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I and my quest are one.  1

6/26/2017

1 Comment

 
591.

Principles


Vectors and forces

I and my quest are one.   1

An Hasidic master wrote “I and my quest are one.”  This brief comment seems to explain a lot.  And yet, often I feel like a million pieces.  The quest seeks to unite and gel towards a purpose.  On top of the quest on a higher realm is God, always there, the biggest hope, the zenith, the ultimate meaning in the ultimate way.  But God is elusive, hard to catch and stay with,  or at least it seems that way to us.   God is there but often seems not there.  For whatever reasons, there is a divide between us not easy to bridge.

Below us is gravity and counter pulls and vectors that tear us in separate directions.  Some of it is chance and some of it is from the cobwebs from life we pick up as we go through it.  We don't always have control over them.  Often it's just what happened to us while we were here, living.  The only explanation is that while we were alive, as far as we understand, this is what happened and took place.  And we're not even necessarily sure, although we won't rule that out, of why.  It just was what took place. 

And then there is in the middle 'the quest' mentioned by the master.  It seeks to pull together some of the pieces and go towards a direction.  If it seeks too high it falls.  If it doesn't generate enough energy for movement, it dissipates.  It is a way to move through existence and keep all the parts connected.  Yet you can't hold on too tight.  It has to breathe and interact with what's around it.  Somehow what you think, what you can do, what you gather, your partial incomplete pieces can combine to at least, maybe, occasionally see what's above while still touching what's below.  A quest is a way to keep your fragments together.

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Meaningless

6/26/2017

0 Comments

 
590. 

Principles

Aging

Meaningless

As is often said maybe it's part of getting older.  It seems when resting but not asleep or during arbitrary moments during the day images or phrases having no significance flash by me.  For instance, the phrase 'the rib on the watermelon' came to me.  What the heck is that?  Another time when resting I saw in my mind's eye about 35 feet away four aging ladies neatly dressed in a mall in one of the walkways on a circular lounge staring in my direction but not at me.  That was it.

There is also a realm when  I'm up but not focused where my mind wanders through different scenarios.  One can say it all has meaning because nothing is by accident.  But it seems most are random and scattered without substance.  Perhaps it's my electrical circuits cleaning themselves out. Or wearing out?  I'm curious if this happens to others.  After a lifetime of always looking for meaning I'm now receiving meaninglessness.  Ha.



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Wonder

6/26/2017

0 Comments

 
589.  Past

Wonder
Picture
Wonder

A thick gray like film
engulfs all round.
As with bad air,
breathing itself is labored,
needed but unpleasant.
Once in a while
something of wonder
pierces this fog,
hinting at what is not seen,
but already known.
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The next life

6/26/2017

0 Comments

 
588.  Past

Theology
 
The next life

My old friend Steve, who I don't see anymore, said a real truth, which was “I hope the next life would be nicer than this one.”

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This is for that

6/11/2017

0 Comments

 
587.

Principles

Philosophy


This is for that


In a world where
this is for that
how do I receive
without having to give
and how do I give
without having to receive?


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Top down thinking

6/11/2017

0 Comments

 
586. 

Principles

Systems, patterns, and understanding

Top down thinking

Most thought processes, disciplines, scientific research, scholarship, approach the search for truth as building a base working upwards to a pinnacle where truth becomes known.  This never works out fully.  One is always left out on a tangent.

The only approach that does work is from the top down.  You start with the biggest and most encompassing conclusion and work your way down to the particulars.

How does one know if one has the right conclusion?  I suspect that a prerequisite for grasping top down thinking is to have already reached the right conclusion.  Put another way, only one conclusion will fit.  A wrong conclusion should not fit.

If a particular thought, concept, or fact can't be placed anywhere, wait.  In time a place will be found for it, even if other particulars have to be rearranged.
.
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The power of the night

6/11/2017

2 Comments

 
585. 

Principles

Living

The power of the night


The power of the night
when fears abound
and insecurities linger
and failures attack
ceasing only
when sleep overtakes.

2 Comments

    Steven B. Nussdorf records his lifelong search to find meaning outside of the normal channels.  He  uses writing, poetry, and drawing to document this effort.

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

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