Carl Abbott

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 — […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

The Future Takes Care of Itself

My mind often wanders and wonders about ‘tomorrow’, whether that’s five minutes, five weeks, or five millennia from now. I reckon a hunter-gatherer instinct drives this because everyone I know sees a ‘tomorrow’ awaiting them. Why are humans always jumping ahead of the moment? … Because we can! The mind’s space is larger than most […]

Teachers and Students

Teachers and students are interdependent. You can’t have one without the other. Society admires the teachers, especially the esteemed professors, gurus, or senseis (xiansheng 先生). In reality, students are the more important part of the equation. After all, teachers can lead students to water, but only the students’ thirst determines whether they’ll drink. As chapter […]

Are You As Happy As You Should Be?

Asking how happy we are, or wish to be, is an important question seeing that we spend much of life seeking happiness. Are you as happy as you would be if…? could be if…? should be if…? The answers to these questions hinge on what you think will do the trick. This suggests why chapter […]

Keeping Birthday Happy

Today is my 67th year here on earth. The picture is a magazine’s back cover of me in my birthday suit at a lake in Arizona (1). From then until today, fate has been fortunate, for I should have died quite a few times by now. As to my health, wealth, and family, I couldn’t […]