Some people have accused me of being a sage. Granted, I am a lao tzu (i.e., 老子 – father, old man), but a sage? While this may feel flattering at first, further pondering shatters that. Besides, it actually takes a real sage to know a real sage. What we see ‘out there’ is simply a reflection […]
Continue reading…The Gifts Given – Paid In Full
Most of us accept that each person is born with a God given gift—a talent of sorts. What may be less known is that such talent is not actually a gift at all… talent is paid for in full at birth. I’ve come to know a few people extremely well. Each person, as far as […]
Continue reading…King Kiwi
Kiwi is king of all the fruits. Over the years, I’ve compared all the fruits with each other and the kiwi always comes out supreme. Even so, fruit has nowhere near the overall nutritional value of veggies. Mostly, I see fruit as a healthy candy. Although, it’s true that each variety usually wins high honors […]
Continue reading…Blowing with the sea
I am blowing shakuhachi at the beach. Don’t try this on your beach in the beginning for it will likely feel pretty discouraging (in fact, playing outside was a pain for quite awhile, personally). Rather, pick a good echoing space like your bathroom. Look in the mirror to get a clear sense of your lip […]
Continue reading…In praise of kale
Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone”. Still, as my observations chew mostly on non-bread matters, I thought I’d put in a good word for food today. I grow and harvest kale all year around here in California. As far as I know, this is the most nutritious veggie on the planet. Kale […]
Continue reading…Always be a beginner
The photo here shows my son Kyle and I doing a forward bend. It appears that my bend represents an advanced stage of yoga, while Kyle’s represents an intermediate stage. In fact, we are at the same stage; we are both beginners. Any activity you do with full integrity places you at a virtual beginning […]
Continue reading…It’s Like Magic!
I am always amazed at how magical magic is. The slight of hand a good magician employs is remarkable. How does he do it? Distraction they say, but it is hard to believe that I can be so easily hoodwinked. Nevertheless, I am. The untrained observer’s eye will follow where the magician’s hand leads it, […]
Continue reading…How do we know what is true?
How do we know what we know is true? The answer hinges on desire. We tend to see what we desire to see; therefore, much depends on the extent of our desires. The more we desire, the less we know. Unless all we wish to know, are only our desires. This doesn’t happen naturally though. […]
Continue reading…Am I Bored or Just Content?
Years ago, our Taoist group joked, “Be bored again”. This was the Taoist version of the Christian “Be born again” slogan. No wonder attendance was light! A fine line does exist between boredom and contentment. To be sure, I often slip back and forth across it playing the shakuhachi flute (google [Blowing Zen, One Mind […]
Continue reading…Do Good Christians Make Good People?
It is my sense that Christians believe that good Christians make good people. On the contrary, I’ve found good people make good Christians. In fact, good people also make good Muslims, good Buddhists, and perhaps even good Taoists. Then again, we have the irony chapter 2 refers to, All realizing goodness as goodness, no goodness […]
Continue reading…PS
I struggled to make the essence of my previous post read as simply as I saw it. I feel I failed, so I’m going to take another shot at this. The following excerpt from the article The Decider […Informing the debate over the reality of free will], is my launch pad: “So brains are programmed […]
Continue reading…The Decider
Google: [Can Neuroscience Inform the Free Will Debate] for an overview of science and free will. This excerpt from Science News’, The Decider […Informing the debate over the reality of free will] also touches on key points: “Perhaps,” write neuroscientists Alireza Soltani and Xiao-Jing Wang, “we are entering a new period of consilience between the science […]
Continue reading…Peeking in on Nature’s Hoodwink
We are born with a bio-illusion — a bio-hoodwink(1) — that goes like this: Through hunting, “I” gathers fillers to satiate (fill) the hole. Primal emotions of need (e.g., desire, wish) and fear (e.g., insecurity, anxiety) drive this illusion forward. This illusion originates in the survival instinct to find food to fill the empty belly. […]
Continue reading…How to Know You’re Happy
I recall sitting in math class looking at the clock. Time stood still… minutes felt like hours. Time also crawls by sitting in the dentist chair. Now in my late 70’s, time flies by. Years feel like months, months like weeks, and weeks like days. Certain activities make time fly by too. A sound sleep […]
Continue reading…It Is Spooky
A Centertao member recently said on the Forum, “Philosophers see a subtle difference between two anti-Realist philosophies: “Dialectical Monism” and “Non-Dualism”. Well, I don’t doubt it! It is difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to communicate things as simply as they are. The difficulty lies in subtle semantic differences. Oddly, we readily discount this, the […]
Continue reading…Of What Is The Taoist Model Symptomatic?
I was relaxing in the hot bath this morning and recalling CenterTao member Dave’s reply to Butterflies have wings; we have minds came to mind. A hot bath never fails to loosen up thought, I find. Anyway, Dave said, “Our models in our minds are staler than we know.” He also quoted George Box, one […]
Continue reading…Is ‘Free Will’ the Only Option?
I think back over all the years I let my life-options distract me from what I knew I ought to do. As Buddha’s Fourth Noble Truth says, “There is salvation for him whose self disappears before truth, whose will is bent on what he ought to do, whose sole desire is the performance of his […]
Continue reading…Butterflies have wings; we have minds
Butterflies have wings and fly; we have a mind and our thoughts soar. So far so good. The trouble crops up from trusting that our thoughts get us somewhere real. Any resulting belief easily leads to difficulty. When you believe the dream is real, nightmares are more likely. Granted the mind can drive us crazy, […]
Continue reading…Mind in Body in Mind in Body…xin
Science gradually debunks long held myths. It relentlessly peels away the cosmetic ideals with which we adorn ourselves. Warm-up your contemplative mind with this excerpt from a recent Science News report, Body In Mind. (Also Google: Grounded cognition) It takes another step towards taking the ‘sapiens’ out of Homo sapiens (Latin: sapiens = wise man). […]
Continue reading…Such Synergy
I just came across this little diagram I drew up a few years back. It’s not a bad way to ponder some elemental issues using a minimum of words. It points to the synergy that exists between these elements. At the center is Meaning / need. I’d probably add fear to that core. Need & […]
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