“I think the problem is that you never really understood the Question.”

- Douglas Adams (paraphrased)

And, incidentally, now that they’ve caught the guy, things are much quieter….not sure I like that either.

It may be a type of teaching tool

Yeah, I think its a perspective that can be used to get rid of less helpful perspectives. Pretty much all teachings fall under this description. That’s a great point Ted. Whatever helps us do the work!

http://charleseisenstein.net/the-cycle-of-terror/

Anyway, I factor in some insights from this guy: http://www.awakeninthedream.com/wordpress/close-encounters-of-the-wetiko-kind/

The idea of our minds containing a virus. This Wetiko idea seems to me to tie into the concept of the Ego, especially the way Eckhart Tolle uses the word.

So the demiurge lives in our minds. That is where the false will comes from. This false will tries to control its environment and bring everything under its dominion. We each have separate competing egos, yet it all appears to be the same ego, with the same agenda basically, the same “predator” as Carlos Casteneda put it. So it is both selfish and transpersonal at the same time.

So who is really enlightened? Who is one with the TAO? what is the Tao really but nature? So the enlightened being would be completely naturalistic. These would be the barbarians at the gates. Those living by sheer Eros and Joy of being. People like this are forces of nature. They are forces of nature.

Rebels, anarchists, grafitti artists, musicians, people in touch with their animal vitality, the exact opposite of the religious ascetic. Rebels by accident really, people who come into conflict with ssytems of control simply by being alive.

Anyway, good to see you back!

The creation, substance and possibility
were made for the purpose of relieving need
and distress is the witness of worthiness
that the seeker may meet with the sought.
Wherever there is a pain, the cure is drawn. Wherever a want, the bounty goes there. Where a troubling question, an answer appears. To the dry ship, water comes.
Do not seek water
get thirst.
Until the baby cries
the mother’s breast is dry.
Go running
‘til you gasp

become a want
then you’ll hear the thunderclap
turn your face up
to rain

Your need is not less than that of your garden. When it is dry, you dig and pump
to bring water.
For your dry soul
thirsting
clouds of Mercy are gathering
ready to burst open

If you would hear
the heavens speak
be thirst!

Rumi

I have long thought about printing them out and taking them around a few galleries. Maybe it’s time for that? The “I don’t know how these are done” thing is a pretty good interest-sparker…

–Mark Nepo, A CONVERSATION WITH THE ELEMENTS: Wisdom and practical guidance on opening to the world, Parabola, Fall 2012.

Actually, I got back last Tuesday to a new apartment, a change in “relationship status” (of the downgrading variety, but welcome), and a full-time job offer. Phew.

Trying to avoid “teh internets” more and focus on getting used to this upgraded “real” world. I assume I’ll be back soon enough, but there’s also the question of catching up with all the “notifications” from the past 5 weeks + connecting with all the wonderful people I met in Colorado.

On top of which I can’t yet afford to have internet put in at the new place. Taking a month off work does wonders if you’re looking to be broke…

Thanks for checking in. I appreciate the concern. <3

Hope you stick around! I don’t update often, but hopefully it remains interesting when I do… :)

Also, this link fits in somewhere in the ever expanding mandala of this blog, so I’m putting it here:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/eric-schmidt-how-we-outrace-the-robots/?smid=fb-share

“outrace” not so much. I prefer “get as many people as possible surfing the rising wave of technological ease”. Cause we finally actually can…

I remember now first encountering this word, used to describe a hardware-fix for a famous early 16-bit machine which took the form of a black matchbox-sized object growing out of the back of the otherwise modern streamlined exterior. ‘Why’s it called a kludge?’ I asked a friend. He explained that it was dialect for an outside toilet :D :D

Also,

“how to train your brain to have severe ADHD and probably narcissism.”

HA! :D