This blog has stopped. Run its course. There will be no more here.
It will soon be archived and perhaps deleted entirely.
Something else will happen here. Quite what is unknown.
Before the day begins.
Zen pretty much comes down to three things - everything changes; everything is connected; pay attention.
— Jane Hirshfield
Dog vs. ice cream.
Can we imagine Jesus reading novels, the Buddha doing crossword puzzles or Lao Tzu playing pickleball?
This self
Coming together
and falling apart
over and over
Nesting.
Perhaps we never discover other people. Perhaps we spend our lives discovering ourselves in their light.
The information is telling me to stop saying hi and to start saying bye.
— Martin Amis, The Information
Just live your damn life!
— Warren Ellis
Reading.
Waiting.
Not everyone is a creator.
The ‘relational’ interpretation of quantum theory has much in common with the Buddhist notions of impermanence and interdependence.
Indeed both pivot on form and emptiness.
We cannot know another person’s mind.
What comes, comes.
What goes, goes.
We feel what we feel.
And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.
— John Steinbeck
Abandoning self-improvement we exert ourselves fully and naturally as birds who enjoy frolicking in the wind or dolphins playfully leaping in the sea. Or like a pig in shit.
— Barry Magid, Ending The Pursuit Of Happiness
We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.
— Pema Chödrön
Social care
Talking about the care given to his father, who has Alzheimer's, the prime minister (Andy Burnham) said carers "should be the best paid people in society, not the worst.”
Damn straight.
When you look for what’s looking and find only looking…
Inquiry and contemplation never end. There is no arrival. Even the last breath is a beginning of sorts.
Reading
Backrooms
Just watched and really enjoyed Kane Parsons’ Backrooms.
Based on his YouTube series of the same name it’s been described as Blair Witch meets Severance or The Shining set in an infinite Travelodge.
Very unique, superb production design and a brilliant soundtrack.
Highly recommended.
No room for the internet today.
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
— Albert Camus
Good afternoon.
In the end, we’ll all become stories.
— Margaret Atwood
Driving all day
Coffee and sandwiches from the lap
Eye strain
Congestion
Big skies
Arrival decompression
Blame and wisdom after the fact are easy. Understanding and empathy are hard.
Opinions are just entertainment.
When you argue with reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time.
— Byron Katie
Not everything is a battle to be won, a problem to be solved or a mistake to be corrected. If we imagine everything as a nail we end up with a world of hammers.
Letting him lie…
Birthday gifts.
Good afternoon.
Suffering doesn’t disappear from life, it disappears into life.
— Barry Magid, Ordinary Mind Zendo
Good morning.
The central benefit of Zen, in the context of the ordinary ups and downs of life, is not in preventing the minus and promoting the plus but in realising the fundamental reality that is not under the sway of ups and downs.
— Muso Kokushi
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
— Viktor Frankl
Poor refereeing aside, this World Cup has been great.
Lots of amazing goals and classic matches, but there have been some god awful penalties!
I’m drawn to Zen for many reasons but perhaps mostly because it has a sense of humour. I mean one of its primary teaching tools, the Koan, is structurally similar to the way jokes work.
Much of so-called spiritual practice is so needlessly serious and earnest.
Zen delights in undermining the lofty and honouring the trivial.
When you look for what’s looking and find only looking…
Good morning.
Whatever time we get is luck.
