I’ve noticed over the years that there’s always something ‘wrong’, no matter how ‘right’ things seem at first. There is a seemingly endless supply of issues to fret over. After we resolve the pressing life and death issues, you’d think we could relax and appreciate that success. Alas, no sooner one problem is solved, we find another to fret over. Continue reading ‘The Worry Gene’
Bathtub Tai Chi
I have found that multitasking is generally inefficient. My desire to do more and more (rather than less and less) deceives me into thinking I can actually accomplish more and more doing various tasks simultaneously. This make is almost impossible to be as careful at the end as at the beginning, no matter what I am doing. Well, I finally have learned my lesson. I’m not sure it is learning that accounts for my increased wisdom in this matter. More likely it is because I’m older and have less energy to run around chasing after desires as in my youth. Continue reading ‘Bathtub Tai Chi’
Chapter 65 begins with, ‘Of old those who excelled in the pursuit of the way did not use it to enlighten the people but to hoodwink them’. Initially, I thought ‘of old those‘ were people, e.g., parents, politicians, preachers. On the other hand, ‘those‘ people seem often ‘hoodwinked’ by their own hoodwink. I now consider ’of old those‘ as pointing more to Nature itself. What is more ‘of old‘ than Nature? Nature, and her co-conspirator biology, hoodwinks living things to do their living.
Fishing gives a good example of the hoodwinking process, and clues on how to avoid being hooked. We’ve all heard stories of that big old lake bass that no fisherman could hook. Isn’t that old fish, the fish who quickly ‘gets it’? Once bitten, twice shy, as they say; the fish that soon sees the bait as hoodwink learns to avoid it. The dead fish is the fish forever hopeful that its desire will be fulfilled. Continue reading ‘How the Hoodwink Hooks’
Flames of Desire
The bright glare of emotion, the flames of desire, obscures our view. All we can see are the objects of our passion. As those flames die down and the glare subsides we are gradually able to see what is ‘out there’. Peering through the darkness what do we see ‘out there’? Strain as we might, all we see is our ‘in here’. And what is ‘in here’? Nothing, nothing at all. In the end, what else can one do but hold fast to the void?
Neurons in the brain
Right Mindfulness, Attentiveness, and Concentration are three ‘folds’ in the Eight Fold Path of Buddha. Now, just what is the difference between these virtual synonyms? Over the years I’ve parsed out my own ’splitting of hairs’ to solve this puzzle. All the same, don’t they all refer to closely related states of mental awareness? A recent article in Science News, on cognitive research and magic delves into inattention blindness, a phenomenon which sheds light on this issue. Continue reading ‘Right Mindfulness, Attentiveness, and Concentration?’
NotTheConstant Name and I have been knocking about in ‘what is the tao‘ a little, which is always great fun. I woke up following a pleasant Saturday afternoon siesta reflecting on the best ‘way’ (road, principle, speak, think) to approach life.
Why this endless debate over the best way to approach life – what to do, and how to do it? The first thing I notice is how it draws those of like-mind together and pushes those of unlike-mind apart. It seems we are driven to project our own preferences and inclinations onto others. This keeps the social pot stirred, so to speak. No doubt our social-tribal instinct is pulling off this bio-hoodwink(1) Continue reading ‘The best tao? (road, way, principle, speak, think)’
I’ve been saying Buddha’s Four Truths while doing head stand for 30+ years now. These are superbly short, simple, and straightforward as you can see. Still, I’ve plumbed deeper meaning as the years have gone by. For example, a few years ago (5-10?) I began to sense the second truth, ‘The illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things‘ at deeper gut level. Now, this truth has always made sense to me intellectually and rationally. But, up until that time I never ‘felt it in my bones’. I guess there is understanding, and then there is understanding. Continue reading ‘Understanding Understanding’
Enlightenment may be more illusion than real. Not that it isn’t ‘real’, mind you. After all just as Something and Nothing produce each other, so do ignorance and enlightenment. So, what does enlightenment correlate to anyway, ‘Something’ or ‘Nothing’?
If you see it as ‘Something’, then it correlates to obvious, bright, light, life, full, sudden, special, etc. If you see enlightenment as ‘Nothing’, then it correlates to mystery upon mystery, darkly visible, death, stillness, emptiness, perpetuity, impartiality, the constant, and such. Thus, by expecting enlightenment to be ‘Something’, you will miss it… if it is indeed ‘Nothing‘.
Continue reading ‘Is Enlightenment Something or ???’
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