As a child, I recall marveling at how everything seemed to work so well. The logistics blew my mind—even though I didn’t know that was the word for it. I also worried how the powers-that-be dealt with all the sewage and garbage my hometown produced.
I am still awed that ‘it’ works, although I now know that Nature’s ‘logistics’ is in command. Even so, it also turns out to be a worrisome problem for civilizations’ powers-that-be… that would be all of us, really. Continue reading ‘Really, Have We No Clue?’
Some say “love” is the greatest word they know. Others say “God”. Various words have been favorites of mine over the years, but “why” is the greatest for me. So I must ask myself, why continue posting these observations? It’s certainly not for money. Is it for fame? I actually prefer anonymity. In fact, years ago when my yoga students showed hints of ‘guru worship’, I went out of my way to discourage that. Do I just need to vent? Well, there was some of that urge early on, but I’ve pretty much said all I really need to say. So why continue? Continue reading ‘Why?’
Me, age 3, actually fishing... sort of.
The fish are biting and I’m reeling ‘em in, I’m just not posting ‘em. Posting requires so much clean up to make ‘em fit for reading.
Finishing the last chapter of the Tao Te Ching was the catalyst I guess I needed to reevaluate things. I’ve wondered for a while now why I post in the first place.
I mean, the Taoist point of view has to be among the oddest and most ironic subjects to speak on. After all, he who knows does not speak, he who speaks does not know. Continue reading ‘Gone Fishin’, Back Soon’
Karl Marx had is wrong. It is prosperity, not religion, which is the opiate of the masses. The United States has experienced decades of surefire prosperity. Most have lived their whole lives accustomed to what is actually a historically rare era of unusual affluence.
Now, much of the population is going ‘cold turkey’, unwillingly sobering up without knowing the deeper causes for the withdrawal symptoms they now feel. I’ve found prosperity has a real dark side linked to desire and pleasure— not surprisingly. (1) Continue reading ‘Opiate of the Masses’
I sometimes wonder why rich people often keep upping the anti, buying increasingly more expensive things. It follows a progression I first noticed when I experienced my own wealth upgrade after arriving in Japan (see Peaches and Pleasure). It is a fact of life; we soon convert any upgrade in our standard-of-living into the new bottom-line in our standard-of-living. Never long content, we soon seek to upgrade again. Biologically speaking, the hunter gather in us reaches outward from the bottom line, driven by a kind of ‘grass is always greener’ instinct. Continue reading ‘The Wealthy Poor’
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’
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’
Success Thru Failure
Most of us eventually realize that all success must inevitably pass through a failure stage. From our first years of stumbling before walking, of mumbling before talking, and on through life we gradually learn (perhaps intuitive and subconscious) that if we would take from a thing, we must first give to it. However, I will take this even further: success IS failure. Is this an example of chapter 78’s straightforward words seem paradoxical? It all depends on which phase of the life cycle you consider and how you define success. Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #78′
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