Daily Quotes

Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity. And if you roll a power of eight, you can slay the purple dragon.

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts. At least, that’s what my wife says.

Connection, and Loss

I connected again with an old girlfriend today. A girlfriend, from so long ago that "girlfriend" meant little more than mutual crush. She seems to be doing well, married with two kids.

I'm still coming to grips with the fact that children don't seem to be in the cards for me. Sometimes it seems that life is really just the process of coming to grips with loss. Loss of relationships, loss of people, loss of dreams we once held precious; all these things we lose. I suppose we could choose to view this in some sense of personal evolvement, that we are being stripped down to our essence, to the things that truly matter. Or, in the attitude I have increasingly taken as I grow older, it doesn't "mean" anything. It's just what happens.

A Creed to Live By

I have no parents; I make the heaven and earth my mother and
father.
I have no home; I make awareness my dwelling.
I have no life and death; I make the tides of breathing my life
and death.
I have no divine power; I make honesty my divine power.
I have no means; I make understanding my means.
I have no magic secrets; I make character my magic secret.
I have no body; I make endurance my body.
I have no eyes; I make the flash of lightning my eyes.
I have no ears; I make sensibility my ears.
I have no limbs; I make promptness my limbs.
I have no strategy; I make “unshadowed by thought” my strategy
I have no designs; I make “seizing opportunity by the forelock” my
design.
I have no miracles; I make right action my miracle.
I have no principles; I make adaptability to all circumstances my
principles.
I have no tactics; I make emptiness and fullness my tactics.
I have no talents; I make ready wit my talent.
I have no friends; I make my mind my friend.
I have no enemy; I make carelessness my enemy.
I have no armor; I make benevolence and righteousness my armor.
I have no castle; I make immovable mind my castle.
I have no sword; I make absence of self my sword.

A samurai's creed, written around 1300 by an unnamed author. Via Chris
Corrigan