Canoe in the Mist: Nothing

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Nothing

10 comments:

FOLKWAYS NOTEBOOKJul 30, 2011 06:15 PM
Thank you for the YouTube of Alan Watts. I love his books. -- barbara
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AJul 30, 2011 08:04 PM
You are welcome, Barbara, and thank you for visting. I came to Watts late in life (relatively speaking), but he increasingly rings as truth to me and has made my list of those who have most influenced me and my view of the world.
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catharusAug 1, 2011 05:13 AM
Incredible! I've got a lot more to read and contemplate! Thank-you!
This "nothingness" to me is closest to what can only describe, right now, as to be in an ultimate state of freedom and sublimity (if that's a word).
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AAug 1, 2011 05:20 AM
Sounds like you're in hot pursuit of it, Catharus. :)
Peace
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High Mesa Fitness®Nov 27, 2011 11:50 PM
so curious.. coming from a theological/clergy background as myself, was there any particular book or work that woke you up more than any other?
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ANov 28, 2011 12:54 AM
High Mesa,
Walter Bauer's "Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity" was an eye opener...showing me that the historical reality of Christianity was not as I had always been taught. After that, historical Jesus studies sealed the deal.
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High Mesa Fitness®Nov 28, 2011 09:58 PM
ahhhh. I'll have to check this out. I think for me it was a similar realization along with my love of nature and deep respect for science that generated a shift. Even in seminary, I began to know 'too much'. Realized more and more the manufactured element to the religion theistic gig. .. really a maturation just as one relinquishes the tooth faire or santa clause. A while back I wrote this.. it is a work in progress...

I have given up...
faith for truth
hope for vision
belief for wisdom
dogma for knowledge
success for excellence
certitude for wonder
spirituality for vibrancy
finding for forging
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ANov 29, 2011 12:53 AM
I like that a lot High Mesa. It rings true. I also resonate with what you wrote, "just as relinquishes the tooth fairy or santa claus...." That's a perfect analogy, though it is offensive to say it to some.
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High Mesa Fitness®Nov 29, 2011 10:36 PM
psychologically though.. I think it near the same shift of awareness.. ya know? A beautiful waking up.. its like taking the red pill or blue pill.. only the red pill wakes you up not to a dark grey oppressed universe but something so much more remarkable and awe inspiring than the blue pill of theism could even pretend.
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ANov 29, 2011 11:52 PM
I thoroughly agree.
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Vipassana

Vipassana is the oldest Buddhist meditation practice, going back 2,500 years to the time of the Buddha. The literal meaning is "to see through." It does not rely on the mystical, nor does it seek to bypass our rational mind, but rather trains the rational mind, teaching us to experience ourselves and the world in a clearer way.

It is a gentle, gradual and thorough process of cultivating concentration and mindfulness, or awareness, by simply paying attention to what is happening. Sitting still and closing our eyes, we learn to watch our thoughts, feelings and body sensations without getting caught up in them. This system of observation, acceptance and resting with what is, leads to greater understanding and insight into the nature of existence.

(source)

Common Ground Meditation Center

Insight Meditation Society

Wisdom?/Humor?/Reality?/Hope.

"More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly." ~Woody Allen

"Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse." ~Lily Tomlin

"We must face the prospect of changing our basic ways of living. This change will either be made on our own initiative in a planned way, or forced on us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature." ~Jimmy Carter

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards." ~Edward Abbey, from a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana in 1978 and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News under the title "Joy, Shipmates, Joy."

"What I fear most is despair
for the world and us: forever less
of beauty, silence, open air,
gratitude, unbidden happiness,
affection, unegotistical desire
~Wendell Berry, from IX, Sabbaths 1998, in Given

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Nothing

10 comments:

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