They're So Wrong

Just reading their remarks make me sick. I can't believe they think that way. It's so pathetic and wrong. Is being so one-sided that easy to do? Is ignoring half of the world really just a snap of the finger? My way makes sense. My way is all encompassing. It even includes and understands their pathetic side. So, hmph.

Wait. Was that anger? Yes, I'm angry at their imbecilic one-sidedness. This anger is the same anger they had. The anger that divided their reality into two and banished one of the sides into cardboard boxes labeled "Ignore".

Infophobia

I'm overwhelmed by information again. I've got a ton of tabs open. I've just bookmarked 8 pages today. And when I bookmark them, I debate what tags/labels to use, expending further mental energy. I've just created several blog topic series.

Prioritize. Find out what is really important to me if I'm to get anything done besides starting a million open-ended projects. Only spend time on things that bring me closer to what I value.

Tao Te Ching Ch 1

My Internet Era Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching. I draw from 4 translations. The sources are indented and the author is in (parentheses). You may find it helpful to read one version straight through first, then read the referenced one. Or not. Whatever works for you.

1.
If you can think about it, it's not the full Tao.
If it has a name, it's just another thing, not the full Tao.

The Reason that can be reasoned
is not the eternal Reason.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name. (Susuki)

2.
Even though you can't point to the Tao, it created everything around you, which you could point to.

The Unnamable is of heaven and earth the beginning.
The Namable becomes of the ten thousand things the mother. (Susuki)

3.
When you don't want to hold on to things, you'll fully see things as they are. If you continue to want things, you'll only see things in terms of "I like this" or "I don't like this" and miss out on their other aspects.

Therefore not to desire the things of sense is to know the freedom of spirituality; and to desire is to learn the limitation of matter. (Goddard)

4.
Actually, not wanting things is just another perspective. Understand how both perspectives can coexist if you want to see things clearly.

These two things spirit and matter, so different in nature, have the same origin. This unity of origin is the mystery of mysteries, but it is the gateway to spirituality. (Goddard)

Immediate Honesty

Give feedback ASAP. The longer the delay, the further away they are from the state of mind in question. You create stronger, more appropriate associations when you provide live feedback.

Email is slow feedback. It's harder to guarantee that your recipient is in a desired state of mind to receive your message.

Even in a live situation, it's hard to get someone into an open enough state to receive. I make them feel loved before I say anything, even if its a compliment. (Compliments can easily be misinterpreted as flattery.)

Reading pile

18 years ago

I made this when I was 9. Funny how prophetic art can be.

Bear witness to their suffering

Bear witness to their suffering with compassion. Only after they feel secure in your arms of unconditional protection may you talk of personal responsibility.

Anger Is My Mirror

You are my mirror. My attempts to change you are just scratches on the mirror, obscuring you and ultimately myself to myself. My attempts to change you are my attempts to hide from myself.

Replace war with sports

What if battles were decided by the leaders from opposing sides playing a chess game? The loser gets his head cut off. Everyone else gets to live. Oh wait a minute. The Maya do something like that: Mayan ball game

Game3.0

Very cool game.

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

FDR said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." How did we get to a point where we have declared war on fear, or its synonym, terror? A war on terror is a tail chase, a terrified assault against terror spiraling us into more terror. They have us where they want us: a permanent war economy.

The Other Half That Makes Us Whole

I was looking up a reference to Plato's story about Zeus cutting people into halves as punishment so that we search relentlessly for our missing half. Instead I found an interesting advocacy for homosexuality. Wasn't expecting that.

But those who are halves of a male who pursue males, and being slices, so to speak, of the male, love men throughout their boyhood, and take pleasure in physical contact with men. Such boys and lads are the best of their generation, because they are the most manly.

from Symposium: Plato

Ayahuasca

This guy takes his family to the Amazon jungles and drinks ayahuasca. Great documentary. Touches on environmental issues as well as drug legalization.

Visualizing World Development

The world ain't in that bad a shape if you look at the data. The rich-poor gap is actually lessening. The problem, in my opinion, is where we are equalizing toward. I have a fear that we're being corralled into a worldwide police state of two classes: the public under constant and complete surveillance and the surveying elites.