Non bondage

Let us live gladly! Quite certainly we are free to do it. Perhaps it is our only freedom, but ours it is, and it is only phenomenally a freedom. 'Living free' is being 'as one is'. Can we not do it now? Indeed can we not-do-it?
It is not even a 'doing': it is beyond doing and not-doing. It is being as-we-are.

This is the only 'practice'.
'All Else is Bondage; Non-Volitional Living' - Wei Wu Wei

August Rush

August Rush is a very well done movie. We watched it for the first time last week. I was surprised by how much it connected with me. It might be the only movie that brings tears to my eyes even when I am just mentally reviewing it.

Last night I watched it again. This time in a dark room with big surround sound. It affected me even more because I could see the threads of the story intertwining much earlier. During some scenes I could scarcely breathe.

This movie is not tense or sad. It is the sheer beauty, the excellence of how it is written and executed. But the tears come from deeper. The story is about a musical prodigy and cosmic connections that run through music. Most of us feel those connections. I feel them strongly when I am creating. I have always found tears in my eyes when I spontaneously whistle or play an original tune.

Ever since I have allowed myself to purposely explore the occasional drive to be tied up, my appreciation for beauty and cosmic connections has grown stronger.

Naked truth

There is a part of the human body that is specifically designed by God and nature to hang loose in the open air. All the animals and many aboriginal humans quite naturally accommodate that design. Civilized humans don't.

We are so bound up in our hung-up culture that we can scarcely appreciate how good it feels to let our bodies respond naturally to the temperature and the wind. If everyone was comfortable with letting it all hang out, we would have a lot less fungal and yeast infections, and a lot less hang-ups.

What will you become?

I was asked what are the greatest lessons that life has taught me. One group that floats to the top has to be...

: Attention is the currency of life.
: You become what you attend to.
: Usually, right here and now is marvelous and beautiful;
Pay attention to that.

Pending collapse?

The soviet union collapsed 17 years ago. Here is an interesting presentation about comparisons between the US and them.

It is definitely food for thought and unfortunately I agree with most of his observations. The problem I have with it is some of his attitude. I believe that the coming economic problems can be a portal to a much healthier and rewarding life style, if we prepare well and build that life style now, while we can still afford to.

Chakra Insight

This morning during a yoga class, we were focusing on the chakras and the colors associated with them.

(image from http://www.innercosmos.com/throat_chakra.htm)

The three lower chakras are all associated with basic drives and physical issues.
As we started with deep red in the root chakra, I was picturing the smoldering hot temperatures it takes to glow red, and associating that with the red hot issues of sex, money and power.

A little farther up the spiritual evolution scale, the next chakra is orange; a more refined, hotter temperature.

The yellow of the next higher chakra can be created with still hotter temperatures.

Sometimes the heart chakra is associated with pink. Pink is a mixture of white light (very hot) and a touch of red. It denotes that the heart is at the top of the lower chakras, with a nod to its roots. The heart is also associated with green, which is the bottom of the upper chakras.

The upper chakras are associated with senses and higher, more spiritual issues.
I realized that the colors associated with those can no longer be created from heat. You get them by differentiating white light (like with a prism).


The insight tells me that the lower chakras are built on fire and heat. When they are working well, we achieve a white enough light for the upper chakras to differentiate into spiritual energy.

A class you may have taken before existence

No matter what kind of life you choose to become, the program can be summarized like this:

Any form of life is a set of capabilities.
You have no capabilities unless and until you have structure.
All structure is a set of limitations.

You choose a set of limitations.
You explore those limitations as you struggle within them.
This makes you an active part of the universal mind.
Cosmic endorphins will be doled out for your effort.

Shorter summary:
Struggle within your bounds.
Gain direct grace

May it continue

Lately, I have been struck by beauty. The shapes of clouds, waves of wind in a field of rye, the subtle changing color of the sky, the way Lynn smiles during a romantic movie scene.

Last night I listened to a series of TED talks. When I was done, I sat there for a moment, stunned by the beauty of the lessons they gave me.

Seeing beauty in unexpected times and places is a good habit.
I think I'll keep it.

Nice life

Ethan was curious how big the moon was compared to the earth, so we hopped on the web to find out. Naturally that led to him being curious about the size of the sun, then the other planets.

Soon we were watching videos that show the relative sizes of each planet with the sun, then other stars. Ethan would laugh out loud as each new heavenly body dwarfed the ones before it. That brought two bright faced happy and fascinated little sisters poking their heads in and laughing just to support him.

Amber said "That is my life." That is what home life is on a regular basis.

Nice life!

Education isn't something you "get"

It is something you "do".



"Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune."
(Jim Rohn)


I have bought into these concepts for as long as as I have been old enough to criticize schools.

OM Mooo

As I get older, there are more times when my voice resonates deeply in my chest. Now I better understand the ancient practice of chanting "OM" and why the practice seems to be dominated by males. It feels good when that deep voice vibrates every bone and nerve in the chest.

Cows may be on to something.
Many times lately, I just get the urge to belt out a long deep "MOOOOO". It feels even better than "OM". It resonates deeper. It is more expressive. It helps clear cloudy feelings. Maybe cows have it figured out and we are doing it backwards.

This morning I was soaking in the tub. The resonance was wonderful. I was OMing and MOOing to my heart's content. Then I noticed...
When MOOing, the flow of energy is outwards; like expressing emotions. When OMing, the flow is inwards; like learning.

That must be useful insight.

Wind

=====

The pessimist complains about the wind.
The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails.
~John Maxwell~


The winds of change are blowing.
Let's adjust our sails.

The life stages of time flies

I was just wondering...
If time flies are the adult stage...
Is there such a thing as time maggots?
and time pupae?


Time eggs:
Little bitty nuggets of time; rich with promise and hope for the future. It is a quiet stage where ideas stay confined and just incubate.

Time maggots:
Ideas hatch from their shell. Forever hungry, they consume enormous amounts of time, recycling it into new body of knowledge. Eventually they get satiated and form...

Time pupae:
Another quiet stage to develop and metamorphise. Eventually they emerge as adult...

Time flies:
This is the adult form, where ideas really take flight. Life gets buzzier as time scatters to the winds. Time flies spread germs of ideas, pollinate, annoy people, feast, travel, procreate. Along the way they find nourishing bodies of time in which they lay their fertile ideas;
More time eggs.

Infested with time flies

Spring gets kinda busy

Inspiration to write ebbs and flows. So does available time.
Suddenly a whole month has gone by and inspiration never intersected with time.

Be that as it may, I do love to write ideas and feelings. Insights that I never expected tend to flow out of the pencil, or the keyboard.

I'm up for some good insight.

Memes Rule!

Today I was struck with with a certain knowledge that memes have been a major evolutionary force, evolving our genes to better suit their purposes.

Why would our brains be designed so that they latch on to ideas so firmly that they will defend those ideas to the death? Especially when religion gets involved we will argue, and not listen, and even fight a war to defend our ideas, our faith, our way of life.

The main reason I can think of is that memes have been the ruling evolutionary force ever since we first developed the ability to socialize. People who had the ability to handle better memes were more likely to survive. As memes thrived, they shaped things like our big brain and our ability to speak. Now that we have big brains, we are excellent hosts to memes. We are their platform, an arena in which memes can compete.

A meme is just an idea. It can come and go easily. An existing meme could easily be flushed away as soon as another idea comes along. Being thrown out of your battle vehicle at the first bump just won't do, so a seat belt is needed.

It would make sense for memes to evolve us so that our brains hang on to them tenaciously. Then they have a fighting chance. It makes us a much more useful platform.

I am certain of it.

Real morality

As I woke up this morning, I was wondering about morality.
It seems that morality is all about acting for the long term common good. A moral person cultivates the discipline to overcome short term destructive habits (even though they may be pleasurable) in favor of long term prosperity and deeper happiness.

Our concepts about morality change as we learn and mature. In the 1950s and 60s, driving and burning fuel and fertilizing monoculture crops were all good things. Now our culture is learning that those behaviors are causing huge problems for the future of ourselves individually and our entire civilization. Suddenly those behaviors are the ultimate immorality.

You and I have not substantially changed our fuel consumption patterns. We talk about it, and make gestures toward improving, but the bottom line is not really better. We are not going to allow our grandkids to label us as immoral, so we have to change.

Contemplate this...
Global warming and peak oil are bunk. We don't have to reduce our usage by 90% like experts say. We only have to share better at current levels of usage. Because we are Americans and deserve more than most people, we get to use 150% of the amount of fossil fuels per person compared to the rest of the world. That still means we have to cut down our fuel consumption by a factor of 3.6. That is a 63% reduction from our current levels.

Homework Exercise: Seriously practice using only 27% of the fuel you are used to.
How will you do it?

Later we can contemplate how even this level is not yet near moral.

Storm warnings

Lately I have been making a career of learning about the convergence of peak oil, global warming, and economic depression.
Each is real.
Each is big.
Each is coming to a head very soon.

The convergence of the three is mind boggling.
That is exactly why most people and virtually all governments ignore it.

As people around me start to grasp how real it is, they ask what they can do personally to survive. After contemplating what an individual can do to help, I eventually realized that there is one philosophy that applies to individuals, families, communities, and to civilization as a whole...

The more we know about how to live well without large amounts of water, fuel and store bought food, the more resilient we will be.

Truffle power

My goodness!!!!!!!!!

That was the best meal any of us have ever had.
Neil and Tori and Jeanne and Lynn and I were trying to figure out how to freeze the moment; how to savor the incredible experience for just a little while longer.

The back story...
Last week I was mindlessly wondering out loud what a truffle really tastes like. Before I knew it, Lynn had ordered a few truffles over the internet. Now we were faced with the imminent arrival of one of the most exotic and expensive foods in the world, and we had to figure out what to do with it.

They are a fungus, somewhat related to mushrooms, but they smell strongly, like a male pig in rut. With my level of experience, I might have put them in a pizza. Neil came up with the idea of challenging some of the finest chefs in the area to make a wonderful meal with our truffles. Chef Tim Anderson of Iven's on the Bay said yes.

Tonight the five of us showed up for a 5 course meal centered on truffles. The soup was served in a tiny but slightly tall shot glass. No spoon, you drink it. Upon tasting it, we were immediately and unanimously blown away; transported to new world by a subtle exotic and powerful taste experience.
Each of the five courses managed to bowl us over with dish licking, shell scraping tastes.

When the chef showed up, we gave him a standing ovation.
WOW!

Searching for how to give more deeply

Flowers and candy and store bought cards are a nice way to open a relationship. They are pleasant and state clearly that you have romantic intents.
In terms of personal relationship, they are safe and cheap. They cost you little personal effort for the huge payback they create. What's not to like?

Showering your love with commercialized safe and cheap tokens is like putting candy sprinkles on an ice cream cone. It is fun for a snack, when your dish is sweet and fat.

The love of my life is more like truffles, fillet mignon, fresh salad, finely seasoned garden vegetables.
She is delicious. She is nourishing. She is good for me.

She deserves better than safe, cheap, commodity tokens.
She deserves my time, my attention, my deepest essence.

Dear Lynn,
I give to you a physical token,
a hand made embodiment of my time and attention.

I give to you my written words,
a deeply felt attempt to condense my love for you and make it more tangible.

I share with you my karma,
a lifetime of good luck by design and effort.

Please be my valentine.
Love, Paul

10 secrets

I really liked these 10 secrets that I stumbled on at God's Thumb.

Secrets for Success and Inner Peace

The First Secret:
Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing.

The Second Secret:
Don’t die with your music still in you.

The Third Secret:
You can’t give away what you don’t have.

The Forth Secret:
Embrace silence.

The Fifth Secret:
Give up your personal history.

The Six Secret:
You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it.

The Seventh Secret:
There are no justified resentments.

The Eighth Secret:
Treat yourself as if you already are what you’d like to be.

The Ninth Secret:
Treasure your Divinity.

The Tenth Secret:
Wisdom is avoiding all thoughts that weaken you.