do no wrong.
Ten Commandments
First Commandment
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
The First Commandment tells us that we were once slaves who were freed through the workings of God. Knowing God is our savior, we are well-commanded not to follow the ways of other gods who presumably cannot provide us the way to freedom.
Before birth, we are one with everything and at peace. Upon birth, we perceive ourselves as apart and separate from everything that is not us, an overwhelming and often hostile world. Our mind serves us by protecting us from this world; making sense of it and integrating us into it. However, as we become dependent on our mind’s protection, our mind is no longer our servant but our master. Fear of the world is supplanted by fear of experiencing the world without our mind’s framework. It is then that we are prisoners of our mind. God, however, can free us from the prison of our mind.
Our mind is an mnemonic device. It organizes the world through memories of our intentions, actions and consequences of previous lives and through our socialization. (Our previous lives are not lives before the time of our birth but the days of our life before now, as each day is not a day in a life but a life in a day. That is, our lives end when we go to sleep and begin anew when we awaken.) This is called karma, the categorizations, meanings and stories our mind creates based on our past experiences that frame how we experience the world now. Karma is effectively a karmic prison as it limits and defines our experience, not allowing us to experience the world as it is.
Unlike the other Commandments, the First Commandment refers to the past, the time when we were slaves. Slavery represents our karma prison. When we unite with God, we can be freed from our karmic prison.
God is everything before it is what it is whatever it is. God is revealed as infinite and ever-changing manifestations. This realization unites us as one with God. As such, we realize that our mind through the illusionary karmic prison it created is what separated us from God. In union with God, we are free of the fear that kept us in our karmic prison. Upon our liberation, we experience the universe as it is; one thing, the present. The present is what it is whatever it is, beyond words and descriptions. The past is now passed and our mind has no past through which it can imprison us. Now we are free, at peace as we were before we were born.
Unlike God which is essentially everything and through whom we can be free, one with everything, other gods cannot free us from our karmic prison. Other gods are gods of things like the sun, water, earth, etc. They are illusionary gods as they are the gods of temporary manifestations of God.
Second Commandment
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them;…”
The Second Commandment prohibits the making of artwork that is also worshiped; that is, idols.
Idol worship is holding sacred a tangible object and worshipping it as an incarnation of God. This is the antithesis of worshiping God as it negates the sacredness of all else. As everything is a manifestation of God, everything is sacred.
Idols are not solely objects worshiped as deities. Idols are things we hold sacred like prized possessions and celebrities who are “idolized.” More generally, idols are things we perceive as having an independent existence. For example, getting angry with a car that’s stalled is akin to idol worship as it presumes the car has an independent existence. Thus, idols give rise to an artificial duality, that which is an idol and all else that is not. As such, dualities repudiate God since God is one, everything. Hence, idol worship precludes us from being one with God.
Moreover, idols are a personal and/or collective designation. Thus, idols are a reflection of ourselves; that is, an idol is an I-doll. Ultimately, the prohibition against idol worship is a prohibition against taking ourselves too seriously.
Third Commandment
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God,…”
When Moses met God in the desert, Moses asked God what is God’s name. God responded: “I am who I am.” God effectively self-describes as one who cannot be described. Any name or description of God would be a misuse as God is everything, not one finite thing that is unlike other things. God is what it is whatever it is.
Fourth Commandment
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
After creating the universe in six days, God rested on the seventh day. Undistracted by work, God sat and observed the beauty and wonder of creation as it unfolds in the play of life. God commands us to do likewise. In so doing, we and God are one.
Work is essentially what we do that we would otherwise not do but for the rewards we receive. Thus, work is a means to an ends. When we are at rest, the means and the ends are one. At rest, we are at peace, present and having no desire to be elsewhere or to do otherwise.
Disengaging ourselves from our everyday work is akin to meditation. In meditation, we commune with God in the present and realize the universe is what it is whatever it is, not as we’ve created it in our mind. This leads us to realize that we and the universe, the manifestation of God, are one.
Fifth Commandment
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
Like Commandments Sixth through Ninth, the Fifth Commandment can be generalized as the Golden Rule, treat others as we wish to be treated. The Golden Rule is a common concept in all the major religions.
However, unlike Commandments Sixth through Ninth, the Fifth Commandment is less of a Commandment and more of a contract God offers us: honor your parents and you will be rewarded with a long life. The reward is generally assured as it’s founded on behavior modification. We honor our parents by respectively including them in our lives and providing for them in their time of need, as they age or can no longer work. Our care allows them to live longer than they would otherwise. Seeing how we treat our parents, our children are “imprinted” to treat us likewise which increases the likelihood we will live longer than otherwise.
Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Commandments
Sixth Commandment: “You shall not murder.”
Seventh Commandment: “You shall not commit adultery.”
Eighth Commandment: “You shall not steal.”
Ninth Commandment: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”
The Sixth – Ninth Commandments are straightforward: we are commanded not to murder, engage sexually with someone who is married, steal or lie. These Commandments can be generally described as the Golden Rule: treat others as we wish to be treated.
The purpose of the Golden Rule Commandments is to foster peaceful interpersonal and community relationships. Moreover, living by the Golden Rule is a testament to our realization of divine consciousness.
Divine consciousness is the realization that every thing is not a thing unto itself but one of infinite temporary manifestations of God; ever-changing, interdependent (hence, essentially one thing); with no beginning or end. As we are not solely our personal finite self but part and one with one thing, God, we treat every thing as we wish to be treated as every thing is us.
The Ninth Commandment, the prohibition of lying, also reveals a certain truth: we cannot be one with God if we are not one with ourselves; that is, if we have no integrity. Lying precludes integrity as when we lie we are two people, one who lies and another who knows the truth.
Tenth Commandment
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
The Tenth Commandment is that we not desire what we don’t have.
Generally, our needs (food, shelter, security and health) can be simply satisfied but our desires not; as the more we feed our desires the hungrier they get. When we’re distracted by our desires, we are not grateful for what we have. However, when we are grateful we are great-full; that is, we are full of the great feeling that God has blessed us. Gratitude is integral to realizing our purpose in life: to have a wonderful and happy life, realize our potential and help others likewise. When we are grateful for all God has provided us, our gratitude is an acknowledgement of God who is appreciative and treats us accordingly.
Epilogue
The First Commandment is that through our union with God we can be free from the prison of our mind.
The Second Commandment is that we don’t take material things or ourselves too seriously.
The Third Commandment is that we realize everything, including us, is God; that God is unknowable and beyond description.
The Fourth Commandment is that we enjoy the beauty and wonder of creation as God.
The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Commandments are that we treat others as we treat ourselves because we and others are one.
The Tenth Commandment is that we are grateful to God for the wonderful life we’ve been given.
The Ten Commandments were given by God to the “chosen people.” The “chosen” are those who journey through life on the way of the light. They are lighthearted, have interesting insights into the nature of mind and ultimately are one with the light: enlightened.
Robert Kiyosaki
“Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die.”
Our ego is our identity. It keeps us apart and separate from everything it perceives is not us. Our ego identity is very powerful. We are afraid of our vulnerability without it. However, when we bury our ego, encapsulate it, we realize we are truly one with everything as there is only one thing, everything. That is heaven on Earth.
When we realize we can be in heaven with only the death of our ego, fear of dying is not an obstacle on the way to heaven.
Way Of Way 149
Everyone wants something special as long as it tastes like vanilla.
Eddie Penn*
Shitting with Victor
Shit my pants yesterday.
43 seconds away from my bathroom.
After a furious run home. A quixotic run interrupted by several emergency sphincter squeezes. Made it all the way from E79 and 1st to 64th and 1st. And up five flights of stairs. Made it through a door key twist. But…The 1st wave forged through just as the front door swung open.
Was about to fight the gods one last time and try a superhuman sphincter squeeze…When in a flash, I thought of Victor. Thought of it is what it is. Thought of laughter.
And out it came. All of it. A big bang of shit. Down my leg. Effectively ruining my favorite pair of pants. Favorite pair of socks. Decent pair of shoes. And when I eventually made it to the toilet, I sat there laughing.
Thinking of Victor. Sure. My mom was there too. Chiding me in a yenta’s voice – “Why? Why Eddie why? Why couldn’t you hold it for 43 more seconds? What is wrong with you Eddie?” And my forensic voice was there as well – “Was it the homemade shrimp and lobster sauce? Was it too much sauna? Are you growing old and incontinent?”
And the ole Heart und Fear duet – “Was it your earlier session with the kid? That moment you suspected he is doomed? Doomed forever to be that 7-yr-old the cops would find hiding under the blankets when they called for domestic violence.”
The whole chorus was sitting on that toilet.
But the lead vocals belonged to Victor. The lead vocal was laughter.
And as I walked downstairs onto 1st Avenue seeking a respectful place to leave my shopping bag of shit…As I laughed and laughed at the mission…As I laughed at the UES [upper East Side, Manhattan] women checking me out thinking I’m some domesticated male doing a late grocery run…”Can’t they smell who I am?”
A pleasant thought ran across my mind. Maybe my client isn’t doomed. Then again, maybe he is.
It is what it is.
*Pseudonym.
The Imaginary River Of Time
Time is an imaginary measure of the space between events.
It only exists because we are its parents.
Time is a river from fountainhead to sea.
It wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for me.
The river is the river, it is as it is.
where I am in the river makes time whiz.
I am who I am, unchanged from the fountainhead
until the time I think I’m dead.
The river is the river, even when its part of the sea
But that is something I cannot see.
Time And Transition
Time and Transition
Time is invisible, like the wind.
Only seen in its affects on everything
On the back of the wind clouds take a ride
Until over the horizon they hide.
Soon they return from I don’t know where
But I enjoy them now and do not care.
Rock-Paper-Scissors
Rock-paper-scissors is a game dating to antiquity. It is also a metaphor for the dynamic interrelationship between nature, civilization and technology.
In the game, each of two players declares themselves as either rock, paper or scissors by a show of a fist (rock), an open hand (paper) or the index and middle fingers apart (scissors). Paper wins vs rock (as paper can envelop rock); scissors wins vs paper (as scissors can cut paper); and rock wins vs scissors (as rock can destroy scissors).
Rocks are nature in rudimentary form. Paper, as it’s organic and manmade, represents civilization. Scissors are a simple form of technology.
A fist is a symbol of oneness, the fundamental nature of the universe. An open hand, like a handshake, represents openness and cooperation; essential in development of civilization. Fingers apart are fork-like, a useful tool that is also potentially a weapon.
Civilization, as in the advent of farming, dominates nature. Technology is often a force used in the destruction of civilization. Nature, as an asteroid or sun storm flare hitting Earth (see Carrington Event of 1859), can destroy technology (electric grid, GPS systems, etc.).
In an informal survey, I’ve found that those who pick rock, paper or scissors identify themselves as a knife, spoon and fork (see knife-fork-spoon) respectively.
Knife-Fork-Spoon
At whatever we look, we see ourselves; especially that with which we most closely identify. In that light, are you a knife, fork, or spoon?
People who identify as knives tend to view the world as bigger than themselves; a world which needs to be cut to a smaller size to make it digestible. They see only one way of doing things as knives can be safely held from only one side.
Forks are people who look to identify simple opportunities to enrich themselves. Most businesspeople identify as forks.
Spoons look like the human form. They are gentle, cupping their food. Moreover, they are relatively friendly as they can safely be held from either side.
Alternatively, there are chopsticks. Chopsticks can be invariably held by one side or the other; that is, we treat others as we do ourselves. People who identify as chopsticks view life as not viable when lived independently (one chopstick), but easy when we work in tandem with others.
Daniel J. Boorstin
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.”
When we think we know, our curiosity evaporates and we cease exploring to become truly knowledgeable.
William Wisher
“If you think about where you are, you’re probably somewhere else.”
There is only the here and now. Thinking about where we are, or comparing ourselves to others separates us from this here and now. Lost, yet not knowing it, our thoughts take us somewhere else, a somewhere that soon turns to nowhere.
Deathday Party
Today, June 12th, is my birthday. It’s not a significant day unless I’m stopped for a traffic violation and given a pass by a sympathetic police officer.
Birthday parties celebrate the calendar date upon which we arrived on Earth for our short time here. Deathday ceremonies celebrate those who have transitioned to be one with everything forever.
Birthday celebrations are ubiquitous while the deathday is rarely acknowledged in the Western world outside of Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, Korean and Vietnamese communities.
Birthday parties are an incapsulated mix of food, chitchat, perhaps a couple of speeches and gifting. Deathday ceremonies can be more fun and impactful. On the deathday we can gather and each attendee can view their life and the lives of others from the perspective of the one who is one with everything. Then, those who have gathered can be born again as they perceive themselves in a new light and the presence of the one who transitioned is felt by all for a time long passed their deathday.
Practical And Idealistic Diversity
In recent years there’s been a loud call for diversity at large companies. The practical ideology supporting diversity is that without discrimination an organization can access wisdom (see the wisdom of the crowd) which is essential to realizing its potential.
However, diversity, as articulated by government, is superficial and not as effective as true diversification. As the government sees it, individuals are not unique but belong to one or several groups; religious, racial, sexual, ethnic, etc. The goal of diversity is to have employees in every large organization as members in different groups such that all groups are represented in an organization in some proportion that reflects society at-large. This mechanical approach often misses its intended goal as the viewpoints of members from different groups are not necessarily meaningfully diverse.
Organizations naturally discriminate in their hiring practices. For example, it “makes sense” for a company to require all hires to be hardworking people. However, a company that aims for a diverse workforce would hire a few lazy workers as well. While the lazy workers might put a drag on existing operations, they would likely find easier processes to get the job done which would lead to greater efficiencies. That’s the benefit of having a diverse workforce.
The government also has an idealistic ideology that promotes diversity. It is the absurd notion that relative equality among members in society makes for a happy society. As the human species benefits by having diverse talents and personalities, there will always be lazy and industrious people. However, few industrious people work industriously for similar financial outcomes as those who are lazy. Hence, the idealistic ideology promoting diversity leads to a lower standard of living on average for all. That’s unlikely to make many societal members happy.
The Etymology Of Bull And Bear Markets
When stock market prices rise dramatically and unjustifiably based on the earnings prospects of companies, it’s called a bull market; when they precipitously fall it’s called a bear market. According to Investopedia: “The terms ‘bear’ and ‘bull’ are thought to derive from the way in which each animal attacks its opponents. That is, a bull will thrust its horns up into the air, while a bear will swipe down. These actions were then related metaphorically to the movement of a market. If the trend was up, it was considered a bull market. If the trend was down, it was a bear market.”
Alternatively, perhaps a bull market is like a bull charging at a matador’s red cape. The bull is charging ahead at something it sees as real and alive (the moving red cape, rising prices), but which ultimately is a mirage, a delusion. as there is nothing behind the cape or to justify rising prices. Likewise, a bear market is like a hibernating bear which cannot be enticed to eat food it’s offered (like buying stocks that are easy to be had, cheap) because it is sleeping.
The Nature Of Cats
CAT is an acronym for a sheriff’s Criminal Apprehension Team which tracks and arrests offenders wanted for serious felony crimes. Cats don’t scratch when they purr. Cats don’t like any sort of water.
Some years back, I lived in Westport, CT. One day, as I was driving to play squash, I was on a business phone call and startled by red lights in the rearview mirror. Soon enough, I was parked on the side of the road with a police car behind me. An overweight officer came out of his vehicle. He was livid, screaming: “You were on our cell phone.” I said: “Officer, I know I was on the phone, I shouldn’t have been, poor judgement on my part. But I’m a bit late for a squash game. How about I give you my license and registration and meet you back at the station house after the game and we’ll sort it all out?” He then got even angier and screamed: “You can’t do that.” As our temperatures were rising, I said: “Officer, I see you are upset. I think you are upset with me. I feel terrible. We are here to take care of each other and I’m not doing a good job of it. Please, tell me, what can I do to make you feel better?” At that point, our minds calmed and he said: “Let’s forget about it.” A cat doesn’t scratch when it’s purring.
I told this story to a lawyer friend from Spain. He said that he often gets stopped for traffic infractions but never gets ticketed. Simply, when stopped, as the police officer comes asking for his driver’s license, my friend puts his right hand finger, which is out of the officer’s view, to his nose. From his left side, it appears his finger is sloshing around in his nose. He then takes out his driver’s license with his right hand and offers it to the officer who invariably refuses it and tells him to be considerate (perhaps prophylactically) of others. Cats don’t like all sorts of water.
Swami Vivekananda
“When a man is perfect, he sees perfection in others. When he sees imperfection, it is his own mind projecting itself.”
Way Of Way 140
Life is an entertaining journey as long as we don’t forget it’s a temporary holiday from where we permanently reside which is heaven. Even those with the most wonderful lives find themselves in hell when they forget they’re on holiday.
Irving Berlin
“A man chases a girl until she catches him.”
He can only escape if he loves the chase more than the girl.
Way Of Way 139
For crying babies, milk brings peace.
As adults, the Milky Way has the same effect.
Unfortunately, few can access the Milky Way today.
120 years ago everyone lived under the dark-sky and could see the Milky Way. Today, 99% of people live with some degree of light pollution, precluding their eyes from drinking the light of the Milky Way.
Thomas S. Murphy
“One of the most uncommon things in life is common sense.”
We perceive the world through ideological and personal associations which cloud our thinking. On the rare occasions we are dispassionate, the sun comes out and we can see clearly.
Way Of Way 137
What is within is always the same, the soul.
What is without is ever-changing.
What is within is essential.
What is without we can live without.
Leo Tolstoy
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Happiness is gratitude, optimism and freedom from karmic prisons. Karmic prisons are artificial constructs; stories, descriptions, categorizations and generalizations our mind creates. These constructs control how we perceive and interact in the world. They at times allow us temporary joys but preclude us from long-term happiness. As each mind’s constructs are unique, those who are not happy are unhappy in their own way.
The Need For Diversity Training
By definition, a mutt is a dog of uncertain pedigree. A mutt is also a person who is stupid or incompetent. Those who don’t allow a mutt to compete at a dog show are also mutts.
Imagine an extraordinarily beautiful, athletic and intelligent rescue mutt; so smart, the mutt masters every trick in the book and even learns to play checkers competitively with a 10-year old. Surely, the mutt would win first prize at any accredited dog show, become instantly popular with the general public and be in great demand for breeding which would improve the genetic pool of dogs generally, be financially rewarding for its owner and allow the dog to have fun.
Unfortunately, without a pedigree, the mutts who run dog shows wouldn’t allow the mutt to compete, fearing the mutt would outshine them as it would do more to promote general interest in dogs than could they or any pedigree dog.
Way Of Way 136
Enlightenment is not a utopia. Enlightenment and unhappiness are not mutually exclusive. One could simultaneously be enlightened and unhappy, momentarily.
The enlightened radiate light. While solid objects cast shadows over them, the shadows are temporary illusions that are quickly dissipated by their light.
The Night My Parents Married
The mind can make the most pleasurable things unpleasurable.
I was recently informed by my sister that my father, an orthodox Jew, was angry the night he consummated his marriage to my mother. Their lovemaking turned from pleasure to anger when he realized my mother was not a virgin as she had claimed.
I thought it funny that his mind distracted him from the pleasure at hand; that she had bed others before him and mislead him seemed besides the point.
I don’t know whether my father was upset because he felt my mother’s deception compromised the foundational trust upon which a solid relationship is built upon or perhaps my father felt that marriage was a significant financial commitment on his part for which he expected to have first dibs on certain bedroom benefits; yet, apparently, others received the benefits for free.
Riding the Muskmobile
Yesterday it was reported that SpaceX, a company controlled by Elon Musk, paid $250K to settle a sexual harassment employment dispute whereas a flight attendant at SpaceX claimed that Musk offered her a horse (she apparently loves riding horses) in exchange for a “sexual” massage. Presumably, Musk’s offer was: I’ll give you a horse if you take care of my horse.
Musk contends that the sexual harassment claim at issue has been mischaracterized; the disclosure of which is an effort by the political left to discredit him because he has taken to task many of the left’s absurd ideologies and programs.
Clearly the left despises Musk because he is an “unfairly advantaged” successful businessman who criticises them. Essentially, the left is saying, rightfully so, that Musk’s success is unfair because Mush has quite a bit more testosterone than those smart enough to lead the left but not able enough to get it up to making money and having fun.
Voltaire 2
“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.”
Haiku 72
When past is passed
it is over and under, finished and buried.
When past is past
it is over and over, lingering over the present.
Clearly My Son
My son, Alex, yesterday tore his Achilles’ tendon while playing squash. An operation to repair the tendon and 6+ months of rehabilitation will follow. While the injury is an immediate and serious lifestyle and physical problem, Alex was calm. I suppose he was grateful, as his circumstance could have been worse. and optimistic they will get better. As such, we’ll save some money. While Alex and I are very different personalities, his attitude makes clear we’ll never need a DNA paternity test.
Way Of Way 133
The sun shows us every significant thing on earth and the billions upon billions of stars tell us how insignificant it all is.
Kanako IIyama
“Life is a dream, so have fun with it.”
When we forget it’s a dream, it can turn into a nightmare.
The Nature Of Heaven
Scripture doesn’t much describe heaven, but it’s likely a cool place relative to hell. As heaven is relatively painless and hell excruciatingly painful, heaven is death by freezing and hell is death by fire.
Way Of Way 132
When we have no doubts about how we see something, we close our eyes to other possibilities.
Adam And Eve, Revisited
The Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is a revealing tale of male/female dynamics.
As the story goes, God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden as caretakers. For sustenance, they were allowed to eat anything they desired but the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. In the Garden, all was good for Adam and Eve as they lived naked and carefree.
One day, Eve encountered a serpent in the Garden. The serpent is described as the most cunning of beasts, apparently it had legs and could talk. Soon after striking up a conversation with Eve, the serpent convinces her to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil so that she like God would know good and evil. After eating the fruit, Eve convinces Adam to eat it as well.
With this new-found knowledge, Adam and Eve came to know the good and evil of sexual intimacy; it felt good but was evil as it represented disobeying God’s rules, like the rules a parent imposes on its child.
Presumably, Eve was a virgin and as such their genitals became blood-stained after sexual intercourse. Realizing their bloody genitals would reveal to God that they had disobeyed God’s prohibition, they covered their nakedness with fig leaves. However, seeing their genitals covered, God realized they were trying to hide the bloody evidence of their misdeeds.
For their misdeeds, God punished the snake, Eve and Adam. God took away the snake’s legs so it must forever grovel on the ground. God punishes Eve by declaring that the seed of the snake and the seed of Eve will forever hate each other. Moreover, God (apparently believing Adam that Eve instigated breaking God’s rules in order to presumably satisfy her sexual desires) decreed that Eve will suffer the pains of childbirth, a consequence of sexual intimacy. God punishes Adam by banishing him from the Garden, where fruits for his sustenance were freely available. Instead, Adam is made to toil the Earth to sustain himself and to support Eve in exchange for sexual pleasures. Essentially, Adam and Eve were thrown out of their parent’s house to fend for themselves.
As the snake had legs and was able to talk, the snake must have been Adam’s penis, hanging between his legs and talking through Adam who cunningly acted as a ventriloquist. (That the snake, as above, bore a seed through sperm corroborates that the snake is indeed Adam’s penis.) Moreover, God (apparently thinking that maybe Adam was the instigator) punishes Adam’s penis, forever vanquished to grovel on the ground like men groveling for women’s sexual favors.
Thus, it was Adam who tricked Eve into eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, to convince her that sex was a natural act in which they should engage. Moreover, as the seed of the snake and the seed of the woman were decreed to forever hate each other, women and men’s sexual relationships would forever be contentious, based on give-and-take.
The story of Adam and Eve, written by men, blames a woman as the root of man’s woes, portraying her as a temptress that ultimately lured man to commit misdeeds. Adam’s male progeny have been doing like Adam ever since. While it’s unlikely we’ll be readmitted to the Garden, perhaps we can get a little closer to it if men take responsibility for their actions.
Messiah
The Bible prophesied that one day God will send the messiah, the soul of God, to Earth to bring peace and resurrect all who are dead.
Presently, only the dead who are crazy or have no memory of Earth-life would choose to return to Earth before it is at peace. As the enlightened don’t return and more and more crazy beings do return, Earth becomes inhabited by lots of crazy people who bring pain and suffering to themselves and others. Unfortunately, at some point God will determine humans are not worthy of God’s soul to realize divine consciousness and will let them destroy themselves as animals. Those of us alive now need work to make Earth more peaceful to encourage the coming of the messiah. This is actually not difficult as messiah is within all of us, though few recognize messiah’s presence.
Vinati Singh
“To be loved is like standing in front of a buffet. It means nothing if you are not hungry. To love is to enjoy that buffet…You have to feel what it is like to love someone before you can understand what an honor it is to be loved.”
Love 1
I am strong with my pain but not with yours.
Love 2
I don’t know me.
I don’t know you.
Only know us.
Can’t See The Forest For The Trees
Entangled in the now
we’re oblivious to its beauty
which is clear
from before and after the now.
Way Of Way 130
Heaven is peaceful and those in heaven want to keep it that way. They only let into heaven only those who live peaceful lives on Earth who are already in heaven.
Blind Love
Years back, a friend, Joe, called to announce he was engaged and wanted me as the best man at his wedding. Joe was 6’4″ and his fiancé, Diane, wasn’t noticeably shorter. Physically, they saw eye to eye; otherwise, a completely incompatible couple.
Before Diane, Joe was not a pretty drunk for many years. He went sober coincidentally with starting a relationship with Diane. While no longer drunk, as he and Diane were clearly incompatible, he still couldn’t see straight. I advised him against the marriage; told him he was better off as a drunk. He said I didn’t understand, he was madly in love with Diane. I said that was the problem, love kept him from seeing clearly.
It turned into a very acrimonious marriage; screaming and fighting. Yet from a distance it was funny juxtaposing the image of Joe mad about Diane to Joe mad with Diane. They didn’t see the humor; exhausted, they finally called it quits five years later.
With divorce rates high, there must be many couples like Joe and Diane suffering the consequences of blind love. If not for marriages based on blind love, the number of divorces would likely drop 70%. But divorce rates would rise because there would be even fewer marriages.
The Enlightened Cells
We are all individual cells in one human body; nerve cells, heart cells, fat cells, skin cells, blood cells, etc. Each type of cell lives in a cluster of identical cells that function, behave and think alike.
The most unusual cells are the blood cells. Red blood cells don’t have a nucleus, can’t reproduce and have the flexibility to easily change their shape. Without a nucleus or mind, they are essentially selfless and embody compassion; their sole purpose is to serve other cells. They travel through the body, visiting all types of cells, bringing cells oxygen for sustenance and removing carbon dioxide which would otherwise kill them.
Through their travels, red blood cells recognize that there are many different types of cells, each having a different perspective of the body. While the nerve cells might be the smartest, the white blood cells the most combative, the stomach cells the toughest, the bone cells the hardest, etc.; the red blood cells, having the perspectives of other cells, are the wisest.
With wisdom and compassion, red blood cells are the enlightened cells. Maybe that’s what makes them the most colorful.
Way Of Way 128
Can we take seriously explanations of the past as no one can predict the future?
Confucius 1
“If a man gives no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.”
Until it is obvious, it is difficult to see things we haven’t first imagined. Imagining dangerous scenarios allows us to see and avoid them before they become reality. While these imaginings are stressful, they are less stressful than experiencing them.
Governments
Governments often sing and dance to different music. They sing of doing wonderful things for mankind as they dance on people’s bodies.
Eye idol, 3700 – 3500 B.C., Tell Brak, Levant
This 5500 year old female figure comes from the time before the dawn of the written word. Much has changed since then but perhaps men have not. The figure is depicted with eyes, nose, breasts and a vagina; but no mouth or ears. Perhaps that’s how most men like their women.
More seriously, what this apparently sacred object (it is referred to as an “idol”) means is open to interpretation. Eye idols are almost invariably depicted with eyes only; no mouth, nose or other body parts. Perhaps that’s the nature of a presumably all-knowing deity, they observe and do not speak. As Lao Tzu observed more than 3000 years later: “He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.”
The Burning Bush Is The Tree Of Life
In the Bible, God appears to Moses in the form of an eternally burning bush. The bush however is not burning. As its flames are not devouring the branches, the flames must be light, not fire. The light however appears as fire, our mind perceiving it based on our past experiences where light in a bush can only be fire. The mind’s preconceptions blind us from seeing things as they are.
The burning bush, as the entire universe, is a manifestation of God. Moreover, the bush metaphorically reveals the nature of the universe: ever-changing (flames) and eternal (not burning). The light that appears as flames represents wisdom (Proverbs 3.18). The light unveils the bush, the eternal soul, from darkness.
The bush is seneh, a bramble, a rough prickly shrub which bears raspberries, blackberries or dewberries. As a prickly shrub with light abounding, the bush’s thorns are “the fiery ever-turning sword” that guards the path to the Tree of Life (Genesis 3.24). The path leads to the soul’s soul, the Tree’s fruit. Those who can see the fiery ever-turning sword as light and thorns can, without fear of burning or hurting, partake of the fruit to sustain themselves (Book of Enoch) as they become one with the soul’s soul.
When we understand the burning bush, we understand the universe; ever-changing and eternal. Then, we can find the soul’s soul and be one with everything forever. In the image of God, the burning bush, is the Tree of Life.
When we dispense with the mind, its preconceived notions and the fears they engender, we can see the universe as it is and ultimately connect as one with God.
Way Of Way 126
Buddha opened his eyes and was able to see the universe as it is. Had Buddha been studying Buddhism, he would have seen many things through his mind which would have precluded him seeing the universe as it is.
Way Of Way 124
Babies see the world as it is, always new as it is everchanging, because they don’t remember what they see.
Robin S. Sharma
“The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.”
The mind is a wonderful servant when we use it to learn from our past experiences, successes and failures to make good choices going forward. However, the mind is a terrible master when it creates stories and meanings that frame our experience of the present. Our stories are like a prison, not allowing us to experience the present as it is. Prison guards, however friendly, rule over us.
Way Of Way 16
Every night we die and every morning we are born anew.
Thus, every day is our first and last day of life.
As it’s our first day, everything is fascinating.
As it’s our last day, we appreciate everything.
Stars
The size of a star is a function of how distant it is. Stars in the Milky Way seem tiny from Earth but are unimaginably huge up close. Popular stars who are far from our real lives seem huge but aren’t bigger than us up close. The popular stars who think their big are ridiculously funny in the context of real stars.
Inflating The Deflated
Yesterday, I pulled out of my driveway for my weekly trip to the Darien Cheese Shop and a hundred feet later the car started seriously shaking. A flat tire awoke me from my routine. I stopped the car and started working with an air pump to inflate the tire. As it was taking some time, I wondered whether the tire would hold enough air for me to make it to a repair shop or I’d need to get it towed. Either way, it sounded like a bit more fun than the routine trip to the cheese shop. Soon a passing car pulled over and an elderly woman with grey hair came out and asked: “Do you need any help?” To which I replied: “Actually I’m terrific; blessed with a high-class problem, a flat tire.” We both laughed, connected by compassion and wisdom as the truth was revealed: temporary common problems are not problems but experiences to be enjoyed by all.
Easter Monday
Easter is the most important holiday in Christianity. Easter commemorates the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ which Christians believe is proof Jesus Christ was the messiah, the one who would bring peace on Earth.
The historical events of Easter are the basis for the ubiquitous symbol of Christianity, the cross or Jesus on the cross (the crucifiction). It’s a funny symbol for a religion espousing peace. As Christ preached brotherly love among people regardless of their religious identities and was ultimately crucified for his heretic views, the symbol suggests that those who preach peace will be crucified. True to this view, murder and horror is what many who have walked under the banner of Christianity have brought to peaceful non-Christians since the time of Christ.
Ultimately, Christians believe that Christ, the messiah, will return and bring peace on Earth. Perhaps so, but in light of the violent history of the those professing to be Christians, clearly Christ is not a Christian.
Way Of Way 5
If someone doesn’t love or respect us, that’s their problem. We can only feel badly for them because they simply don’t get it. However, we too have a problem if we resent them for it.
George Washington
“We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.”
The past can teach us valuable lessons. However, defining ourselves by stories we create about our past has no value and distracts us from making the most of things to come.
Way Of Way 2
Everyone’s life is unique, fascinating and entertaining. But that’s often not their experience of it.
Nuriya Khakimulla
“Silence is the greatest secret in the world.”
“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” –Lao Tzu.
“Silence is the only voice of our God.” — Herman Melville.
In true silence we not distracted by sounds or other stimulation or by our mind’s thoughts. In true silence, we are in the present, the pre-sent, the space before the universe expresses itself and time begins. In true silence the universe is revealed as an ineffable ethereal experience. Attempting to share these revelations through words with others breaks the silence, shrouds its revelations in oblivion and keeps silence a secret.
Alice (from Alice in Wonderland)
“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
Every day is a life in a day, not a day in a life. We’ve lived thousands of lifetimes, dying in the evening and born anew in the morning into circumstances similar to those in which we died yesterday. Upon rebirth, we resemble the person we were yesterday but are not the same person; though we assume we are and live in the context of our past identities. As to who we are now, it is difficult to say beyond “I am who I am” as we, like everything, are ever-changing.
Sadhguru
“When people are alone, they become spiritual. When in company, they become religious.”
When we are alone and our mind is calm, we can connect with everything, That’s a spiritual experience. When with others, we see ourselves as apart and separate and need rules and rituals to calm ourselves.
God and the Fool
The fool thinks he is God. The wise man knows he and everything is God.
The fool thinks himself apart and superior to others. The wise know we are all unique and yet the same, infinite manifestations of God.
The Value Of Associations
Underwear costing $20 new is worthless in our eyes if it’s used, spoiled and smelly. But in our mind it can be worth 1,000 times more than new if it came from Jacqueline Kennedy’s hamper.
Erich Segal
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
We may have regrets about being thoughtless and treating our body poorly; say, getting fat, a hangover or not sleeping enough. Yet, we never apologize to our body. Our body is who we are and we don’t apologize to ourselves. Likewise, in love, we and whom we love are one. Apologizing or thanking whom we presumably love implies we and they are not one; that we don’t truly have a love connection.
Seeing With Our Eyes
In October, 1992 I started collecting tribal art. While initially I didn’t imagine tribal art would be expensive, I was soon amazed at how expensive some objects were; some fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars. What made these objects so expensive is that there is a limited supply of “authentic” objects. (Authentic objects are those made by a tribal people for their own use and used accordingly. That’s unlike “tourist” objects made for others and “fakes” made to appear like authentic objects.) Authenticity is essentially the sine quo nom of the collectibles markets generally. Without a limited supply of art objects qualifying as authentic, the art market would collapse. If objects were judged simply by their aesthetic appeal alone, facsimiles that were indistinguishable from authentic objects would flood the market, making authentic objects not worth more than the cost of making a facsimile. Without high-priced collectibles, there would be no collectors spending huge sums to support art museums, auction houses and well-heeled dealers.
Art, as well as everything else, is viewed by our eyes and our mind. Our eyes see things as they see things. As our eyes have no memory, our eyes cannot compare one thing with another. However, while some things engage and appeal to us and some less so, just about everything has a unique beauty to it from some perspective. Our mind cannot see, it can only hear. When we look at an art object in terms of its authenticity, provenance, description and in comparison to other art objects, we are “seeing” through our mind, not our eyes. The art market depends on collectors seeing through their mind, not their eyes.
As a collector I’ve met many dealers. One thing that several said in passing particularly struck me: there have been many well-considered collectors that as they got on in years often sold many of their “top” objects and purchased others that were clearly fakes or of lower quality. Dealers speculated that these old collectors simply lost their “eye;” that is, they could no longer distinguish a fake from an authentic object or they lost their sense of taste and as such were satisfied with lower quality objects. Perhaps or maybe these old collectors finally saw art objects with their eyes, not their mind.
Now, I too am an old collector and appreciate the mindset of the old collectors who were pooh-poohed by dealers and museum people. Someone truly engaged with the art itself (not with art as an investment or status symbol) solely focuses on the aesthetic and engaging aspects of an art object. Whether it’s fake or real is immaterial. Each object is what it is whatever it is; to be appreciated as it is, absolutely, not relative to something else or because it’s dressed in superlatively flattering adjectives. Collectors who’ve come to this realization tend to be older, having spent many lifetimes and considerable sums building their collections. They truly have a great “eye” as they see objects with their eyes, not with their mind.
More generally, beyond art, these older individuals tend to be in Act 3 in the play of life; the transition from their finite material selves to who they were before their birth, one with everything. In the transition, we see beauty everywhere. As to the art market, they shake their heads and laugh at the foolish collectors they once were.
Freedom From Mind
The present is the pre-sent, the space before the universe expresses itself as infinite unique manifestations. The present is empty. It is silent. Time does not exist in the present. It is dark until we light it up by opening our eyes. The now is when the universe expresses itself. It is when time begins. In the now we experience the universe via our senses and our mind.
The present is the space between exhale and inhale, between bodily death and birth, between going to sleep and awakening. In the present we are not distracted by the universe expressing itself in the now. We can observe the universe and come to know it.
The experience via our senses is what it is whatever it is; some of it to our liking and some not. It’s a visceral connection with the universe. The experience via our mind is of memories, meanings and stories that make us feel good, bad, indifferent and countless other states of mind.
We equate our mind’s perception of the universe with reality. We take it seriously and hold onto it regardless of how miserable it may make us feel. Perceiving the universe otherwise requires us to abandon our mind. We’re afraid to do that as we fear we would be lost without our mind. That’s how our mind imprisons us.
However, we can escape our mind’s prison and not find ourselves lost when we leave the now and go to the present. The present is a peaceful place where there is nothing to fear. In the present we can open our eyes and realize that there are infinite mind frames for experiencing the universe; that the mind frame we heretofore could not let go was not particularly more valid than others; that we are free to experience the universe through a mind frame of our choosing. This is wisdom. As a default, we choose the happy mind; a mind that is grateful, optimistic and free from karmic prisons.
With a happy mind, much of life is absurdly funny as we see most people taking their respective mind’s perceptions seriously.
When we open our eyes and light up the darkness in the present, we realize the universe is just light; infinite, eternal, ever-changing and unique manifestations of light; that we are light, not just individual little selves trying to make a go of it in the short time between birth and death.
Realizing all is light, we fill with compassion. We’re joyous making others happy and helping them escape their mind’s prison as that’s our purpose in life.
Everything Is One Thing
Everything is unique now
and unlike itself after now.
Everything is nothing before it is something.
I am nothing before I am what I am whatever I am.
Nothing is one thing, nothing.
Everything, including me, is one thing.
Progressives
Progressives are clowns, the funniest people when they are not scary. Funny when they take their crazy thoughts seriously. Scary when enough others take them seriously and make them their leaders.
Progressives are idealists who aim to change the social/political order so they may better people’s lives. They are intellectuals who think they are smarter than the less educated and therefore they should decide what’s best for all. Alternatively, businesspeople take an empirical and practical approach to providing goods and services to people to choose for themselves how to better their lives. They provide what the market demands, without judgement of the desires of their customers.
Progressives view the social order vertically, an autocracy. Businesspeople view the world horizontally, a democracy where people vote with their cash.
Progressives are risk-averse and want to control everything. Businesspeople are risk-takers and succeed by managing risks.
Progressives promote their agenda with propaganda while businesspeople advertise.
Progressives need individuals to think as a group. Businesses thrive on independent thinkers choosing what’s best for themselves based on product quality and price.
Progressives are inflexible and face extinction as the world changes and they can’t. Businesspeople who survive are those most able to adapt to change.
Progressives hate the lower classes which they view as a necessary evil they need to accommodate. Businesspeople view their customers as the gods they serve.
Progressives envision building a house from the roof to the ground which inevitably crushes those building it. Businesspeople built a house from the ground up for all who can afford it to live.
The Present And The Now
Consciousness is binary,
the present and the now.
The present and the now seem synonymous
but are mutually exclusive,
complementary
and interdependent
as one cannot exist without the other.
The present is the pre-sent,
the time before the universe is sent out as expressions of itself.
The now is when our senses initially experience the universe expressing itself.
Time doesn’t exist in the pre-sent.
In the pre-sent eternity lies.
The now is the beginning of time.
All other time,
past and future,
are illusions created by our mind.
The present is the beginningless and endless time
before a gong is struck,
shattering silence and awaking us to the now.
In the now we hear its sound,
initially powerful
and then slowly drifting away
until only silence remains,
the present.
The present is the space
between exhale and inhale.
Inhaling and exhaling is the now.
Personal Observation 1
Since the beginning of time I can remember, everything seemed new and unique, especially the causal or coincidental relationship between things, why things are as they are. As well, I’ve been always amazed how people view the same thing so differently and hold no doubts about their respective perspectives. Curiosity has driven me down many roads to understand things. But after travelling countless miles, I realize the road was a treadmill as I still don’t know much about anything. But, I keep at it, probably because it’s not frustrating but fun, as the means and the ends are the same. Some would say that after a lifetime of fruitless effort, I’m a fool trying to understand things; but better that than undoubtedly being a fool thinking I do.
God’s Mind
Our mind defines us and the world around us.
We adamantly hold our mind’s view as reality
and fear to think differently
for if we let go our mind we’d lose it and be lost.
That’s how our mind controls us.
If lost, what would replace it,
who would we then be?
The undifferentiated mind,
the mind of God.
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a story of men serving life sentences in a brutal penitentiary. The penitentiary is a metaphor for living in society. Most of us live our entire lives in a penitentiary. But in The Shawshank Redemption, as in society generally, a few have a chance at redemption, freedom: Brooks Hatlen, an old man who managed the prison library; Andy Dufresne, a banker wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his wife and her lover; and Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, a prison contraband smuggler.
After 50 years of “good behavior” (a model prisoner serving others as a librarian; a kind man who cares for an injured bird) Brooks is free to leave. However, a sentence well-served, like a life well-served, doesn’t guarantee redemption. For Brooks there is no redemption. Redemption requires letting go of our past where we are imprisoned by our mind. While excited at the prospect of freedom, Brooks can’t part with his identity as a prison librarian and embrace the freedom that awaits him. He becomes depressed and hangs himself soon upon his release.
Andy is like everyman, not deserving punishment but punished nonetheless, forced to serve a role in life that’s not to his liking. He makes the most of his life in prison but for years devotes his time and energy on digging a tunnel from his cell to freedom outside the prison walls. On the day of his escape, he emerges from a hole in the earth, essentially reborn. Once free, like all free men he leaves the roles society has slotted him to live carefree in a beachfront village, presumably without risk of extradition. Andy finds redemption. His efforts are like years of meditation that culminate in escaping the prison of the role-plying self and past identities to be one with the world at large.
Ellis is long-imprisoned for a crime he committed in his youth. Periodically he comes up for parole which he’s denied. Again and again he tells the parole board that he is sorry about his criminal past, completely rehabilitated and would never do it again. Again and again, the board rejects his petition for parole. Then, finally, he tells the board that he often imagines a boy who he doesn’t know. He sees the boy about to commit a horrible crime and he only wishes he could grab that boy before the crime is committed. The board then grants him parole. Essentially, Ellis is saying that he no longer is the person who committed the crime for which he went to prison; the person he is now could never have committed such a crime and he would try to stop its commission if he saw it happening. Keeping Ellis incarcerated longer would be punishing someone for a crime they didn’t commit. His redemption comes from completely disavowing his past which allows him to smuggle himself out of prison. Likewise, we are only free when we leave the karmic prison of our mind.
Redemption, freedom, is ultimately the purpose of life. It comes not simply by living a good life, treating others well and satisfying our responsibilities. It comes from long and hard work to realize our personal and societal identities are temporary roles in the play of life. Then, we know the name of the play, “Terrific.”
Sun God
There is one God.
The God before the Big Bang.
The God beyond our comprehension.
The God that birthed billions of sons.
God’s sons too are gods.
They are the stars.
God’s son closest to us is our sun.
Sense, Nonsense
When we open our eyes we see what we sense, which a fool’s mind makes into nonsense.
We appreciate a beautiful artwork when we see it. That makes sense. A collector paying millions for such an artwork when an indistinguishable facsimile can be had for a pittance, that’s foolish nonsense.
Beyond beautiful artworks, there is beauty everywhere for those who have the sense to open their eyes; but not for fools who prefer nonsense.
Of course, “collectible” paintings are not purchased for the visual experience they provide but for their speculative value (that there will be a greater fool to pay more for them in the future), or as objects of prestige (identifying those who foolishly need to impress others or themselves) or as a pass to enter certain high-society social circles inhabited by other fools.
Blind To Our Shadows When Gazing At The Sun
When facing the sun, shrouded in its warmth and the gazing at the beauty of everything, we’re often oblivious to the shadows we cast.
In the post, Being In The Present, I talked about my “insider trading” criminal case. Ultimately, as a result of losing at trial, I spent 1994 in a Federal prison in Fairton, NJ.
I looked forward to going to prison. Thought I’d have a good time meeting guys outside my social/business/special interests circles. Maybe get to do things I hadn’t previously been exposed to: garden maintenance, car repair, preparing institutional foods; maybe read some books. After having snapped some lawnmower blades on rock outcroppings and making a car’s problems worse, I was fired from those jobs. I didn’t get a chance to work in the kitchen because I casually mentioned to an inmate that I must have gotten genital herpes years back at a group sex party; as word got around, some were concerned herpes was transmittable through food, so I was nixed from that job. Didn’t get a chance to read much beyond periodicals. Most of the time spent was pondering the nature of things and interviewing the prisoners about their circumstances and how they viewed the world. I joked around a lot, seemed to entertain the mates and the guards. Paid someone $1 to make my bed daily, someone else to make me hand-cut potato fries and broiled New Zealand calves’ liver and another mate to clean the shower before I went in to jerk off. I thought I was well liked, until my last night there. Last night there, the prisoners typically threw a party for the one who was departing. As my time neared, I was getting the feeling they weren’t having a party for me. So I ordered 80 ice cream sandwiches from the commissary (from which you could privately buy foods and other stuffs) to ensure a party was to be. Everyone loved it; best party of the season. However, at some point during the party I said to a crowd of mates “you guys will probably miss me.” To which one replied: “We won’t miss you. We hate you.” Incredulous, I said, “really, why’s that?” To which he replied: “because you had too good a time here.” Now, 27 years later, I sometimes think maybe some people in my current life feel the same way about me. But, like in prison, I can’t imagine that to be so. Gazing at the sun I’m oblivious of the shadows I cast.
Being In The Present
However dark, foreboding or uncertain the future appears, it doesn’t affect us when we are in the true-present, the timeless space before now and all that follows.
In late 1985 I was married with one child, unemployed, had little money saved and started a hedge fund managing the funds of a small group of investors. Soon after, in the Spring of 1986, I became embroiled in an “insider trading” scandal. The related investigation made the newspapers and shadowed me everywhere. I was at risk of losing overwhelming sums for legal fees, fines and penalties as well as the prospect of going to prison and being permanently barred from running a hedge fund which was my only viable means of earning a living. The investigation lasted for three and a half years by which time I had two more children. Then I was indicted. The trial concluded in late spring of 1990. I was found guilty. After two years spent on appealing the verdict, I was sentenced to 18 months in prison, fined $1.8M and had the prospect, pending appeals, of losing my license to continue managing money. I had also up until then paid roughly $2M for legal representation. I went to prison in January 1994. In January, 2000 I lost the appeals and was permanently barred from managing other people’s money.
With the attention I needed to give the investigation and trial and the dire consequences hanging over my head for eight years, investors and friends were astonished that I was able to continue running my hedge fund successfully without a care. My view was that beyond managing the hedge fund I had nothing to worry about one day to the next. The circumstances were what they were and I would deal with them as they unfolded. I wasn’t dying of cancer; things could have always been worse. In fact, I was grateful for my circumstances. I was happy. Simply, I was in the present and focused on whatever next was going to be in the now.
Way Of Way 158
Enlightenment is when the lights go on in a theater featuring a captivating movie.
Heaven
In heaven we are all even
as only souls can enter heaven
and each soul is the same.
We can bring our souls to heaven
but we can’t bring our soles to heaven.
Those who know not of heaven
cannot part with their soles until nightfall.
Then they become lost souls.
For the sun reveals the entrance to heaven
and at night heaven’s gates are closed.
The Soul
There is only one soul.
That’s why it’s called the sole.
The soul is rarely visible,
like the sole of our feet,
but it’s the axis connecting us to the Earth
and the foundation upon which everything stands.
Way Of Way 110
One can live without a mind but not without a heart.
Way Of Way 108
Each of us stars in their own play and plays roles in other people’s plays.
As many plays are not popular, people who star in their own play often spend most of their time in roles in other people’s plays.
To have these people who are in minor roles in the plays of others perform best, we treat them like special guest stars. Maybe one day they will be stars; but, if not, at least they’ll enjoy their roles more than otherwise and that will make our play a better play.
Om And Oh
“Om” and “oh” are the sounds before words were born.
“Om” is the incantation at the beginning and end of chapters in the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas and Upanishads. It is the sound made in ceremonies relating to the rites of passage such as weddings and during meditative and spiritual activities like yoga. It is the sound of the universe that’s meant to encompass all sounds; the sound attesting to our consciousness; the sound recognizing the divine.
Likewise, “oh” is a sound used to express our awakening, our immediate emotional reaction to something to which we have just been made aware.
The expression “Oh my God” is the most common expression heard at the moment of orgasm. In this context, “oh my God” means one is awakened to one’s oneness with God; one’s oneness with the universe before the beginning of time and as nothing becomes everything: the Big Bang.
As “Om” is an incantation that’s chanted as “Ommmmmmmmmm,” “oh my God” seems more consistent with the pace of approaching sexual climax than “Ommmmmmmmmm my God.”
Taisha
Takeshi Fuji, photographer
Shiga, Japan, 2/2/2022
There are 8 million gods recognized in the Shinto religion in Japan, a number that in traditional Japanese culture is considered synonymous with infinity. Taisha (coincidentally, pronounced like my name, Teicher), is the oldest and biggest shrine in Japan where it is said that all the gods meet annually. This photo, not of the Izumo Taisha Grand Shrine, is metaphorically Taisha. It depicts a reflecting light path over water (coincidentally, “teich” in German is “pond”) and through a shrine to the sun god, the origin of everything. The sun god is seen rising over mountains and through clouds. The mountains are opaque, ignorance, which requires great efforts to climb above. The clouds are translucent, our mind which otherwise is what shrouds the light that is everywhere.
The Face Of God
Each of us has a soul.
But there is only one soul.
The face of the soul is the face of God.
Invisible.
Our mind masks the face of our soul.
Our mind has an infinite number of faces.
Fearing the nothingness beneath our mask,
few dare remove it.
But only then can we see the face of God.
Way Of Way 102
Unless they are sold things, people buy very little.
Way Of Way 99
At birth we separate from being one with the universe. At death, we reunite with the universe. Blessed are those united with the universe in life, for they do not suffer death.
Way Of Way 98
Who we are is revealed by how we describe others. But that’s rarely how we see ourselves.
Mindlessness Meditation
Meditation is a practice that puts us at twilight, the space between the states sleep and awake. It’s purpose is to bring us to a calm and restful place by disengaging us from the stimulation which our sensory organs and mind use to claim our attention. In this space we simply exist. Sometimes called “mindfulness meditation,” it is perhaps better termed “mindlessness meditation” as we are now free of identities and attachments of our mind’s construction.
While there are countless meditation techniques, one approach is three short daily meditations. In these meditations we sit still in a quiet place with our eyes closed, uninterrupted by our senses. We focus on our breathing for maybe 20 breaths without our mind disrupting us with thoughts. If interrupted, we start again until we reach 20. Breathing-in is energizing. Breathing-out is relaxing. The space between exhaling and inhaling is completely dark and silent, a void that our mind would prefer we avoid. This is the present.
The present is the “pre-sent,” the space before the universe expresses itself as manifestations that are sent out and received by our senses. In the present there is nothing and we are now one with nothing. Moreover, we realize that all our life experiences are not in the present but in the now. The now is when we initially experience the manifestations of an inherently nothingless universe. Hence, the now is not the present but the past as it is initially. As the past has no independent existence outside our mind, the past is an illusion. Hence, our life experiences as we know them are an illusion.
While meditating, as we are calm and restful, we can easily drift off to sleep. But to complete the meditation we need open our eyes and awaken. We are now reborn. Everything is new to us, as we’ve never seen it before (which we hadn’t as everything is unique from one moment to the next). Now, everything is unadulterated by our mind’s meanings, categories and generalizations and fresh to our senses which heretofore had been numbed by memories of past stimulations. In our rebirth, we slowly and gently separate from being one with nothingness (which is ultimately one with everything) and assume our finite bodily being. Soon after we engage with the new yet familiar world in which we find ourselves until our next meditation which is like all others and unique.
It is through mindlessness meditations we come to realize the universe has no beginning and no end; that it has infinite manifestations; that it is ever-changing, in constant transitions; that it cannot be described beyond that it is what it is whatever it is. Upon knowing this, we know we are the universe and as such we never die as death, like all else we experience, is an illusion.
“Terrific”
“Terrific.”
The play of life in three Acts
The word “terrific” in the 19th century meant terrible and has since transitioned into meaning wonderful. Likewise, the play “Terrific” begins as a tragedy and ends as a farce.
In Act 1, we are children, unadulterated by memories. We experience the present as it unfolds without preconceived notions; everything is new and unique. In Act 2, as adults, we no longer experience things as they are; but as we are. Our memories frame our experiences; comparing them to others that not real, as they exit only in our mind. In Act 3, we return to our unadulterated, childlike mind.
Act 1
Emergence of Self
Act 1 begins at birth; a happy time, a sad time. While the most joyous moment in a parent’s life, birth starts a tragedy for newborns as they enter the stage crying. Newborns feel the tragedy of it all; that before birth they were one with everything and upon their birth they they are finite in space; from oneness with everything to duality, the finite self and everything which is not the self. This is animal consciousness which is the basis for much of the conflict in the play of life.
After birth, we learn the ways of human life on Earth. We are socialized to perceive, think and behave in the ways of the socialization circles (family, religion, nationality, education, special interests, etc.) in which we are members. Thus ends Act 1, the transition from otherworldly, the time before birth and after death, to the human experience.
Act 2
Life Experience
In Act 2, each of us assumes various roles in the play. Roles include career, family, religion, personal relationships, social group identities, passtime interests, etc. Most of us take these roles seriously, take ourselves seriously and forget that these roles are simply roles in a play and not who we truly are. We are oblivious of who we are before birth and after death: one with the nameless infinite, God.
As we make our way in the play, our mind creates memories and stories that are the foundation of our identities and roles. The stories frame our experiences. We don’t experience things as they are but as our mind has defined them. This is karma. Karma often leads to live unhappy lives and precludes us from realizing our potential, divine consciousness.
While our lives are often difficult dramas, they are an entertaining farce to those in the audience viewing the play. The audience are the gods like those from Mount Olympus who Homer tells us in the “Odyssey” effuse the air with a deafening sound of laughter.
Act 3
The Transition
In Act 3, each actor is written out of the play’s script with their bodily death. However, Act 3 is the transition of our essential self, God, to a seat among the gods in the audience where we can enjoy the farce, the play “Terrific.”
The transition is the realization that life is a play; that we are not finite but one with everything; temporary, ever-changing and interdependent expressions of God. As we let go of our finite bodily form, we embody wisdom and compassion and realize life is terrific.
Epilogue
Most of us never come to realize during the play of life that we are just actors. We take ourselves and our roles seriously. We are oblivious as to whom we were before birth, one with everything, and that we will again be one with everything after bodily death. This makes our lives great dramas, but at the cost of much suffering.
Those of us who are enlightened actors know that life is a play and that we are gods with temporary human roles. For these enlightened actors, regardless of their various roles, life is terrific as they have a good laugh making their way through the play of life.
As to the audience of the gods, the actors on stage cannot see them in the dark theatre. The dark space is nothingness. But as from the audience come forth gods to act on the stage, it is from nothingness that everything springs.
When we see the world metaphorically, as above, that is the world we live in; as Gods.
Wisdom And Compassion
Wisdom and compassion are the essence of divine consciousness.
Wisdom is embracing many perspectives, not solely our personal perspective. Compassion is treating others as we wish to be treated.
Wisdom is light. Compassion is love.
While seemingly mutually exclusive, wisdom and compassion are mutually dependent as one doesn’t exist without the other.
Wisdom is the realization that “every thing” is a different aspect of one thing. While “every thing” appears as a distinct thing that seems it can be variously described, “every thing” is temporary and ever-changing. Thus, “every thing” cannot be described as it is not the same thing at the end of its description as it was at the start. Ultimately, “every thing” is a manifestation of one thing that cannot be described beyond that it is what it is whatever it is. Thus, “every thing,” when viewed as independent of the one thing, is illusionary. Though illusionary, “every thing” appears real, different from every other thing and as a function of our individual perspectives and attitudes. Thus, to truly know some thing, and ultimately realize it is part of the one thing, we need to embrace all perspectives and accept that our personal perspective is not better than that of others. This is wisdom. With wisdom, we embrace others and their perspectives as dear to us as ourselves and our own. This is compassion.
With compassion we treat others as we wish to be treated as we realize we and others are just seemingly different, temporary manifestations of one thing. Thus, with compassion, we identify with others and embrace their perspectives.
Hence, compassion and wisdom are one.
Ultimately, as in Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” wisdom is the light that leads us to compassion, the love of everything, as “every thing” is everything.
II-WII-WII
IT IS WHAT IT IS WHATEVER IT IS
II-WII-WII
Acronym: I Y Y.
Mantra: I why why! I why why?
Koan: I why (who am I)?
The Universe is the uni-verse (one verse): IT IS WHAT IT IS WHATEVER IT IS.
“It is what it is” means acceptance. “whatever it is” means no judgement.
“W” is “double U.” II-WII-WII = II-UU-II-UU-II.
Double Helix of the Universe: II-UU-II-UU-II. I am I, U are U, I and U are one.
II-UU.
The initial “I” is I as a finite and temporary being, finite in time (birth to death) and space (body); temporary, as I am not now who I was before now. The finite “I” is our self-identity; a duality, “I” and all that is not “I.” It is our finite consciousness as created by our senses and defined by descriptions and stories our mind creates. The second “I” is the infinite “I” that has no birth and no death; eternal, before the beginning of time. The “I” that is the Universe and its infinite unique and ever-changing manifestations of itself. I am who I am, both the finite and the infinite “I.” The “U” is “U” as in “Universe.” The initial “U” is the finite, temporary and that which is not “I.” The second “U” is the Universe and its infinite unique and ever-changing manifestations. The finite “I” and finite “U” are discrete manifestations of the one infinite “I” which is also the infinite “U.” The finite and infinite are interdependent as one cannot exist without the other.
The Universe is a timeless void and it’s manifestations ever-changing in time. Finite consciousness experiences time as a duality, the present and the past. However, what we experience as the present is an illusion; that which is happening now is actually the present-passed. The present-passed is not different from the past. The true-present is the pre-sent, the universe before it is sent out as expressions of itself that we experience as now. The true-present is nothingness, empty and timeless. It is the time before time begins. Presence is the Universe’s present to us: divine consciousness, the experience of the true-present. Presence is awakening to the realization that we are both finite and infinite; one with the Universe before the Universe expresses itself as finite manifestations of which we are one. It is a calm and peaceful space, like the empty space between when we exhale and inhale. It cannot be compared to anything or described, for IT IS WHAT IT IS WHATEVER IT IS.
Animal and Divine Consciousness
Humans are a transitional species. We are born and socialized with animal consciousness and with the potential of realizing divine consciousness.
Animal consciousness is viewing ourselves as finite in time (birth to death) and space (bodily form). It is essentially dualistic as we perceive ourselves as apart and separate from all that is not ourselves. Implicitly, it is Darwinian, stressful, as each of us competes within our environment for our survival.
Divine consciousness is the realization that everything is one of infinite temporary manifestations of the universe; ever-changing, interdependent (hence, essentially one thing) and with no beginning or end. Divine consciousness is the realization of our harmonious connection to all there is.
Animal consciousness perceives life as imperfect with relative flaws in one thing or another. Divine consciousness realizes the universe is perfect and as we are one with the universe we realize our perfection and having nothing about which to complain. This is an essential element of happiness.
The Golden Rule applies to both animal and divine consciousness. In animal consciousness, those with the gold rule. In divine consciousness, we do unto others as we would have others do unto us.
In animal consciousness we experience our world with descriptions and stories, making “every thing” seem different from every other thing. The experience of divine consciousness is beyond words; it is what it is whatever it is.
With animal consciousness we view ourselves as the center of the universe. With divine consciousness light is the center which in effect means the center is everywhere. Divine consciousness is enlightenment.
Animal consciousness is about living, divine consciousness is about loving. The difference between living and loving is the difference between “I” and “O.” “I” is the self. The letter’s form implies hierarchy. With each of us a point on a vertical line, we perceive others as above or below us (the Great Chain of Being). It implies duality and competition. “O” is continuous, each of us a point connected together to form a circle. This is love, the connecting of independent points creating a whole; a circle with no beginning and no end. Though the circle may appear as a duality with spaces within and without, the duality is an illusion as the spaces are not in conflict; they are mutually dependent, one cannot exist without the other. That is, love is the realization that what seems like a duality is just an illusion.
Beyond happiness, realizing our individual divine consciousness is the penultimate, second to last, purpose of life. Life’s ultimate purpose is the collective realization of divine consciousness.
Time
Time is a light
from beyond the horizon
making its way to here.
Time is an echo
making its way to somewhere.
Time is a subtle breeze
lulling us to sleep.
David Foster Wallace
“There are two young fish swimming along who happen to meet an older fish. The older fish nods at them and says: ‘Morning boys, how’s the water?’ The two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and asks: ‘What the hell is water?'”
Of the most basic things we are often oblivious. Yet, as we enter Act 3 of our lives, the transition, our appreciation of the most subtle things is enhanced. For example, an “ugly” formica kitchen surface, that we desperately want to replace with granite, is overwhelmingly beautiful when we envision ourselves dying in five minutes.
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
“Any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready.”
Theodore Roosevelt: “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all … The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic … There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.”
Identity politics in America has created a Tower of Babel as different identity groups don’t understand each other’s thinking and values. Trust between groups has declined which has led to hostilities. Lacking integrity, the Tower will collapse.
In broad terms, there are “progressives” who wish to destroy the historical American identity of capitalism and personal freedoms of speech and choice at the local level and supplant them with central government controls, while “conservatives” wish to preserve this American identity. Identity groups are represented by politicians whose operative word is “fight,” declaring: “I will fight for you [your group] for….” Rarely today do people frame an issue in terms of what’s the right thing to do, what’s best for America. Ultimately, there are temporary winners and losers on various issues but the country as a whole is every time the loser on a path to its demise.
Confucius 6
“The one who would be in constant happiness must frequently change.”
Those who are happy are grateful for and make the best of whatever their circumstances. As the only constant in the universe is change, to always be happy we need frequently change as our circumstances change.
Laser
According to Wikipedia, “A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word “laser” is an acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation“. The first laser was built in 1960, Lasers are used in optical disc drives, laser printers, barcode scanners, DNA sequencing instruments, fiber-optic, semiconducting chip manufacturing (photolithography), and free-space optical communication, laser surgery and skin treatments, cutting and welding materials, military and law enforcement devices for marking targets and measuring range and speed, and in laser lighting displays for entertainment.”
Clearly, a laser can do many extraordinary things relative to a flashlight. Yet, for making our way through a dark thicket, a flashlight is better. Likewise, those with a laser-sharp mind are best not deployed to solve simple tasks. For example, undoubtedly Albert Einstein was extraordinarily brilliant, yet forgot the basic concept of gravity (what goes up must go down) as he lost most of the money he received with his Noble Prize in the stock market in the 1920s.
Etymology 1
According to Wikipedia “The word [analyI sis] comes from the Ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (analysis, “a breaking-up” or “an untying;” from ana- “up, throughout” and lysis “a loosening”).”
Separately, Wikipedia states the word “bullshit” means nonsense and derives from the “word ‘bull’ [which] may have derived from the Old French bole meaning ‘fraud, deceit'”
However, perhaps “analysis’ is rooted in the word “anal.” At the dawn of humanity, humans were hunter-gatherers. In hunting for prey, hunters would follow the tracks of an animal and identify it and its proximity by analyzing its feces for freshness, form, texture, taste and smell. Thus, the first analysis was the examination of anal excrement.
As civilization developed with the advent of farming, hunters tracking bison at times initially misidentified the feces of a rancher’s bull as that of bison; bullshit, not the real thing they were seeking.
Confucius 5
“To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.”
We are often prisoners of our mind which, as its etymology, is our memory.
Confucius 4
“He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.”
Perhaps Confucius means that he who conquers his self is the mightiest warrior. The self is our identity that is manifested by our body, finite in time and space. When we conquer our self, we are nothing but one of infinite manifestations of the universe which is forever and endless. To conquer our self takes the greatest courage to overcome the fear that we will be nothing. But it takes little courage when we realize the obvious, sooner or later our self will be nothing.
Mizuta Masahide
Since my house burned down
I now own a better view
of the rising moon
Gratitude in all circumstances is an essential element of happiness.
The Gene Of Happiness
I am blessed to be born with the gene of happiness.
Naturally happy, I’m always grateful in all circumstances (as they could always be worse), optimistic that better times will come soon and free to experience the moment as it unfolds (free from the prison the mind creates with personal and collective stories and meanings).
Moreover, I think everyone is happy. It’s difficult for me to imagine anyone who has their basic animal needs satisfied (food, shelter, security, health and companionship) is not happy. When people are sad or angry, I think these feelings are very temporary. When they last long, I think they have a personality defect. For example, when I was a growing up, my father was often angry with me, screamed at me, placed curbs on my freedom and on rare occasions hit me. In fact, once my father screamed: “I wish you were never born.” How did I feel? I felt that he loved me but had some personality issues that precluded him from expressing his love.
With the gene of happiness, I love everyone and feel everyone loves me; if not now, then later. While I’ve been waiting for a long time for many to eventually love me, optimism keeps me feeling that eventually they will.
Lee Moncho
“A life without smoking, drinking, chasing women and taking big risks will likely be long in length but short in breadth.”
The fullest life balances length and breadth.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.”
True friends are those with whom we can share our secret lives.
Way Of Way 63
Unless they are a threat, it is difficult to take seriously someone who takes themselves seriously.
Charlie Leeds
“Gamblers pay speculators to play with them.”
From a certain perspective, our everyday lives are like a game wherein our lives are defined by the choices we make. Some choices provide us with immediate gratification and others with distant gratification. Our choices can be viewed in the context of risk/reward wherein the greater the risk the greater of the reward, though extreme risks often lead to negative rewards.
For those who find pleasure taking risks, there is ultimately no financial rewards as their aim is the immediate thrill of risk-taking. They are essentially gamblers.
Rewards go to those who know how to manage risk. They are speculators. They take risks that are commonly perceived to be greater than they are, limit loses from risks and take many risks to mitigate unfavorable randomness. They take risks to realize rewards and are unfazed by any one particular risk.
Essentially, gamblers pay speculators to play with them.
For those who fear taking commonly perceived risks, there is little chance for realizing significant rewards as they don’t have a chance when they don’t take a chance. They are spectators, not players, in the game of life.
Charlie Leeds was a kind and generous man; a good friend; a well-rounded Wall Street analyst, investor, speculator, gambler and spectator. At 260 pounds, perhaps too well-rounded. Charlie died in 2001 of a heart attack at age 50.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
When there is nothing left to take away, all there is is nothing. From nothing came the Big Bang which created everything. Perfection is when we are one with nothing which in turn makes us one with everything.
The Traveling Wilburys
Well, it’s alright, ridin’ around in the breeze
Well, it’s alright, if you live the life you please
Well, it’s alright, doin’ the best you can
Well, it’s alright, as long as you lend a hand
You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring (at the end of the line)
Waiting for someone to tell you everything (at the end of the line)
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring (at the end of the line)
Maybe a diamond ring
Well, it’s alright, even if they say you’re wrong
Well, it’s alright, sometimes you gotta be strong
Well, it’s alright, as long as you got somewhere to lay
Well, it’s alright, everyday is judgment day
Maybe somewhere down the road a ways (at the end of the line)
You’ll think of me and wonder where I am these days (at the end of the line)
Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays (at the end of the line)
Purple Haze
Well, it’s alright, even when push comes to shove
Well, it’s alright, if you got someone to love
Well, it’s alright, everything’ll work out fine
Well, it’s alright, we’re going to the end of the line
Don’t have to be ashamed of the car I drive (at the end of the line)
I’m just glad to be here, happy to be alive (at the end of the line)
And it don’t matter if you’re by my side (at the end of the line)
I’m satisfied
Well, it’s alright, even if you’re old and grey
Well, it’s alright, you still got something to say
Well, it’s alright, remember to live and let live
Well, it’s alright, the best you can do is forgive
Well, it’s alright (alright), riding around on the breeze
Well, it’s alright (alright), if you live the life you please
Well, it’s alright, even if the sun don’t shine
Well, it’s alright (alright), we’re going to the end of the line
The Traveling Wilburys was a British-American supergroup which included Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. They came together in 1988. “End Of The Line” was published in October, 1988. Roy Orbison came to the end of the line two months later when he died of a heart attack at age 52.
When we come to the time before our bodily death, the end of the line, we realize the purpose of life: to have a wonderful time, realize our potential and help others likewise; to make the most of our circumstances instead of hoping our circumstances change; to discover the universe on our own; and not waste our time daydreaming. Moreover, we should dance to the beat of our drum; be grateful for what we have; live each day as if it is our last; and reflect on our past from a mind-revealing, psychedelic perspective (psykhē “mind” + dēloun “make visible, reveal” (from dēlos “visible, clear)), perspective. As well, we need not concern ourselves with current conflicts as long as we connect to others with love. As to material possessions, they are meaningless as what matters is celebrating our good fortune of simply being alive. Moreover, throughout our lives our personal perspectives matter and we should accept the perspectives of others and not judge them. Finally, whether our lives are or aren’t glorious, bathed in sunshine, we are all going to die. That’s alright when we appreciate our lives until then.
Virgil
“Audentes fortuna iuvat.” (Fortune favors the bold)
Life is a black glass filled with water. However, because it’s black, looking in and about the glass we can’t tell what’s in it. Even when mortally thirsty, many dare not drink from the glass, fearing it may not agree with them; might even harm them. Others might take a small sip and wait for something better to come their way. Only the brave drink it all to experience life to the fullest. They don’t fear death because they know that whether you drink it or not, everyone is going to die.
Way Of Way 83
Life is a present gift wrapped by the past. To get to the present, we need to remove the past.
2022
All will be best when we forget the rest.
All the best is coming our way in 2022. Undoubtedly it will be wonderful, incomparable to times past which are not real; just memories.
Times past are neither good or bad. Only we determine which are good or bad. However times past were for us individually, it is at least wonderful we had a role the play of life. And now our role, however it unfolds, continues. That is something to celebrate.
Confucius 2
“Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
The sun and the moon are temporarily hidden by the shadow Earth casts. Likewise, we may turn our back to the truth when we are otherwise distracted. But, in time, as we go around the truth comes around.
Joe Bruno
“Anyone afraid of dying is a fool. It’s obvious everyone in life eventually dies. Only a fool would chose to come to life if they were afraid of dying.
Kanako IIyama
“God saw I was worried and God laughed. Then I laughed too.”
Laughing is the best remedy for stress or pain.
When we identify with God we can laugh at almost any state of mind.
Pasta Nostra
Last night I had another fabulous dinner at Joe Bruno’s Pasta Nostra restaurant in Norwalk, CT. Upon entering the restaurant, Joe greeted me: “Hey Victor, how do you feel?’ To which I replied: “Alive and healthy, can’t complain.” To which Joe remarked: “You must be a masochist.” And then we both roared a laugh.
What Joe is saying is that there is a lot of difficult, frustrating or painful shit in life one needs to deal with beyond issues of just being alive and healthy. If after all the shit one is still happy to be alive and healthy, then one must be a masochist and enjoy difficult, frustrating or painful shit. Maybe so or maybe whatever comes one’s way is wonderful in some way.
The Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2021
NOTABLE & QUOTABLE: RUSSIA
“An unidentified ‘senior administration official’ in a Dec. 17 U.S. State Department telephone briefing for reporters:
You asked what the Russians are up to. I will let the Russians speak for themselves with regard to what they’re up to. We believe, the President believes, our allies believe that if there are concerns–and we have concerns on our side, they clearly have concerns on their side–they are best discussed diplomatically…And that is what we are proposing, and that is a far better path not only for Ukraine and all of us but for the Russian Federation itself.
I mean, let’s remember that Russia has one of the highest Covid levels in the world. The Russian people don’t need a war with Ukraine. They don’t need their sons coming home in body bags. They don’t need another foreign adventure. What they need is better health care, build back better, roads, schools, economic opportunity. And that’s what the polling is showing in Russia. So we hope that President Putin will take this opportunity for diplomacy and will also listen to the needs of his own people.”
Often, when we talk about others, we are subtlety (or in this instance wholly) talking about ourselves. Here, to great folly, a senior administration official is showing Russia his cards; essentially saying that the US doesn’t have the will or the resources to help the Ukraine fight to remain an independent country; that the US supports a diplomatic settlement that would presumably slice off some of Ukraine’s eastern border for Russian consumption.
The quote is hysterical as it reveals the senior administration official doesn’t have a clue about Russia’s priorities. Cluelessness is characteristic of those who are overwhelmingly ideological and perfunctorily empirical.
Siberian Shaman Amulet
This 5.9cm object is reputedly a charm used by a Siberian shaman. A shaman is a healer and diviner. The etymology of “shaman” is the Tungus root sā-, meaning “to know.”
At first blush it looks like a maskette with a smiling or angry human face, spanning the gamut of human emotions. The empty or negative space within the outline of the face is greater than the lines that form the facial features. That suggests that what’s behind the face, the mind, is empty. With our mind empty, we are cured from much of what ails us and are free to see beyond ourselves, the future.
Alternatively it looks like a woman’s body without a head; just a pair of breasts, vagina and protruding legs. For some men that would be the ideal woman as it would cure them of much of their woes.
Big Bang
For most men, life begins and ends the same way; with the Big Bang, an orgasm. The first Big Bang results in embryonic fertilization and the second ends in immediately falling asleep.
Slow Round 11 Watch
This one-hand quartz watch is an entertaining timepiece.
The watch’s one hand is gold-colored and emanates from a gold center disk, presumably the sun. The one hand is like a ray of sunlight whose movement reflects the passage of time. A full-circle move of the one hand represents the 24 hour day. Hence, the perimeter is crowded, allowing only markers that indicate time in quarter-hour segments. The day begins and ends at the lowest vertical point on the perimeter, the darkest hours. Other than the one hand and the markers, the watch face is a dark blue cover over the watch’s internal movements which is like dark matter; unseen but presumed to affect all that is seen.
With one-hand indicating time, it is like a sundial. Like the movement of the sun’s golden rays is the movement of the watch’s gold-colored hand. However, sundials are the most primitive of time-telling machines and this watch, propelled by a quartz movement, is most modern.
With a quartz movement, the watch accurately measures time with a monthly accuracy of 15 seconds, considerably more accurate than a mechanical watch. However, as it has no markers indicating minutes, reading the time indicated is a bit of guesswork with 5 minutes leeway. Ironically, the most accurate watch is also the least accurate watch.
As reading the time indicated is a bit of guesswork, this watch is unlike mechanical watches which we read without thought. Reading time on this watch requires our attention, awakening us a bit, and each reading is like never before which is the nature of time. Moreover, as we cannot precisely read the time, we know we can never be completely certain where we are in time. Maybe we can’t be certain of other things as well. If so, best to go slow and not make choices impetuously. As well, we are unlikely in the same time-place as most other people whose watches are more in sync.
The preceding is what I see in this watch, making the watch funny. Funny in that the watch allows very different views which are at odds. In looking at things I always find something about them funny. If not, I know I don’t know what I’m looking at.
Identity Politics
Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, etc. were once adjectives. They identified someone’s superficial self-evident physical appearance, skin color and/or dress. These adjectives didn’t imply anything about an individual’s nature or attitude. What defined a person was a function of our interactions with them.
Today, these adjectives have become nouns. As nouns, they imply various socioeconomic and personality stereotypes that form our perception of the people they identify. The nouns are generalizations and, as all generalizations, are empty of anyone real. However, we perceive others in terms of these generalizations, group identities, not as they are.
Individuals also often identify with group identities and behave accordingly, not as independent individuals with their own minds. Moreover, they view themselves as different from other groups. This leads individuals to view the world as “us and them” which often leads to conflicts.
Our eyes see differences between individuals as adjectives. Our mind transforms these adjectives into nouns.
Way Of Way 72
Being eccentric, I sometimes wonder whether I might someday be committed to a mental institution. But as I look at the people around me, I realize I am in a mental institution.
Way Of Way 70
Since early childhood I always felt stupid. Many people seemed strange as I didn’t know why they did what they did and how they thought about things. I still feel stupid but now realize they are not strange. They are like me. They also don’t know why they do what they do or how they think about things.
William Shakespeare
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Unless they are clearly threatening to us, it’s difficult to take seriously someone who takes themselves seriously.
When someone can’t laugh at themselves, it’s difficult to take their perspective seriously.
When we are one with the light, we take everything lightly. We realize everything is light and when we or others think otherwise it’s funny.
Way Of Way 69
It’s important to think another world war is coming. If it doesn’t come, we’ll feel terrific as we’ll be in a better position than had there been a war. If it does come, we’ll feel terrific as we would be in an otherwise better position to deal with it proactively.
Way Of Way 67
When we are one with the ever-changing and eternal universe, we love everything and miss nothing.
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology is a scientific analysis of dating trees. It reveals geological and atmospheric (climate) events and changes over time.
Likewise, blood analysis has evolved such that it can identify significant events of our lives. Apparently, blood carries memories of our past experiences. A blood analysis can identify experiences like the number of lovers we’ve had and other emotionally charged experiences.
In a landmark study sponsored by Theranos, children as young as 12 were mentally transported, through hypnosis, to age 75. Once transported, their blood was analysed and they were given the results. They were then asked to describe their past. While the blood analysis identified facts, their descriptions identified their attitudes. For example, some whose past indicated they had had more than one hundred sexual relationships had regrets of having too many relationships; others felt they had had too few. Ultimately, all the participants in the study, when told of the facts revealed from an analysis using generic blood, described their past vividly but with little relationship to the facts. This observation has led researchers to conclude that each person’s past has only a minor effect on their perception of who they are.
Way Of Way 66
When we come upon a serious accident, we reveal who we are. Is our first question “what happened?” or “how can I help?”
G.K. Chesterton
“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”
A mind open to many possibilities can be fooled into taking an irrational path. A closed mind cannot see the optimal path.
Better to “keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground.” Mike Robbins
Surreal 1
I’ve often asked guys what they would do if they met a beautiful girl who invited them to bed and upon disrobing she reveals four breasts. 90+% of the boys say they would grab their knapsack and run home. The rest would find it arousing and as such stay the evening, come what may. One guy’s reaction was conditional: he would stay as long as the girl didn’t have two breasts in the front and two in the back.
A surreal answer to a surreal question.
Jose Martinez
“Psychedelics helped me realize that my problems are small compared to the world’s bigger problems like starvation and cancer. And now I understand what I’m actually here for in the world, which is to make people smile and to remind them that life can be beautiful even when it’s not so easy.”
Jose Martinez is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan where he lost both legs and and an arm. After 19 surgeries, opioid abuse, depression and anger, Jose took a facilitator-assisted psilocybin mushroom “journey” that allowed “him to step outside himself and focus on the good, and what is possible in life, which lately includes sidelines as a Paralympic surfer, an archer and a weight-training enthusiast. He also runs a nonprofit that seeks to connect veterans to nature through wilderness outings.” Andre Jacobs, The New York Times, November 16, 2021.
Jose represents the triumph of soul over self, heart over mind and the light over darkness. He is no longer a prisoner of war, a captive of his mind, as now his mind is his servant. While seemingly physically limited relative to most people, he has travelled to where few have the strength and fearless will to go: the realm of happiness.
G.K. Chesterton
“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”
Those who are articulate and cogent are articulate and cogent but often mistaken for wise. This becomes obvious when we go to school with them.
G.K. Chesterton
“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.”
Desiring less is the shortest, easiest and most assured route to satisfaction. Satisfaction leads to gratitude which in turn leads to happiness, the purpose of life.
Way Of Way 61
With our eyes we can see the surface and depth of things. With the eyes of others we can see the nature of things.
Way Of Way 60
Every child has a father but needs to father itself to become an adult.
Albert Einstein
“The only source of knowledge is experience.”
Readings and conversations can bring us to certain understandings but knowledge comes by opening our eyes and seeing everything as never before.
Those (Buddha, Moses, Lao Tzu and Jesus) who came to know did not have a teacher. Their experience of soul was later recounted and formed into doctrine and scripture, just words.
Remarkable 1
Years back, on a cold wet winter day, I met a native Indian man (dot, not feather) at Kennedy Airport. He was a security guard, walking around looking for anything suspicious. He said he also worked as a gas station attendant, maybe 70+ hours a week in total. He didn’t work all those hours for the money as he made more than he needed in half the time. He worked because to him the only difference between working and not was getting paid while working and not otherwise; hanging out at home or walking in his neighborhood was no different than walking around Kennedy Airport. Moreover, getting paid meant he was helping others with no effort on his part.
Our experiences are mostly a function of our attitude.
Way Of Way 59
Life is a ride on a zip line connecting pre-birth and afterlife. The ride at times feels scary, thrilling and even boring. As the ride nears its end, we feel the calmness of our pre-birth.
Closed Eyes Cry
Eyes open, we see the indescribable beauty of creation.
Eyes closed, we see a sad world our mind creates to manipulate us.
Muhammad Ali
“The man who has no imagination has no wings.”
We cannot see what we cannot imagine. Without imagination we cannot see certain of our abilities or move quickly from and far beyond our immediate circumstances.
Kanako Iiyama
“It is better to share than to give.”
Giving implies a vertical relationship while sharing is horizontal.
By sharing, we give and receive and soon we are one.
Materialistic View
Materialistic people think that enlightened masters and their serious disciples are silly. Rightfully so, though ironically the enlightened are laughing much of the time and the materialistic people only occasionally.
At Birth
At birth, my mother’s obstetrician told her I was the smartest baby he had ever delivered. A bit of a difficult birth, the obstetrician used forceps to pull me out as I kept trying to go back in. The obstetrician reasoned I knew where I came from, one with everything, is obviously a better place than where most of us go after birth; lives apart and separate from the infinite.
Two Ways To Happiness
There are two paths to happiness, the long and the short way.
The long way is gratitude, optimism and freeing ourselves from our karmic prisons. Gratitude is being thankful for the circumstances in which we find ourselves, regardless of how dire, as we know that things could always be worse. However, it is often difficult to be grateful because our mind easily distracts us to selfishly focusing our attention on our plight and not the more overwhelming suffering of others. Optimism, especially during relatively difficult times, is a natural negative feedback loop as all things tend to regress to the mean; better times follow difficult times, sooner or later. Unfortunately, it is often difficult for us to be optimistic as many of us are prone to thinking in positive feedback loops, that difficult times will lead to even greater difficulties which makes us see the light at the end of the tunnel as a train coming at us. Karma is thoughts we associate with the intentions, actions and the consequences of our actions in our past lifetimes. (Past lifetimes are the past days of our life as each day is a lifetime, not a day in a life.) Karma is seeing through the filter of our mind, not with our eyes. Thus, karma imprisons us from experiencing the present as it is. Fear of experiencing the present as it is, without the delusional comfort of collective and personal meanings karma assigns to things, makes escaping from our individual karmic prisons very difficult. Many years of meditation, a long process, can help us to happiness.
The short way to happiness is simple: love all others as we love ourselves, the Golden Rule. When we truly love all others as ourselves, we in turn feel everyone loves us; we feel one with everything; a calm, peaceful, joyful state of mind. We are grateful happy.
It might seem difficult to unconditionally love all others as at times some people treat us with loathe, not love. However, we still love them because we accept them, not judge them. Moreover, we are optimistic that if they don’t love us now, they’ll love us later. We feel badly for them because they simply don’t get it. They’re locked in their karmic prison. Or they might suffer from a mental disorder that precludes them from loving others. Or, simply, they are animals locked and have not yet realized their potential of divine consciousness. Hopefully, sooner or later, they will.
Joe Bruno
“Why is everybody now so interested in artificial intelligence, it’s been around for over a hundred years.”
Joe likely is referring to superficial intelligence which has been around since 1905 when the first IQ tests were offered. While IQ and related tests have been good predictors (as have high school grades) of future success in school, success in school reflects conformity of thought (thinking like test writers and teachers who determine grades) and the ability to delay gratification (doing schoolwork instead of goofing off).
Real intelligence can only be identified by life choices and outcomes over time; those that prove to be most fun and of least regrets. But that’s more a function of wisdom and luck than intelligence.
Voltaire 3
“The best is the enemy of the good.”
That which we perceive as the best distracts us from appreciating that which we perceive as good. However, the good is also the enemy of the best as perceiving things relatively, as best or good, precludes us from experiencing things as they uniquely are.
Best and good are relative categories, empty of the things they arbitrarily contain. Experiencing things we’ve categorized, we experience our the associations we have with the categories; not things as they actually are. As everything is unique, experiencing things as they are is the experience of being present. Categorizing things as relatively best or good precludes us from the gratitude that invariably comes from the experience of being present. Gratitude is one of the keys of happiness. It’s difficult to be grateful when we are distracted by the enemies we create.
Way Of Way 46
God runs the Rewards Department.
The devil runs the Complaint Department.
Trump’s Concession Speech
I recently viewed a video lampooning Donald Trump. The video was captioned “Donald Trump’s Concession Speech.” The video shows a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street movie wherein Leonardo DiCaprio, the CEO of a brokerage firm, defiantly declares to his white salespeople and traders “I’m not leaving” after he was charged with securities fraud. The firm soon collapsed as did Trump’s administration.
Perhaps cute to those who view Trump as a defiant crook heading a misogynist racist male cabal. But the video clip is also telling of the age-old conflict between educated priests and rough and tumble merchants.
Brokerage firms have two arms, sales/trading and research. Sales/trading is what the business is about; the rough and tumble of buying and selling stocks to make money. Research supports sales/trading with investment ideas. Research analysts analyze companies’ past performance and prospects, write reports and recommend stocks to buy and sell. Research analysts, like highly-educated priests, are articulate, well-reasoned and cogent in their analyses. However, while never in doubt about their recommendations, they are often wrong. Due to having different perspectives, there is a natural friction between traders/salespeople and analysts. Simply, analysts think traders/salespeople are lowbrows and traders/salespeople feel analysts “don’t get it;” that is, analysts don’t know how to make money in the markets.
However, traders/salespeople and analysts realize that each plays a necessary role in a firm’s success. The open question is who is to lead the firm. Analysts think that as they are the more educated, articulate and intelligent, they should lead a firm and have traders/salespeople work for them; a hierarchy based on perceived intelligence. Traders/salespeople view themselves as working for the customers which are the essence of the business. They believe who runs the firm should be based on the Golden Rule: those who make the gold rule.
The presidential election was likewise divided. Many who were anti-Trump (Democratic Party progressives) are like brokerage firm analysts, highly educated and articulate. They described Trump supporters as stupid, immature, greedy, deplorable, misogynists, fascists, Nazis, etc.; simply, “bad people.” Trump supporters said of those who were anti-Trump: “They don’t get it,” they don’t know how a successful economy and liberal society functions.
Ultimately, the progressives would throw Trump and other bad boys in prison or otherwise limit their laissez-faire approach to life. But then how will the progressives afford to buy milk and who will make the milk?
Returning to the video, it’s actually very funny; though not as intended. It answers a question long befuddling the geniuses leading the Democratic Party: “Why do the people, the working class, who stand to most benefit economically from Democratic Party programs don’t vote for us?” Simply, the working class (presumably the majority of the government’s customers) might not know much but they know when Party leaders are laughing at them, thinking they are stupid, and they don’t like it.
Way Of Way 42
Birth is like nuclear fission, a powerful explosion.
Love is like nuclear fusion, 3-4 times more powerful.
In fission, our soul separates from being one with everything.
In fusion, our soul reunites as one with everything.
The Burning Bush
The mind is the flames;
ever-changing,
illuminating
and destructive burning heat.
The soul is the bush;
unchangeable,
eternal,
supporting the flames
but not transformed by the flames.
The mind is wisdom,
sometimes.
The soul is love,
forever.
Anonymous
“Sometimes I sit quietly and wonder why I’m not in a mental institution. Then I take a good look around at everyone and realize…maybe I already am.”
Terry Marten
“The important thing is not what you have done in the past, it’s what you are doing today.”
Way Of Way 32
When work is just work and not fun, something is not working.
Love 3
Divine love is compassion, treating all others as we would treat ourselves as we see others as not other than ourselves, imperfect and perfect simultaneously.
Animal love is being “in love.” When we are in love, love is a veneer that masks the otherwise clear imperfections of those we love. We treat our loved ones with love but not others who we see as imperfect. Moreover, when we are no longer in love with our loved ones, we see their imperfections.
As nothing but the universe as a whole is perfect, if we accept our individual imperfections instead of deluding ourselves by being in love we can begin to experience divine love.
Way Of Way 33
Certainty is an illusion that masks fear of uncertainty.
Ode To Josh Henderson
Consciousness makes music and verse
from a crazy and noisy universe.
Let only those with feet on the ground
travel to where the universe is being bound.
It is there that they will see
all that will be.
But others best not dare
go to this place unaware.
For it’s doubtful they will return
as they were without a burn.
Josh Henderson is an artist who took his life
as his mind was overwhelmed with strife.
From Sound To Tears
We emit vibrations,
waves of sound.
When our waves are in harmony,
that’s love;
when not,
that’s noise.
Harmony brings us to joyous tears,
noise tears us apart.
Sex, The Oddest Thing
Sex is the oddest thing. A pleasurable thing, like eating, laughing and sleeping; fun. However, unlike other pleasures, sex is often adulterated and conditional, requiring fidelity vows (disguised as proclamations of love) as a precondition to engaging in sex. This leads to less sex and less fun, though it’s funny as it reflects that we don’t know love and can’t enjoy unadulterated sex.
Kanako Iiyama
“They were looking for love everywhere but couldn’t find it because they had none of it to give.”
What does this mean?
(1) If we don’t have it, we don’t know it and therefore we can’t identity it when it comes our way. Hence, we should not seek what we don’t know.
(2) We can’t find something outside of us that which is not us. Us and everything else is one thing, infinite manifestations of the universe. Upon realizing our oneness with everything, we realize our seeking is like a dog chasing its tail to the point of frustration and exhaustion.
(3) We need to give in order to get. Love is about sharing with others, treating others as we would wish to be treated. There is no love unless we can give and receive it.
(4) Whatever you think it means.
Kanako Iiyama
“No man is as pitiful as one who doesn’t wish others happiness.”
However jovial one might appear, one is profoundly unhappy if one doesn’t wish happiness for others. Or as John Lennon wrote:
“You can shine your shoes and wear a suit
You can comb your hair and look quite cute
You can hide your face behind a smile
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside
You can wear a mask and paint your face
You can call yourself the human race
You can wear a collar and a tie
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside…
Your can go to church and sing a hymn
You can judge me by the color of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside…”
Way Of Way 27
When we experience the seemingly same thing again and again and each time it’s unique, we are present.
Fake News, Real Costs
Politicians are forever seeking, at the lowest cost to them, the public’s attention. They do so by fabricating for journalists outrageous stories from minor events. Hoping to catch the public’s attention, viewers and in turn advertisers, journalists publish these stories in the free press. Then the politicians act, presumably for the benefit of the public, in reaction to the stories they read. Their reactions make real news, at the cost of making many lives difficult.
Selfishness
The average CEO at a United States company makes 250 times more than the average worker. Some workers and ideologs complain about this apparent income inequality and call the CEO selfish. Perhaps, but not necessarily. More likely, if the CEO has any sense, he is happy; grateful for his good luck. However, complaining workers and ideologs are selfish; anger, envy and greed are the faces of selfishness. They take their ideological thoughts seriously instead of being thankful that in reality they have a higher standard of living than most people in this world.
Likewise, when a CEO gets angry at a worker who could care less about how he is treated as he is grateful he’s making a living, the CEO is selfish and the grateful worker happy and thankful for the bonus of a good laugh at the fatuous CEO who can’t appreciate his good luck.
Complaining is selfishness which precludes happiness. Happiness come from being grateful for one’s good fortune.
Exit-Essentialism
Exit-essentialism is a philosophy or attitude to life and death that focuses on exit strategies.
The universe has two constants. It is forever-changing and forever. Exit-essentialism in life is a micro/personal approach to the forever-changing. Exit-essentialism in death is a macro/philosophical view of our individual transition from bodily form to forever.
The difference between exit-essentialism in life and death is like the difference between micro and macro economics. Our lives are micro. Our death is macro. As in microeconomics, micro exit-essentialism in life is an approach to individual choices and changes that come our way. As in macroeconomics, macro exit-essentialism is a big picture approach, a top-down philosophy, that is the guiding light on our way through life. While seemingly different, the micro and macro are interdependent and complimentary.
In life, as Heraclitus informed us 2500 years ago, everything is forever-changing. Most changes we find imperceptible but some changes are significant; beneficial or detrimental. Awareness of the ever-changing nature of life allows us to experience the newness of everything. It is energizing.
As we make our way in life, micro exit-essentialism is the awareness that our choices and unexpected detrimental changes that put us in harm’s way. Exit-essentialism is imagining detrimental changes to our situations and ways to most safely exit these situations. As detrimental changes generally happen slowly and then seemingly suddenly, by imagining detrimental changes we can see them before they fully realize and make choices that keep us from the full brunt of harm’s way. As such, best to avoid situations where we cannot envision detrimental changes and exits to limit our losses.
Macro exit-essentialism is knowing our exit out of this bodily life. The exit is to the place from where we, our soul, came before we were born. A place about which no one has ever complained. The place where everything that is and will ever be is, the true-present. It is God, divine consciousness. It cannot be described other than by saying it is what it is whatever it is. When we go there, we are one with everything. Moreover, in knowing where we go when we no longer in bodily form, we know we are a temporary expression of everything as is everything else. We are always (before, during and after life) in this place but are distracted when we assume a seemingly independent bodily form and have animal consciousness.
Having the knowledge of macro exit-essentialism provides us a certain perspective on life. We are less distracted by everyday situations and experiences, taking them less seriously. We accept changes as they are a constant in the universe. We experience the newness of everything. We are energized. We find it hilarious that other people don’t know exit-essentialism and make fools of themselves when they take themselves too seriously. Our experience in life is less stressful and more wonderful. Macro exit-essentialism makes for a terrific life.
When we know and embrace micro and macro exit-essentialism, our lives are wonderful and we are comfortable taking risks that reward us in life.
Give And Take, Take It Or Leave It
Personal, commercial and social relationships can be characterized as “give and take” or “take it or leave it.”
In a give and take relationship, each party views the other as a package with positive and negative characteristics, needs and behaviors. To have a viable relationship with minimal conflicts, each party represses certain aspects of themselves or does things they would otherwise not do to please the other. Mostly give and take is done implicitly but sometimes there is an explicit accounting: “I did this for you, what have you done for me lately.” Give and take relationships are more of a job than a joy. Most commercial relationships are a give and take; otherwise, people wouldn’t need to be paid to work.
For example, in a personal relationship one party may desire to have sexual relations with others outside the relationship. However, their relationship mate might find that unacceptable. Thus, for the sake of limiting conflict in the relationship, the one who desires sex with others refrains from doing so.
In a take it or leave it personal relationship, each party loves the other and their relationship and accepts the other as they are. Each party does not necessarily view the other as perfect. Moreover, they don’t perceive the other in terms of their individual positive and negative features. They accept each other as a package deal, as the totality of who they are outweighs any aspects that might otherwise be problematic. This allows each party the freedom to be themselves. This is love; all is perfect, including each other’s shit.
While give and take might seem like a good operating system for two agreeable people, take it or leave relationships are founded on love which better braves time.
Death Perspective
Wisdom is having multifold perspectives which allow us to understand a situation and the ramifications of choices we make. Beyond our personal perspective, additional perspectives can be had when we truly connect with others and view the world as they see it. However, doing so is not easy.
Easier may be taking the perspective from the end of our days, the death perspective. The death perspective allows us to consider how we would feel in light of the possible consequences from the choices we make today; thus, allowing us to make choices we will least regret at the end of our days, the choices that realize wonderful lives.
The death perspective reveals how we will remember our lives and by extension how others will remember us when we are no longer in bodily form. It is wise to leave everyone with happy memories.
Moreover, the death perspective awakens us. With little time remaining before bodily death and not distracted by mortal pain, everything is intensely beautiful. This informs our experience of the present. It awakens us to gratitude, a key element of happiness. As well, as we frequent the death perspective, the prospect of bodily death is not as fear-fraught as it would be otherwise.
Once we avail ourselves of the death perspective, we can more easily access the perspective of others, wisdom.
One Together And One With Everything
We are asleep together in the winter
in the clouds between heaven and Earth
and awaken as snowflakes
falling on mountains high up.
In the spring we melt into water
flowing into distant rivers.
When the rivers meet in the ocean
we are together again,
one with the ocean which seems all there is.
Which is it but for those who know we are one with everything
before evaporating into the clouds.
The Smart And The Wise
Those who are conventionally smart have telescopic or microscopic minds. They can see farther or closer than most of us can see. Those who are wise can see from many different perspectives, not just their own. While a telescopic or microscopic mind is clearly more powerful and would hence seem more valuable than a wise mind, the wise mind has many perspectives which is almost always better than one.
Wisdom, The Easy Way
Wisdom is having many disparate and often contradictory perspectives. Wisdom allows us to know the nature of things which makes for a relatively easy and entertaining life. Most people find wisdom elusive, hard to access as they have great difficulty letting go of their selfish perspective. Yet, living a life without wisdom is the most difficult thing of all.
Insulting God
God has given us the greatest gift of all, the gift of life. Complaining about our lives or not being grateful for the life we have is insulting God.
Those who believe in God believe that God decides what happens to us after we depart Earth. Thus, insulting God is an ill-fated approach to living if we hope to go to a good place after we leave Earth.
As to those who believe there is no God, life revolves around them. Death is consciousness lost. They little fear death as they have died countless times; at least once daily at sleep time.
Regardless of whether one believes in God, each day is a lifetime. We transition daily from birth to sleep-death. Each awakening is a life anew. However, our daily new life is experienced in the context of our prior lives. Happy prior lives (lives lived with gratitude, optimism and happy memories) assure us of happiness in our current life. Thus, to be in a good place after we die, best to enjoy our lives and be grateful that we can.
However, as to those who spend time and effort arguing with others that God doesn’t exist or more generally fight to have their secular beliefs rule everyone’s life, are they enjoying themselves? If they are, there must be something wrong with them. If not, maybe they should believe in God.
Life In A Wax Museum
When we identify with who we once were or with our past experiences, not with who we are and what we are doing now, we are like figures in a wax museum. Everything is cool until it’s not cool. Inevitably, when the temperature rises, when we are in circumstances that test our mettle, our imposing surface melts and reveals we are just generic skeletal forms.
When we identify with who we are and what we are doing now, we can best deal with whatever comes our way.
A Life In Sync
What’s difficult at the beginning is easy at the end; easy at the beginning is difficult at the end. A life in sync with physical and mental strength, agility and health (which peaks in the first third of its duration) is difficult at the beginning and easy at the end.
When easy at the end, the only difficult thing at the end is recalling the earlier difficulties as now they too seem easy upon reflection. Thus, difficult at the beginning is easy at the end and makes the beginning difficulties also easy. Likewise, while easy at the beginning is difficult at the end, when the end is difficult the beginning provides us no easy respite.
Turning White Light Black And Back
We start as one, invisible white light.
Then separate into paints, a colorful sight.
Mixed together, the colors turn black.
Once we go black we can never go back.
Before we are born, we are invisible white light; everything else transparently clear. Upon birth, we become tangible and differentiated into an infinite number of translucent hues. Soon thereafter, we are mixed together through socialization, our unique colors turn black and everything is opaque. This is almost irreversible as the darkness induces a self-pleasing sleep state.
But when we realize we are essentially white light, everything is clear again.
Learning Our Way
When things don’t go the way we had expected because others disappointed us, we can blame them and/or ourselves. Solely blaming others is selfish, being upset and unhappy because we not grateful for our overall circumstances, and of little redeeming value beyond learning not to depend on particular others in the future. However, when we take full responsibility for the way things work out, we can learn something about the way we are which may preclude us from losing our way forward.
Winston Churchill
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist see the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Our attitudes shape our perceptions.
T. S. Eliot
“We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
After the end of days, we arrive at the place before our birth. It’s like a simple frame surrounding an engaging painting, we don’t recognize this place as we’ve busied ourselves in life. It is here however where we come to know who we are and have always been; nothing and one with everything.
The universe is a glass of sparkling water.
Each of us a bubble that seems to come out of nowhere,
uniquely travelling its way to the top of the glass
and then seemingly disappears.
We don’t disappear.
We become one with everything
as we are from before we appear as a bubble.
Wonderful
Every day is wonderful in a different way. That’s what makes it wonderful
While we remember very few of all those wonderful days now passed, that doesn’t take away from their wonderfulness. It allows us to more fully experience the wonderfulness of today.
John Maynard Keynes
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”
We can experience the newness of everything and see endless possibilities once we escape the karmic prisons of our mind’s construction.
You Are The Universe
There is nothing like you
and the universe is nothing without you.
In science it might sound perverse,
but you are the universe.
The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter 2
She was a wonderful and beautiful girl,
promiscuous and with low self-esteem.
She had the pick of the litter
but picking the litter was her dream.
A beautiful girl can have the most desirable mate, unless she has low self-esteem and feels she doesn’t deserve the best. With low self-esteem she feels mates are only interested in her for their sexual pleasure which she liberally provides to attract them. Beautiful and promiscuous makes her wonderful for her mates. Picking many mates, she get the average mate; like garbage relative to the most desirable.
The Key To Success: Luck
Luck is the key to success. Once we realize that we’re more than halfway to success.
Luck is identifying opportunities and making lucky choices to realize them. Anyone who thinks their success is solely a function of their own abilities and efforts is a fool. Fools are prone to bad luck.
To get lucky we need to vigilantly be on the lookout for luck. Luck happens everywhere but in some contexts more than others. Work is where lots of luck can be found. Working long hours and keeping our eyes open to for potentially lucky situations, we increase our chances of getting lucky. Then, when luck arrives, we recognize it immediately as we anticipated its arrival, embrace it and enjoy a ride to success, if we are lucky. If we’re not successful with the chance we took, it was still luck; only bad luck. But bad luck is better than no luck.
Dedicated to Paul Rand
Man has two ways through life. The way of the dog and the way of god.
Dog/God is a semordniap, a word whose letters read backwards also spell a word but with a different meaning.
The way of the “dog” and the way of “god” are suggested by the typeface of each word. “dog” begins with the letter “d” whose topmost part is above the horizontal axis of the word and ends in “g” whose lowermost part is below the horizontal axis. This suggests that the way of the dog begins in the heavens and ends below the ground. It begins with a sense of superiority, arrogance, and ends in equality with all. Likewise, “god” begins with “g” whose lowermost part is below the horizontal axis and ends in “d” whose topmost part is above the horizontal axis. It begins with equality, modesty, and ends in the heavens, in oneness with God. Simply, starting with arrogance leads us to death and starting with modesty leads us to the heavens.
The way of the dog is animal consciousness and the way of god is divine consciousness.
“o” is a symbol of perfection. The space within and the space without the “o” are mutually exclusive, mutually dependent and all there is. It is the now, the akin Earth experience of both dog and god; differing only in that the dog way enters the now with a sense of arrogance and the god way enters the now with modesty. Beyond the Earth experience, there are two ways: the way to the ground (the dog way) and the way to the heavens (the god way), death or transition. The choice between the ways is easy; dog is not man’s best friend, God is.
Paul Rand was a personal friend, a graphic designer who assiduously focused on typefaces. I was with Paul at his deathbed. Paul didn’t die, he transitioned.
Freedom from Religion
All religions hold sacred a simple truth, the golden rule: compassion, treating others as we wish others to treat us, treating others as ourselves because we are all one. This is the way to liberation from the selfish self. This is the way to be one with God; to realizing our purpose in life, divine consciousness. If we are not compassion incarnate, religions subject us to rules, regulations, rituals and absurd protocols in the name of serving God. Only when religious followers awaken and embody the simple truth, the golden rule, can they have freedom from religion.
God, hidden in the light
Within colorless white light
hide the spectrum of colors.
When the sun dances with rain droplets
the rainbow appears
revealing the spectrum.
Blue is the symbol of wisdom.
Red is the symbol of love.
Between blue and red is yellow,
the symbol of God.
Flanked by wisdom and love is where God is hiding.
When we know wisdom and love,
we know where God is.
The Transition
No one is getting out of here alive. We all transition from this finite life to realize we are one with the universe forever. We transition as a piece of the universe to at peace with the universe.
In time before the transition, we ready ourselves for sleep unlike the countless thousands of temporary daily sleep-deaths. Best a dome shaped room, like the dome shaped egg from which we came, with a video of the night sky; our hand held by a loving one; and waves of sound of transcendental music filling the room to quiet our mind until we and the waves light and sound become one.
If the loving one speaks, what is there to say but “I love you, always have, always will, always and all ways. Thank you for being you. Thank you for having me.”
Enjoy it and Let it Go
Food is among the wonderful physical pleasures of life, engaging our senses of smell and taste. Once swallowed, the pleasures are over, our bodies absorb some of the food for nutrition and let the rest go. Not letting it go is constipation. Constipation can be debilitating, distracting us from fully enjoying ourselves at whatever we’re doing.
Likewise, as to all experiences; best to enjoy them at the time, learn what we can from them and then let them go.
Arthur Rubinstein
“Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don’t set any condition.”
“I’m a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine – and that’s all I want to have.”
“To be alive, to able to see, to walk…it’s all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle.”
“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.”
“We only begin to live life when we learn to accept it on its own terms.”
“Of course there is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life, and what it brings.”
“Even when I’m sick and depressed, I love life.”
“When I was young, I used to have successes with women because I was young. Now I have successes with women because I am old. Middle age was the hardest part.”
Arthur Rubinstein is considered the greatest pianist of the 20th century. Perhaps more important are his insights into a happy life.
Rubinstein’s insights and attitude are easier said than realized. Perhaps Rubinstein was hyperthymic, a congenital disposition as is a talent for music. In Wikipedia, hyperthymia is characterized by:
- increased energy and productivity
- short sleep patterns
- vividness, activity extroversion
- self-assurance, self-confidence
- strong will
- extreme talkativeness
- tendency to repeat oneself
- risk-taking/sensation seeking
- breaking social norms
- very strong libido
- love of attention
- low threshold for boredom
- generosity and tendency to overspend
- emotion sensitivity
- cheerfulness and joviality
- unusual warmth
- expansiveness
- tirelessness
- irrepressibility, irresistible, and infectious quality
Hyperthymia is a rare state of mind, happiness forever; gratitude, optimism and looking forward, not back; enjoying ourselves; realizing our potential; and helping others do likewise by example and sharing insights.
Drunk
According the Guinness Book of World Records, “drunk” holds the world’s record for the word with the most synonyms, as many as 2,241. This attests to how varied each of us experiences things in a free state of mind. However, when really drunk, we’re unlikely to articulate but a couple of synonyms and not remember them after we recover.
When we’re not drunk, our experience of things is likely as varied as when we are drunk which makes it remarkable that we can understand and stand each other. Maybe that’s why we get drunk.
Close and Open Together
Together as two
we see each other much of the time.
Familiar, comfortable and at ease
in the rhythm of habits.
From a distance we look as one,
very close but not open.
Together as one
maybe far but far closer.
Always open,
connected joyfully all ways,
beyond stretches of time.
Together as one and
together as two,
altogether,
joy-us every which way.
Happy to Measure but not happy
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.
Hilton Root
“Art is the order of all things. Confusion adds life to art.”
The preceding quote was from stream of consciousness writings by Hilton Root, a friend since the age of 13, when he was 16 years old. The quote has stayed in memory over the decades as I found it, ironically, confusing.
Now, I read the quote as chaos is the fundamental art (that which is art-ificial, manmade) is an assemblage of natural elements. When an artwork is ambiguous, meaning different things to different people, it reflects the nature of life itself.
Uncomfortable unless Uncomfortable
I’m uncomfortable unless I’m uncomfortable.
High anxiety can be extremely debilitating. It can cause us to freeze or panic, not a good state of mind when we need make a decision.
Low levels of anxiety may be uncomfortable but can be beneficial. Low anxiety spurs our imagination to envision many potentially negative consequences that can result from our choices. As negative consequences generally unfold slowly and then suddenly, imagining these negative consequences allows us to see them and act accordingly before they fully unfold and it’s too late to do much about them.
With little anxiety, we are comfortable, tend towards laxity and not see dangerous outcomes even when they may be obvious.
Thus, I’m uncomfortable (unless feeling uncomfortable with low levels of anxiety) when I’m comfortable.
A Sage is Sage
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.
Always Compassionate, Sometimes Hurtful
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.
Physical Love
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.
When The Wise Are Unwise
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.
Shoji Ilyama
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.
Reconstructing Our Stories
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.
Everything Is Beautiful
That which is beautiful engenders our love. But when love overflows from our heart, we see beauty everywhere.
Those whose love is solely engendered by beauty fail to see beauty everywhere. They view those whose love makes everything beautiful as not truly knowing love. Of course, they are talking about themselves.
Haiku 9
I am a vertical thread.
You are a horizontal thread.
We weave in and out, until we disappear
and now a fabric is here.
2020, The Aftermath
Some of us are nearsighted, some farsighted. Hopefully in 2020 our vision becomes 20/20 and everything near and far becomes clear.
The above post was published on December 31, 2019. The pandemic was the apocalypse, revealing who we are individually and collectively by our reactions to the pandemic and quarantine. Now everything near and far is clear. If not, our eyes are closed and we’ll fall asleep before we know it.
Happy Attitude
Everything is seemingly experienced twice, in reality and in memory.
As to reality, it is what it is whatever it is. However, our memories are a function of our attitude.
Our memories and the stories we weave of them we can construct and reconstruct as we wish. There is almost always a way to view our memories as funny/happy stories. Happy stories make for a happy attitude which makes for happy experiences.
Kanako Iiyama
“There is no karma in our family line.”
We can see this world as it is what it is whatever it is, free from the definitions, meanings and stories created by karma. We are all born free of karma but accumulate karma through our experiences of days now past. When we let go of the past, we are free of karma, can experience the present as it is and see what’s coming our way.
Kaylee Brown
What Choosing Vanilla Really Says About Your Personality
“There are two types of people in the world: those who love vanilla and those who make fun of those who love vanilla. Vanilla lovers could easily gather and share laughs over the dread they feel whenever they order their favorite flavor amongst a group of friends.
So often, loyal vanilla zealots are labeled as “boring” or “unexciting” by their peers, and it can really start to wear a person down. It’s possible that your desire to choose vanilla has less to do with your taste buds’ preferences, and more to do with you as a person. As someone who chooses vanilla, you:
1. Are content. When you fall in love with something, you are happy to be tied to it for a long time without the fear that you are missing out on something better. You’re happy with being happy. You do not always feel the need to change things up just in case there’s something better out there.
2. Are confident. You don’t need the approval of others to feel good about your choices. You know what you want and it doesn’t matter than other people have their opinions about it. You don’t care.
3. Like accessories. If you’re a man, you probably sport a hat or watch on most days. If you’re a lady, then scarves are a staple, and necklaces are never forgotten. How so? As a vanilla lover, you have chosen to start with a simple base and leave room for accessories like sprinkles, chocolate chips, fruit or a variety of candy crumbles. You most likely choose to start your outfits with a basic design and then add bits of flair here and there.
4. Have a sense of humor. As mentioned earlier, you endure a lot of mocking whenever you order vanilla. You will be called “boring,” “dull,” “lame” and in extreme cases, a “waste.” If you couldn’t laugh off the criticism of others, then you would have already become a closet vanilla eater. The fact that you continue to order your favorite simple flavor, despite knowing that the mockery will surely ensue, means that you can take a joke. No one can bring you down.
5. Are loyal. Even after being mocked, joked at and tempted by many to “change it up,” you’re still deeply in love with vanilla and feel no need to stray from it. You know that you’ve found a good thing and don’t feel the need to risk a date with your favorite vanilla treat in lieu of something more decadent. You don’t step out on vanilla just like you would never desert a friend or significant other.
6. Enjoy the simple things in life. It’s not going to take a lot to make you happy, and you really know how to value the small things. Vanilla is as simple as it gets, but there’s something about that simplicity that makes it enjoyable every time. You don’t need grand gestures or constant entertainment to be happy. Material possessions and flashy gifts are not your main concern.”
Ironically, vanilla personality characteristics have some overlap to those of eccentrics, people who are anything but vanilla. Maybe people who go for vanilla are not vanilla.
Everything is Funny
Almost everything is funny in one way or another. What’s essentially funny is how people think and act and when they take themselves seriously. However, when we laugh at people, they often get upset. They don’t realize that they too could be laughing if they could see themselves as we see them. Or maybe they do so realize but are afraid to see themselves that way because doing so might irreparably damage their self-image. With their identity lost, they fear feeling vulnerable and lost because they don’t know who they are. However, they have nothing to fear since we don’t know who we are either.
Seeing Through Our Own Mind
Our mind reflects the minds of others when we see through our ears and not our eyes. But when alone, we can think independently and see through our own mind.
True Inspiration
While great inspiration often seems to lead to success, success is a measure of luck while inspiration is measured by perspiration.
Illeism
Illeism is when someone refers to themselves in the third person instead of the first person. For example, my saying “Victor went to the store” instead of saying “I went to the store.”
In Wikipedia: “[T]hird person self-referral can be associated with self-irony and not taking oneself too seriously (since the excessive use of pronoun “I” is often seen as a sign of narcissism and egocentrism), as well as with eccentricity in general. Psychological studies show that thinking and speaking of oneself in the third person increases wisdom and has a positive effect on one’s mental state because an individual who does so is more intellectually humble, more capable of empathy and understanding the perspectives of others, and is able to distance emotionally from one’s own problems. Accordingly, in certain Eastern religions, like Hinduism, illeism is sometimes seen as a sign of enlightenment, since through it, an individual detaches their eternal self (atman) from their bodily form.”
Notable illeists include Mikhail Gorbachev, Alice Cooper, Marilyn Monroe and Jesus Christ.
Practicing illeism can be a refreshing and mindful approach to conversation as well as a recognizing that the person we were in our past lives is not the person we are now. Moreover, referring to ourselves in the third person implies we are a character in a play; that life is a play.
Some God, Many Animals
We are born as animals but are direct descendants of God with the potential to realize divine consciousness. Our potential is realized when we recognize that each of us is one with God, avatars of wisdom and compassion. As such, treat each other as we treat God, with respect and love. Those who don’t respect and love us don’t recognize us as God because they don’t recognize that they are God. They are animals and need to be treated accordingly.
Passion: From Suffering to Love
Passion originally meant suffering.
Passion today means love.
Likewise we transition
from suffering to love.
Before birth we are one
and after an infinite many.
Suffering begins at birth
and ends when love connects us as one.
Megumi Ilyama
“To love myself is to love you.”
I am you and you are me and we are one together.
The eternal and unchanging self has infinite faces of ever-changing expressions. Each face we see is us.
The Christian Recorder, March 1862
“Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words shall never hurt me.”
This adage has apparently been lost in contemporary American society which suppresses freedom of speech through punishments like job losses, shunning and physical and economic violence.
Way Of Way 92
Most people want to have something special as long as it tastes like vanilla.
Clint Eastwood
“Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.”
George Orwell
“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”
Short-term happiness is easier to realize than freedom, but freedom allows for long-term happiness.
Kotodama 11
Awakening
Ah…Aha…Haha…Hahahaha
Ah — joy.
Aha — realizing joy is the purpose of life.
Haha — laughing at the simplicity of this realization.
Hahahaha — laughing at how silly we were for not realizing this earlier.
The Fools and the Wise
Fools look at the world through their individual and/or collective minds. The wise see the universe with their eyes and the minds of others.
Way Of Way 93
Seeing the light clears the mind. It’s called photic sneeze reflex.
Dalai Lama XIV
“People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used.”
Way Of Way 94
Judging a decision by its outcome, which is often affected by randomness, is a bad decision.
Way Of Way 95
Everything that comes our way is the best when we make the best of it.
Haiku 82
In the darkest moments
and beyond the clouds,
stars put things into perspective.
Way Of Way 96
Weddings always make happy memories.
For some couples, it’s the happiest day of their lives as they begin living happily everafter. For others, it’s the happiest day of their married lives as it’s all downhill from there.
Looking or Seeing
The words “look” and “see” are often used interchangeably. However, they are different. To look means to direct our eyes in a particular direction. To see means we become aware of something by using our eyes.
An essential difference between looking and seeing is in the context of time. We can look at the past and at the future. However, we cannot look at the present as the present is right here, right now; not somewhere else in which direction we can look.
We can see things only in the present. We cannot use our eyes to become aware of something in the past or future because these time frameworks are not real; they’re artificial; constructed by our mind; an illusion.
Hence, for example, we cannot look for real beauty; it only exists where we can see it which is wherever we are now.
When enlightened, we can see. When we are looking, we are looking in the dark.
John Carter
In The Light
Take a memory
What is it really
A movie that plays in the mind
What’s it like
What’s it made of
Can you touch it
Hold it
Is it always there
Is it the same every time
Does it shape itself around how you’re feeling
Is it reliable
Look at it
Watch it
As it changes from one day to the next, one year to the next
Fading
Until what was vivid, becomes thin, vapid, and dissolves
Like an old movie reel
Fading
And forgotten
What of the future
What is it made of
Without memories
Without the scaffolding of the past
How can it stand
Is it not made of a better version of the past
Without something to revise
What would it be
And there’s now
What is this
The light
Only the light
Everything
All light
Scour the past
Hope for the future
For the holy light
The blessed light
The heavenly light
The light of God
Yet it can only be found here
Stripped of adjectives
Reduced of rank
Beyond comparison
To see the light
Is merely to look
It is inescapable
We are
As is everything
Only the light
The past and future
Swallowed and digested in the light of now
Then this
Spreads in all directions
Forward
Back
Locked in
In eternity
In the light
All is lost
Nothing revealed
Way Of Way 101
Perhaps the most important choice we make in life is between selfishness and happiness. Though selfishness is a choice and happiness is an outcome.
We cannot choose happiness but happiness is possible when we choose not to be selfish.
Haiku 81
When I am me and you are you
and I am you and you are me,
we are the Everything.
Insinkerator
One of my favorite gadgets is the Insinkerator. It sits beneath the sink and grinds down all but beef bones. I use it several times a day and each time it’s an experience. I think about the bacteria beneath the Insinkerator; how they will enjoy the rinds of blood oranges, watermelon remains and eggshells. I’m sure they know that my eating preferences are different than that of the people who lived in my house before me.
Likewise, I think about the bacteria below the toilet. They’ve got lots of shit to eat several times a day. Recently, I had a couple of stale dry cigars that I put down the toilet instead of tossing them in the garbage bin; thinking they’d be a refreshing treat for the bacteria. After flushing away the cigars, I imagined the bacteria greeting them with amazement; amazed at their uniform shape. Thinking the cigars a treat, the bacteria rushed to eat them; but were likely put off by the taste of the cigars and declared: “this tastes like shit.”
When we are sensitive to the experience of bacteria, feeding them via sink, toilet or other pathway makes for an engaging experience. Those who are not conscious of the bacteria’s experience are essentially asleep, mechanically going through the process of disposing food and excrement. Likewise, in other aspects of their lives they’re asleep.
When asleep, we are on automatic pilot and our mind easily controls us; we are its prisoners. Our mind convinces us that those who are awake are crazy because we can’t experience what they can. Our mind makes us fear being awake because that would mean we’re crazy. Well, those who are awake may be crazy, however they are the relatively happier and free.
Frank Wilczek
“Complementarity: the concept that one single thing, when considered from different perspectives, can seem to have very different or even contradictory properties.”
Embracing complementarity is the essence of wisdom.
Circa Survive
“The difference between medicine and poison is in the dose.”
Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
Haiku 80
In the box, the puzzle is complete and whole.
Outside, scattered pieces, each alone.
Then each piece begins its quest
to find others that fits best.
When the puzzle returns to its previous state
each piece disappears into a peace more great.
Ross Levin
“Everyone is interesting if you listen to them.”
Fujiyama
Kanako Iiyama
In the Edo Period some believed that Fujiyama was a female deity and that by climbing the mountain one would be reborn, purified and able to find happiness. Today, most people are made happy by the mountain’s simple beauty.
The pantheist star (on the waters below, reflecting the top of the mountain and the sun rising) informs us that everything we see is only one thing: energy in its infinite manifestations.
Way Of Way 103
Science says we see others by the light they reflect. In reality, we see others by the light we project upon them.
Edward Abbey
“Of course I litter the public highway. After all, it’s not the beer cans that are ugly; it’s the highway that is ugly.”
Courtesy of Alan Glickman
A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman, without her, man is nothing.
Together, they are one and can turn into many.
Apart, they both with be nothing.
Way Of Way 97
“Those who can make you believe in absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” — Voltaire
Ideologies and identity groups are absurdities that are the foundation of dualities.
Hassidic perspective of our good fortune
A man once visited the holy Rebbe Dov Ber ben Avraham of Mezeritch and said he had great difficulties applying the Talmudic saying that “A person is supposed to bless God for the bad just as he blesses Him for the good”. The Maggid told him to find the Maggid’s disciple Reb Zusha of Hanipoli and ask him. The man went and found Rabbi Zusha, who received him friendly and invited him to his home. When the guest came in, he saw how poor the family was, there was almost nothing to eat, they were beset with afflictions and illnesses. Nevertheless, Rabbi Zusha was always happy and cheerful. The guest was astonished at this picture. He said: “I went to the Holy Maggid to ask him how is it possible to bless God for the bad He sends us the same way as we bless Him for the good, and The Maggid told me only you can help me in this matter.” Rabbi Zusha said: “This is indeed a very interesting question. But why did our holy Rebbe send you to me? How would I know? He should have sent you to someone who has experienced suffering.”
The essence of happiness is gratitude, the realization that however dour our circumstances they could always be worse. We are truly blessed when we recognize and serve God, the ever-changing and eternal whole, as we in turn become one with God; thereby realizing our self-perceived relative good or bad fortune is perception, not reality.
Antiquities dealer in Jerusalem
Some 25 years back, in the “old city” section of Jerusalem, I stepped into a shop selling antiquities. As I looked at various objects in glass cases, the owner of the shop introduced himself and said he’d been an antiquities dealer for more than fifty years, had dealt in very fine and desirable objects and was sure he had something I’d like. I told him I’d been collecting antiquities for some time and wanted to look around. He then asked: “What are you looking for.” I replied: “I don’t know what I’m looking for until I find it.” To which he said: “In that case, you’re looking for nothing.” While not apparent to me at the time, ultimately he was right.
Now, after many years of collecting antiquities and tribal art and generally living to pursue personal desires, eureka: nothing. Looking for nothing, desiring nothing; not because I have everything, but as I am the everything.
Penn Tanenbaum
I told my six year old grandson, Penn, that a friend of mine is expecting to die of terminal illness in the spring. Penn said: “Your friend is lucky.” I asked: “Why lucky?” Penn said: “They are not dying now.”
No one is getting out of here alive. We are all dying; some slowly, some suddenly. No point in worrying about it, but best not to forget about it.
Way Of Way 104
Wealth and social status are imaginary hierarchies. Those atop hierarchies are generally very happy with themselves. When they look at those below them, they are pleased as they see the admiring and respectful faces of those below. However, the laws of gravity disturb this otherwise mutually pleasing relationship. Invariably, those atop need to relieve themselves and their droppings are resented by those below. There is nothing imaginary about that.
Koan 67
“If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you!” — Kotzker Rebbe
When Moses encountered God in the desert, Moses asked God who he was. God said: “I am what I am.” That is, God is indescribable because God is the Everything. Any other description implies God is one thing and not another; the antithesis of God.
If I am what I am and you are what you are, you and I are God. However, if I define myself in terms of what I am not (you), I am not God.
If you are God, I treat you as I want God to treat me.
Yogi Berra
“The future ain’t what it used to be.”
Our attitudes form the future.
The Icelander
“The best place is wherever you are; from wherever you are you can experience everything.”
Iceland is well-known as the place to be on New Year’s Eve, having the greatest display of individual and collective fireworks. I once asked an Icelander where is the best place in Iceland to be on New Year’s Eve. His reply was the quote above.
Easy Work
Work is something we do that benefits others and for which others pay us to do. Some aspects of work tax our time and energy and other aspects are engaging and enjoyable which makes the work energizing. Best to do the enjoyable work and get others to do the work that’s taxing to us but hopefully not to them.
My career was running a hedge fund. I worked 80+ hours a week, though it didn’t feel like work. It was fun in good times and bad; maybe because I had a salesman, traders, analysts and an accountant on staff doing the work I had little interest in doing; or maybe because the fund was successful which allowed me and the workers to enjoy ourselves when not working.
Heaven and Hell
Once upon a time there were twin sisters. They came from a good family, married well, had good children and lived happily ever after. Their lives were nearly identical but for one thing. One sister, Mary, was promiscuous and the other sister, Judith, was religious, adhering to a strict moral code. Everyone in their town knew Mary as “Mattress Mary” as it seemed she slept with everyone. Often, on hot evenings when people kept their windows open to let in the cool air, you knew in whose flat Mary was as she wailed “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” While Mary was howling, Judith was quietly praying to God to forgive her sister.
When they were done living happily ever after, it was their time to go to the hereafter where God determined which sister would go to heaven and which to hell. I don’t know the mind of God and whom he sent where, but I know that Mary came from heaven and Judith came from hell.
The moral of this story is that “where is God to be found? In the place where He is given entry.” — Kotzker Rebbe.
Complaint Department
Marriage is like a corporate partnership wherein one mate or the other assumes different department roles: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Director of Human Resources, etc. However, at times conflicts arise when there is confusion over who heads which department. For example, a wife might complain to her husband because she is unhappy about something he said or did. Her husband in turn might be taken aback by her complaints as he views himself head of the Rewards Department, not the Complaint Department. He then needs assign his wife to take charge of the Complaint Department as she has the most experience in complaining.
Alternatively, when a wife is complaining, best to keep silent but for agreeing (“yes, you’re right”) with her gripes, letting her vent until she calms down.
A mistake would be addressing her issues rationally or trying to help her perceive what irks her in a different light. Doing so tends to agitate her further and invariably results in her saying: “You don’t understand me.” Well, now you know she is right. If you understood her, you would have little to do with her.
Way Of Way 105
The greatest blessing is realizing we are blessed.
Meditation of death
Sometimes we take our circumstances and ourselves very seriously. This can be stressful. If we compartmentalize our predicament, we can put it in perspective and not let it affect other aspects of our life which otherwise are pleasing and from which we can take solace. However, compartmentalization is not easy.
Alternatively, we can find relief through the meditation of death, looking at our current situation from the perspective of the end of days. From that perspective we can look back at our lives and realize that much we once took seriously now seems ridiculous.
Penn Tanenbaum
“You get love, that’s enough.”
Today my five year old grandson, Penn, was defiant, unwilling to take his feet off our living room couch when I told him to do so. I said: “You have no respect for your grandfather.” He said: “You get love, that’s enough.” I laughed; The Beatles were right, all you need is love.
John Thorn (MLB’s official historian)
“History has to be fluid; if it were not fluid, why do we get periodic new biographies of Lincoln or Jesus? Stats are a funny thing. The deeper you go, the more impressed you are with the fact that these are symbols. They are not solid things.”
Way Of Way 300
“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it isn’t open.”
— Frank Zappa
Way Of Way 299
“People are strange: they are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.”
— Charles Bukowski
Haiku 7
In the night sky,
looking for constellations
we notice few stars.
Haiku 103
When you recognize God in a man,
He’s not black
He’s not white.
He’s not Christian
He’s not Muslim.
He’s not smart.
He’s not stupid.
He’s not one thing or another.
He’s simply welcome.
Koan 66
A clear mind sees every thing and understands nothing.
The Key To Life
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
— John Lennon
Defusing Anxiety
In the winter of 2017 I awoke one morning with pain in my right thigh. The pain felt like a serious bruise; maybe a torn muscle as my range of motion was limited; but there was no related black and blue skin marks to corroborate that diagnosis. Moreover, I didn’t recall banging my thigh to cause injury. Yet the pain and the limited range of motion made me think that it would take a couple of weeks before I could get back to playing squash. Sort of a long time as I had had a meniscus and a couple of hernia operations in the past and was able to get to the squash courts in a week’s time.
Ten days later with the symptoms unabated, I went to my personal doctor for a diagnosis. She had me take an MRI. The next day, a Friday, she informed me that it looked like I had a tumor which most likely was cancerous. She set me up for Monday and Tuesday consultations at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and at Yale University Hospital.
She also sent me the MRI report which I immediately emailed everyone on my contact list with a note: “Just got notice from my doctor that it looks like I have a cancerous tumor in my leg; further examinations to follow. Wish me luck it’s not the big “C. Will keep you posted.”
I received many responses to the email, wishing me well. Some friends were shocked as I’m generally perceived as very healthy. Some doctor friends opined that in fact the MRI indicated a cancerous tumor more than anything else. Others offered encouraging words.
In the ensuing days, my wife was a wreck as we discussed the real possibility of having a leg amputated. I was good with the situation, figuring come what may. I also shared the particulars of my circumstances with everyone; from my doormen to strangers I’d meet on the grocery checkout line.
Monday I went with my dutiful son, Alex, to Sloan Kettering. Alex joined me so that we would have a clear understanding of the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment protocol. At Sloan I met with Dr. Patrick Boland, a “top doctor” specializing in orthopedic cancers. As I understood his examination would involve a surgical biopsy, before he started I told him that “I know there is a small but real chance the best way to proceed is to amputate the leg. If you think during the biopsy operation that’s the way to go, I’m good with that. However, if that’s what you think, don’t do anything. Just leave the leg as it is. Let me enjoy it for another couple of weeks and I’ll come back to have it removed.” Dr. Boland laughed, more than a bit surprised by my marching orders.
Dr. Boland and his assistant first examined my leg, pushing and tugging it forcefully. After not saying much beyond sounds like “hmm” and “ahah,” Dr. Boland said he had seen many tumor and cancer patients but I was different, “none look like you.” I thought my upbeat attitude was not what he commonly encounters. Dr. Boland then recommended more tests, an X-Ray and a sonogram. Hours later, with test results in hand, I met with Dr. Boland again. The good doctor advised me that the apparent cancerous tumor was just old dried blood from a long ago bruise that had leached spider-like to appear as a cancerous tumor on the MRI; that unbeknownst to me I must have banged my leg recently to cause my thigh muscle strain.
As I had an appointment the next day at Yale and the weather looked good for a drive up north from the city, I went to the meet the doctors at Yale. They confirmed Dr. Boland’s diagnosis.
Driving back to the city, I noticed that the pain in my thigh was no longer. Two hours later, I was playing squash.
Upon arriving home, I wrote to my email list that the cancer scare was a cancer scare, nothing more; that in fact I was back on the squash courts. Lots of congratulatory emails came back, though some a bit cynical. On Wall Street friend called my experience “the tumor rumor.” Another friend, a Catholic, said mine was a divine recovery; the Friday email sounded like I was in hospice and five days later a miraculous complete recovery; from hospice to squash court; Jesus must have played a role.
How did I feel about this rollercoaster ride? Terrific, from beginning to end. Terrific I had an early diagnosis, terrific that I could avail myself of modern medicine, terrific that I was not ill, terrific that I was able to play squash, terrific to have had an entertaining experience; or that’s how I chose to remember it.
Before the good news that there was nothing wrong, I wasn’t particularly stressed out by the dire possibilities. That might be a function of my general attitude and sharing my diagnosis with anyone who would listen. The sharing in effect had many others share my burden of an ominous ordeal which made moving forward, whichever the direction, relatively easy. When we have a problem and tell everyone about it, we ameliorate our anxiety and are better able to enjoy the moment.
My Mother’s Transition 1
In 2014 my mother collapsed in her apartment in Brooklyn. Simply, her legs gave out. An ambulance took her to Maimonides Hospital to diagnose the problem. Initially she was diagnosed with having had mini-strokes. As she had been to hospital over the years for one problem or another, I wasn’t concerned but felt best to visit her; overruling her objections to do so.
At hospital I was told she was in Room 520. I went to Room 522 where there was an old man in a wheelchair sitting outside the room. I approached him and said: ” Mother, how you doing?” He looked a bit confused, so I said: “Mother, it’s me, Victor. You ok? Don’t you recognize me?” Then quickly, “This is room 522? You’re not my mom. Have a good day.” He laughed.
I then went next door to Room 520. My mother was there, in bed, alert and smiling. As well, her doctor and a nurse were there. After greeting my mother, I turned to the doctor and asked how my mother was doing, whether I needed to make funeral arrangements. Everyone was a bit shocked but for my mother who knew me too well. But I then added: “No, I understand, this is a serious matter. But before we get into it, I want to be sure I understand the relationships here. You are the doctor, she is my mother and I am her son. You’re not the patient, she’s not my son and I’m not my mother?” From there we got onto business. The doctor said that he initially thought my mother suffered from mini-strokes but as her neurological motor system was deteriorating further, she might actually have Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
Guillain-Barre is an autoimmune disease wherein the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves and damages their myelin insulation, rendering the patient paralyzed to a greater or lesser extent. Within a year, 90-100% recovery is possible.
After extensive and painful testing, including a spinal tap, the doctor determined she in fact had Guillain-Barre. In the ensuing days, as her condition worsened, she was put into hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. I hired additional nurses to be by her bedside 24/7. In the ICU she was put on a ventilator and a feeding tube was inserted into her stomach which made her two favorite activities, eating and talking, not possible.
A couple of days later I visited my mother. I asked her nurse how my mother was doing. The nurse said I need to ask the doctor making rounds. I went out the room looking for the doctor. I approached a man in uniform and asked him how my mother was doing. Another nurse volunteered that the man I was talking with was not a doctor but an HVAC man. That didn’t matter as for me every opinion counts. I took the HVAC man to my mother. I told my mother that he was from Harvard Medical School and a specialist in Guillain-Barre. Then I said: “Doctor, what do you think?” Well, he was a religious guy from Jamaica and said best we consult scripture. My mother laughed.
Some days later, as her condition stabilized, my mother was moved out of the ICU into a less intensive care patient’s room. By then my mother had been on the ventilator for 10 days. Medical protocol called for her to be taken off the ventilator and to be intubated as continuing with the ventilator increases the risk of infection. Alternatively, she could be taken off the ventilator and effort to breathe unaided. If she was unsuccessful breathing, she would suffocate and die.
I told my mother that the next step was intubation and that over time she might get better and lead a normal life. However, as she was 86, she might never recover and be with feeding tube and intubation until the end of her days. I asked her what she wanted to do, try to breathe on her own now at the risk of dying or go with the intubation. She couldn’t speak but pointed to me. I asked her if she wanted me to make this decision. she shook her head indicating “yes.” I then said: “OK, this is what are going to do. You’re going to hold my hand as tight as you can, close your eyes, concentrate on breathing and the nurse will take out the ventilator. If you can’t breathe, you will transition. So before we get started, I want to tell you I love you, it’s been a wonderful trip, thank you for everything and God bless you.” The ventilator came out and my mother lived.
My mother never fully recovered and was wheelchair bound until she passed a couple of years later from congestive heart failure.
My mother didn’t have a lot of marbles but whatever marbles she had she retained until she passed. In my mother’s last days she said she had but one wish. She wanted to pass in the daytime, not at night. I asked her why the daytime and she said she would likely be sleeping at night and not during the day and she wanted to see what it was like to die. She died a couple of days later, after the sun turn from up high, in the early afternoon. I guess she then knew its journey from there.
That was my mother. No wonder I am who I am.
Way Of Way 106
The pursuit of happiness is a fool’s errand. Happiness is like a mouse, it comes to those who sit quietly with a piece of cheese by their side.
Way Of Way 107
The past are the bars our mind creates holding us prisoner in a cell.
We can incessantly shake the bars, trying to free ourselves, but to no avail.
Letting go our grip, the bars fall to the floor and we can walk away from our cell to freedom.
Way Of Way 295
Love comes from the realization the universe is the manifestation of the infinite faces of the soul.
Love is wisdom, seeing the universe through the all the faces.
Love is compassion; treating all faces as our own, for the faces are the masks of the soul.
Grandson’s Wisdom
On my grandson’s 7th birthday, I told him that I loved him.
I then asked him whom he loved most.
He said he loved 99% of all the people he knows.
Thinking I was unclear, I said, “maybe you didn’t understand love?”
Before he could reply, his 5 year old brother chimed in, “Maybe you don’t understand love.”
Container, Djibouti
This contemporary, post-WWII, object describes the evolution of society from tribal peoples to the modern world. The social evolution is marked by the change from a group-centered to an individual-centered world. The base of the container represents the foundation of civilization, tribal peoples. The tribe members are connected as one in dance. The faces of the dancers are undifferentiated and their bodies unclothed, implying their essential selves. Each member is not an individual; they are the dance. As societies evolved, they centered around the head, the mind. The members’ heads surround the container, the mind, and are differentiated by facial expressions and hairstyles. At the top, the container’s lid, is a man sitting alone in contemplation, lost in thought. The man, now individual-centered, closes the container/mind and no longer connects to others as in the dance.
Pindi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
This whimsical, unique, rare dancing figure is not an iconic example of African art but one that is both inventive and allegorical. (For additional images of this figure, click here.)
With its arms oversized and swaying and its legs bent, the figure is dancing. The arms are oversized as they would be in a slow shutter speed photo of a dancer in motion.
It is both male and female. But unlike hermaphrodite figures generally (which host breasts and a penis), this figure has a vagina, a male torso (no breasts) and an Adam’s apple. It is a man with female genitals, as in dancing celebrations in West Africa where males dress as females.
Unlike this dancing figure which is rare, the majority of tribal art figures are standing, not dancing, and host a head that is disproportionately large relative to torso. This figure has a tiny head and long neck separating the head and the torso. The message it conveys is that when we are dancing our experience is physical and our heads play a disproportionally smaller role in how we experience the world. A corollary is that when we are not physically engaged our experience is a function of our head.
Eye Idol, circa 3700 – 3500 B.C., Tell Brak, Levant
Thousands of “Eye Idols” figurines have been found in a building now called the “Eye Temple” in Tell Brak in northeastern Syria.
Without mouths or ears, but always with eyes, these objects suggest a deity that can see but not hear or speak.
The deity sees the world as it is, unaffected by what people say it is.
The deity often is depicted with multiple eye, suggesting it has multiple perspectives; the hallmark of wisdom.
As wisdom cannot be conveyed with words, it has no mouth with which to speak.
Ayami (Shaman figure), Nanai People, East Siberia
This shaman figure, made of bone, is depicted wearing a hat with seven heads representing ancestors, historically important clan members or wise men.
The heads are the shaman’s helper spirits or guides in the world underpinning the world of the living; the world before and after the now.
The spirit helpers provide the shaman with multiple perspectives which is the essence of wisdom, the stock-in-trade of shamans.
The triangular shaped head, pointing down and perfectly balanced on the torso, implies an open mind.
The figure has a disproportionally large head (40% of its body vs 14% of a natural body), implying that the head plays an outsized role in the shaman’s work.
The figure is sexless, implying the shaman’s perspective is nondual.
Kotodama 55
We’ve read the word backwards.
Man’s best friend is not the material (dog), but the transcendental (god).
Kotodama 7
The present is the pre-sent, not the now.
In the pre-sent, every thing is absent.
The pre-sent is nothing, just unlimited potential before it manifests as whatever it becomes in the now.
When we are present, we can observe the now and realize we are consciousness that creates the now.
Koan 293
“What’s the difference between the heart and the mind?”
— Kanako Iiyama
Mu (nothing), as they are both illusions.
Each heart is essentially the same. Each mind is unique.
The heart connects us to others, while the mind often separates us from others.
The heart is fundamental to being alive. The mind distracts us from living, as we experience life in the context of our memories.
The heart symbolizes compassion; the mind, wisdom. Together, they can help us realize we are eternal beings; otherwise, we are illusions.
Norman Mailer
In 1977 on a flight from NYC to Dallas, I sat next to a gentleman busy scribbling on his paperwork. Asked him what he was doing, he replied, “working out which bets I want to make” on some football games and horse races. We continued talking and he said he was a magazine writer but didn’t mention his name as he felt I undoubtedly never heard of him. A couple of hours later, I asked him if anyone ever said he looked like Norman Mailer. He said, “Congratulations, it took you a while.” I replied: “Someone has to be Norman Mailer and you’re it. How’s it being Norman Mailer, do you enjoy the role?” He replied: “Terrific role, really enjoying it.”
Mailer was a novelist, journalist, politician, essayist, playwright, film-maker, actor and painter; married six times; had nine children; numerous affairs; stabbed his wife; wrote 11 best-sellers; and cavorted with the glitterati.
Yet, the man sitting next to me didn’t seem to take himself too seriously. Maybe that’s why he was good at being Norman Mailer.
Way Of Way 286
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
Those who laugh at the outcomes always win.
Pantheist Star
Three years ago I was in LA in a shop that sells clothing and accessories. There I found the pendant in the photo above. Store manager said he had found it at a flea market and that it was a “Navajo star.” While I’m not a jewellery kind of guy, the pendant was sufficiently engaging that I purchased it. Researching after, I couldn’t find a Navajo star like it or another similar star. But that was of no matter as I liked the pendant as it was, regardless of any associations or stories that often accompany artworks. In time the pendant revealed itself as a symbol of pantheism, the view that everything is a manifestation of God.
The pendant depicts two stars with a common center. The shorter star ends in points and the longer one ends in heads. The shorter star represents energy/light. The longer star represents matter. Energy and matter have a common center as they are equivalent (E=M*C*C). The common center is God; hence, a pantheist pendant
The heads at the endpoints of the longer star represent consciousness; five heads, five senses. The longer star also appears like a “spread eagle” cheerleader pose, a celebratory pose.
When we realize we are one with everything and one with God, we experience the world via our senses, not our mind. That’s something about which to celebrate.
I’ve made 25 copies of the pendant and give them out to friends who would wear them. Three years later, I still have 15. I suspect none would be left had I offered them for sale.
The Mystic
In life there are always more variables than equations. Hence, there are forever unknowns and a rational approach to solve all of life’s mysteries is a fool’s errand. Only through the realm of the divine can we truly know the unknowable. This is the role of the mystic.
The etymology of the word mystic is via Latin from Greek mustikos from mustēs ‘initiated person,’ from muein ‘close the eyes or lips.’
An initiate is someone who has been, often via rituals, admitted into a secret or obscure society or group. Closing the eyes means dispensing with conventional views. Closing the lips means not telling others of your secret society membership as in so doing you might be perceived as mad; as only those who can imagine the mystical experience can see it.
By definition, a mystic is one who by contemplation and self-surrender seeks to obtain unity with God or who believes in the spiritual understanding of truths that are otherwise beyond the rational.
In the play of life the role of the mystic is unlikely to win an Academy Award as it’s generally a supporting role with few lines. However, otherwise it’s good to be cast as a mystic as it makes for a fascinating experience. While I am who I am, professionally as an actor in the play of life I’m an eccentric mystic or at least I hope so as otherwise I must be mad. In any event, it’s much fun.
No Lives Matter
“No lives matter.”
— Ice-T
“Black lives matter” is a moral indictment of society, claiming “black people” are poorly treated relative to “whites”.
“All lives matter” is a self-righteous, dismissive response; implying all people matter, regardless of their racial identities.
“No lives matter” is social realism. The incarceration rate, domestic murder rate, “cancel culture” and brutalities in overseas military adventures demonstrate society doesn’t value people generally.
Fancy funerals and memorials suggest respect for the dead but not the living.
Externalities vs Potentialities
When I was 12 years old in school in Brooklyn, New York, one day in geography class, the teacher explained that many countries with a low standard of living are today referred to as “underdeveloped”, but years ago were referred to as “backward” which is pejorative.
This distinction seemed to confuse one of the girls in class who blurted out: “Those countries are strange, I’d rather be called backward than underdeveloped.”
To some, externalities are more important than potentialities.
Kotodama 31
Puns are insightful; pundits are opinionated.
Puns are a play with words or phrases that reveal certain truths; often making conventional thinking funny.
Pundits are serious, well-educated and opinionated; never in doubt, but often wrong. Their views provide us a sense of certainty, however false, in an uncertain world.
Way Of Way 283
The mind is a prism refracting white light into a spectrum of colors.
Each color a mood.
We choose the color through which we see the world.
Dispensing with the mind, we see the world as it is.
Way Of Way 159
Those who know they know nothing are childlike. Those who think they know everything are childish.
Koan 289
Even if we can’t laugh, we can afford to smile.
Moon Road
Kanako Iiyama
Before midnight, August 1st, 2020, Awaji Island, Japan.
Awaji was the first of a group of islands born from Izanagi, a creator deity in Japanese mythology.
Way Of Way 282
We don’t fail when we fail, as failing is a learning experience; as long as we don’t blame others for our failing.
Way Of Way 281
“Mary Had a Little Lamb…” begins a 19th century nursery rhyme familiar to most American children. A simple rhyme, yet unclear as to it’s meaning without an understanding of context and relationship.
Does Mary had a little lamb mean Mary had a pet lamb; Mary had a small vagina; Mary had sex with a lamb; or Mary ate a little lamb?
A father reciting the rhyme to children at bedtime implies Mary had a pet lamb.
Mary’s boyfriend having a beer and talking about girls with his buddies implies Mary had a small vagina.
Mary’s kinky friends might think Mary had sex with a lamb.
Mary’s dinner partner assumes Mary ate a little lamb.
Meaning is a function of context and relationship.
Changing the context or relationship and not changing the meaning can make the mundane hilarious.
A Rosy Marriage
Some years back I attended a wedding in the English countryside. The bride was pretty and ebullient. I congratulated her and wished her the best of luck; adding that she was wise going with an arranged marriage as those tend to be more successful than “love marriages.” She was a bit taken aback, claiming her marriage was a love marriage, not arranged; her parents had nothing to do with her choice of groom.
I explained that in times past children married at a young age and didn’t know much about choosing a mate. Moreover, as marriages were a merger of families, parents arranged the marriages of their children. Today, however, children are no longer young and living with their parents when they marry; post marriage family get-togethers are mostly on ceremonial occasions; and there are often great socioeconomic differences between parents and children; thus, children arrange their own marriages and pay lip service to their families’ input.
The bride and groom were both good-looking, graduates of a top university, Jewish, bourgeoisie, in professional jobs at highly acclaimed organizations and had common life goals. That seemed like an arranged marriage on good footing. Had the bride chosen to marry an ugly uneducated elderly drunken bum with no means of support, that would have been a “love marriage.” When we make choices based on emotional feelings without practical considerations, it must be out of love. However, emotional states of mind are like the weather, they can change unpredictably. Likewise, emotional love relationships often don’t sustain themselves and have a higher failure rate than arranged marriages.
My view was that the bride was in love with the particulars of the marriage she had arranged, not with the groom. However, I was proven wrong. It was a love marriage. The marriage lasted less than two years and ended with great acrimony.
Way Of Way 280
Getting anxious or depressed about the past or future precludes us from the joy of being present.
Way Of Way 279
If you care about what others think of you, you’ve put yourself in prison.
If you don’t care, they might put you in prison.
But, they might not; then, you’ll be free.
Haiku 100
Between the beats of my pulse,
between the exhale and the inhale
there is an empty space where all is still.
In my youth, I anxiously waited in the empty space
for the next beat or breath to engage my attention.
Now, I rest in the space where nothingness reigns.
From here, I can appreciate the wonder of creation.
Enlightenment
Enlightenment is simply being one with light. Light, the visual form of energy, is the essence of everything. Enlightenment is being one with everything. To the enlightened, this realization is manifested in the many faces of enlightenment.
As E=M*C*C (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared) is M=E/C*C (mass (all that there is) is energy divided (slowed down) dramatically by the speed of light squared), all things are essentially infinite manifestations of light.
As energy is all there is, all things (however seemingly real and independent of energy) are just an illusion disguising energy. As energy is all there is, the Big Bang is all there is. The Big Bang happens at one time. Hence, there is no such thing as time. The appearance of things sequentially is an illusion that creates the illusion of time as well.
Koan 64
The more you look the less you see.
Way Of Way 276
“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.”
— Albert Einstein
Before the now is a space of nothingness and infinite possibilities.
When in that space, we can bring from it to the now unique thoughts and things that we have not created but merely ushering into the now.
Koan 285
To realize your dreams, keep your eyes open.
An aspiring singer with no talent may be successful as a comedian.
The woman from Tibet
In the cold of winter, February 1992, I drove with a guide from Lhasa Tibet to Kathmandu. During the four day trip we picked up a couple of hitchhikers. One was a 40 year old woman who looked deep into her 60s. Her skin was very dark for a Tibetan but that was apparently dirt from not having recently bathed. She was friendly and open about her life. She said she rarely bathed since her village home had no running water; had last bathed in a river in the summer; never in her life had a shower.
Every morning as I shower I think about that woman, imagine how she would feel in the shower with its temperature controls, great water volume and soothing soap melting accumulated dirt, yak candle smoke and caked perspiration. Feeling it’s the first shower of my life, my awareness of everything is heightened, I glow with gratitude; an unforgettable experience.
When involved in the mundane, it’s easy to fall into automatic pilot mode and oblivion. Imagining ourselves as someone who has never experienced these activities allows us to experience them as for first time which in fact it is as each time is never as any time before.
Koan 284
“Be open to everything and attached to nothing.”
— Wayne Dyer
This concept didn’t sit well with my wife, until I explained it.
Koan 281
We must be blind and deaf if we’re not laughing all the time.
Koan 280
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
— Heraclitus
Yet, he can drink the river’s waters again and again to the same effect.
Thirst is thirst and water is water.
Way Of Way 274
There is only one mind, a reflecting pond.
What we see depends on where we sit along its perimeter.
Many perspectives is the essence of wisdom.
Way Of Way 274
Unsolicited opinions are like bowel movements. Feels good coming out and smells bad coming in.
Way Of Way 273
“The truth is what you can get enough people to believe.”
— Terry Lenzner
Mindlessness
The mind is like a pond reflecting reality. We experience reality not as it is but as reflections. The reflections most accurately represent reality when the mind is calm, undisturbed by motion beneath the water and activity above. Motion beneath the pond is a function of us not having integrity and our reacting to stories of our past we’ve created. Activity above the pond is a function of multitasking and distractions like desiring that which we don’t need.
Mindlessness is the purpose of meditation. Meditation is a tool to calm the mind by focusing on, say, solely our breathing. This is mindfulness meditation. Beyond mindfulness, we can advance to mindlessness meditation wherein we focus on the space of nothingness between breaths; that is, the space between when we exhale and before we inhale again. In the space of nothingness we are free from distractions and are ready to experience reality (the present) before it becomes just a reflection from mind.
In the space of nothingness we experience the present and the nature of mind is revealed. Once revealed, we realize the mind’s reflections are not reality but a derivative based on reality that’s distorted by a disturbed state of mind. This realization transforms our relationship with mind from the mind being our master to our servant. The is the foundation of enlightenment.
So remember, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. If we forget this, enlightenment will be the least of our problems.
Koan 50
We are all unique and the same, simultaneously.
Way Of Way 272
“No one lies on their death bed and thinks: I wish I had more money.”
— William Wisher
Kotodama 35
“Real eyes realize real lies.”
— Tupac Shakur
Real eyes can see.
Seeing is knowing the truth which is that anything but the truth is a lie.
Present-passed and True-present
The past is the past and what we perceive as the present is also the past. We consciously experience the present as “present-passed,” not the “true-present.” The true-present is the universe, waves of seemingly chaotic energy in an otherwise empty space. The true-present is the pre-sent, the universe before we consciously experience it. The conscious experience of the past (the past and present-passed) is our perception of the universe as reflections from our mind.
The mind is a mnemonic device (etymology of mind: memory). Memories are illusions, stories we’ve created.
The two constants in the universe are change and interdependence. Thus, the true-present cannot be described beyond saying that it is what it is whatever it is. Like God’s response when Moses asks who God is: “I am who I am.” Like the Tao, it is nameless.
We experience the true-present when we are in the gap between true-present and present-passed. This is the space of nothingness. It is like breathing. After we exhale we pause before inhaling. That pause is the space of nothingness. When in that space, we are set to experience the true-present as it unfolds.
The true-present unfolds as waves of light and sound energy; visually, like a kaleidoscope. It is overwhelming, like trying to drink water coming off a fire-hose.
The purpose of the mind is to organize the true-present so that it’s drinkable, not overwhelming.
Experiencing the true-present is akin to hallucinating. The etymology of the word hallucinate is to wander in the mind. In our everyday life, we experience the world as reflections from a point along the perimeter of the pond-mind. As is our habit, every day we go to the same point on the perimeter which results in us having a consistent perspective of the world. However, the mind often is turbulent (a function of our lacking integrity and other distractions) and its reflections distorted. When we calm the mind (through practices like meditation), we can leave its perimeter and wade into the pond, wander in the mind. It is here we can experience the true-present.
In experiencing the true-present, we realize that the reality we’ve heretofore experienced was not reality; just reflections, illusions. The true-present is curvilinear and rectilinear cosmic waves of images and sounds that overwhelming come upon us until we drown. Our drowning however results not in our personal demise; it’s the demise of the various identities we’ve created that define us, the various stories we’ve made up about who we are. It is here when we realize that the past was just an illusion; that we are truly one of the waves, one with everything; as we’ve always been from before our beginning.
Then, we fall down laughing as we realize the play of life and our roles in it are based on illusions. The play starts as a tragedy and ends as a farce when the true-present is revealed.
Koan 49
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” — George Bernard Shaw
Haiku 65
In the zoo, beautiful tigers and playful elephants.
Strolling in their cages, we see their nature and ours.
Way Of Way 293
The disciples of famous enlightened masters (Jesus, Buddha, Rajneesh, Rebbe Schneerson, etc.) never replace them when the enlightened transition from the now.
The enlightened walk the path of light.
Their disciples are in their shadows, following their footsteps.
When the enlightened disappear into the light, their disciples can see the footsteps but not the light; for the enlightened are the light.
Way Of Way 290
Life is funny and sad.
Funny when we take ourselves seriously.
Sad when that’s our life.
Way Of Way 287
There is only the universal mind.
It is a reflecting pond, around which each of us sit.
The reflections we ponder are a function of who we are and where along the perimeter we sit.
As per habit, we daily sit in the same place.
As such, we often can’t understand the perspective of others; especially those diagonally across.
To know the universe, we would need to sit in every place along the perimeter simultaneously.
As that’s not possible, occasionally we should imagine the perspectives of others.
That’s wisdom.
God Plays Hide and Seek
Alan Watts in The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are:
“God also likes to play hide-and-seek, but because there is nothing outside God, he has no one but himself to play with. But he gets over this difficulty by pretending that he is not himself. This is his way of hiding from himself. He pretends that he is you and I and all the people in the world, all the animals, all the plants, all the rocks, and all the stars. In this way he has strange and wonderful adventures, some of which are terrible and frightening. But these are just like bad dreams, for when he wakes up they will disappear.
Now when God plays hide and pretends that he is you and I, he does it so well that it takes him a long time to remember where and how he hid himself. But that’s the whole fun of it—just what he wanted to do.
He doesn’t want to find himself too quickly, for that would spoil the game. That is why it is so difficult for you and me to find out that we are God in disguise, pretending not to be himself. But when the game has gone on long enough, all of us will wake up, stop pretending, and remember that we are all one single Self—the God who is all that there is and who lives for ever and ever.
Of course, you must remember that God isn’t shaped like a person. People have skins and there is always something outside our skins. If there weren’t, we wouldn’t know the difference between what is inside and outside our bodies. But God has no skin and no shape because there isn’t any outside to him.
The inside and the outside of God are the same. And though I have been talking about God as ‘he’ and not ‘she,’ God isn’t a man or a woman. I didn’t say ‘it’ because we usually say ‘it’ for things that aren’t alive. “God is the Self of the world, but you can’t see God for the same reason that, without a mirror, you can’t see your own eyes, and you certainly can’t bite your own teeth or look inside your head. Your self is that cleverly hidden because it is God hiding.
You may ask why God sometimes hides in the form of horrible people, or pretends to be people who suffer great disease and pain. Remember, first, that he isn’t really doing this to anyone but himself. Remember, too, that in almost all the stories you enjoy there have to be bad people as well as good people, for the thrill of the tale is to find out how the good people will get the better of the bad. It’s the same as when we play cards. At the beginning of the game we shuffle them all into a mess, which is like the bad things in the world, but the point of the game is to put the mess into good order, and the one who does it best is the winner. Then we shuffle the cards once more and play again, and so it goes with the world.”
Way Of Way 291
“Don’t look back, you’re not going that way.”
— Mary Engelbreit
When driving, more than a occasional glace at the rear view mirror is an accident in the making.
A Durable Soul
Some years back I viewed a documentary movie about the brutalities of the “Dirty War” in Argentina (1976 – 83) when thousands of people disappeared through state sponsored terrorism.
One woman interviewed was a rare survivor.
She was asked how she felt about the perpetrators, “you must hate them” suggested the interviewer.
“No” she said, “I don’t hate them, I fear them.”
She nearly lost her self, but never lost her soul.
Koan 295
“When one realizes one is asleep, at that moment one is already half-awake.”
— P.D. Ouspensky
Self-consciousness precedes universal consciousness.
Way Of Way 271
“Don’t Seek Happiness. If you seek it, you won’t find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness.”
— Eckhart Tolle
Happiness is always here, when you realize how lucky you are right now relate to other possible circumstances.
“Hap” means “luck”, the root of happiness.
God’s Role
In the play of life I am who I am. I am god and so is everyone else. The only difference between us is that some realize we are god and others are oblivious to who we are before birth and after death and all times in between. It’s the difference between being one with everything (eternally transitioning manifestations of God) and viewing oneself as finite in space and time (birth to death). It’s the difference between realizing we are actors in a play for our own entertainment and taking our roles in the play seriously. In cannabis speak, it’s the difference between being high and feeling stoned.
Everything is a manifestation of God. As long as we perceive God as something different than ourselves, we can never be one with God, one with everything.
Kanako Iiyama Awakens
Recounting the train accident in Japan on April 25, 2005: “I had a sense something will happen…and went back to the train. I saw the tragedy of the train snapping in two and the people underneath it. The ambulance didn’t make it in time, so I dragged out the people around me who were breathing. Yes, it has changed the way I live my life a bit. I began to take a narrow, short path. It’s not like before. The scenery around me were all clear and the nature was near there, making for a very beautiful way.”
A moment of awakening. There is a small gap between when something happens and when we realize it has happened. Before the accident became real, Kanako was in that gap and knew something was happening which called her to the train. When the accident became real she did what she could to help, stepped out of her role as a pedestrian and acted as an ambulance person in triage. (When we awaken we realize any role in the play of life is ours to assume.) At this moment of awakening she realized that right then right there was different than all that came before in her life (“It’s not like before.”). Moreover, she knew that as life can end in an instant, best to awaken as soon as possible; best “to take the narrow, short path” to self-realization*. Then she awoke to the beauty of everything around her and her path forward as the accident and its ramifications were now long past.
*The narrow and short path to self-realization is the meditation of death. It is setting our mind on the thought that we will die moments from now. Soon, the overwhelming energy of everything is revealed; that we and the energy are one. However, it is a narrow path and if we slip along the way we may very well not make it through. The wide and long path to self-realization is working with an enlightened master, formally receiving his teachings and engaging in meditative/contemplative practices. It is a long path as it involves many years of work until we get it. It is a wide forgiving path as it is walked with the support of the master and other students.
Why Buddha doesn’t need a guru
The Buddha’s path to enlightenment is without a guide or guru. On the path he observes the world around him, questions his observations, realizes he knows nothing and that ultimately there is nothing to know. He knows that of the universe can only be said that it is what it is whatever it is. Any other descriptions are illusory. He realizes he is temporarily part and eternally one with the universe and whatever happens to him in this life is of little matter in the scheme of things. As he is one with everything he treats others as he would wish to be treated. This is compassion. As one with everything he can experience whatever happens to him from the infinite perspectives of others. This is wisdom. Wisdom mitigates the affect his personal perspectives have on him. In other words, when we are one with the universe we significantly hedge the idiosyncratic risks in our lives. (1) This has a calming effect and provides us a good laugh seeing others take their personal perspectives seriously. That is why in classic images of Buddha he is laughing. All other truths Buddha realizes stem from the foregoing.
While gurus can be helpful as guides, they are no substitute for independent thinking. Few who follow gurus ever awaken to the truths of the Buddha. Most simply play the role of follower in the play of life. They will likely learn much but know little. That’s their life.
(1) Idiosyncratic risks are those that are personal to an individual, like an accidental fire in our house. Experiencing the related losses is difficult but less so when we also experience it from the perspectives of our neighbors and others.
Integrity
The etymology of “integrity” is wholeness. When we have integrity we are of one mind. We can hold disparate perspectives but those perspectives, while they may be diametrically opposite, don’t give rise to internal conflicts. We are free to make clear choices without ambivalence.
However, many of us lack integrity. While we appear as one person, within us are many people arguing, each telling us what to do. For example, one person in our head tells us to have a cigarette, we’ll enjoy it. Another person says don’t smoke, it’s not good for us. Likewise, externally we may lie to others so that they view us in a way unlike who we truly are, giving rise to two different people, who we are and who we project ourselves to be; again, lacking integrity. That these various people within and without us exist begs the question: who are we?
Each of us is like a ship with a captain, first mate, navigator and oarsmen. The shipmates often fight over control of the ship’s steering wheel, forcing the ship to change its course. The captain can assert control through discipline, get each shipmate to perform their respective function and steer the ship’s course. But at some point the captain needs to sleep, the mates leave their stations, enter the captain’s cabin and again start fighting over the wheel to change the ship’s course. As such, discipline is often an ineffective way to develop integrity.
Love and meditation are an effective way to making us whole, to promote integrity. Love is connecting with others harmoniously, accepting them and their perspectives. Love connects all the shipmates within us and accepts their views and needs. With love, the shipmates work together for the benefit of each other and the whole.
Meditation is a process for calming the mind. The mind is like a pond. We view the world as reflections off the surface of the mind. When the surface of the mind is disturbed by our different selves fighting within us, the images reflected are distorted and we don’t see the world clearly. Through meditation we calm the mind and its reflections give us a clear view of our world, allowing us to make choices not skewed by conflict. We have courage, resolve and strength of character; grit, the root of integrity.
Ultimately, when the various people inside our mind compete and integrity prevails; it can be said that integrity, one, won.
Corona Virus
The corona virus pandemic is a terrific individual and collective existential moment. (Terrific once meant horrible/terrible and now of course means wonderful.) Like everything else in life the virus can be viewed in multiple ways; however, not viewing it at least in part as terrific implies we take our personal views too seriously and as such have a limited understanding of it’s nature and ramifications.
It is an existential moment as we are awakened by the immediacy of death as many we know or hear about die unexpectedly and as death rings everywhere with highly publicized daily death tallies. While we know that no one is getting out of here alive, the virus is a constant reminder of that reality. This reminder arouses us to consider our own death which leads us to question why we are here in life and how should we use the time remaining before we die. Is there any value to us continuing from now until our death the same life routines we’ve embraced for years or should we do something more meaningful or of greater value to others? Contemplating this can lead us to a life-changing state of mind and life changes. Helping us make a life change is the quarantine which prohibits us from continuing our habits of socializing, shopping and other routines that devour much of our time. Having a break from these habits makes them easier to break which in turn gives us time for other matters that might result in a life change. This change is likely to be terrific.
Collectively, it is also terrific. As now in quarantine we consume only what we need. The quarantine shows us that much of our consumption has been of goods and services that we want but don’t need. This suggests that maybe it’s better to have a life based on less expensive experiences than chasing things we don’t need. Moreover, the common threat of the virus solidifies nations and people everywhere which leads to peaceful coexistence. Thus, the virus is terrific as it may re-shift collective priorities to the benefit of all.
Most of us will receive a reprieve from the virus. This will be a watershed moment for us; a point of reference from which we will judge whether our time from now until the end was well-served or we just killed time until time killed us.
Sequential and Synchronous Time
Now is a time, now is the time.
Now is a time as a point in time, a way to differentiate between past and future. This is sequential time. Now is the time as the only time that exists is now; past, present and future are all woven into now. This is synchronous time.
Those experiencing time sequentially have a logical perspective, a narrow focus, start one task after another is finished, are conscientious, organized, punctual, view activities as finite, value time and are careful in how it’s spent and view the past, present and future as distinctly different. They view the future as something that can be organized based on the present and recent past. They tend to often glance at their watch to tell time as time is telling them what’s next. They work at jobs. They fish with a rod and reel.
Those whose experience of time is synchronous are flexible, multitask and move seamlessly between activities, focus on a project and not on the time it takes to complete it, are more concerned with quality than quantity, develop long-term working relationships, perceive the world as continuous and view the past, present and future as continuous, not segmented. They feel that everyone dead or alive today is present; feel connected to them all, wherever they may be, and have their perspectives. They have careers. They fish with a net.
Experiencing time synchronously allows us a broad and deep understanding of our circumstances and opens us up to the many possibilities as the future unfolds. A sequential view of time frames our expectations within our most recent experiences. For example, in Germany in the 1930’s Jews with a sequential view of time had no reason to suspect the holocaust was coming. In 1871 Germany adapted a constitution that granted Jews social and political freedoms equal to all German citizens. However, those with a synchronous sense of time knew of Jews burned in masses in barns in Germany during the Black Plague 600 years back. As such, they could envision a similar outcome with the rise of the Nazis and plan an escape before none was to be had.
Time is time, whatever that is. We can artificially divide it and use it as a measuring tool or we can accept its ever-presence like a body of water where a school of fish swim.
Micro and Macro Love
Love is having peak experiences as we connect with others and/or the universe.
Micro or personal love is connecting with specific individuals or experiences. It is physically pleasurable; intense; dramatic; joyful; sometimes painful. When in micro love we take ourselves seriously as it feels very real as it energizes us. It is an experience of heart and loins. It is finite as it is specific to the individuals or experiences that engender it.
Macro love is love of everything. It is a sense of being one with everything; a calm, joyous state. It is an experience of the soul feeling the soul in everything. It is experiencing the eternal, God.
While micro and macro love are mutually exclusive, we can experience both. However, those who haven’t experienced macro love only know micro love. Those who have macro love experiences can also experience micro love. Those solely experiencing micro love view those experiencing macro love as having an experience of the head not the heart, as not having truly experienced love. Those who experience macro love pity those whose only experience is micro.
Spirit and Soul
Each of us is a unique spirit with a common soul.
God is all there is. The universe is the manifestation of God.
In the Bible, the Burning Bush is the image of God that appears to Moses at Mount Sinai. The flames are ever-changing and the bush is not devoured by the flames as they are light, not fire. The flames represent the spirit, the bush the soul.
The words spirit and soul are often used interchangeably. However, spirit and soul are different. Spirit is the animated, vibrating life force. Soul is the sole essence of everything alive or not. All that’s alive has a unique ever-changing spirit and everything alive or not has the same soul.
We show up in life as spirits; some with high energy, some low; some big flames, some hardly visible; some volatile, some steady; each unique. When we go to sleep, we go to our death(1), our spirit is extinguished and our soul joins all other souls in the well of souls. As soul is the essence of everything, we are then one with everything. When we awaken our spirits arise. Soul is then only visible to those who know it exists and our attention focuses on our spirit and the spirits of others. When aware of our soul, we can celebrate our common essence instead of finding ourselves distracted by spirits.
(1) Each night we die, each morning reborn some resemblance to the person we were yesterday who is now no longer. Each day is not a day in a life but a life in a day.
The Purpose of Life
The purpose of life is to have a wonderful and happy life, realize our divine potential and help others do likewise.
HAPPINESS
Happiness is a function of gratitude, optimism and freedom from the karmic prison of our past lives, the days of our life now passed.
Gratitude
Gratitude is the realization that even the seemingly worst days could always be worse. Thus, we are always grateful. When grateful, we are “great-full;” full with feeling great, happy.
The etymology of happy is “hap” which means luck. When we realize how lucky we are relative to most who are here now or who once were and are no longer, we are grateful and happy.
In the absence of gratitude, complaining thrives. Complaining is selfish. While complaining feels good temporarily, it precludes happiness. Complaining is selfish as in doing so we are oblivious of others who are truly suffering, those who would be very happy in our circumstances. When we view our lives from the perspective of those who are suffering, we have much about which to be grateful. Thus, one of the most significant choices in life is selfishness or happiness.
Nothing is perfect but the universe which God has created. As everything but the universe is imperfect, when we are oblivious to God’s perfect creation it is easy to find some aspect of “every thing” about which to complain. As God gives us bodily form to enjoy ourselves and have happy lives, by complaining we risk that God hears us complaining and self-entertains by putting us in harm’s way; giving us something about which to truly complain.
Optimism
A fundamental truth is that all things, including our circumstances, are temporary, ever-changing. As what is now will soon be no longer, when we are in difficult circumstances we can be calm and happy as we know that our circumstances will change for better or worse but sooner or later for the better.
Freedom From Karmic Prisons
Karma is the intentions, actions and consequences in our prior lives (days now passed as each day is a lifetime) that we weave into stories, generalizations and meanings which frame our experience of the present. Our stories imprison us, keeping us from experiencing the ever-changing and unique present as it is. Experiencing the present in the context of the past is living in the past.
To free ourselves from our karmic prisons, we need to realize that our past and all our stories are an illusion that is made seemingly real by our mind. (The etymology of “mind” is “memory.”) This can be done through mindless meditation and otherwise not taking ourselves seriously.
REALIZING OUR DIVINE POTENTIAL
Humans are a transitional species, part animal and part divine consciousness. We are born as animals and are socialized as animals. As animals we view ourselves as apart and separate from that which is not ourselves. In that context, we effort to fulfill our needs for food, shelter, security, health and companionship with little regard for that which is not ourselves. Simply, we are selfish.
The ultimate human potential is the realization of divine consciousness; the realization that we and the universe are one. This is enlightenment, being one with the light and one with everything as everything is light. As enlightened beings, we treat others as we treat ourselves (compassion) and embrace multiple perspectives (wisdom), not solely the perspective from our finite selves. Enlightened, we live happily, finding most people funny as they take their singular perspectives seriously, thinking they know that of which they have only a limited understanding.
The road to enlightenment is difficult, yet easy. It requires accepting our complete ignorance of everything, not taking ourselves seriously and mindless meditation.
AWAKENING OTHERS
To awaken others is like the process of awakening ourselves. We arouse their curiosity by questioning them as to who we are, why are we are here in life, why is he universe here. Answering these questions is difficult and frustrating work as the answers require us to see beyond ourselves. Yet the work is simple; reflecting on the nature of mind and the universe. The work can lead to near exhaustion like a dog endlessly chasing its tail. Then, suddenly, we stop and fall down laughing at the absurdity of our chasing our tail, as we realize we were enlightened from the very beginning.
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“I have heard the key
Turn in the door once and turn once only
We think of the key, each in his prison
Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison.”
— T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land
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“History…is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.”
— James Joyce
Stories We Tell Ourselves
From earliest days in memory until early teens, my father who had a temper would often yell and hit me for things I thought were inconsequential. One time he even screamed “I wish you were never born.” I didn’t take this personally; thought that’s just the way he was, nervous and easily agitated. He died at 60 of the flu. My mother lived another 28 years. I would often ask her how daddy really felt about me. Her response was always the same: “He couldn’t stand you.” To which I just laughed. What was funny was that he was irritated by meaningless things he took seriously which made them real. For example, if I got home a couple of hours passed my curfew, he would go into a rage; seemed odd to me because at that point I was home.
My mother loved me unconditionally. Always gave me preferential treatment; she cleaned my room first, spared no expense in serving only me the best foodstuffs, even when we couldn’t afford much. However, 20 years before she died she announced her entire estate would be bequeathed to my sister. While my sister was not indigent and likely to die with more money than she’d inherit from my mother, my mother felt that my sister needed it more than me. I shared mother’s news with my children, including my 5 year old son, who from then on would always greet her: “Hi grandma, how about 50/50?” However, she never changed her will. How did I feel? Just laughed. It was funny because others with whom I shared my story were taken aback, vicariously felt hurt. That seemed silly. There was nothing personal to me about this experience. My mother did what my mother did; seemed the right thing to do in her mind. I was happy for her. (Of course, had she been worth say $10M or more, maybe I would have felt differently.) At her deathbed, I was with her and my sister. I asked her whom she loved more, me or my sister. She said she loved me more. That seemed like a good deal. I got the blessing and my sister got the goats.
The point of my story is that many of us in situations like mine with my father and mother would have told themselves stories like mommy or daddy didn’t love me, I’m worthless, etc. They might feel wounded, traumatized perhaps. But that’s not really what happened in times past. That’s just a story they chose to tell themselves. Perhaps they might feel better if they change their stories.
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“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play in the one string we have, and this is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…We are in charge of our attitudes.”
— Charles Swindoll
Awakening
Most of our lives are spent in a dream-state; a dream of stories based on memories and imaginations that seem very real. Awakening is the realization that our memories, imaginations and past have little to do with us beyond finding ourselves in certain physical circumstances (our body and the immediate world about us) and with certain network connections (social roles with family, work, friends); that everything otherwise is new, always and all ways new; new from one moment to the next. The newness of everything is engaging, energizing and arouses our curiosity which further engages and energizes us. We then realize that everything is new as everything is temporary, ever-changing. We realize that we are not solely ourselves as defined by our physical circumstances and network connections but are one with everything and temporarily separate from everything.
The dream is like a movie which our mind makes real, giving it three dimensions. When the theater lights turn on, the screen images fade and we recognize it was only an illusion.
“Sooner or later we’ve all got to let go of our past.” (Dan Brown). Best to do so before the movie ends.
Beginner’s Luck to Bad Luck
Beginner’s luck is an often heard lament by seasoned players in some game or business explaining the success of a novice. Beginner’s luck can partly be explained by the beginner performing better than the low expectations seasoned players have of his performance. Another explanation is that the beginner is less aware than seasoned players of the subtle risks he is assuming, hence he is more aggressive and can reap higher rewards from taking greater risks. Similarly, the beginner is more focused on one or two key variables that most of the time affect outcomes while seasoned players’ attention is more widely focused, distracted. As well, the imagination of beginners is not limited by their past experiences, as is seasoned players, in their views of possible outcomes; hence they can envision as likely, what seasoned players perceive as highly unlikely, extremely positive outcomes from the choices they make and position themselves accordingly. Finally, in a competitive game, the beginners (who are typically a minority of the number of players) have the advantage of low costs for the choices they make as there are few players competing for those choices.
At some point beginner’s luck runs out as the beginner is no longer a beginner and becomes a seasoned player. However, before that happens, beginner’s luck can easily turn into bad luck as the beginner becomes overconfident and makes unwise choices.
Ultimately, seasoned players and beginners might both have greater luck if they made choices not solely based on their individual perspective but the perspective of the other as well.
Be Careful For What You Wish
All our wishes come true but not in the forms we imagine.
In 1973 I graduated from college and planned to start working, have a family and take a year at a Zen monastery when I reached 40, like Philip Kapleau who wrote The Three Pillars of Zen. At 40, my family and business partners would not have been encouraging had I taken a year-long sabbatical. However, at 43 my family and 140 friends threw a farewell party for me at the Harvard Club before I left for a 13 month stay at a Federal prison.
What landed me in prison was my involvement in an “insider trading” case. I personally profited $50K. Legal fees cost me roughly $2M and fines and penalties another $1.8M. Moreover, I was no longer allowed to manage other people’s money, though all of my investors stayed with me until I was prohibited from working. As a result of my not being allow to work, my net worth today is not even a tiny fraction of what it would have been otherwise.
I didn’t think that my trading was criminal. But others obviously did. In any event, the cost of going to trial, fines, penalties and the sanctions placed upon me undoubtedly were punitive to an extreme. How do I feel? Pretty good as I play squash 4 – 5 times a week and I play with the prosecutor in my case. Why? Because I was born with the gene of happiness and the prosecutor is a wonderful guy, good squash player.
I did learn something from this ordeal: best be careful what we wish for as every wish will come true but not in the form we imagine. While I didn’t go to a traditional Zen monastery, prison was a Zen monastery of sorts. It did provide an awakening moment.
During my stay, my interactions with the other prisoners was for the most part fun. As well, I generously paid some to make my bed, clean the shower before I used it and make me foods like hand-cut French fries. The night before I left the prison, I asked a group of inmates whether they would miss me as we had a good time together. Seemingly in unison, they said no, because they hated me. I was a bit shocked. They said they hated me because I had such a good time. Maybe they needed a Zen monastery more than I did.
Trust
Trusting others may lead us at times to costly losses and disappointments that might have otherwise been avoided had we been more cautious and defensive. But the value of the tranquility that comes from trusting overwhelms the costs.
Unless experience or knowledge informs us otherwise, we naturally trust others when we feel connected with them. As such, we try to do well by them and assume they will try to do well by us. This sense of connection is very powerful. It is identifying with the whole of the universe, not solely with our finite selves. As the universe has been and will be here forever, identifying with the whole infuses us with a sense of confidence and optimism that everything will ultimately work out well and there’s nothing to worry about as our personal lives need not be taken too seriously. This instills tranquility, a stressless state of mind.
Those who don’t feel so connected have stressful lives as they are on the watch for others who might do them wrong. While in their over-cautious approach to life they might avoid some undesirable situations, the ongoing stress in their role as a watchdog may be more harmful to them than would have been the situations they were lucky to avoid. In fact, prison guards have significantly shorter lifespans than prisoners.
Trust however need not be open-ended. Best to trust others while limiting potential risks if things unfold with negative consequences. In other words, if we lend someone $100 and they don’t pay us back, the situation is manageable; less so if we lend them our credit cards.
Intelligence and Wisdom
Intelligence is having strong cognitive abilities. Wisdom is good judgement.
Those who are intelligent do well at analyzing complex data. Data by its nature is historical. The intelligent are good at explaining the past. The wise are good at assessing current situations and determining the likelihood of future outcomes.
From early childhood our intelligence is measured by tests and school grades. This is a easy measurement as it’s ex-post. Those perceived as highly intelligent are put on fast tracks and given many opportunities to excel to the top of their classes or organizations. They excel at many technical skills like math and verbal communication. Their minds can be microscopic and/or telescopic, able to view that about which people of average intelligence seem clueless. They can make sense of an otherwise ambiguous past which gives them and their audience confidence in their ability to predict how things will transition in the future. However, there is little relationship between those who most convincingly understand the past and those who are best at predicting the future. As everything is forever transitioning and everything is unique, using the past as a basis to predict the future puts limits on one’s imagination. This is significant as we can’t see what we can’t imagine.
The wise are best at assessing current situations and predicting how they will transition over time. Their wisdom is generally more valuable than the perspectives of those considered intelligent. However, it is difficult to measure and identify those who are wise. To do so would require measuring ex-ante outcomes which would take time for forecasts to be realized (or not) and require many forecasts. Moreover, excellent forecasters give different scenarios percentage probabilities which is not what an interested audience generally wants as percentages don’t give their audience as much confidence about going forward as do definitive forecasts. Thus, because of the difficulties of measurement and little demand by the general public, identifying those who are wise is not done systematically. However, those in the interested audience who are self-confident want forecasts from those who are wise, not those who are intelligent.
The difference between the intelligent and the wise is clear as academics are intelligent and successful business people tend to be wise (and/or lucky). Academics are great at explaining the past and confidently predicting the future. But if the value of an individual’s contribution to society is simply measured by the amount of money they earn, academics aren’t highly valued as predictors. Successful business people are paid considerably more for their predictive abilities as they are able to profit from correctly predicting future markets and cost-effectively providing what those market want. They are wise.
A good metaphor is the hedgehog and the fox. Hedgehogs are best at digging through a hedge. But that’s all they can do well, like an idiot savant who is narrowly intelligent. The fox doesn’t do anything particularly well but can consider many approaches to obtaining what he wants. Ultimately, always bet on the fox rather than the hedgehog to survive.
Modern society (more so than primitive tribal societies where wise elders are often consulted) are led by those considered intelligent. This often results in relatively poor choices.
As our social system doesn’t measure and identify those who are wise, how do we personally identify them? The fox would say to not listen to those most intelligent and best at explaining the past as they are unlikely to be good predictors of the future; best to take advice from those who know the past as a multifaceted amalgam of not necessarily related events and can speak of the future in probabilistic terms.
The Little Girl and the Atheist
From Reddit:
“An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”
The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said the atheist. “How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?” as he smiled smugly.
“Okay,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”
The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmm, I have no idea.” To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don’t know shit?”
And then she went back to reading her book.”
What makes this story funny is that it reveals certain truths and there’s nothing more funny than the truth.
The little girl is curious as she observes an odd transition in life (as that of the grass). She is reading a book as she has an interest in learning. She values her time and doesn’t simply want to kill it as the atheist suggests they do. As a little girl she may not know much but does know that as the atheist doesn’t know much about what human nature finds repulsive (he doesn’t know shit), he unlikely knows much about spiritual matters. As well, as he thinks he’s intelligent (as he deems himself a good judge of her intelligence) and is adamant about his views, he is not open to other possibilities, lacks wisdom and not worth talking with.
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“There is no such thing as a dumb question.”
— Carl Sagan
The Trees of Knowledge of Good and Evil and Life
In the Bible, God creates man in his own image and hosts him in the Garden of Eden with plants and fruit trees for his sustenance. Among the fruit trees are the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. However, God forbids man to eat the fruit of these trees.
Man nonetheless eats the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Upon realizing man has eaten the forbidden fruit, God declares that man is now “like one of us [gods], knowing Good and Evil.” God then banishes man from the Garden for fear man will eat the fruit of the Tree of Life which would grant man eternal life; thus, truly becoming one of the gods.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represents wisdom, the ability to see not solely from our individual perspective but through infinite perspectives as do the gods. We, the decedents of God’s creation, man, are born with the potential of unlimited wisdom.
As man was banished from the Garden of Eden before having eaten the fruit from the Tree of Life, man is not born to eternal life. However, there is a way to the Garden of Eden where man can find the Tree of Life, eat its fruit and live forever. It is the righteous way, the way of God: compassion. Compassion is treating others as we treat ourselves. We can only truly have compassion when we realize that we and all others are one. This realization allows us into the Garden of Eden which is everywhere. Here we can now enjoy the fruit of the Tree of Life and be one with the universe which is eternal. Now, created in the image of God and with wisdom and compassion, we are forever; one of the gods and one with God.
This is the purpose of life.
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“To be satisfied with what one has; that is wealth.”
— Mark Twain
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An enlightening journeyman can guide others on their journey. An enlightened master makes the journeys of others into a business.
Karma
Every day is a life in a day, not a day in a life. Each night we die and are reincarnated in the morning.
Each morning we choose to assume the identities of the person we were last lifetime (yesterday) and embrace the stories we’ve made up of who we were in past lifetimes (days passed). The identities, an amalgam of role-playing and habits, feel familiar and safe. Others around us reinforce our self-perceptions. This is the foundation of karma.
Karma is the thoughts we associate with the intentions, actions and the consequences of our actions in our past lifetimes. Karma, living in the context of previous lives, has us living in a karmic prison. Karma frames our experiences in our reincarnated life. Our karmic prison precludes us from experiencing the present as it unfolds.
As life is otherwise overwhelming, our mind (which is a mnemonic device) categorizes our passed experiences and creates memories and related stories. Thus, we do not experience the present as it unfolds, we experience the categories into which our mind places present experiences. The categories, their meanings and the stories we ascribe to them are artificial and illusionary. However, we believe our stories are true and as such we make them real by experiencing the present in the context of our stories. Only when we are freed from our karmic prisons, we can experience the present.
Good karma, bad karma
Bad karma is living in a karmic prison of preconceived notions. Bad karma doesn’t allow us to experience the present as it is, unadulterated by reference to the past. Good karma is learning from our past successes and failures which helps us navigate our way in the now and what’s next.
Bad karma creates a road on which we travel forward. It feels safe, secure, comfortable. Good karma is a light that helps us see our way forward through an ever-changing landscape of undefined roads.
Bad karma leads us to living habitually, oblivious of the world about us. Good karma helps us navigate in a world in which everything is unique, engaging and has us feeling alive.
Bad karma has us feeling we understand what we’re doing. Good karma is knowing we know nothing.
Bad karma is intelligence, the ability to analyze and make sense of the past in evermore complicated ways. Good karma is wisdom, knowing that everything can be viewed from different perspectives.
Bad karma is why. Good karma is how.
Bad karma is when the past overshadows the present. Good karma is the light that helps us negotiate the present as it emerges from nothingness.
The popular view of bad karma is that when you treat others poorly you’ll get your just deserts sometime later. When that happens, people say: “karma sucks.” Likewise, good karma is the concept that when we do right by others good fortune will come our way. There is truth in these views.
Karma is living in the context of the stories our mind has created. These stories are like a storyline of a play. As the present unfolds, we view it in the context of the storyline and incorporate it into the storyline. There are several roles in the play. Our personal role is the central actor and to some extent the writer of the play. However, at times there are role-reversals and our role is that of other actors. When in our storyline we treat another actor abusively, we may find ourselves playing the role of the abused actor during role-reversal. This is retribution via bad karma. Likewise, good karma is when the storyline has us treating others well. Then, role-reversals work out well for us as, so to speak, “good things happen to good people.”
We have great liberty in creating our stories. Our storylines can bend to tragedy or comedy. As a tragedy we risk finding ourselves in role-reversals that are not those for which we would wish ourselves. As a comedy we are likely to be happy regardless of the role in which we find ourselves in the play. That’s the enlightened view; to view the past in comic relief and come what may.
Enlightenment is liberation from our karmic prison; liberation that reveals our karma was just an illusion.
Faces of Enlightenment
Enlightenment is being one with the light. Light/energy is the essence of everything (E=M*C*C). When we realize we are one with the light, we are one with everything. As one with everything, there is no duality, no friction; just peace beyond our understanding.
The word “enlightenment” is the Western translation of the Buddhist term “bodhi.” The verbal root budh- means “to awaken,” and its literal meaning is closer to awakening. Presumably, prior to awakening, we are asleep. Asleep, we see the world through our mind, not our eyes. Our mind shows us a world based on the memories and stories our mind creates. Our eyes reveal the universe as it is.
Human beings are a transitional species, part animal and part divine consciousness. As animals, we are finite in space (our physical being) and time (birth to death). As divine, we are one with the light and its manifestations, the universe; infinite in space and time; eternal. This realization is enlightenment.
We are born as animal consciousness and as we develop we can access divine consciousness; sometimes for short moments, sometimes for much of the time. However, we cannot be fully liberated from animal consciousness as it is the cost being in bodily form; so we all toggle back and forth. As such, even those who are enlightened much of the time are still animals some of the time. As animals, they may act in ways we don’t associate with enlightened beings. They may get intoxicated, lie, cheat or be abusive to others. Such behavior has resulted in the shaming and dismissal from leadership roles of many presumably spiritual/enlightened masters.
That said, the faces or characteristics of enlightened beings are:
Gratitude. They are grateful for their circumstances, however dire, as they know that their circumstances could always be worse.
Optimism. They know that in time their circumstances will improve as the present will always be better than what’s passed.
Forgiveness. They forgive all who have not done right by them as what’s past is passed. They don’t seek retribution. They may however feel that whoever has not done right by them might not do right by them again and avoid that person.
Laughter. They find much of how others think and act as funny; funny as odd; funny as laughable. What’s funny is others taking their illusionary selves seriously.
Childlike. They are childlike as they experience the present as unique, unlike anything they experienced that’s now past;
Humility. They don’t perceive themselves as better than others regardless of their talents or whatever good fortune has brought their way.
Non-judgmental. They accept others as they are, not grading them, holding them up to certain standards.
Acceptance. They make the best of what comes their way without distractions of what could or should have been.
Empirical. They learn through observing.
Insightful. They have interesting insights into the nature of consciousness. The enlightened are enlightening. Those who are highly enlightened have the greatest insights.
Wisdom. As they identify with the infinite manifestations of the universe, they have many perspectives. The synthesis of perspectives is wisdom.
Compassion. As they don’t differentiate between themselves and others, they treat others as they wish to be treated.
Karmic liberation. Karma, the stories our mind has created about the past, frame our experience of the present. The enlightened experience the present free from the prison of the past.
Calmness. As they meditate regularly, they are calm and clear and have little internal conflicts in making choices. Moreover, as they identify as one with everything, their lives tend to be less volatile as the universe is less volatile than any of its finite manifestations.
Integrity. They do not have internal “self” conflicts where, for example, one self inside their mind tells them to have a cookie because they’ll enjoy it while another tells them not to because it’s not good for them.
Confidence. Clear in making choices, come what may.
Divine. As one with the light, the enlightened are one with God. They realize the true nature of the universe: the universe is one, a manifestation of God; it is what it is whatever it is; no beginning, no end; eternal. This is the ultimate purpose of enlightenment, to not suffer in life or death as everything is one forever.
Haiku 1
As the thirsty child
drinks from the inkwell,
his parents turn white.
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“…if you’re alive, you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you got to jump around a lot, you got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of death… [I]f you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy, colorful and lively.”
— Mel Brooks
Things to Come
Each of us has a somewhat different perception of reality, i.e. the nature of something. Arguments can erupt between people having different perceptions. Logic and pervasiveness are tools we use to convince others that our perception is more correct and another wrong but those who win these arguments don’t necessarily have them most accurate perception. A better way to judge individual perceptions of reality is by their accuracy in forecasting how reality will unfold, as understanding the nature of something likely allows us the best guess of how it will be over time. Studies of “super forecasters” (people who are much better than most at forecasting upcoming events) have identified the following characteristics these people share:
Probabilistic thinking. Nothing is certain. There is no right answer, just likely outcomes. Ability to put mathematical weights to possible outcomes.
No righteousness. What happens isn’t preordained, isn’t necessarily a logical or moral outcome.
Metaphorical thinking. Able to see unrelated situations as shedding light on the subject at hand.
Curious. Engaged by thinking about how something works and driven to understand it.
Open-minded. Realizing that possible outcomes are only limited by one’s imagination.
Economic. Good at productively allocating time and resources to information gathering.
Detached/dispassionate. Able to view things from the outside in, without personal prejudices.
Wise. Able to view things from many perspectives.
Flexible. Openness to changing one’s point of view as conditions or one’s perception changes.
Humble. Knowing that one will never really understand something. Accepting that other forecasts are likely more accurate.
Integrity/confidence. Able to ultimately chose what one believes is the likely outcome.
While few people exhibit all of the above characteristics, those lacking many of them should be cautious in taking their perceptions of reality too seriously.
Haiku 12
Fertilizer makes roses smell sweet and bloom.
With too much: stink and doom.
Across the Universe
Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me
Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Images of broken light
Which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe
Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Sounds of laughter, shades of life
Are ringing through my open ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless, undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
The Beatles, 1968
“Jai Guru Deva, Om” is a mantra-like refrain which in Sanskrit literally means “glory to the shining remover of darkness.”
However, the lyrics seem more reflective of a psychedelic journey than a meditation. Interesting is the refrain “Nothing’s gonna change my world.” Does that mean that my world will never change or that from nothing will come the light that will change my world (the shining remover of darkness)? The ambiguity of the refrain suggests that one’s person experience (“my world”) is as it is (eternal) and yet bizarrely changing with revelations when traveling across the universe.
Meditation of Death
There are times we are overwhelmed by stress, pain, multitasking, internal strife (mixed feelings about choices we need to make), depression, anxiety, etc. Overwhelmed means drowning. Drowning leads to death as without freedom from that which overwhelms us, we are living in hell. Fortunately, there is a life vest to save us from hell: the meditation of death.
The meditation of death is setting our minds to imagine we will die in the next 5 minutes. With death imminent, everything transitions from like wallpaper that’s been up for years (flat and unnoticeable) to three dimensional objects of intense beauty. Ugly, unfashionable Formica kitchen counters become beautiful abstract art. As we are energized by the beauty of everything, a calmness settles inside us and we are free from that which was overwhelming.
As we continue with the meditation of death, we realize that death is a transition to becoming one with everything as we were before we were born. As one with everything, we view the universe from infinite perspectives (the essence of wisdom) and treat everything no differently than we treat ourselves (compassion). This is living in heaven, as before birth and after death. From the perspective of heaven, all that happens on Earth is absurdly funny. Thus, that which was once overwhelming now seems trivial, selfish and funny.
To avail ourselves of the life vest, the meditation of death, we need never forget it is always near. But as we tend to be forgetful when we’re overwhelmed, best to keep us from oblivion are short periodic prayers (meditations) several times a day wherein we are thankful for our circumstances as we acknowledge that there are many in the world who would love to be in our shoes (especially if they have no shoes).
Enlightenment is Overrated
Enlightenment is overrated except by those who are enlightened.
That’s the essence of enlightenment: non-judgmental, acceptance, humility and joy.
The enlightened are non-judgmental. To them, the world is flat, not vertical, as they don’t rate their enlightened state as higher than other states of mind.
They accept each state of mind as it is what it is whatever it is, to be appreciated as it can be appreciated.
They are humble and as such they don’t confirm the status bequeathed them by others who desire to be enlightened as they view everyone as enlightened, some more some less. Asked if they are enlightened, the enlightened would respond: I am who I am. That is, categories, descriptions and identities deny the uniqueness of everything; the enlightened know that everything is unique; hence, self-descriptions are not an enlightened view.
The enlightened don’t overrate enlightenment as they know the joy that springs from wisdom and compassion can never be overrated.
where the gods sit
Life is a play, we are the actors and the gods are the audience. However the actors experience the play (comedy, tragedy or a bit of both) doesn’t matter to the gods as for them it’s all a farce. But where do the gods sit in the audience? In the front row are the gods that most clearly know the human mind and the deceptive costumes that clothe it. These gods have the greatest laugh. In the back are the gods that don’t completely get what’s going on. However, they are fortunate (or not) to be closest to the exit, wherever that might lead.
Is marble colder than wood?
In a room, marble and wood have the same temperature, room temperature. However, unlike wood, marble is cold to the touch. This is an anomaly as it doesn’t comport with our expectations. (Marble feels colder because it’s a relatively good conductor of heat and as such it drains heat from our skin, making our skin feel cold.)
What makes the foregoing interesting is that while it’s common knowledge that marble feels colder than wood, very few of us are curious enough to find out why; probably because our curiosity is not aroused by anomalies, though maybe it should be.
Anomalies are funny. Funny as in odd as they don’t conform to expectations, preconceived notions. Preconceived notions are categories in our mind that organize past experiences. These categories have descriptions and associations. We experience not our experiences as they happen but the descriptions and associations we have with the experiences. Thus, also funny, as in laughingly funny, is when we realize we mistakenly placed an experience into a category into which it doesn’t belong. We laugh at our stupidity. If not, then we are truly stupid.
Anomalies nudge us to awaken from having mechanical/category based experiences. While everything is unique, not like or unlike anything else, we fail to experience its uniqueness when we mechanically classify our experiences. When our curiosity is aroused by the uniqueness of an anomaly, we seek to understand the anomaly and in doing so we start on a journey that makes us realize everything is unique; unless we ignore the anomalies.
Way Or Way 264
“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”
— Eric Hoffer
Eccentrics
The etymology of “eccentric” is out of center. Likewise, eccentric people are off center in terms of their beliefs, views and behavior relative to conventional thinking or the views of affinity groups generally. Their views tend to be unique and insightful. Yet, like Cassandra in Greek mythology, few believe in the prophecies of eccentrics that have a good track record of seeing the future.
According to Dr. David Weeks who has studied eccentrics, the characteristics of eccentrics are:
Enduring non-conformity.
Creativity.
Curiosity.
An enduring and distinct feeling of being different from others.
Idealism, unrealistically hoping to improve the lot of others by having others think like them.
Happily obsessed with a number of long-lasting preoccupations.
Intelligent, in the upper 15% of the population.
Opinionated and outspoken.
Non-competitive, not needing tangible recognition of success.
Unusual eating habits and living arrangements.
Not particularly interested in the opinions of others.
Possessed of a mischievous sense of humor, charm, whimsy and wit.
More frequently an eldest child.
Having an eccentric family member.
Focused on thoughts, not feelings.
Feelings of invisibility as they feel others don’t take them seriously.
Feeling that others can take them only in small doses.
Dislike small talk or other inconsequential conversation.
A degree of social awkwardness.
More likely to be single, separated or divorced.
A poor speller in relationship to their intellectual capacity.
Mr. Many Heads
This surreal figure (wood and pigment, 21 cm) is from the Lega tribe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is called “Sakimatwematwe” or “Mr. Many Heads who has seen an elephant on the other side of the river.” As an aphorism, to see the greatest animal in the jungle (which is not easily seen as it is on the other side of the river) requires wisdom, fairness and omniscience, characteristics of someone who can view things from the different perspectives of many heads.
This object is in the Tomkins Collection. The collection can be viewed at tomkinscollection.org.
Black Hole/Big Bang
Joshua Henderson
Josh was a friend, an artist, a father, husband, handsome, a lot of fun and endless other characteristics. Josh was also bipolar; at times a big bang, at times a black hole. Ultimately, the black hole turned into a big bang; Josh used a rifle to end his days.
Two Monks and a Girl
There is a classic Zen story of two monks and a girl:
An old monk and a young monk were walking together to their monastery and came to a river with a strong current. As the monks started to cross the river, a young and beautiful girl called out to them asking for help to cross the river as she feared its current. While the monks had taken vows never to look or touch a woman, the older monk picked the girl up on his shoulders and carried her across. Then the girl went her way and the monks continued their walk to the monastery.
The young monk was shocked by what had just happened but spoke not a word. After a couple of hours the young monk could not contain himself and said: “As monks we have vowed not to look or touch a woman, how could you carry that girl on your shoulders?” The older monk looked at the younger monk and replied: “Brother, I set her down on the river bank a couple of hours ago, why are you still carrying her?”
This is a story about living in the present, not living preoccupied by events now passed. The purpose of meditation and vows is to unshackle oneself from the prison of the past which the old monk has but the young monk hasn’t. The story is about the role of vows, meditations, diets and other disciplinary tools deployed by those on the path to enlightenment. These tools are tools. However, often these tools are held sacred as the means and the end of righteous practice, which explains the reaction of the young monk. The older monk is enlightened. He hears a voice crying for help and does what he can to help. The vows are artificial constructs which ultimately mean nothing to him. The girl too is an artificial construct, not a girl but only a voice crying for help.
Another, more graphic version of this story describes two monks who were making their way from one monastery to another. They had been practicing meditation together for many years and were very good friends. In fact, not only were they close friends, but there was also a teacher-student relationship in place – one of the monks was much older and had been a monk since long before the other monk was born. Their journey involved many days traveling on foot. As the two monks walked through the forests and countryside, they spent a great deal of time discussing various aspects of the Buddhism.
At a certain point in their journey, the monks heard the screams of a woman coming from a nearby river. They rushed to see what was happening and in the middle of the river they saw a naked woman who was drowning. The older monk swiftly threw off his robes, dove into the water and rescued the woman. He then brought her to the riverbank and proceeded to cover her with his spare robes. After assuring himself that she was safe and well, the two monks continued on their journey.
The rest of their journey was quite different. The river incident had quite an effect on the younger monk who for the rest of the journey was surly and refused to even speak to the older monk.
A few days later, the monks arrived at their destination – a monastery they were going to stay for the next few months. At this point, the young monk started to ostracize the older monk and refused to even acknowledge his presence. The older monk was rather dismayed and worried about the comportment of his friend, so he confronted the younger monk: “Please, young sir, why have you changed? What have I done to warrant being treated in this manner? If I have said or done something that has hurt you then I am truly sorry and I must have done it mindlessly and certainly without intention”. The young monk replied: “You are not a true monk – you have broken the vows we’ve taken and as such, I no longer wish to be associated with you”. The older monk was rather shocked to hear this and asked what rules had been broken. The younger monk replied: “Not only did you touch a woman but you touched a naked woman and gave her the robes of a monk”. “How very true” replied the elder, “I saved the woman and carried her to the banks of the river, I made sure that she was warm and well and then I left her. However, it would appear that you are still carrying her around on your shoulders! In all these years of so-called practice of the Buddhist path, you have learned absolutely nothing. You cannot live without your rules and regulations – what a small and wasted life!”
The graphic version of the story provides further insights into Zen. (1) One purpose of life is to make this world a bit better than it would be otherwise; take every opportunity to do so, which is what the older monk did in helping the girl from drowning. (2) Treat others as you wish to be treated which is why the older monk provided the girl his comfortable robes and made sure she was safe and well. (3) Don’t take your view of a situation too seriously as by doing so you will fail to learn from the situation (as the young monk failed), make a fool of yourself or cause the demise of your relationships with others. (4) Don’t be judgmental of others as by doing so you may cause yourself to be indicted. (5) An enlightened monk is one with everything, not conflicted by duality. As such, even though both the monk and the girl were naked, the monk was not sexually attracted or repulsed by her.