streaming consciousness…

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  hardie karges 2:44 pm on August 25, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: binary ( 3 ), Buddhism ( 432 ), digital, Hinduism ( 28 ), Jainism ( 13 ), metaphysics ( 5 ), Middle Path ( 55 ), philosophy ( 104 ), religion ( 158 )   

  The Golden Mean is an Irrational Number–and so are our lives… 

  Growth is easy–more more bigger bigger. Loss is even easier–zip zero nada. Holding steady is the hard part, avoiding all extremes. And this applies at all levels, from the steady state of the universe to the steady state of our psyches, most of which is a fleeting illusion, but still applicable nevertheless, for this is more than a simple survival strategy, but a metaphysical principle, that there is a somewhat meandering middle path that is always capable of yielding more benefits than the extremist positions that promise deliverance or salvation of some kind or other, whether political, social or religious. Buddhism is famous for this, of course, without which its major tenets can sometimes resemble those of the Jains if not Hindus themselves, ‘real’ Indians, born of high caste, Sanskrit, and spicy food. But the principle applies in almost all cases, notwithstanding the modern digital paradigm of zeros and ones that underlie computing in which a binary number system’s on-off capability approximates that of electric switching, resulting in a new electronic digital dimension that powers our modern daily lives. That only accentuates the point I want to make, because there’s more to life than math, and a digital dimension is artificial. Because between every two polar extremes there is a whole rainbow of possibilities, one of which will offer the optimal solution in any given set of circumstances. So there is a myriad of possible realities, but one is usually best, neither poverty nor luxury, neither the non-existence of nihilism nor the infinite existence of a permanent enduring soul traveling in both time and space. But these are points that can be parsed to the limits of our patience and imaginations. Belief is not required. That is one of the benefits of philosophy over religion. You can pick and choose, to see what works best. The difference between religion and philosophy is that religions have members…

   

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  hardie karges 5:41 pm on August 18, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bodhisattva ( 9 ), Buddha ( 49 ), consciousness ( 29 ), FUTURE ( 8 ), past ( 3 ), present ( 2 ), renunciation ( 15 ), SPECIES ( 7 )   

  Self-Styled Bodhisattva Vow to Save the Species 

  I won’t bother to look for bliss.
  I’ll content myself in the mitigation of
  suffering and in the effort to help others.
  For that is a path forward, no matter
  how many twists and turns must be navigated,
  no matter how winding the cliched and storied path.
  This is a one-stop shop, for all we know,
  so it is wise and prescient of us to gather
  rosebuds while we may, lest they be unavailable
  tomorrow, for lack of stock in house, or merely
  the wrong season for searching.
  Sci-fi scientists look in the farthest most remote
  atmospheres for life and red herrings, myths
  to live by and fantasies to smoke, magic dragons to puff.
  But that is all for an imaginary tomorrow, cowering
  in fear of a fictionalized past that has sworn
  revenge on the far-fetched future.
  Such are the menu options for consciousness,
  three dimensions three tenses three personal
  pronouns and a pocket full of tissues.
  The choices are ours, to run and hide
  or to stand and fight, with possibly a third
  option still grooming on the side.
  Regardless of the ultimate method and final
  forage for fruit, though, just remember that we
  should all be civil, and polite, and seek our highest
  common denominators, not sink to our lowest…
   
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  hardie karges 4:40 pm on August 11, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: anicca ( 10 ), Buddhism ( 432 ), changes, culture ( 21 ), genetics ( 5 ), language ( 147 ), metta ( 25 )   

  Buddhism, Genetics and the Book of Ch-ch-ch-changes… 

  Meditation is the best medicine. Laughter is the best lozenge. Peace is the best pill. Imbibe at will. Chemical solutions are faulty; of that there is no doubt. And any material acquisitions can not be embedded genetically, for this generation or any future one, for oneself or any other, whether any sort of rebirth may magically exist or not. Environment may very well affect genetics, and genetics may very well affect environment, but that still doesn’t imply Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics. Genetics is hard-wired, but that, too, is changeable, and often. Culture is fleeting, and that is nothing but change, environment, fashion, embedded in language and cast to the winds of history, for better or worse, a message in a bottle. Sabbe dhamma anicca = all phenomena are changing, right before our eyes, no matter whether truth or lies, because such distinctions don’t exist, only appearances. Genetics and language play FTSE with nature, as if it were something external, eternal and everlasting. But some things can stand the test of time, trials and tribulations, and a thousand other clichés specifically adopted as a shortcut to feeling, which language can only approximate, culture can only insinuate, and genetics can only suckle. Because true friendship, metta, is a rare and sacred thlng: beyond all the jokes, afta the lafta…

  hardie karges and Dave Kingsbury are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Dave Kingsbury 2:50 pm on August 16, 2019 Permalink | Reply

    I like the poetic turn your writing takes here – wondered if you’d thought about adopting poetic form. I was also interested in this:-

    Environment may very well affect genetics, and genetics may very well affect environment, but that still doesn’t imply Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics. Genetics is hard-wired, but that, too, is changeable, and often. Culture is fleeting …

    Nevertheless, we haven’t evolved physically for a very long time, haven’t needed to, because culture clothes and dresses us. Perhaps evolution is cultural now. In which case, one could still say … whoops!

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    hardie karges 3:39 pm on August 16, 2019 Permalink | Reply

    Genetics has exploded the last five years, check out haplogroups if you haven’t yet, especially y-DNA, currently re-writing prehistory. But most of our evolution these days is cultural; that’s true.

    By poetic form, you mean line breaks? Actually that has occurred to me also, so even laid this one out that way first, looked at it, then said ‘naah’. But I might do it next time, thanx to your input, definitely my current mode, good catharsis ( I think that’s the word I want, not sure) to my current MA thesis, which is straight essay, so need a break from it once a week or so. Thanx for your comments, always a pleasure…

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  hardie karges 2:12 pm on August 4, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 432 ), civilization ( 2 ), Forbearance ( 2 ), meanderthals, Middle Path ( 55 ), nature ( 17 )   

  Buddhism and the Winding Path of Forbearance… 

  The world is full of sights and sounds, none of which brings happiness. That is somewhere inside. And this is a central message of Buddhism, of course, and other religions, too, that happiness is not a function of material fulfillment, or even full bellies, so much as it is an internal feeling of psychological contentment, that is not merely quantifiable, but qualifiable, in terms that evoke hard-to-describe pleasures, while invoking few, if any, gods. Because the old war gods have lost their power; and the old goddesses have lost their punch. That was an earlier time when desires were simple and the jobs were few, goddesses there to multiply us, gods there to divide us. As the populations increase, then so do the problems, almost by mathematical certainty. So once our material survival is theoretically guaranteed, then immediately we begin killing each other, even though the other now poses no significant risk, just annoyance, and provokes our lack of forbearance, and our inability to make peace instead of war, to share the wealth instead of fighting over it. And this is the message of much religion, to love each other, but not necessarily THE other, that defining line the rub of religion that sometimes gives it the rep of uniting people in all the wrong ways, against the other, rather than with him, because the mere fact that we see an other is evidence of his or her otherness, is it not? And so continues the march of history, zig zag meanderthals in search of a path, any path, that has an unobstructed field and maybe even a clear exit, just in case we need a rest. Maybe our bellies are TOO full, in fact, that material contentment counter-indicated once it becomes assured, a little uncertainty called for in order to foment change. Monks and rishis fast, after all, not because they want to lose weight, but because they are hungry for another kind of fulfillment, and sometimes it is just that easy to tease out the tiny details of spiritual fulfillment, just enough of a difference to make a difference. We can see in DNA that multiple mutations provide the raw material for evolution, despite the occasional disastrous kerfuffle. So if it’s good enough for nature, then it’s good enough for me. We are arrogant with our predictions, proclamations, and prognostications, but nature is kind in its uncertainty. Civilization has betrayed its promise. It’s time to return to Nature–again…

   
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  hardie karges 3:02 pm on July 28, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 432 ), Middle Path ( 55 ), Peace ( 7 ), world ( 2 )   

  World Peace and the Middle Path of Progress 

  World Peace Plan: Guys, trade your guns for guitars, like the Tuaregs do. Work with women. Create sustainable wealth, divide equally, repeat. Simple, right? Ah, but life is not so easy in the realm of the real, is it? Fairy tales always have happy endings, but the real world has road blocks and obstacles and impediments to happiness, no matter how you define it, no matter what you think. And this is the conundrum, in the life of the living, in the world of the worldly, how to find the means of satisfaction, the method of deliverance, from suffering and woe, how to proceed with good feelings, even when there is no clear path, much less a Lonely Planet guide book available in forty-two languages. We come into this world kicking and screaming, and anything we gain after that point is gravy on the potatoes, icing on the cake. They say no one gets out of here alive, and that much is true, the end-game certain and merely a question of time. So the middle seven innings are what is important in this game, or the second and third quarters, prime time to challenge fate, our time to shine. Pain is a powerful impetus to change, and that is our goal, just give us a fair hearing, just give it a name…

   
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  hardie karges 4:31 pm on July 21, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Hitler ( 2 ), Rorschach, Trump ( 2 )   

  Life is a Rorschach test, subject to interpretation.. 

  False leaders need throngs of followers and constant attention, Trump and Hitler and other mothers of invention. True leaders need nothing, and neither do true citizens. For we are not members of states, or cities, but communities, of like-minded individuals, fellow travelers and fellow followers, along the one indivisible path, leaders we all of that which lies below us, followers all of that which lies above, bound by highest common denominators, and sustained by our lowest, life liberty and the pursuit of something-not-suffering, born upon an uncertain path and left here to fend for ourselves, our aggregate personalities poorly defined and reinforced by logic, life as a Rorschach test and little more, selves replicated in lenses descending into infinite regress, or magnified in mirrors multiplied exponentially, we are but the product of our wildest dreams and demeanors, thrusting and parrying with our swollen pork-swords of ambition, dodging and denying with our sodden grottoes of perdition. This is our screenplay. This is our fate. If you’re scared of dying, then you aren’t really living…

  hardie karges and Dave Kingsbury are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Dave Kingsbury 4:13 pm on July 22, 2019 Permalink | Reply

    As we head into rocky waters it’s good to contemplate our vulnerability and consider ways of, er, pulling together – wise words once again – love your deployment of ‘mothers of invention’, btw!

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    hardie karges 5:00 pm on July 22, 2019 Permalink | Reply

    Thanx, Dave…

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  hardie karges 5:16 pm on July 14, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 432 ), Middle Path ( 55 ), possession ( 5 )   

  Buddhism, Possessions and the Middle Path 

  We are possessed by our possessions, slaves to our desires, captives in our own cages, smiling all the while. For this is the fate we choose for ourselves, lest freedom tempt our fates. This is the road well-traveled, secure in its very weight. This weight of possession is what keeps us grounded, and flying is too far to fall. This weight is what keeps us padded, in case the path gets too steep, or too deep, and the only way out is up. Because these ruts can get sticky, and success can breed contempt. Still the only path is forward, and to return is not allowed, unless it’s by a different route, and then all bets are worthless. Survival is the only goal, and bliss just a wayward thought. The Middle Path is always best, no matter what or where the terrain. Inner psyches are rock-strewn and social challenges are cruel. Still we have so much to learn and so little time, and the only school is too brutal to waste time in fear of it. Time is short and the clock is ticking. We are probably the first species to consciously decide its own fate, or not…

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    the #1 Itinerary 4:12 am on July 16, 2019 Permalink | Reply

    Great post 🙂

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      hardie karges 11:07 am on July 16, 2019 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks

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  hardie karges 11:16 am on July 7, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Ajahn Chah ( 2 ), Buddhism ( 432 ), defilements ( 4 ), Heart ( 2 ), kilesha ( 11 ), logic ( 14 ), mental formations ( 2 )   

  Buddhism, Mental Formations, and Defilements of the Heart and Logic… 

  Who says you can’t go home again? Home is a warm place in your heart, and mind. And if that’s a ‘mental formation’ as is often said in Buddhism, then that’s not such a bad one, but I’m not sure. I’ve studied Buddhism for several years now and I’m still not certain of the proper translation for the Pali/Sanskrit words sankhara/samskara that usually gets translated as the rather cryptic ‘mental formations’. But I do know that when Ajahn Chah, the great Thai forest master, used the term ‘arom’ อารมณ์ , which in normal speech means ‘feeling, emotion’, the translator rendered it as ‘mental formation’, so I figure that’s a valuable clue, notwithstanding the fact that the term may also have sexual connotations, depending on who says it, under what circumstances, and at what time of the day or night, in case you’re feeling sleepy. But that’s just the random white noise of mental idling, before or after an actual coherent thought, since I’m sure Ajahn Chah had no sexual connotation in mind, he one of the few post-Buddha (non)-personalities who I might credit with genuine Enlightenment. But feeling preceded linguistic thought, certainly, and I’ve heard Buddhist monks opine that ‘thought is a defilement’, so language falls flat, and that may be the point. In the beginning there was silence; and then there was noise. That’s all I know…

   
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  hardie karges 9:48 am on June 30, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: agriculture, CITIES ( 5 ), civilization ( 2 ), emptiness ( 30 ), nomadism, Peace ( 7 ), Politeness ( 2 ), technology ( 12 )   

  Politics, Politeness, and the Art of Emptiness… 

  People who love their guns more than their kids are the ones who need prayers, for they have lost their way. But this is the great conundrum of civilization, i.e. city-fication, that once we have hoards of wealth, then we have to protect it. Some people prefer guns over fences. Not that there was no violence before the age of cities, but cities took things to a new level. Nomadism was very egalitarian, and very underrated. Settlement may be a false ideal, rewarding ourselves on the fact that our butts are now fat, and we can pet the family cat, at our every whim and desire. This is the outcome of the agricultural revolution, unrequited desires, rotten teeth and obesity, just the opposite of what was intended. Now it has become the mark of our indebtedness, our slavery, our decency in the eyes of capitalism. And this is the real tragedy, the confusion and congestion of our lives and mentality. War is more the consequence than the cause. We are slaves of our growth mentality, and victims of our own voracious desires. Technology is a possible solution, civilization without the cities. But at some point, we still have to find inner peace, or some reasonable facsimile. Stressed lives crave entertainment, and confusion, more louder bigger. Peace loves emptiness…

  hardie karges and Dave Kingsbury are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Dave Kingsbury 2:17 pm on July 2, 2019 Permalink | Reply

    Apparently we have experts working on the problem as we speak … the bad news is, their funding has just been cut. Seriously though, I do like your long perspective on this. Spot on!

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      hardie karges 7:38 pm on July 2, 2019 Permalink | Reply

      thanks

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  hardie karges 7:05 pm on June 23, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: certainty ( 2 ), Fear ( 5 ), friendship ( 4 ), metta ( 25 ), opportunity   

  Fear of the Known and the Dread of Certainty 

  I feel invisible connections to all who crossed my path, however briefly, but especially those who walked beside me for a while. For this is truly a spiritual occurrence, sacred friendship, metta, in what is predominantly a material world, of mechanical waves, percussion and repercussions, the logic of logistics, and the calculus of convenience. And this is only normal, of course, that our vision is limited to frequencies of the most ordinary sort, bland and tasteless, for fear of over-excitation, that we may start something that we can’t finish, like violence or struggle or depression or love. But none of this has to be so hard, after all, it seems. It is only our fear that makes it seems so, fear of the unknown, fear of success. Because the known is what is truly scary, that we may be stuck in some prison of our own making, and forced to repeat our actions day after day in some pattern that knows no end. The unknown offers relief from the grind of that despicable certainty. There are no problems, and no fear, only opportunities, massive opportunities…

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    tiramit 12:41 am on June 26, 2019 Permalink | Reply

    my naer

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    Dave Kingsbury 2:12 pm on July 2, 2019 Permalink | Reply

    Because the known is what is truly scary … true, indeed! No need to invent phantoms when we have reality! But I’ll take the positives you bring to this – creative approaches are always the best!