Miracle

OK, enough hand wringing.  

Time to speak about Joy!  

I tend to get “ear worms,” you know, those songs that catch you and play over an over in your head.  

Yesterday, just before going out for my bike ride, it was The Joker, Steve Miller band, I caught a few bars someone was playing on the radio, pretty much played most of the whole 30 miles, 2 hours and 13 minutes, somewhat on and off.   

This morning was Miracles, Jefferson Starship, don’t recall how that one came up.  

I don’t always remember all the lyrics; sometimes I must look them up. 

Ear worms bother some people, I don’t mind them.  I do not listen to music when bike riding outside, I also like to listen to the sounds of the world, this time of the season the birds are so vocal, wonderful!  

I also like to look around, take in the budding trees and bushes, seeing the spring flowers.  

I also enjoy looking at the cars and buildings, old crumbling buildings and fresh new buildings in progress…  

I am a bit of a car guy, as teenagers, my friend Neil and I, would try to identify all the cars on the road, make, model, and year, I still try to keep up…  

Neil was always more knowledgeable than I, probably still is…  

This morning, I was perusing an article from The Atlantic, Five Joyful Ways To Spend Time Online, collected 5 writers’ recommendations, I resonated with none of them!  

I suspect that they are all younger than my kids and my wife’s kids, all 37 and older, but older than my grandkids…  

I usually start my day reading the New York Times online, at least perusing the “The Morning” and “Today’s Headlines,” if I don’t have to go to work, Wed-Fri, or have something pending early I might open a few articles to read completely.  Today there is an article in The NYT Magazine on ADHD, I might try to get a copy in print to read.  

I usually stretch out and do some lightweight strengthening exercises, almost every morning for about 20 minutes…  

Much of my days I spend reading, novels, I have several magazine subscriptions, I like print!  

I usually have a few projects to attend, astronomy, ham radio, loading ammo, projects around the house, there is always stuff to organize…  

Sometimes I play with our dog, or he needs a walk, or my wife and I take him for a longer hike.  He is older now and does not require as much attention, more time to think and Blog!  

If I don’t go for a hike or bike ride during the day, before dinner, I try to work out for 1.5 hours or so every other day, indoors, some karate bag work, light weights, 10 minutes on the rower, then an hour on the elliptical usually watching a silly or violent action movie or show, then shower.  

When out, or at home, I try to take time to notice…  

I’ll look through the windows, step outside to look around at what is growing, do some house inspections…  

I’ll put down what I am reading and just contemplate…  

So, from that song playing in my head with the line; “If only you believe in miracles…”  

I started thinking about miracles this morning…  

Merriam-Webster online defines Miracle as: 

1: An extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs

the healing miracles described in the Gospels.  

2: An extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment

The bridge is a miracle of engineering.

3: Christian Science : a divinely natural phenomenon experienced humanly as the fulfillment of spiritual law.  

I like to think about everyday miracles…  

When taking time to contemplate, I see that everything is a miracle!  

Just being alive is a miracle, yes, there is horrible suffering in the world, but that subject is for another day…  

Today’s Blog is for looking at everything with Awe, Wonder, Joy…  

I will refer to the Third Commandment:  Have fun!  

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-third-commandment-enjoy-yourself.html  

(As an aside, a Google search for my Blog no longer finds my Blog, even though it is on Google Blogger!  I have switched to Duck-Duck-Go!)  

I have written before about how our eyesight, our brain’s connection to our eyes is such a miracle:  

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2022/04/seeing.html 

So, those 20-30 year olds in that The Atlantic article found Joy doing certain things online, things that have absolutely no interest for me…   

Wonderful!

Everyone can find their own ways into a joyful life!  

This morning, I am writing this meandering Blog to encourage you to stop, and notice, perhaps drop all the stories you have running in your head, perhaps look so intently, that even your ear worms drop away, look at yourself and at everything around you with fresh eyes, with “Beginner’s Mind,” as the Zen Buddhists would say…  

Look closely at this life you have been given…  

Maybe you do not like everything about your life…  

Then contemplate how can you take that first step toward greater Love for this one life you have been given…  

Perhaps, even a tiny step in another direction…  

Any step toward greater Awe, Wonder, Joy, Love, Compassion, is a sacred step…  

Each step you take is an Everyday Miracle…  

Namaste

The Chicken Lifestyle 2

Yesterday I did not address the adage of “Being Chicken.”  

When I was a child, I remember being called “chicken” was usually used by bullies, to dominate.  

The equivalent of being called a coward…  

I was a shy introverted kid…  

But I am also a child of Holocaust survivors…  

I’ve written about being a peaceful warrior:  

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2014/05/war-and-peace.html

and about being a sheep dog: 

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/10/are-you-survivalist.html

My martial arts training is clear on the advice that you walk, or even run, away from a fight… 

If you can…  

There is no reason to fight unless yours or a loved one’s life is in danger…  

There is no reason to fight for a slighted ego.  

Run away, hide, whatever you need to do to avoid a fight…  

Do not go places where there might be personal danger…  

Only when there is life on the line, then you fight, preferably, quick, overwhelmingly violent, and short…  

Use whatever weapon you have at hand, your belt, preferably with heavy buckle, a knife, an umbrella, a cane, a stick, a rock, use your keys, a pen, carry pepper spray, or a gun if you conceal carry…  

Go for the eyes, kick the groin or shins…  

Know how to go full on “Berserker.” 

If you are going to fight, be prepared to be severely injured or die…   

Someone calls you “chicken.”

That is the time to turn and run.  

Make sure anyone with you, knows to turn and run with you…  

Perhaps have a safe word, so they can react quickly, that word can be as simple as “Run!”  

Yesterday I blogged about the Chicken Lifestyle can be thought as live more simply, today we can extend that to also avoiding placing yourself in danger.  

Do not be afraid of “being Chicken.”   

I will be 72 this year, I have never been in a fight since childhood, never since starting my martial arts training at age 17…  

I do not go to dangerous places. 

I stay aware of my surroundings, I sit facing the entrance, if I can…  

I expect to live my life without ever having a fight… 

However, you never know, I wear a heavy buckle on my belt, I carry a knife, I have my concealed carry license, you will never know if I am concealed carrying or not…  

I embrace Being Chicken.  

I embrace the Chicken Lifestyle.  

Stay aware, stay safe…  

Namaste

The Chicken Lifestyle

I was reading the New York Times online this morning and came across an article about how eggs are expensive, so people were dying alternative round objects such as potatoes for Easter.   

Then the article also mentioned that eggs are half the price than what they were a month ago.  

We were doing a morning stretching routine together and I mentioned this to my wife, and we started a conversation.  

She was wondering about how the egg market could bounce back so quickly after entire flocks had to be killed due to bird flu.  

I then said something about the rapid maturing of chickens…    

I meant to say the rapid chicken lifecycle…

However, what I actually said was the rapid “Chicken Lifestyle…”     

We the broke into semi-uncontrollable laughter…  

I said that should be the title of a book, she said I should write a blog on it, 

so here we are…  

I then went down the rabbit hole of Google…  

From a Purina Web page:  “Most hens will lay their first egg around 18 weeks of age and then lay an egg almost daily thereafter. In their first year, you can expect up to 250 eggs from high-producing, well-fed backyard chickens. Then, egg counts will naturally decrease each following year with hens entering egg retirement around years six or seven.” 

Apparently, chickens are trying to lay a clutch of eggs, about 3-8, and then would try to hatch them.  

When we harvest the eggs daily, they continue to lay eggs about every 26 hours, not quite 1 per day, so they skip some days, and there is also a seasonal cycle.  

I have not been blogging lately…  

The political climate is soooo depressing…  

I don’t want to continue to rant about how bad the world is…  

The rise of authoritarianism, the state of the world economy, war, earthquakes, climate change, not to mention my 401k sinking into the netherworld…  

So, here we are discussing the Chicken Lifestyle…  

Brings up the value of simplicity…  

Not that we need to peck at bird feed and insects all day and then lay an egg, sleep, repeat…  

Perhaps worthwhile to examine what we spend our time doing every day.  

Perhaps we can eliminate those activities which no longer supports our long-term happiness…  

Some of us are pushed to protest, others of us need to cocoon ourselves away…

Some of us need to immerse ourselves in online and other media, others need to take a media break…  

I am not here to tell you what to do…  

I am just letting you know that I am taking my newly invented meme of the “Chicken Lifestyle,” to examine my own life…  

And in hope that you can take this meme to do whatever it is that you need to do to live your best life…  

Namaste

Even More Bozos on this Bus

Well, here we are again, seems to me we are currently in an even worse place than the first Drumpf administration, there even are more Bozos on this Bus...  

The destruction of our democratic principles is faster, wider, and deeper this time around…  

I Blogged about economic inequality in February of 2020:  

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2022/02/economic-inequality.html

In there I referred to this Blog of August of 2020:  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2020/08/black-lives-matter.html

I am repeating just a little of that latter Blog again here:  

“Fundamental 1

People are inherently fearful

They fear for their lives, their economics, families, friends…  in no specific order

The lower their evolutionary level, the smaller the circle of who is in their family

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

They fear “the other”

Those who are not in their family

Those who are perceived to be “different””

Back then I outlined some possible “fixes.”  

I suspect we are still too primitive a society for what I proposed back then…  

Today I want to outline some failures of the Democratic Party.  

The failures that lead to the election of such a destructive current administration…

You may not agree with me, great, find your own methods to solving this problem…  

 Let us open with a quote:

“The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.”

P.J. O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores

1-Failure to address economic disparity sufficiently.  

Rising costs of food, housing, insurance, health care, etc. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2024/05/31/the-state-of-the-american-middle-class/

It is difficult to be compassionate when you feel you are drowning.  You cannot want to give your hard-earned dollars to anyone outside of “your family.”    

2-Failures of DEI initiatives.  

https://hbr.org/2022/12/the-failure-of-the-dei-industrial-complex

3-Firearm regulations, without providing adequate safety for individuals.  

I suspect many Democrats will disagree with me.  I recommend spending some time learning to shoot and hang out with “the other side,” perhaps at a local gun club.  

As the saying goes “When seconds count the police are only minutes away.”  

I am a great believer in adequate training and continued practice, if you are going to own a firearm, although the data is not great:  

https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/firearm-safety-training-requirements.html

If you are going to carry, I recommend carry insurance as well, but how many poor people can afford that?  

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/membership/

4-Failures to highlight where the Democrats have succeeded in boosting the economy and the Infrastructure Act.  

https://www.epi.org/press/new-report-finds-that-the-economy-performs-better-under-democratic-presidential-administrations/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/at-its-two-year-anniversary-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-continues-to-rebuild-all-of-america/

Of course, the above do not take into the consideration other failures where President Biden failed to step down in a timely manner, and the Democrats clearly hid his dementia, until this was revealed in real time on TV, and the Democrats choose a weak Vice President to begin with, and then promoted her as the successor in an untimely manner.   

https://www.theglobalist.com/united-states-2024-us-presidential-elections-democratic-party-donald-trump-kamala-harris/

Can our country recover?

I am usually an optimist…

Maybe I am just getting more pessimistic in my old age…  

Right now, I fear globally for the world, for our country’s democracy, and personally for my kids and grandkids futures…  

Namaste 

 

Winning The Game

Perhaps spurred on by processing the grief…  

Going through the myriad failures of our Democratic Party over these years…  

Some of these I have highlighted in other Blog entries…

I have been reading others pontificating, ad nauseum… 

Not doing that this time…  

Much weirder thoughts to process this morning.  

These thoughts started on my bike ride yesterday afternoon.  

I do not listen to music or podcasts when biking, I just enjoy the changing scenery and muse…  

First was processing hearing something about witnessed UFO sightings by highly trained Airforce personnel, clearly seeing something that should not be possible with current human technology.  

Can’t find the original reference, some low-level info here:  

https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/uaps.htm

Then my musings went to the conundrum of dark matter and dark energy:  

 “The universe is made up of three components: normal or visible matter (5%), dark matter (27%), and dark energy (68%).”    

“Scientists today think dark matter exists in a vast, web-like structure that winds through the whole universe – a gravitational scaffold that attracts most of the cosmos’ normal matter. They’ve determined that dark matter isn’t composed of known particles of matter because the universe would look very different if it were. The search for what makes up dark matter continues.”  

“Dark energy may compose roughly 68% of the universe, but scientists know even less about it than they do about dark matter. But something like dark energy must exist to explain the universe’s accelerating expansion.”  https://science.nasa.gov/universe/overview/building-blocks/

The first time I came upon this information a few years ago, my first thoughts were: “WTF! “ 

I am no physicist, but I do have a science PhD and an MD, and for 30 plus years have read Science News and 2 astronomy magazines…  

Clearly, the more we know, the more we realize how profound is our level of ignorance of how everything works…  

It seems we don’t know squat!  

Heretic!  

So, let us start from a position of profound ignorance…  

What can we speculate upon?  

I then was thinking about the book “Flatland.”  This is about a 2-dimensional world, where 2-dimensional beings cannot understand a 3-dimensional being.  

In some ways a parallel to the allegory of Plato’s Cave.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM

According to string theory there may perhaps 11 dimensions…   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

So let us theorize a being that travels in at least just 1 extra dimension…  

That being could enter and exit our 3- dimensional world, and we could only glimpse a small slice of that being.  

This being could move objects around in our world that would seem to be impossible.  

 Perhaps an explanation for the unexplainable, such as UFO sightings and the effects on our Universe of what we label dark matter and energy.  

Maybe each of us are extensions of higher dimensional beings…  

As in Douglas Adams’ pandimensional beings that look like mice…

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/475365-these-creatures-you-call-mice-you-see-they-are-not

Perhaps we, and the entire Cosmos, are an extension of one higher dimensional being…  

Oh well, then we get back to something we can label as” G-d, or Source,” the speculations that arise out of the study of the mystical centers of all religions, as per Houston Smith.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huston_Smith

As I have labeled “Everything-That-Is and Everything-That-Is-Not.”  

Everything-That-Is, perhaps being that 5% visible matter…  

Everything-That-Is-Not,” is everything else, pure potential, including the potential of dark matter (27%), and dark energy (68%).     

My next musings related to our relationship to this potential extra dimensional being or concept.  Since we are an extension of this Source, can we not look back into the Source, is that what happens in meditation or in deep dreamless sleep?  

Do we get back to being Source…  

Is that how we get back to “Winning the Game?”  

Not “Winning” as in there are winners and losers, not being the human with the most stuff as a winner, perhaps “Winning” as realizing there is a “Game” being played, and being played at a higher level than we are able to comprehend…  

Perhaps the Lila of Hinduism… 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lila_(Hinduism)

Perhaps, through this contact feeling the interconnectedness of all things…  

Leading to profound compassion for our own small self, and all of us “Other” small selves…  

And then realizing there is no “Other.”  

 Maybe leading us to working toward the betterment of all beings and all things…  

In whatever way we are able…  

Perhaps “Winning the Game” is to get to a place of gratitude, perhaps even a level of satisfaction, if not even happiness, right now, in this very moment…  

Does not mean we cannot have sadness and grief for our suffering and the suffering of others…  

Does not mean we cannot worry about the potential of future suffering for ourselves and others…  

However, we do not let the grief and worry stop us from the gratitude of being given this life…  

To appreciate the places we find Truth and Beauty…  

Perhaps that is Winning the Game… 

Namaste

A Watched Mind Does Not Roil

Well, maybe it still does, hopefully less than an unwatched mind…  

For me at least that seems to be the results of meditation.  

Not that we are trying to achieve anything…  

Or are we?  

The Buddhist literature is filled with “non-achievement.”  

Well, actually, if you Google “non-achievement,” you mostly get links to “non-attachment”…    

You only sometimes get links to “non-achievement.”  

https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/bt_52.htm

This title came to me during last night’s meditation, a usual 3 am awake mind, up to sit, always starts off with a thinking mind, thoughts slow their appearance with attention, watching thoughts, letting them drift away, sometimes a bumper sticker saying arises…  

I laughed at that one, so I grabbed my phone to write it down, then I can get back to sitting…  

 This Blog title is just an excuse to put down some thoughts arising out of this quarter’s Tricycle Fall 2024.  

On page 40 there is a Meet the Teacher, Phra Ajan Suchart Abhijato, interesting story, does a little teaching, but mostly practices.  I went on his website and looked at a few of his teachings, came away with the idea that he was mostly a classic “Monk on a Mountain.”   

Reminds me of Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, where the protagonist realizes it is easier to be a monk on a mountain than it is to come back and practice in this messy world.  

I guess I resonate more with Maugham’s protagonist…  

It is not easy to live in this messy world.  I recently read the article in the Atlantic about the migrants trying to come to the US over the Darien Gap, what awful lives they must be having to attempt such a miserable trek.  I contemplate the current wars in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Sudan.  How can we each sit with such misery…  

Then there is the article on page 33 by Mark Van Buren on sitting with suffering, the bodhisattva vow to free everyone from suffering.  He then goes on to write how that vow can be overwhelming.  He then tells the story of a young girl throwing starfish back into the sea after a big storm, and a man telling her she was wasting her time, and she retorts “Well, I made a difference to that one!”  He ends with “So go ahead, take the commitment to save the world, but please don’t forget to help your mother do the dishes.”   Make a difference to the everyday lives you touch along the bodhisattva way.  

On page 46 Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi (that is a mouthful!) writes “…each sitting has an unlimited ripple effect.  The simple repetition of that which is unrepeatable allows us to respond from the hara (lower belly), from the heart, with trust.  There is no formula!  Each situation demands complete awareness, the clear mirror of mind that is free from prior convictions and karmic patterns.  Thus, we can discern right action.”  

Peter Coyote on page 61 writes “Try to pin down the source from where your internal speech and bizarre little narrative daydreams arise.  Meditating allows the apparent boundaries of distinctions to dissolve and the place from which new thoughts and impulses arise to express itself.  When our boundaries are wide open and anything can be included, we really don’t know with certainty who’s sitting on our cushion or who or what is orchestrating our breathing, and surprisingly, it is more interesting not to know.”  

My overall take on this Labor Day 2024 is that there are many ways to surf this wild world, be satisfied with your individual path, and realize it may change…  

You may choose to be a monk on a mountain or wash the feet of the poor…  

Personally, I enjoy the blessings of the material world, if you embrace and enjoy the material world, do so fully, drop guilt and “shoulds,” don’t should yourself…  

I agree with living a life of contribution and non-harming.  

I embrace a life of practices to continue self-evolution, a never-ending practice…  

Follow “The 3 Commandments.” 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-second-commandment-love-everything.html

If that resonates with you…  

Remember that you are the sensory organs of Source...   

Source needs you to Experience Life, ‘cause sometimes it is less fun to have dinner alone…  

Namaste

If You Can Keep It

McHenry records the events of the last day of the convention, September 18, 1787, he wrote: “A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy – A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.”

https://blogs.loc.gov/manuscripts/2022/01/a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it-elizabeth-willing-powel-benjamin-franklin-and-the-james-mchenry-journal/

Much is being written recently about the great divide in our, current, seemingly, not so United States.  

Additionally, historians are writing about other times of comparative great divide, some write about how our country survived the Vietnam war, despite that great divide.  

Others are writing about the failures of our Constitution which was designed for 13 colonies, and not for 50 very different States.  Particularly, mentioning the domination of minority political populations due to the failures of the electoral college system of voting, but also the possibly unbalanced power of the Senate and Supreme Court.  

David French wrote a provocative book, “Divided We Fall.”  There he outlines several scenarios that might result in another succession between the States.  

And then there is the 2024 dystopian film “Civil War.”  

Thoughts about this blog started after reading a provocative thought-piece written by my friend Harvey, he titled this “Men Are Oppressed – By Men.”  My general gist of his words is that men who have been bullied and abused, can result in a syndrome of giving power to a dominating individual, and then being satisfied with the crumbs of power.  He was particularly writing about this young man who tried to assassinate Drumpf, without having a clear anti-republican philosophy, as well as Drumpf’s vice presidential candidate.   That young men “identify with and take on the power of their oppressors.”  He outlines that the real oppressors are the plutocrats and corporations, operating out of greed, that result in loss of jobs and autonomy.  I wrote back that I was reminded of the many movies depicting the evil leader and their crony subordinates.   

Harvey's full article:  

https://www.icloud.com/pages/038toXbk5s3DO_qRO_g2uK5fg#Male_Oppression

So how do we address this Great Divide?

David French, as well as others, lament the ability of social media to feed you more and more information to support your political point of view, no matter how factually wrong it might be, and that is true for both the Right and Left.  Perhaps the cure for that is to read more widely and spend time with more diverse groups.  

French posits in Chapter 15 that the way through may be within Pluralism and the Bill of Rights.  Where neither the Right nor the Left wins or loses.  That the States do not have to be uniform “let Tennessee be Tennessee, let California be California,” and let rural areas be different from big cities.  Where we can allow for different cultural backgrounds, whether based on religion and/or geography.   He argues in chapter 16 we must “Rediscover Tolerance.”  

French then writes on page 250, “Yes, there is the right/left culture war that we are long familiar with, but there’s now an even deeper struggle – between decency and indecency.”  He then argues that our “Our nation is built from the ground up to handle political disagreement.  It is not built to endure mass-scale dishonesty and vindictiveness.”  Page 256, he writes that we need to embrace “three cardinal virtues:” justice, mercy, humility.   And there does not seem to be a call for politicians that embrace these qualities.  

In my words we need more kindness and compassion.  

My wife this morning pointed out an article in the Summer 2024 Tricycle, pages 53-54 and 104, by Segall, “The Wheel Turns Slowly.”  In his Buddhist view, we must:  By individual action spend our dollars wisely, join in collective action to change public opinion, avoid arguing, and, as the title says, be realistic about how change occurs slowly, over “decades – perhaps lifetimes”.  He also quotes Churchill on liberal democracy which may “allow diverse social groups to live side-by-side (and sometimes together) without killing each other.” as “the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried.”  

Sebastian Junger wrote a book “Tribe:  On Homecoming and Belonging.”  His thesis is that modern Western society is intrinsically “unappealing.”   Page 22 he writes: “human beings need three basic things in order to be content:  they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others.  These values are considered ‘intrinsic’ to human happiness and far outweigh ‘extrinsic’ values such as beauty, money, and status.”  

Much of the book is about war and PTSD, and how early childhood abuse increases risk for PTSD and how the lack of society support contributes to PTSD.   This connects to what my friend Harvey wrote.  

What I took away from Junger’s book is that we live in a society that is too large.  Many of us no longer live in manageable groups where we can feel competent, authentic, and connected to community.   

We need to elect leaders that demonstrate kindness and compassion, so that we can strive to emulate these kinds of leaders.  We need to enact laws that rein in the plutocrats and corporations that accumulate wealth without giving back to society.  

As an optimist I believe we can evolve toward these goals.  As a realist I worry that there will be much destruction before we reach these goals.  

Namaste