Members of Alcoholics Anonymous and similar addiction management programs begin recovery by first acknowledging their addiction and powerlessness over it. Clearly recognizing a problem is an indispensable prerequisite for finding a solution. Such Right Comprehension is the first step on Buddha’s Eight-Fold Path. Until then, life is always a dog chasing its tail. Primal instinct […]
Continue reading…Instinctive Free Will
We easily acknowledge that animals and young children don’t choose their nature; they are born with it. Consequently, society doesn’t regard them as being responsible. With the onset of adulthood, that suddenly changes, and society then holds us responsible for our actions. As adults, we somehow miraculously acquire the power to choose “right” from “wrong” […]
Continue reading…Stupidly Intelligent
UPDATE 2023: The instinct of fear is an emergent property of entropy, and the universal driving force that motivates all living things, from virus on up, to survive. Obviously, fear influences our every thought and action. This is also the driving force behind all the harmful actions of humanity. Artificial intelligence is devoid of this […]
Continue reading…The Proof is in the Pudding
Buddha felt that we needed to rely on our personal experience to verify his Four Noble Truths, and presumably any other alleged truth. There’s no ‘take my word for it’ hoodwinking here. Nowadays, modern science is steadily helping us discern fact from myth. Still, personal experience must always be the final arbiter. Keep this in […]
Continue reading…A Wealth of Happiness
Chapter 33 says, Being content is wealth. When you think about it, it is easy to see how happiness is wealth. Using Correlations (p.565), let’s consider how love corresponds to wealth and happiness. Love has two sides; the “false” or yang side is a grasping, expecting, needy experience. The “true” or yin side is a […]
Continue reading…Natural Happiness
‘To like what I do rather than do what I like’ is a straightforward path to happiness. This motto helps prevent my expectations from dictating my life’s direction. No doubt, scripture (Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Biblical, etc.) first got me considering life this way, and life experience has since verified its truth (1). The previous post, […]
Continue reading…Is Happiness In Your Choices?
Google [Iyengar on The Art of Choosing] for a TED talk that challenges our naive belief in free choice (p.587). Sheena Iyengar makes a solid research-based case for two erroneous assumptions we repeatedly make. One is that we make our own choices, and the other, that more options make for better choices. She also makes […]
Continue reading…Profound Connections Enlighten
Chapter 56 offers what could be another description of sleep… Knowing doesn’t speak; speaking doesn’t know. Subdue its sharpness, untie its tangles, Soften its brightness, be the same as dust, This is called profound sameness. Profound sameness is a continually enlightening point of view. Thus, any research that explores this, even tangentially, warrants review. First, […]
Continue reading…Religion… an Opiate?
Karl Marx famously said, “Religion is the opium of the people”. He went on to identify “religious distress” as the symptom of a social “condition which needs illusions”.(1) Blaming cultural conditions for the dysfunction he saw is putting the cart before the horse—something we do frequently. To see it this way, he must have had […]
Continue reading…Is Gen Y Unhappy?
I read an interesting article that pointed out much of the same causes for unhappiness that I see, so I accepted it without question at first. Yet soon it began to nag me. Something didn’t exactly mesh… there was more too it. If interested, google [Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy] and see how it […]
Continue reading…Remember the Disease
Occasionally I feel a little forlorn since I’m making the same essential points repeatedly. Then I remember the necessity of constant vigilant review. This is akin to attempting to maintain balance under wobbly physical circumstances. Surely, psycho-emotional circumstances are no less demanding, balance-wise. Whew! Hope rebounds as I remember the secret of living balance… The […]
Continue reading…The Pendulum Swings
The Syrian war illustrates our intrinsic tendency to swing from one extreme to the opposite. In wondering why, chapter 64 came to mind, Its peace easily manages… and so on. D.C. Lau translates this view more clearly, e.g., It is easy to maintain a situation while it is still secure. Interestingly, the adage, “a stitch […]
Continue reading…You are Immortal!
Preface: Our mind irresistibly seeks out stories to fill its cognitive space. Taken to heart, this story may help nurture what chapter 16 alludes to as The way therefore long enduring, nearly rising beyond oneself. The idea of immortality arises from our self’s keen sense of mortality, so I’ll begin by addressing this side of […]
Continue reading…A Rose By Any Other Name
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is a familiar quote from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet argues that the name of a thing does not matter, only what a thing is. The sticking point here is over, “It depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is”, as […]
Continue reading…Emotion Speaks… Literally
I learned to speak a number of languages during my traveling years. Learning a language in country is an easy, quick and enjoyable way to learn. During those years, my interest was to communicate—not eloquently mind you, but just enough to get by. Several hundred words and some fearless pantomime (especially at first) worked wonderfully. […]
Continue reading…I Look, But Do I See?
In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened”. While true, I suspect this may often misinterpreted. For example, […]
Continue reading…Just like Us, Just like Them
Have you noticed how much we compare ourselves to other animals to see what extent they are like us? That’s all quite normal, of course. All animals judge other animals to some extent, although I should say size up, gauge, or perceive, rather than judge. Passing judgment is closely tied to thinking and we’re the […]
Continue reading…Science’s Baby Steps
Every now and then, I’m struck by the “Well… duh” discoveries science finally arrives at. My “Well… duh” relationship with science began early. As a child who enjoyed playing with fire, I discovered that putting ice or cold water on a burn worked great. Even so, the standard first aid treatment at that time was […]
Continue reading…Worthy of a Noble Life?
Last night I dreamed I was about to be hanged. I was adjusting the noose (made of wire of all things) around my neck so that it would kill me efficiently and swiftly rather than slowly suffocate me, I assume. You’d think that would have been a nightmare. Maybe having such a dream in my […]
Continue reading…Who says chickens are stupid?
Who says chickens are stupid? Ignorant people, I assume. While this research reported in Science News isn’t about chickens per se, it probably would apply to chickens. I mean how much smarter is a pigeon going to be than a chicken? (Google [Pigeons match monkeys in abstract counting skills].) How much true difference is there […]
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