At The Wake I arrived early to the wake, embraced my friend in a long sweet hug, then walked down the center isle toward the casket which held the body of her husband, also a friend of mine, who had recently succumbed after a five-year-long tussle, struggle, dance with cancer. As the abstract outline of the form came into sharper relief, allowing me to see clearly some of the features that for …
[Read more...] about Practice Notes: The Truth Of The Matter
God Winking: A Beautiful Thing One of the beautiful things about satsang -- gathering with friends, posing questions to a teacher -- is how the questions asked and the answers offered tend to serve all who are present. Very often a question that I've formulated and felt a desire to ask, will be posed by someone else, as though a "collective mind" of sorts were operating. It's a friendly …
[Read more...] about Practice Notes: Answers To Questions I Didn’t Know I Had
Well, we’re coming up now on the two-week anniversary of the infamous internationally livestreamed Ford-Kavanaugh showdown, compliments of the Senate Judiciary Committee. While I had no prior intention of viewing these proceedings, I somehow found myself tuning in at the very beginning of Ms. Ford’s testimony—and ended up watching the entire thing. Oh My Goodness And what a remarkable contrast …
Mood I very much appreciate philosophy--and often find myself with an appetite for such texts, via eastern and western authors alike. But every now and again I'll shift into a mood in which pretty much all I can bear to read are the Ashtavakra and Avadhuta Gitas: the most direct pointing to nondual reality. In such a mood, even Longchenpa--whom I adore--feels a bit too flowery. My appetite is for …
[Read more...] about Practice Notes: Appetite, Irritation, Ratios
Tip Of The Tongue I've been feeling curious, as of late, about the experience of not-quite-but-almost remembering something: of having it right on the tip of the tongue, so to speak. In these moments, there's the distinct sense of knowing that I know something--of almost palpably feeling the presence of this information, pressing up from who-knows-where--yet the final revelation of it has yet to …
You've likely heard the phrase, "friendly fire." In a police or military context, it refers to harm rendered (accidentally, one assumes) to anyone not defined as the enemy. So for instance, in the heat of a chaotic gunfight, a stray bullet might come to lodge in the body of one of the "good guys," i.e. someone who's on your side. Or a bullet might stray to harm a neutral bystander -- someone …
