The Play Within for: Jerry Seinfeld

Was/is one device to point to levels of

natural illusion, as in Hamlet, as in 

French Lieutenant's Woman.

Bringing the audience into the play

or, playing as if you were part of

the audience were forms of this.

And, in reality, we catch ourselves, or,

someone catches us being something…

and we feel flayed in front of eyes.

Our embarrassment of the truth of

who we are is our biggest obstacle

before the next one.

The Only Show In Town

Since we have the awareness of mortality,
that means we also have the intelligence to
understand it. People fear death because they
think  their lives exist other than as a temporary
phenomena, when all the  evidence says it is.
The thinking process itself becomes the mechanism

that touts concreteness, that fools us into a false
sense of security or insecurity. We associate with
others that support our version…mostly

relying on words to form our opinions rather
than on bare experience, natural awareness and
intelligence to see the world as it is. Hence, left

to the natural tendencies of untrained mind,
humans live in confusion.

from an e mail

And whether or not there is a conspiracy of rich survivalists, 

or any other scenario one could come up with,  doesn't seem 

to matter.  We're all subject to the causes and conditions. 

The fact that there is no real debate on climate change, 

world change, suggests to me that so much truth is being 

kept quiet...and one could almost take the opposite stance 

on any issue from what the various status quos allow, and 

be very close to the truth....from the climate, to UFOs. 

The debates that dominate and pollute the air waves, 

from gay marriage to gun control are completely irrelevant

except as distraction. It's getting more dangerous, though, 

I think. When the Huff-Po and Jimmie Carter come out in 

favor of Snowden, it shows some serious thinking going on. 

But until there are outright riots, I think the govt. will continue 

to play dumb. But, of course, they're ready.

Trains

Like De Chirico
I see trains as
religious icons
of the recently
gone age.
But when they
crash I'm reminded
we're all
ants on a log
going over
a waterfall.

Post On A Website

 I think the Snowden affair is making the problem more visible, 
but whether the public will react strongly enough to make a 
difference is seriously in doubt. The Occupy movement didn’t 
accomplish much, did it? So as long as the old paradigm
remains in power, we’ll still be burning oil and buying cars. 
People don’t seem to want to see the truth…or hear about it…
especially in the USA. That’s the first thing…seems to me…
that has to change. And it will change; consciously or through disaster.

Adult

All groan up

not my idea 

of a good time

except for 

the drinking

the sex

good food…

responsibility

is not something 

I asked for.

"Someday all this

will be yours."

(That was my dad

pointing to a pile 

of bills.)

I just want to be

dunk all the time.

I just want to see your

face in the same space

as mine.

Screed

The only real question I have left is why more people aren’t curious about
life in general; then I realize there’s always going to be a component of it 

that can’t be “known” , (like absolute truth), and that that not knowing generates fear that uses ignorance to cover it up. Even the great intellects are subject

to this.

But as we speak, there is a confluence of Buddhist theories of mind and the
scientific community which is beginning to see value there. Also, particle physics and math (chaos theory) are actually contributing to a new view where the Newtonian model becomes an artifact, and the order that we actually perceive more and more is being seen to rely on uncertainty, not
just on the quantum level….but that’s a start.

So, when we talk about models of government or political systems at this time,
my feeling is any paradigm you can think of has to face the fact that the way
reality itself is seen is changing. Why do you think people are so angry and crazy? Well, it might well be that standards of living are going down and that’s why. But I think that’s just another symptom of what’s happening. There’s no doubt that the internet is changing the consciousness of many many people.
Of course, in all kinds of ways. Even if the change just reinforces the negative for many people, what it does mean is that the pot is starting to boil.

(this article I read today in Huff Po says this even better: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-solnit/letter-to-edward-snowden_b_3616828.html )

For Keith Dowman

Mountain Of  Spontaneity

A simple man who sits there, 

but one gets the message.

How I know this is the secret.

A simple man who sits there….

What is he thinking?

What was he thinking to get there?

It's useless to ask questions

to a man that is just sitting there…

especially if you're unsure of 

the answer.

E Mail To Friend

Had a nice time with Keith....burned out, so, Diablo will have to wait

Splendid talking with him from rugby to Dzogchen 

over a bottle of port I brought over.

He chided me about "reifying" some concepts, 

but I slammed him back with

"I ain't reifying nothing here, Dude, 

I'm a drunk talking shit."

he seemed to like that.

Delicious Time

you know it is the love, like, you, me, John, down the line, going from hand to hand before life three "D"  the next thirty years before us....'til now...drunk all the time feeling fine on Elderberry wine...lost in what what we lost or who cares because the present is too present to think of the past as other than a delicious time.

To Those Of You I've Never Met

We don't know each other, but what is
there to know, really? We all got born,
do something in the middle, and grow old 

and die. Seems pretty rote, if you ask me.
And, yes, I know,  we all have the important
things in our  lives that drive us crazy or keep
us going….same thing really. And we all want

the same basic thing…happiness, for lack of a
decent word. We have happiness, whatever it
is, and try to keep it, or, we don't have it and
try to get it. The lucky ones are those who

never knew about happiness…who never
had a refrigerator or spent a week at Disneyland…
the ones who never wanted more…

I don't know if you are one of them….in fact,
there are so many of you I don't know, that
I'm sure every conceivable type of person is
among you….by type, I mean color, age,

temperament…the personal, superficial qualities.
What amazes me about most of you is that,
while you find plenty of things to do to keep
yourselves busy, very few of you take the time,
(in fact, it probably never occurs to you to do so)
to look at life itself and ask the only real question,
to my mind:"What is this?"  And, not only  to
ask the question, but to take steps to look into
what life is.

This is the most persistent question I have
about all of you.  After all, we have the capacity
to do more than just exist… our brains are
incredible tools that are capable of so much.

And so many great teachers of many traditions
have dispensed healing wisdom for the constantly
unsatisfactory situation we find ourselves in
much of our lives. 

Most of you have the same solution to this
dissatisfaction: get something that will
make it go away. I don't have to make
a list of possible "somethings", because
almost anything you  can think of would
be on it. This is what you do, and, if you're

old enough and have been paying attention,
you realize that it doesn't work….it never did.

I see you in the streets everywhere…
going along with the  latest agenda…sifting
through what you see around you for those
bits that fortify what you think is happening like
self-entertaining pinball machines.  You read
the latest reports to navigate your lives so
your version can remain unchallenged.

or, your milieu is so strong that it holds
you up in your place without much effort
on your part. 

I'm not trying to be critical…the phenomenon
I'm pointing to is too pervasive but to wonder
at. But every game has a clue,  and the clue to life,
where the treasure lies, is in the uncertainty

that we'd sure like to do without, but that
seems to be always  with us (got to have a ringer
here) like an itch we cannot scratch.

Make use of what's available. Couldn't one
say that that is one  phrase that defines part
of what it means to be human? Is that

what most of human accomplishment and
advancement pays homage to?  If we look at
what's available to us in terms of our experience,
we have rich resources at our disposal. We
have five senses that give us information. We
have the brains that are  capable of processing
that information. We also have unique gift:

self awareness…which includes awareness
of that which is not self….so, basic duality is
the "Go" square we start off on.

And we don't have to use self awareness
too much….just enough to work our sync
with not us so there isn't too much friction,
if possible. If you're a human just trying to
survive, of which there is a far greater number
in the world than 50%, one's awareness doesn't

have much time to get beyond that. If you're
a big fat slob drinking beer and watching
football, you don't care. Not much difference
there, really, except for the amount of suffering
versus temporary pleasure.

Make use of what's available. There are
10 to the 75th power bits of  matter in the
universe, it's been estimated. It's also been
estimated  that there are 10 to the 1,000,000
power possible relationships for the axions
in the human brain…..Doh!  The Mahayana
texts of Buddhism, such as the Diamond Sutra,
seem full of repetitive hyperbole about the

vastness of….well, pretty much everything.
For me personally, reading  them was like
mind isometrics that, instead of pushing muscles
inward  to strengthen them, pushed mind
outward to loosen it. This is one minor

example that tools have been developed…
since almost before tools were developed….
to understand the nature of mind.

So, folks, I hope I haven't been overly something,
but hey, it's free. And I may never get the chance
to meet you in person, but I wanted you

to know something.  I love all of you. I might not
like most of you if I met you…but love, yes, I can
do that, because, beneath it all in all of you,

like it or not, we're all looking for the light.

Sisyphus And Enlightenment

"You find out when you've reached the top

you're on the bottom. " Bob Dylan

Rock is the wisdom we push against, 

struggle with, going against the flow

of reality, seeking the illusory finish.

Rock reveals the futility of samsara,

the restless, constant drive in some

random direction. 

Watching the rock roll down the hill

is seeing the wisdom of Buddha,

the first step on the path of meditation.

When rock meets bone in insight, and

the essence of dharma is known, the

rock disappears and we are left standing

in space.

Tears

Where do the tears come from?

an overwhelmingness of something

real? 

Isn't that a good thing?

Where do the tears come from?

Something lost? 

Something remembered?

I think they come from

elderberry wine

something forgotten 

and remembered

hand to hand forever….

I think they come because 

love is so socked into our

meat that whatever we go 

through can….could….maybe

be seen….which is why 

the eyes respond with 

pure water.

Snowden, Assange, Et. Al.

A case of sera sera…

a missfit situation…

fat free half and half?

connectivity versus entropy?

I'm tapping out here…

how many whistleblowers

does it take to screw up

a light bulb?  one or two

because the light bulb is

already screwed.

swimming upstream in

the current of events,

no one can grasp the

movement of the water…

we forget we're part of

Mother Nature…we forget,

but do her bidding anyway...
elderberry wine
and ordinary mind.

Shattered Moments

shocking shatter of fragile moments

sliver of silver light shining streaming

a broken beam through prism of senses…

scattered into rainbow colors…

gather back into the familiar world.