In recent years, I’ve realized there is more to meet the eye when it comes to learning, understanding, and knowing. Perhaps, as chapter 14 says, These three cannot be fathomed, and so they are confused and looked upon as one. A few days ago, I was having a discussion with my wife and our son […]
Continue reading…We’re Not So Different After All
Google [Chimps may be aware of others’ deaths and Neanderthal genome yields evidence of interbreeding with humans] for research that challenges the prevalent myths of human uniqueness. The Judeo-Christian myth, “Man was created in God’s image”, obviously proclaims this uniqueness. This need to pin down our origins is universal, going back into prehistory. The advent […]
Continue reading…Chairs: One of Our Big Mistakes
The use of chairs in the West is ubiquitous. One of the most important life style changes I ever made was giving up my use of the chair fifty years ago. Chairs and sit down toilets are good examples of my motto, short-term pleasure invites long-term pain; short-term pain invites long-term pleasure. The physical ease […]
Continue reading…Gossip, Hysteria, News
It is easy to notice gossip or hysteria in the news sometimes. This brings me to wonder how much of the news is actually gossip and hysteria. Since gossip and news closely correlate (p.572) they are definitely equivalent, at least in the grand scheme of things. We think of news as a serious attempt to […]
Continue reading…The Family Purse
The money in our family is family money… really. It is one big pot that each takes from as needed. This is radically different from the independent model my parents used to raise me. I did chores for which I got a salary. I suppose the idea here is to prepare their child for the […]
Continue reading…Swarm Savvy
Google [Swarm Savvy: How animals avoid dumb decisions] for insight into the dynamics all social animals share… including humans. I’ve always been in awe by how well people manage the logistics of living in a civilization composed of millions of individuals. Sure, I realize how supply and demand plays a role in this. Still, it deeply […]
Continue reading…SETI… Quixotic SETI
An article in Science News, Can you hear me now?, explored issues around the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) program. I see a Taoist twist on this, but first here is the editor’s take on this: An intelligent ET would probably just stay home. Apart from jokes about how hard it is to find intelligent […]
Continue reading…The Worry Gene
Have you noticed how something always seems to be wrong no matter how right things appear initially? There is an apparently endless supply of issues to fret over. After we resolve our pressing life and death issues, you’d think we could relax and appreciate that victory. Alas, no sooner is one problem solved than we […]
Continue reading…Odds Are, It’s Wrong
Google [Odds Are, It’s Wrong] for a look into how science fails to face the shortcomings of statistics. It reminds me of chapter 71’s, Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty. The patient search for truth pales next to our hunger for the answer, or any answer. Science is […]
Continue reading…Bathtub Tai Chi
I finally realized multitasking was a waste of time. Taking this shortcut fooled me into feeling I could really accomplish more. Paradoxically not so, as chapter 48 hints, One does less and less until one does nothing at all, and when one does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone. More importantly, the […]
Continue reading…How the Hoodwink Hooks
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 referred to people, e.g., parents, politicians, preachers, gurus. On the other hand, these people are often?… usually?… always?… hoodwinked by their own set […]
Continue reading…Omega-3 and Vitamin D
When it comes to human nutrition, it is a struggle separating the wheat from the chaff. Each era has its blind alleys of nutrition. Foods deemed healthy today could easily be less so tomorrow… and vice versa. In the 70’s, I got nutrition religion and set out to uncover information that was closer to the truth. […]
Continue reading…He Who Speaks Does Not Know, but…
Years ago, I began to notice that I was incapable of truly being in-the-moment while speaking — or even while thinking! When I’m speaking, I’m not reporting from an immediate state of knowing. Rather, I am passing on what I’ve already thought thru somewhat. Speech references past experience, if even only a second ago — […]
Continue reading…Hunger: A Natural Stimulant
It’s been my habit for decades to eat nothing much until late afternoon, even though I start my day early. This goes against the norm that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Sure, this may be a little stressful to my body, but that turns out to be a good thing. As […]
Continue reading…Know Truth, Live True
Truth? What’s truth? This is really about what passes for truth. More people are able to agree on scientific truth than any other truth. Interestingly, science is proving through brain imaging that there is more pleasure in giving than in receiving (1,2,3). Wise people have known this for ages. It is an essential pillar of most […]
Continue reading…Why Not Protest To Raise Taxes?
There are many people out protesting against spending cuts in education. This state, California, as well as the country as a whole, is massively in debt. However, all that I hear are frantic cries for “no more spending cuts” and “no more new taxes”. Now, just how is that supposed to work? On top of […]
Continue reading…Self Integrity, Slime, and Karma
Research reported in Science News (google [Slime mold is master network engineer]) helps exemplify the drive to maintain self-integrity that I discussed in my last post on Extinguishing Self. First, consider this quote from that research. “The slime mold has no central brain or indeed any awareness of the overall problem it is trying to […]
Continue reading…A How-To for Extinguishing Self
One of the main themes in Buddhism is the extinguishing of self through enlightenment… or is it the other way around? Both ways work if we’re referring to ‘original self’. So, are they the same thing? Initially asking such basic questions on word meaning often helps when pondering life. The more basic question here is, […]
Continue reading…Significant Others
There is a curious thing I notice in the life of my two sons. They are not chasing girls like I was at their age. They aren’t gay either, so what gives? I look back on my youthful lust and see a disconnected lad looking for companionship that my independent upbringing never fully provided. All […]
Continue reading…Headstands and Apes
After settling down in Tokyo, I began going to the vast Meiji Park to do yoga in the morning before work. While standing on my head and seeing people walking by off in the distance, I noticed something odd. The people had an obvious bob in their gait as they walked. Initially I wondered if […]
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