Fun Boy There Feat. Bananarama – It Ain’t What You Do
Daily Tao / 221 – Nonduality
Don’t contemplate
As mere activity.
Be void contemplating void.
Once one understands that the ultimate nature of this existence is void, one understands that to be void is the only true mode of meditation. Notice that void is not the object of meditation — to pair meditator and object creates a dualistic relationship between self and environment that leads one astray.
In meditation we are searching for unity. We need something that takes us out of the normal dualistic modes that are the origins of all our difficulties. Therefore, the only true meditation is one that does not put us into a relationship of viewer and object. Any object, no matter how holy, still reinforces the illusion that there is a reality outside of ourselves. What we are trying to gain is the true interior view : There is no difference between our inner and outer realities.
The ultimate meditation is the realization that we ourselves are empty of distinctions, that our sense of identity is only the result of dualistic clinging. Along with that, we should understand that there is really nothing to contemplate, nothing to think about.
Daily Tao / 220 – Threshold
Why mourn for a cocoon
After the butterfly has flown?
Death is one of the few givens in life, and yet we fear it. We immaturely deny its presence or refuse to take it into account. In life, where so few things are stable enough to serve as true reference points, death is one of our few assurances.
Death is not an ending. It is a transformation. What dies is only our sense of identity, which was false to begin with. Death is the threshold of this life. Beyond it is something else, some mystery. We can only be sure that it is unlike this life.
Let us be unabashed in admitting that no one knows death definitely. The closest we may come is a supposed near-death experience, which, by definition, cannot be death itself. Alternately, we can examine other people who have died. We can look at a corpse. When we do, we see that whoever or whatever it was that animated that body is longer in force. Is that body our dead friend? No. Whatever it was that was the person we knew is gone. What use is there to mourn over a lifeless shell in a casket?
Death defines the limits of life. Within those limits, there is structure upon which to base one’s decisions. Whenever one deems that one’s life has been fulfilled, one can utilize death as the portal away from this existence.
Daily Tao / 219 – Composure
Although they may have to kill
Or suffer themselves to be killed,
A person of composure remains dispassionate.
Nothing is ever destroyed,
Nothing is ever created.
All is infinity.
For most people, killing is an abhorrence. If they had to kill, they would be horrified and their emotions would be uncontrollable. Likewise, if they were being threatened with death, they would be afraid and would struggle to keep alive.
Both those situations involve extreme attachment to what we know and how we wish to remain. Both situations indicate a fundamentally limited view of the world. We assume that we are truly destroying someone. But though this body may be slain, the soul cannot be slain. Every soul is but a part of an infinite, cosmic soul.
You could subtract numerous souls from the world, and the number of souls would not be diminished. Numerous souls could be born, and the number of souls would not be augmented. Nothing is truly destroyed, and nothing is truly born. Only appearances change.
Therefore, people of composure view the transformations of the world calmly. They do not become alarmed with the different permutations of phenomena. They know that these are all merely outer manifestations of an indefinable, unlimited, and infinite reality.
One Word Movie Review
Oblivion
trite …
Happy Birthday
to Lucille Ball
Chuck & Beans
Deal with the Devil –
Dirty Laundry –
Frank Castle –
Truth In Journalism –
meet Eddie Brock …
Daily Tao / 218 – Ownership
A small boy drives
A hundred ducks to the lake
With a tasseled stick :
A mass of excited white.
A small boy can command an entire flock of ducks with a slender stick. The ducks go contentedly down to the lake to play in the mud. In the end, of course, they end up as someone’s dinner.
They obey the stick because they respond to their conditioning. In truth, they don’t need to obey it. They don’t need to be someone’s meal. As for the boy, he is doing his job, but he does not own the ducks in an ultimate sense. He exercises his power over them, and they respond, yet neither realizes that their bond is provisional.
Ownership of property is only an artificial construct as well. If we can remember that ownership is something that exists only by definition, then we can give up possessiveness, defensiveness, and greed. What does it matter how much money or land you say you have? You cannot actually own it.
You don’t even own your body. Ultimate ownership would mean total control. You would never age. You could make it as beautiful as you wanted. You would never suffer from accidents. But the fact is that we are all imprisoned in flesh that ages, decays, becomes diseased, and can be destroyed by some rather minor accidents. You don’t own your body. You live in a borrowed shell. Why not seek the truth that goes beyond the body?
