Cross Words

A white page seems so daunting. It looks back at you saying, "You have to write perfectly! You are only as good as your words. You will be judged accordingly." That's a lot of pressure from a blank box. Many people end up just looking at it blankly; blank as the box it feels it cannot fill. It's the mind reflecting itself though, trying to grasp onto the ego which says it must be the best. It's the ego which wants to be fed. It's the ego which traps us in our little boxes. Yet, this can change so quickly. Look at it differently. It's now a blank canvas, not a glaring box. Don't be trapped in the expectations of a white box. Free your mind and write.

Bob Dylan on the air

Bob Dylan on
   the air
Me on the ground
   a lifetime
   waiting for 
   take off
Could die before
   I succeed
   before I
   learn to read
   the wisdom
   in my own
   heart.

Bohmian Dialogue - Working Through the Word Together

All One

All One

is cosmic consciousness lived

in every moment of our lives.

It's always with you and I

but usually there's a vale over it.

"It" is cosmic consciousness -- 

the basis of the golden rules

and deep understanding of reality.

I believe that wide spread

non-drug induced, spontaneous 

experiences of cosmic consciousness

are essential to the survival

of human life on earth. Not

by religion, dogma or ideology can

we come to unity. Not by education

alone can we do so. But, by

repeated glimpses of the oneness of

all things!

Heartfelt meditation, movement, music,

quiet stillness and longing are required. 

Go Deeper

Audio recording by Josh Williams (artwork and music) and Americ Azevedo (voice).

Who

Speaking From a New Place

Ocean of Stillness

Be 

an 

ocean 

of 

stillness 

within 

the 

world

Book of Life

The book of life is written in the heart. It is read by those whose eyes have been washed by tears. The deepest wisdom is earned in pain, despair, and disappointment. But, past that – there comes a lightness and freedom that is beyond everyday human understanding – call it divine. We are like butterflies breaking out of our cocoons!

Living Way Off the Ground

Global technological civilization is living way off the ground. Too many people never feel the earth, nor see and sense the wonder of the sky above. "Time" is lost, replaced by an endless drone of instant messages, emails, news flashes, and instant videos. Endless rapid communication near and far. The only truly subversive act is to STOP, breathe deeply and listen for silence - the voice of Being - for a little while. Abandon doing for being. Be still.

Take Back Our Lives Together

It's through others that we live. Civilization - with all it's technology - abstracts us from each other - to the point that symbols becomes life - that is false. Today, take back our lives together - see ourselves in others.

Alan Watts: OM The sound of Hinduism part 1a

Worth listening to. Alan Watts is classic. He opened so many people up to Eastern religion. He was an important part of the "beatnik" era. The man for the job - having been a former Episcopalian minister.

Unnatural Way of Presence

Walked into a bookstore. 
Found a lovely looking book about 
"simple teachings for being present".
Opened it - 
totally complex language and ideas.
All words about presence - 
but no presence.
Streams of non-stop words.
The natural way of being
was lost.
Forget, forget, forget books 
and essays (such as this one)
you are reading now.
Look! Look! Be! Just be. 

Counting money

Count the money you have, not the money you don't have.

Bohmian Dialogue - Working Through The Word Together

Socratic dialogue has a center, a facilitator. Bohmian dialogue, however, has no center or leader, rather everyone is responsible. It is a working through the word together. Listening, suspending judgement, and sharing happen. There is no "topic". The topics emerge as participants speak, listen, respond or stay quiet. A Bohmian dialogue group is from ten to forty members. Because of its open ended format, it truly reflects a microcosm of the wider culture.

Philosophy - What's It Good For?

In my last year at the University of California at Irvine, I switched majors from biology to philosophy. Friends asked me, "What good is philosophy?" What they really meant was, "Can you make any money at it?" I knew people with lots of money, but little meaning in their lives. They seemed to be lost in games and pastimes. They worked without questioning the purpose or value of their work. I was interested in meaning, not money, but the people around me didn't share my feeling. Most of them believed that only money was real.

In my search for meaning, I first turned to the study of logic, mathematics, and science. In my teenage years I encountered logical positivism. Logical positivism was an early 20th Century school of philosophy that claimed all the grand questions of traditional philosophy were meaningless. Questions like "What is the meaning of life?" or "Is there a God?" were meaningless, logical positivists asserted, because the answers cannot be verified. But questions like "Does the moon have an opposite side?" are meaningful because we can construct tests to prove or disprove any answer. We can build a rocket to the moon. But how can we verify the meaning of life, or the existence of God? The logical positivists saw no true/false test for these matters.

Of course, just because we can't prove or disprove God's existence doesn't mean he doesn't exist! Logical positivism lost its hold on me while I was a graduate student at San Francisco State University in 1970. I was moving toward 'meaningless' questions like: Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the purpose of life? Why is there evil in the world? Then I discovered Buddhism and other ancient spiritual traditions that addressed such questions. I was beginning to find real philosophy. 

Philosophy is not a word game. It is, as Plato explained, the "love of wisdom". Few students get to study real philosophy at college. Philosophizing is an extraordinary act. It requires re-thinking issues at the most fundamental level -- right down to questions of being. One winds up asking simple-sounding, childlike questions like "What is real?"

The world is adrift, without meaning. That is why so many become victims of political ideologies and extreme religious viewpoints that offer a sense of meaning at the expense of compassion, truth, and justice.

"Does philosophy help you make money?" My answer is personal. All the really amazing jobs I've held came from my grounding in philosophy. I became a computer programmer because my boss assumed that philosophy made one logical. I got promotions to higher levels of responsibility because I saw the "big picture" in the organizations I worked for. One day I found myself the acting CEO of several small technology companies in trouble. Why? Because my philosophical perspective gave me a high tolerance for ambiguity, which allowed me to go into unknown and almost unknowable situations again and again. So yes -- philosophy can help you make money. But meaning, understanding, and wisdom are the real payoffs.

Glimpsing the Universe

One of the greatest miracles - the emerging maps and images of the structure of the whole universe. All this knowledge is tentative. We will never get to the bottom of it all. Among the greatest human-cosmic adventures. 

Filaments represent strings of galaxies across the universe. 

The Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics

Nothing Permanent In The Mind, Except Consciousness

There's nothing permanent in the mind, 
except consciousness.

Almost impossible to talk or think 
our way into this realization.

An easier way is through 
meditation or silent prayer.

Some say that 
nature is emptiness;

others say that it is God.

It’s up to you 
to realize mind's true nature.
Or, perhaps, you are granted grace 
and it just happens!

Riding the bus into work this morning

We recently received this letter in the email. Worth sharing. Writer gave permission for republishing in the Philosopher-at-Large blog.

Americ,

Riding the bus into work this morning I looked around at all my fellow patrons. Wondering, my eyes meet with the only other person not looking down at an electronic device. We share a moment in a smile. As I scan around at everyone else, they are only shadows of people. Physically near but consciously lost in other universes. It made me want to break down and cry in the middle of the bus. I wanted to grieve for something modern humanity seems to have lost.

Not that I don't love technology and it's awesomeness. But I can just imagine the raw power that would exist within this bus if all these people were present to one another - the ideas that would spread like wildfire, the shared experience of one another. It seems almost revolutionary almost radical.

I looked back at the woman, she smiled again, knowingly.

Anyway, I wanted to share.

Liliana Caughman

Giving Is Having

You know you 

have something 

when you give it away. 

By giving, having 

suddenly becomes real.

Vision Actualization Process

The following is a ten step process for making your visions happen. I developed it with hundreds of students in my PACS 164A (Introduction to Nonviolence) class at the University of California, Berkeley. You can do it by yourself; however, it's more powerful if you do it with others. We had over 400 students go through this process. All kinds of wonderful projects emerged. Lives where changed. Thousands of people outside our classes (even in foreign countries) received the benefits of student visions for good turned into tangible actions in the world. 

Vision Actualization Process

Date: _______________

Name:  Last_________________ First_______________

A personal vision contributing a nonviolent sustainable good society.

Write down responses to the following steps. Read your responses. Rewrite as you become clearer on your project. Share with others what you are doing. Take feedback. Make adjustments if needed. Rewrite again. Act. Feedback. Adjust. Act again. Actualize.

Vision Title
A short descriptive title for your personal vision.

Detailed Vision Story
On a singe sheet of paper, describe your current vision. Keep in mind that it is perfectly okay to now have a different vision than the one you originally declared in class.

Mission Statement
A brief summary of what you are trying to accomplish.

Territory
The “landscape” of people, problems, and projects your vision is embedded within. Why is it needed? Who else is doing it? How can you do it better?

Limiting Beliefs, Re-framing, and Positive Self Affirmations 
Identify the limiting beliefs that slow down or stop you and re-frame them into affirmations supporting your vision.

Goals
List specific goals that must be met in order to attain your vision. (Could be one or several interdependent goals.) What resources do you need in terms of time, people, knowledge, money, and materials? What overall types of actions are required?

Planning
Provide specific steps and timelines for attaining each goal. 

Actualization
Let all of the above “hit the road”. Moving from thought to action. What actions did you already accomplish to actualize your vision? What actions are you undertaking at this time? What’s ahead on your "to do list" for today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, etc.?

Observations and Adjustments
Evaluate, reevaluate, and reevaluate again your ideas and/or process. What problems, complexities or issues are you running into? What modifications are, or have been, required of your plan?  Where are you now?

Any Other Comments.
For example, your personal experience with the vision project, your thoughts about doing this in the class context, or anything else.

Green Manufacturing Blog

I highly recommend following the

Green Manufacturing Blog. 

It is produced by David Dornfeld, head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability at the University of California, Berkeley. This subject is most important as we head into a world of global climate change. Here's the blog's summary description:

Commentary, information and resources related to green manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing and sustainability in the US and abroad. Based on information from a variety of sources (web to print) and including technical information from researchers in the field as well as researchers at the University of California in the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability (LMAS - lmas.berkeley.edu). 

Imagine Healing Now

Imagination 

sometimes makes us ill;

sometimes makes us well.

Creation

The physicist, unmaking mind and life

explaining creatures as kinds of light

To undo the work of the Creation,

returning from the 6th to the 1st Day!

               “To Undo the Work of the Creation…”

                             Paul Goodman[1]

When did it begin? Anyone of us around for that event? Was it the sound of “aum” as suggested in the ancient Upanishads?  Physicists and cosmetologists project backwards using mathematical time travel. They say we can tune into the sound of the cosmic creation event, the Big Bang. You can “hear” that creation sound on your radio or television as the static on channels with no active broadcast stations – it’s a small percentage of that static! The shock waves of creation are still with us.

“Universe” = “uni” + “verse” suggesting “One song”. The universe sings one song. Listen, listen, and listen. The song is love.

Creation is not over. New varieties of animal and plant species are still arriving. Old mountains falling. Creation is a big long winded event. Now is the moment of creation. “Undo the work of Creation” – come into presence where you are. It begins here and now. Again and again. Now create. “Let there be….” Just fill in the blanks.

  

A listener of my audio recordings[2] listeners wrote:

your words always give me hope
that there is someone on the same frequency out there.
the frequency of the universe.

A beautiful idea: that we can tune ourselves to the frequency of the universe! What could that frequency be? Perhaps the ringing echoes of the Big Bang creation event. Maybe the sound of Aum (om) as suggested in the Upanishads. Or, is it the frequency of truth - which only a quiet soul can hear?

---

[1] Poetry Magazine, July 1940, page 184. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/56/4#!/20582182

[2] https://soundcloud.com/americ

Learning and Unlearning

"If you are not having fun, you are not learning." That was my motto when teaching database theory and administration. One day a student surprised me. He was quoting back me my own motto!

Meditation is one of the best ways to unlearn, to break out of old habits, to let go of the past and be more present to what is here now.

Humans are born learners – in youth often experiencing a certain ecstasy in learning itself. To stay young keep learning something new. Open up a different kind of magazine. Keep changing the environment that you're looking at so that your mind works at mastering new vistas. You're old when you can't be bothered to learn new things. A long time ago my first child told me, “When you stop learning you die.” I think he was eight or seven years old at the time.

Learn to unlearn. Question authority as it presents itself in books, all the media, and interpersonal relationships. Learning to unlearn is one of the greatest attainments in our lives; unlearning opens up space for new knowledge, skills, and insights. 

New American OccuPie 1

Clyde Leland's brilliant musical social political commentary inspired by the original Occupy Movement. Clyde's "New American OccupPie 1" transcends the Occupy Movement, deserving a place within mainstream social-political-entertainment culture. This is music and song for sparking dialogue among friends and critics.

Wise men and fools - Bruce Lee

Miracle

Image found by looking up "Life" on Google.

Image from http://www.cfcmiddleeast.org/?p=3736 

Why are there human's in the universe?

Here’s a mystery. Why are there human’s in the universe? Does the universe need us to be here so that it can be observed; so that we can be awed by the wonder of it all? 

I believe that the universe is human in the sense that without humans (or other equally sentient conscious creatures there would be no one, nothing to honor the glory of the creation). 

Mining Building

View from my classroom in the Mining Building. 

A perfect place for teaching Engineering Ethics. 

Beauty, design, and the implications of our actions.

All at once.

Grounding

We stand on the earth. But we might not be “grounded” – meaning that our heads are “in the clouds”. Mastery is when we are planted here and now in this spot. Rooted in place. So that we cannot be easily pushed over for others who are not being with truth. 

Grounding is a Qi Gong practice. Do the “horse pose”. It is fundamental. Stand with your knees relaxed. Back erect, comfortably, non-forced, yet straight. Your hands softly open and turned inward toward your belly. Arms extending outward a little. (Many variations on this pose exist!) 

Everyday is different, everyday is new

Everyday is different, everyday is new. We wake up in the morning often surprised by how we feel "today". Suddenly, what seemed important yesterday is not important. Suddenly, something is harder or easier today. Always, somewhat of a surprise as we wake up to today. 

Sound tracks remixed by listeners of my SoundCloud oral teaching uploads. An amazing development in my work as a "philosopher-at-large".

Re-mix by americ

The Answer

Know thyself,
all will make sense.

Love thyself,
you will Love All.

All One

Get out of your head and into your body! 

Believe it or not (mind! watch it) our bodies have been around much longer and have gained tons of experience. 

In other words, keep remembering how wise you already are.

Looking to create
a more spontaneous
way of posting thinking
here.

Perhaps, some experiments are in order!

This Is Water - David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech

This is, perhaps, one of the greatest, most meaningful  commencement speeches ever given to any group of graduating college students by Wallace at Kenyon College on May 21, 2005.

Coming Of Age by americ
Celebrating the life that has been given.

Standing Still in Line

Standing Still In Line by americ
Meditation opportunities can happen everywhere - even while standing in line at the bank or in the deli. We give you a sense of how to go about this.

Failing and Flying ©

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.


By Jack Gilbert

Waterfall

Waterfall by americ
The waterfall as a metaphor for birth, living, death, and transcendence.

Om's and Breaths

Om's And Breaths by americ
When you make a phone call, you can create an opportunity to chant together one or more "om" sounds and do several slow long deep breaths. A good way to use some of the time together on the phone. NOTE: Long recorded pause near the end for the long quiet breaths. A few words follow.

Appreciation and Transcendence

Appreciation and Transcendence by americ
An exploration of consciousness. Appreciation and transcendence together as enlightenment.

No way out

No way out
Always here
Even in dreams

Pelican Sage

Hunting for knowledge

Surprised by wisdom

Surpassed with gratitude

Eternal Life

The eternal life is

given to those who

live in the present.

Ludwig Wittenstein
(as quoted in Zen Calendar, April 10, 2011)

Spring in Winter

Your Own Beauty - as seen by Ram Dass

“Your problem is you’re afraid to acknowledge your own beauty. You’re too busy holding on to your own unworthiness. You’d rather be a schnook sitting before some great man. That fits in more with who you think you are. Well, enough already. I sit before you and I look and I see your beauty, even if you don’t.”

                                                                Ram Dass[1]

---

[1] As quoted in the The Sun, January 2114, page 24. See http://thesunmagazine.org/issues/457/beginnings_blunders_eleventh_hour_rescues. 

A budget is a moral document

Crossing over

Two circles

Love of Oneself

As I began to love myself, I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health —food, people, things, situations and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism, today, I know it is, “LOVE OF ONESELF.”

~ Charlie Chaplin

Thanks

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the people you are grateful for in your life. There will be time tomorrow to forget; celebrating objects and wealth again. Celebrate what you have, not what you will get. Shine light on black friday. It will help everyone see.

the usual seat

take the usual seat
sit, get ready, wait
it all unfolds as it is

Is it true?

Lost It

yesterday I lost it
nothing much, only ego
can't find it anymore

Clapping here

no thought no sound
one hand clapping here
breath by breath here and now

Right now

Today, right now, is a new beginning. Let go of yesterday. 
Now is time becoming timeless. 

Money < Value

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."

Glass House

As I write this, I am writing a story. On the page to you; from the page to me. I am not editing this passage and that too is another story…

Keep with me here

So right now, you too are writing a story. You are reading the story, of my story, creating another story in your life. It’s the thousands of mirrors which you see when you look into multiple mirrors. Everyone is reading and writing a story; the infinite epic.

Crying Heart

the heart is right to cry
even when the smallest drop of light,
of love,
is taken away.
perhaps you may kick, moan, scream
in a dignified
silence,
but you are so right to do so 
in any fashion
until god returns
to you

~Hafiz

Sparknotes

Turn off the light

Your eyes will adjust to the dark. 

Get an injury

Your body will heal the wound. 

Meditate

Your practice will quiet the mind.

Be conscious 

Your spirit will be set free.

Afraid of the Light

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson

Mandukya Upanisad - Commentary by Sridharan

According to Mandukya Upanisad, the fourth state of consciousness is the ultimate goal. It is also often called "Thoughtless Awareness", in Sanskrit "Turiya". Turiya is silence. Silence is not absence of sound. SILENCE IS THE AWARENESS OF THE CONTENT AND ILLUMINATOR OF THE ABSENCE OF SOUND.

Thoughtless awareness is paradoxical  in the sense that how can one be aware without thoughts? Vedanta (Upanisad) says that thoughtless is to be understood as destruction of impurities of the mind and not total destruction of mind.

It is brought out lucidly in the Upanishads that neither absence of thoughts is liberation (freedom) nor presence of thoughts is bondage. One should aim for fearlessness, detachment and purity of mind for enjoying the fourth state of consciousness.

Fourth state is living in the present. When one is capable of dropping all projections, memories and experiences, one experiences the fourth state. Talking or writing about Turiya is simple, but to make sure no thought enters the mind without permission (!) is a monumental task. Do you agree?

                                                             - Sridharan

Just This, Just That

Words are maps of reality and dreams
Words are not reality, not dreams
Better to stop now
Sit, walk around and breathe
Later, come back to the words
For words are the work of the world
Perhaps, the world would not exit without words
For, indeed, the "world" is a story we tell each other
Take away the story
What do you have left over
Just this, just that.
Engaging directly what is
Like a new born

Of Words

Of words, we don't need many.
Just a phrase, a sound,
can be enough
to suggest reality.

Instructions

Now, read the poem backwards.

Upside Down

Lost Generation

"I am part of a lost generation
and I refuse to believe that
I can change the world
I realize this may be a shock but
“Happiness comes from within.”
is a lie, and
“Money will make me happy.”
So in 30 years I will tell my children
they are not the most important thing in my life
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
work
is more important than
family
I tell you this
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
but this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making
In the future
Environmental destruction will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope."

- Jonathan Reed

Moving

I practice love, I
learn compassion again
I remember
it is who I am

Moving, always moving
I rest in my heart
I let my mind drop into
my chest and
sweet release
washes me pure

True Science

Listen. Listen. Listen ever so deeply with your whole being. Anything less is a waste of time. But don't listen to me. Listen to what's inside you. You and I are constantly constructing a sense of the world. It's quite possible that what is called "one's world" is not that same as reality. So look deeply. Perhaps, you (and I) can get a glimpse of what's real beyond "my world" or even "our world". That would be true science, true wisdom. 

Lines of Conciousness

I fear my biggest regret upon dying will be that I underestimated myself.
That I somehow didn't realize I was my own Enlightenment.
That I was searching for me and missed me because I am me.
It's like this quiet knowing I can't explain.
I feel like even uttering it...And it's gone, or I've somehow made it less real with my human language.

Than it was; but ultimately I know it doesn't matter what I do. Not that I'm powerless, the opposite.
It is YOU! Infinitely shining energy, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? SEE YOURSELF!

Fear and anxiety are often wanting to be invited in for tea.
Come to the party, I say.
We have a chat with myself.
I talk to these faux feelings, we have a conversation.
I always make it through somehow because I remember what I had forgotten:

Do what makes you feel good and live in the heart.
The mind won't leave you when you wish to play with the tool that's as big as you make it.

As humans, we are energy manipulators.
We have the ability to channel emotions and thoughts in a remarkably beautiful or horrible way.
How do you treat ants? They annoy you; we kill them. Do you believe in a bigger God than you? What size? What capacity of intellect and compassion?
I try but cannot fathom.
You must constantly forgive yourself and accept.

You walk the earth, you feel love in your heart and you smile; a young mother with a child catches it and you see it spread--both lives, saved!
And you remember how much it hurt to find out YOU have a choice.
Little YOU has much more power than you who thought you were you ever imagined...

Be sure you are not suffering over your suffering.
Remember the SHIFT:
Have you made your suffering too comfortable? Is the deep jolt of shift, of happiness, worse than the deep pang of regret?

Torrent

Let's face it. Time is like a torrent of water rushing through our lives. Time cannot be stopped - and life cannot be separated from time until there is deep transcendence of all the cares and concerns of daily life. Few ever learn to live with abandon without attachment - at peace with it all passing. Yet, yet, and yet again - there's something within us that does not change. Something unchanged since we became aware of being here in our lives. Something so much more real than the passing fading torrent of time. 

Who Am I Today?

Who am I today? Who was I yesterday? Who will I be tomorrow? 

This little self, always changing. A bundle of feelings, thoughts, perceptions constantly looping back on itself.

There must be something “more”. It cannot be named without turning it into a something. It’s not something. It’s a nothing, a no-thing, that is infinite.

Fly Trapped In a Back Room

Sometimes a fly gets trapped in a back room, attracted to the glass windows. Eventually it dies, not seeing the way out through a darker hallway to an open window. Humans get attached to the bright lights, big billboards, loud sounds, and media distractions. Eventually they can't change of direction back to the quiet voice of truth. They die unfulfilled. 

"Today you are YOU, that is TRUER than true. There is NO ONE alive who is YOUER than YOU! " 

~Dr. Seuss

Let's Stop For It

That was an excellent nap. I found 'something' but I'm not sure that it's really the real 'it' we've been looking for this entire time

How can you be sure either way, Haku?

Ahhh. This is too hard. I give up looking! I give up running!
That's odd
I think I can see 'it' now

Yes. This will a difficult journey

Let's Run for It

Let's run for it!

What?

I said – let's run for it!

But what's “it”?

It's all that we've ever wanted since the day we lost our innocence.

But you can't name what “it” is!

That's the point, my friend. What can be named is not It.

So, here we are – two people running after that which cannot be named.

Yes! So, let run for It!

Dialogue Circle

O wondrous capacity
To sit in circles
Speaking, singing, listening
Watching meanings, feelings
Moving through one another
As if one mind, one heart

Today Will Not Be The Same

Today will not be the same
Today will not be the same
All past resolutions
All failed promises to Self
To stay awake, to allow grace
Let it be
Let it be Now
Forever Now

Under Pressure

Meaning of Life: Get the Prize

“What's the meaning of life?” This question was asked of people from nine to seventy-five years of age.

I asked a nine year old boy. 
He said, “To get the prize?” 
“What do you mean?”, I said.
“When you win the race, you get the prize!”

“The meaning of life” implies THE meaning of life; but, there are many “meanings” of life. Meanings of life change according to people’s age. 

Two Birds

Two Birds with fair wings, knit with bonds of friendship,
in the same sheltering tree have found a refuge.
One of the twain eats the sweet Fig tree’s fruitage;
the other eating not, regardeth only.

The Rig Veda [1]

Light shines upon all. Yet, we “fall” into fascination with glittery objects – forgetting the source light. Seeing only objects, not the light.

---

[1] Book I, Hymn CLXIV, Verse 20 from Sacred Writings, Hinduism: The Rig Veda. Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith. Book-of-the-Month Club, New York, 1992.

True Dialogue Brings Meaning

True dialogue brings meaning to life. It expresses profound love. We are born to sing, gesture, and talk with each other. Our group survival depends on that. To love one another and love the whole of creation is our destiny, purpose. Opening up to “fields of new possibilities”, becoming wildly creative, like children, and joining the play of creation. Each of us knows so little; others may help us gain a greater view. Adjusting worldviews - incorporating greater information, knowledge, and wisdom. A perfect dialogue leads into a silence that feels complete in itself.

Short Stop

There's a saying in a negative situation which is usually offered up by a loved one in the intention of solace or hope, "the grass is always greener on the other side." We have all experienced this feeling of finally obtaining what we yearned for only to find that it wasn't what we imagined it to be. It's a terrible and hopeless feeling after wanting something for so long. Yet, continuing the cycle, another dream surfaces and now there is a whole new patch of grass to spy on. It becomes clear that these are all just fields of dreams. Ultimately, you yearn or morn the loss of something you only imagined to be true. How powerful the mind; how fickle.

I'm not too sure if it's actually greener on the other side. I could be wrong though; I've never been able to get onto that field.

Silence Almost Irrefutable

Found on the wall menu of Berkeley's beloved Cheeseboard Pizza.

Inner Scientist

Look for what is real for you

Be an inner scientist!

Explore your thoughts and feelings. Come to stillness often
          Engage reality on gross, deep, and subtle levels

Read these passages as an internal experimental science
          Use them to find your own understanding of reality

If you find truth for yourself, then you own it
          Truth is timeless; our work is to disclose the truth already here

Time and Eternity

Time and eternity meet in the Now.
We are in the world, but not of the world
We are free and not free

New Moon - July 8th

Free me into the morning light

One more time, one more day

Knowing that this, this moment

Is the true beginning and end

Of All That Is

Backside

Backside of Giorgi Gallery in Berkeley, California.

Be Love Now

“Falling in love you remain a child; rising in love you mature. By and by love becomes not a relationship, it becomes a state of your being. Not that you are in love - now you are love.” 
~Osho

At Large

Stacking dead papers into the sky, continuing to work without knowing why. I wanted to see what was above the hours clocked and dollars earned, though terrified of what I'd find in return.

I built a ladder into the sky, made of paintings and novels; some which make you laugh or sometimes made you cry. The things which only through our humanity can they live and do they die.

As I climbed I began to dream, of freedom and peace as I gripped at the seams. Dreams which made the world below look shaken and obscene.

Taking a final step onto the papers that darkened the sky, I shuttered with uncertanty of the answers to why. Expecting the worse I slowly began to open one eye.

I guess I don't know what I was expecting to see, a man in a black suit watching TV? Clearly someone wasn't watching over me. Mabye a machine made of cherries and eights, spitting out money and spreading more waste.

It was light! Like the sun bouncing off the front of a white page.

With just one of my eyes, this blinding light was all I could see, so I opened them both and saw something very dear to me. It  WAS  a new and beautiful fresh page, like the ones I remembered from back in the day. I could use this one to write new stories and draw, I could even use it as a stage to perform what I felt and I saw.

With all this new space to be free, from all the work that has been plauging me, I began to write of my most recent journey. I began from how it started to become filled with dead pages, thoughts and feelings of being in cages, even illustrated shadows of pie charts dwarfing the sages.

I continue to write as these words unfold, creating new chapters and posting quotes which I feel need to be told. I guess this makes me a philosopher too, always building, making something that is alive and new.

Making a Living is Not Living

There's profound confusion between money and life. I grew up with the expression "making a living" - which means making enough money to stay alive - as if money is life. True: money is not life. Life is life. Life is love. Love is working together. Life is freely given to us because we're embedded within the matrix of all life on earth. And, all life depends on sunlight. Yes, the sun is life too. Does the sun need money? Who/what needs money - only humans. Why? Because there's not enough love, trust and faith among us collectively to feed each other in our extreme interpersonal specialization within our civilizations. I hope we learn to rethink, re-feel the way we are in our world together. Our greatest need is not money, but the creation and re-creation of enlightened good societies on our precious earth. 

Avalanche

When the Dali Lama was asked what surprised him most about humanity, he answered,

"Man. He sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."

-Tenzin Gyatso 14th Lama

Being First

There's too much "to do".
Undo the to-do.  
Put "being first" on the "to do" list. 
All the doing will take care of itself.
  

Beyond Good and Bad

Times are good. They will pass!

Times are bad. They will pass!

Strive, strive!

Go beyond good and bad. 

X-Ray

“I look at you

and see all the ways a soul can bruise, 

and I wish I could sink my hands into your flesh 

and light lanterns along your spine 

so you know that there’s nothing but light 

when I see you.”

-Shinji Moon

Deepest Practice

the deepest spiritual 
practice is just
being here with all
one's being. indeed
one's being is just
here-ness. It can't
be anywhere
else

(You may wonder about the "form" of these sayings. They are poetry and not poetry. They are prose and not prose. They start out as writings on small scraps of paper.) 

Open the Doors

Take it away
Move this feeling of doubt away
Open the doors of perception
One more time. Free me
Into this moment

Locket

'Open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day, but in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you.'

-Bob Marley

Born in the Azores Islands

Born in the Azores Islands

From people of the land

Tip of the lost continent of Atlantis

A mythical place of high technology

I grew up an immegrant far away

Life spent in the high technology

Worlds and universities of Northern California

Dreaming of truth; realizing truth

Not in equations or propositions, but

In deep silences of Being