Since 2000 home prices have been going up because they were going up…..people bought the most expensive house they could afford, which drove prices higher, which validated their act and caused more to do the same.
Now home prices are going down because they are going down….buyers wait to buy, sellers rush to sell, and the price keeps getting pushed further down.
The houses have not changed!
Our perception has changed!
As Buddha pointed out thousands of years ago, humans are caught in an unhappy dance with their attachments.
We are attached to our house going up or down in value.
When it goes up in value it seems to make us happy. At the very least it seems to make others happy. And so we all flock to get more houses in search of happiness. The houses go up in value and our happiness goes up in turn….at least it feels that way.
But then houses go down in value. Being deeply attached to the value of the house, this downturn causes unhappiness inside us. We all rush to rid ourselves of the cause of unhappiness and try to sell the house. House prices go down and in turn so does our happiness.
It can be a house, stocks, a job, a relationship, health.
It can be anything!
It is not the thing that causes our happiness or not. It is our attachment to it.
Yet we continue to run around like addicted little chipmunks throwing the world up and down in self fulfilling cycles of hope and pain.
At first the world has not really changed at all. Our perception is what changes. But eventually the world is affected by the actions resulting from our perceptions.
The solution?
Be like Buddha.
Easy? No.
Possible? Yes.
Rewarding? Oh my god yes!
The strange thing is that being like Buddha feels incredibly boring at first. That is why people stuck abusive relationships always pick the exciting asshole over the “boring” nice guy. They are addicted to the roller coaster rush of having somebody or something control their emotions.
Being like Buddha is the act of being aware of our attachments, it is not the act of disconnecting from the world. We are biologically programed to survive and that involves reacting to external stimuli. We are hardwired to be attached to our environment. When the bear comes we are programmed to run like hell and shitting your pants is just a biological way of becoming lighter as you run….
So Buddha didn’t float up into the clouds far away from life. He remained in the village. He burped and farted, laughed and cried.
But the difference is that he did it with awareness. Awareness is what disconnects us from the roller coaster of hope and pain, from the mindless acts of stupidity that usually run our politics, economy and world.
Being aware of our internal process does not shut off the process, which is important since we need the process to survive, but it does lessen your attachment to it. And that is crucial.
We are so incredibly attached. When our children do good we feel like a success. When they do bad we feel like a failure. And the same for everything else in our lif. It reaches ridiculous heights. Some sports fans feel like losers when their national sports team is beat by another country.
The awareness allows us to feel a feeling of success when our children succeed. But it also keeps us from losing ourselves. We retain our inner self. Our inner self continues to guide us and not our attachment to the success or failure of some outside stimuli.
This is ultimately what saves us from being engulfed by the world. Without that awareness of our inner process we flail and spend life constantly on the verge of drowning.
Attachment is nasty for a second reason: it goes against the number one rule of the universe: This Too Shall Change. No matter what it is, it will change. And if you are attached to it you are in trouble because when it changes you are going to feel loss, powerless….
Being aware requires an ongoing practice of Knowing Yourself, exploring yourself, discovering yourself, watching yourself.
It also helps to be spiritual. Spirituality is the ultimate in letting go of attachment. Or at the very least spirituality is being attached to something eternal that never changes and in comparison realizing that everything else will change and thus isn’t worth getting too attached to.
When you let go of attachment that is really when you can enjoy life.
You can dance, sing, laugh, and cry, forever changing, forever moving up and down. But instead of it being a roller coaster that you are strapped into, it is more like a bubbling brook that is servant to nobody except the downward slope of universal gravity.
“we shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”
Starting a monday morning quoting T.s. Eliot
Elliot is The Man. He had it right in so many ways. This little quote forwarded to my by an old friend pretty much encapsulates the path of life.
We see this story retold and retold in every quest that ever existed. From Jesus going into the desert to King Arthur going on his quest. Every story has a going out and a return. Just like life. We go out into the world and at the end we return to the earth.
Could it be that life is the exploration away from our true existence, an existence we only return to at death? Could it be that life is a little trip away from our true home in eternity? Could it be that we go out and live a few breaths so as to better understand our existence when not incarnate.
Incarnate = in the flesh. In the form. Made out of clay. Such a base material. So constricting, so solid, so opposite from who we are normally. The rest of the time we are light, formless ether, neutrinos without measurable mass.
Being incarnate is the perfect break from who we are normally, the perfect respite, the perfect change of scenery. This little foray into earthiness is very possibly a simple weekend trip to clear the eternal head. To get some fresh air, to get a little sunshine and perspective on our formless and limitless reality.
Being eternally at one with the universe can become a drag too you know. There’s no privacy. You need to be shackled to an earthly body once in a while. You need to experience the ignorance and limited perspective of a human vehicle to truly understand your life in Godliness.
Being human is the gods’ way of going to the theme part. Riding the bumper cars; crude little vehicles with limited maneuverability and blunt modes of communication. That’s humans. But after a day at the park eating crappy food, surrounded by crass sounds and cheap merchandise you are ready to go home and be Divine again.
You get the mediocrity out of your system. You let it all hang out. The ice cream dries on you hand and the dust sticks to your sweaty legs. They call it slumming it. You are in a place where nothing really matters. You don’t have to be the Big Man with all the responsibilities of being Divine. You just have to be careful you don’t puke hot dogs on the merry go round and piss your pants on the roller coaster.
Small responsibilities compared to universal wisdom and eternal harmony.
So lets relax. We’re on a day trip from our real job. We’ve been given a weekend respite. R&R. When we die we’ll have to go back to work carrying the collective consciousness of the universe. But for now we are allowed to be dumb fucks for a while. Piss around. Watch the clouds, fart and giggle.
There is no point to our “life” aka spring break but to relax and get away for a while. Enjoy the ride. Chill. Hey look! A red bird!
Because if we don’t relax we’ll get back to work on Monday and all the other Gods will ask, “So did you have a nice weekend?” and you’ll REALLY feel like a dumb fuck if you say something like, “Uh, I was meant to have a nice weekend? I spent it being miserable trying to prove to my father that I can be successful.” or something stereotypically human like that.
Life IS the break. Life IS the exploration away from home. Life is where you go to for continuing education. You know, those classes where there are no tests at the end and you spend most of the class wondering what the teacher would look like naked. Nobody takes them seriously.
Yet so few realize life is a continuing ed class. Instead they take notes frantically and totally stress out about the test. Can somebody please tell them there is no fucking test! At the end of the class you will die. No test. No grade. No golden star. Death for all regardless of how you spent your time.
So chill and enjoy life because before you know it Monday will roll around and you’ll have to die again.
I 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.
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.
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
I 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????
Here 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.
“Trying to find answers from outside yourself is nonsense. You need to look inward.”
The Dalai Lama.
I have been to over 34 countries and have come into contact with some very amazing stuff. I have been exposed to powerful esoteric knowledge that explains how we work. I have listened to wise people explain the meaning of life. I have learned wonderful tools for being a better person.
But at the end of the day even these great things fall flat. The true power of being alive is inside me. It has no name, no affiliation, no description or similarity. It is completely unique. There is nothing like it outside in the world.
Only when I realized this was I truly happy. I searched so much, I tried so hard, I wished so badly that that philosophy, that political view, that belief, that way of acting, that perspective, that opinion, that system, that place, that person, that tool would be the solution to finding happiness. But sooner or later they failed me.
They would say I am not trying hard enough, not doing it right, not following the path faithfully, not in the right place, don’t understand enough, but that is all crap.
The truth is that I am much smarter than any system, religion or way. I know so much more. For me. Only I know what is right for me. And I need nothing to know that. It is right there inside me. In fact very often the outward structures get in the way of our inward discovery.
This is not to say all the external tools are useless. Otherwise we would all be feral children with no outside tools to interact with others. We need the systems, whether they are political, religious or otherwise to have complex societies.
But the individual needs nothing of that to be connected with themselves. And that is the only thing that really matters. All else is secondary by a long shot. Otherwise you are an empty vessel void of life. You might as well get a meaningless 9-5 job that pays to keep your body fed and wait for death.
So look inside. What do you see? It might be scary at first. But ultimately it is the most liberating thing you could ever do, both for yourself and the whole universe.
HATCHING YOUR GRAND PLAN, by Amy Nolan
Human beings can no longer make decisions. We have become so inept we have taken to outsourcing all of our major life choices. Case in point: Life Coaches. They assist us to time manage, fi nd direction and make choices that people in previous generations just got on with. Our sense of individualism has reached such epic proportions we are terrifi ed that we may not live fully actualised lives, own big enough houses or drive big enough cars. If you want a good life, you are told to plan for it.
It’s all about the plan. There’s the fi nancial plan, the life plan, the wedding plan, the holiday plan, and of course the funeral plan. Heaven forbid your cheapskate family book a shitty covers band for the wake and bury you in a cardboard box. Plans are all about taking control and ensuring you get the life you believe you deserve. But life isn’t like that. Life is a furry beast with a mind of its own.
Having a plan offers the same security as a saddle. You may stay on your horse for longer but there’s no guarantee that she ain’t gonna take you out at the fi rst branch she comes to. Life is random. Life is chaotic. Life does not go to plan. That’s what I love about it. Planning is for dickheads with no sense of adventure. I’ll admit it, I have succumbed to the plan. When I had my fi rst child I joined a pregnancy support group and under the advice of the attendant midwife I wrote a birth plan.
The birth plan included a best top 10 cervical dilation hits play list (including Push It and Like a Virgin), assorted oils for rubbing into my sacrum, requests for a drug free birth (which was ironic because to date I had lived a drug fi lled life), candles, heat bags, and magical affi rmations. As it turned out I went crazy on the stink of jasmine, told my partner to get the fuck out of my face and demanded Pethidine.
Babies make such distinct and different entries into the world, foot fi rst, arm fi rst, head jammed in the pelvis, half an hour in the car, blue with the cord around the neck, 39 hours in second stage… the fact that I had a fucking plan refl ected my complete ignorance. There is only one birth plan: Get the baby out. This leads me to why my angst has turned against the plan. Just when you thought people couldn’t get any frigging stupider, in walks the Baby Planner. These are people who help indulgent middle class couples plan for their sprog.
The mere existence of the Baby Planner van in the driveway should be an indicator that these people should not breed, lest they produce a killer strain of accountants or fi nancial planners. You aren’t supposed to be able to afford a baby. Having a baby is the most expensive, time consuming, exhausting, unpredictable and energy draining thing you will ever do in your life.
The baby bonus isn’t a government gift. It’s a compensation payout for the years of hardship to come. What does a baby planner actually do? ‘Mate, you sit there and relax while I knock up your wife.’ If all pregnancies were planned then most of us wouldn’t exist. I was unplanned. Most of my children were unplanned.
I live an unplanned life. It’s wonderful. Nothing in my life never goes to plan because I don’t have one. It’s chaos, but I think you’ll fi nd it’s more aligned with the nature of life. Life is an accident. All you have to do is respond. Eat the plan.
There is so much pressure in life for success. The pressure is both internal and external. I think it is genetic. We are programed to improve on what is perfect. Sometimes we fail. But often, I hope, we succeed.
True happiness is to love ourselves exactly the way we are. Right? That is true happiness for me. When I am exactly perfect exactly in my current state is when I can finally relax and just be. My whole soul gives a big breath of relief.
Yet I have to actively try to be ok with who I am. That is not my normal state. I have all these knee jerk, primordial, instincts to compare myself with the world or with some made up fantasy from my own crazy head and conclude that I can become better.
And sometimes I do.
And sometimes it is a big waste of time that tires me out and I realize the goal was not worth it and I should have stayed home and chilled with the dog who thought I was just fine.
Life is ideally a balance but more commonly a tension between perfection as we are and the possibility to improve. Either way you can’t have one without the other.
Perfection is completion. Perfection is a goal. But our lives are spent either moving towards the goal, or having accomplished it, moving away from it. You never spend any time exactly on the goal.
This means we are eternally reaching our goals, but upon reaching them we skew the balance between perfection and striving and we immediately become imperfect again and are forced to get another perfection to strive for.
As we move from goal to goal we seesaw between being focused on improvement and being perfect (the later lasts no time at all, the former lasts a lifetime).
The moment you reach perfection and are able to keep it is the moment you become one with God, which according to my belief means you explode into a zillion non-pieces and scatter all over the universe - Not exactly practical if you have a job and children.
So….Yes we are genetically programed to improve ourselves. Yes happiness is to be perfectly ok with youself now.
So how do you solve this balance between perfection and improvement?
Here is one novel solution:
Success is being perfectly ok with yourself while you help OTHERS improve.
What if we all did this? Sounds like perfection to me.
And I’m not talking about donating to hungry kids half way across the globe, which is a nice of course. I think much more important are the people directly connected to you. How can you help them improve?
And I don’t mean heroic acts of kindness, which is also nice. I mean helping them get dressed, cleaning up after them, making them laugh, listening to them.
You are doing that already, you say?
Ha! I tricked you! You see, you are perfect just the way you are. Keep it up.
