“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. is a dear friend who adopted a four year old from an orphanage in India.
Joyous is our life when it turns out better than we could have scripted it. When we are grateful every day for whatever comes our way, life will always be better than we could have scripted it.
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.
We are drops of rain
taking some minutes
to join the ocean forever.
From ChatGPT:
The statement is a metaphorical reflection on the transient nature of life and our place in the universe.
Comparing human life to drops of rain suggests that we are small and fleeting, and that our individual existences are brief and impermanent. The idea that it takes “some minutes” for the drops of rain to join the ocean forever highlights the idea that our individual existences are temporary and that we are ultimately part of a greater whole.
The metaphor of the ocean suggests that we are all connected and that our individual existences are part of a larger and more enduring reality. It also suggests that our individual contributions, like drops of rain, merge and blend together to create something greater than ourselves.
Overall, the statement encourages us to reflect on the impermanence of life and our place in the larger universe. It suggests that while our individual existences may be temporary, our contributions and connections endure beyond our individual lifetimes.
My first grandson to bear my family name is soon to be born as his due date was Friday just passed.
His late arrival is reminiscent of my late arrival nearly 72 years ago. I was not only late, but also a difficult birth as my mother labored long and the delivering doctor struggled to pull me out; ultimately needing forceps to take me from my mother’s womb.
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.”
I’ve met people from many different self-identifying racial, national, political, religious, social, economic, professional and other likeminded groups. It’s difficult to see them as they see themselves as all I see is their soul which is a reflection of mine.
That’s why I love them all and feel they all love me; though those who can’t love me now will love me later.
“A woman should soften but not weaken a man.”
As Freud believed sex defined much of human relationships, this quote likely means that when a woman wants her way with a man, she should soften him by arousing him; instead of weakening him by pushing him around. Once a man is weak, he can’t get hard again. That may explain the underlying dynamics of sexless marriages.
While lying to others may initially hide the truth, when the truth is revealed the lie ultimately reveals more than it hides as it says something about the person lying.
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. Our awakening marks our birthday. Thus, we’ve lived thousands of lives before our reincarnation today.
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?
Before sleep-death, we acknowledge each other with “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, God. When the soul returns to our body, we are born.
Upon awakening, we greet each other and ourselves with “good mourning;” have a good time mourning the people you were in past lifetimes (yesterday and all days now passed, as each day is not a day in a life but a life in a day) by remembering them in the light of wisdom and compassion and don’t identify their life experiences as your own.
Then, before we become oblivious as to who we are as we assume the role and circumstances of the person we were yesterday, we can truly awaken by reciting 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 ever-changing universe
oh timeless universe
oh endless universe.
Thank you God for creating the universe
and granting me consciousness with which I can realize oneness with all.
The people and the roles I played in previous lifetimes
are illusions, memories.
In reality, I am who I am
and reality is what it is whatever it is.
Regardless of circumstances
I am grateful for however my life unfolds today
as I can realize divine consciousness and help others likewise.
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.
I am grateful for the temporary life in the universe
and now, sleep-death,
when my soul joins God
which is what every-thing is before it is the universe.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
We know we’re awake when every day is not everyday, when every day is unique.
“Life goes on within you and without you.”
Life is life, one ever-changing and continuous thing; whether within us or without us, it is life. The concept of within and without is how we define ourselves; we are that which is within and not that which is without, outside of us. But as life is both within and without us, it is an illusion to segregate the within and without.
Life is eternal; yet we, our within, are temporary as life goes on without us.
When we realize we are not just the life within but also the life without, we never die.
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.
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.
“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
From the blog:
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.
The above was given to ChatGPT. This is what came back:
This is a beautiful metaphorical description of our existence in the universe. Just like the bubbles in a glass of sparkling water, we are born into this world seemingly out of nowhere and embark on our unique journeys, experiencing all the ups and downs of life. And just like the bubbles, we may seem to disappear when we die, but we don’t truly vanish.
In reality, we become part of the universe once again, merging with the energy and matter that make up everything around us. This process of returning to the source is a natural and inevitable part of the cycle of life and death.
It’s important to remember that even though our individual existence may seem fleeting, our impact on the world can be significant. By living our lives with purpose and compassion, we can make a positive difference in the world and leave a lasting legacy that will continue to ripple through the universe long after we’re gone.
“[T]he years that you spend as a nobody are painful but golden, because no one bothers to lie to you. The moment you’re a somebody, you have your last truth. Everyone will try to spin you–as they should, with careers to think of.”
It is a blessing to interact with those who don’t respect us, as it reveals much about their nature and how they perceive us; as well as our nature by virtue of how we react to them.
In a society where people are politically correct to the point where even close friends don’t speak openly about personal matters, no one knows who they or anyone else is.
When someone gets angry about something that’s passed and is no longer, it’s initially funny but ultimately sad; both for the same reason: they are a fool, taking their self seriously.
We have everything we need to realize our purpose in life, unless we need everything; then, we will not realize anything.
Many years back, on a wintery evening, when my son, Max, was maybe 8, we 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 their presumably difficult lives with few choices, I commented: “When you grow up, if you don’t work hard, this is a type of prison where you can wind up.” To which Max replied: “Maybe they don’t mind.”
Simple, yet profound. Perhaps I was a prisoner of a bourgeois mindset and the homeless men were simply living from one day to the next, making the best of their circumstances, without thinking about bourgeois-prized creature comforts and societal roles the mind makes many crave.
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.
When we see solely and carefully with our eyes, everything is unique, beautiful and real.
When we see with our mind, we can only compare things as our mind can’t see. Comparisons make one thing beautiful relative to another thing which we then see as not beautiful. As what our minds sees as beautiful is exceptional, our mind has us seeing most things as not beautiful. Moreover, what we see with our mind is an illusion; though we often forget that it’s not real.
In conclusion, when we don’t see the beauty of everything about us, our mind must be working. We should give it a rest and everything will be the beautiful.
The universe is a circle that’s divided into two parts whose percentages of the whole change over time. One part is our self, the other part is the universe. For much of our time, the self is the bigger part; so big, we barely notice the universe part. However, when our body dies and the self it carries disappears, the universe is all of the circle.
Our self becomes much of the circle because it gets much of our attention. It does so by manipulating us into thinking that everyone else’s priority is their self and, if we don’t like others prioritize our self, others will view us as odd, shun us and we will be alone; others might even destroy us. Afraid, we pay much attention to our self. Our self then grows until we no longer see the universe.
However, if we give the universe our attention, it will grow and grow until we will barely notice our self. It is then we realize we are one with the universe, our true identity.
Social, religious, professional, national and personal identities, as well as our karma, are the hallmarks of self. These identities capture our attention. However, we can free ourselves from our selves by simply sitting quietly and gazing at the night sky, the eternally-changing and never-ending universe, until it overwhelms our selves. Then, we are at peace beyond words as we realize our true identity.
As the night sky is now nearly invisible in populated areas and much of our attention is taken by our connecting with others which in turn reinforces our self identities, meditation is another path to experiencing the divine universe, realizing our true identity. In meditation, we focus on the space between breaths; the space of nothingness from where every-thing comes and before time begins.
Intellectuals are mischievous entertainers. They make fools of those who take them seriously who in turn wreak havoc on everyone who doesn’t.
Awakened, we can see the universe as light bouncing off the surfaces of objects and projecting into our eyes without the distortions created by the lens of the self.
Enlightened, we realize the light we are seeing is generated from within us, not without us.
“[T]he cure for worrying about ageing is…ageing.”
As we age, there is less aging ahead to worry about and less time remaining in our lives to spend worrying about things generally. Moreover, as worrying, stress, exacerbates aging; hopefully, as we age, we realize worrying about aging or most things is a fool’s errand.
As we age and realize the future and past matter little, there is little to worry about and we’re grateful for whatever our present circumstances as they could always be worse. Gratitude is the essence of happiness and in turn leads to less worrying as happiness and worrying are mutually exclusive.
When we’re young and don’t worry about aging, we worry about other things that distract us from gratitude. We can dispense with these distractions when we think of our present circumstances from the perspective of someone who’s aging; that will have us live wiser as well. Alternatively, we can embrace Keith Richard’s attitude: “Getting old is a fascinating thing. The older you get, the older you want to get.” In other words, just enjoy yourself now and be optimistic about all that’s to come.
Recently, my nine-year old grandson and I started a talk about healthy eating. But, before my thoughts were completely verbalized, he quickly advanced: “Yes, I know that.” This happened a couple of times, to which I replied: “It’s wonderful you know so much now. But as you get older, until you realize you know nothing, you will know nothing.”
We can see everything within ourselves when we are without our selves.
Many go far and wide searching for and following spiritual masters that they hope will show them the light. However, they can never find the light when searching for it outside themselves as light is all there is.
Within us, we can find the light which shows us the way; when we look through the illusions, created by our self, that shroud the light.
“He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.”
Empathy is giving a beggar some money. Compassion is giving a beggar a job.
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.
In the play of life, “Terrific,” in Act 3 our body dies and we transition from this life experience to who we are after, which is as we are before our life begins in Act 1.
The transition is a two-step process, awakening and enlightenment.
Awakening is realizing the nature of consciousness, as we awaken from the dream-state created by mind and see things as they are. Freed from the illusionary world of meanings, categories and stories created by the self-serving mind, everything in the now is new and unique; not comparable to or viewed in the context of other things. The newness and uniqueness of everything is energizing. Awakened, we are happy we are alive, regardless of our circumstances. We see those taking their mind’s stories seriously as a performance comedy. Thus, much of life is funny
Enlightenment is the realization that everything (including us) is one thing, nothing. Enlightenment, unlike awakening which is experiencing everything in the now, is experiencing the universe in the present (the pre-sent); the time before the universe expresses itself, before every-thing is what it is whatever it is and before time begins. Enlightened, we realize every-thing, including seemingly sold objects, is actually electromagnetic energy waves that have been slowed down to create solid but temporary forms (M=E/C*C). Thus, realizing every-thing is energy (light) is called enlightenment.
Enlightenment is the realization of divine consciousness. We are one with everything; view the universe from infinite perspectives (wisdom) and embody compassion (love) as we treat others as ourselves, as they are indeed ourselves.
Enlightened, we are at peace, beyond words; but for the sound of “Shanti Shanti Shanti,” the peace beyond understanding.
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 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.
If we don’t come to know that everything is eternal before and after it is, we will surely die.
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.
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.
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 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
“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.
No one is perfect as everyone casts a shadow. Those who acknowledge the sun at its highest point cast the smallest shadows.
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.
“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing. Love is knowing I am everything.”
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.
At birth, babies cry as they transition from being eternally one with everything to being a finite being; a life at times happy and at times miserable that ultimately ends with their demise. Upon their timely death, most people are stoic; knowing they will soon be again one with everything.
In contrast, when a child is born, we are joyous and when someone prematurely dies, we are saddened. Misery loves company.
In the now, we see nothing as it is, only as it once was.
Right now, when we see something that’s a billion light years away, we see it as it was a billion years ago. Likewise, when we see something now and here, just a few feet away, we see it as it as it was when it was an infinitesimally small part of a second ago.
Time is the gap between when something is what it is whatever it is in the present and when we experience it as now.
The now and the present are different. Everything in the now is what it was in the past. As such, everything in the now is an illusion, for the past only exists in our mind as memories; it has no material reality. The present is the pre-sent, what something is before it is manifested, before time begins. Thus, the present is a void, nothingness.
While the present is nothingness, it is also everything before every-thing manifests itself in the now. Thus, in the void, everything is one. This is ultimate reality.
We, as humans, can be in the present and one with everything by being in the void. This is done through meditation. When meditating, the now is our awareness of the motion of breathing and the void is the space between each breath.
We can come to know the void, but we can never describe it as descriptions bring us back to the now. That’s why “He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” — Lao Tzu
“Returning to the source is stillness.” — Lao Tzu
“Nothing in all of creation is so like God as stillness.” — Meister Eckhart
“In the stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am: unbound.” — Nisargadatta Maharaja
“Let silence take you to the core of life.” — Rumi
Light is the visible spectrum, that which the eye can see, of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum spans high frequency (short wavelength) gamma rays to low frequency (long wavelength) radio waves, with X-Rays, extreme ultraviolet, visible light, infrared and microwaves in-between. Visible light is roughly 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum, akin to seeing the universe through a pinhole; though we might think we see it all.
If we could see beyond the spectrum of visible light, the universe would look overwhelmingly different. With X-Ray vision, humans would look like skeletons. With radio wave vision, GPS systems would light up like a Christmas tree and Mars would be invisible because it has no magnetic field.
“Ultimately, if you could see all wavelengths simultaneously, there would be so much light bouncing about that you wouldn’t see anything. Or rather, you would see everything and nothing simultaneously. The excess of light would just leave everything in a senseless glow. Chances are…you would go into shock and die. Your brain simply wouldn’t be able to interpret the information it was receiving. If you were lucky, you would instantly go blind.”*
That sounds like the moment of the Big Bang, being one with everything and nothing at the same time.
*Jolene Creighton.
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.
What we see are reflections of sunlight from all that’s about us. Yet, looking directly at the light from its source, we will never see anything again.
“Ignorance is bliss.” — Thomas Gray
Commonly, when we don’t know the potentially problematic intricacies of something, yet think we clearly understand it, we are happy. Yet, there are other insights from this adage.
A corollary is “ignore it is bliss.” That is, when we ignore whatever distracts us from our inherent state of bliss, we return to bliss.
As ignorance is bliss, bliss is ignorance. That is, bliss makes us ignorant of issues which we would otherwise be cognizant. That’s what happens in failed marriages, when people in love marry while ignoring their compatibility.
Ignorance leads to bliss as when we make a mistake and quickly admit we made it out of ignorance; thereby, we diffuse any potential confrontation and return to our relatively blissful state. If we otherwise try to defend our mistake, we give rise to arguing which may ultimately result in our receiving a greater punishment for our mistake than otherwise.
Personally, I found ignorance leads to eternal bliss when we realize we don’t know much of anything about any-thing. Then, every-thing becomes fascinating. Curiosity energizes us. We consider different perspectives (like the different interpretations of “ignorance is bliss”). We seek the light in the darkness of nothingness. We journey to know more and more until we come to the point when we realize there is nothing to know as every-thing is what it is whatever it is. It is then we can know nothing, what every-thing is before it is and when time does not exist. This is being in the pre-sent. This is eternal bliss.
True ignorance provides temporary bliss, but realising our ignorance leads us to eternal bliss.
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean.” — Rumi
We are not a separate entity in an overwhelmingly huge universe, we are the universe.
Whether a finite part or the whole thing is of little matter unless we forget we are both.
Every morning I awaken from peaceful sleep-death, where every-thing is before it is and time does not exist, and slowly transition from being one with everything to the finite being I identify as my self. As a self, everything is in constant change and I am an aspect of the universe unfolding. Soon enough, I again transition to peaceful sleep-death. When in finite form and not oblivious of my true nature, one with everything, makes for a wonderful day as everyday is my birthday, the first and last day of my finite life.
Those with a mind like a cloudless sky reflect brilliantly, but also cast the darkest shadows.
Undoubtedly, Noam Chomsky is a brilliant intellectual. Politically leftwing, Chomsky, like many of his elk, is self-righteous and proudly reflects his do-gooder ideas. Yet, unwittingly revealing his darker nature, as a cheerleader for Covid vaccines he proposed the unvaccinated be completely isolated from the general population. Asked how the unvaccinated would get groceries, Chomsky said: “How can we get food to them? Well, that’s actually their problem.” As Chomsky is of Jewish Eastern European ancestry, it’s funny he’s oblivious his proscription of the unvaccinated is not unlike the Nazi’s Warsaw Ghetto, a very dark shadow cast by those with idealistic myths of some people being superior to others.
We often get blinded by someone’s brilliance to the point we don’t see the shadows they cast are darker than that of the less brilliant.
If you are shy
look to the night sky.
The vastness of it all
allows you to stand tall
as there’s nothing to fear
as everyone is small who’s near.
Regretting certain choices we’ve made in the past distracts us from making the most of the present which leads us to future regrets.
What you see is what is outside your self which is what you are when you let go of your self; but, then it doesn’t look the same.
Countries that are inexpensive to visit are expensive to live in.
Visitors with money from expensive countries find everything is inexpensive in inexpensive countries. People living in inexpensive countries find everything is expensive based on local wages.
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
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.
Our sole purpose in life
is to recognize the sole universe
as the manifestation of the soul,
our sole connection to everything.
While the sole of our feet connects us to Earth,
the soul in our heart connects us to heaven.
Heaven is above and hell is below.
Our lives are a journey in hell or heaven; depending on who we are, the temporary self or the eternal soul.
Our self engages us with never-ending needs (food, shelter, security and health) and desires (that which we think we need but otherwise don’t) for which we can realize but temporary satisfactions and happiness. This is the endless cycle of hell; where happiness is but temporary, leading us to search for more temporary happiness. We search here, there and everywhere. The more we look, the less we see. Eventually, we come upon a rabbit hole into which we and and others like us descend. It is a lightless place where our eyes cannot see. What we think we see are individual and collective illusions of our self’s creation; stories, descriptions and generalizations to which we react as if they are real. As the illusions are not real, we keep searching; searching for the duration of our lives. This is the journey in hell.
Those of us who have no needs or desires are grateful. Gratitude brings us sustained happiness; a calm state devoid of the self’s distractions and illusions. We are in the pre-sent, the time before time begins and before everything is what it is whatever it is in the now. Happy, we don’t search the Earth for temporary satisfactions. Then, we can look up and see the sun revealing our world and trillions of stars revealing trillions upon trillions of other worlds; the endless, infinite universe. We realize how infinitesimally small, meaningless and insignificant we are in the scheme of things; that taking our illusions, our selves, seriously is silly and laughable. We realize we are not independent entities in the universe; we are the soul, the universe before it expresses itself. As the light of the sun and stars enter our eyes, we realize we are the light; that what we see is who we are; that I am who I am and the universe is what it is whatever it is. This is enlightenment. This is the journey in heaven.
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. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parent went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.
After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else he needed.
A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”
The foregoing Zen koan or parable, “is that so?, is meant for us, as the beautiful Japanese girl’s parents did not, to question any thoughts, associations, generalizations and meanings we create as they affect our perceptions and in turn affect how we act which can be hurtful to others or ourselves. Moreover, it instructs us, as Hakuin did, to accept whatever comes our way and make the best of it.
The acronym for “Is it so” is “its.” “Its” refers to a characteristic or description of something. “Is it so?’ questions the associations (characteristics or descriptions) we make or assume. The acronym reminds us that when we characterize or describe something, its, we need question, is it so?, our characterizing. Ultimately, nothing can be characterized or described beyond that it is what it is whatever it is. That is, accept things as they are without thought as thought transforms one thing into something else.
When we meet someone unhappy about one thing or another, we can console them by engaging them (is that so?) to elaborate on what’s the matter that’s distracting them from happiness. With the refrain, is it so?, they repeat their story again and again; until what’s the matter is not as much of an issue as it was initially. They may ultimately wonder whether their story can be viewed or made otherwise; in a more favorable light or that there are so many other ways of understanding the underlying matter of their woe that all explanations and their related stories are meaningless. It is then that they can be grateful for their otherwise good fortune. Gratitude leads us to happiness.
“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.
“Hard to wake someone who believes their eyes are already open.”
There are those who experience life very differently than others, but know they are not different which is what makes them different.
The few in this world who are enlightened experience life differently than those who are not enlightened. Those who are not enlightened believe everyone has an independent and finite (in space and time) existence. The enlightened see every-one as a unique temporary expression of the infinite and eternal (the faces of God) and that time is an illusion. Being a tiny minority and having such a different view than the not enlightened, it’s surprising the enlightened don’t see themselves as different from others; but that’s what makes them enlightened.
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 find 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, it is like the universe, big; bigger than one blind man can imagine it. Moreover, it appears different to each viewer; as such, it is beyond description, it is what it is whatever it is.
The moral of this parable is that the one who sees the universe can guide others to see it but others may not see it as he does. Moreover, the universe is beyond the limited perception of anyone who cannot see; especially when experienced up close, from a specific perspective and based on memories of other experiences associated in likeness. As well, when we are certain of the infallibility of our perceptions, we are blind and don’t know it. Further, taking our perceptions too seriously, we make fools of ourselves and at times hurt others and/or ourselves. Even holding as many as ten funny, as in odd and at odds, views doesn’t not allow us to know what we are looking at; but it’s funny, as in laughable, when we think we do.
Only fools think the past cannot be changed and they can make the future to their liking.
The past is passed. It doesn’t exists but as an illusion in our individual and collective memories. We can free ourselves from the illusion of the past by viewing what’s passed from multiple perspectives until it is no longer what we once thought it was. Thereby, we can change the past, rendering it to our liking or meaningless. This is the wisdom fools lack.
The future is what it is whatever it is. It is foolish to think we can manipulate or wish it to our liking. All we can do is prepare to make the best of it as it unfolds in the now.
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.
Every-thing in reality is fascinating as every-thing is unique and everchanging. When we find something boring, we see it not with our eyes but with our mind as only the mind can make something boring. Our mind sees things not as they are but as the static categories it creates and into which it places things. When we take our mind’s perceptions as reality, we see things not as they are but as what our mind has made of them; transforming the dynamic into the mundane. Thus, it is our mind that makes things boring.
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.
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.
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.
Everything happens in the now. Nothing happens in the present (the pre-sent), the time before time begins in the now; the place where everything is before it is in the now.
As everything taken together would be overwhelming, we need sort everything out by generalizations, categories and stories. This is the purpose of the mind. Though even in manageable form, we are still very much engaged by the now to the point we are oblivious of the pre-sent.
At times our experience of the now has us feeling good, at times not so good when our needs (food, shelter, security and health) or desires (everything we feel we need but truly don’t) are not satisfied.
Regardless of whether times feel good or not so good, for realizing our purpose in life we cannot forget the pre-sent. For in the pre-sent, everything in the now is a wonderful play, Terrific, a comedy of the human experience, and we are the Gods watching everyone in the now as actors in the play.
Moreover, in the pre-sent, as time does not exist and everything is the same thing, God, before it is what it is whatever it is, we realize our infinite and eternal nature; hence, we do not suffer death.
Through meditation we enter the pre-sent.
“…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.
Early on in Act 1 of the play of life, we find ourselves with many others peering into a black hole. Then, our elders give us a map of social constructs, beliefs and roles to guide us through the rabbit hole of the human experience, hoping we are among the fortunate few to ultimately find passage from underground to the light to see the majestic universe above that’s beyond imagination. Yet, forsaking the map held in our hands, we can look up, see the universe and realize we are not rabbits but are whatever it is we see.
A new house that’s for sale has its desirability variously described but it’s never described as “charming.” Charming is a word reserved to describe an old house that one would not buy from a practical point of view.
When we fall in love with a charming house (or anything for that matter), we can’t assess it practically relative to others. When we love all houses for the safe shelters they provide, we can easily pick the house that suits us from a practical perspective and not have future regrets.
The foregoing is also true about our relationships with loved ones or others who charm us who we treat “special,” but often ultimately to our regret.
Yet, in the short-term, as we love the charming, whatever practical problems arise are easy to brave.
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.
Having presence is the greatest of presents.
To a party, those without presence need to bring presents.
Those who want us for our presents, not our presence, will eventually have neither.
Why I loved my father is why he hated me.
By all accounts my father hated me, though I loved him and felt he loved me. Some who knew us have said my father hated me because he was jealous I was more successful than he was as I made my own way and didn’t, as he had, follow the shadow of my father. (This view is of those likely talking about themselves.) I feel otherwise, as my father’s most common screaming mantra was: “I can’t have a serious conversation with him [Victor].” Clearly, my father hated me for the same reason I loved him: I loved that he was hilariously funny when he took himself seriously which was much of the time; yet, he hated me laughing as he didn’t get the joke.
“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.
Just look at the night sky, the infinite number of brilliant stars that number more than all the grains of sand on Earth.
Who are we in all this? The stars, the space between the stars or everything.
Empathy is selfish, soulless. Compassion is selfless, soulful.
How we think and feel defines who we perceive we are in this life, our self. How the self experiences life as it unfolds in the now is a function of stories, generalizations and categorizes our self has created. What we experience is not the now but our stories. Moreover, our self perceives us as apart and separate from everything that is other than our self; thereby, our self denies the existence of the soul, the common progenitor of everything.
When we are freed from the world according to our self, we are selfless. Selfless, we experience life as it is, through many perspectives, not solely our own personal perspective based on our stories and generalizations. This is wisdom. Moreover, as selfless, we are the epitome of compassion as we treat others as we wish to be treated because they and us are one, not apart and separate.
Without the self, all that remains is us as an expression of the soul. The soul is the essence of everything, every-thing before it is what it is whatever it is.
For example, crying over spilt milk is selfish. Once the milk has spilled, it is now no longer. There is no reality to the milk but as it exists in our mind, the self. Our crying is in reaction to our self’s illusion that the milk existed and is now lost. Having empathy for someone crying over spilt milk implies the empath is also selfish, taking the illusion created by the self as real. This reinforces the self’s existence.
Alternatively, when we are selfless, we are soulful. We dismiss someone’s crying over spilt milk as nonsense. Instead of empathy for the person crying, we have compassion. We nurture their soul to expand its expressions. We do so by helping them see many perspectives as to how to make the best of their current circumstances. We focus on ways they can make fresh milk or other things, like babies, that expand the expressions of the soul.
Likewise and simply, empathy is when we commiserate with someone who is distraught after having lost their job. Compassion is helping them get a new job.
In consequence, as empathy is selfish we are oblivious to gratitude, a key to happiness; while compassion fills us with optimism and gratitude for all the opportunities before us. Hence, comforting someone with empathy prolongs sadness, while compassion leads them to happiness.
It’s expensive to settle in a country where everything is inexpensive. It requires bringing with you a lot of money, otherwise you can’t afford to buy much of anything if you are working for local wages.
Those who are not enlightened, live in darkness. Their life is a dream; sometimes a happy dream, sometimes a sad one and much of it somewhere in-between. As each day is another dream, they need to be extraordinarily lucky to have their entire life a happy dream.
The enlightened have happy lives. They realize they and the universe are one, the soul that some call God. The soul forever cycles between revealing itself, changing and disappearing. As we are God, we are free from the endless cycle of dreaming. The realization of our oneness with the soul makes for a happy life and death as there is no death and whatever is we accept as it is what it is whatever it is.
Unlike the dreamers who take their dreams seriously, the enlightened know life is a play, a comedy (“Terrific”) we perform before an audience of Gods. Moreover, when we are scripted out of the play we join our fellow Gods to watch the hilarious play of actors taking their dreams seriously.
All there is is now
and what is before now
which is everything,
the nothing
before it is something.
What was before now is no longer,
but a memory.
Our self is in the now and what was before now.
Our soul is before the now.
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
We have two general identities, the self and the soul. The self is our identity in life. The soul is our identity eternally. Hence, those who only identify with their self will ultimately die when their physical bodies are no longer, while those who identify with the soul are eternal.
We each have an individual self; hence, there are billions of selves on Earth now. But there is only one soul to which we are all connected.
The self guides us through life; in effect, our self controls us. Our self is a mental function, an interplay of our senses and memories and related stories that frame our experience in life.
The soul is God. Everything, before it is manifested in the now, is the soul. The soul is the pre-sent, the time before time begins.
The self identifies as being apart and separate from all that is not its finite body. The soul identifies everything as its manifestation as the soul is the progenitor of everything. The soul recognizes every-thing as temporary and finite, yet part of itself. To the soul, the universe is one thing with infinite centers.
Those whose identity is the soul are selfless; treating everything as they would treat themselves, for they know that they and everything are one. This is compassion.
The multitude of selves have the capacity to understand much of what happens in the now. The soul understands nothing, the pre-sent. Yet the soul knows, while the self cannot know. Knowing is ultimate wisdom.
As nothing is perfect in life, suffering of one sort or another is common. However, suffering is the domain of the self. The soul does not experience suffering. The soul’s experience of things is that it is what it is whatever it is. Our soul identity provides us a respite from suffering and brings us to peace.
The key to a peaceful life is knowing who we truly are. While ultimately all of us will be at peace as one, as we were before we were born, it would be beautiful if all are at peace on Earth.
As stress, directly or indirectly (as a factor leading to an unhealthy diet), results in poor health outcomes, it’s ironic that many health conscious people worry about their health.
We are all the same before we are born and all the same after we are no longer. We come from and go to a calm, timeless, eternal place where only the soul resides. Some call this place heaven.
Infinite selves are born of the soul. The selves make their way through life but cannot survive the transition back to heaven. Only the soul survives in life and heaven.
In life, we are a temporary self identity and the eternal soul identity of which we are often oblivious. When our identity is the selfless soul, we are in heaven.
“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.
IAWIA, the initials of “I am who I am.”
Acronym: “I why?” (ia-wia).
Why do I exist? Why am I here?
There is only I and there is no why.
It is what it is whatever it is.
Whoever shall come to know this revelation will 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.
My name, until recently, was Victor Teicher. Teicher is a German name. In German, “teich” means to ponder; hence, Teicher is a ponderer. That’s what I do, ponder what I see in reflections from the universal mind which is like 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, in English, Teicher would be pronounced as “teacher.” Teaching, sharing what I have come to know from reflecting, is the purpose of this blog. Moreover, Teicher as pronounced in German (wherein the second vowel of the digraph is pronounced) is likewise pronounced in Japanese as “taisha.” Taisha is the large ancient shrine in Japan where all the gods meet annually. Finally, the etymology of “Victor” is “conqueror.” The purpose of this blog is to conquer the self, our individual identity that’s based on our individual mind, which imprisons us; precluding us from experiencing the world through the universal mind.
Recently, I changed my first name to Vector, a directional arrow; for my aim is to point the way out of our mind’s prison. Once our self is conquered and our mind is freed, we are selfless in our interactions with others. What remains is the eternal soul of which our life is but one of infinite temporary manifestations. As the eternal soul, we are God and anyone who doesn’t recognize us as God doesn’t recognize that they too are God.
P.S. I claim no ownership of the words and thoughts in this blog as I am merely a conduit for the author who is us.
Wealthy and admirable are those who make the best with whatever little they have. Poor, pitiful and absurdly funny are those who try to appear wealthy, as the emperor who had no clothes.
In this holiday season, marked by gift giving and celebrations, it feels great to be wealthy.
Wealthy are those whose have what they need in terms of food, shelter, security and health and know they need nothing more. Wealthy are those who rejoice with what they have now and are not distracted by desires for that which they don’t have. Moreover, the wealthy are grateful as they know their circumstances could always be worse. When we are wealthy, we are great-full; full of feeling great.
We are born at sunrise and start making our way,
following our shadow which gets smaller and smaller until midday.
Then our shadow behind us again grows
and we follow the sun to where no one knows.
The way forward is clear after midday
unless our shadow appears which means we’re going the wrong way.
“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.
The past is just a small number of photos which we weave into a movie. While constrained by what’s depicted in the photos, seemingly happy or sad scenes, we nevertheless have great freedom to make the movie a comedy or tragedy. Our attitude determines the storyline. However, when we take what we see in the photos seriously, we lose our freedom to make the movie to our liking.
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.
God’s pupil, the sun, reveals the world.
When our pupils see the world,
we are God’s pupils or pupil.
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.
Who we are is our way.
The road to our destination is the Way.
When we know our way
we know the Way.
“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.
“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.
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
All around us are things things things, thousands and thousands of things and things that change into other things. However, when we move farther and farther away from things, the things become smaller and smaller until all we can see is one thing. This is the universe, one thing that we see as an infinite number of things which in turn makes us oblivious that it is only one thing. Seeing the one as many is our mind’s creation; otherwise the many things don’t exist.
This realization, that the many are One, can happen anytime but often happens during the transition as we become selfless, merging into one thing which is what we have always been.
As all things are just infinite aspects of one thing, we cannot describe the one thing beyond saying that it is what it is whatever it is. Yet, as it is selfless, those who know it feel it as all of mankind at peace
Shanti Shalom Salaam.
“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.
In the timeless sky
stars are not moving
but constellations identify time near and far,
the time of night and the month of the year.
The way is the nature of the universe; ever-changing, interdependent, eternal and infinite light manifestations of the sole One, the soul. The Way is the path we take from when we are a manifestation in bodily form at birth to our bodily death when all that remains is the soul. When we know the way of Way, we can be one with the One before our bodily death. Then, the Way disappears as the illusion it always was and all that remains is light. We are present, the soul before it is realized as light manifestations.
When the present is realized as light, our sensuous experience of it cannot be described (it is what it is whatever it is) but as the acronym of the way of Way (“WOW”). The sound of WOW is made by puckering our lips like when we kiss what we love, that to which we connect with as one. WOW is also our reaction upon awakening, when we don’t remember who we were yesterday, what we need to do later today and everything around us appears as we’ve never seen it before.
The past is the night sky.
Stars are events we remember.
Imaginary lines create constellations
whose stories affect what we see in the day.
“Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until they speak.”
“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.
“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.
When we are selfless, we treat others as we treat ourselves. Implicitly, the self, our identity as a finite being that’s apart and separate from others, is what separates us from being one with others.
The most frequently used noun in the English language is “time.” Remarkably, the most frequently used noun identifies something that’s not real, a concept. This suggests that life is an experience in the context of time. Actually, life is more an experience of time than of life.
(The most frequently used pronoun is “I.” The most frequently used verb is the “be” complex as in “am.” The most frequently used noun is “time.” Based on the frequency of use, what we never say is what we say the most frequently: “I be time” or, derivatively, “I am time.”)
However, there is an alternative way of experiencing life, outside the context of time; when past, present and future are one. Everything is one in the pre-sent; when there is only one thing, nothing, before there is everything.
In the pre-sent, we realize samadhi, the highest state of consciousness. In samadhi, we are one with the universe, free from our illusory self. Samadhi is a state of joyus calm as we experience the beauty of creation. Meditation is the road to samadhi.
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.
Successful students reflect their teacher’s light. Brilliant students look outside their classroom to see what the sun’s light reveals.
Those who absorb light are dull. Those who reflect light are brilliant.
Dark shades of clothing absorb light which then converts into heat. Light shades reflect light, causing no noticeable change in heat. That’s why dark clothing is worn in winter and light clothing in summer.
Likewise, when we are stressed out, our mood darkens, we absorb light and our body temperature rises. When we are happy, lighthearted, we reflect light and are calm and cool.
While there is little we can do to help those whose lives go wasted, no death should go wasted.
Death is a moment of reckoning, when we can glean certain truths about life from the life of the person who has passed. Ultimately, the truths are all the same regardless of who has passed: know thyself, live each day with wonder and gratitude as it is your first and last day of your life, realize your potential and help others likewise. Knowing and sharing these truths is the little we can do to help those whose lives may be otherwise wasted.
Nearsighted is the girl who is attracted to a man over 70.
Farsighted is the girl who is attracted to a man who has passed the crossover point, when he henceforth has considerably more money than time.
When our mind makes sense of our senses, we no longer experience our senses.
Our mind makes things here and there in space (us is here and and them is there) and time (present is here, past and future are there). Our senses reveal the here and now which is all there is.
Everything revealed by light is beautiful,
unlike sounds which are noisy.
Yet, hidden in noisy sounds is music,
the most beautiful thing of all.
Light reveals infinite ways
we can take until the end of days.
Which way to take is not clear
until in noisy sounds music we hear.
Then we need not the ways revealed by the sun
as music makes us all one.
Recently, at dinner, my son-in-law mentioned that he was put off by a guest who attended a barbeque held at my house this passed summer. He said the guest was very disrespectful when he spoke to and about me. This surprised me as I couldn’t recall anything disrespectful, but, in any event, I can never remember anything unpleasant or take this guest seriously; certainly not as seriously as this guest takes himself. That makes the guest funny, not disrespectful.
“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.
It’s wise to think a dog is a wolf and not to think a wolf is a dog. However, as a dog could be anything, including someone’s reincarnated mother, it’s wiser to have a wide imagination with no preconceived notions; especially as we can only see what we can imagine. To the enlightened, seeing things as they truly are, a dog is one of infinite manifestations of God and a semordnilap; as God is dog spelled backwards.
Our sole connects us to Earth.
It’s the foundation upon which we stand,
little noticed unless it hurts
and unseen but when we’re supine at sleep death.
That’s the nature of soul.
What’s good for you is good for me.
This is the way of divine consciousness. You and I are one. When your joy appears to derive from my loss, I rejoice in your joy and am oblivious to my loss. The choice between feeling badly for oneself or happy for us is essentially a choice between selfishness and happiness.
I am who I am.
However, more specifically, from the top down, I am God and anyone who doesn’t recognize I am God doesn’t recognize they too are God.
From the bottom up, I’m a comedian and also my greatest audience. I find almost everything funny, though others seldom do. What’s funny? When we take ourselves seriously.
It’s difficult to imagine hearing if we are deaf.
It’s impossible to open our eyes unless we know they are closed.
Subject and object only can be in time past and time future.
In the present, all there is is is.
“Is” is “I” in plural,
infinite manifestations of the one I.
No subject, no object
just is
being is
just being, is.
“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.
No thing is perfect but nothing is perfect.
As no thing is perfect
every thing is forever-changing
in its quest for perfection.
Every thing is nothing
before and after
it is what it is whatever it is.
As nothing is perfect
nothing is forever-unchanging.
The dead have complete self-awareness of their state of consciousness; they know they are in the audience watching a play in which those who are non-dead are acting out various roles in life. Those who are non-dead are not necessarily alive, self-aware; they have the potential to be alive but mostly they are non-dead.
“Water is the face of fire.”
“Water is the face of fire” is a family motto given to Kanako by a family elder when she was seven. As a family motto, fire (whose forms are rapidly changing) represents a person’s relatively infinitesimally short life. Yet, the family line, each family member’s true identity, like water, is eternal and unchanging.
The motto is akin to a Zen koan, a paradoxical anecdote or riddle used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and awaken us from the preconceived notions that frame our perceptions.
The coexistence of seemingly incompatibles, water and fire, implies that our perception of something and its essence may be significantly different, though both are aspects of the same thing. The nature of water is forever-unchanging, while the nature of fire is forever-changing. As water is the face of fire, beneath the calm appearance of water lies a wildly-changing essence. While we tend to perceive something as static, that’s a misperception; for the universe’s only constant is change. Moreover, while water and fire seem incompatible as parts of one thing (an object and its face), they, like everything, are different aspects of the same thing; implying everything is one.
Men are the sun, women are the moon.
The sun is happy, seeing its reflection in the full moon.
As Earth shades the moon, the sun’s happiness diminishes.
“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”
“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.
Love is ineffable, ethereal and yet eternal. When a love relationship concludes, we can only conclude it was never love; as when what was once and is no longer, never was.
When we feel loved only by those with whom we are close, we are closed to others. When we feel everyone loves us, we are open and free.
When we realize everyone is God, we feel everyone loves us; if not now, then later.
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.
Those who love certain people but not all people are sentimental. Those who love everyone are practical.
“He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.”
It’s easy to satisfy our needs and impossible to satisfy our desires, but temporarily.
Without a doubt
sun rises and sets
day in, day out.
Sun is eternal,
knows nothing of its daily routine.
Only we are rising and setting.
Encapsulated, raw intelligence is characterized by one’s abilities in matters of conceptual thinking, memory, compiling and quickly analyzing information and creativity. However, the truly intelligent are those who have the ability to learn something from virtually anyone, magnifying their intelligence by using the intelligence of others. This is wisdom, a more powerful ability than raw intelligence.
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.
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.
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.
No thing is forever, but nothing is forever.
The universe is eternal, ever-changing manifestations of nothing.
Every thing is nothing, before and after it is what it is whatever it is.
Every thing does not exist but as a surface of everything.
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.
Stupidity is the privilege of the young. The young are forgiven for doing stupid things so they can learn they are stupid. Those who don’t learn this lesson are stupid.
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.
“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.
“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.
Heaven is “He-even.” In heaven, He (God) is even. That is, the heavens comprise an unimaginable, infinite number (billions of planets spinning around 100 billion stars in each of 10 trillion galaxies) of seemingly distinct parts that are not distinct; they are interdependent; thus, even. Like the infinite faces of God are equally significant, even, manifestations of one thing, God.
This realization (that everything, including us, is God) delivers us to a state of complete bliss, delight and peace; heaven.
Politicians are best as a form of comic entertainment. However, when many people take politicians seriously, we’re forced to take these people seriously because the politicians will lead them to war.
Even-ing is when we are all made even. In the evening, when we go to our sleep-death, our soul returns to its source where all souls are one, even.
Evening Prayer
“Thank you all for giving me a role in the play of life; terrific, an experience of 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. Hopefully, my soul will return and awaken my body with the light of life.”
Our life begins not upon our awakening, but when we go to our sleep-death. Thus, the start of a wonderful life begins with going to our sleep-death in a good state of mind. In the Evening Prayer we express our gratitude. Gratitude is the essence of happiness.
There are many interesting and wonderful roles in the play of life, but the role of God is incomparable as God creates the universe and is eternal. Unlike roles for which many people compete for the few available vacancies (there are just so many professional football team owners), the role of God is accessible to all. However, the greatest impediment to our realizing our role as God is our individual and collective identities.
“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 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.
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.
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.
When we are the person we once were,
we are nothing.
When we are not the person we once were,
we are everything.
At birth
Internal vibration
Fission
Big Bang.
In love
Fusion
Sound and light coming together
Eternal vibration.
“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.
“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.
“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.
When it’s dark
we lose our way.
Those who know,
like light from the moon,
can show us the way.
Best to wait for the sun to rise.
“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.
The universe, everything, is the manifestation of God. Loving God is loving everything and every-thing; even those things we don’t like and seek to avoid.
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.
Everything is always beautiful. Every-thing is always, but not all ways, beautiful.
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.
As everything is only in the present, the present is all there is and therefore the greatest present we can receive. Upon opening ourselves up to receive the present, we become one with everything and we want for nothing which is everything before it becomes the present.
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.
In our mind
some things are the same,
some things are different.
In reality
no thing can be compared to another
as all things are aspects of the same thing,
the everything.
People are funny, from a distance. That’s wisdom. But, as we get close to them, laughter turns into sadness as we realize they aren’t joking and we project ourselves in their mindset. That’s compassion.
Realizing we are one with everything is wisdom. Experiencing ourselves as one with everything is compassion.
“The medium is the message.”
McLuhan was also a punster, to wit:
“The medium is the mess-age.”
“The medium is the mass-age.”
“The medium is the massage.”
The medium is the message means that the content carrier (TV, movie, newspapers, etc.) frames the content such that the content is distorted, sometimes to the point it is unrecognizable by the content producer. The medium is the message is like the game of Chinese Whispers, things from the mouth sound different than from the source.
The medium is the mess-age implies that the same content viewed from different medium can be so differently perceived that the content is confused, a mess.
The medium is the mass-age means that there is a very large number of medium conveying the same content.
The medium is the massage means that the medium focuses on relieving the pain or stress of the viewer more than delivering content. That is, frame the content to make the viewer content.
When we awaken, we realize the medium is not the message.
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.
“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.
“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.
Every thing is everything
as every thing is not a thing,
just an aspect of everything.
As every thing is not a thing,
every thing is nothing.
If we are not one with everything, we are basically nothing.
In life, relatively nothing; after life, absolutely nothing.
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:19
“All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.” Ecclesiastes 3:20
In life, we’re oblivious of dust but when we are dusting and then we just want to rid dust from our sight.
However, when we are aware our animal bodies will turn into dust, we are reminded of our purpose in life: to have a wonderful physical experience and realize our potential of divine consciousness which makes us eternal.
We are prisoners when our dreams are based on our memories and are free when we dream with our imagination.
There are seemingly an infinite number of books, each providing insights into the human experience. The insights are thoughts whose foundation is words. We focus on the thoughts, while are often oblivious to the words themselves. However, sometimes a structure’s foundation reveals what the visible structure does not.
There is one book that reveals the mystical aspect of the human experience that’s hidden in words: the dictionary. With definitions, etymologies, synonyms, antonyms and homonyms, the dictionary is the key to kotodama, the mystical power of words.
For example, “good evening” and “good morning” are simple and superficial greetings. However, they reveal much about reincarnation and experiencing life as it is in the now. At night, when we go to our sleep-death, we say “good evening” because in sleep-death everyone is made “even;” the rich, the poor, the smart and the stupid; all are even or equal in sleep-death. Upon awakening from sleep-death, we say “good morning” as in “mourning;” that is, have a good time mourning the person you were yesterday who is now no longer. Upon awakening, we are reincarnated into familiar circumstances, but we are not the same person who went to their sleep-death the night before. In other words, every day is not a day in a life but a life in a day; days past are past lives. When we realize we are reincarnated, we experience everything as new because it is new to us; though familiar to the person we once were. Our presumptive “past,” the experiences of the person who is now no longer, has “passed.”
Another example is happiness. The bedrock of happiness is gratitude. When we are grateful, regardless of the difficulties we face, we are “great-full;” full with feeling great, happy. We’re happy as we realize how lucky we are as our circumstance could always be worse. “Hap,” the root of happiness, means “luck.”
A man truly loves himself when he loves others, but cannot love others if he gets an erection when looking at himself naked in the mirror.
Life is an eternal play; at times a tragedy, at times a comedy. Either way, it’s entertaining to the audience. As for the actors, it’s always fun for those who realize it’s a play. For those who don’t, life is a tragedy and comedy until it is nothing at all.
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.
“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.
“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 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
Good Luck is sensitive to respect. When we recognize Good Luck as a key to our success, we are likely to have Good Luck revisit us. Recognizing the role of Good Luck keeps us from hubris which invites Bad Luck.
Moreover, Good Luck is the key to happiness. The root of happiness is “hap” which means “luck.” When we realize how lucky we are (absolutely or relatively), we are happy.
Those who blame their misfortunes on others don’t learn from their misfortunes which brings them more misfortunes.
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.
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
“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.
“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.
No know now
Now know no
Know now no
No know now. I don’t know the now, the present.
Now know no. I now know nothing. As I don’t know the present and the present is all there is, what I know is nothing.
Know now no. I know the now, the pre-sent, is nothing. As the now is nothing before and after it is what it is whatever it is, the now is a temporary manifestation of nothing.
The way to enlightenment has three steps. First is the realization that we don’t know the ever-changing eternal now which by its nature is unknowable. Second is the realization that as the now is all there is, we know nothing. This realization vanquishes our mind which has heretofore convinced us that we know many things. Third is the realization that the now is essentially nothing expressing itself temporarily as something and as such our perceiving it as real is just an illusion.
In meditation, we focus the mind on the three phases of breathing; the inhale, the exhale and the pause until the next inhale. We recite “no know now” on each inhale and are silent during the exhale and the pause. After many rounds, we recite “now know no” on each exhale and are silent during the inhale and the pause. Then again after many rounds, we recite “know now no” during the pause between inhale and exhale and are otherwise silent. This cycle is repeated and repeated and repeated until we and the sound of the mantra become one.
It is then that we know we are nothing and rejoice in being something, whatever it is. Gratitude is a key to happiness.
No know now
Now know no
Know now no
Yes Yes Yes
Those who see the light embody wisdom.
Those who feel its warmth embody compassion.
Without wisdom and compassion, there is no light.
Something is wrong when we can’t unconditionally enjoy simple bodily pleasures like sex and recreational drugs. Nothing is wrong when we enjoy these things, unless they get to our head.
Until we know we know nothing, we know nothing.
Enlightened are those who look up, see the light and come to know that they and the light are one. Those who look down on others cannot see the light.
Nothing is unique because everything is unique.
When we see something that is not unique, we are seeing it with our mind.
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.
As our questions arouse their curiosity, eventually they might question us, open their ears and let us enter their mind.
“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.”
When Victor was 13, he didn’t need glasses but marveled at the experience of those who did as they saw the world completely differently when they did and didn’t wear glasses. Poor eyesight seemed like a blessing that could lead to great insight.
To the myopic, much of the distant world is ambiguous; making it clear to them that in their natural state, without the intervention of glasses, they don’t know what they are looking at; this realization is the first step to wisdom. Unlike most people who are never in doubt but often wrong about what they see.
Realizing our ignorance arouses our curiosity, putting us on a never-ending journey of discovering the newness of everything as everything is forever in flux; inherently ambiguous until our glasses or mind make things seem clear temporarily.
Interestingly, those who wear glasses have, statistically, a significantly higher IQ than those who don’t. That doesn’t mean they are inherently smarter, just the they use their mind wondering about the nature of things because they realize they don’t know what they are looking at. That’s the essence of wisdom.
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.
What is that?
It is what it is whatever it is.
But whatever it is doesn’t matter.
What matters is that it is.
What do we see everywhere but rarely notice?
Light.
Every-thing we see is not a thing, just a reflection of light off a thing.
Actually, objects themselves are light. Objects, Mass (M), are Energy (E) slowed down by the speed of light (C) squared (M=E/C*C). That is, when light is slowed down from its unimaginable speed, it takes solid forms.
As light is omnipresent and everything is light (including ourselves), we rarely notice it for what it is.
When we realize everything is light, we realize that every-thing we perceive not as light is an illusion.
Even the most wonderful people take a shit which doesn’t smell good to anyone but themselves. How we feel about them depends on how we see them, as a hole or as a whole.
An expert, when authenticating an artwork, rarely appreciates an artwork as someone who is simply looking at an artwork.
When an artwork is expertly proclaimed a “fake,” most people can no longer see it through their eyes as they did before the proclamation. They see it through their mind and their mind sees through their ears.
When we focus on the details, we often fail to see the beauty of the whole.
“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.”
Before birth, we are one with everything.
After birth, we begin self-defining ourselves as finite beings apart and separate from everything that is not us. This process is at first frightening, painful, overwhelming. In reaction, we cry. However, those in midlife are deaf to our cries as they joyously celebrate our birth.
As we approach death, we are at peace. We die without a tear, knowing we are transitioning to be again one with everything. However, those in midlife cry as we depart. As misery loves company, they are sad to see us go.
Those in midlife view newborns and the dying as understanding little. However, maybe they know something of which those in midlife are oblivious.
The past is a comic and tragic illusion our mind creates. When we believe the illusion is real, our experience of the present is also an illusion.
“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.”
The universe is infinite, ever-changing manifestations of that which cannot be described, but who some call God. The manifestations are interdependent; that is, no seemingly discrete/finite manifestation exists independently as the manifestations are essentially different aspects of one thing, God. As all things are temporary and interdependent, any descriptions are illusionary as what’s described no longer exists and not representative of the whole of which it is an infinitesimal part. Thus, he who knows this truth does not speak beyond describing anything and everything as it is what it is whatever it is which is akin to not speaking. He who does speak is on a fool’s errand as he does not know this truth.
He who experiences and reflects on his experiences can come to know the nature of things. The more he knows, the more he desires to know. However, as he cannot experience and reflect when he is speaking, he chooses not to speak. He who speaks does not know and has no desire to know.
He who knows knows that his perspective is one of infinite perspectives and that what something is is at best approximated by an amalgamation of many perspectives. Hence, knowing his perspective is limited and unlikely more knowledgeable than the average perspective, he doesn’t speak. He who speaks doesn’t realize this truth.
As speaking and knowing are mutually exclusive, we need to choose whether we want to know or to speak. To know is to connect with the universe through our senses. Connected and undistracted by our mind, we experience our oneness with everything. Unlike knowing, speaking is the mind expressing itself to get the universe’s attention. As such, speaking presumes we and the universe are separate entities, the antithesis of oneness. He who knows choses oneness (knowing) instead of separateness (speaking); thus, he does not speak. As he who speaks is separate from the universe, he does not know the universe.
We know all there is to know upon opening our eyes, awakening. What we know we cannot describe because our eyes can see but cannot speak. Thus, he who knows does not speak. When we speak, our mind is talking. However, our mind’s perception of reality is more a function of our mind than reality. Thus, he who speaks does not know.
We come to know through direct experience. Speaking can artificially simulate an experience but the simulation is just a shadow of an experience. Thus, he who knows knows the futility of speaking, so he does not speak. He who only knows through artificial simulation does not truly know, so he speaks.
He who speaks thinks he knows. He who does not speak knows nothing, the essence of everything before it’s something. There’s not much he can say about that.
Or, simply, “Nothing is known. There is nothing to speak about.” — Pamela Mills
Or, “[I]f you have seen the truth you will know that it is beyond words and so cannot be described using words. If you have not seen the truth you will think you can describe it adequately in words and will try to do so.” — Andria Nix
Anything and everything are essentially nothing before they are what they are whatever they are. Moreover, as anything and everything constantly change, they are whatever they are but temporarily and then again nothing.
As anything and everything are nothing before and after they are something but for an instant, maybe they’re also nothing when we perceive them as something; that is, whatever we think they are is an illusion sustained by our mind
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.
When we perceive the world as a duality, it’s our self and all the rest;
often a tiring interaction at best.
To truly rest, we need become one with the rest.
When truly at rest, we are at peace. Peace is the nothingness that remains after we forget about everything, our self and all the rest. In nothingness, we are one with the nothingness; at rest, at peace.
Alternatively, when we abandon our self, we become one with what remains: one with everything (all the rest). Then, without the tiring friction of duality, we are at rest, at peace.
Peace can be had in a place of nothingness or when we are one with everything. Either way, there is no self which is what tires us.
Analyzing our past is going down a rabbit hole.
Looking at the sky
the guiding light makes clear
everything is whole.
Nothing is as wonderful a gift
as the present of life.
Those who are distracted
by wanting something more
do not appreciate the present.
Life is a multi-ring circus of dreams unfolding simultaneously; good dreams, bad dreams; whether good or bad determined by the dreamer.
Awakening is the realization that we are dreaming. Awakened, we are grateful for whatever our dream and make the best of it.
When life is not an engaging, fascinating and wonderful experience, we are sleeping.
Life is like a mirror. Smile at it and it smiles back at you.”
Our attitude forms our experiences.
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.
“[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.
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.
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.
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.
Everything has an inside and an outside.
The outside is an expression of the inside.
The outside is always unique.
The inside is always the same.
The inside looks like an empty hole,
though it is the soul
which makes all the outsides whole.
Being asleep or awakened are very similar experiences. Either way, we are dreaming. The difference between the two states is that when we are asleep we are dreaming and don’t know it, while the awakened know they are dreaming.
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.
Life is a beautiful present
we receive only when we are present.
When we are present
we are life, the present.
The past is always funny, if not in reality then as we create it in our memories.
Mental illness is when the past is not funny and we can’t get passed it.
When the past is funny the present is funny as well. That makes it easy to identify who is mentally ill.
We are given the temporary gift of life and are entitled to nothing more. Realizing that life is not fair and much of what happens is a function of randomness tempers our hopeful expectations and hedges us from disappointing outcomes. This calms our mind. Moreover, knowing we have all we are entitled to, we are grateful. Gratitude is the essence of happiness.
“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.” End of the Line, Traveling Wilburys
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.
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.
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.
Every mind has a fascinating perspective, at least temporarily. When we meet someone we immediately find boring, we are meeting our mind.
The right answers are everywhere, when we ask the right questions.
The right questions alight a path to the right answers. The wrong questions keep us in darkness. For example, asking “what is it like to be enlightened?” takes us nowhere.. But asking “who am I?” starts us on the road to enlightenment.
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.
There is only one mind. It’s like a reflecting pond.The reflections we ponder are a function of where we stand along its perimeter. While we can choose where we stand, most of us never change our position. In fact, tired of standing, we sit down and soon fall asleep; awakening when it’s time to die.
Wisdom comes to those who position themselves variously along the reflecting pond. With reflections from many perspectives, the wise know that reflections are reflections; not reality. However, with diverse reflections, they get a sense of reality.
The ignorant never change their position along the pond. They think that what they see is reality. They ignore reflections from any position but their own.
The wise are open, flexible and don’t take any single perspective or themselves too seriously. The ignorant are often hysterically funny when they take their reflections seriously; though they can’t appreciate the humor because they lack that perspective.
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.
“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.
“[T]here is nothing new under the sun.”
The sun, energy, is the essence of everything. Every-thing is one of infinite manifestations energy. As the manifestations are infinite, there can never be anything new.
The only constant in the universe is change; hence, every-thing is new. As every-thing is new, there is nothing that is distinguishable by its newness; hence, there is nothing that is new.
The universe, everything past, present and future, is nothing before it is what it is whatever it is. Hence, nothing is what is new
Since nothing is new, nothing is old. Thus, time doesn’t exist. Everything happens all at once. However, our mind fools us into thinking otherwise as it creates stories which attempt to make sense of things past, present and future; a fool’s errand. A wiser approach is not to think too much and simply enjoy it as it is.
“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.”
“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.
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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
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.
“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.
No thing is perfect, but nothing is no thing which makes it perfect.
No thing is perfect as everything is temporary, everchanging. Thus, whatever thing may seem perfect now is not perfect later which makes it not perfect now.
Nothing is perfect as nothing is forever unchanged. As everything is nothing before it is something, nothing is perfect as it’s the essence of everything. Moreover, as nothing is no thing, it casts no shadows; thus, nothing allows a clear view of everything.
Nothing is “0,” a circular line that is perfect as it has no beginning and no end. While the circle seems to give rise to imperfection — a duality of mutually exclusive spaces, a within and without — the spaces are not mutually exclusive. They are mutually dependent as one cannot exist without the other, making them perfect together.
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.
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.
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.
Water doesn’t know time, but we use it to envision time.
Time is water in a stream. Downstream is the past, upstream is the future and the water in between is the present. But water is water, not knowing itself different from one place to another; only knowing that it is here now or not. Thus, it is we who create time.
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.
“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 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.
We often praise and love people more when they’re dead than when they were alive; maybe because they can do no wrong when they’re dead.
As the universe is infinite, ever-changing and eternal, we can never know everything. But once we know nothing, we know all there is to know.
Every thing, before it is what it is whatever it is, is nothing. Thus, every thing is essentially a unique manifestation of one thing, nothing.
With all our responsibilities and commitments, we think we don’t own our lives; but everything we think we own owns us.
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.
“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.
Great talent is very rare. Good timing is even rarer.
Pablo Picasso would have been committed to a mental institution had he made his artworks a hundred years earlier or he would have been a pauper had he made them a hundred years later. It takes true genius to know how to use which talents which times; though most of that genius is just luck.
Everyone wants something special as long as it tastes like vanilla.
We experience the world through our face and react to our experience with our mind which expresses itself through our face. Moreover, our facial expression affects how we experience the world before our mind reacts to it, a self-reinforcing process. For example, an experience to which our mind reacts as happy makes our face happy which in turn predisposes our face to experiencing the world in a happy way to which our mind tends to react to with happiness that expresses itself again as a happy face. Essentially, a happy facial expression predisposes us to experiencing happiness.
God may or may not exist. If God exists, presumably we will meet God when we transition out of this life. Then, God will ask us: “How is the life I gave you?” Grateful for God’s gift, we want to respond that “it is terrific.” However, if that is not our experience, we need be truthful as God knows the entirety of our life experience. If there is a day of our lives we don’t deeply appreciate with gratitude, God knows that.
God put us on Earth to enjoy ourselves every day, realize our potential and help others likewise. If that is not our experience, we are not doing as God has commanded and God punishes us. God, seeing we are suffering, will think we enjoy suffering. Thus, our punishment will be to eternally suffer. When we have a day that’s not terrific, it feels like eternity.
Some days are difficult. But, they could always be worse. Thus, we always need be grateful. Gratitude makes for a terrific day.
Either way, whether we believe the God narrative or not, we are fools if we don’t have a wonderful day.
Our ears,
lateral on our head,
hear the here.
Our nose,
pointing forward,
anticipates what is not yet seen or heard.
The nose knows.
Our eye,
interprets what it sees
in the context of the mind.
The eye is the I.
The world is fascinating when we realize we are like newborns and know nothing. We are at peace when we are sleeping, one with everything like before birth, and know there is nothing to know.
Otherwise, we are prisoners of our mind, an orderly world that is neither fascinating nor peaceful as we are artificially separated from everything.
Those who know how to talk don’t necessarily know what they are talking about.
Those who are articulate can paint a beautiful forest. Those who know can grow fruit bearing trees.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
“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.
“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.
When we perceive ourselves at a higher plane than others, we are truly not as our mind is then like most minds, distracted with nonsense, and we are not enjoying our plane ride fueled by a laugh at those who see imaginary planes.
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.
When we have more answers than questions, we are following the ways of others. When we have more questions than answers, we seek our own way. As the answers to our questions beget more questions, we are always in disequilibrium; more answers than questions or more questions than answers.
Seeking. More seeking, more questions; we’re like a dog chasing its tail until it collapses from exhaustion. Then, the questions stop. It is what it is whatever it is. Now, calm, we can enjoy things as they are.
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.
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.
“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.”
Ignorance leads us to ignore obvious risks. Confidence allows us to proceed unwaveringly. While ignorance and confidence do not assure any long-term success, they increase the chances of realizing great success. However, the manic delusions of grandeur we have when we are ignorant and confident have us feeling successful in the short run.
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.
“Two hands clap and there is a sound, what is the sound of one hand?” This well-known Japanese koan has evolved colloquially into simply: what is the sound of one hand clapping?
A koan is question a Zen master would ask a student to help the student see beyond the illusory nature of conventional thinking and realize the nature of reality as they progress towards enlightenment. Often students struggle mightily, sometimes for years, before they move beyond a koan. When they do, it’s like exiting a house their mind has built to shelter them but which has also imprisoned them, limiting the sunlight that enters the house.
For many years Victor considered possible answers to the question of the sound of one hand clapping. Again and again, Victor would enthusiastically embrace an answer but only to soon realize it was inadequate. Yet, it was clear that the answer was a key to exiting the house and seeing the light. At some point, Victor put aside the question and went on with his life in Act 2, the Earth Experience, in the play of life.
At the beginning of Act 3, the Transition from finite bodily form to oneness with the eternal soul, the answer arrived: The sound of one hand clapping is the sound of one hand clapping; it is what it is whatever it is. As well, the sound of one hand clapping is the sound of laughter; as it’s funny seeing the mind grappling with an absurd concept, like a dog chasing its tail.
We cannot experience the universe directly; doing so would be overwhelming, like living without housing shelter. Hence, our mind makes sense of the inputs our senses provide it by organizing, categorizing and rationalizing the inputs. As we describe and compare things, we reflect the perceptions of our mind. Our mind aside, there are no words to describe a purely sense-based experience of the universe. It is what it is whatever it is. The experience dispenses with subject and object as both are simply one. This is being in the light.
When we are in the light, our karma is revealed as an illusion. Karma is a function of memory (our mind) and affects how we perceive our experience in the now. In the light, in a sense-based experience, we realize our memories are not real. Thus, Zen students who seriously reflect on what is the sound of one hand clapping are funny. They seek the key to escape from the prison of their mind, yet they engage with the mind which keeps them prisoners.
When a circle is very small
we mostly see its perimeter,
its surface.
As it gets bigger and bigger
we focus on the space inside.
Bigger still,
the perimeter disappears
the concept of inside and outside disappears.
All that remains is one thing.
It cannot be described
as it has no surfaces.
It is what it is whatever it is.
Those who are very small
see small circles everywhere.
They focus on surfaces,
appearances,
and think they know what they see.
As there are few who are enlightened, being enlightened might seem lonely but to those who are enlightened. The enlightened embody wisdom and compassion; feel connected as one with everything; see everything as unique and fascinating; and have lots to laugh about as people are absurdly funny when they are blind to the light and see only with their mind. When we are connected with everything, engaged with the world and are laughing much of the time, we are not lonely.
“When a man is perfect, he sees perfection in others. When he sees imperfection, it is his own mind projecting itself.”
Our time on Earth is an entertaining journey as long as we don’t forget it’s a temporary holiday from our space in heaven. For us who don’t remember, even the most wonderful lives at times are hell.
“A man chases a girl until she catches him.”
He can only escape if he loves the chase more than the girl.
As babies, milk supplants crying with joy. As adults, the Milky Way can have the same effect.
In the dark-sky we can fully engage looking at the stars in the Milky Way and realize the essence of happiness; beyond thoughts, beyond words, the overwhelming beauty of it all; right here, right now.
Once our basic needs of food, shelter, security and health are satisfied, it’s hard to take too seriously much that’s happening in our infinitesimally small space in the universe. When our mind engages our attention, we take its thoughts seriously which is the root of much of our unhappiness.
While 100 years ago everyone lived under the dark-sky, today 99% of people live with some degree of light pollution; precluding their eyes from drinking the light from the Milky Way.
“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.
When we perceive ourselves as an individual cell with an independent existence, we live and die imprisoned in our cell. However, when we realize each of us is a unique cell in a body of infinite cells whose purpose is to serve the body, then we know the presence of God.
The soul is ineffable and ethereal. Neither our body nor our mind can experience the soul. However, we know it exists when it connects with another soul. It is then that we know the presence of God.
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.
“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.
We experience life through the mind and the senses. The mind, by its etymology, is a mnemonic device. Our mind transforms the perceptions gathered by our senses and sorts them into categories of similar past experiences; rendering perceptions not as it is what it is whatever it is, but as artificial constructs of the mind. Thus, experiencing life through mind is not experiencing life in the “now” but more as on autopilot. Know, not now; we feel we know what we are experiencing but we are not in the now.
Experiencing life through our senses, principally through our eyes and ears, is the experience of the now. Beyond both eye and ear starting with the letter “e,” the “e” face type looks like an image of an eye and ear. “e” is also the core letter in the word “new.” When we truly experience life through our senses, everything is new because nothing is ever the same; but in our mind.
Upon experiencing the newness of everything, we can experience the now. “Now” is formed when “e” is replaced with “o.” “o” is a universal image of the sun, whose light is the essence of everything. “o” also reveals the nature of the now.
Like all things in the universe, “o” has a within and without that appear as a mutually exclusive duality (something is either the inside or the outside but not both). However, the inside and outside are interdependent as one cannot exist without the other. Hence, when we are in the now we know that the dualities that seem to exist in life are illusions as everything is one.
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.
Enlightenment is not a utopia. Enlightenment and unhappiness are not mutually exclusive. One could simultaneously be enlightened and unhappy, momentarily.
Enlightenment is as the word is, to be “in-light;” that is, the realization that the entire universe is energy (light), including seemingly solid forms (M=E/C*C), and we and the light are one. While solid objects occasionally cast shadows over us, the shadows are temporary illusions that are quickly dissipated by our light.
When we see through our mind we are often distracted from seeing through our eyes.
For example, my father took his mind seriously which often limited his ability to enjoy things as they are. Recently, my sister informed me that our father, who was an orthodox Jew, was quite angry after he consummated his marriage with our mother and realized she was not a virgin as she had claimed. I thought it funny that he was upset as his mind distracted him from what truly mattered, the pleasure of lovemaking. That she had bed others before him and mislead him was besides the point.
But, perhaps more understandably, he 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.
The universe is the universe,
like the soul,
eternal and unchanging.
The universe itself
is forever changing manifestations.
It is always the same,`
all ways different.
We are the universe,
manifestations of the soul.
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.
“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.”
When past is passed
it is over and under,
finished and buried.
When past is past
it is over and over
hanging over the present.
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.
The sun shows us every significant thing on earth and the billions upon billions of stars tell us how insignificant it all is.
“Life is a dream, so have fun with it.”
When we forget it’s a dream, it can turn into a nightmare.
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.
When we have no doubts about our perceptions, we close our eyes to other possibilities. If we weren’t so blindly confident, we would open our eyes and see things as they are, not as our mind has determined they are.
People who take their minds seriously are very funny. Seeing this omnipresent humor is the sine qua non to a wonderful journey through life. Unfortunately, few do. If many did, life wouldn’t be so funny; but would be blissful.
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.
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.
“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.”
I am strong with my pain but not with yours.
Entangled in the now
we’re oblivious to its beauty
which is clear
from before and after the now.
Heaven is peaceful and those in heaven want to keep it that way. So they only let into heaven only those who live peaceful lives on Earth.
After death, there may or may not be heaven and hell. But it’s of no matter as those living peaceful lives on Earth are already in heaven.
The universe is nothing before it expresses itself as everything.
We are one with nothing and everything
but not one with every thing.
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.
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.
A common pastime is to explain the present in the context of past events and circumstances. While the explanations of experts and others sound cogent, they are mostly nonsense. If they were truly able to explain how the present unfolded, some of these geniuses would be able to predict the future; though none of them can.
Of course, there are always individuals who do correctly predict the future. However, rarely more than once are they the same individuals.
“M” is a vessel with one bucket,
“W” a vessel with two buckets.
We can do more than Me.
For Me to be We
I need to turn myself upside down.
“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 often sing and dance to different music. They sing of doing wonderful things for mankind as they dance on people’s bodies.
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 universe is nothing,
empty space and no time,
before it is everything.
In nothingness
everything is one.
Time begins when the universe expresses itself
as infinite ever-changing manifestations.
Then, we are still one with the universe
but often oblivious as to who we are.
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.
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.
For those who remember who they were before they were born, life is difficult in the beginning and easy at the end. In the beginning, it is difficult to adjust to a world where most people live out of touch with reality, a world of individual and collective meanings and stories of the mind’s construction. But life is easy at the end as they know the wonderful place to which they are going which is from where they came.
Babies see the world as it is, new and fresh, because they don’t remember what they see.
Easy at the beginning, difficult at the end.
Difficult at the beginning, easy at the end.
Easy at the beginning retards growth
which makes the end even more difficult.
“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.
The mind drives many far and wide, blindly seeking.
But everything is here and near for the See King.
Our mind is home to many hungry “I”s
who long for nothing when we open our eyes.
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.
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.
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 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.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The universe is infinite and unique manifestations of God. Manifestations that have consciousness do not know they are God. They perceive themselves as apart and separate from all other manifestations. Man is no different in his self-perception but has the potential to realize divine consciousness; the realization that he and all manifestations are one; that man and God are one.
Words are the foundation of a system of conceptualizing and communicating abstractly. This system enables man with the potential for divine consciousness. Thus, as the word enables man to connect as one with God, the word is God; the system is God.
The word begot the world. Word + I = world. When the word and I merged, the story of the world was created.
Words were first transcribed symbolically, in written form as cuneiform tablets, around 5,400 years ago. This is soon after the start of the Jewish calendar which marks this year as 5,782. Prior to that time, our progenitors were manlike but not man.
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.
“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.
In the play of life, we often respect those in roles of great wealth and power. However, those are easy roles that unremarkable people can play. Actually, most people who play those roles are unremarkable; if not before, than after they assume those roles. Difficult roles involve issues of poverty, poor health and harm’s way. We need respect and be thankful to those playing such roles; if they didn’t, then we might be called to do so.
It’s clear that everyone’s life is unique, fascinating and entertaining. But that’s often not their experience of it, unless they open their eyes.
“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.
“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.
The beauty is not that which is beautiful but that we can see beauty. When we can see beauty, everything is beautiful. The beauty we see is ourselves. Likewise, those who see ugly things are themselves ugly.
If we see something that isn’t beautiful, then it’s funny. Most people are not beautiful.
Those who think they are smarter than others often can’t see as much as those who don’t think so much about themselves relative to others.
“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.
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.
Crazy are those who take their crazy thoughts seriously. A crazy society takes seriously someone who is crazy and makes them their leader.
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.
“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.
As we busy ourselves, we are oblivious that we are one of billions of cells of the human body. After sustaining ourselves and realizing our potential, our purpose is to serve the body. While our conscious identity is our individual cell-self, who we truly are is the one body that was here before our cell-self arrived and after our cell-self is no longer.
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.
Life is simple. All we need is food, shelter, security and health. Our mind makes it easy. But the mind makes it complicated as it converts endless desires into needs.
Relatively, there is a small percentage of girls who are conventionally sexually attractive in terms of international tastes. Attractive girls are like two-seat sports cars with big headlights, not minivans. They’ve got a lot of torque, can reach 150+ miles/hour and have great handling. They provide a thrilling ride but are not practical for everyday driving and require a good deal of maintenance. Their looks are often a defense mechanism; they want guys focusing on their appearance and not what’s below the surface, their nature which is often volatile and selfish. Loving, wholesome, spiritual girls tend to be otherwise; not much to look at but wonderful soulmates. They don’t put themselves out as beauties because they want guys who are interested in who they are not how they appear.
So there is something for everyone or for every time frame. The attractive ones are best for meaningful relationships of less than an hour or until you run out of gas.
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.
Go for the best and forget the rest.
What’s best is that of which we make the best.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Art collecting and religion are alike. They are about community membership; not about the insights art reveals about the human experience or the worship of God, respectively.
Absolutely, everything is beautiful; relatively, few things are beautiful.
Everything is beautiful because seeing is beautiful. Seeing is an experience in the now, an experience of the universe expressing itself.
Our mind can’t see. It can only remember. The mind compares things it has not seen but believes it remembers seeing and things it envisions. Once measured, some things are more or less beautiful; relatively, few things are beautiful.
The World Trade Center event is an example of that which is absolutely beautiful but relatively not. For the few who can see it as it is what it is whatever it is, they see the World Trade Center hit by planes and its subsequently collapse as a beautiful chaotic light show. However, for the vast majority, the World Trade Center event is a horrible tragedy relative to most of whatever else they see in life through their mind.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Our life is like a movie, an illusion on a screen; though it all seems very real, so we take it seriously. However, as the movie ends, the theater lights turn on; the theater is enlightened and so are we, realizing the illusions were illusions.
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.
Most of us think what we see is reality. It’s not reality. It’s just a movie projected from our mind. To see reality we need to close our mind and open our eyes.
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.
The secret to experiencing the intense beauty of every-thing is to experience each thing’s uniqueness as revealed by our senses; absolutely, as it is, not comparatively.
This is easier said than done as our mind automatically distracts us from experiencing the world purely with our senses. Our mind distracts us by referencing a sensuous experience we are experiencing now to other seemingly similar experiences*; comparing something now with something that’s passed or idealized. Comparatively, some things look more or less attractive than others; but, experienced absolutely, every-thing is always beautiful if not in all ways; at least it enlivens us.
A corollary is that we are distracted from having a purely sensuous experience when we describe or analyze an experience. To keep our experience as purely sensuous, we can only say of each thing that it is what it is whatever it is. However, there is one word that identifies our reaction is wholly sensuous: WOW. The sound of WOW is made by puckering our lips like when we kiss what we love, that to which we connect with as one. WOW is also our reaction upon awakening, when we don’t remember who we were yesterday, what we need to later today and everything around us appears as we’ve never seen it before.
*The etymology of the word “mind” is memory. When we see things through our mind, we don’t truly see. We are asleep to reality; only seeing illusions, thoughts and memories To be awake is to be in the now, to experience the world through our senses.
We connect with each other through our mind and heart. Our heart is clearly the more important of two as we can live without a mind but not without a heart.
Each of us is generally described in terms of nouns and adjectives. But that’s not who we are. Nouns and adjectives are static while we are dynamic. We are nothing but an experience.
The experience is a play that we write, produce, direct and in which we star. Our individual plays overlaps with the plays of others as we play roles in their plays and they play roles in ours.
Some plays are well-attended by the gods in the audience, while others not. With little audience interest in our individual play, we find ourselves better financially rewarded spending our time playing roles in other people’s plays than in ours. In doing so, we abandon our plays and the freedoms they allows us. At that point we are nothing, just nouns and adjectives.
However, when we love those who have even very minor roles in our play and treat them like special guest stars, maybe one day they will be; and, if not, at least they’ll enjoy their roles more than otherwise.
When our essential bodily needs (food, shelter, security and health) are met and our mind is calm and doesn’t distract or imprison us, we are free to experience it as it is, through our senses and soul.
The experience through our senses is, well, sensuous; the experience of being alive in the now as the universe is unfolding; heightened physical awareness; the uniqueness of each breath; the rhythm of our pulse; the waves of sound, light and air coming upon us; no duality between us and the experience; we’re connected with everything as all there is is is (the plural I, we).
There is only one soul which is the essence of everything. The soul is every-thing before it is something. The soul is nothingness; the space between exhale and inhale. In the space of nothingness we are one with everything.
“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.”
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.
Peace is when we are one with everything.
The time before birth.
The time after death.
The time between falling asleep and awakening.
The time between exhale and inhale.
The time when there is only one thing, nothingness
The time before nothingness becomes everything.
Awakening is the realization
we are always one with everything
but for the time of our self-consciousness
when we are oblivious of nothingness.
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.
Our mind sees through our ears. When we see through our mind, we are blind to our blindness.
Our mind cannot see. It envisions the world through the stories, meanings, generalizations, etc. it hears as we are socialized. When we in turn see through our mind, we don’t see what our eyes see and are blind to our blindness.
For example, when a good friend tells us of a super-hot sex experience he had the previous night with a girl he picked up at a bar, we’re happy for him; until we realize the girl was our wife.
We suffer when we desire what we don’t essentially need as desires preclude us from appreciating what we have.
Those who so suffer are fools, funny to everyone but themselves and other fools.
Few people buy things, most are sold things. A true buyer chooses what they buy. A passive buyer is sold things.
A circle creates spaces
inside and out.
Seemingly separate spaces,
yet as they are interdependent
their separation is an illusion.
As likewise goes for everything,
beyond illusions
there can be nothing new under the sun.
Those who love the universe, love all its manifestations. Harmful things they fear, but not hate.
At birth we seem to 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.
Who we are is revealed by how we describe others. But that’s rarely how we see ourselves.
Religious practices vary considerably such that there is no scholarly consensus about what precisely constitutes a religion. However, religions are generally founded on matters supernatural, transcendental and spiritual. Standing on this foundation, all early adherents are on equal footing.
As more adherents join a religion, structures are built upon its foundation to house them. The structures have many stories, stories upon stories; each sustaining the story above it. The most desirable living spaces in these building structures are those with the best views, those on the highest stories, the stories raised to reach the heavens. These living spaces are given to religious leaders and their wealthy supporters. Then, all adherents are no longer on equal footing. In fact, as soon as the structures are a couple of stories tall, their foundations are buried underground and not visible. All that remains are the stories.
Every thing new as we knew nothing.
“Every thing new” because the universe is ever-changing.
“As,” simultaneously; that is, everything is new and yet I still know nothing about it.
“We” (not I) as there is only one thing: the universe which expresses itself in infinite and seemingly finite manifestations. Referring to myself as “I” implies I identify as a finite manifestation. Awakening is the realization that I am the universe, not a finite manifestation of it.
“Knew” (not “know”) because every experience is a past experience, even as we experience it in what seems as now. Now is when our consciousness registers the universe expressing itself. However, now is not the present. Now is in the past. The present is the “pre-sent,” the universe before it expresses itself. Thus, all that we experience is effectively in the past.
“Nothing” is what everything is before it is. Upon awakening, we come to realize the universe is inherently empty, nothingness. Thus, everything is new as we experience it as it is what it is whatever it is in the now. However, as our experience in the now is effectively in the past, everything is an illusion.
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.
Many folklore and religious beliefs hold that God created man from clay. Perhaps so. But clearly, “civilization” has refined the clay man; sanding and polishing, sanding and polishing; again and again and again. Now what remains of God’s clay man may still not be perfect, but there is more clay dust on the floor than anything else.
This parable speaks to the divide between “progressive” and “conservative” approaches to the political order. Simply, progressives aim to realize an idealized world in which individual freedoms are progressively more limited, while conservative, speaking for the clay man, say: “enough already.” As each side has compelling arguments, it is difficult to say which way to vote; but if God didn’t get it right when man was first created, it’s unlikely progressives will.
I AM WHO I AM
Acronym: I Y (IA-WIA)
Why do I exit, why am I here? Because I am who I am, because that is the nature of who I am.
Mantra: I why?
A mantra is a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation. Mantras calm our mind to free us of random distracting thoughts as well as stories, meanings, explanations and justifications that accompany much of what we do in daily life. When calm and free, we have only a child’s answer to “I why?” or “why am I doing what I’m doing?:” “Because that’s what I am doing.” In other words, it is what it is whatever it is.
Koan: I why? Who am I?
A koan is riddle whose answer awakens us from the illusory nature of conventional thinking to realize the nature of reality. Who am I? The answer is not my name or other identifying characteristics. The true answer is that I am who I am; I can’t describe myself otherwise because I’m not the same person now as I was when I started describing myself. This answer acknowledges the ever-changing nature of the everything. Thus, when we truly know something, we know that it ultimately can only be described as it is what it is whatever it is. All other descriptions are approximations or illusionary.
Divine riddle: When Moses asks God who God is, God says: “I am who I am.” Why is God not more specific with a name or description?
God has no name and cannot be described as doing so would mean that God is one thing and not another. God is everything, as everything is a manifestation of God.
The Tao: I am who I am as “the Tao is ever nameless.”
“Though simple and subtle…As soon as rules were made, names were given. There are already many names. One must know when it is enough. Those who know when it is enough will not perish.” — Tao Te Ching, Chapter 32.
Names are identities and descriptions of things. Names are necessary for us to communicate. However, by defining parts of the universe as discrete things, names disguise the nature of the universe. “Every thing” is not a discrete thing but is interdependent as the universe is one thing that is expressed as infinite ever-changing manifestations. When we come to know the nature of the universe, we know we are the universe; the universe is eternal and we will never die as death is just a name of something which is temporary.
Self-realization: I am who I am. I am one of the gods.
I am the roles I play in the play of life. My roles are many, various and temporary. When I am eventually scripted out of the play, I join the gods in the audience watching the play which is who I am before entering the play.
“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.
Act 1
Birth and Socialization
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
Human 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.
Keep smiling until there is something to laugh about.
Real smiles anticipate and welcome laughing. By smiling, we open ourselves up to seeing things in a funny way. That is, smiling has a powerful placebo effect that precipitates laughing.
Smiling is highly contagious. Our smile moves others to smile, making them likely to see something as funny. As others see the funniness of something, we’re infected by their laughter.
What’s funny (as in odd or ironic) is that nothing is funny but almost everything is. What makes anything funny is when people are unaware and take seriously individual or collective self-serving or delusional perspectives; when deceit is revealed; when the truth reveals what was held as meaningful is meaningless. That is, when people take illusions seriously.
But laughing is a serious matter. It’s an essential part of the purpose of life: to have a wonderful time, realize our potential and help others likewise. When we’re laughing, we and others are having a wonderful, liberating and soulful go of life.
In any event, laughing is one of the keys to health as it’s a non-poisonous remedy for pain or stress. We lose our self-consciousness when we’re laughing and forget whatever pain or stress was ailing us. Moreover, laughing with others connects our souls and energizes us which further relieves pain or stress.
Not all smiles however are created equally. Plastic smiles are not real smiles and have little therapeutic value. They’re artificial, man-made, like masks. Wearing a smiling mask limits our facial muscles from extending to broad smiles and soulful laughing.
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.
Om
Now know now
Our senses and mind create the now; an illusion of infinite manifestations that are engaging, distracting and often frantic.
To know now is to know the present. The present is not now. The present is the pre-sent, the space before we are sent what our senses and mind experience as now. The pre-sent is empty, nothingness; a peaceful place, like the space between when we exhale and before we inhale. The pre-sent cannot be described, it is what it is whatever it is.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
“Om Shanti” is invoked at the end of every Upanishad. The Upanishads are ancient Hindu scriptures on the nature of ultimate reality. “Om Shanti Shanti Shanti” means peace in body, mind and soul; peace individually, collectively and universally. The peace beyond understanding. The peace when all is nothing.
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.
“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.
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 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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
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.
Nothing is ever the same and never the same.
Nothing is ever the same as nothing is nothing. Yet, as everything is nothing before it is what it is whatever it is and no thing is the same as any other thing, nothing is never the same.
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.
When we don’t forget from where we came we know where we are going.
“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.
We always experience reality via our senses but we rarely do.
According to Wikipedia, “an illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the human brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort our perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people.”
Illusions shared by many reinforce our individual perception of illusions as reality.
Reality is all there is, yet it is scarce in a world of mass shared illusions.
Independent thinking dispenses with illusions. However, fear of exclusion from groups sharing illusions keeps us from thinking independently.
Eccentrics, essentially those who are ex-centric (ex (meaning, out of) centric) in their thinking, are independent thinkers. Eccentrics see the illusionary thinking of others as ridiculously funny.
“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.
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.
There is one soul to which we are all connected.
The connection is called love.
The soul is not tangible.
It is the nothing from which everything emerges.
Our bodies are manifestations of soul.
Detached from soul,
our bodies cannot connect naturally with love.
They need to make love.
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.
When we love someone, we are one with them which makes us expand beyond our finite selves; a joyous, liberating feeling; selfless love. When we want to be loved because we feel we are imperfect and want to be accepted as we are and not judged or because we want to control the person who loves us, that is selfish love which is not love.
“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.
“All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.”
True friends are those with whom we can share our secret lives.
We always experience reality via our senses but we rarely do.
From birth, we experience reality purely as the stimulation of our senses. As we mature into adults, much of our sensory experience is adulterated by our mind. The etymology of mind is memory. Our memories, which we weave into stories based on our attitude and socialization, distort reality, making our experience of reality an illusion. Our illusions are further reinforced as they are generally shared by others. Those of us who experience reality with a childlike fascination, unadulterated, as if for the first time, experience reality via our senses.
Unless they are a threat, it is difficult to take seriously someone who takes themselves seriously.
Once in true love, in love forever; otherwise, it was never true love.
There is micro and macro love. Micro love is objectified love; an intense love of an object, a person or activity. Micro love is often temporary as that which we once are in love with we can at some point hate or be indifferent about. Macro love is loving the universe and everything in it. Macro love is connecting with everything as ourselves. That is true love.
Buddha was not a Buddhist. Christ was not a Christian.
The path to awakening starts with questioning the nature of reality. The answers can be found via personal introspection and empiricism or religious institutions and related scripture and exegesis. The personal path is unclear, frustrating and often seems futile until we open our eyes and see the light. The religious path is well-trodden, seems safe and comfortable as we are supported by many others.
Ultimately, with perseverance we are likely to awaken when taking the personal path. The religious path is self-reinforcing, keeping us on the path forever.
Essentially, hard at the beginning, easy at the end and easy at the beginning, hard at the end.
“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.
“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.
There is little difference between sleep and death but for those who truly awaken from sleep. For those who don’t awaken, life is a dream; maybe good or not so good but not restful. As for those who awaken from sleep, everyday is always good in some ways if not all ways.
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.
“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.
Life is a present that comes as a packaged gift. To enjoy the gift of life we need to unwrap the present which we’ve covered with the past.
Many of us are suffering from not having sufficient food and shelter. Yet many of us with sufficient food and shelter also are suffering because we desire more or better. Desire causes suffering as it precludes us from gratefully enjoying what we have.
Our mind creates desires for that which we don’t need. It blinds us from seeing how fortunate we are. This is one way our mind controls us.
When we pity people living in poverty yet otherwise apparently happy, we are truly pitiful as our happiness is founded on our temporary possession of material goods and comforts.
In pitying others, we perceive ourselves as apart and separate from others. Yet, we project ourselves in their circumstances and react accordingly which reveals who we are. Alternatively, when we are compassionate, we immediately connect with their happiness, appreciate it and share ours with theirs.
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.
In bodily form we are temporary expressions of the eternal soul. It is our soul, God, we see in each other. It is our soul that connects us to one another as one. Upon recognising we are essentially the eternal soul, we do not suffer death and related sadness. Failing to recognize our soul, we are lonely and unhappy; the definition of a lost soul.
“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.
Often it’s difficult telling showman from shaman. A successful shaman needs to be a showman, but a successful showman doesn’t need to be a shaman. The “spiritual” experience induced by a showman is not unlike that of a shaman. In fact, a showman’s placebo effect can be more powerful than the work of a shaman as much of a shaman’s work depends on the placebo effect too. While it might be difficult to distinguish a showman from a shaman, the better showman wins a greater audience.
I am God. Anyone who doesn’t recognize me as God, doesn’t recognize that they too are God.
While most adherents of Judeo-Christian-Islamic beliefs would view a declaration of “I am God” as arrogant and punishable blasphemy, it’s actually the epitome of humility as it is a declaration that I do not exist as an independent entity as I am one of infinite temporary manifestations of God.
Ironically, those who mortally punish others for blasphemy are blasphemous in their actions as they perceive the world selfishly through their minds which create an overwhelming gulf between them and God.
Every day is always wonderful, but not all ways. Some ways a day is wonderful are immediately clear; other ways are clear only with the passage of time. Likewise, what might seem immediately wonderful may prove otherwise over time. As which ways a day is wonderful are difficult to definitively determine during the day, a wonderful day is when we accept and appreciate all ways always.
“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.
“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.
A timeless artwork has presence, forever engaging our attention; speaking to us, so to speak. But it is also mysterious as each of us sees it differently as what we see reveals the nature of our respective minds. Thus, as it is different things to different people, it can only be said that it is what it is whatever it is. As it truly can’t speak to reveal itself, it remains a timeless mystery.
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.
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.
When someone has their basic needs of food, shelter, security and health and yet is angry or unhappy because one thing or another didn’t go the way they had hoped, it’s confusing and funny to those living in dire circumstances.
It’s difficult to have empathy for those living in the relative lap of luxury and yet complain. They complain because they are essentially selfish. We can feel badly for them, not because of the issues about which they’re complaining, but because they are selfish which invariably is an unhappy state of mind. They are focused on themselves and oblivious to the everyday hardships many people face. They fail to reflect about how someone plagued by famine, homelessness or disease would view their sadness. A simple cure for their unhappiness is to reflect on how others less fortunate would view their circumstances But, if they can’t do that, they do provide others less fortunate with a good laugh.
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.
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.
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.
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.
When we dwell on what we once accomplished, we think we’re important. But we’re actually impotent.
Knowing is everything. Understanding is just a detailed bit of something.
Being eccentric, I sometimes wondered whether I would be committed to a mental institution. But as I looked at the people around me, I realized I was already in a mental institution.
I love everyone and feel everyone loves me. If someone doesn’t love me now, I feel they’ll love me later. Unfortunately, the reason they don’t love me or others is that they are mentally ill. Mental illness is very common, at times in the simple form of taking oneself too seriously as an entity apart and separate from others.
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.
“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.
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 are in the best position to deal with it proactively because we anticipated it.
The more we look, the less we see.
Many of us are more focused on how we look than how we see; how we look to others than how we see others. How we look to others is not how others see us as others are also mostly looking at themselves, not seeing others other than relative to themselves. When we realize others rarely see us, we don’t need to be locked down by how we look and we are free to open our eyes to see everything.
The Pope asked the Zen master: “Since you are one with everything, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” The Zen master laughed: “What’s a pin?”
“How many angels can dance on the head of a pin” is an expression from medieval times referring to the philosophical clergy debating pointless topics. Zen masters suffer abstractions gladly as they always provide a good laugh. Zen questions the very basic assumptions we make about the identity of things (e.g., a pin) as everything is forever-changing and interdependent.
A Zen master with a clay pot on a table before him asked several students: “What is this?” Some said it was a clay pot; others said that it was a man-made artifact; others said it was a table supporting a pot. A lively debate ensued. The Zen master shook his head and laughed. Then a student approached the table and threw the pot to the ground where it cracked into many pieces. An audible silence enveloped the room until the student asked: “What is it now?” Then silence again returned to the room as some students were shocked and others embarrassed by the aggressive arrogance of the student who shattered the clay pot. But just as quickly the Zen master and the student broke the silence with laughter.
This story is essentially a Zen koan: “What is it now?”
The Zen master and student laughed because they recognized the other students as the blind men in the “Ten Men and the Elephant” parable. The pot is a pot temporarily. The pot did not have an independent existence as it was just a temporary expression of the universe. The pot could variously be described but it is what it is whatever it is.
*A story as heard by Bill Wisher 30 years ago from an unnamed source.
When we are one with the ever-changing and eternal universe, we love everything and miss nothing.
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.
It’s always clear
the end of the world is near
but there’s nothing to fear
as long as we are right here.
When we come upon a serious accident, it tells us a lot about ourselves. Is our first question “what happened?” or “how can I help?”
Life is simply not perfect, giving us many reasons to complain. When we stop reasoning, we have much for which to be grateful. Simply, thanking is better than thinking.
The daily usage ratio of thank/think measures our state of happiness.
There is only one mind, the universal mind that some call God, to which all our individual minds are connected. When we realize our mind’s connection to the universal mind, we can experience the universe through the universal mind’s connection to all other individual minds. This is the essence of wisdom.
There is only one soul, the universal soul that some call God, to which we are all connected. When we realize our soul is the universal soul that’s compassion.
Our individual minds and soul are housed in our animal bodies. Unlike the universal mind and soul which are eternal, our bodies are finite. When our identity is our universal mind and soul, we live forever after transitioning from our body. Otherwise, our self dies when our body dies, as animals.
We experience the world through mind, soul and body. Divine is the life experienced through our connection with the universal mind and soul. Selfish is the life whose principal identity is the body and individual mind.This is the difference between animal and divine consciousness.
As we are born as animals in a hostile world, our initial identities are our body and individual mind. However, unlike animals, we have the potential to connect with the universal mind and soul. Once initially connected, we know the way to the universal mind and soul. However, our connection to God is easily distracted for long periods of time, even a lifetime, by our bodily needs and our individual mind. To minimize distractions, we are helped by soulmates. Soulmates are those with whom we connect not solely via our connection with God but directly, soul to soul. When we are distracted by our bodily needs or individual mind, our soulmates can help us us back on the way. This is love, seeing the face of God in our soulmates.
“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
“A man of wisdom delights at water.” Confucius
While attributed to Confucius, this saying is more Tao-inspired as wisdom reveals the nature of the universe. Alternatively, like a Zen koan, it seems funny, as in odd, that a man of wisdom would be more delighted by water than other men; unless the wise man sees in the nature of water the nature of the universe.
Wisdom is amalgamating many different perspectives which allows us to know the nature of things. Moreover, wisdom is knowing that all things are ever-changing and interconnected; not a piece of the whole universe but at peace with the eternal whole; in effect, a temporary expression of the whole. As such, nothing can be described as whatever we describe changes from the time we start describing it to the time our describing it ends. Hence, the Taoist saying: “He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.”
A man of wisdom delights in water as water reveals the nature of the universe:
Water is practical, flowing to the place of least resistance.
Descriptions of water are conflicting as water is at times solid, liquid or vapor.
Water is odorless and tasteless, yet present in everything that smells and tastes.
Water is clear and colorless, yet bluish in thick layers.
Water in the form of a river or pond makes difficult going from one place to another, yet with a boat water is the easiest way to travel between two places.
Still waters are dead-silent, yet moving waters in rivers and oceans are alive and teeming with sounds.
Still waters are clear, yet turbulent waters are opaque.
In the water of a reflecting pond we don’t see water, we see ourselves and all that surrounds us.
While tangible, we cannot grab water to drink; we need cup our hands for water to come to us.
While seemingly weak relative to fire, water easily destroys fire.
Water is necessary for life, yet too much water can cause death.
Water represents the cycle of life. Water is born as rain; then, experiences Earth in infinite ways; and ultimately disappears as vapor, forming clouds to be reborn again as rain.
Water is delightful as how we see it is a reflection of our perspective, like the the parable of the ten men and the elephant.
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.
Nothing lasts forever
as nothing is the essence of everything.
No thing lasts forever
as the only constant is change.
When we truly realize the universe is ever-changing and eternal and that we are one with the universe, as things come and go we love every thing and miss no thing.
“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.
Best to use money when we need it. If we use it just because we have it, we waste time and money and make ourselves needy.
“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.
“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.
With one eye we can see the surface of things. With two eyes we have depth perception. With multiple perspectives we can see the true nature of things. That’s wisdom.
As we only have two eyes, to have multiple perspectives we need to see through the eyes of others. This is possible when we realize we and others are one. That’s the essence of wisdom.
Every child has a father but needs to father itself to become an adult.
“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.
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.
Every thing is everything.
Every thing is an aspect of one thing, everything.
Every thing is an illusion
as everything is all there is.
Every thing is nothing
but a temporary aspect of the everything.
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.
Eyes open, we see the indescribable beauty of creation.
Eyes closed, we see a sad world our mind creates to manipulate us.
Only those who know they know nothing can ultimately know everything.
Every thing is just a unique manifestation of one thing whose essence is nothing.
A recent question: “How can you assess how close to enlightenment you are?”
Enlightenment is when we awaken to realize we and the light are one.
What do we see everywhere but very rarely notice? Light. Superficially, everything we see is light reflecting off things. Moreover, below the surface of things (M=Mass), everything is essentially light/energy (E=Energy) that’s been slowed down (C=Speed of Light) to assume tangible forms (E=M*C*C which is M=E/C*C). In other words, enlightenment is the realization that everything, including ourselves, is light.
How close we are to enlightenment can be measured by what we see when we open our eyes. When we see not through our eyes but through our mind (seeing things in categories and meanings), we have a long way to go. When we see things as things (it is what it is whatever it is), we are getting closer. When we see everything as light, we’re closer still.
The ultimate realization of enlightenment has nothing to do with light. Tangibly, the hallmarks of enlightenment are wisdom and compassion. When we see from many perspectives (not solely our own), that’s wisdom. When we treat others as ourselves, that’s compassion. When wisdom and compassion replace an otherwise self-centered life, we are like light, one with everything.
“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.
Unlike animals, humans have the ability to self-reflect on being alive; why am I here, what’s life all about? Those who don’t self-reflect are animals.
Self-reflection is the first step to divine consciousness.
We are like a running river. However fast the river runs, it is still in the same place.
The past is but a dream. When we think it’s real, we’re dreaming.
“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.
If something tastes or looks the same each time we experience it, we haven’t experienced it.
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, 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.
As the bottle is half full,
we have more than we need.
As the bottle is half empty,
it’s easier to carry.
Half full or half empty,
not all ways good
but always good
when good in some way.
Of course the bottle is never half full or half empty.
It is always full.
Full of liquid or air or some combination,
always full.
We are free to experience the now as it is when we realize the past has passed.
Every day is like another and yet unique but often not. Every day has unique common properties like sleeping, activities and thoughts. If we don’t notice the uniqueness, we’re sleeping through life.
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.
Art is artificial, something man-made that orders otherwise disorderly life. Imperfections add life to art.
“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.
I once knew a very remarkable man who was not particularly remarkable; a high school teacher who was well-liked and well-considered; a middle class family man who had no deep interests or hobbies beyond sports and the stock market. But, he enjoyed his life as was his life.
He played basketball and was a locally competitive runner when he was young. As he aged, he became more sedentary. By the time he was 80, he became physically compromised and couldn’t leave his house without an aide. His wife worked and he stayed home all day, busying himself with watching TV, reading the newspapers and playing with his dog. He didn’t seem to have much of a life at that point.
In his old age, physically limited and with little interactions with others, I asked him a question which I’ve asked many an elderly person: “What was the best time of your life?” His answer was unlike any, remarkable: “Now.”
He clearly knew what few do; that joyful memories are not real, just memories; that now is all there is; that experiencing now is being alive and he was grateful for that experience.
“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.
Empathy is feeling the suffering of another, comforting them and sharing their pain which helps alleviate their pain. Compassion is helping others as we would want others to help us make the best of our circumstances and move forward to ultimately realize our potential.
As sentient beings, we are immediately empathetic to others when they suffer a significant acute misfortune. But soon after the shock of misfortune, we need to dispense with empathy lest it supports chronic selfish self-pity which precludes people from moving forward as best they can. It’s then time to have compassion and rejoice in gratitude as the misfortune could have always been worse.
Many believe that after we are no longer in bodily form there is an afterlife to which we all go. What happens in the afterlife is only limited by peoples’ imagination; from heaven to hell and everything in between. Presumably, heaven is a place of eternal joy and hell a place that is not to our liking. Heaven is like a company’s Rewards Department and hell the Complaint Department.
What, if anything, happens in the afterlife is speculative as none have returned to life to inform us. However, the afterlife is most likely akin to the place we presumably were before we were born, the pre-life. A place perhaps like the Garden of Eden where all our needs are provided and we care for all God has created. As no one has complained about our time in Eden and if the afterlife is like the pre-life, the afterlife must be heaven.
But the concept of hell must have some basis in fact. If it’s not in the afterlife, it must be here on Earth; a place where people often complain and don’t treat others as God’s creation, like themselves.
Ultimately, with our basic needs met and no need for wants, with gratitude and compassion we have heaven on Earth.
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.
An agitated mind grasps for things. A calm mind lets things flow its way.
When thirsty, cupped hands collect more water than that which one hand repeatedly tries to grab.
Intelligence is having certain strong mental abilities. Wisdom is having good judgement.
Intelligence tests and academic accolades identify the fastest runners. Wisdom shows us the shortest and easiest ways to the finish line in real life.
Thoughts and words are thoughts and words, approximate descriptions but empty of real experience and knowledge.
When our mind is filled with thoughts and words, it also is empty but with no space for real experiences and knowledge.
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.
Awaking from sleep is always amazing, a unique rebirth; unless we are not truly awakened. And so it is, from one moment to the next.
From Sanskrit, Buddha means “awakened.”
Only listen to the opinions of others
when we can think for ourselves.
But we don’t need the opinions of others
when we can think for ourselves.
Not listening to opinions of others
will move us to think for ourselves.
We rarely see the light but as reflections of the mind. Thus, much of what we see is of the mind’s construction and we soon forget the light without which there is nothing to see.
The fountainhead is the essence of everything. But we often forget the fountainhead when we look at it’s manifestations downstream.
The truth is difficult to describe but easy to identify by the sound of laughter that trails it everywhere. The truth is what reveals the absurdity of all other thinking.
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.
“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.”
“The important thing is not what you have done in the past, it’s what you are doing today.”
When work is work and not fun, something is not working.
When work is something we do to make money, the purpose of work is the ends, money; not the means, the work itself. However, fun is hiding in the means.
At work, people reveal how they think and what they take seriously. Often they’re very funny, though not intentionally which is what makes them funny. That makes work fun, not work. If work is not fun, we have a lot of work to do on the job and on ourselves.
If work is not fun in reality, then it can be fun in our memory which is what really matters.
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.
As the universe unfolds in probabilistic and random ways, certainty is an illusion that masks fear of uncertainty. When we are no longer fearful, we can see the present unfolding as it is.
The way is how something works.
The Way is the route taken in order to reach a place.
When we know the way, we know the Way.
The way is self-knowledge; knowing our personal self (the realization of our soul) and our greater self (the unrealized soul of God,) are but one soul. Thus, the Way is the route God would take to reach the heavens; treating others as ourselves.
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.
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 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.
As everything is forever changing, nothing can be rightfully described as “new” because newness is the inherent characteristic of everything that appears now. What once was is what once was, not the same as whatever it is now. However, when we are young our mind makes repeated experiences seem old and first experiences seem new. Ultimately, our mind makes all experiences seem old as everything we experience now our mind frames in the context of experiences passed. That’s what makes us old.
“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.
External duality is the inherent state of sentient beings. At birth, we are separated from having been one with everything in the womb and before to being finite beings; finite in time (birth to death) and space (our physical form). Our reaction to this separation is crying as now we begin life in the stressful/painful context of duality, I am me and everything else is not me. Duality is the foundation of adversarial relationships between the me and not me which in turn reinforce duality. Duality is stressful and the path that takes us away from our purpose in life: to have a wonderful experience, to realize our potential, divine consciousness, and to help others likewise.
Enlightenment dispels duality. Enlightenment is the realization that we are one of infinite, unique manifestations of light and we and the light are one. As one with everything, there is no duality. Once the illusion of duality disappears, we begin the realization of our purpose in life.
We get to live twice, in reality and in our memories. Reality is what it is whatever it is, an indescribable experience; while our memories are whatever we make them.
“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…”
When we experience the seemingly same thing again and again and each time it’s unique, we are experiencing the present.
We rarely much notice that which we perceive as normal. Our mind perceives certain things as similar to other things (or the same thing at a different times), categorizing these things as normal. Normal things are experienced not as they are in their true uniqueness but as the characteristics of the categories into which our mind places them. The categories are imaginary, empty with nothing real in them. Categories are the illusion our mind creates to replace reality.
Patients need patience, for time heals all wounds.
While of course we wish our friends happiness, best we wish those who dislike us even greater happiness so that they will have no enmity towards us.
The theater is dark
and then we are born.
Soon movies come on,
one and another and countless more.
Family, friends and others
steer us to movies in which they star.
We pick one or a couple
and watch them intently,
identifying with certain actors
their roles and the storyline.
These roles define our lives
as it all seems very real.
But when the movie ends
theater lights break the darkness
and the movie is revealed as just a movie,
a two-dimensional illusion.
When we know from the start it’s just a movie
we enjoy it for what it is, entertainment,
and suffer little regardless of our roles.
Many religions believe that a good life, when we are grateful for our good fortune and help others so they might also be grateful, assures us a good place in the world to come, the time/place after we are no longer in bodily form. Maybe, maybe not; but certainly it best assures us a wonderful time in the moments ahead.
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.
Love is when we are unconditionally happy experiencing the happiness of our soulmates. As we are made happy by the happiness of our soulmates, our happiness in turn makes them happier which in turn makes us even happier. When this vicarious happiness approach is also that of our soulmates, that is true love.
It is better we give our love to others than gifts of monetary value. Money comes and goes. Thus, we may not always have enough money to gift. But the love we dispense stimulates our heart to replenish and then some whatever we give.
A wonderful life is one of no regrets; a life of many poor choices, none of which we would ever wish to reverse because our life as a totality is wonderful.
As everything is interdependent, reversing a poor choice results in everything changing. Thus, a poor choice can be made good but the totality may not be for the better, maybe worse.
When our life is wonderful in its totality, why trade it for another. If it’s not wonderful, we have not realized our purpose.
Moreover, dwelling on poor choices and what might, could or should have been does not make for a wonderful life as it precludes us from experiencing the present moment.
If someone greatly disappoints us, even harms us, we can’t be upset with or hate them. We can only be upset with ourselves as our disappointments are generally a result of self-deception, our thoughts and expectations that put us into potentially disappointing situations. Thus, we can learn from these experiences and adjust our thinking and expectations going forward. However, we learn little by blaming others and open ourselves up to future similar disappointments.
Moreover, in realizing our self-deception, we can ultimately have a good laugh at ourselves and are then no longer upset.
With eyes open
our minds show us the infinite manifestations of reality.
With eyes closed
we see one thing, nothing,
the true nature of reality.
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 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.
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.
Atheists and pantheists are seemingly at opposite ends of the spectrum. Atheists believe God doesn’t exist; that those who believe in God have been so taught and are unquestioning; that empirical independent thinkers don’t believe in God unless proven otherwise, which has never been done. The word atheist was born in The Age of Enlightenment. However, as pantheists believe God is everything, they are truly enlightened, living happy lives.
For atheists, God is nothing; hence, beyond description or comprehension. For pantheists, everything is a manifestation of God. These beliefs are not inconsistent: from that which is beyond our comprehension comes everything, God.
All other God related beliefs systems between atheism and pantheism are man-made. They describe God and God’s actions and ritualized requirements of man. They view man as apart and separate from God, finite and not interdependent with all there is. Other God related beliefs were created for social identity and order and to provide calmness and confidence for their adherents in an unpredictable and hostile world.
Often there have been scenes of a Hokai, a master Zen priest, and female students involved a consensual and mutually pleasurable sexual relationship. Due to socialization and karma, many members of the monastery perceive the relationship as sexually coercive and immoral. They perceive the female student as subordinate to the Hokai who is taking advantage of his position to gain sexual self satisfaction. They may feel angry or betrayed in that the sexual affair is inconsistent with how they learned to expect the Hokai to behave. They also may want to punish the Hokai by demanding his resignation. They are angry because they cannot perceive the mutually pleasurable sexual relationship is, simply, two people enjoying themselves.
Seeing someone getting angry at others who are enjoying themselves is absurdly funny generally and especially in the context of Zen where one comes to see with one’s eyes, not one’s mind; that it is what it is whatever it is.
Things don’t need to make sense to make sense or cents; but they needs to make sense to make dollars.
If we don’t understand something (make sense of it), it can still be possible (make sense) or viable (make cents). But we need to understand something to make a lot of cents (dollars).
The past has two parts, the near-past and the past of which we cannot remember. The near-past begins with our birth until the present. The past before our birth we cannot remember. We don’t know whether this time was wonderful or not. But it probably wasn’t bad because no one complains about it. However, we always complain about something in the near-past.
No one knows what it will be like for us after our death. But chances are that it will be like our past before we were born. That doesn’t sound like anything to complain about.
While it’s difficult to be sure, it seems like the time after birth and before death is infinitesimally small relative to the time before birth and after death. So why focus on this tiny period, take its matters so seriously and sometimes complain, when we have nothing to complain about in the virtual totality of our experience.
We are but actors on the stage of life,
performing for the entertainment of the gods in the audience.
When we exit the stage, we join the gods.
Whatever our temporary roles in the play,
all are wonderful as long as we don’t forget who we truly are.
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.
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.
A friend, Rodney (pronounced Rod-knee), is all about love, deep empathy, compassion and cosmic sex. Rodney’s been in some very deep intense love relationships. Unfortunately, they all ended the same: The women he loved killed it all when they starting bring up thoughts about the future. He asked them why they did this. They all replied that while they and Rodney had a connection of heavenly bliss in the present, the bliss was unlikely to be eternal and the women wanted to secure a future for themselves and Rodney that would also be blissful. To which Rodney replied: “Can’t we stay in present bliss just a bit longer before going into the future?” “No” they replied, because at that point the women were already sensing the present bliss starting to fade; that Rodney would soon realize who they were and their intentions.
Metaphorically, Rodney wanted to enjoy the sensuous meal before him and the women want to prepare for the next meal which meant he needed to go out on the hunt soon again; not something he wanted to think about. However, when he did go out, he went out to hunt for another woman.
Ultimately, it’s only worthwhile talking about the future when the present isn’t particularly blissful. This is optimism. As the future can effortlessly be painted as blissful as we wish, talk of the future can transform an unpleasant present into a beautiful state of mind, at least temporarily. While optimism is a key element of happiness, happiness is unattainable without gratitude for the present; difficult when the present is unpleasant. Hence, if we are in a romantic relationship that isn’t joyous in the present, best not to waste time and effort trying to dream it away; better to find another mate.
Dis-ease leads to disease.
Dis-ease is the catalyst for most deadly disease. Dis-ease comes in the form of stress, anger, sadness, envy, fear and infinite other selfish states of mind.
Happiness precludes dis-ease as happiness and selfishness are mutually exclusive.
Laughter also precludes dis-ease; laughing at our stupidity for taking something or ourselves seriously, for letting thoughts of time past or future distract us from the present. Experiencing the intense beauty of the present overwhelms selfishness.
At this moment, at the right here right now when our experience is solely via our senses and before our mind processes it in ways that make it unrecognizable from how we sense it, everything but that which puts us in harm’s way is wonderful. It’s all beautiful as well, absolutely beautiful; or, if not absolutely, then beautiful as it enhances the beauty of that which is absolutely beautiful.
Moreover, while there is nothing new under the sun, everything is new as everything, us and what we are experiencing, is ever-changing. If we don’t experience the ever-changingness of the moment, we are not experiencing the moment.
When we experience the moment not via our senses but solely via our mind, our experiences are orderly and seem to make sense; but they are non-sense. This is one way we lose our way.
Acclaimed experts in various speculative fields (like economics, history and the evolution of man and the Earth, etc.) can look deeply into the past and create elegant and entertaining stories that cogently explain how the past unfolded into the present. However, instead of leaving it at that, we often to look to these experts to predict the future. Unfortunately, regardless of how convinced they and we are of their prognostications, they cannot see the future (beyond as an extension and repeat of the past) when they are looking too deeply into the past.
Ultimately, we are right here right now. The past and future are worthy of a glance but otherwise an illusionary distraction.
The future is a big blank canvas with only our imagination and skills limiting what we can paint. After we begin painting, our skills improve but what we’ve painted limits our imagination. We can however always start again but with a smaller canvas as the canvas is our time on Earth. Yet, better to paint something small, skillfully, refreshingly and imaginatively done, than something big, ugly and of limited imagination.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist see the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Our attitudes shape our perceptions.
“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.
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.
“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.
There is nothing like you
and the universe is nothing without you.
In science it might sound perverse,
but you are the universe.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
“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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sage is a spice that enhances the taste of certain foods. A sage is a wise man who adds spice to certain aspects of life.
Though many are sagacious, a true sage knows not to add sage to salads or uncooked foods generally as most people would find that unpalatable.
Recognizing divine consciousness in others, enlightened people treat others with compassion. Yet, sometimes the enlightened may seem insensitive or even intentionally hurtful when they laugh at others, bruising their foolish egos. Compassion doesn’t necessarily mean one suffers fools gladly.
Essentially, life is a physical experience to be enjoyed. There is little difference between the time before our birth, the time of our lives and the time after but for our ability to enjoy physical pleasures in our lifetime. The joy of our physical experience is enhanced when we help others enjoy it as well. That’s called making love. It is joy-us.
While physical pleasures are temporary, their temporariness is to remind us that everything is temporary, including ourselves; thus, it’s best to physically enjoy ourselves in life. Otherwise, we are not truly alive.
The wisest cannot be wise when they identify themselves as wise.
Wisdom is the ability to see from many different perspectives, multi-centric perspectives. Amalgamating the many perspectives allows us to best know the nature of something now and how it may change in the future.
Identifying ourselves as wise is egocentric which limits our ability to have multi-centric perspectives and view things wisely.
Moreover, when we think we are wise we think we have little to learn. Hence, we learn little more and know less and less about that of which we once knew something as everything is forever changing. That leaves us thinking we know more than we do which is very unwise.
On watermelon: “I can tell it’s delicious without looking inside. That’s like my life.”
Our initial impressions can reveal the essence of things.
The stories we tell about ourselves are unnecessary to having a wonderful life.
Shoji Ilyama is true to his name. Shoji means quickly and smoothly.
We are manifestations of God,
like the burning bush.
Our lives are the flames,
ever-changing, temporary
and the focus of our attention.
The bush is our soul,
unchangeable, eternal
and little noticed.
However wild our lives,
we are calmed by our soul
unless we forget there is only one soul
to which we are all connected.
We create stories from our selective memories. Some of our stories are sad, painful, traumatic or otherwise disturbing. However, we have much latitude in the stories we create. Even the most tragic stories we can reconstruct to be funny. If not funny from our perspective, then from the perspective of others. We can deploy the perspective of others once we detach ourselves from the person we identify as ourselves in the past. While doing so may be difficult, illesim can help the process.
Illesim is referring to ourselves in the third person. By doing so, we recognize that who we are now is not the same person we once were.
For example, I recall that “when I was a child my father would often scream and at times hit me for irritating him. In fact, one time he said he wished I was never born.” That’s a brutal recollection. Alternatively, I can recall the same story as “when Victor was a child his father would often scream and at times hit him because Victor irritated him. In fact, one time his father said he wished Victor was never born.” Recounting this story in the third person detaches me from it; makes me feel like I’m in the audience watching it as a play. From that perspective, it’s funny. Funny because Victor seemed to enjoy irritating his father even at the cost of his father going berserk and being abusive. Clearly the scene was not a problem for Victor. That Victor’s father wished Victor had never been born was his father’s problem.
In the audience sit the Gods.
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.
I am a vertical thread.
You are a horizontal thread.
Together we weave in and out
until the threads disappear
and only a fabric remains.
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.
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.
“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.
The sun shines forever,
showing us the Way,
though sometimes we can’t see it
when raining tears hold sway.
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.
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.
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.
While great inspiration often seems to lead to success, success is a measure of luck while inspiration is measured by perspiration.
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.
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 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.
“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.
“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.
“The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage.”
Presumably, without freedom of choices like in the extreme case of slavery, happiness is elusive. Moreover, it takes courage to fight for our freedom.
However, the connection between happiness, freedom and courage may be otherwise.
The key to happiness is gratitude, optimism and freedom from karmic prison. Gratitude and optimism are self-evident; freedom from karmic prison less so, that’s why it’s the secret of happiness.
Simply, karma is the stories, categories, relative descriptions, meanings, etc. our mind has created based on our past experiences in this life. Karma affects how we experience the present, essentially imprisoning us from experiencing the present as it is. As much of karma is not particularly happy, karmic prison precludes us from happiness in the present.
Our karmic prison is also the basis of our identities. Escaping from karmic prison means letting go of our identities. Doing so is scary as we’re very comfortable with our karmic identities, however difficult they may make our lives in the present and limit our choices. We fear the seemingly unknowable experience that follows; fear of the loneliness and loss of self that our mind tells us we will suffer if we are free. Hence, it takes great courage to turn the key that allows us to escape from karmic prison.
However, the presumed loneliness and our karmic identities are illusions. Freeing ourselves from these illusions that keep us locked in karmic prison requires wisdom and compassion.
Wisdom is viewing a situation from many perspectives, at least one of which is funny. If we can’t see our karma as funny, we need conclude we don’t truly know what we’re seeing and we shouldn’t take our karma seriously. We are then free to leave our karmic prison. However, as this is obvious, wisdom is not the secret that allows us freedom.
Compassion is the realization we are inextricably connected to others and thus treat others as we treat ourselves. Compassion is love. The etymology of courage is “heart” which represents love. The identity of oneness, not our person identity that’s based on our karma, that comes from love is the courage that allows us to escape karmic prison. Love is the secret of freedom.
We can comprehend a situation with our eyes and/or with our mind. Our eyes reveal to us the world as it appears, with judgements. Our mind shows us the world after our mind interprets, categorizes and judges a situation. Our eyes provide us a simple but more enlightened view.
A simple question identifies how we comprehend a situation, through our eyes or mind: How do we feel when our life partner engages sexually with someone other than ourselves? If we feel angry or betrayed, clearly we are seeing the situation through our mind. Alternatively, seeing the situation through our eyes, we’re happy that two people are enjoying themselves.
In the last years 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. With little for her to do, I 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 and her memories became one and what remained were my memories of her which also are only happy. No wonder why I am who I am.
Each of us has a soul, a minor soul.
Our soul is part of God’s soul, the great soul.
Our soul reunites with God’s soul
each time we’re asleep
and returns to reawaken us.
But this is an illusion.
Once we truly awaken
we realize there is only one soul
which is why I am who I am
and one with everything.
The past is an illusion from which we’ve selected some memories and woven them into stories that define us. However, the person we are today is not the person we were in days passed. Thus, identifying with our stories is delusional, though real in that our stories affect how we experience the present unfolding.
While we’re convinced our stories are real, we can view them otherwise. That is wisdom, the ability to hold several, often conflicting, views with at least one view as funny. Without wisdom, we are foolish not to concede we don’t know at what we’re looking. With wisdom, we can avail ourselves of our stories as funny. That in turn frames our experience of the present unfolding in a happy light. Happy memories make for a happy life.
Very few people are recognized as brilliant; yet very few are not brilliant.
There are few commonly recognized brilliant individuals in academic pursuits, art, business, science, cooking etc. However, as everyone has a unique experience and view, almost everyone is brilliant in one way or another. When meeting someone who seems seems dull, it’s not that they are not brilliant but that we are too dull to see their brilliance. Maybe their brilliance is to remind us that at times we are dull.
Much of socialization is based on fear and ignorance, negatively characterizing potentially fun experiences like sex and drugs. So socialized, we reactively say “no” when initially offered a try of that which is prohibited. Yet, once we know them we’re unlikely to say no again.
Most people want to have something special as long as it’s vanilla.
Special is such an overused word; what’s described as special cannot truly be special.
Those who want something special reveal themselves as having a limited appreciation of things.
For those with taste and appreciation, everything is special.
While many people desire to differentiate themselves in a special way, they want to do so only in the context of accepted social norms. They don’t truly want to be themselves which is the most special thing of all.
“Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.”
Our work is that which we do to benefit others. Benefiting others is part of our purpose in life. Not taking our work seriously defeats it’s purpose, our purpose.
Taking ourselves seriously is the essence of selfishness. Selfishness precludes happiness.
Taking ourselves seriously and not our work seriously makes it not much fun for ourselves and those who work with us. Taking our work seriously and not ourselves seriously leads us to a purposeful and happy life.
I long thought passionfruit was named as such because sucking out the seeds inside the fruit with our tongue seems akin to a certain passionate sex act. However, apparently, passionfruit was named by “Catholic missionaries in 16th-century Brazil…after the appearance of the flower from which it comes. The passion flower’s individual features were found to be symbolic of the crucifixion of Christ, or as known in biblical history, the Passion of the Christ. The flower has spikes protruding from the center, symbolizing the crown of thorns. There are 10 petals, for the 10 faithful apostles. Three stigmata symbolize the three nails and five anthers represent the five wounds. The flower’s trailing tendrils were likened to whips.” (1)
The etymology of the word passion is suffering, as in the Passion of Christ. Depending on personal hygiene, a certain passionate sex act might entail some suffering.
(1) Sue Barham, food correspondent, Summit Daily.
“The ends justify the means” is a commonly used expression when the means involve meanness. However, rarely is mean behavior justifiable. Means that involve meanness have ends that are ultimately mean for all involved as meanness leads to mean outcomes. The means however justify the ends when we are kind in our means.
“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”
Ironic observation in that short-term happiness cannot be sustained without freedom. Often it’s a Faustian bargain for those who trade, with ideological rulers, their freedom for happiness. The rulers then gradually limit everyone’s freedom, leaving little freedom; as in prison, a place where few are happy.
“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 is a football player for the Baltimore Ravens. He comes from Georgia and ate squirrel meat when there wasn’t much else to eat. As he attests, the difference in the taste of the same meat is subtle but significant. Dressed up with enough seasoning (like humans dressed up in costumes and playing different roles), what we experience is the dressing and not the essential meat.
Each of us is who they are but we rarely present ourselves as we are. We dress ourselves up as to how we want to be perceived. Our dressing so disguises who we are that others will see us as they want to see us.
Sounds at the moment of awakening:
Ah, pleasure.
Aha, the realization that pleasure is the purpose of life.
Haha, realizing how simple it is to realize the purpose of life.
Hahahaha, laughing at how silly we were not to have realized this earlier.
When we see God in each other
we are one with each other.
When we are one together
we are one with everything.
It takes a certain level of scientific sophistication to know that an eggplant is a fruit. But we don’t have to know anything about scientifically classifying vegetables to know not to put eggplant in a fruit salad.
The Japanese have a classification system which clearly identifies which fruits to put in a fruit salad. To the Japanese, all vegetables are vegetables but some vegetables are “fruity vegetables.” For example. eggplant is a vegetable, not a fruit, since it is not fruity. Only fruity vegetables go in a fruit salad.
The foregoing is an interesting contrast in classification systems; one based on phylogenetics and the other on our physical experiences. While knowledge of the former identifies who is somewhat educated, the latter identifies who is less likely to ruin a good fruit salad. Often those who are well-educated lack common sense.
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.
At times I see you as another.
At times I see you as myself.
When my self evaporates
I don’t see you or me
just us.
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
I went to the State University of New York at Binghamton where I studied English literature and poetry and graduated in 1973. Initially, I seriously thought of making a career out of writing poetry. However, I soon realized that the number of submissions to poetry magazines was many multiples higher than the number of subscribers. Clearly, in the poetry business there were more mouths than ears. Thus, pursuing a career as a poet seemed a fool’s errand.
Upon graduating, many of my friends were surprised when I decided to go into the commercial world. Some asked me why I thought, after having not even taken one course in the subject, I could make a go of it in business. My simple view was that I was likely to succeed in whatever field I chose because I was informally voted as most likely to succeed. That is, in the animal world the most successful males in a group have access to all the females they desire. As I didn’t know anyone at my age who had bed more girls, I figured girls identified me as the most likely to be successful and whose genes should be passed on.
At the end of days, we die or transition from this world. We die like a dog, forever dead, or transition to God as the eternal beings. Whether we die or transition is a matter of self-perception. If we perceive ourselves as animals, we die as animals. If we perceive ourselves as animals with divine consciousness we know we are one of infinite temporary manifestations of God, one with everything and eternal.
“…we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple…”
The line above is from the announcement that Bill and Melinda Gates have filed for divorce.
Do they have an issue growing together physically or spiritually? Physically, maybe Bill is having a micro-soft moment and needs a beautiful young girl for a certain kind of resurrection. If, however, it’s a spiritual issue, we’ll soon see Bill with a guru or a muse.
Knew
New
I knew
everything is new.
Nu?
We who knew, before each experience that everything to come is new, were present and that made everything new.
When I blow my nose, out comes some sticky and gooey parts of my brain. Feels good having a less stuffed up brain. Maybe if I didn’t have so much gooey matter in my mind, lots of things wouldn’t matter.
Reflexive sneezing (common to me and 18 – 32% of people) is sneezing induced by light, sunlight in particular. When I see the light, lots of the gooey matter in my mind is discharged.
“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”
Menchen, known as the Sage of Baltimore, clearly saw, more than 65 years ago, climate change for what it is: a secular substitute for fire and brimstone to instill fear in the populace which is willing to surrender freedoms in exchange for imaginary security in an imaginary future.
Our soul is heavily bandaged,
wrapped up by our mind
wrapped up with stories and meanings
wrapped up until our soul is in darkness.
Then our imagination runs wild,
further wrapping up our soul.
When we take the bandages off
our soul sees God
and we realize our soul is God.
There are times in life when we need to make seemingly important decisions. We often choose the way that leads to the likely best outcome. But better to choose the way the leads to the least worst case outcome, the path of least regrets.
Much of our lives we experience as a dream; a mix of fears, desires and stories that are made real by our reactions to them. Only upon awakening can we truly experience reality.
“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.”
People are a direct manifestation of God. When we recognize this, we love all people as loving them is loving God. Everything else around us exits to aid us in realizing our purpose in life: to have a wonderful time, realize our potential and help others do likewise. This world now is not in harmony because we are abusing others in pursuit of things that we prize or think we love.
When we realize our potential, we can, as God, view this world from a distance and see its chaos as absurdly funny; but, sad close-up.
“If you want to live a long life, smoke cigarettes until you’re 100.”
The foregoing, told me more than 40 years ago by my father, is a childish joke. However, it does hint at the relationship between smoking and age.
85% of disease related death is a function of age. Consistent with this proposition, smokers who quit by 40 have a life expectancy of never-smokers. Old age and smoking is what kills us, smoking alone does not. Likewise, death at a young age due to high cholesterol or high blood pressure is very rare but common in the old.
The key to a long life is essentially not getting old.
To keep from getting old and dying before our time, we need make healthy discretionary choices on matters of sleep, diet, laughter and physical exercise. Alternatively, being young at heart, childish and childlike, will keep us young.
Nose
Knows
Noes
Our nose, intuition, knows which choices are not right, to which we need say noes.
To live a life of compassion and wisdom, best to avoid those who lack compassion and their friends who obviously lack wisdom.
A good choice is not identifiable by its outcome but by whether it was a good choice at the time it was made based on, among other things, the probabilities of outcomes we imagine. Determining probabilities based on ex-post outcomes leads to miscalculating ex-ante probabilities which leads to poor choices.
Everything that comes our way is for the best when we make the best of our circumstances.
In the darkest moments
the stars are brightest.
If we look up,
the stars will guide our way.
Looking down,
we can lose our way.
We’re in peace before we are born,
one with everything.
In peace after we die,
one with everything.
Peaceful is the time
between birth and death
when we are one with everything.
Those leading the way are generally viewed as knowing the way. Often they too think they know the way. Those so thinking do not know the way of the way. The way of the way is changes; sometimes predictable, sometimes random. As the way changes course, they often lose their way.
“My father sees the worst as the best and all he has is only the best.”
He instinctively goes for the best as he is sensitive to the subtle qualities of the best. As well, he knows the best and the worst as each having their own merits.
Best to enjoy on an absolute basis, not relatively, what comes our way. Everything is unique and from some perspective wonderful in its individual beauty.
Relative to other seemingly comparable things or to itself over time or from the perspectives of others, nothing is the best but temporarily. Thus, chasing after the best is a fool’s errand.
Making relative distinctions is funny as it keeps us from enjoying what we have now which is the best relative to nothing.
I was recently at a cigar lounge in the Wall Street area in New York and talked with John, a successful businessman. As John is very dark-skinned, conventional people would say John is black. However, to me, such categories as race, religion, nationality, etc. are absurd, creating commercial and social barriers. Not knowing how John thought about categorizations, I asked him if he is black. He said: “I don’t think of myself as black but many people tell me I am.” John is certainly not conventional in his thinking and neither are most successful people.
Sometimes we find ourselves in stressful situations. That’s life. It’s then best to not forget that one of the constants of life is change. As such, difficult times will sooner or later be following by better times, as were the times before the stressful situation at hand. Alternatively, we can reflect on the end of days which puts everything in perspective. From the end of days, however stressful our current situation, we are calmed and grateful to still be alive.
Weddings are always the happiest day. For some couples it’s the happiest day of their lives, as they begin living happily ever after. For others, it’s the happiest day of their married lives as it’s all downhill from there.
When we are delighted with ourselves, we are de-lighted; the light within us dims.
Delighted, we temporarily feel wonderful about ourselves; but the without the light within us, we cannot connect with others which is forever wonderful.
There is only one thing.
It is everything.
It cannot be described,
created,
destroyed
or changed.
Yet it has infinite manifestations,
constantly changing,
no beginning,
no end.
It is what it is whatever it is.
Each of us is forever one with everything,
yet temporary manifestations
Those who think themselves otherwise
are thinking, not living.
The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter is the name of a music album released by The Incredible String Band in March, 1968.
Mike Heron, a member of the Band, said at the time: “The hangman is death and the beautiful daughter is what comes after. Or you might say that the hangman is the past twenty years of our life and the beautiful daughter is now, what we are able to do after all these years. Or you can make up your own meaning – your interpretation is probably just as good as ours.”
The hangman’s beautiful daughter is a powerful image, a contrast of the terrible and the terrific; like a beautiful lotus flower arising from the muck. Born of the hangman’s blood line and raised in his midst, she may be beautiful in youth but ugly with time; like the blossoming lotus in the morning submerging into the muck at night.
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.
We have two identical and disparate identities, “i” and “I.”
“i” is the underdeveloped “I.”
“i” is a graphic image of a small vertical line, or body, with a detached head above. The detached head implies duality between body and mind. The body stands on an imaginary horizontal line that represents Earth, animal consciousness.
“I” is fully integrated, one vertical line connecting the imaginary horizontal line below (Earth) and the imaginary horizontal line above (Heaven). Heaven is divine consciousness. When we realize our potential (are fully developed) our body and mind are one, integrated and connected to Earth and Heaven, to animal and divine consciousness.
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
“Extremism is so easy…It doesn’t take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.”
In today’s American political scene, it’s hard to tell who is who; who is right and who is left, who is right and who is wrong. Conservatives, like liberals generations ago, demand freedom of speech for all political views. Progressives demand only politically correct views aired. Conservatives seem liberal and Progressives regressive. Ultimately, they are all idiots if their agenda is not what’s the right thing to do and what’s best for the country. The right thing to do is to treat others as you wish to be treated. What’s best for the country is what’s best for its health and wellbeing and the happiness of its citizens. Otherwise, left to the idiots, there will be little worthwhile remaining of the country for the idiots to fight over.
Life and death is like breathing. Inhaling and exhaling is life. The space between exhaling and inhaling is death. The difference between life and death is that life is a physical experience and death not. Thus, when we’re alive, best to enjoy the physical experience of life.
Unfortunately, some of us can’t do so because we have psychological distractions. We’re distracted because we are often stressed analyzing things too much instead of simply enjoying them.
Perhaps the most important choice we make is between selfishness and happiness.
Happiness is a function of gratitude, optimism and freedom from karmic prisons. When we are in difficult circumstances (whether real or in our mind) and oblivious that our circumstances could be worse and that many others would be happy to have our relatively good fortune, we are selfish. Moreover, when we are selfish we so greatly identify with our difficult circumstances at the moment, we forget that change is the constant of life and as such sooner or later our circumstances will improve for the better. As well, selfishness locks us in our karmic prisons, the stories we’ve created about our past; that keeps us from experiencing the beauty of the universe as it is, not as our mind frames it.
Selfishness is a choice, happiness is an outcome. We cannot choose happiness but happiness is possible when we choose not to be selfish.
“School teachers, taking them by and large, are probably the most ignorant and stupid class of men in the whole group of mental workers.”
“Socialism is the theory that the desire of one man to get something he hasn’t got is more pleasing to a just God than the desire of some other man to keep what he has got.”
“The objection to Puritans is not that they try to make us think as they do, but that they try to make us do as they think.”
“At the bottom of Puritanism one finds envy of the fellow who is having a better time in the world, and hence hatred of him.”
“If there is one mental vice, indeed, which sets off the American people from all other folks who walk the earth…it is that of assuming that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that ninety-nine percent of them are wrong.”
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
H. L. Mencken’s insights more than 100 years ago reveal that the long-forgotten Puritans have resurrected as Progressives today.
A friend who is a committed bachelor with an inventory of girlfriends has never lamented not being married and having a family. I always felt he was missing out on a significant experience in life. But at some point I realized he knew more about married life than I did and less than I’d like to know.
On the road at times there are seemingly overwhelming problems, real or imagined. Best then to remember life is a ride and we’re here simply to enjoy it.
Sexual relationships are either open or closed. When open, each partner is free to engage sexually with others. Each is happy when their mate enjoys themselves with other mates. This is an enlightened view: life is to be enjoyed with acceptance and no judgement, it is what it is whatever it is.
In closed relationships, the couple is either a divine sexual relationship or has vowed sexual loyalty to each other. For the couple in divine love, sex is not an animal activity. It’s a rare spiritual connection. As such, neither mate fruitlessly looks for sex beyond their relationship. Beautiful, but extremely rare..
For the couple that’s vowed sexual loyalty to each other, their relationship is not about love (however either mate might protest otherwise). It’s a prison. If one partner or the other is caught escaping prison, they face the firing squad.
Clearly, divine love is divine. Everything else pales. But better the freedom from openness than a closed prison.
There are two approaches a man deploys to couple up with a woman. The approaches are very different and yet similar: together and to-get-her.
Together is connecting with a woman as soulmates. This is love. Once in love, physical lovemaking soon follows and is divine.
To-get-her is an approach based on fulfilling a woman’s material desires. Thus satisfied, she allows the man to couple with her. Much passion might flow between the couple, however this approach is essentially a business deal: the man gives the woman what she wants and she provides him want he wants.
Depending on who the man is, one approach is more expensive than the other.
We have two identities, our unique individual self and our common soul. We are conscious of our self and often oblivious of our soul.
Our self is our ego. It identities us as apart and separate from everything that is other than our physical self. It perceives the world in dualities (self/not self) which often are contentious.
The soul is ineffable; some call it God; the essence of everything; no beginning no end, infinite in time and space. When our identity is the soul, we are one with everything and at peace.
In life we have the choice of either identity or both. A balanced life assumes both. In death there is only the soul.
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.
“God often told me when I was a kid, the word ugly belongs to people.”
Does that mean that only people make things ugly or that people are ugly? Maybe there is ultimately no difference?
I pour my love into us
until I have nothing left
and then I am nothing
and we are everything.
“I’ve travelled the world and lived in many a place. Each place is somewhat different but nothing is like America where so many people are kidding themselves.”
I met Basil Bunting at SUNY Binghamton in 1970 where he was a one-semester professor of poetry. The above quote was my recollection of Basil’s insight which has remained with me for more than 50 years.
Basil was born in Northumberland, travelled extensively and worked as an international reporter and British intelligence officer. But he is best remembered as a poet who had a close relationship with Ezra Pound in Italy in the 1930s. He was married a Kurdish woman.
When we sell a possession that holds sentimental value for us, by definition we feel somewhat sad as we reflect on times now in the past. Alternatively, we can be happy for the new owner of the possession and the happy times they will have going forward with it.
Our sadness is selfish, based on a past that only exists in our mind. Reflecting on the new owner’s future joy is compassion. For our own joy, better we are compassionate than selfish.
Life is a test. We are given all the answers before we take the test but once we get started we focus so much on the test that we forget the answers. Better to remember the answers and pay less attention to the test. In other words, better not too take life too seriously which is one of the answers to the test.
“You only have to do a few things right in your life as long as you don’t do too many things wrong.”
On investing: “Rule number one: Never lose money. Rule number two: never forget rule number one.”
In financial markets today, investors are overly focused on the return they can realize on their investments. That might be the wrong approach, especially if we do that long enough. For example, a $20 return on a $100 investment is very attractive. However, as good times can only exist if there are bad times as well (good is a relative concept), best to focus on the bigger of the two numbers; otherwise at some point we might not have anything to invest.
However, when financial markets are in panic mode and the focus is on keeping the bigger number safe, then it’s best to shop for great returns.
Virtually all of us have all we need to enjoy ourselves and realize our divine potential, our purpose in life. Virtually none of us have what we want because when we have what we want we often want more of it or then want something else; hence our wants can never be had but temporarily. Moreover, our unending wants often become like needs. As such, we never have what we need. We become needy and cannot realize our potential.
When we go to sleep, our soul leaves our body and returns to the well of souls where it merges as one with all souls. When our soul returns and we truly awaken, we can see the souls in others which are indistinguishable from ours. As such, we treat others as we treat ourselves.
The soul is God. When we cannot see God in others, we cannot see that we are God.
“Do your best and forget the rest.”
We often stress about stuff we can’t do much about which distracts us from doing our best about the stuff about which we can do something.
When doing our best we have no time to rest.
God has given us temporary bodily form to enjoy the physical experience of being alive. Those of us who remember this can enjoy life, while those who are oblivious often have a difficult go of it.
Metaphorically, we are like children with loving parents. One day, our parents take us to an unfamiliar place, an amusement park. We soon exit the daylight sun and go into a relatively dark building where there’s a rollercoaster into which our parents seat and strap us in with a seatbelt. They tell us we’ll be going on a short ride, to enjoy ourselves and we’ll be together again shortly. Once the ride starts, if we remember it’s just a ride and we’ll soon be with our parents again, we can have a terrific time. However, if we forget our parents and their instructions, our lives are truly a rollercoaster ride, at times terrifying; not an experience most of us would not want to remember or relive.
My father died suddenly of the flu when he was 60. He was a wonderful father and I loved him, though he couldn’t stand me as I often irritated him. While I don’t know where he is now, I know he transitioned to happy place; a place without me annoying him. I too am happy, joyous in his newfound happiness.
We live in a fascinating abstract world of concepts, symbols, stories and meanings. We often take our abstract world as seriously as the real world of our physical senses. When enlightened, we see these abstraction are illusions. This essentially makes people who take these abstractions seriously absurdly funny, though sometimes they can be dangerous.
Our world would be a wonderful place if everyone was enlightened. Unfortunately, there would then be no one to laugh at and we would need abstractions to make life funny.
“I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.”
I am who I am and am thankful to those who love me as I am, not who they may want me to be. They are happy that I am happy but as my wife says, she doesn’t want me too happy.
Complementarity: “the concept that one single thing, when considered from different perspectives, can seem to have very different or even contradictory properties.” FUNDAMENTALS Ten Keys to Reality
Embracing complementarity is the essence of wisdom.
We see the world wearing sunglasses.
Sunglasses painted with ideologies and stories.
Heavily painted so no light comes through.
We fear taking off our sunglasses,
afraid we will be blinded by the light.
Though the sunglasses blind us to reality.
The sun makes our world look finite
but stars remind us it’s infinite.
As light pollution shrouds the stars
we easily forget each of us is a star.
“The difference between medicine and poison is in the dose.”
Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
It’s a long stone’s throw across the river.
What seems near to the eye may be far for the body. Ideas are easy, execution is difficult.
We start out whole and the picture is clear.
Out of the box we break apart
pieces and pieces
each unique
too many to count or remember.
As few are compatible
each madly scurries to find its mates
until no piece remains
but the peace from being whole.
“Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”
When we realize our ignorance, our curiosity is aroused. If we are wise, our curiosity will reveal many possible explanations to what we don’t know. We have wisdom once we realize our ignorance.
“Everyone is interesting if you listen to them.”
When we meet someone boring, we are not listening to them; we are seeing ourselves.
What someone thinks is not as interesting as how they think which reflects who they are. Often, people’s thoughts reflect the thinking of their group identities. But how they think is always unique which makes them interesting.
The future is clear for all to see but memories blind us and desires distract us from seeing it.
Wonderful things are like a perfect steak: rare and well-done simultaneously.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
It is what it is whatever it is, being who we are and saying what we feel. Some accept and love us as we are and allow us to realize ourselves. Others judge us based on how they perceive us in the context of some ideology to which their mind subscribes and want us to conform accordingly; scripting us into supporting roles in the play of their lives.. However, it’s our choice whether to accept those roles or be who we are and say how we feel.
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.
Wisdom is having many perspectives which in the aggregate allow us to best know the nature of something. In having many perspectives, we no longer cling to our own perspective. That’s true wisdom, being open to many perspectives and not identifying with any one.
Our memories are mostly a function of our attitude, not reality. Our attitude can construct almost all memories as happy. This makes for a happy attitude.
One of the fundamental truths of the universe is that everything is temporary. Everything is ever-changing, including us and our perspectives. Yet, we often forget this truth to our detriment.
When things are going especially well, best to enjoy the moment and remember that sooner or later times will not be as good as now. Hence, our euphoria in good times is tempered by gratitude, not overconfidence and greed; our decision-making more balanced which better prepares us than otherwise to deal with less favorable times which sooner or later come our way. Likewise, the darkest moments are not as dark when we remember they are temporary and better times will come. This is optimism.
Thus in good times or bad, remembering everything is temporary brings us to gratitude and optimism; two of the keys to happiness.
Individually we are not equal, but together we are one which makes us equal. If we are not one, we are nothing.
“Out of many, one.”
This phrase originates from Heraclitus’s tenth fragment: “The one is made up of all things, and all things issue from the one.”
E. pluribus unum was the traditional motto of the United States from the time of its founding. It meant that people of different origins, values and sensitivities had come together to form the thirteen original colonies which in turn came together as one nation. In 1956, the US Congress passed a resolution that replaced as the national motto E. pluribus unum with “In God We Trust.” This new motto was a counterpoint to communist countries that disavowed the existence of God; implying the US didn’t trust them. The traditional motto envisioned a future of unity; the new motto envisioned a future of distrust and conflict.
However, more importantly, the new motto informed what would ultimately cause the decline of the US as a nation: people’s distrust of others and the government. “In God We Trust” because we don’t trust anyone else; rightfully so as the nation rewards whistleblowers, cancels agreements when they no longer suit it and is extremely punitive to others, including its own citizens. When there is no trust, commercial and social relationships fray and conflicts abound, compromising a nation which is then a monolith no more.
“Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.”
Today we have freedom of speech as long as no one is listening.
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”
Our darkest moments are when we look within and lose our way wandering in the mind. However, when we open our eyes we can see the light at the end of the tunnel; it’s not the train we imagined coming at us.
