Orientation

What a day, what a week, what a month!!!... only had 5 days of gainful employment out of the last 31. And guess what?... The rent, mortgage, utility bills, car payment, insurance are all due, regardless. It’s been hard to make myself do anything but sleep lately... a little depression d'ya think?... Duaaah... Oh well, thankfully, all things change, so I’m still hopeful for that change in the coming month and the turn of the seasons... If I can last that long...;-)~ Here’s a little self-help from my friends, Nietzsche and Deng Ming-Dao:

• In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.
• If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
• Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.
• The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.

--Nietzsche

Orientation

Planets orbit the sun.
Forms orbit the mind.

Most of us embody disparate aspects in our personalities; these are our forms, the way we take shape. If we aren’t careful, we can become confused by such complexity. We should not deny any part of ourselves. We should arrange them. All elements are valid--they must simply be placed in the right context.

Those who follow Tao understand that a diverse personality is problematic only if some aspects dominate to the exclusion of the others. This is unbalanced. If there is constant alteration between all aspects, then equilibrium is possible. Like the planets, feelings, instincts, and emotions must be kept in a constantly rotating order. Then all things have their place and the problems of excess are avoided.

Just as the sun is the center of our solar system, so too must the mind of wisdom be the center of our diverse personalities. If our minds are strong, then the various parts of our lives will be held firmly to their proper courses, and there will be no chance for deviation.

--Deng Ming-Dao

Healing and Nietzsche

Some quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche that I like, and some thoughts on healing by Deng Ming-Dao. I'll certainly share more of these two later. They both speak plainly to my view of this life we all share...

• In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. (From Beyond Good and Evil)
• People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false; a gift confers no rights.
• There are no facts, only interpretations.

Healing

Fire cools
Water seeks its own level.

No matter how extreme a situation is, it will change. It cannot continue forever. Thus a great forest fire is destined to burn itself out; a turbulant sea will become calmer. Natural events balance themselves out by seeking their opposites, and this process of balance is at the heart of all healing.

This process takes time. If an event is not great, the balancing required is slight. If it is momentous, then it may take days, years, or even lifetimes for things to return to an even keel. Acctually, without these slight imbalances, there could be no movement in life. It is being off balance that keeps life changing. Total centering, total balance would only be stasis. All life is continual destruction and healing, over and over again.

This is why, even in the midst of an extreme situation, the wise are patient. Wheather the situation is illness, calaminty, or their own anger, they know that healing will follow upheaval.

--Deng Ming-Dao

Thankks, but no thanks...

Good afternoon,

This is to notify you the position...[you applied for]...with...[____]... has been filled. I appreciate your time and patience in working with me on this opening...[since the week before xmas]. Your resume is saved in our national database for consideration for future opportunities. Also, you may keep updated on current openings at www.[_].com.

Thank you,
[____] [____]
Technical Recruiter

To --

I heed not that my earthly lot
.....Hath little of earth in it--
That years of love have been forgot
.....In the hatred of a minute:--
I mourn not that the desolate
.....Are happier, sweet, than I,
But that you sorrow for my fate
.....Who am a passer by.

--Edgar Allan Poe

It's Raining Outside...

It’s raining out side; the sound of it on my roof is soothing, lazy, sleepy, but it is also refreshing. I sit in meditation and am aware of each drop as it hits and runs down to the ground and seeks to join with it’s fellow drops, puddling, ponding, seeking it’s level in the water table. It’s still dark, the rain pauses, my cat lays down next to me, purring... Perhaps I’ll doze for awhile... But then I must get moving. Even though I’m not subbing today, there’s much requiring my attention... including repairs and cleaning... Just another day in a long, long succession of days... As always, I hope to make the best of this one...;-)

The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one’s hum drum life, a life of monotonous, uninspiring commonplaceness, into one of art, full of genuine inner creativity.
--D.T. Suzuki

What a Headache...

The productions of all arts are kinds of poetry and their craftsmen are all poets. --Plato

So all of you who practice your arts, photography, writing, painting, visual, audio, spiritual, martial, and others, you are, according to Plato, poets... I couldn't agree more...;-)

It's been an interesting day. I was called to sub at the local HS this morning. Normally the call comes around 5:30am, which give me plenty of time to get ready and be at school by 7:00am. But today, they called me at 7:00am, wanted me there as soon as possible...well... I had gone back to sleep after my morning rituals... So when they let me know that they needed me today and asked how soon I could get there, I stupidly said, "half an hour." So, no food, no coffee, just finish dressing and straight out the door to school. I even forgot to take money for lunch... I subbed for PhysEd all day--not particularly hard--but I had a splitting caffeine withdrawal headache by the time I got home. It took two double espressos to get rid of it. I hope I'm better prepared tomorrow if they call. This was my first assignment since the week before Xmas, so I couldn't turn it down.

Six Rules for Being Human

I may have posted this before...I don’t remember. If I did, that’s ok, it bears repeating from time to time...;-)

The Six Rules for Being Human

1. You are given a body.
2. You are given lessons.
3. There are no mistakes or coincidences, only lessons.
4. If you don’t learn a lesson, it is repeated.
5. The more a lesson is repeated the harder it gets.
6. You know when you’ve learned a lesson when your
actions change.

Hope this list helps you as much as it does me, reminds me that my life, my reality is in my own hands, as yours is in your hands. I hope my path crosses that of other pilgrims on mutual journeys , that we may trade insights and encourage each other along our respective
paths...;-)

Ablution

Ablution

Washing at dawn:
Rinse away dreams.
Protect the gods within,
And clarify the inner spirit.

Purification starts all practice. First comes cleansing of the body--not to deny the body, but so that it is refined. Once cleansed, it can help us sense the divine.

Rinsing away dreams is a way of saying that we must not only dispel the illusions and anxieties of our sleeping moments but those of our waking ones as well. All life is a dream, not because it isn’t there, but because we all project different meanings upon it. We must cleanse away this habit.

While cleansing, we naturally look within. It is believed that there are 36,000 gods and goddesses in the body. If we continually eat bad foods, intoxicate ourselves, allow filth to accumulate anywhere outside or inside of ourselves, then these gods abandon us in disgust.

Yet our concerns must ultimately go beyond these deities in the temples of your bodies to the universal One. After we clear away the obscuring layers of dirt, bodily problems, and delusions, we must be prepared even to clear away the gods themselves so that we can reach the inner One. --Deng Ming-Dao

Started out this morning before dawn...with a hot shower... washing away my sleepy dreams and illusions... Then some time in meditation, centering myself, followed by T’ai Chi and more centering, then more meditation. Now for the chore, the opportunity, to cleanse my surroundings...getting rid of the clutter in my home and in my mind, and temple...;-) --CN

Beginning

Spent part of yesterday with my brothers, sisters, children, nieces, nephew, and friends (some I had not seen in quite some time). It was a cheerful gathering, but my mind was already straying to thoughts of today and beginning a new solar cycle. I think they think I’m getting to be an old stick in the mud... I did enjoy the gathering, but I wasn’t really into the libation and celebration as much as they were... I have many opportunities that I would like to resolve positively during this next cycle... So, let the games begin...;-) --CN

Beginning

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.

In the beginning, all things are hopeful. We prepare ourselves to start anew. Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment: our optimism, our faith, our resollution, our innocence.

In order to start, we must make a decision. This decision is a commitment to daily self-cultivation. We must make a strong connection to our inner selves. Outside matters are superfluous. Alone and naked, we negotiate all of life's travails. Therefore, we alone must make something of ourselves, transforming ourselves into the instruments for experiencing the deepest spiritual essence of life.

Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response. It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. In the same way, once we choose to commit ourselves to spiritual practice, even the mounains and valleys will reverberate to the sound of our purpose.
--Deng Ming-Dao