Dreaming the Way
Last night I dreamt I was explaining the ‘way’ to a group of people. I was talking to someone and other people overhearing us actively started listening and asking questions. My smooth and coherent delivery felt unusually satisfying. That’s no wonder, given the way that can be spoken of is not the constant way. Of course, it was my dream so I surely knew the questions they were going to ask ahead of time… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #80′
For years, up until my early forties, I was drunk on thought fortified with the certainty of belief. Fortunately for me, I found a way to help detoxify myself, but it is still a moment-by-moment affair.
Recovering alcoholics continue to say, “I’m an alcoholic”, even as they stay on the straight and narrow moment-to-moment, day to day, year to year. Likewise, I would have to say I’m a thinker, recovering from certainty in thought moment-to-moment, day to day, year to year. (Really! I’ve sobered up a lot. You should have seen me before.) Continue reading ‘Sobering up!’
I have always been a ‘more is better‘ kind of person. I see that trait in most others so I figure I am normal. However, I have always pushed the ‘more’ to the limit, often to the breaking point. So, I imagine in this regard I am less normal. Becoming a ‘lao tzu’ myself (老子 = old person, father), age and aching bones have led me to approach things a little differently, and happily, with some unexpectedly good results.
A key phrase from chapter 48 helps keep me turning back. It goes like this: “One does less and less until one does nothing at all, and when one does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone “. I know that sounds silly on the face of it. Given the ‘Just Do It‘ culture in which we live, it is essential to read between the lines. Continue reading ‘Oh My Aching Bones’
The Utility of Knowing What You Don’t Know
What an odd thing to say. Yet, I don’t know how else to say it, so here is an example: For about ten years now, son Luke and I have been fleshing out a fundamentally simpler, easier way to learn to play music by ear (especially the string instruments: guitar, fiddle, banjo and the like). The curious thing is, he has great innate music talent, while I have virtual none. So, you would think our collaboration would be mostly a one way street—he would teach me… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #79′
Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of talk about what is natural or unnatural in regards to human behavior. I suppose it all depends on which part of the elephant one currently perceives. Beyond that though, I see this like layers of an onion—an emergent property situation. I’ll take a stab at sorting this out…
Humans are naturally (and usually) inclined to take the easy way, go for pleasure and avoid pain. In the wild this bio-hoodwink usually works out well. Human culture has been driven by this primary instinctive drive shared by all animals, from ants to duck to dogs to people. Consider the human highway on the left and the ant highway on the right (photo left). Both species are just trying to make life easier and more efficient. As I pointed out in Ants are Us, the similarities are striking. Continue reading ‘Naturally Unnatural, Naturally!’
Styles of thinking and clothing have a lot in common. We are born with mind simple and body naked. We soon dress our body in clothes and our mind in thoughts. Wishing to return to our original self physically, we can simply go naked. Wishing to return to our original no mind, is another matter. The main glitch in returning to one’s roots here lies in styles of thinking. I see two archetypical cognitive styles (A and B below) from which we ‘choose’, sometimes one, sometimes the other. Which is your most common ‘choice’ in real life? Continue reading ‘Naked Thought’
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