Bill Hicks - Life is a Ride
April 22nd, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchThe trick it seems is to develop the skills, the awareness, the strength to “be in the world, but not of the world.”
If you can accomplish this you have freed yourself from petty unhappiness and tapped into a larger more powerful happiness.
“Be in the world” - THE DUALITY
You are in the world, with all of its physical and mental aspects. This is to be part of your daily experiences, to be “right there” giving it your 100% attention. Being in the world is to get involved in your surroundings, to live life with full energy and interaction. You are living its abstractions or delusions as well as seeing the world as it is right in front of you. You are in your mind where past, present and future have no distinction, where fantasy, dillusion and reality mingle without separation. You are in the hard facts of reality, crisp and clear, beautiful in their perfect truth. You live the paradox of truth and illusion, happiness and sadness, life and death. This is the duality of life. This is your environment, much like the weather.
“but not of the world” - YOUR CONSTANT SOURCE
Your SOURCE of power, truth and awareness does NOT come from the world. You are in the world but you do not depend on the ebb and flow of that world for your happiness, direction, inspiration, wisdom, or fulfillment. You may share all those things with the world in the form of your art and activities but you do not DEPEND on the world to share it back. Your SOURCE comes from a force that is not part of the world. It is not part of your physical body or mind. It is outside of that. As the world ebbs and flows, is good and bad, happy and sad, your SOURCE is CONSTANT. It is not a duality. It is ONE.
To access this SOURCE you must have an awareness ABOVE AND BEYOND the normal duality of the world. This awareness is achieved, well, through awareness….becoming aware that there is a constant force behind the relatively minor dualistic energies of your day to day awareness allows you to access the power. It is a circular activity: seeing the higher power allows you to see the higher power. Seeing the illusion of the world allows you to see the illusion of the higher world. Humans, above all else, are here to learn the essence of awareness. If we learn it we succeed as a race. If we don’t we die and the universe dies with us. The universe is counting on us for this contribution. In return the universe gives us unlimited power for all of eternity.
Becoming aware of the dualistic nature of life plus the eternal source of our power and then being able to live the triad in harmony is our destiny.
Yin/Yang + eternal power = The Triad = Humanity Awakened
Bill Hicks touches on this:
Tags: harmony, self-awareness, universe
Children take in more stimili than adults
April 21st, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchA child has a heightened ability to take in stimuli but does not yet have the tools to deal with this stimuli.
Children’s’ senses are just as acute as an adult. In some cases their senses are even better, for example most children have better hearing and eyesight than adults.
What they don’t have yet is contextual analysis tools. When they see something they might not have the experience to be able to put the thing in context and analyze it. They have not seen enough violence to know how to process it, for example. An adult has seen so much violence that they can easily put it away in the part of their brain that deals with violence.
That part of the brain has developed the tools to diffuse or otherwise rationalize the violence so that it does not do any great damage to the rest of the body. For example an adult can see a murder in a movie and the mind easily explains that it is just acting and thus we don’t get upset by it.
A child however does not have these tools fully developed yet and the violence has nowhere to go. So it gets dealt with in various ways; it resurfaces later as trauma; it is expressed as violence to others; it does damage to the body via cancer or another stress; or the child actually inflicts violence to their own body.
This is why it is so important to be aware of what a child is exposed to.
But I do not think quarantine is the best route. A child can’t develop the tools unless they are exposed. If you keep a child away from violence their whole childhood, when they go into the world one violent event could destroy them.
They need to be exposed to real life as children, but HOW this is done needs to be considered with great care. I think the parent has to perform an ongoing proactive role as that part of the brain that the child does not yet have developed.
The typical example is the conversation almost every parent has with a child about how movies are just actors and not real. The parent is helping the child process the information, helping the child exercise that part of the brain.
Obviously helping a child develop is a fine line and can easily fall into propaganda and brain control. I strongly think that the child knows better what is good for them than I do. Helping the child develop their brain to deal with elements of life comes from the perspective that the child already has the essence of those tools already.
The adult is only a guide, much like a mountain guide helps climbers up a mountain. Like the guide is the employee hired by the mountain climbers, the parent is there to serve the child in their climb. The child is the boss of their soul. The parent only guides as somebody who is more knowledgeable with the current terrain.
But as the guide, there is tremendous responsibility. The adult must understand that the environment for the child is crystal clear and new. The great tragedy is when the adult fails to realize that even though the child doesn’t yet have the tools to process the environment fully, the child takes it all in with great intensity.
When you talk on the phone with the child in the back seat, when you glance at someone, when you speak in a certain tone of voice, when you say words (every single word): it is all taken in with complete clarity. Never mind that the child appears to not be paying attention. Their ears, their eyes, all of their senses are working perfectly.
The appearance that they are not paying attention is merely because, like all humans, they can multitast and also their mind is not necessarily engaged. But their body is engaged and they take it in and it gets lodged somewhere inside.
That is why a child can come out with something totally surprising. For example my four year old daughter put on a dress the other day and said, “I feel so sexy in this dress.” Nobody ever told her she looked sexy, but she probably picked it up when adults were talking about something else and thought she wasn’t paying attention.
The danger occurs when we loose control and presume that the child isn’t taking it in.
This video makes the point very powerfully:
What we want and how we go about getting it
April 17th, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchDoes an alcoholic wake up in the morning and say, “I want to waste the day away, spend all my money and end the day passed out with puke all over me.”
No.
They wake up saying, I want to be happy, or I want to make this pain go away.
So why do they do exactly the oposite?
Because they are all mixed up. There is something inside them, be it chemical or psychological, that is not working correctly.
Most people are not dysfunctional alcoholics, but MOST people ARE all mixed up. Myself included.
I may wake up saying, “I have a lot of things I want to get out of the way today.”
And then I feel overwhelmed and go back to sleep….
Or how about this:
I want my girlfriend to stop acting a certain way.
So I say and do things so she does it EVEN MORE….
What we want and how we do things are often completely at odds with each other. If you step back it is clear there is stuff inside us that completely clouds our reason. If I was being reasonable I would not go back to sleep on a day where there was a lot to do.
So what is it that makes us do this?
I think it is a lack of inner clarity. It is like we have all this murky garbage floating around inside us that clogs up our ability to see what is good for us.
If I was clear, when my girlfriend annoys me I would act in ways that made her stop doing whatever was annoying me. It is such simple logic.
So the goal is to become clear, to clean out all that garbage. Doing that is not easy but it is possible. I think it is done by being our own baby sitters.
The largest difference between children and adults is that adults should no longer need outside structure. By the time you are an adult you should have formed enough inside structure to keep it together both on the outside and inside.
A lot of adults still have work to do in that area. Myself included.
So you start now. Next time you want to be a baby, be your own baby sitter. A grown up does not get drunk when what what they really want is happiness (hopefully a baby doesn’t either, but you get the point). They suck it up and deal with the issue because they know that is the path to happiness.
When I have a shit load of stuff to do I don’t go back to bed. I suck it up and deal with it like an adult. Sure it is hard but going back to sleep isn’t the solution.
Now we can’t be super heroes right away or forever. This is a process. We all start at our own level and we do what we can. It is a life long process and not something that lasts a week until you burn out. Pacing is the key. It takes about 30 years to become an adult if all goes well. But shit happens.
Starting now is crucial. Gotta go, my babysitter is calling.
Tags: human behavior, logic, structure
Meaning of Life 3
April 15th, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchI think that if you follow your truth it will be ok. Finding your truth is a self fulfilling process. You usually never really know what it is until after the fact. But in the process, even though you may not know what it is exactly, if you are honest enough, if you are brave enough and patient enough you will get enough of an idea to be at least on the right path. You may not see where the path is going or know what the hell you are doing. But being on the right path is good enough, the rest unfolds from there.
There are many tools to help you find the truth, from religion to coaching to the newest diet. They can be used or not because truth is ultimately right there inside anyway. The tool is often just something to help you get to the next stage, at which point the tool is no longer needed, if it ever was in the first place.
Tags: meaning of life, seeking truth, tools
40 Tips for A Better Life in 2008
April 15th, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchFrom a chain mail from Shana:
These are really very powerful. Implement whatever you can.
1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile.
It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if
you have to.
3. Buy a DVR. Tape your late night shows and get more sleep..
4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following
statement, ‘My purpose is to __________ today.’
5. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2007.
7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga or stretching, and
prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the
age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food
that is manufactured in plants.
11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild
Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new
and flowing energy into your life.
14. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires,
issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot
control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present
moment.
15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.
Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade
away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a
lifetime
16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like
a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
17. Try & pay an honest compliment to someone you wouldn’t
normally.
18. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
20. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
23. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what
their journey is all about.
24 No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
25 . Frame every so-called disaster with these
words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’
26. Forgive everyone for everything.
27. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
30. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your
friends will. Stay in touch.
31. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
33. The best is yet to come.
34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
35. Do the right thing!
36. Call your family often.
37. Each night before you go to bed complete the following
statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished
_________.
38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you
certainly don’t want a fast pass. You only have one ride through
life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
40. Please Forward this to your friends.
Tags: better life, happiness, life tips
The art of misdirection
April 14th, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchPerception is limited - always.
The challenge is to perceive what’s important.
The primary tool of the propaganda system (also known as “the news media”) is misdirection, having you pay attention to some things and not others. If you disagree with this you are either correct or have been successfully misdirected.
It is important to develop the skill to be able to watch life from more than one perspective.
This skill is developed by exposing yourself to ideas and experiences outside your skill set and comfort zone. Doing this expands your awareness and you are able to see things on multiple levels. Your ability to take in and process information increases. For example, if you have been exposed to something in the past you are more likely to recognize it when you come across it in the future.
But more than that, you have also developed the skill to take in new things. So even if you come across something new you are able to take it in more quickly because you are already used to processing other new things.
When you consume official propaganda (also know as “new reports”) you can more easily realize there’s more going on than what the news commentators are directing your attention towards.
This video is a fun demonstration of how this works in practice. It is also a reminder to look out for cyclists when driving. Taken from Brasschecktv.com
Tags: awareness, perspective on life
Meaning of Life 2
April 11th, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchI always get melancholic around the new moon, especially the few days leading up to the new moon. I don’t keep track of the moon cycles, I can barely keep track of important day to day events like what time to pick up my daughter at school. But the moon cycles keep track of me. Whenever I am feeling melancholic and “off” it is always a consolation when I learn that it is the new moon. It takes all the “why” out of my mood. I am not down for A REASON, such as I got bad grades in school etc, I am down because I am connected to the celestial bodies. The universe out there and the universe in here are one and the same.
And the moment I take a reason out of my mood I can relax into it. The new moon time is such a rich time. It is when I get my deepest insights and internal shifts. Sometimes when I let the mood do its thing, I can literally feel a physical shift inside me, just like the feeling you get when an airplane passes through an air pocket and sinks downward ever so slightly.
That shift needs to happen. If I don’t let the mood do its thing then I am not ready for the next phase (each phase being 28 days). It is an energetic realignment much like the body goes through every time you go to sleep.
Meaning of Life
April 8th, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchI often wonder what the meaning of life is. I wonder when sitting at a red light, when on the subway, when walking along the street.
Why am I here? What is the meaning of my existence?
Is it to “be”? As in eat, sleep, have sex, watch movies, have babies, work at a job, buy a house, make art….??
Is that it?? I do those things and they fill me with a mixture of stimuli. And I could easily continue doing it until I die. But I can’t help but wonder if there is more to it. I mean I can do all that stuff in my sleep. And sometimes I do. As if on auto pilot.
In fact doing that stuff often DOES put me to sleep.
It seems there are two dualities to perception:
1. Destiny is fixed.
2. We create our destiny.
or
1. Life is, as in the scientific view.
2. Life is what we interpret it as, as in the religious view.
or
1. Life is a series of facts.
2. Life is a series of interpretations.
or
1. There is a universal reality.
2. Each individual makes their own reality.
Ect, ect.
Of course life is both sides of the duality.
I’m not getting very far here with my point.
I am not sure what my point is exactly except for this nagging question that appears trite when put into works (”What is the meaning of life”) but as an energy it knocks around inside me endlessly as I go through my day.
It is a general restlessness. A low grade dissatisfaction. An inaudible murmur that there is more, maybe, maybe not. Like a slight inflection at the end of a sentence that leaves you wondering if there was more meaning than what was stated….
What is the purpose of this life????
I have had answers. The point of life is:
To love
To help
To feel
To care
To create
To be, whatever that means
To breathe
To empathize
And I do these things daily. They are great. But there is still a little question mark in my soul, a pause, a slight sigh that distracts me.
Is this our destiny - to forever wander through light blindfolded????
The Path Of Life
April 6th, 2008 Gennaro Brooks-ChurchHere is an email I got from Desiree. It seemed appropriate for my mood today - a little melancholy, a little unclear, a little under the new moon blues.
As you journey through life, choose your destinations, but do not hurry there.
You will arrive soon enough.
Wander the back roads & forgotten paths keeping your destination in your heart like the fixed point of a compass.
Seek out new voices, strange sights & ideas foreign to your own.
Such things are riches for your soul.
And, if upon arrival, you find that your destination isn’t exactly as you had dreamed, do not be disappointed.
Think of all you would have missed but for the journey there & know that the true worth of your travels lies not in where you come to be at journey’s end, but in who you come to be along the way.
Here is what the new moon blues sounds like:
Tags: life's journey, new moon blues