𝐍𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐨𝐧 "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦"

 

𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 ... 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐰 —

 

Flirting ... then and now —

Jules Duvelleroy's Language of the Fan ...

From Of Human Bondage 1934 ...

40 Year Old Virgin ...

From the Internet 2024 ...

𝐒𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐁𝐞 𝐀𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 ...

Sure, you’re creative. 

You wanna be an artist.

Answer me this?

 

How much of an artist you gonna be. 

Pretty pictures? 

Nice arrangements?

 Le mot juste? 

Innovative images and shapes? 

That kind of artist?

That's nice, but it's just "artistic".

Why settle. 

Go all the way!

Be a real artist! 

Be creative enough to love with all your heart. 

Even if it's been broken.

[Who's hasn't been ... join the club.]

After all, isn't it true you only give to yourself? 

So, why be less that you are. 

Stop looking at all those paint-by-numbers masterpieces you put together as a kid.

Stop decorating a prison cell of your own delusions. 

Start your day with a fresh canvas. 

In fact, start the next moment that way.

How?

There's a wellspring of creativity within you. 

Simply go there and draw from it. 

But, you won't get any water from a well unless you drop a bucket into it. 

Bucket? Drop?

Drop down within yourself. 

At first there might be some cobwebs and stuff.

Even broken bits.*

Keep going. Keep going.

You'll see ...

*[There's a simple fix for those.] 

But, please ...

Don't wait until the house is on fire to dig a well.

Be courageous!

****

Another clear-eyed perspective of great authority ...

"Our mind can be compared to a hand temporarily tied as much to the conceptual representation of an ego —  ego or self — as to the concepts and fixations derived from this idea. Little by little, with practice, egoistic fixations and concepts are eliminated, and just as a hand when it is untied can finally open, the mind opens, acquiring all kinds of operational possibilities. She then discovers that she has numerous qualities and skills, just as happens to the hand once she is freed from what binded her."

H.E. the Very Venerable Kalu Kyabje Rinpoche

 

" "𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠" "

In this wramble we're using the term "framing" as in the sense of how we see things and events; people. And, how things are presented to us. Context. With mixed in random amounts of present understanding, historical references, judgement, prejudice, triggers, assumptions, preferences, and tendencies. Even the way we see things according to how our mind is structured. Oh, you thought that all minds work the same way. As if. You think? Just look at the political landscape. Two sides, each firmly 'til-do-or-die certain of their rectitude. Mind seems to operate in a dualistic frame. But, Buddha Be Praised!, not inevitably. Or, necessarily. Let's hope so, because if the news of the day is accurate in telling on what's going on ... oh, boy!

But that's another topic. Never mind. And, FYI, I don't mind even if you do mind. According to those who know, when you look for the mind, guess what? There's nothing there. Empty. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

But, that another topic too.

Having said that about other topics, chew on this:

Something from the Real frame of Nisargadatta Maharaj: "The mind is the wife of the heart and the world their home —to be kept bright and happy. Truth and love are man's real nature and mind and heart are the means of its expression"

The frame surrounds the view. Eliminate the frame — can you even do that? — and you're looking with naked awareness. Unfiltered. "Naked Eye." Plain. As it is. Not how you think it is. Or, your reaction(s). And, framing isn't just for the eyes. The ears too. How we hear things. Can you look, listen ... without adding anything? The added part, that's the frame.

The TV screen is a frame. No brainer on that point. Literally, huh? And, the contents we view on that device, and our other viewing devices; also frames. 

And, basically, what we're watching is something how somebody who we may or may not even know, how they see it. What is given us to watch. We give credence easily when what is being presented matches our real world experience. Or, are amused, when the presentation is off kilter, or screwballed comedically. And — Alert! Alert! — when biased presentations match our own biases. "Bias Confirmation" is what it's called. 

Then there's the more basic framing which has to do with what is made available for viewing. In the Internet Age, this may seem moot since we can just about call up whatever we want at the push of a button. But we do look a lot at content which is based on some other one providing that content. News, for one. SNL even.

And, by the way, the future is soon to arrive where with the proper chip you'll just be able to think it and it'll show up on the screen. Future, future ... think it, and it'll show up in a virtual field right in front of your eyes. And, a word of caution on that wonderful Brave New Word possibility: that chip ... it's a two way street. For the convenience of translating thinking to image making, such tech could ever so easily also reverse the connection and literally put thoughts into your own head. Think about that. 

See, right there. That's my frame. A frame that casts things in the light of conspiracy theories. But, consider it. There are machers working as we speak to finagle such chips like that. You heard of Elon Musk? Musk is too ... much. First iterations are for to have the blessings of medical science. What could go wrong. Extend the idea further and imagine where it can go. 

Then there's AI.

Artificial Intelligence will give the "thought leaders" the tools to jigger the algorithm to get just the right thoughts into the right brains. Sit back and relax, we know what's good for you. What is that, Big Brother? It's what's good for me! You can see it well enough for yourself. Just go and search something to buy. Darned if some ever so helpful, anonymous techie hasn't jiggered into your frame of view all sorts of ads for just what we know you're looking for. And, you are welcome. Just trying to be helpful. But also let's make a buck whilst we're saving the planet.

The news is a perfect example of unnoticed, subconscious framing. Somebody has to decide what is news, and what of all the news is going to go into the time slots. The NY Times motto: "All the news that's fit to print" says it in plain English. Just who is deciding what's "fit". And, who the fuck are they anyway? And, by what lights are they living their lives, and attempting to influence mine? And, who frames the frame they frame? Who's you Daddy!? By the way, the word "kosher", it means "fit"? If you're a reader of the newspaper of record you might refigure their motto as, "All the news that fits". 

Argh! It can give you a fit.

But wait, not only is it a decision on what to present as news, but the biases that editors and their minions process into their presentations are also present. If you don't know what that is, just watch the news. Pick your channel. Quite obviously, there are differences. Politically. And, you can bet also based on unabashed self-interest. That earnest and assertive overly made-up and coiffed with the tight fitting dress isn't just a patriot delivering the news of the day, there's a career on the line don't you know. Compounded by they're quite possibly a bunch of doodoo heads in front of and behind the camera.

So what do we make of all that? Well, I acknowledge that I just did some framing. But, the framing is about framing. 

The frame I'm attempting to hold up for your viewing is to suggest up-leveling our awareness to become aware of the framing being presenting in the media. Not to denigrate it. Or, to go on endlessly arguing over what frame is the right own. Choose the frame that suits you. But ... just acknowledge that you're looking with a frame. See it for what it is. That it's there, coloring things. When you do that then you can step out of the frame and be responsible yourself for shaping the frame. 

The warring in the world should be enough to suggest that a new frame is necessary. Unless, of course, you like to fight as a way of living. Because, if you do, the guys that make a living from you living with war as the ordained state of things all to happy to oblige.

If the world is as you see it ... and you want to do something about it ... change the frame. Change the prescription on those "glasses". Also, spend some time quietly and unplugged. Not just from the medium and its messages, but from the chatter in you keppe. You know, that little voice going on in your head that we so easily take to be who we are. You say, "There's no voice in my head!" Oh, really. Says who?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 ~ 𝐊𝐚𝐥𝐮 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐞

The Four Levels of Obscurations ~ Kalu Rinpoche

The failure of the mind to recognize its own nature is what is meant by the term "ma-rik-pa," or ignorance, the first level of obscuration or defilement in the mind. As a result of this ignorance, there arises in the mind the imputation of an "I" and an "other," something that is other than the mind. 

This dualistic clinging, something that we have had throughout beginningless time, and that never stops, is the second level of obscuration, the obscuration of habits. 

Based upon this dualistic clinging arise the three root mental afflictions: mental darkness, desire, and aggression. Based upon those three afflictions are the 84,000 various mental afflictions, the third level of obscurations, called the obscuration of mental affliction. 

Under the influence of this, we perform actions that are obscured in their nature — the fourth level, called the obscuration of actions or karma. 

These four levels or types of obscurations are the cause for all sentient beings to wander in samsara. If these are removed or cleaned, then the inherent qualities of mind's nature, which we refer to as wisdom or "yeshe," will naturally manifest and spread like the rays of the sun. 

The word in Tibetan for the removal of these obscurations, "sang," means "cleansing," and the word for the spreading of the inherent qualities of the mind that occurs as a result of that is "gye," or "increasing." "Sang-gye". These two words together, is the Tibetan word for a Buddha. Therefore what is meant by Buddhahood is the recognition and realization of the complete purity of the mind.

𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐲

This is how the April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse looked like at near totality at 3:45 p.m. in Montclair, New Jersey. 

Plenty to see?

1. Presence — Awesome...

The Crescent of the Sun. 

2. Absence — Fearsome ...

The Abyss of Blackness. 

3. Setting Sun — World ...

The Red Glow [of the Earth On Fire]. 

 

4. Rising Sun — World ...

 Noticing so much Daylight even so.

5. Hope ...

Looking for the Light.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓? — 𝐍𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐣

Nisargadatta Maharaj

WHERE IS YOUR REAL INTEREST?

M: Liberation is not the result of some means skillfully applied, nor of circumstances. It is beyond the causal process. Nothing can compel it, nothing can prevent it.

Q: Then why are we not free here and now?

M: But we are free ‘here and now’. It is only the mind that imagines bondage.

Q: What will put an end to imagination?

M: Why should you want to put an end to it? Once you know your mind and its miraculous powers, and remove what poisoned it -- the idea of a separate and isolated person -- you just leave it alone to do its work among things to which it is well suited. To keep the mind in its own place and on its own work is the liberation of the mind.

Q: What is the work of the mind?

M: The mind is the wife of the heart and the world their home -- to be kept bright and happy.

Q: I have not yet understood why, if nothing stands in the way of liberation, it does not happen here and now.

M: Nothing stands in the way of your liberation and it can happen here and now, but for your being more interested in other things. And you cannot fight with your interests. You must go with them, see through them and watch them reveal themselves as mere errors of judgement and appreciation.

Nisargadatta Maharaj, I AM THAT ch. 88

Knowledge and Knowing ...

All those philosophers who are learned in western subjects such as science are able to identify that which is invisible to ordinary people. Nevertheless, although they see and extract that which is precious among the external four elements, have made medical discoveries that cure diseases, are able to benefit and protect their own direction and deliver that which is harmful to others, are expert in discovering substances that bring both benefit and harm into this world; their capacity to be omniscient is still extremely limited.

 
If we compare that to the omniscience of the Buddha, then from a spiritual perspective the capacity of the Buddha is equal to space. There is not even a hair’s worth of anything that cannot and is not known. That is called being fully and completely omniscient.

 
If you come to understand the Dharma that is taught by such an omniscient Buddha then your own mind will become like the sky and will never be rigid. Your entire being will be open and free. Since the teachings of the Buddha are full of such temporary and ultimate benefit to yourself and all others, if you can learn even a little bit of this Dharma that will bring tremendous achievement. Please hold this advice deep within your heart.

~ Yangthang Rinpoche

Ghosting ... From Bree Jenkins, LMFT

From Bree Jenkins, LMFT ...

Ghosting is not a new term, but very common since the social media age. Here’s some food for thought about what it is, why people do it and how damaging it can be:

Ghosting is often seen as an immature or passive-aggressive way to end a relationship. In other instances, it may even be a form of emotional abuse.
There are two primary reasons why a person ghosts another, and often it's a combination of the two.

The first is that some find it's way easier (in the short-term, anyway) to ghost someone than to have an awkward, uncomfortable heart-to-heart about why you’re not interested in maintaining contact.

The person doing the ghosting often wants to avoid confrontation or dealing with someone else’s hurt feelings, so they simply cease all communication and hope the hint is delivered.

As you can imagine (or know from personal experience), ghosting can have a real psychological impact on the person who’s being ghosted.

It’s almost like sudden loss [or] grief, especially the first time you’ve ever been ghosted. You are shocked, and you’re in denial, thinking things such as ‘maybe they didn’t see my text.’ Then you feel anger.

Jenkins adds, “Next, the feelings of depression [can] kick in along with feelings of poor self-esteem as you mentally reexamine your relationship and last conversation for possible warning signs."

Ghosting is inherently ambiguous because there is a lack of explanation for why the relationship ended. For the person who has been ghosted, it can lead to significant feelings of rejection, guilt, grief, and shame.

A person who has been ghosted may be left wondering what this type of behavior says about them, but it is important to remember that ghosting says more about the person who cuts off contact than the person who is ghosted.

Pope Francis' new prayer for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi:

Pope Francis' new prayer for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi:

Saint Francis,

man wounded by love, Crucified in body and in spirit,

we look to you, decorated with the holy stigmata, to learn how to love the Lord Jesus and our brothers and sisters with your love, with your passion.

With you, it is easier to contemplate and follow Christ, poor and Crucified. Give us, Francis, the freshness of your faith, the certainty of your hope, the gentleness of your charity.

Intercede for us, so that it may be sweet for us to bear the burdens of life, and in trials, we may experience
the tenderness of the Father and the balm of the Spirit.

May our wounds be healed by the Heart of Christ, to become, like you, witnesses of His mercy, which continues to heal and renew the life of those who seek Him with a sincere heart.

O Francis, made to resemble the Crucified One, let your stigmata be for us and for the world resplendent signs of life and resurrection, to show new ways of peace and reconciliation. 

Amen.

The Pope recited the prayer, which will be prayed at the Chapel of the Stigmata in Verna, as he met Friday [April 5, 2024]with Franciscan Friars Minor of La Verna and the Tuscan Province in Italy.

He blessed the Franciscans present with a relic of St. Francis' blood.

𝐑𝐱 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 ...

~ Paramahansa Yogananda

“Nature will survive with or without us. We can choose to be her ally, or allow greed and ignorance to drive us into extinction. Either way nature will restore her equilibrium and rid herself of parasites if necessary in order to do so. 

“I believe a time will come when, in greater understanding, we shall have no boundaries anymore. We shall call the earth our country; and we shall, by a process of justice and international assembly, distribute unselfishly the goods of the world according to the needs of the people. But equality cannot be established by force; it must come from the heart... We must start now, with ourselves. We should try to be like the divine ones who have come on earth again and again to show us the way. By our loving each other and keeping our understanding clear, as they taught and exemplified, peace can come.”