A Wise Man

A once not so wise man said:

Persist in the face of failure.

A wiser man said:

Turn a seeming disadvantage into an advantage.

Possibilities

Forgive me for yesterday's post. Although a true statement of my feelings, it was done in a moment of weakness.

If possible, you should help others.

If that is not possible, at least you should do no harm.

If that is not possible, consult time, place and situation to determine action.

If that is not possible, consult your body.

The Lost World

You know, I'm getting a little fucking tired of these guys.

Listen, you are going to make even bleeding heart apologist liberals want to blow you, your fucking insane ideology and the earth you walk on clear out of this world.

So stop. Now. Fuck.

Content

If we realize that suffering is what we have when we desire, then perhaps being content is a counter-action to desire.

If we realize that in desiring we are searching for contentendness, then why not just be content from the start.

Daily Practice Part 4

Summary of Daily Practice.

Part 4:

Divide the self into two.

Divide the self into two - the real self and the other, automatic person. Examine motives through self-observation and notice when actions proceed from habit or automatic behaviour. Slow down.

Daily Practice Part 3

Summary of Daily Practice.

Part 3:

Become aware that one truth in life is suffering.

Everyone goes through pain whether physical or mental. What we experience as pleasure, is mostly a diminishment of pain. We are in the habit of reacting automatically; we become addicted to feeling good instead of realizing that it is always temporary and thus may be a habit from which we need to see that it occurs and free ourselves. This is not to say that we should abandon actions that make us feel good, just abandon the notion that the feeling is innate in the thing. Eating one chocolate bar is pleasurable to me. Eating seven chocolate bars becomes painful. It is not the chocolate bar that gives pleasure or pain. The chocolate bar is meaningless. The actions and intentions are meaningful. Eat one intsead of seven and realize that it is temporary.

The Silent Minority

I just took a closer look at the Maps function on my blog.

Wow.

Um, thank you very much.

Advice To A Friend Part 3

Question everything. Even the advice given to you and especially those who give the advice. Use your own talents! Use your own brain! It's all there, waiting to be used. What are you waiting for?

Advice To A Friend Part 2

It is not useful (well not too useful) to be constantly pulled two ways or more.

It is not useful to have energy dissipated by attempting to be more than one person.

Follow your own advice dammit.

Physician, heal thyself.

Daily Practice Part 2

Summary of Daily Practice.

Part 2:

Abandon non-virtuous behaviour.

These include the easy (wel for most) things like killing and stealing but also acts such as sexual misconduct, lying, divisive talk, harsh speech, senseless chatter, covetousness, wrong views and perhaps most importantly but most miss-understood, harmful intent.

Daily Practice Part 1

Summary of Daily Practice.

Part 1:

Examine your motives.

Continuously ask yourself why am I doing, saying, thinking the way I am doing, saying and thinking. Examine not just the good parts but the bad and the vague and the sharp too.

Questions And Answers, Sometimes

People ask me why I ask questions on this blog but sometimes don't answer them.

Uh, it's because I don't know the answer and it beats sitting at a barstool, leaning over a brew and asking the drunk next to me.

Well, only just.

Remedial Philosophy

Is it possible to create art that says absolutely nothing about the artist? If this were possible, would the art have any usefulness to the artist or viewer?

Never Again

...the end of World War 2 on May 8, 1945 meant little except that the bombing came to an end; the killing went on...

From The Struggle For Europe by William I. Hitchcock, Anchor Books, New York, 2003, page 8.

The killing always goes on, whether there is war or not. Since Cain and Abel and probably even before that to our primordial ancestors, trampling each other in a mad effort to ooze out of the pre-historic slime.

Subtext

"Tom, how badly do you feel?"
"I don't know. How badly can you feel?"

From Islands In The Stream by Ernest Hemingway, Scribners, New York, 2004, 14th printing, page 335.

Dead Birds

I work in a moderately tall building for the area it is in. Eight stories high but set in a residential area but also facing a vast empty lot that borders a highway. I am one of those lucky enough to have a cubicle next to a window and am able to see the sun and clouds and constant coming and going of cars in the parking lot. Because the building is in a residential neighborhood there are many trees with many birds living among them. The birds see to be extremely attracted to the windows in my building because every day I hear them crashing into the floors above and below me. Once in awhile I even see they hit near me. This is a perfect symbol for my existence in this building.

Grass

You know, I have these amazingly insightful and wise thoughts whenever I'm cutting (mowing) the grass (lawn) - see I'm bilingual - it's just that I can never remember them once I've stopped.

Then again, the above may be the full extent of these superb thoughts. How would I know...I can't remember.

Doe Do

Mike Doe said:

"Our perception of time is not accurate.

Flowers do not decay, they are eaten.

Water does not flow downhill. The actions of two bodies with non-zero mass (ie. The earth and the water) causes a distortion of space-time such that the two bodies move towards each other.

Sometimes our perceptions are just not accurate reflections of reality.

When a leaf falls off a tree the earth will be drawn to the leaf and the leaf to the earth. If the leaf was the size of the earth it would be an equal match. Since the leaf is much smaller than the earth the earth tends to stay put.

That is the physics.

The rest is our intepretation of what we perceive. It is workable but it is not accurate."

Always try to look beyond the surface. That's where the treasure lies.

Time Passages

Why am I not so different from yesterday but so different from tomorrow? What am I waiting for?

Am I Going Insane

Insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time.

So change the doing, or better yet, change the expectation.