Crazy World

 

Mexican clouds and sunny afternoon…

baritone over an amplifier echos off

the mountains…….BOOM! a fireworks 

rocket explodes at the moment of the

singers crescendo….BRAVO!

I live in Mexico! Sometimes I forget and

just think it’s the world I’m used to and

everybody just happens to speak 

Spanish and look the way they do. I

speak a little Spanish, but get by on

facial expressions and gestures like

an Italian. Most Americans use language

because they’re such uncreative stiffs,

and that’s the way it is with them,

nothing to make a fuss about, best of

luck. Many of them think all they need

to communicate is a wad of money, and

they’re somewhat right. It’s amazing 

how much English Mexicans know 

when they’re trying to get your dough.

And so it goes….sometimes easy,

sometimes not so. They call it life, but,

what do they know? The play of 

phenomena is the thing in which the 

truth is revealed. If only we’d pay more

attention…lost in the wilderness of this 

and that, causes and conditions, desires,

briefs and prejudices. Most need a 

reboot, a bath, a new paradigm. Don’t 

worry, Baby, The Great Awakening is 

happening right now. Be honest; you 

know that something’s happening here, 

but you don’t know what it is. Do you,

Mr. Jones?

You don’t have to look that hard. It’s all

around you. Suspend disbelief/belief 

and open your eyes wider. That’s why 

they’re there….so you can see for 

yourself. If you were blind, you’d have 

someone leading you around. Isn’t that 

what many are dong now, listening to

“authority”? Seems so to me, but then,

I can see.

Meanwhile, the flowers grow and the 

winds blow…showers come and go this

time of year. At the same time, I’m 

morphing as I write. Into what one never 

knows. Right now, I’m the me I 

remember. Man or machine? Wind my 

spring and we’ll talk about it. Just 

kidding….my intelligence, such as it is,

is not artificial. I’ve got that over a 

merry-go-round, a coffee maker that 

can anticipate a latte. I’m a John Henry

that can beat any machine in creativity.

Artificial matrix mind can’t experience 

the fourth dimension. A.I. just a 

glorified copier. No free will. Not that 

most humans practice that. 

“What’s the name of your computer?” 

“Captain Beefheart.” 

I just don’t see that ever happening.

HAL didn’t have free will….just bad

programming.

If you can’t get there from here, the

problem is you don’t realize you’re 

already there, that there really is

nowhere to go. Even when you do 

go, you can see you are always there.

There’s an itch we cannot scratch.

Sometimes our minds are filthy 

rooms full of cockroaches that we 

can’t stand to live in, but that’s our 

home. It doesn’t have to be that way.

We could open the door, go outside

and walk away. At least, we could

clean it up. Why don’t we? Beats me.

Grasping at a brass ring always  

slightly out of reach…you can see them

walking down the street in dark suits.

What Are We Waiting For?

 

A bus?

Enlightenment?

A cheap used car?

A good two dollar cigar?

Somebody to tell us what’s going on?

I bet you are.

“Just do it!” sounds like good advice.

Do what is another thing altogether.

In fact, your own mind is waiting for you

to discover what's real and true.

Your own mind, own experience, 

is everything you need to know.

So, look into it.

Listening To Blues

 

Listening to blues, harp broken,

the secret magic of what’s really

going on behind the curtains,

personal and communal curtains…

heart magic…burning man mind 

of awakening.

That’s what communication is.

No wonder everybody always

and everywhere dances.

Mandala Of All The Buddhas

 

It all sorts itself out

falls into place in interface

even humans with their wars

over at some point…

”Where was I? Oh, yes.”

On with the show…

strawberry fields forever.

Kuntuzangpo.

Coming Up With Something

 

Where does something come up from?

Putting together bits of experience

in a new way? 

Or does it come up on the toilet when

you’re relaxed, like Luther?

Or, maybe it comes up from where 

everything comes up from: emptiness.

A joke Norm Macdonald played on

visiting comedians was, his sidekick

would ask them the question: 

“Where do you get your ideas?”

This inevitably left them speechless.

Beyond Good And Evil

 

There’s always been good and evil.

They devolved into the God/Devil

dualistic beliefs.

Once you have belief, you’re beyond

the common sense that even a child 

has of what’s good and what’s evil.

The basic goodness that is intrinsic 

in all beings, before corruption, in 

animals, is loving their offspring, no

matter how vicious they are as beasts.

In humans it’s knowing right from 

wrong. It’s having a heart that is 

compassionate, not self centered, 

ego bound.

That basic goodness is beyond good 

and evil because it is intrinsic; 

inseparable from our very existence.

The punchline comes from my guru:

“Nobody’s fooling anybody.”

Never Land

 

The only thing we know for sure is change.

Change is constant, from the movement

of the cells in your body to the universe.

“Feets, keep moving!”

Even decay is change and transformation.

Now you see me, now you don’t.

Does it matter what we do?

Yes, because karma is quantum 

momentum.

Am I a particle or am I a wave?
Wave if you can hear me.

“There is nothing next!
This is it!”

floating in space

on solid ground

in media res

a lotus on a pond.

You Can't Fix Samsara

 

“If you think the confusion of samsara

will go away by itself, you should know

that samsara is notorious for being 

endless.”  Gampopa

Confused lately, frustrated with current

events, current confusions, wanting to 

understand, wanting to tell others what

I think I understand, looking for some

semblance of certainty in the chaos.

I realize I’ve been wasting my time in

useless speculation. I realized that instead

of dwelling on an impossibility, I can turn

my mind to the dharma, to the truth. 

Rather than chewing the cud of what’s 

wrong, I could contemplate what’s right: 

compassion, for one thing…the main thing.

Transforming useless speculation into

positive aspiration.  Try that.