Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
How do I know what I think until I can read what I wrote.
Once you have mastered your perceptions, one must master ones desires. Only then will reality reveal itself to be quite different from what was expected.
What you choose to think about and what you think about your self -is your self. On the other hand the core you is no-self.
The interpretation you make of the history of yourself, the life story script up to now that you accept will determin if the next chapter is to be an adventure, a farce or a tragedy.
What you choose to think about and what you think about your self -is your self. On the other hand the core you is no-self.
The interpretation you make of the history of yourself, the life story script up to now that you accept will determin if the next chapter is to be an adventure, a farce or a tragedy.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
another useless collection of ones and zeros
So I started another one a blog called the c point. I'm going to post info on the cabin and woods perhaps use it as the environmental desk. Its here .
When i update the senior committe map or the schedule I'll post that also.
Not sure how this'll look still learning this bloggstuff.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Its the end of the world as we know it
As I've said below I first heard the world ends Feb 1, 2019 a while ago in 2002 before most of the really bad shit happened. Yea bad shit happens, all the time, somewhere, to someone. As I thought of making Feb 1st a personal holiday to contemplate living in the now versus checking in on hgow we're doing with those long range plans, and to make pies. I guess thats sorta what new years day is for some (or get drunk again with everybody night). More pointedly can I live my life actually expecting the end of the world in slightly less than eleven years. First it lets me off the guilt hook of knowing my "estate" and retirement savings are non existant. Secondly I feel like I'm capable of surviving for ten years it's getting to be past 75 that looks scary as hell. Knowing I'll die at the age of 64 allows me to begin to understand the reality of my death. The inevitability of death and taxes is todays koan.
Gotta go do my tax form, (only have 10 more to do).
Gotta go do my tax form, (only have 10 more to do).
Sunday, April 6, 2008
the zen-est sci fi i know
Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
122007: Hey just found this viridian design site moderated by Bruce Sterling (the author of…
(“Holy Fire”, “Globelhead”, “The Hacker Crackdown:
Law And Disorder on the Electronic Frontier”, “Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years” (I want that book &) “A Good Old-Fashioned Future”.
His blog -or google him for a mind-blowing list of sites.
Ok a sci-fi futurist hacker cyberpunk environmentalist design manifesto writer blog! If he’s a Zen Master I’m moving to Austin to live in the gutter in front of his home.
122007: Hey just found this viridian design site moderated by Bruce Sterling (the author of…
(“Holy Fire”, “Globelhead”, “The Hacker Crackdown:
Law And Disorder on the Electronic Frontier”, “Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years” (I want that book &) “A Good Old-Fashioned Future”.
His blog -or google him for a mind-blowing list of sites.
Ok a sci-fi futurist hacker cyberpunk environmentalist design manifesto writer blog! If he’s a Zen Master I’m moving to Austin to live in the gutter in front of his home.
the zen rant that really got me going.
020708: Today’s Zen Rant; (hows that for oxymoronism)
I got invited to a discussion group on the book - "A New Earth; awakening your lifes purpose" by Eckart Tolle (As Seen on Oprah).
{{{ You are invited to join a free discussion study group centered around the new book by New York Times Bestseller, Eckart Tolle, author of "The Power of Now". Seen on Oprah, February 6, 2008 with Goddess of Self-help Louise Hay.}}}
The guy who invited me is deep into networking with the crystal and “alternative” crowd to further his career as a financial counselor. Slick eh, exploit gullible people with enough money to have lots of time to pursue esoteric phenomena. It sounds downright Elizabethan to me. So I look at this authors site - http://www.eckharttolle.com/ and it appears he has made a career of repackaging Zen, (without mentioning budda or zen), as if he can show you the way to happiness through “awakening” Good god, lol, this guy is a younger version of Dr Wayne Dryer, (who took Zen and added some sort of scientology positive thinking meditation). Do they believe that they discovered this themselves or do they rationalize that the re-packaging is necessary to avoid the wrath of the fundies, (or maybe something like the babelization of the “Truth”)? Think of the authors and those hangers-on who revolve around them and the whole “self-help” – self psychology industry who deal with what in Zen is fundamentally the practice of seeing into ones own nature, achieved by simply sitting.
Self making the self out of the self, self doing itself by itself - Sawaki Roshi
Skip this if you’re tired of zen ….
In “Opening the hand of Thought” Kosho Uchiyama writes:
When we let go of our conceptions, there is no other possible reality than what is right now. This undeniable reality is the reality of life fundamentally connected to everything in the universe. Right now is all-important. Dwelling here and now, in this reality, letting go of all the accidental1 things that arise in our minds, is what I mean by opening the hand of thought.
Kosho says accidental to mean the random – could have been anything – stuff, such as I’ve been reading zen but I could have been studying the civil war or reading all the political stuff on the primaries or listening to talk radio, etc. All these will suggest random thoughts and they may lead to other random thoughts.
Chon Tri in “Zazen Practice A guideline for Beginners” (Very good intro, available free here - http://www.zenguide.com/practice/zazen.cfm Says; “ Dhyana”(Zen) is a practice for settling the mind, which is usually wandering around at all times and leads us into confusion state.”
In "The Cocoon of Pain" from Nothing Special: Living Zen, Charlotte Joko Beck writes: We have many ways to cope with life, many ways to worship comfort and pleasantness. All are based on the same thing: the fear of encountering any kind of unpleasantness.
· If we must have absolute order and control, it's because we're trying to avoid any unpleasantness. If we can have things our way, and get angry if they're not, then we think we can survive and shut out our anxiety about death.
· If we can please everyone, then we imagine no unpleasantness will enter our life.
· We hope that if we can be the star of the show, shining and wonderful and efficient, we can have such an admiring audience that we won't have to feel anything.
· If we can withdraw from the world and just entertain ourselves with our own dreams and fantasies and emotional upheavals, we think we can escape unpleasantness.
· If we can figure everything out, if we can be so smart that we can fit everything into some sort of a plan or order, a complete intellectual understanding, then perhaps we won't be threatened.
· If we can submit to an authority, have it tell us what to do, then we can give someone else the responsibility for our lives and we don't have to carry it anymore. We don't have to feel the anxiety of making a decision.
· If we pursue life madly, going after any pleasant sensation, any excitement, any entertainment, perhaps we won't have to feel any pain.
· If we can tell others what to do, keep them well under control, under our foot, maybe they can't hurt us.
· If we can "bliss out," if we can be a mindless "buddha" just relaxing in the sun, we don't have to assume any responsibility for the world's unpleasantness. We can just be happy.
As Joko Beck reminds us, in these many ways we worship "the god of no discomfort and no unpleasantness." We get lost in our "feverish efforts" and lose touch with life - the life that presents itself to us every moment. In the end these coping strategies can't work, because they are not based on reality, they are based on a perception of life that we create. When this happens -- when our attempts to control life fail us -- we are finally ready, she writes, "to begin serious practice."
“You are your only master
Who else?
Subdue yourself,
And discover your master”
From the Dhammapada:
Said of the Bodhidharma, (founder of Zen) -
The fire of emptiness blazes out his beard
I got invited to a discussion group on the book - "A New Earth; awakening your lifes purpose" by Eckart Tolle (As Seen on Oprah).
{{{ You are invited to join a free discussion study group centered around the new book by New York Times Bestseller, Eckart Tolle, author of "The Power of Now". Seen on Oprah, February 6, 2008 with Goddess of Self-help Louise Hay.}}}
The guy who invited me is deep into networking with the crystal and “alternative” crowd to further his career as a financial counselor. Slick eh, exploit gullible people with enough money to have lots of time to pursue esoteric phenomena. It sounds downright Elizabethan to me. So I look at this authors site - http://www.eckharttolle.com/ and it appears he has made a career of repackaging Zen, (without mentioning budda or zen), as if he can show you the way to happiness through “awakening” Good god, lol, this guy is a younger version of Dr Wayne Dryer, (who took Zen and added some sort of scientology positive thinking meditation). Do they believe that they discovered this themselves or do they rationalize that the re-packaging is necessary to avoid the wrath of the fundies, (or maybe something like the babelization of the “Truth”)? Think of the authors and those hangers-on who revolve around them and the whole “self-help” – self psychology industry who deal with what in Zen is fundamentally the practice of seeing into ones own nature, achieved by simply sitting.
Self making the self out of the self, self doing itself by itself - Sawaki Roshi
Skip this if you’re tired of zen ….
In “Opening the hand of Thought” Kosho Uchiyama writes:
When we let go of our conceptions, there is no other possible reality than what is right now. This undeniable reality is the reality of life fundamentally connected to everything in the universe. Right now is all-important. Dwelling here and now, in this reality, letting go of all the accidental1 things that arise in our minds, is what I mean by opening the hand of thought.
Kosho says accidental to mean the random – could have been anything – stuff, such as I’ve been reading zen but I could have been studying the civil war or reading all the political stuff on the primaries or listening to talk radio, etc. All these will suggest random thoughts and they may lead to other random thoughts.
Chon Tri in “Zazen Practice A guideline for Beginners” (Very good intro, available free here - http://www.zenguide.com/practice/zazen.cfm Says; “ Dhyana”(Zen) is a practice for settling the mind, which is usually wandering around at all times and leads us into confusion state.”
In "The Cocoon of Pain" from Nothing Special: Living Zen, Charlotte Joko Beck writes: We have many ways to cope with life, many ways to worship comfort and pleasantness. All are based on the same thing: the fear of encountering any kind of unpleasantness.
· If we must have absolute order and control, it's because we're trying to avoid any unpleasantness. If we can have things our way, and get angry if they're not, then we think we can survive and shut out our anxiety about death.
· If we can please everyone, then we imagine no unpleasantness will enter our life.
· We hope that if we can be the star of the show, shining and wonderful and efficient, we can have such an admiring audience that we won't have to feel anything.
· If we can withdraw from the world and just entertain ourselves with our own dreams and fantasies and emotional upheavals, we think we can escape unpleasantness.
· If we can figure everything out, if we can be so smart that we can fit everything into some sort of a plan or order, a complete intellectual understanding, then perhaps we won't be threatened.
· If we can submit to an authority, have it tell us what to do, then we can give someone else the responsibility for our lives and we don't have to carry it anymore. We don't have to feel the anxiety of making a decision.
· If we pursue life madly, going after any pleasant sensation, any excitement, any entertainment, perhaps we won't have to feel any pain.
· If we can tell others what to do, keep them well under control, under our foot, maybe they can't hurt us.
· If we can "bliss out," if we can be a mindless "buddha" just relaxing in the sun, we don't have to assume any responsibility for the world's unpleasantness. We can just be happy.
As Joko Beck reminds us, in these many ways we worship "the god of no discomfort and no unpleasantness." We get lost in our "feverish efforts" and lose touch with life - the life that presents itself to us every moment. In the end these coping strategies can't work, because they are not based on reality, they are based on a perception of life that we create. When this happens -- when our attempts to control life fail us -- we are finally ready, she writes, "to begin serious practice."
“You are your only master
Who else?
Subdue yourself,
And discover your master”
From the Dhammapada:
Said of the Bodhidharma, (founder of Zen) -
The fire of emptiness blazes out his beard
how do we deal with the future past and prescient
Below the line is a non- post from 6 years ago when things were beginning to not look particularly good for me personally. I was wondering what I'd do if I knew there was limited tomorrow. This was before shutting down the firm, being diagnosed with cancer or seriously practicing Zen.
Now I realize no-one gets out alive and the future is a dead/not-dead cat-in-a-box. Most of us hardly ever live in the now, we're always thinking, thinking, thinkung. We think about how the past has mede us who we are and brought us here and thats why the future will be one way or another and how we want it to be different but it probably won't be because of all that past shit. Meranwhile it is just a glorious spring day outside and I am typing on a blog.
The Mahayana school says I can't just follow the path to nirvana, I gotta take you too. Thats why I blog.
________________________________
Gonzo blog of dCole aka cosmic muffin
07/25/2002 today I learned the world ends Feb 1 2019
You and I now have slightly less than seventeen years to put things in order. Discovery.com reported today that the first positively rated chance of a large asteroid striking earth and wiping out lifeasweknowit, (or lawki as its known in sci-fi ), may occur on Feb. 1 2019. They just discovered it and more analysis may bring down the odds, but today the chances are better than average that it will hit earth and destroy whatever continent is ground zero. In other words we know that sometime an asteroid will hit earth, it happens every million years or so. The odds of it happening next October 30th are some number “x” and the odds of it happening Feb. 1 2019 is much better than “x”.
Even if the odds are reduced by further analysis, think about what would happen if the projection becomes a forecast. Aside from the expected end of the world proselytizing from the fundies, and expected get right with god sermons from every church, synagogue, mosque and Stonehenge, what would the worlds governments do? What would you do?
After realizing that the retirement plans do not need to go beyond 2019, and that your children will likely not survive and live a full life what exactly do we do?
Would you chuck the plans for the future and live for today? Will the economy and civil society devolve slowly, quickly, or evolve into something not based on growing the future? What would that look like?
Would I work harder to build my career or chuck the job declare bankruptcy and head for the south sea beaches or what?
Its something I want to think about, so I’ve finally started my blog. Perhaps I’ll keep it up till 2019 perhaps not. There’s just so much to consider here. If the world ends in seventeen years all my seventh generation environmentalism is just so much recyclables in the landfill. In the movie Life as a House Kevin Kline finds out he’s dying and reconciles with his estranged wife and son and finally builds his dream house. Or at least he tries, his new found friends and family finish it and it’s given to someone he harmed long ago. But what if there will be no happy residents of the dream house. Will I finish my own 30-year project to turn the family’s farmstead into an estate fit for the next 150 years of gracious living? If 2020 never comes what is the point of striving for the post oil, steady state, and earth friendly civilization when we can use up the oil, despoil the planet, and add to global warming without fear of the consequences. I’ve always had a problem with my cultures short-term emphasis. I abhor capitalism's emphasis on the next quarter and damn the decade, let alone the seventh generation, orientation. I haven’t been trendy nor liked the fashion pop culture infatuation with the new since I was 15. I especially disliked the building industries increasing impermanence, where the cheapest lightest most return immediacy won out over solid architecture meant to last a century or more.
Now I realize no-one gets out alive and the future is a dead/not-dead cat-in-a-box. Most of us hardly ever live in the now, we're always thinking, thinking, thinkung. We think about how the past has mede us who we are and brought us here and thats why the future will be one way or another and how we want it to be different but it probably won't be because of all that past shit. Meranwhile it is just a glorious spring day outside and I am typing on a blog.
The Mahayana school says I can't just follow the path to nirvana, I gotta take you too. Thats why I blog.
________________________________
Gonzo blog of dCole aka cosmic muffin
07/25/2002 today I learned the world ends Feb 1 2019
You and I now have slightly less than seventeen years to put things in order. Discovery.com reported today that the first positively rated chance of a large asteroid striking earth and wiping out lifeasweknowit, (or lawki as its known in sci-fi ), may occur on Feb. 1 2019. They just discovered it and more analysis may bring down the odds, but today the chances are better than average that it will hit earth and destroy whatever continent is ground zero. In other words we know that sometime an asteroid will hit earth, it happens every million years or so. The odds of it happening next October 30th are some number “x” and the odds of it happening Feb. 1 2019 is much better than “x”.
Even if the odds are reduced by further analysis, think about what would happen if the projection becomes a forecast. Aside from the expected end of the world proselytizing from the fundies, and expected get right with god sermons from every church, synagogue, mosque and Stonehenge, what would the worlds governments do? What would you do?
After realizing that the retirement plans do not need to go beyond 2019, and that your children will likely not survive and live a full life what exactly do we do?
Would you chuck the plans for the future and live for today? Will the economy and civil society devolve slowly, quickly, or evolve into something not based on growing the future? What would that look like?
Would I work harder to build my career or chuck the job declare bankruptcy and head for the south sea beaches or what?
Its something I want to think about, so I’ve finally started my blog. Perhaps I’ll keep it up till 2019 perhaps not. There’s just so much to consider here. If the world ends in seventeen years all my seventh generation environmentalism is just so much recyclables in the landfill. In the movie Life as a House Kevin Kline finds out he’s dying and reconciles with his estranged wife and son and finally builds his dream house. Or at least he tries, his new found friends and family finish it and it’s given to someone he harmed long ago. But what if there will be no happy residents of the dream house. Will I finish my own 30-year project to turn the family’s farmstead into an estate fit for the next 150 years of gracious living? If 2020 never comes what is the point of striving for the post oil, steady state, and earth friendly civilization when we can use up the oil, despoil the planet, and add to global warming without fear of the consequences. I’ve always had a problem with my cultures short-term emphasis. I abhor capitalism's emphasis on the next quarter and damn the decade, let alone the seventh generation, orientation. I haven’t been trendy nor liked the fashion pop culture infatuation with the new since I was 15. I especially disliked the building industries increasing impermanence, where the cheapest lightest most return immediacy won out over solid architecture meant to last a century or more.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Reality blog post
So I'll link to the blog I guess its called my blog cause i can't figger out how to name it. It's HERE at Reality Based Community.
The PI DAY invite
So G wanted me to post the Pi Day Invite because many email clients dont deal well with pictures and such so here it is.
The gonzo zen newsletter 030508 : movies politics philosophy pie
Tradition (beginning now) calls for ya’ll to bring a pie, (but not mandatory), and taste some of ours. I take a liberal definition of pie; Pizza Pie, Quiche, Pasties, Cheesecake whatever – if it’s round and bigger than your face and you bake it, (or maybe you don’t) – I’ll call it pie.
- RSVP VIA EMAIL
There are people who seem to have found a way to Make Money Around Free Content .
Looking at diet and vegan/vegitarian nutrition lead me to StevePavlina.com (personal development for smart people – and you know who you are). Along with his tips on why not to get a job and how-to-make-money-from-your-blog, but don’t look at his wife’s link – she’s defiantly a Crystal head. I jest but I’ll be back to read more of his stuff. His latest, entitled Hopeless Situations offers advice to foreclosure victims that reminds me of Bobby Knights advice to rape victims to “relax and try to enjoy it”. If it wasn’t so callously insensitive it would be zen.
That led me to Elisa’s Green Scene who led me to Guy Kawasaki’s latest endeavor- an aggregator of green sites. I’ve read his “The Art of the Start”, and you may have heard of “Rules for Revolutionaries”. I remember the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint and the definition of an elegant solution –“the simplicity on the far side of complexity”. He has a good mind mostly wasted on “marketing”. I believe he’s handicapped in his personal development by having been the initial marketing guy for the Mac. Too much success too early and he thinks it’s easy –was for him anyway.
I’m defiantly starting a blog – wanna be a co-owner-author-editor? Anyone? First I need a name and layout – suggestions in one week people. Maybe invent a fictitious blogger and his/her back-story, we’ll preach some zen without naming it or maybe we have to and throw in lots of Britney’s bear behind. Because according to the Society of Professional Journalists - International Journalism Blog Britney Spears' bare bottom is a good thing. “remember those National Geographic photo spreads of naked natives in Africa and South America. Well, now those naked natives can log on to the Internet at their local Web cafes and see pictures of us naked. And by us, I mean Britney Spears and Paris Hilton” Paris has exchanged her dog-in-a-purse for a fake Buddhist guru, you can not make this stuff up. So send me idea’s on what you’d like to see in a blog – what stuff would you go follow if you had the time? Got any blogs you frequent or subscribe to? And let me know if all these hyperlinks are a problem.
The Blog - Zen Habits looks interesting I was just beginning to try David Allens Getting Things Done System, GTD (because Hey, I wasn’t so much), and now ZTG, Zen to Done. “Zen and the art of 6 Sigma” - Geb? You know it would sell and you could charge a bundle for it on the corporate expense account. Hey buddhist’s are nuts too.
Reminds me Buddha said that it is only oneself that knows truth and that each of us must find our own truth through seeing and knowing not belief. Our path to liberation is through ourselves not any other, and that all teachings are as a raft for crossing over not for getting hold of. It is not proper for a wise man to proclaim “This is the Truth and everything else is false”
The gonzo zen newsletter 030508 : movies politics philosophy pie
“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.” - Alan Watts
Gotta start that blog then ya’all can look or no. This is a long one.
Important Things First – Friday after next is PI DAY (3.14)
ALL ARE INVITED TO OUR PLACE - COME EAT PIE - discuss the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter or how the symbol for pi kinda looks like the symbol for Buddha if you don’t look too close.
Gotta start that blog then ya’all can look or no. This is a long one.
Important Things First – Friday after next is PI DAY (3.14)
ALL ARE INVITED TO OUR PLACE - COME EAT PIE - discuss the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter or how the symbol for pi kinda looks like the symbol for Buddha if you don’t look too close.
Tradition (beginning now) calls for ya’ll to bring a pie, (but not mandatory), and taste some of ours. I take a liberal definition of pie; Pizza Pie, Quiche, Pasties, Cheesecake whatever – if it’s round and bigger than your face and you bake it, (or maybe you don’t) – I’ll call it pie.- RSVP VIA EMAIL
MOVIES:
I noted a whole lot of movies I've collected beginning with (for Di) – “My Kid Could Paint That” and ending with Mahabharata, {being the discussion of human goals (artha or purpose, kāma or pleasure, dharma or duty, and moksha or liberation), attempting to explain the relationship of the individual to society and the world (the nature of the 'Self') and the workings of karma.} That’s why it’s so long. Same for this email.
I noted a whole lot of movies I've collected beginning with (for Di) – “My Kid Could Paint That” and ending with Mahabharata, {being the discussion of human goals (artha or purpose, kāma or pleasure, dharma or duty, and moksha or liberation), attempting to explain the relationship of the individual to society and the world (the nature of the 'Self') and the workings of karma.} That’s why it’s so long. Same for this email.
Economy:
Read an interesting article on the free economy it’s from a cover story in Wired magazine, (the issue was offered free for awhile but now is only almost free), Anderson describes why free and almost free are so different, and why respect and attention are so scarce and valuable they are a commodity. You probably knew that but there were some eye openers to me.
Read an interesting article on the free economy it’s from a cover story in Wired magazine, (the issue was offered free for awhile but now is only almost free), Anderson describes why free and almost free are so different, and why respect and attention are so scarce and valuable they are a commodity. You probably knew that but there were some eye openers to me.
There are people who seem to have found a way to Make Money Around Free Content .Looking at diet and vegan/vegitarian nutrition lead me to StevePavlina.com (personal development for smart people – and you know who you are). Along with his tips on why not to get a job and how-to-make-money-from-your-blog, but don’t look at his wife’s link – she’s defiantly a Crystal head. I jest but I’ll be back to read more of his stuff. His latest, entitled Hopeless Situations offers advice to foreclosure victims that reminds me of Bobby Knights advice to rape victims to “relax and try to enjoy it”. If it wasn’t so callously insensitive it would be zen.
That led me to Elisa’s Green Scene who led me to Guy Kawasaki’s latest endeavor- an aggregator of green sites. I’ve read his “The Art of the Start”, and you may have heard of “Rules for Revolutionaries”. I remember the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint and the definition of an elegant solution –“the simplicity on the far side of complexity”. He has a good mind mostly wasted on “marketing”. I believe he’s handicapped in his personal development by having been the initial marketing guy for the Mac. Too much success too early and he thinks it’s easy –was for him anyway.
I’m defiantly starting a blog – wanna be a co-owner-author-editor? Anyone? First I need a name and layout – suggestions in one week people. Maybe invent a fictitious blogger and his/her back-story, we’ll preach some zen without naming it or maybe we have to and throw in lots of Britney’s bear behind. Because according to the Society of Professional Journalists - International Journalism Blog Britney Spears' bare bottom is a good thing. “remember those National Geographic photo spreads of naked natives in Africa and South America. Well, now those naked natives can log on to the Internet at their local Web cafes and see pictures of us naked. And by us, I mean Britney Spears and Paris Hilton” Paris has exchanged her dog-in-a-purse for a fake Buddhist guru, you can not make this stuff up. So send me idea’s on what you’d like to see in a blog – what stuff would you go follow if you had the time? Got any blogs you frequent or subscribe to? And let me know if all these hyperlinks are a problem.
Speaking of journalism which leads of course to politics:
I nearly spent some time trying to sort out the chronology of the swirling music videos on the election. Obama Girl continues her run up the fame shalom with more video’s on utube leading to interviews by “mainstream press” to appearing on Saturday night live, which of course leads to more “traditional press coverage” – “tell us, Obama Girl – How did it feel to be a guest star on SNL?” I have to admit it brought a real guffaw to see it on the teevee.
In finding the video to post a link lead me to the AlterNet. I was intrigued by the video wars due to the sam-i-am video mash up of Obama quotes with celebrity quests – “Yes We Can” which Obama’s campaign posted on their site which was followed by the parody with McCain quotes “ No, You can’t” Not to be confused with “I Like Turtles”. If you haven’t seen them they are now part of American political History along with Pat Nixon’s republican cloth coat and Checkers the dog. Slates - The Obama Messiah Watch, Part 10 and Tina Fey’s editorial last week on SNL “Bitch is the new Black”. –along with the other SNL politic bits at the Huffington Post kind of represent a liberal backlash on Obaman .
Personally I’m a bit ambivalent about the dems. I was somewhat attracted to Edwards populism Hillary’s connection to better days, (for me anyway), (and I respect the power of bitch). I’m cynical enough to think it probably makes little difference but I’m hippie enough to think idea’s, attitude, and movements do make a difference. For what “appears” to be an optimistic youthful idealistic current behind Obama that might create real change. Because appearance is reality, in one sense, I’ve come to feel that just perhaps an overwhelming movement for change behind O could be a force for real change, regardless of whether he’s an opportunist seizing power because it’s available to him. The Zen of it is; whether he believes the rhetoric or not the more he “sells” it and the more it is “bought” the more “real” it becomes. It that sounds too much like manifesting intention, well - I guess I have a wee mystical streak in me. Musta been that mix of peyote and Castaneda back in the day. Speaking of which in looking up his name to get the spelling right, (Mark Twain said that the ability to spell denoted a lack of intelligence), I find yetanotherway.com, and Quantum Shamen, (Channeling, Gnosis, Silent Knowing, Toltec, Shaman, Ouija, Carlos Castaneda, Sorcery). One of the 9 billion names of god?
I nearly spent some time trying to sort out the chronology of the swirling music videos on the election. Obama Girl continues her run up the fame shalom with more video’s on utube leading to interviews by “mainstream press” to appearing on Saturday night live, which of course leads to more “traditional press coverage” – “tell us, Obama Girl – How did it feel to be a guest star on SNL?” I have to admit it brought a real guffaw to see it on the teevee.
In finding the video to post a link lead me to the AlterNet. I was intrigued by the video wars due to the sam-i-am video mash up of Obama quotes with celebrity quests – “Yes We Can” which Obama’s campaign posted on their site which was followed by the parody with McCain quotes “ No, You can’t” Not to be confused with “I Like Turtles”. If you haven’t seen them they are now part of American political History along with Pat Nixon’s republican cloth coat and Checkers the dog. Slates - The Obama Messiah Watch, Part 10 and Tina Fey’s editorial last week on SNL “Bitch is the new Black”. –along with the other SNL politic bits at the Huffington Post kind of represent a liberal backlash on Obaman .
Personally I’m a bit ambivalent about the dems. I was somewhat attracted to Edwards populism Hillary’s connection to better days, (for me anyway), (and I respect the power of bitch). I’m cynical enough to think it probably makes little difference but I’m hippie enough to think idea’s, attitude, and movements do make a difference. For what “appears” to be an optimistic youthful idealistic current behind Obama that might create real change. Because appearance is reality, in one sense, I’ve come to feel that just perhaps an overwhelming movement for change behind O could be a force for real change, regardless of whether he’s an opportunist seizing power because it’s available to him. The Zen of it is; whether he believes the rhetoric or not the more he “sells” it and the more it is “bought” the more “real” it becomes. It that sounds too much like manifesting intention, well - I guess I have a wee mystical streak in me. Musta been that mix of peyote and Castaneda back in the day. Speaking of which in looking up his name to get the spelling right, (Mark Twain said that the ability to spell denoted a lack of intelligence), I find yetanotherway.com, and Quantum Shamen, (Channeling, Gnosis, Silent Knowing, Toltec, Shaman, Ouija, Carlos Castaneda, Sorcery). One of the 9 billion names of god?
Here’s a very funny mash up video of the striking similarities in terms of the plight and the persona of Reese Witherspoon's incredibly determined perfectionist Tracy Flick, in the movie “Election”, and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Talking voices heard yesterday on 89.1kHrz believed the swing in momentum from Barak to Hillary began with the sketch on Sat Night Live, (The one with Obama Girl). Imagine if the key feather tilting the scale of fate to our next president is something written by a Hollywood writer the first week back to work after the strike. An unlikely labor union turns the tide. Hollywood writers, bloggers hyped-up on irony and web-video imprésario’s as the political forces of change in the 21st Century. From blogging for money and Obama Girl to Hillary and Shamans . You know, it’s only going to get weirder..
Finally to Zen.
I have been thinking about forgetting to do things. I’m not planning on forgetting some things. I mean contemplating the “act of forgetting”. Does that exist? Do we really forget or was it not really for us to do. As the chronically tardy aren’t really late, (they’re just on their own frackin time), the chronically forgotten is simply not in the equation, of no consequence. What then are the consequences of forgetting? Each forgotten thing is a step not taken. A decision. Each moment is a transition to the next. Where I am this very moment is where all my past steps have brought me. Yet from here all directions are available for my next step. My next step determines where I’ll be the next moment. Each next moment on top of each next is my future. In this way only, (as a literary tale told linearly), is the past prologue to the future. Because all the past steps and next steps beyond the first are beyond reach of my having any effect on…the first next one only matters. {{somebody correct me English}} What I do right now this very moment is the whole of reality. And creates a whole new world?
It occurred to me that each of our pets has become more spoiled because our understanding of their true nature has matured. As we recognize (awareness) their nature we adapt (because it’s easier for all of us), and in so doing establish another thread of connectedness with “nature” being the all-life-energy, “River of Life” or whatever you want to call it.
Radom bytes of Zen…
Ahangamage Tudor Ariyaratne, 76, who founded the Sarvodaya Shramandana movement in Sri Lankan and is urging the Buddhist community to “Please don’t do politics”. Makes sense doesn’t it, I mean radically violent Buddhist monks? I can’t quite get my head around the phrase “Zen Politics”. I wonder what Jerry Brown’s been up to?
I have been thinking about forgetting to do things. I’m not planning on forgetting some things. I mean contemplating the “act of forgetting”. Does that exist? Do we really forget or was it not really for us to do. As the chronically tardy aren’t really late, (they’re just on their own frackin time), the chronically forgotten is simply not in the equation, of no consequence. What then are the consequences of forgetting? Each forgotten thing is a step not taken. A decision. Each moment is a transition to the next. Where I am this very moment is where all my past steps have brought me. Yet from here all directions are available for my next step. My next step determines where I’ll be the next moment. Each next moment on top of each next is my future. In this way only, (as a literary tale told linearly), is the past prologue to the future. Because all the past steps and next steps beyond the first are beyond reach of my having any effect on…the first next one only matters. {{somebody correct me English}} What I do right now this very moment is the whole of reality. And creates a whole new world?
It occurred to me that each of our pets has become more spoiled because our understanding of their true nature has matured. As we recognize (awareness) their nature we adapt (because it’s easier for all of us), and in so doing establish another thread of connectedness with “nature” being the all-life-energy, “River of Life” or whatever you want to call it.
Radom bytes of Zen…
Ahangamage Tudor Ariyaratne, 76, who founded the Sarvodaya Shramandana movement in Sri Lankan and is urging the Buddhist community to “Please don’t do politics”. Makes sense doesn’t it, I mean radically violent Buddhist monks? I can’t quite get my head around the phrase “Zen Politics”. I wonder what Jerry Brown’s been up to?
And the Kumari Devi, is a living goddess in Nepal , who was very nearly relieved of her godhood for visiting the USA. {{On July 3, 2007, Sajani Shakya was removed from her position as a Kumari after visiting the US to attend the release of the movie Living Goddess at Silverdocs the AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival in Downtown Silver Spring, MD. The visit, according to the elders, had tainted her purity.[2] A couple of weeks later, temple authorities at Sajani Shakya's home town recanted their previous statement and said that she will not be stripped of her title because she is willing to undergo a "cleansing" ceremony. [3] }} Read this is your interested in the 32 attributes of perfection.. Looks like Amelia!
The Blog - Zen Habits looks interesting I was just beginning to try David Allens Getting Things Done System, GTD (because Hey, I wasn’t so much), and now ZTG, Zen to Done. “Zen and the art of 6 Sigma” - Geb? You know it would sell and you could charge a bundle for it on the corporate expense account. Hey buddhist’s are nuts too.Reminds me Buddha said that it is only oneself that knows truth and that each of us must find our own truth through seeing and knowing not belief. Our path to liberation is through ourselves not any other, and that all teachings are as a raft for crossing over not for getting hold of. It is not proper for a wise man to proclaim “This is the Truth and everything else is false”
Went looking for the ying-yang symbol and learned it’s the light and shadow graph of the year day by day from solstice to equinox around to begin again. Did not know that, (as Carson used to say). Now it looks like a pie to me. 
Today is a beautiful day, slightly different from the beautiful day yesterday. Yesterday I went for my 24 month a.s. checkup- Doc S says it looks great but guaranteed that he would be looking at cancer again if I hadn’t quit smoking. It seems for the last several years winter has been a real transition for me. From bus owner to d/b architect, separated to reconciled, b.c. to a.s. (before-cancer to as-a-survivor), employee to unemployed, smoker to a bit wiser, each death and rebirth has changed everything, (and nothing). I now choose to consciously use this winter-spring to transition to a more alive place. I hope I can remember to do that every winter – which brings up “forgetting” again.
The Prairie Zen Center in Champaign, Illinois (Next sesshin March 27 -30, on my calendar for now) claims to be the dharmic heir of Charlotte Joko Beck. Today’s reading from her…
“The ideal of how we should be is the most poisonous thing in the whole world.”“The thing that erodes self-centeredness - the mischief in our life - is the open experiencing of our life at the moment.” “The intelligent suffering of experiencing seems horrible from the usual self-centered point of view of most people.”“Practice is not thinking about our life; it is bodily feeling the totality of life.”“A good practice is absolutely simple."
Today is a beautiful day, slightly different from the beautiful day yesterday. Yesterday I went for my 24 month a.s. checkup- Doc S says it looks great but guaranteed that he would be looking at cancer again if I hadn’t quit smoking. It seems for the last several years winter has been a real transition for me. From bus owner to d/b architect, separated to reconciled, b.c. to a.s. (before-cancer to as-a-survivor), employee to unemployed, smoker to a bit wiser, each death and rebirth has changed everything, (and nothing). I now choose to consciously use this winter-spring to transition to a more alive place. I hope I can remember to do that every winter – which brings up “forgetting” again.The Prairie Zen Center in Champaign, Illinois (Next sesshin March 27 -30, on my calendar for now) claims to be the dharmic heir of Charlotte Joko Beck. Today’s reading from her…
“The ideal of how we should be is the most poisonous thing in the whole world.”“The thing that erodes self-centeredness - the mischief in our life - is the open experiencing of our life at the moment.” “The intelligent suffering of experiencing seems horrible from the usual self-centered point of view of most people.”“Practice is not thinking about our life; it is bodily feeling the totality of life.”“A good practice is absolutely simple."
Monday, March 10, 2008
zen pie
The saddest part of a broken heart isn't the ending so much as the start.
-feist
first next steps:
I begin this blog to organize my own thoughts, writing, and discoveries - anyone else may waste their time reading as they may.
What is to be the topic? What I want to remember, consider and become better at. The practice of zen. Being how my life is led. Architecture, technology and movies must be dealt with, as well as ecology and science fiction. Also I must discuss what I find looking for something else, and pie.
-feist
first next steps:
I begin this blog to organize my own thoughts, writing, and discoveries - anyone else may waste their time reading as they may.
What is to be the topic? What I want to remember, consider and become better at. The practice of zen. Being how my life is led. Architecture, technology and movies must be dealt with, as well as ecology and science fiction. Also I must discuss what I find looking for something else, and pie.
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