83.  Past

Observations

Expensive cars go on

No matter where one is or what you do big cars abound.  They’re on the
highways and parked all over.  As the world collapses, big, expensive cars
are everywhere.

82.  Past

Observations

Your role  

At some point life becomes like a game.  One goes through the motions,
but almost humorously observes one’s self doing this.  You role play but
the role is not you.  One has questioned society, its verities, found them
wanting, tried to distance oneself from it, and eventually returns to realize
society is the only game in town.  With this new perspective, one
participates but doesn't identify.  You have seen you are much more than
your role.

81.

Statement


The world

For a long time I thought I could cut through, compete.  My own
train of thought, reasoning and hard earned resources were my weapons. 
When they weakened I felt the power of your onslaught.  Your successes,  your money, your confidence, your surety, your numbers were too much, a tidal wave of accumulation.  When doubting myself who was I to stand up to you.  Your glaring brightness poisoned my vision and path and made it hard to see.  Gone was any clear defense or mounted offense.  I retreated back into no expectations with only the words 'but there is a God' stamped before my mind and on my lips.

80.

Theology


Two thoughts have lasted

These two thoughts have stayed with me.

Just through observing the world and just through one's experience the
conclusion that there is a God can be reached.

Thoughtful observation of just a leaf can lead one to the conclusion that
there exists a creator.

79.


Principles


Principles

Principles versus true harmony

Usually when an issue arises I approach it with a mental handbag of do's and
don'ts.  When doing so the minute one senses a violation a judgment call
is made and acted upon.  Doing so gives the appearance of acting on
principle, but actually you are cutting off the unfolding of life.  

Lately I engage a situation with no rulebook, no preconceived principle, no
predigested scale of right and wrong.  Then I let the situation play out
naturally, and play my part but don't interfere.  I use my common sense,
experience, intuition, in general my humanity.  As the situation reaches
its conclusion, the ironic thing is usually one principle ends up standing out,
but not how I would have thought.  In ways unimaginable, the depth of
experience itself emerged into a true harmony, not a man-made one.


 
 

78. Past   
 
(Note:  While born Jewish I am not observant.  However, from time to time I run into Judaism and this time the result was poignant.)


Theology


Just living causes a deficit  

The Jewish holiday Yom Kippur deals with atonement and how one has sinned
before God.  It made me think of the people I have inadvertently hurt, such
as my friend Ruth.  Just by pursuing my own interests and survival needs I
wasn’t there for her or for others as I should have been.  I couldn’t help
it or avoid this, but even so damage was done.  So one needs to receive
some form of forgiveness for this.  We know by being hurt ourselves how the
others feel.

There is a spiritual principle that says in this life we are ½ partners with
God.  He does some of the work and we do some.  This is one way to see
life.  This implies forward motion, building towards a better world and
improvement.

Yom Kippur relates to another way of seeing life.  This is that the very
act of living causes a deficit, for time, energy and wherewithal are finite and
because of this we are unable to give to others as much as they need.  They
are hurt by this.  Love (even tough love), patience, care and
acknowledgment should be there for them but we fall short of providing
it.   While you are helping one friend you cannot be helping
another.  We need some time out to be saddened by this and for our need to
be forgiven and acknowledge our shortcomings.  This could be done various
times throughout the year or on a special day such as Yom Kippur.

77.

Principles

Psychology


On the line

An old friend and I shared how we both in the past had taken things too
seriously.  I concurred that a serious reaction to every problem that comes
your way is not good.  I said I thought I understood why this
happens.  It comes from one's background and not having needs met in your
youth.  As such, one is always on the line, everything depends upon the
last decision and there is no sense of security or back-up.  So for you, it
really is serious.  However, as an approach to living this doesn't work in
the long run.

My friend agreed and said it was very true about always being on the line and
having everything depend on the last decision.

75.  Past

Spiritual living

The right kind of yearning

In meditation, only when your yearning is right will you get to see a
brightness.  It’s as if you have to be on a certain wave, a certain frame
of mind and body, for the light to come in and fill you.

76.  Past

Approach

Considering all perspectives
 
On a TV documentary, a man during his vacation went for a five day hike and
camping adventure to seek solitude. It was a quest of sorts for answers.  He
became lost and injured and things became terribly wrong.  He said he sometimes
felt, even when lost, that nature was transcendental.  At other times he felt
and saw the cruelty of nature, and its seeming arbitrariness.  What’s
interesting is that he accepted this contradiction along with the concept of
there existing a maker.
 
To some extent this is what I’m doing, considering all perspectives within
the context of there is an above. When one knows there is a maker, one is safe
to explore and wonder and consider all varieties of ideas and thinking.  There
is some truth and some falseness to them all. You are not as vulnerable as
before when you were looking without knowledge of an above.  Each facet of
existence can now be viewed and appreciated for its uniqueness, pleasant or
unpleasant, as it exists in time.

74.

Principles

Health

What a paradox

I watched a video where a doctor spoke against GMO's (genetically modified
organisms) describing their effects on the disappearance of bees.  Many of
us are familiar with the bee issue.  The cause was a mystery but pesticides have
been suspected along with other technological applications.  But here it
is, GMO's.  I was too preoccupied to understand the science. 
Apparently amphibians, such as frogs, are also disappearing.  GMO's are
worldwide.

What I didn't realize and where it hits home is that they also affect
allergies which I suffer from along with many others.  Previously I
attributed it to mold, spores and pollen.  But this might be the villain,
or at least one of them.  The allergies and sinus difficulties can get
wicked, as if a foreign substance is inside one's head.  It feels beyond
natural causes.  In Florida the winds blow west to east, from the farmlands
to the coast where people live bringing whatever the GMO crops give off.

I've heard they are so standardized they can fertilize an acre in about 18
minutes using a planter about 100 feet wide.  They have it down
pat.  In Ireland they're trying to convince family farms to expand and
become modern and progress with GMO crops.  They also 'infect' non GMO
crops around them.  Once infected they automatically become a GMO crop.
What an ultimate paradox we have.  The food for living causes sickness and death.  
Most people have their heads in the sand about such issues.  It seems as
if there is just so much people can absorb.  But the clock is ticking.